Chapter 76

“I also submitted the missing documents from last time and got all the certificates ready for transferring the two children’s household registrations. Now all the paperwork and procedures are complete,” Fu Qingshan said. “I can buy the train tickets this afternoon, and if everything goes smoothly, I can be back in the provincial capital by tomorrow.”

The Fu family ancestors were wealthy landowners, and Fu’s maternal grandparents were kind-hearted people who often did good deeds, building a private school to offer free education to the children in the town. Although the Fu family later fell on hard times, many people in the town had benefited from their kindness—including those who are now in leadership positions. When they were young and poor, they had received help from the Fu family to some extent.

Fu Qingshan and the two children were the only blood descendants of the Fu family, so no one would interfere with what Fu Qingshan needed to handle. Those who could help with anything convenient were always happy to assist.

“Fu Qingshan!” Zhang Zao suddenly shouted sharply, as if struck by lightning.

“The Zhang family is my natal family! How could you let the Zhang family lose so much face?”

Zhang Zao immediately felt weak all over. It was over—her natal family would surely hate her now.

Just half a month ago, she had agreed with her family to let Fu Qingshan marry Zhang Mengdi. But then she changed her mind and liked Liu Yun instead. She still hadn’t dared to tell her family about this, fearing they would come to cause trouble. Now it was all ruined!

Fu Qingshan had gone straight to the village officials and even made the Zhang family write an apology letter that was posted on the town’s bulletin board, making the Zhang family the laughingstock of the whole town!

Her natal family had suffered such a huge loss but hadn’t shown up yet. It was obvious that she was truly finished. She was probably never going back to her family again.

If a woman loses the support of her natal family, how can she still hold her head high in her husband’s family?

“Fu Qingshan! How dare you handle things so ruthlessly!” Zhang Zao felt like the sky was falling. Her whole body went limp, and she collapsed onto the ground, still struggling to reach out toward Fu Qingshan. “Go tear down that apology letter! Hurry!”

Zheng Dajiang hurriedly pulled the embarrassed Zhang Zao off the ground and said casually, “Mom, it’s the Zhang family who’s losing face, not ours. Why are you so angry? That whole family just wants money and stuff from you. What good can they do for you?”

Zheng Dajiang didn’t like the Zhang family because they all looked down on him. They disdained him for not having a job, for being so old and still single, and for being useless to the Zhang family.

The Zhang family didn’t like Zheng Dajiang either, and he looked down on them too, thinking they were all petty country bumpkins with short tempers.

“That’s my natal family! They raised me, and they found me such a good husband’s family. I owe them my respect! You’re my son—how can you say those things in front of me? You’re hurting me so much!” Zhang Zao considered herself one of the best married women in the village. Although her husband was remarried, his previous marriage produced two children who didn’t even get along with their biological father. She moved into a big house with no in-laws to serve, and her husband had a skill that could contribute to the household income. They were united, so Zhang Zao was grateful to her parents for arranging such a good marriage for her.

“Go call your dad back! Hurry up!” Zhang Zao pushed Zheng Dajiang toward the door.

Zheng Dajiang was reluctant. He shrugged his arm and made a mouthing gesture at Zhang Zao to look at Liu Yun, reminding her that the most important thing right now was Fu Qingshan’s marriage to Liu Yun. Only if Fu Qingshan married Liu Yun would he get a job.

Zhang Zao immediately looked toward Liu Yun, hoping she could help say a few words.

But at this moment, Liu Yun finally realized she had made a big mistake. She had asked many people about Fu Qingshan, but no one had told her that Fu Qingshan’s relationship with his family was so bad. If she had known earlier how poor his relationship with his family was, she definitely wouldn’t have tried to work through the Zheng family. She had made the wrong move.

Fu Qingshan hated the people in his family — his stepmother and two younger brothers — and yet she was trying to arrange a job for Zheng Dajiang. Wasn’t that just giving Fu Qingshan one more reason to dislike her?

Thinking of this, Liu Yun hurriedly apologized to Fu Qingshan, “Sorry, I didn’t know your relationship with your family was like this. If I had known…”

“Does that have anything to do with you?” Fu Qingshan completely lost his patience with Liu Yun. He didn’t like hearing her talk and kept interrupting her.

“Comrade Fu Qingshan, I hope you can give me a chance, and give yourself a chance too. I hope you can get to know me again.” Liu Yun was not someone who would give up easily. She truly admired Fu Qingshan and was willing to try harder.

Seeing Fu Qingshan unmoved and not even glancing at her, Liu Yun turned to try another approach through Qiao Xinyi.

“Comrade Qiao Xinyi, what do you think about my earlier suggestion?” Liu Yun said, “If you can get your diploma before marriage, it will be a good thing for both you and Comrade Fu Qingshan — like icing on the cake, right?”

“If you can’t even pass the elementary school diploma, then I say you’re not worthy of Comrade Fu Qingshan. You can’t argue with that, can you?”

“If you’re not worthy, then you should consciously step back. Two people together should improve together, not have one dragging the other down. Don’t you think so?”

Fu Qingshan’s impatience with Liu Yun had reached its limit. He didn’t want to listen to Liu Yun, nor did he want Qiao Xinyi to listen. He reached out and covered Qiao Xinyi’s ears.

“Too noisy, don’t listen. Let’s go to the Feng family.” Then he kept covering her ears and tried to lead Qiao Xinyi toward the Feng family’s direction.

Qiao Xinyi was amused by Fu Qingshan’s gesture. Then seeing Liu Yun’s face stretched tight with frustration, she laughed even harder. She took Fu Qingshan’s hand down and linked her arm through his, smiling at Liu Yun as she replied:

“Sure, then I have to thank Aunt Liu Yun for planning and arranging everything for me. Aunt Liu Yun, I’ll be counting on you~”

“But remember, if I pass the exam, Aunt Liu Yun, you’re not allowed to pester my boyfriend anymore. After all, he really doesn’t like women older than him.”

Qiao Xinyi agreed, which was exactly Liu Yun’s goal, but it made Liu Yun quite angry.

“I’m only six years older than you,” Liu Yun said through clenched teeth, “You can call me by my name, or call me Comrade Liu.”

After that, Liu Yun quickly added, “I’ll go borrow a phone in town to call my uncle and have him arrange things in advance. You don’t have to wait for me—you can head to the Canned Food Factory Elementary School first, and we’ll meet there. That’ll save time.”

She gave Qiao Xinyi no chance to regret it, and gave Fu Qingshan no chance to help Qiao Xinyi refuse. After saying this, Liu Yun immediately turned and left.

Having realized that currying favor with the Zheng family gave her no leverage to pursue Fu Qingshan, Liu Yun had completely lost any reason to maintain ties with the Zhengs.

No matter how much Zhang Zao called after her, Liu Yun got on her bicycle and left as if she couldn’t hear her.

Fu Qingshan sighed. “I can help you arrange the exam stuff—you don’t really have to agree to her.”

“If she wants to be busy, let her be. It saves me some trouble. The time saved, we can use to go on dates. Isn’t that better?” Qiao Xinyi shrugged. It was something she was going to do anyway, and now with someone else running errands for her, that was great. No money spent, no favors owed.