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Cheng Yuanyue had already thrown two fits at home, leaving Shen Xiuying and Wen Siying helpless against her.
When she wanted to do chores, she did them. When she didn’t, nobody dared to say a word.
As for Cheng Jiafu, he had suddenly become extremely diligent these past few days—
waking up early to make breakfast, going out to the fields, never slacking in anything.
His sudden diligence pained Wen Siying’s heart.
She kept urging him to stop working and go back, but Jiafu refused:
“Grandma, I’m a man. What’s wrong with me doing some work? What if the wife I marry in the future ends up like Ayuan—won’t I still have to do it? You can’t take care of me for a lifetime.”
The truth was, he didn’t dare stay home alone with Ayuan.
If she went crazy again when no one was around, and decided to cut off something important of his… what then?
Shen Xiuying only laughed:
“Mother, just let him be. Jiafu is right—he’ll have to marry a wife someday, and after that there are things he’ll have to take care of himself.”
Wen Siying, however, was still angry:
“I’ve tolerated her for two days already. If she dares act up again, we’ll send her to the city to work. Even just washing dishes in a restaurant makes dozens of yuan a month—that’s better than staying here and fighting against us.”
Shen Xiuying nodded, lowering her voice:
“These days I’ll ask around and see if any place in the city is hiring. Once I find out, we’ll send Ayuan over.
Also… I heard something. Do you remember Su Peipei from Miaoxia Village? The girl Jiafu fought Wu Tianyou over last time? They say her uncle is looking to arrange a marriage for her. Why don’t we propose on Jiafu’s behalf?
Back then, Jiafu nearly went to jail fighting for her. He treats her so well—it would only make sense for her to marry him.”
Meanwhile, Lu Chen had asked for directions to Tianxiang Village. He was about to drive over to find that shameless woman when his father called.
“Ah Chen,” Lu Yuanshan said over the phone, “before your Uncle Su Xincheng passed away, he mentioned he still had a daughter, sent to live with his younger brother in the countryside. I wrote down her name and address. Go find her, and see how she’s living now.
If her life isn’t good, you must look after her. Back then, if Xincheng hadn’t taken that bullet for me, I wouldn’t be alive today. Now that I know he still has a daughter, we must bring her home.”
So, Lu Chen changed his plans. Instead of Tianxiang Village, he turned toward Miaoxia Village.
In Miaoxia Village, Su Peipei was packing her things.
Yesterday, her uncle told her he’d take her to the county to find work and that she shouldn’t go to school anymore. He said working in the county meant she could earn a wage each month.
But when they got to town, she realized his real plan wasn’t to find her a job—it was to sell her off to serve a man.
If not for the fact that the man yesterday had been decent, recognizing her unease and not forcing her… she might already have lost her innocence, reduced to a piece of meat on the chopping block.
Even though that plan failed, her uncle wasn’t angry. Instead, he arranged another job for her in town, waiting tables in a restaurant.
In his words: “Peipei is pretty—there’s no fear she won’t marry well. But in the countryside, there are too few wealthy men. She needs to go to the city and meet more people. A restaurant may be messy, but at least she’ll make connections.”
Her aunt, Zhang Xiaohong, echoed him:
“Peipei, your uncle already has three children to raise, and your father hasn’t sent money in ages. He can’t afford to keep you in school. Work at the restaurant for now. If your father sends money later, you can go back to studying.”
“Uncle,” Peipei said coldly, “my father’s sent you plenty of money over the years. Enough for me to study through university. How can there not even be tuition for high school? Give me my father’s number. I’ll call and ask him myself.”
Her uncle only snorted:
“If your father contacts us, we’ll tell you. For now, hurry up. If you don’t leave soon, you’ll miss the bus.”
He tossed her luggage onto the back of a bicycle, and her cousin Su Xinyun called out:
“Come on, I’ll take you down.”
At the village entrance, Wen Siying and Shen Xiuying came over carrying several catties of pork belly and two catties of sugar, with Jiafu and Ayuan trailing behind.
Hearing that his grandmother and mother were going to propose for him to Su Peipei, Jiafu was naturally delighted.
Su Peipei was the prettiest girl in all the nearby villages—marrying her would be an enormous source of pride.
Ayuan, on the other hand, was expressionless.
She hadn’t wanted to come.
In the original book, today was the day Jiafu went to propose to Su Peipei, only to encounter the male lead. The male lead discovered that Su Peipei was the girl from the guesthouse.
When he arrived, Jiafu was tugging at Peipei, coaxing her to marry him. To the male lead, it looked like harassment. One kick from him broke two of Jiafu’s ribs.
After that, the male lead declared he would take responsibility for Su Peipei, taking her away from Miaoxia Village to the city.
Under his protection, Su Peipei grew step by step into the true heroine.
Yuanyue hadn’t wanted to come because she feared staying too close to the original female lead. She didn’t want to accidentally become part of the “plot machinery.”
She wasn’t here to save Jiafu either.
But then again—they were all inside the book now. Who was afraid of whom?
Today was when the male and female leads were supposed to meet. Yuanyue wanted to see for herself whether the plot would still unfold the same way, even though she hadn’t married as originally written.
From afar, she saw Su Xinyun pushing a bicycle, a luggage bag tied to the back. Su Peipei followed with a blank face.
Wen Siying and Shen Xiuying exchanged a glance—they knew this was their chance.
“Well, isn’t this Old Su’s second son?” Wen Siying said with a smile. “Are you sending Peipei to school?”
Su Peipei was famous in the nearby villages—a pretty, top-performing high schooler about to enter her senior year. She would be eligible for college entrance exams next year.
Unfortunately, rumor had it that her uncle was pulling her out of school to work in a factory.
Shen Xiuying smiled faintly and whispered to Su Xinyun:
“Brother Yun, I won’t beat around the bush. If Peipei really goes to the city, men will swarm around her. Some silver-tongued liar might trick her away. Rather than letting her fall into the hands of strangers, why not marry her into a family you know well?
How about… my son, Jiafu?”