◎ The Man In Her Dreams ◎ 

Liang Baozhen listened as Lai Fengxia introduced her nephew, and her gaze happened to meet a pair of ink-dark eyes. Those eyes were deep as the sea, with an inexplicable sense of familiarity. 

The man had thick eyebrows like sharp swords, a tall nose, and a handsome face. His presence was undeniable as he stood there. Even the gray-blue work clothes he wore were impeccably straight.

 

When Liang Baozhen saw the man’s face clearly, her breath was caught in her throat. 

This person looks exactly like the man in her dreams! 

“This is my nephew Xu Shengjie. He just got discharged from the army this year and now works at the State Cotton Factory.” Lai Fengxia’s voice still echoed in her ears. Liang Baozhen recalled her dream and looked up and down at the man in front of her. His appearance matched exactly—his height and figure were all similar. 

Why did she dream about Aunt Lai’s nephew so frequently? She was sure she had never met this person before, and she was not even very familiar with Aunt Lai. Was it a coincidence? Did this person happen to look like the person in her dream? 

Unless…unless he also has that scar on his waist. 

Thinking of this, Liang Baozhen’s inquiring gaze unconsciously moved downwards and circled around Xu Shengjie’s waist. When she realized her own gaze, she immediately came back to her senses and retracted her gaze, just in time to meet Xu Shengjie’s eyes. 

Seeing a hint of confusion in his eyes, Liang Baozhen controlled her racing thoughts and calmly averted her gaze without showing any hesitation. 

So much had happened today; she needed to take it slowly. 

“Okay, we won’t take up any more of your time. You go ahead with your work,” Song Chunhua and Lai Fengxia said their goodbyes and prepared to return to the village with her daughter. 

“Okay, you take care now.” 

“Aunt Lai, we’re leaving first.” Liang Baozhen said goodbye to them naturally. 

Lai Fengxia looked at the mother and daughter leaving, and suddenly an idea came to her mind: who knows, there might be some possibilities! 

Xu Shengjie found the young woman’s voice somewhat familiar. His hearing was always excellent, and distinguishing voices was a skill he had honed in the military. Wasn’t this the same girl who had picked up his wild hare on the mountain? 

How could it be such a coincidence? 

Thinking back to the way the girl looked at him without changing her expression, he remembered that while he had met female comrades who admired him before, none had ever dared to look at him directly. They were all shy and timid. According to Hong Saner, they were all intimidated by his cold and stern appearance. 

If Hong Saner knew that a strange female comrade kept looking at him today, he would definitely respectfully call her a heroine. 

After a delay, Lai Fengxia and Xu Shengjie finally went to Xu’s house. Today she came to discuss her nephew’s marriage. 

Ever since she met Dong Jiayan, the failure of her matchmaking career, she couldn’t eat or sleep well, and she had to find another good match for Xu Shengjie! She was a famous matchmaker in the area, and she couldn’t afford to fail here. 

Moreover, since this was her own relative, she had to be more attentive. 

However, finding a bride from the countryside for someone from the city was already challenging. She couldn’t afford to be picky about the conditions; the match needed to be presentable in every aspect. With the two most outstanding girls in the Hongqi Commune—one was about to get married and the other calling off the engagement—what kind of suitable match could she find? 

Today, she originally wanted to discuss things with Shengjie’s grandmother. If she can’t find a match in the countryside, she would look in the city, but unexpectedly, there was an unexpected situation with Liang Baozhen. She felt sorry for the Liang family’s misfortune; who wouldn’t feel upset about such a distressing matter? However, as a matchmaker, she needed to act quickly, or the opportunity might slip away. 

“Shengjie, what do you think of that girl just now?” Lai Fengxia was going to test her nephew’s opinion first. She knew Xu Shengjie. He was perfect in every aspect except that he didn’t understand romance and had no interest in getting married and starting a family. 

“What do you mean?” Xu Shengjie was confused by his aunt’s vague question and didn’t understand her intention. 

“I mean, what do you think of the girl you just saw?” Lai Fengxia poured out her words, “She is the most beautiful girl in our village—no, in our commune. She’s not worse than city girls, and she has a high school education. Except for her rural household registration, there’s nothing wrong with her. I think you two are quite well-matched.” 

Xu Shengjie paused, a bit stunned, and couldn’t find words to respond. 

*** 

When Song Chunhua and Liang Baozhen returned to Damei Village, the villagers looked at them with a strange look in their eyes. 

It wasn’t just them who were coming to the city today; the incident had become quite a spectacle, and naturally, the news had spread. 

“Chunhua, Baozhen, are those city people really so wicked? Damn it, they have no conscience!”  

“Baozhen, don’t be sad. With your conditions, you can find someone else. Auntie will help you find a match!” 

“At first, when he came to the door, he looked like a pretty decent young man, but I didn’t expect him to be this kind of person.” 

“At that time, I thought there was something wrong with him. He didn’t look like someone who could live a sincere life.” 

Some people scolded him, others showed concern, and some were making comments after the fact, condemning Chen Siming. Everyone was disgusted with his behavior and comforted Liang Baozhen when they learned about what happened, and relieved that she discovered it before she got married. 

“I heard that the one who was having an affair with Chen Siming was the daughter of the Dong family. Is that true?” 

“Yeah, it’s true. My third aunt was in the city today and saw it with her own eyes! Those two were hugging each other. Oh, they’re so shameless, I’m even embarrassed to talk about it.”

 

Everyone spoke excitedly, as if they were all there, but there were also a few who made sarcastic remarks. 

Aunt Hu hurried over with quick steps, her mouth stretched into a grin that seemed to reach the sky. “Chunhua, what’s going on? I’m so anxious just hearing about it. Did your son-in-law really fly away?” 

With the Liang family’s son-in-law gone, everyone else would be farmers, working the fields together. Hu Guifen couldn’t stop smiling. 

“Well, we’re not marrying her into that family. Whoever wants to marry someone like that can go ahead. He has a black heart!” Song Chunhua pulled her daughter back into the house. It was noisy outside, with people saying all sorts of things, and it’s giving her a headache. 

“I’ll go find him!” Liang Baojun was furious and slammed his fist on the wooden table. What a scumbag. 

The six members of the Liang family sat in the main room to hold a family meeting. Only the elementary school student Liang Baoling took Mengmeng to play outside, and the two girls were not allowed to participate. 

“What are you going to do? Don’t make things worse.” Liang Zhigao frowned, his dark face looking even darker, but his voice remained steady. After listening to his wife, he was deep in thought. 

His son was usually careless and didn’t keep his cool. He might get into a fight, so he couldn’t be let out. 

“I didn’t see any members of the Chen family at the Revolutionary Committee today, and Chen Siming, that evil-minded guy, kept saying it was a misunderstanding.” Song Chunhua thought about it and spoke in a more anxious voice, “I’ll make the decision on this matter. Let’s call off the marriage immediately to avoid getting involved in anything dirty.” 

Liang Zhigao nodded. He was about to speak when he heard a noise from the yard. 

“Third Brother, are you home?” 

Liang Zhiqing and his wife hurried over and shouted towards the third brother’s main room. Upon closer inspection, they saw that he was almost out of breath. 

After Liang Zhigao’s parents passed away, the four brothers and sisters of the Liang family separated. Liang Zhigao was the third child, and Fang Yuehe was the wife of his eldest brother Liang Zhiqing. They had three sons, and the eldest son was a commune cadre. They were considered to have the best living conditions in the village. 

Ever since the eldest son became a commune cadre, the whole family has looked down on the other three members of the Liang family. They always liked to put on airs and often pointed fingers at the younger generations. 

Especially when Liang Baozhen went to high school, Liang Zhiqing acted like a big shot and told Liang Zhigao that he spoiled his daughter. Why should a girl study so much? It was a waste of money. 

However, a few days ago, when he heard that Liang Baozhen was engaged to the director in the city, he rushed over to establish a relationship with her. 

“Why are you here?” Song Chunhua had a feeling that these two people had bad intentions. The villagers could offer some comfort, but these two were unreliable and certainly wouldn’t have anything good to say. 

Song Chunhua’s premonition was correct. Fang Yuehe said anxiously, “Third Brother, what’s going on with your family today? Why are you making such a big fuss about the son-in-law from the city? It’s just embarrassing!” 

Liang Zhiqing and Fang Yuehe were both anxious when they heard the news in the village. They were not afraid of something happening but were afraid that it would get out of hand. Once it got out of hand, there would be no room for regret. People in the city all wanted to save face, not to mention that he was the son of the director of the State Cotton Factory. It was too offensive. 

Liang Zhiqing was calm and composed. He had originally hoped that once his niece married into the city and connected with the cotton factory, his own children and grandchildren would benefit. Now, it was all in vain—nothing but a big mess! He assumed the role of the eldest brother and lectured his younger brother and sister-in-law. 

“Sister-in-law, I’m not criticizing you, but after working for half your life, you’re still unreliable. This issue with Director Chen’s son should have been resolved with a few words. There was no need to make such a fuss and offend him. Now, Chen Siming definitely won’t want to marry Baozhen. It’s a huge loss!”

 

Especially when he heard that the mother and daughter slapped Chen Siming respectively, his eyes went dark, and he almost fainted! 

“Zhigao, quickly take a bottle of wine to apologize and smooth things over. We can still cover this up, the wedding photos should be taken in five days, and the banquet should proceed as planned.” 

Seeing her elder brother-in-law say such heart-wrenching things, Song Chunhua didn’t know where to vent her anger. She immediately stood up, glared at him fiercely, shook her head, and shouted, “Brother, if you’re so eager for Chen Siming, with his rotten heart, you should marry him yourself! You and your whole family should marry him together!” 

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Lai Fengxia: Just an ordinary CP fan