Chapter 45

The village aunties were not necessarily malicious, but most of them were gossipy.

For example, Aunt He, who had taken Wang Yan as her daughter-in-law, asked gossipingly: “Li Chen’s wife, what was your family’s reaction when you married Li Chen?”

“My family was very supportive. They all said Brother Chen is a good man and told me to live well with him.” Shen Yiyi said with a smile. “My Mom knows that it’s the autumn harvest season and that Brother Chen has been working hard. She even gave me a lot of money to make sure I can properly nourish Brother Chen.”

Upon hearing this, everyone present had complicated expressions, especially Aunt He.

Everyone knew that Aunt He’s daughter had married into a worker’s family, but in reality, her in-laws looked down on her for being from a rural background. All the household chores were left to her, and they treated her like a servant.

Even when Aunt He herself visited, they acted as if a poor relative had come uninvited.

Lin Jiadong stood to the side, watching Shen Yiyi blend in naturally with the village aunties, looking so happy as she spoke about how much her family liked Li Chen as a son-in-law. His emotions grew even more complicated.

He naturally knew about the Shen family’s situation and how much they doted on their daughter.

In the past, his family had been better off than Shen Yiyi’s, and their parents had once considered bringing them together. But…

Thinking of his parents who had been re-educated in the village, Lin Jiadong suddenly felt a twinge of regret.

If only…

No!

Jiang Wanrou’s face flashed through his mind, and his heart firmed up again. He clenched his fists.

Wanrou was the one he loved. He could never let her down!

After conveying what she wanted to say, Shen Yiyi took two steamed buns from her basket and smiled, offering them to the aunties to share.

The aunties hesitated, repeatedly saying they couldn’t accept them, but in the end, they took them after some half-hearted refusals. After dividing them among themselves, they naturally didn’t forget about Grandpa Niu.

And, of course, Lin Jiadong.

Aunt He broke off a small piece and handed it to him.

Lin Jiadong refused.

Seeing that he did not take it, Aunt He withdrew her hand and ate it herself. Suddenly, she remembered that Shen Yiyi and Lin Jiadong knew each other.

She immediately smiled and said: “Look at me, I almost forgot that you two come from the same place. You were even neighbors, weren’t you?”

“Yes!” Shen Yiyi answered without changing her expression.

In the book, although her character was set as a female supporting character who was obsessed with Lin Jiadong—so much so that she followed him to the countryside—due to the strict moral standards regarding relationships between men and women in this era, she did not dare to openly express her feelings for Lin Jiadong.

Later, she unexpectedly married Li Chen and had children.

Fearing that people would accuse her of having improper relationships and that she would be punished—perhaps even drowned in a pig cage—she claimed that Lin Jiadong was simply her neighbor, and since they had ended up in the same place, they naturally looked out for each other.

After her marriage, she only secretly used Chen Jiayi to gather news about Lin Jiadong and never dared to seek him out while she was still married to Li Chen.

So, very few people in the village knew about her feelings for Lin Jiadong—until later, when she abandoned Li Chen and the Three Baos to return to the city. Only then did the villagers find out.

Aunt He seemed like she wanted to say something more, but seeing that Shen Yiyi and Lin Jiadong both acted distant toward each other, she simply assumed that since Shen Yiyi was married, she had to maintain some distance.

With a tacit understanding, she did not continue discussing their relationship. Instead, she directly asked Lin Jiadong: “Educated Youth Lin, your parents were both workers, right?”

Lin Jiadong stiffened for a moment and quickly glanced at Shen Yiyi, afraid that she would reveal his family’s situation.

The reason he was still able to work as an Educated Youth despite his family’s circumstances was that he had cut ties with them.

If people found out, he would most likely end up just like his parents—sent to the farm.

Seeing Shen Yiyi remain silent, Lin Jiadong let out a breath of relief. Then, he smiled and said to Aunt He: “Yes, but my parents are just ordinary workers, and there are many younger siblings in my family, so they can’t spare much attention for me.”

Hearing this, Aunt He nodded regretfully. She had originally thought that since Lin Jiadong’s family was so close to Shen Yiyi’s, they must also be well-off.

She had a young niece of marriageable age in her maternal family and had considered matchmaking her with Lin Jiadong.

But now, knowing that Lin Jiadong came from a worker’s family and that his parents couldn’t support him, she dismissed the idea.

After all, he was already quite old, had no solid foundation in the village, and no one knew when he would be able to return to the city. Without his family’s backing, any woman who married him would be in for a hard life.

Aunt He gave up on the thought, but Second Aunt He immediately chimed in, smiling as she gossiped: “Educated Youth Lin, you’re not that young anymore. Even Educated Youth Shen, who’s younger than you, is already married with three kids. How come you’re still not married?”

Lin Jiadong paused. He was already twenty-six this year, an age that was considered quite old for marriage, whether in the countryside or the city.

Among the Educated Youth who had come down to the countryside with him, some had already returned to the city, while others had married local village girls.

He and Jiang Wanrou had been together for several years, but their relationship had always been kept secret. No one knew that he and Jiang Wanrou were seeing each other, so some people suspected he had health issues and often looked at him strangely.

He had brought up the idea of making their relationship public and getting married, but Jiang Wanrou refused, saying that her elder sister, Jiang Ailing, would never agree to their union.

So, he could only wait and wait.

Now, he simply chuckled awkwardly and said: “I just haven’t met the right person yet.”

Second Aunt He nodded. “That’s true. You Educated Youth might go back to the city at any time, so there’s no need to rush.”

Lin Jiadong smiled without saying anything, tacitly accepting her words.

However, Shen Yiyi knew that before the college entrance exams were reinstated, given Lin Jiadong’s sensitive background, he would not dare to return to the city even if he had the chance.

Seeing that Lin Jiadong did not wish to say more, the others did not press further.

The ox cart soon arrived at Qingshui Village. Unlike last time, when she was the only passenger, Shen Yiyi knew it would not be appropriate to ask Grandpa Niu to take her directly to her doorstep. So, when they reached the designated stop, she got off along with the others.

Since she was seated at the innermost part of the cart and had a lot of belongings—including five pounds of cotton, which took up quite a bit of space—she decided to wait until everyone else had gotten off before she did.

The aunties all climbed down first, but Lin Jiadong remained standing at the back without moving. Even though his family had fallen on hard times, they had once been wealthy, and he had received a noble-style etiquette education. Out of gentlemanly manners, he waited for Shen Yiyi to go first.

Seeing that he was not moving, Shen Yiyi simply stepped off the cart first.

Lin Jiadong followed behind her, but just as he placed one foot on the ground, his other foot was still on the cart when—

Uncle Niu, eager to get home for dinner, assumed everyone had disembarked and gave the ox a quick flick of the reins.

Lin Jiadong lurched forward. Right in front of him was Shen Yiyi.

Catching a glimpse of him from the corner of her eye, Shen Yiyi swiftly dodged to the side. To move faster, she even dropped the cotton in her hands.

Lin Jiadong fell flat on his face. He looked up at Shen Yiyi in disbelief. “You just… stood there and watched me fall?”

Shen Yiyi picked up her cotton, raised an eyebrow, and said: “What, should I have stood still and waited for you to crash into me? You might not care about your reputation, but I do.”

“You…” Lin Jiadong frowned at her attitude. He wanted to say that she had not been like this before. Even if they could not be lovers, they were at least from the same place—there was no need for such hostility.

Just then, a voice called out from behind—

“Wife!”