Chapter 5

Jiang Lian shook her head. “Those two are really nauseatingly lovey-dovey.”

She said this for Xie Lang’s benefit. Since her younger sister was already married, it was best to make him give up any feelings he still had for Jiang Ling.

“It’s the first time visiting your home, so I should bring a gift.”

The daily chemical factory wasn’t far from the staff housing, but Song Guanshu still made a detour to the supply and marketing cooperative, where he bought two jars of canned fruit and two tins of malted milk powder.

Jiang Lian and Xie Lang returned home a little earlier than the other two. Aside from Jiang Liwu, who was at school for evening self-study, everyone else in the Jiang family was at home.

Sun Yilan saw her eldest daughter and had just opened her mouth to ask why she came back so suddenly when she spotted Xie Lang following behind her.

Although several years had passed and the boy had grown into a young man, it was still easy to recognize at a glance that this was Xie Lang, Director Bai’s son.

He was quite a rare guest.

With Xie Lang, an outsider, present, Jiang Lian couldn’t immediately tell the family that this ungrateful girl Jiang Ling had gone and registered her marriage with someone.

Jiang Zhifu and Jiang Liwen, father and son, quickly invited the guest to sit down and brought out some leftover wedding candies from a recent celebration.

Jiang Zhiwen took out a cigarette and offered it to Xie Lang—this was the highest form of hospitality for a guest in the house.

Xie Lang waved his hand. “Thank you, I don’t smoke.”

Even after Jiang Zhiwen offered the cigarette a second time, Xie Lang still refused, so he lit one for himself instead.

Jiang Ling pushed the door open from outside and was immediately met with a strong, acrid smell of cigarette smoke.

The living room was thick with haze, and Xie Lang looked like a timid daughter-in-law, sitting awkwardly between Jiang Zhifu and Jiang Liwen.

“Third one, what’s going on?” Sun Yilan couldn’t help but speak up first.

Yesterday she had heard that Jiang Ling had a partner, and upon seeing the young man behind her, everyone more or less guessed who he was.

Sun Yilan inwardly blamed Jiang Ling for bringing her boyfriend home without even giving the family a heads-up.

“You must be Xiao Song, come on in.”

The Jiang family’s home was small, and so was the living room. Squeezing three people onto the sofa was already pushing the limit.

“Wasn’t sure what you two liked, so I just picked up a little something,” Song Guanshu said.

Song Guanshu handed over the cloth bag in his hand. When Sun Yilan saw the canned oranges and malted milk powder, the expression in her eyes relaxed a little—these were valuable items.

Jiang Lian was a bit confused about what was going on in her own home. It was clear that her parents knew the youngest had a partner, but she wasn’t sure whether they knew the two had already registered their marriage.

Following custom, Sun Yilan took the valuable gifts and put them away in the main bedroom. Jiang Lian also followed her into the room.

In the small living room, only Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu remained standing.

Jiang Ling pulled out two small folding stools, one for each of them, and they sat down in the corner.

Xie Lang didn’t smoke, so in order to properly entertain this distinguished guest, the Jiang father and son not only offered wedding candy but also brought out roasted peanuts.

He was caught between the father and son of the Jiang family, who took turns asking about his university education and his internship at the Public Security Bureau.

Jiang Ling stepped forward and grabbed a handful for Song Guanshu. “Go ahead and eat.” Poor guy, came bearing a whole bag of gifts, yet hadn’t even managed to get a piece of candy.

Song Guanshu was a bit of a clean freak. The roasted peanuts still had their shells, and the outer layer was dusty and dirty.

Having them placed on his clothes like this made him extremely uncomfortable.

The culprit, however, saw nothing wrong and even wore an expression as if seeking praise.

He endured the discomfort and said, “Thank you.”

While answering the barrage of questions from the Jiang father and son, Xie Lang couldn’t help but glance over at the interaction between Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu, his heart filled with bitterness.

The Jiang men were entirely focused on the Personnel Director’s only son, showing little interest in the man their daughter had actually brought home.

Song Guanshu didn’t show the slightest hint of dissatisfaction at being ignored. He just quietly shelled the peanuts.

At first, Jiang Ling thought he was doing it for himself, but then he unexpectedly handed the peeled peanuts to her.

She suddenly felt a bit flustered—wasn’t this the infamous villain from the book, the one who stirred up trouble at every turn just to make things difficult for the male and female leads, now peeling peanuts for her?

Of course, Jiang Ling quickly came to her senses. This damn guy wasn’t doing it out of kindness—he was building his image again, and more importantly, showing off their “affection” in front of Xie Lang. Shameless.

Before long, a sharp voice rang out from the master bedroom: “What!”

Jiang Ling leaned toward the person next to her and whispered, “She found out.”

The next second, the master bedroom door swung open from the inside. Sun Yilan stood at the doorway, shouting angrily, “Jiang Ling, are you out of your mind!”

Jiang Lian had already scolded her younger sister earlier, but now she stepped in to speak on her behalf. “Mom, keep your voice down. If the neighbors hear and start gossiping, it won’t be good for my sister’s reputation.”

Jiang Zhifu and Jiang Liwen were confused and quickly asked, “What happened?”

Jiang Zhifu gave his wife a look, signaling her to take it easy, that there was a guest present.

Sun Yilan snorted, “What happened? Go ask your daughter!”

Since his wife wouldn’t answer, Jiang Zhifu turned to his eldest daughter. She had been whispering with his wife in the bedroom, so she must know something.

Jiang Lian worried that if she told her father outright, it might cause a scene in front of the guests. Naturally, she held her tongue.

But Jiang Ling spoke up herself. She grabbed Song Guanshu’s hand, interlocking their fingers, and held them up. “That’s right. We’re together.”

Song Guanshu had wanted to pull away, because he disliked physical contact with others. But with so many people watching, especially with Xie Lang present, he maintained a calm and composed smile, making no effort to withdraw his hand.

Jiang Liwen scolded her for being shameless. “We know you two are seeing each other, but you haven’t even registered your marriage yet. Holding hands like that, don’t you feel embarrassed?”

Holding hands before marriage was quite common among young couples.

Jiang Ling could accept it if others called her shameless. But for Jiang Liwen to say it, she couldn’t let that slide. “What’s holding hands before marriage? There are people who had kids before marriage.”

Jiang Liwen wanted to blow up but held back because Xie Lang was there. All he did was curse her under his breath for being disloyal to her own family.

Xie Lang spoke up weakly in her defense. “Jiang Ling and Brother Song are husband and wife. Holding hands doesn’t mean anything.”

Husband and wife!

Xie Lang immediately sensed something was off. He stood up and apologized to everyone, “Something’s come up at home. I’ll need to head back.”

These were Jiang Ling’s family matters, he really couldn’t stay involved any longer.

But Jiang Ling couldn’t let him leave just yet!

With Xie Lang present, even if Jiang Zhifu found out the truth, he wouldn’t make a scene in front of a guest.

Jiang Ling tried to keep him there. “You finally came to our house. We can’t let you leave without even having a meal. If word gets out, people will say we treated our guest poorly.”

Jiang Lian shot her a sharp look. What is this girl trying to do? Keeping another man back while sitting next to her own husband?

Jiang Lian laughed it off from the side. “No worries. If there’s something urgent at home, go ahead. Whenever you’re craving your aunt’s cooking, just come over. Say the word and we’ll make whatever you want to eat.”

In the Jiang household, Jiang Zhifu had always had the final say. Now his third daughter had gone and registered her marriage without his approval—this was a blatant challenge to his authority as head of the family.

And she had not the slightest trace of remorse.

Under Jiang Ling’s pleading gaze, Xie Lang eventually left.

Once he was gone, Jiang Zhifu no longer needed to suppress the fury boiling inside him. He took a step forward and raised his hand high.

“You ungrateful brat. Just because it’s New Year’s, I’ve let things slide. You really think I’m afraid of you?”

He worked as a loader at the factory, with great strength and a violent temper. A fist as big as a sandbag landing on someone wasn’t just for show—it could do real damage.

The Jiang family had three daughters and two sons. Only Jiang Liwen, as the eldest son, was rarely hit by him.

The three daughters were often beaten badly, covered in bruises. Jiang Lian and Jiang He, the two elder sisters, were only spared after they married and became “outsiders” in the family, at which point he stopped raising his hand against them.

Jiang Ling was now an adult and held a respectable job at the factory. Jiang Zhifu no longer hit her often at home.

But this body of hers still remembered Jiang Zhifu’s slaps more vividly than anything else.

She immediately ducked behind Song Guanshu. Since he was so eager to play the loving husband, she figured she might as well give him the stage.

Though Song Guanshu looked slender and refined, he stepped forward and blocked Jiang Zhifu’s raised hand. “Let’s talk this out. There’s no need to use violence.”

Jiang Lian stood in front of the young couple, blocking her father who was about to strike. Their son-in-law was in the house, how could he raise his hand against Jiang Ling?

Never mind offending the son-in-law, how would Jiang Ling ever hold her head up in front of her husband after this?

The very first time she brought her husband home, and her father beat her? That wasn’t how things should be done.

Sun Yilan reached out to pull Jiang Lian aside. “Don’t stop him. She needs to learn a lesson!”

Jiang Lian couldn’t understand it. It was one thing for her father to be unreasonable, but her mother? She should be trying to calm things down, not adding fuel to the fire. This was just outrageous.

“Mom, stop making things worse,” she pleaded earnestly. “Please talk to Dad.”

“Eldest Sister, what you said doesn’t make sense. Third Sister was in the wrong, so what’s wrong with Dad disciplining her? Or do you think Dad’s actions are inappropriate?” Zhao Hongyun spoke coldly, throwing more fuel on an already tense situation.

Among the children in the family, Jiang Ling was the best-looking. Jiang Zhifu had pinned his highest hopes on her, hoping she could marry into a family with ties to a senior government official. Or at the very least, the family of a factory leader.

But Song Guanshu’s parents were both deceased, and his background was unfavorable. Jiang Zhifu was extremely dissatisfied with him as a son-in-law.

He said bluntly, “I don’t approve of this marriage. The two of you are going to the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow and getting a divorce!”

Who ever heard of getting divorced right after getting married? Jiang Lian spoke up, “Xiao Song is a good person, and he treats Third Sister well.”

She more or less understood their parents’ thinking—they just wanted their youngest daughter to marry into a good family. It was natural to want a son-in-law who was a cadre. But her sister had already registered the marriage. Even if she got divorced now, she would be considered divorced, and finding another match later might not even be as good as Song Guanshu.

Jiang Zhifu had already been seething from not getting that slap out. Now with his right hand still held in midair by his son-in-law, he felt even more humiliated in front of his wife and children.

He had to land that slap to regain his dignity.

“Is that how you speak to your mother!” he snapped.

Jiang Lian, in her urgency to speak, had let her tone grow anxious—and that gave Jiang Zhifu just the excuse he needed to erupt.

He swung his left hand, and with a crisp smack, the slap landed. Jiang Lian felt a burning pain spread across her face.

Sun Yilan didn’t feel sorry for her daughter. Instead, she added a cutting remark, “Serves you right. I told you not to interfere, but you just had to step in and stir things up. You upset your father, happy now?”

Jiang Lian clutched her face and looked at her father in disbelief. Ever since she got married, she had never been hit again—until now.

She was already in her thirties, with a child old enough for primary school, yet she had just been slapped in the face by her father. The pain was one thing, but what cut deeper was the humiliation.

Seeing the red mark swelling on her sister’s face, Jiang Ling frowned. “What’s wrong with you? Eldest Sister didn’t do anything wrong. What gives you the right to hit her?”

“I’m her father. If I want to hit her, I will!” Jiang Zhifu snapped.

Sun Yilan chimed in as well. “Is that how you talk to your father? If you hadn’t been so reckless, your dad wouldn’t have hit your sister!”

Jiang Ling could feel Jiang Lian’s skin heating rapidly under her hand. “What did I do wrong? Marriage is free now. I can marry whoever I want.”

“You girls had food to eat and clothes to wear all because I hauled cargo at the factory,” Jiang Zhifu roared. “Now you’re grown, your wings have hardened, and you dare talk back to me? If I’d known you’d turn out this ungrateful, I should’ve drowned you at birth!”

Not a single person in the family stepped in to stop the fight. Jiang Liwen and his wife stood silently off to the side, wishing the beating had been even harsher, quietly fanning the flames.

Jiang Ling lowered her lashes and said calmly, “Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a regret pill in this world. If you’d drowned your daughters back then, that would be considered murder now. And you wouldn’t want the factory finding out that you beat and berated your wife and children, would you? If this turns into a scandal, none of us will have it easy.”

Jiang Lian tugged gently at her sister’s sleeve, signaling her to watch her words. After all, these were the parents who had raised them.

Jiang Zhifu held on to old beliefs, thinking that his wife and children were his personal property, and that whatever beatings or scoldings he gave were family matters, not even the factory director had the right to interfere.

Still, he was the type to bully the weak and fear the strong. Hearing her speak so firmly made him waver a little inside.

In this household, only the eldest daughter was a proper child in his eyes. The second and third were wild. The second had once gone so far as to report him to the factory.

He had once believed the third wouldn’t dare. But now, he wasn’t so sure.

After so many years of being a dictator at home, Jiang Zhifu had developed his own unique method for controlling his wife and children.

To sum it up in one sentence: Throwing them out of the house always works.

His wife’s maternal family had long ceased to be a refuge for her. If she were forced out of this staff housing, she would have nowhere to go and would end up on the streets.

If even his adult wife had no escape, how much more so for his children?

Usually, the mere threat of kicking them out of the house would be enough to make any of them bow their heads and admit fault.

This method was one Jiang Zhifu rarely used. He generally preferred to resolve things with his fists.

Now, utterly enraged, Jiang Zhifu roared, “This is my house! All of you, get out!”