Chapter 3 : Watch how I deal with her!

Fang Xiaoluo blinked. “Captain Shen, are you saying you want to take responsibility for what happened earlier and marry me?”

Shen Zheng nodded.

Fang Xiaoluo smiled. “As long as neither of us talks about what happened earlier, no one will ever know, and we can pretend it didn’t happen. Besides, we didn’t go all the way, so it’s not a big deal.”

Shen Zheng rubbed his nose. “No, this is a matter of principle.”

Fang Xiaoluo sighed. “Captain Shen, we’ve just met. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. Under these circumstances, can we really get married?”

After hearing Fang Xiaoluo’s words, Shen Zheng suddenly stood up straight, snapping to attention. His posture was rigid, and his body was perfectly straight, which startled Fang Xiaoluo.

“Comrade Fang, my name is Shen Zheng. I’m twenty-seven years old, a soldier by profession. I’m single and unmarried. I live sixty kilometers from Jiangcheng, in a military compound. I have a mother and three children at home.”

“These three children are the children of my late sister. One is eight years old, one is six, and one is three. After my sister passed away, the children’s father remarried and began to abuse them. So, last month, I brought the three children back and adopted them under my name.”

Fang Xiaoluo paused in surprise. “So, if I marry you, I can become a mother without any pain?”

Shen Zheng took a moment to process the term “without pain,” then understood what she meant. “Comrade Fang, I know this isn’t fair to you.”

Fang Xiaoluo looked him up and down.

To be fair, Shen Zheng was good-looking and a captain, so he wasn’t lacking in terms of appearance or status.

But there was a drawback, he had three children. Whoever married Shen Zheng would have to be a stepmother. Though the children weren’t his biological kids, they had been adopted, so there wasn’t much of a difference.

Fang Xiaoluo couldn’t quite understand. If Xu Yaqiu didn’t want to marry Shen Zheng, she could have just said she didn’t like him at the blind date. Why did she have to make Fang Xiaoluo sleep with him?

Did Xu Yaqiu want her to become a stepmother?

But being a stepmother had nothing to do with Xu Yaqiu, did it?

At least Shen Zheng was straightforward, saying everything honestly.

Fang Xiaoluo felt a bit overwhelmed. She had just crossed over into this world and was thrown into such a situation. There were still so many things she hadn’t figured out.

“Captain Shen, you really are quite a good person,” Fang Xiaoluo said sincerely. If Shen Zheng had jumped to conclusions earlier and thought she was scheming against him, that would have been the end of it. “But marriage is something that still requires more thought.”

As Fang Xiaoluo spoke, she recalled the memories from the original owner’s mind. “I’m not the Xu’s biological daughter. I’m going back to my hometown soon, to be with my real parents.”

Shen Zheng nodded. “I know. The person who first introduced me to you was the one who mentioned a girl from the Fang family, Fang Yaqiu.”

“Ah? Is that so?” The original owner didn’t know this, and now Fang Xiaoluo didn’t either.

It seemed that Xu Yaqiu was hiding something.

Fang Xiaoluo continued, “So, you know about the situation with the Fang family, right? My family is very poor. My father had a stroke five years ago and is partially paralyzed, unable to work. I have an older brother who still isn’t married, and two younger brothers and sisters who are still in school. To put it simply, our home is barely making ends meet, and life is getting harder.”

“You’re a captain, and although you have three children, my family isn’t much better off.” In fact, it was worse.

As Fang Xiaoluo spoke, she couldn’t help but lament. The original owner’s family really was in a tough spot.

The original owner’s father had to take medication constantly, and the family’s farming was mainly supported by her mother. The original owner’s younger brother and two sisters were still in school, and her older brother was working in Jiangcheng, sending most of his earnings back home, with hardly enough left for his own needs, let alone for marrying a wife.

Since the original owner found out about her true identity, she never returned to Honghe Village to see her biological parents. She didn’t even know how her father’s health was now, or whether her spirit water would still work.

Thinking about the Fang family, they were also pitiful. They raised Xu Yaqiu, who found her biological parent and abandoned her adoptive parents. The biological daughter, was ashamed of her poor family and wouldn’t go back.

Yesterday, when it rained, the original owner’s mother came to Jiangcheng to find her, but she didn’t meet with her. She had been drenched for so long, and Fang Xiaoluo couldn’t help but wonder if she would get sick.

Shen Zheng thought for a moment before speaking seriously, “Comrade Fang, I hope you’ll consider what I’ve said. I genuinely want to take responsibility for you. Even though marrying me might feel like a disadvantage to you, I promise that my savings, my future allowances, and everything else will be yours. I won’t let you suffer.”

His words were strong and resolute, almost like he was giving a guarantee.

Fang Xiaoluo laughed, her eyes crinkling with a smile, and she looked even more beautiful as a twinkle seemed to sparkle in her eyes.

“Captain Shen, give me a few days. I really do need to think it through.” She still needed to sort through the original owner’s situation, everything was a mess right now, and her head was already spinning.

Shen Zheng pulled out a pen and began writing something on a notebook, “This is my address. If you need anything, you can come find me anytime. If you can’t find me, you can call the number on here.”

Fang Xiaoluo accepted it. “Okay.”

Meanwhile, the Xu family left the guesthouse, and Xu Yaqiu cried the whole way home.

“Mom, I really didn’t send Xiaoluo to deliver any messages. She told me this morning that the matchmaker said Captain Shen had something to do today, so he would be late and that the time had been changed.” Xu Yaqiu cried until her eyes were swollen. “Dad, Mom, you have to believe me. These past few days, I’ve been so careful, afraid that I might say something to upset Xiaoluo. How could I possibly hurt her?”

Zhao Lihong patted Xu Yaqiu’s hand. “Good girl, Mom knows you’ve been wronged.”

“I don’t know what Xiaoluo and Captain Shen talked about, but it seems she made the captain believe her nonsense, ruining Yaqiu’s chance at a good match!”

Xu Yaqiu sobbed and covered her face. “Mom, do you think… do you think Xiaoluo is even angrier now? She might think I’ve taken your affection away. If it doesn’t work out, maybe I should just go back to the countryside. I shouldn’t have appeared and disrupted your lives.”

Zhao Lihong sighed. “Yaqiu, you’re breaking my heart. When Xiaoluo comes back, I’ll make sure she goes back to the Fang family. Don’t worry. If she causes trouble and refuses to leave, she can’t stay here. This isn’t a place for her!”

Xu Zhigang frowned. “Yaqiu, what are you saying? You’re the daughter of the Xu family. If anyone should leave, it’s Xiaoluo. What right does she have to be angry? She even dared to hit you? Just wait until she comes back. I’ll show her how to behave!”