Lu Dezhao closed the doors and windows, carefully explaining to An Hui the reasons he agreed to this marriage.  

“Xiao Cheng has risen too fast and too smoothly these years. At just 26, he’s already a battalion commander. When our eldest son reached that rank, he was well into his thirties. Although Xiao Cheng earned it all through his military merits, in a family like ours, it’s inevitable that people will gossip.”  

An Hui’s anger subsided a little.  

“At a time like this, standing out too much isn’t a good thing. What the Lu family needs now is stability—we can’t afford to draw more attention. Otherwise, we’ll be targeted. If necessary, it’s fine to take a step or two back.”  

“To be honest with you, if not for Xiao Cheng’s marriage, I was planning to retire in a year or two, citing health reasons.”  

An Hui’s emotions cooled completely. “Even so, there’s no need to pick someone so unruly.”  

“But that’s exactly the kind of girl your son has his eyes on. What can we do? In my opinion, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. That brat has had everything go his way since he was a kid—he’s arrogant and unrestrained. It’s about time he suffers a little and learns a lesson.”  

An Hui looked at her husband. “If you agreed to this marriage, then why were you arguing with Xiao Cheng in the office this afternoon? Weren’t you afraid of making a scene?”  

“I had to put on a show. I had to let outsiders know that I was firmly against this marriage, and that it was the brat being stubborn, insisting on marrying her. If his wife causes any trouble in the future, it’s none of my concern—he’ll have to deal with it himself.”  

An Hui was speechless. “You’re such a loving father!”  

“Since we’re putting on a show, let’s see it through. I won’t go for the marriage proposal—you accompany Xiao Cheng, and I’ll have Jiang Xiaoguang tag along to help.”  

…  

Early in the morning, Jiang Moli received a call from Lu Tingting, who told her she’d arranged a job for her.  

Jiang Moli rushed excitedly to the location.  

“Here, this is the place. You start working tomorrow.”  

Jiang Moli stared at the white sign with black lettering overhead and fell into deep thought.  

It could have been a park. It could have been a cemetery. But no—it was a public toilet!  

Yes, that’s right. Lu Tingting had arranged for her to clean toilets!  

She tried to bargain. “Are there no other jobs? We can discuss the pay.”  

Lu Tingting crossed her arms and smirked, her face full of mischief. “This is the only one available right away. Other jobs require waiting. Can you afford to wait?”  

She couldn’t.  

If she didn’t find a job within two days, she’d have to report to the Educated Youth Office.  

Damn it.  

“I’ll take it.”  

After Jiang Moli left, Wu Meixia was the first to burst into laughter.  

“Did you see her face? She definitely thought we’d get her some cushy office job. Instead, we made her clean toilets—she must be fuming!”  

Song Ke added, “For someone as shameless as her, cleaning toilets is already too good.”  

Lu Tingting snorted. “She thought she could outsmart me? Just wait—I’ll teach her a lesson!”  

Arranging for Jiang Moli to clean toilets was intentional on the part of Lu Tingting and her friends.  

On the surface, the original Jiang Moli had been friends with Lu Tingting and the others for years, but it was all one-sided—Jiang Moli had been clingy and desperate to stay in their circle.  

To Lu Tingting and her friends, Jiang Moli was nothing more than an annoying, unwelcome pest.  

They had agreed to help her find a job not for the money but to humiliate her.  

…  

The next day, Jiang Moli woke up early.  

It was the earliest she’d gotten up since transmigrating into the book, but she still wasn’t as early as Jiang Qing.  

Unlike her usual plain self, Jiang Qing had dressed up today.  

She wore a newly made dress, had penciled her eyebrows, and tied her long hair with a yellow handkerchief into a bow.  

It had to be said—she looked quite pretty.  

Jiang Qing wasn’t surprised at all by Jiang Moli’s early rise.  

“The Zhang family won’t arrive until around noon. You didn’t need to get up so early.”  

In Jiang Qing’s eyes, Jiang Moli had gotten up early solely to dress up and prepare for the Zhang family’s marriage proposal.  

To an outsider, it might have seemed like a kind reminder.  

But in reality, both Jiang Moli and Jiang Qing knew perfectly well that Zhang Jiaming’s proposal was meant for Jiang Qing. That made the “reminder” all the more pointed.  

“I have my reasons for waking up early. Since when do you care?”  

Jiang Qing smiled, putting on an air of magnanimity, as if she couldn’t be bothered to argue.  

Jiang Moli rolled her eyes, washed up quickly, and left.  

Jiang Qing smirked coldly at her retreating figure.  

Jiang Moli, your days of happiness are numbered.  

…

While waiting for the bus, Jiang Moli took the opportunity to buy two vegetable buns from a nearby stall.  

The moment she got the buns, the bus arrived.  

She could only clutch them tightly as she hurriedly boarded.  

The bus was as packed as a subway during rush hour in the modern era. By the time Jiang Moli got off at her stop, the two vegetable buns in her hand had been squished into flat pancakes.  

When she arrived at the public toilet, the veteran employee assigned to train her scolded her mercilessly—because she was two minutes late.  

“The toilet opens at 7:30 a.m. sharp and closes at 9 p.m. The floors and walls must be kept clean at all times, and the pits must be flushed every half hour.”  

As the old employee explained the workflow, Jiang Moli belatedly realized something horrifying—she also had to clean the men’s restroom.  

Damn it, would she get an eye infection from this?  

She wanted to die.  

…  

To welcome the Zhang family’s marriage proposal, Jiang Dahai had specifically taken the day off and stayed home.  

When he didn’t see Jiang Moli at the breakfast table, he didn’t think much of it, assuming she was still sleeping in.  

After breakfast, he led the whole family in cleaning the house inside and out before finally going to the inner room to wake Jiang Moli.  

“Where is Moli? Where did she go?”  

“She left early in the morning and didn’t say where she was going,” Jiang Qing replied, though she couldn’t help but wonder where Jiang Moli had gone.  

“On such an important day, she’s still running around. So irresponsible.”  

Seeing Jiang Dahai’s anger, Li Hongying quickly interjected, “Maybe she went to a friend’s house. Let’s go look for her.”  

Jiang Dahai stayed home to hold the fort while Jiang Qing, Jiang Peng, and Li Hongying went out to search for Jiang Moli.  

Jiang Moli soon discovered that while cleaning toilets was dirty and exhausting, there was actually a way to skim some profit.  

Two sheets of rough toilet paper sold for one fen.  

Not everyone needed toilet paper, so sales were unpredictable—at best, a few mao a day. It wasn’t worth assigning someone just to oversee such small earnings.  

As a result, most of the income from toilet paper sales ended up in the pockets of cleaners like Jiang Moli.  

Skimming two mao a day added up to several yuan a month.  

There was no need to worry about discrepancies either. The market price for toilet paper was one mao per stack (100 sheets). Any missing money could simply be covered by “adjusting” the paper count.  

While Jiang Moli was busy calculating how much she could pocket from toilet paper sales, she had no idea her family was frantically searching for her.  

By 10 a.m., with the Zhang family due to arrive any minute, Jiang Dahai could no longer wait for Jiang Moli. He quickly instructed Jiang Qing to boil water and prepare tea while sending Li Hongying to the market to buy groceries.  

At 10:30, the Zhang family arrived.  

Leading the group were Zhang Jiaming and Lu Cheng, both dressed in crisp military uniforms, standing tall like pine trees, their gazes firm and striking.  

Especially Lu Cheng, who stood beside Zhang Jiaming—towering and imposing, his sharp eyes and commanding presence exuding authority even without a word. His military jacket with four pockets further emphasized his high rank.  

Each man carried a bottle of sorghum liquor.  

Behind them, Jin Yulan held a hefty slab of pork, at least three or four jin in weight.  

Zhang Tiesheng carried cigarettes and tea in mesh bags, while Zhang Jiaquan held pastries and white sugar.  

It was unmistakably a marriage proposal procession.  

Curious onlookers asked where they were headed, and upon learning it was the Jiang household, the news spread like wildfire. Soon, the entire factory residential district knew.  

“Uncle Jiang, Auntie Li, this is my superior. He’s here today to accompany me for the proposal and serve as a witness,” Zhang Jiaming introduced.  

Jiang Dahai immediately noticed the four pockets on Lu Cheng’s uniform—he was at least a platoon leader.  

The fact that Zhang Jiaming could get someone of such rank to accompany him spoke volumes about his capabilities.