Chapter 4: It’s Back

Chen Kuanren was so angry that he jumped up.

Geng Zhiye instinctively hid Ye Fan behind him. The eldest brother of the Ye family grabbed Chen Kuanren’s arm and said, “Uncle, calm down. No matter how much trouble Ye Fan causes, she’s still your own daughter.”

“I can’t handle such a fierce daughter!” Geng Zhiye was half a head taller than Chen Kuanren and was a soldier; someone like Ye Fan could take on five of him. Chen Kuanren dared not confront him head-on, so he let out a harsh remark and sat down.

Ye Fan clung to Geng Zhiye’s shoulder, peeking her head out, and said with a mischievous smile, “So you threw me away.”

“You—” Chen Kuanren’s face turned red, his neck thickened, and he was short of breath with anger.

Ye’s father and mother didn’t hold it against the Chen family, but that didn’t mean they weren’t upset. Seeing Chen Kuanren nearly fainting, Ye’s father felt as if he had just drunk ice-cold soda on a sweltering summer day, his mind and body refreshed.

Geng Zhiye pressed Ye Fan’s head back down. “So what do we do now?”

Sister Ye explained that she would accompany their mother to Shencheng tomorrow to handle Xiao Hui’s household registration.

Geng Zhiye frowned and asked, “You and Mom, both of you?” He turned to Ye Fan and inquired, “Aren’t you going?”

“It wouldn’t matter if I went. I’m pure of character and don’t look like them at all. There’s no scientific basis for blood recognition. What those two did was seen by no one except themselves. If I say my last name is Chen, will the police believe me?”

Zhao Rujing angrily retorted, “Don’t start off with threats and accusations.”

Ye Fan replied sarcastically, “You threw me away, and now you don’t allow me to be upset about it?”

“If it weren’t for us, would you have grown up this big?” Zhao Rujing countered.

Ye Fan chuckled softly, “Finally speaking the truth.”

Zhao Rujing wanted to ask her what she meant, but as she thought about it, her expression changed dramatically, and she stammered, “I-I was angered by you!”

“Alright. Just deceive yourself, and that’s enough.” Ye Fan asked Geng Zhiye, “How many days of leave do you have left?”

Military personnel who are separated from their spouses have a few more days of leave compared to unmarried soldiers or those whose families can accompany them. However, Geng Zhiye’s situation is special; he is currently the top leader on the island and cannot be away for too long. “Half a month.”

“That’s enough.” Ye Fan patted his shoulder with a serious expression, as if entrusting him with an important task. “Don’t let the organization down.”

Geng Zhiye chuckled at her words, stood at attention, and saluted: “Madam, don’t worry, I guarantee I’ll complete the mission!”

Tao Chunlan’s eyes relaxed, and Ye’s father’s serious face showed a smile as he scolded, “Nonsense!” Before Geng Zhiye could make a witty retort, he asked, “Have you eaten?”

Sister Ye replied, “What can you eat on the train? I’ll go boil some noodles.” She was about to ask Ye Fan if she was hungry but changed the question at the last moment, saying, “Xiaohui, you must be hungry, right? Uncle and Aunt haven’t eaten either, right? I’ll make more.”

Chen Xiaohui felt like an outsider, as if she were in a different life.

“I feel just as out of place in this family.” Suddenly hearing her name made her pause for a moment before she snapped back to reality. “I—I’ll help you.”

“You don’t need that many people to cook noodles.” Sister Ye called her husband to go get vegetables.

The Ye family used to grow many flowers in their yard, but during the tough years, the country faced difficulties, and everyone had to tighten their belts. Tao Chunlan pulled out the flowers and planted vegetables instead. During the hardest years, they even grew a patch of sweet potatoes—spring sweet potatoes followed by fall sweet potatoes—which had high yields, and both the stems and leaves could be eaten, helping many relatives and neighbors.

Tao Chunlan told Geng Zhiye to go back to the house and change into something else while waiting for the noodles.

Geng Zhiye raised his leg to close the door, threw his luggage onto a chair, and hugged his wife. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”

Ye Fan wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m not afraid. Those two want me to go back to Shencheng to meet relatives and friends? What nerve! They’re scared they can’t support me, so they tossed me aside. Luckily, it’s my parents; if they were a bit poorer, I would have long turned into a pile of dirt.”

“We’re not going back.”

Ye Fan nodded. “I said it; I’m a Geng family daughter-in-law.”

“Changing your last name to Geng?”

Ye Fan pinched his cheek playfully. “Are you so tired from the trip that you’re confused? Chen Xiaohui doesn’t seem to know what she wants. It’s like she’s trying to hold onto both sides. She hasn’t mentioned changing her last name, so she probably doesn’t need to.”

“Why would she want to keep dealing with parents like that instead of breaking it off?” Geng Zhiye frowned.

Ye Fan was also puzzled. “She seems really afraid of them, like they have something over her.”

“Did you ask her?”

Ye Fan rolled her eyes, feeling exasperated. “How am I supposed to ask? My position is so awkward. If I say too much, she might think I dislike her or don’t want to let her have her parents back. But how could that be? I’d love to have more siblings; if Mom and Dad get sick and need to be hospitalized, there’d be someone to help.”

“My clever, wise, and farsighted Fan-Fan,” Geng Zhiye said, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek. “Ordinary folks can’t compare to you.”

Ye Fan pinched his cheek and pulled his head away. “Cut it out. Go change! You smell terrible!”

“Even if I smell, I’m still yours.” Geng Zhiye gave her a quick peck on the corner of her mouth and dodged away.

Ye Fan opened the wardrobe to find clothes. “What’s in your bag? Didn’t you say there were clothes and shoes here, so you didn’t need to bring anything?”

“A toiletry bag, some snacks for the two little rascals, and a few seafood items—” Geng Zhiye caught the clothes she tossed to him. “Where are Dabao and Erbao?”

Ye Fan replied, “Oh, you finally remembered them. They’re at your dad’s place.”

Geng Zhiye slowed down as he changed clothes. “If you’re too busy, why didn’t you ask Xiaoqin to take care of them for a few days?”

Xiaoqin, whose full name is Geng Zhiqin, is Ye Fan’s sister-in-law, just twenty years old, and Geng Zhiye’s half-sister.

His biological younger sister.

The Geng family situation, though seemingly complicated, is actually straightforward. Geng Zhiye has two older brothers; his eldest brother also has a different mother. After the eldest brother’s mother died heroically, the organization introduced a female comrade to Geng’s father, who later had Geng Zhiye and his second brother with her.

The three brothers were born during wartime, and the conditions in the enemy-occupied base area were harsh with little food. The women of that era were very modest, treating all children fairly without favoritism, and there wasn’t even the option to spoil one over the other. As a result, the three brothers had a close bond.

Geng Zhiye’s mother fell ill from overwork and passed away just before dawn. Seeing that the family consisted entirely of men—without even anyone to mend their torn socks—the organization introduced another female comrade to Geng’s father. She was Yu Wentao, Geng Zhiqin’s mother.

When Yu Wentao married into the Geng family, the eldest son was already eighteen. He bluntly told her in front of their father, “You didn’t marry Old Geng for his age. You married him for his good salary and benefits, and we want you here because you’re young and can take care of our father and two younger brothers. If you behave and fulfill your duties, you’ll have nothing to worry about in this household. But if you cause trouble, getting in was easy, but getting out won’t be.”

Yu Wentao was so angry that she cried on the spot. Geng’s father ordered his eldest son to be quiet and explained gently to his new wife, “I’m often away from home and can’t keep an eye on the three boys. Right now, I can still discipline them if they step out of line, but after I’m gone, what will you do?”

u Wentao vowed she had no intention of disrupting this family.

This was true.

At least for now, she was focused on living a good life. At the time, Geng Zhiye was eleven years old, still innocent, and said that his eldest brother’s approach was a case of “better to be cautious first and trusting later.”

With his fair complexion and gentle demeanor, young Geng Zhiye looked well-behaved, and Yu Wentao thought to herself that this child wouldn’t lie. Her initial unease vanished instantly.

Two years later, Geng Zhiqin was born. The family’s limited supply of brown sugar and eggs was prioritized for the new mother. Even Geng Zhiye’s maternal grandmother and aunt came to visit her. During her time in the Geng household, Yu Wentao felt content; she had a gentle temperament and was attentive to her husband and children. Unfortunately, this situation only lasted about six or seven years.

That year, Geng’s father had to retire due to health reasons. Although it hadn’t reached the point where he was forgotten, Yu Wentao clearly felt she was not as well-regarded as before.

That year, Geng Zhiqin was thirteen, and it looked like her path to the college entrance exam kept being delayed. By the time she was sixteen or seventeen, she would likely have to be sent to the countryside, something Yu Wentao couldn’t bear. She thought every day about pushing Geng Zhiye into a marriage alliance.

Perhaps her hard work paid off, or maybe Geng Zhiye and Ye Fan were simply fated to be together, but Yu Wentao happened to connect with Tao Chunlan. The Ye family had four members, each working in different units, so Yu Wentao felt it wouldn’t be difficult to find a spot for Geng Zhiqin.

As the saying goes, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Yu Wentao worried that someone more influential than the Ye family might take her daughter’s job opportunity. When Geng Zhiqin had just turned sixteen, she started frantically arranging a marriage for her daughter wherever she could.

Geng’s father and the mother of Geng’s eldest brother were from the same hometown, and the two shared a bond that kept them aligned on family matters.

Over the years, the Geng family frequently supported relatives from their hometown. A few years ago, when Geng’s father returned to the village to pay respects to his ancestors, the villagers were so moved that they cried upon seeing him. Both Geng’s father and Geng Zhiye’s eldest brother suggested arranging for Geng Zhiqin to return to the village, as they felt getting married at seventeen or eighteen was no big deal. However, Yu Wentao strongly opposed this, blurting out, “Even if you don’t care, I do; my daughter doesn’t need your concern.”

Perhaps due to the uncertainty of the times, Yu Wentao’s underlying insecurities had grown, and she increasingly valued wealth over poverty.

The only fortunate aspect was that Yu Wentao had just retired this year and didn’t usually have time to discipline her daughter. Before Geng Zhiqin turned ten, she was cared for by her eldest brother’s wife, and later by her second brother and his wife when they moved. Ye Fan was generous with money and didn’t mind buying food and supplies, always bringing back a large bag. Yu Wentao encouraged her daughter to maintain a good relationship with Ye Fan, and, influenced by her sisters-in-law, Geng Zhiqin did not pick up on her mother’s flaws.

A few days before Ye Fan and Geng Zhiye’s wedding, a distant cousin of Ye’s eldest sister-in-law mentioned that the West Seaside Supply and Marketing Cooperative needed an accountant. Recently, due to heavy rain and slippery roads, the current accountant had fallen and injured himself. If it was a mild injury, he’d need six months to recover; if serious, he might have to retire.

Ye Fan had studied Russian in school, was good with an abacus, and had picked up some English over the past couple of years, taught by her sister-in-law. But at twenty, with no accounting experience, her sister-in-law had serious doubts about whether Ye Fan could handle the job.

Her cousin suggested that if the cooperative was desperate, they might just give Ye Fan a chance.

The work at the cooperative was simple enough that Ye Fan could have handled it even as a university student in her previous life, not to mention her ten years of experience afterward. The head of the cooperative initially thought the Ye family was “using connections unfairly” and tried to make things difficult for her, but Ye Fan stood her ground and impressed him. He agreed to hire her, but with a three-month probation period.

A month later, the head of the cooperative submitted a report to officially confirm Ye Fan’s position. Once confirmed, Ye Fan cleverly used policy loopholes to drive a three-wheeler to the agricultural products collection station to buy chickens, ducks, geese, fruits, and vegetables.

The produce grown by the villagers never lacked a market, and they filled every available space around their homes with vegetables. Even the lazy ones weren’t idle anymore; they went up the mountains to gather chestnuts, walnuts, and hawthorn. When there was too much hawthorn to sell, they sliced and dried it to store as dried hawthorn.

During the peach, pear, and apple seasons, the cooperative never ran out of stock. In winter, there were sweet potatoes, along with dried mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and more. In the six months since Ye Fan took over, the cooperative was bustling with people every day, except when it rained or snowed. By the end of the year, when the accounts were closed, her cooperative’s revenue was twice as much as others’.

Someone at the collection station had tried to report Ye Fan, but the things she bought were all leftovers that the station hadn’t wanted. When the station tried to make things difficult, Ye Fan questioned if they, as future successors of socialism, really wanted to see the villagers’ hard-grown vegetables go to waste.

Ye Fan wasn’t speculating for personal gain, nor did she pocket a single cent of public funds. Those who tried to report her were a bit intimidated by the Ye family’s influence and, unable to find any evidence against her, had no choice but to let her keep showing up with her three-wheeler day after day.

The cooperative cleared out a room specifically for selling agricultural products, but they were a bit short-staffed. Naturally, Ye Fan brought her sister-in-law in to help. Not wanting to attract gossip, as the young girl wouldn’t be able to handle it, and hoping that she would eventually go to college and find a more relaxed and respectable job, Ye Fan decided to hire her as a temporary worker.

With family backing her up, even as a temporary worker, Yu Wentao was satisfied. Not in a hurry to marry off her daughter, she began to be picky again. It wasn’t that the in-laws were hard to get along with; it was just that one family had a domineering elder sister-in-law.

Geng Zhiye’s second sister-in-law asked her inexpensive mother-in-law if Ye Fan was tough.

Of course, Ye Fan was formidable; even the cooperative director, who was two or three decades older than her, listened to her. But Yu Wentao had something to say: the eldest daughter of the Ye family was reasonable and didn’t take advantage of others.

Not to mention Old Geng, even those with a pension smaller than hers wouldn’t do. If the parents had no pension, there was no need to bring it up at all.

In this era, it wasn’t just Yu Wentao who was reluctant to send her daughter to the countryside; other families also first considered work or joining the military, and if those paths were truly unavailable, then they would marry off their daughters. There weren’t so many talented young men waiting for Yu Wentao to choose from.

When Yu Wentao found someone whose family and work were satisfactory, she still complained about their appearance, calling them “ugly” or “misshapen.”

This year, Geng’s father is sixty-eight, with multiple shrapnel pieces in his body. His health isn’t good, and he has no mind to deal with Yu Wentao, so she feels supported by the old man. Occasionally, when Geng’s father scolds her a few times, she cries, saying she has only one daughter and no one to rely on in her old age.

Yu Wentao causes too much trouble; Geng’s father worries that if he were to pass away first, his sons and daughters-in-law would kick her out, so he can only let her continue her antics.

Tao Chunlan worries that her daughter won’t adapt well in her in-laws’ house. She also had a few encounters with Yu Wentao before and after Ye Fan’s marriage and found that Yu Wentao had quite a few flaws.

Geng Zhiye got off the car and headed straight for his father-in-law’s house, not wanting to see his father, who was pretending to be deaf and mute, and his increasingly confused stepmother.

Ye Fan said, “Xiaoqin has to go to work. Aunt Yu doesn’t know about this yet.

I can’t say anything reckless in front of Dabao and Erbao.”
“Isn’t the reason for your and Chen Xiaohui’s leave from your father-in-law and elder brother just that you two mistook each other? It won’t take a week before it becomes a huge scandal. Once I come back from Shencheng, I’ll take care of her household registration, and even reporters from second-rate newspapers will come to interview you.”

“By the time it reaches the newspaper, I’ll have already landed on the island with you.”

Geng Zhiye stopped fastening his belt. “Land where?”

“With the army,” Ye Fan shot him a glare. “Are you that shocked?”

Geng Zhiye hurriedly fastened his belt and pulled her into his arms. “Did my father-in-law agree?”

Ye Fan replied, “Dad has never opposed it. It’s just that Mom thinks Erbao is too small and might not adapt to life on the island. If he gets sick, there’s no way to get him to a big hospital in time. It’s not that my elder brother and sister-in-law are afraid of me suffering over there. Once I leave, there’s no one at home to take care of the elders, and Mom will probably end up nagging my sister-in-law to have more children every day.”

“Everyone’s thirty already.”

“Your sister-in-law should be having a baby too.”

Ye Fan shook her head. “Sister-in-law said that when she gets older, she wants to live with us so we can take care of each other. If someone gets sick and needs to go to the hospital, we’ll hire a caregiver. If she passes away, we’ll help her with the cremation, and if she goes before us, we’ll leave the arrangements to Erbao and Dabao. At the very least, she still has her nephews and nieces.”

“Your mom doesn’t think that way.”

Ye Fan laughed. “That’s why Chen Xiaohui came over.”

Geng Zhiye nodded in agreement. “That’s true; this one is enough to worry my mother-in-law.”

“Stop making sarcastic comments. Get up!” Ye Fan pushed his hand away. “You seem to smell a bit?”

Geng Zhiye replied, “I took a fishing boat to shore, then rode a tractor from the villagers to the bus stop, took a bus to the train station, then traveled on the train for two days, and finally took the bus back. It’s a wonder I don’t smell.”

“Thanks for your hard work, Captain Geng.” Ye Fan touched his face. “You’ve gotten rough.”

Geng Zhiye held her hand. “I’ve missed you.”

Ye Fan shrugged and shivered a bit. “You really should let your stepmother see what kind of person you are. That way, when she’s looking for a partner for Xiaoqin, she won’t bring you up.”

“Didn’t you say before that looking decent was enough?”

“Her idea of decent basically equals having thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a commanding presence. The weekend I received your letter, I brought Dabao and Erbao back and told her and your dad that you’d be taking a vacation in a few days. Just then, I happened to run into her coming back from a blind date with Xiaoqin. Xiaoqin thought it was okay, and you guess what she said?”

“She’s stingy and doesn’t keep clean? If she agreed to let Xiaoqin meet, then her family and personal conditions must be acceptable.”

Ye Fan nodded. “She walked in and immediately started criticizing Xiaoqin: ‘Not as tall as your third brother, has a worse temper than him, and it’s like begging to get her to say a word to him. Doesn’t she have any shame? No knowledge, no decency, and she wants to find someone like your third sister-in-law? Dream on!’”

Geng Zhiye could imagine his stepmother saying this while pointing her finger at his sister, looking disdainful. “Don’t mind her. Xiaoqin is only twenty; she’s still young.”

“Just tell me the truth. When you were set up with me, you were already twenty-six, was it because she was too much trouble?”

Geng Zhiye replied, “Not entirely. At that time, I was in Yangcheng, and it took ten days to travel back and forth. I didn’t want to come back. At twenty-two or twenty-three, I wasn’t in a hurry and didn’t feel much about it; then suddenly, I turned twenty-six.”

“So, you hadn’t met before then?”