Chapter 25 : Three Children

Meanwhile, the Xu family was in complete chaos that morning.  

Everything was prepared for the wedding, except for Xu Yaqiu’s face, which remained bruised and swollen despite the layers of powder applied to cover it. The sight of her reflection in the mirror was enough to make them all despair.  

Xu Yaqiu stared at her battered face, filled with hatred and wishing she could tear Fang Xiaoluo apart.  

The thought of Fang Xiaoluo looking radiant as she married today, while she herself was stuck with this appearance, made her burn with fury. Worse, she knew she’d become the subject of ridicule as soon as she arrived at the Zhou household. Any joy over her wedding had long since disappeared.  

“Mom, what am I supposed to do about my face?” Xu Yaqiu whimpered, on the verge of tears.  

Zhao Lihong was equally helpless. “Yaqiu, don’t cry. Today is your big day, and no matter what, you’re the bride. No one will dare to mock you.”  

Xu Yaqiu knew her mother’s words were just empty comfort. But what choice did she have? Canceling the wedding was not an option.  

And what she dreaded most inevitably happened.  

When Zhou Yanwen arrived to pick up the bride and saw her face, he looked disgusted. His first words were: “What happened to your face?”  

“Are you trying to embarrass our family? Making me lose face on purpose? I’m the son of a factory director, and I’m supposed to marry someone this ugly? How am I supposed to hold my head up in public?”  

The Xu family had deliberately kept Zhou’s family in the dark about Xu Yaqiu’s injuries. They had sworn to keep the incident a secret and never speak of it to outsiders.  

After all, the wedding was happening regardless. It didn’t seem worth discussing such a “minor” matter.  

Especially now, with the groom here to collect the bride, could the marriage possibly be called off?  

Zhao Lihong quickly chimed in, “It’s all because of that wretched girl, Fang Xiaoluo. She beat up Yaqiu a few days ago.”  

“Fang Xiaoluo?” Zhou Yanwen looked incredulous. “She’s so weak, how could she possibly beat up Xu Yaqiu?”  

If it hadn’t been their wedding day, Xu Yaqiu would have loved nothing more than to claw Zhou Yanwen’s face.  

‘Fang Xiaoluo, Fang Xiaoluo…’ Every word out of Zhou Yanwen’s mouth seemed to sing her praises.  

‘Weak?’ 

Xu Yaqiu gritted her teeth. “Today is our wedding day. What exactly are you trying to do? Do you want all the guests to know why we’re getting married?”  

Zhou Yanwen fell silent, grudgingly handing her the bouquet.  

Following tradition, he served tea to Xu Zhigang and Zhao Lihong, calling them “Dad” and “Mom,” but his dissatisfaction was evident. Then he led Xu Yaqiu to the car.  

Carry her into the car? Zhou Yanwen was too furious for that. He already felt she had humiliated him, there was no chance he’d show her such affection.  

The guests at the Xu household were puzzled. ‘How did the Xu family’s recently reunited daughter end up like this?’  

Still, marrying into the Zhou family despite her appearance only underscored the importance of having a capable father.  

The Xu and Zhou families had jointly arranged the banquet at the largest venue in Jiangcheng, the Peace Hotel.  

Once Xu Yaqiu left with the groom, Xu Zhigang and Zhao Lihong quickly invited their guests to head to the hotel for the celebration.  

Meanwhile, in the car, Xu Yaqiu and Zhou Yanwen sat in stony silence, both looking grim. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.  

At the Zhou family’s home, the yard was packed with people eagerly awaiting the bride’s arrival.  

As the bridal car pulled up, firecrackers were set off, and the crowd buzzed with excitement.  

At the door, Zhou Ping and Qian Haixia were all smiles.  

After all, whose family wouldn’t be delighted about a wedding? Guests surrounded them with congratulations, and their grins grew even wider.  

But when the car door opened and Xu Yaqiu stepped out, Zhou Ping and Qian Haixia froze.  

Their future daughter-in-law, who had looked perfectly fine before, now had a face that was bruised and caked with heavy makeup.  

It was humiliating.  

Sure enough, as Xu Yaqiu entered the house, the Zhou family’s guests began whispering.  

“What’s with the bride’s face?”  

“Impressive of the Xu family, they managed to marry off a daughter like that to the Zhou family.”  

“Poor Zhou Yanwen. Such a good-looking man, stuck with her.”  

“She’s already scowling at everyone. Must be difficult to get along with.”  

“Well, she did come back from the countryside. Who knows what kind of tricks she pulled to secure this marriage?”  

Suppressing her fury, Xu Yaqiu followed through with the wedding rituals.  

Out of respect for the Zhou family’s celebration and Zhou Ping’s position as a factory director, the guests offered their congratulations but their true thoughts were anyone’s guess.  

Qian Haixia, however, was fuming inside. She never expected Xu Yaqiu to present them with such an unpleasant surprise.

Her current appearance had brought shame to the Zhou family.  

Initially, Qian Haixia had felt that her son’s reckless behavior was to blame, and that they owed the girl an apology. After all, they were the ones in the wrong.  

But now, she felt nothing but dissatisfaction with the Xu family and Xu Yaqiu. She no longer wanted this woman as her daughter-in-law.  

As for Xu Yaqiu, the wedding she had dreamed of a grand, dazzling affair that would last a lifetime, had been utterly ruined by Fang Xiaoluo.  

But what was so great about Fang Xiaoluo anyway? She may have entered the Shen family, but those troublesome children would be more than enough to keep her occupied.  

In her previous life, on the day she and Shen Zheng got married, the second child, who was mentally disabled had bitten her.  

She couldn’t tolerate it and kicked him hard several times. Shen Zheng flew into a rage, took the boy to the hospital, and didn’t even bother with her.  

There was no bridal chamber or wedding night, nothing!  

Now, Xu Yaqiu moved like a puppet, going through all the motions of the ceremony before heading to the banquet hall.  

At the Peace Hotel, Qian Haixia said to her, “Yaqiu, why don’t you stay in the private room? I heard you’re not feeling well, so don’t wear yourself out.”  

In other words, they didn’t want her showing her face. Most of the guests were at the hotel, not the Zhou house, and they couldn’t afford for her appearance to bring more embarrassment.  

So, the event became a simple dinner party at the Peace Hotel, there wasn’t even a traditional toast from the bride and groom.  

Zhao Lihong wasn’t pleased and confronted Qian Haixia. “Why aren’t you letting my daughter come out?”  

Though Qian Haixia maintained a calm exterior, she was seething inside. “Xianghong, why didn’t you tell us earlier about Yaqiu’s injuries?”  

Zhao Lihong, hands on her hips, shot back, “Do you think Yaqiu wanted to get hurt? And what difference would it make if we told you? Were you planning to call off the wedding?”  

Furious, Qian Haixia took a deep breath and said, “Canceling the wedding is out of the question. But wouldn’t it have been better to wait until Yaqiu recovered? Seeing her like this breaks my heart too.”  

“Wait?” Zhao Lihong scoffed. “Postpone the wedding and have people gossip even more? What about our family’s reputation?”  

Changing the subject, Qian Haixia asked, “I heard that Wei, the factory manager at Anju Furniture, is one of your big clients. Why didn’t he come today?”  

This was a sore spot for Zhao Lihong.  

Wei Yan had undoubtedly gone to support Fang Xiaoluo instead. There was no way he would show up here.  

Many of the guests had been hoping to meet Wei Yan and kept asking her and Xu Zhigang about his absence.  

They were mortified.  

“Manager Wei had an emergency, but he sent a generous gift,” Zhao Lihong said with forced pride.  

Someone nearby overheard and chimed in, “I heard Manager Wei drove out early this morning to attend a wedding in the countryside.”  

Another person added, “I heard that too. Apparently, it’s for someone who once saved his son.”  

“Ah, that explains it. Such a debt of gratitude is hard to ignore.”  

Zhao Lihong’s face turned livid.  

Meanwhile, Qian Haixia finally felt a bit of satisfaction.  

The wedding Xu Yaqiu had eagerly anticipated, a chance to show off her supposed superiority and prove she was the true daughter of the Xu family, had turned into nothing more than a banquet where she was completely sidelined.  

Sitting in the private room with her back to the open door, she was completely invisible to the guests trying to catch a glimpse of the bride.  

Occasionally, she glanced back, watching Zhou Yanwen and his parents laughing and mingling with the guests. She felt like an outsider.  

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Fang Xiaoluo and Shen Zheng’s car had arrived at the military compound.  

The soldiers at the gate checked the vehicles before allowing them in.  

Many people were already gathered along the road inside the compound, eager to witness the marriage of the long-eligible bachelor, Captain Shen.  

As the car turned a corner, fireworks exploded, and drums beat loudly in celebration before the vehicle had even stopped.  

The atmosphere was lively. Smiling faces surrounded them, and children joyfully ran alongside the car, shouting, “Bride! Bride!”  

Through the car window, Fang Xiaoluo saw a house decorated with red banners and a woman in her fifties standing at the door.  

Beside her were three children.  

The oldest boy had a dark, brooding expression, completely unfitting for a child of seven or eight.  

The second boy, about five or six years old, had a vacant, unfocused gaze, seemingly lost in his own world. The woman was covering his ears, likely to protect him from the noise of the fireworks.  

The youngest was a little girl, leaning against the woman’s leg, staring curiously at the car.  

Fang Xiaoluo thought to herself, ‘That must be Shen Zheng’s mother and his sister’s three children.’