Chapter 33: Quarrel

Hearing how harshly Gao Xiulian was scolding, Lin Wei’s expression darkened slightly. “You said Eighth Sister ran away before her wedding because she didn’t want to get married—then let me ask you, do you even understand what marriage is?”

Gao Xiulian rolled her eyes and said, “How do I not understand marriage? Hold a banquet, get the certificate, live together—that’s marriage, isn’t it?”

But Lin Wei ignored her eye-roll and continued, “Then do you know the marriage certificate has the words ‘voluntary marriage’ on it? And do you know that issuing a marriage certificate has to comply with the Marriage Law’s relevant regulations? Finally, do you even know what those regulations are?”

Gao Xiulian didn’t know any of this. She’d been married for nearly ten years and had only seen her marriage certificate twice: once when she first got it and locked it in a drawer, and once again a couple of years ago when handling some military paperwork. She never looked at it carefully.

She vaguely remembered the words “voluntary marriage,” but as for the Marriage Law and its specific regulations—she genuinely had no idea.

Because of that, she felt like Lin Wei was mocking her for being uneducated. Her face turned cold as she snapped, “Cut it with all that legal talk. Maybe I don’t know those rules, but I do know that a person should keep their word. She got engaged and then backed out—she’s in the wrong!”

“You don’t know? Then let me tell you.”

“First of all, Article One of the Marriage Law states the abolition of feudal marriage practices like arranged or forced marriages, male supremacy, and disregard for children’s interests. It promotes a new democratic marriage system of freedom to marry, monogamy, gender equality, and protection of women and children’s lawful rights.”

“Second, the Marriage Law stipulates: men must be at least 20, women at least 18 to legally marry.”

“Chen Bamei’s engagement was arranged by her parents—an arranged match that ignored her wishes. She didn’t consent. And she only just turned 17. If they had gone through with the wedding as scheduled, she would have entered marriage underage!”

“So this marriage, which violates both Chen Bamei’s personal will and the Marriage Law’s requirements, is both unreasonable and illegal.”

“Since it’s wrong, why should Eighth Sister go through with it?”

In this matter, Chen Bamei was clearly a victim of outdated and backward practices. Her parents and that so-called fiancé’s family—on one side, they knew full well the man had driven a previous wife to death, yet they still agreed to marry their daughter off for the bride price; on the other, they knew their son was problematic and still wanted to throw a decent girl into that pit—they never saw Chen Bamei as a human being.

As far as Lin Wei was concerned, Chen Bamei was right to run from this marriage. She was brilliant to do so. Let those people turn on each other like wild dogs!

Although Lin Wei’s voice wasn’t as loud as Gao Xiulian’s, she didn’t lose any ground in presence. More importantly, she could quote the Marriage Law, which Gao Xiulian didn’t understand and had no idea how to argue against.

Gao Xiulian was usually unreasonable, but she still held some fear of the law. She was also afraid that if she said the wrong thing, Lin Wei might slap her with a legal label she couldn’t shake off.

Still, being out-argued made Gao Xiulian unwilling to back down. She changed tack and said, “Even if she didn’t agree, her parents did, didn’t they? First they arrange this engagement for money, ignoring their daughter’s feelings, then they send her to the island trying to back out—aren’t they just playing people? Sounds to me like they’re the ones with messed-up values!”

Gao Xiulian was trying to shift the blame to Chen Bamei’s parents—arguing that if the parents were wrong, so was the daughter. If she could link Lin Wei and Deng Xiangyun to this mess, she could claim they were all in cahoots.

But the moment she finished, Lin Wei clapped her hands. “Comrade Gao, I completely agree. Bamei’s parents arranging her marriage without her consent was utterly inappropriate! Ignoring the law, messed-up values! But you know, saying this to us is pointless. You should go tell them in person so they can reflect on your wisdom and correct their mistake.”

Gao Xiulian was confused by Lin Wei’s tone and reflexively said, “They’re not on the island…”

“So what? Bamei’s hometown is in Lingnan. Travel fare and lodging, 20 yuan should cover it, right? Or just call them—cheaper! Either way, I’ll cover the cost.”

Lin Wei had learned a lot of new vocabulary from the original novel—one phrase in particular came to mind: keyboard warrior. She thought it suited Gao Xiulian perfectly.

Though computers weren’t yet widely available, Gao Xiulian’s way of latching onto the victim to spout righteous opinions captured the essence of a keyboard warrior.

And like most keyboard warriors, she bullied the weak and feared the strong—quick to rant when she had an easy target, but silent when faced with someone tougher.

Gao Xiulian had talked nonstop about Chen Bamei before, but when Lin Wei offered to fund a trip to confront the parents directly, she didn’t dare utter a word.

Seeing this, Lin Wei smiled and said, “Not only will I cover your costs, if you can get Bamei’s parents to admit they were wrong, I’ll even embroider two red flags for you! One will say: ‘See injustice, draw your sword—a true warrior!’ The other will say: ‘Dare to speak, dare to act—a role model for us all!’ So, Comrade Gao, when are you free to go? I’ll see you off.”

Though Lin Wei said all this with a smile and even promised to make red flags, Gao Xiulian wasn’t stupid—she heard the sarcasm loud and clear. Her face stiffened. “Don’t try to provoke me. In the end, this is their family matter. What’s it got to do with an outsider like me?”

“Oh, so you do know you’re an outsider? Listening to the way you scolded Bamei earlier, I thought you were that abusive guy’s cousin!”

Lin Wei feigned surprise and let out a loud tsk.

…

Though Lin Wei and Gao Xiulian had quarreled during working hours, several military wives were in the Zhao family courtyard at the time, so word spread quickly. Anyone who came home later heard about it almost immediately.

Zong Shao was one of them. The moment he returned to the family quarters, someone told him Lin Wei had clashed with Gao Xiulian again.

Worried, he practically ran all the way home. Only when he saw that Lin Wei was fine—and clearly hadn’t been in a physical fight—did he relax and ask what had happened.

Lin Wei waved it off with a “Don’t even bring it up,” but then recounted the entire afternoon incident in detail.

As she was explaining, Deng Xiangyun and her husband arrived with Chen Bamei. As soon as they got home, others had already told them Lin Wei had argued with Gao Xiulian because of Bamei.

But since those people had only heard secondhand, their retelling was vague. It wasn’t until they asked Bamei directly that they learned the full story.

So they came over before dinner to thank Lin Wei personally.

After thanking her, Zhou Jianhai didn’t head straight home. Instead, he turned and walked toward the Zhao household next door.

As the saying goes, if not for the monk’s sake, at least for the Buddha’s—Gao Xiulian knew Chen Bamei was his cousin and still said such nasty things. If he didn’t say anything, he’d be spineless.

The Zhao home was tense.

Zhao Feng had also heard about the afternoon argument the moment he returned. Realizing that his wife had not only offended Lin Wei again but had also insulted Zhou Jianhai’s cousin, he felt a headache coming on.

But Gao Xiulian still didn’t think she was in the wrong. She was grumbling, “That Lin Wei always has to play the righteous hero. So what if she went to school a few more years? Think she’s something special? And that Chen Bamei—pretends to be all quiet and obedient, but she’s sly! She talks like she’s pitiful, but who knows what the truth is…”

The more Zhao Feng listened, the angrier he got. He finally raised his voice and shouted, “Enough!”

Startled, Gao Xiulian immediately fell silent.

But she quickly recovered and yelled back, even louder, “Why are you yelling at me? Did I say anything wrong? I’ve never seen a woman run from her own wedding. If Chen Bamei dares to do something so shameless, why can’t people talk about it?”

Gao Xiulian only realized afterward that she had been completely led around by Lin Wei that afternoon.

These days, when it comes to marriage, who doesn’t follow their parents’ arrangements? According to Lin Wei, wouldn’t that mean everyone’s marriage is arranged and doesn’t count? And if Chen Bamei didn’t want it, why didn’t she run away before the engagement? Why wait until everything was settled, and the wedding was imminent, to suddenly flee?

As for Chen Bamei not being eighteen yet—Gao Xiulian didn’t see that as a problem either. Just hold the wedding banquet first, and get the certificate when she comes of age—wasn’t that how many rural families handled it nowadays?

After selectively forgetting the fact that Chen Bamei’s so-called fiancé had driven his previous wife to death with domestic violence, and that even if they just held the banquet and registered later, Chen Bamei still wouldn’t be of legal age when their common-law marriage would begin, Gao Xiulian became more and more convinced she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Seeing Gao Xiulian’s stubborn and unreasonable attitude, Zhao Feng was so angry his head throbbed. Just as he was about to reason with her, he saw Zhou Jianhai walk into the yard. He stood up and said, “I’ll talk to you later,” then went out.

Since he already knew what had happened that afternoon, Zhao Feng immediately guessed that Zhou Jianhai wasn’t here for a friendly visit the moment he saw him.

Sure enough, the first thing Zhou Jianhai said when he saw him was, “I came to ask, Deputy Commander Zhao—do you have some kind of issue with me?”

Zhao Feng was stunned for a moment before responding, “Why would I have an issue with you? What makes you think that?”

“I can’t help thinking that way. Bamei just arrived on the island and never offended Comrade Gao. If you don’t have a problem with me, why would she suddenly bully a kid and say such harsh things?”

Faced with the self-righteous Zhou Jianhai, Zhao Feng felt a major headache and hurried to explain, “You’ve misunderstood. I really don’t have any problem with you, and I definitely didn’t tell Xiulian to bully your cousin. In fact, I’ve already argued with her about this. I promise I’ll talk to her again and make sure she apologizes to Comrade Chen. Will that be acceptable?”

Instead of answering, Zhou Jianhai asked, “I heard Comrade Gao also apologized to Comrade Lin Wei?”

Zhao Feng didn’t know where this was going, but nodded. “Yes, that happened.”

“Seeing Comrade Gao’s behavior, I’m reminded of a saying: quick to admit fault, never to repent.”

No matter how stiff Zhao Feng’s expression became, Zhou Jianhai continued on his own, “Deputy Commander Zhao, let me be clear—whether it’s you or your wife who has an issue with me, bring it to me directly, that’s fine. But don’t take it out on my family. If it happens again, I don’t care what rank you are—I will report it to the military and demand justice. And you should know very well that I’m not bluffing.”

Zhao Feng did know that Zhou Jianhai was capable of doing such a thing.

Luo Shuzhi’s husband was their division’s political commissar—basically Zhou Jianhai’s boss’s boss. Just for making things hard for his wife a few times, Zhou Jianhai had dared to file a formal complaint with the military.

And Zhao Feng was just a deputy regimental commander. How could Zhou Jianhai possibly be afraid of him? The guy was practically a madman!

Zhao Feng was fuming, and his expression looked grim when he returned to the house—only to find Gao Xiulian still muttering that he was spineless, bowing and scraping to a battalion instructor.

That pushed him over the edge. He pointed at her and shouted, “Yes, you’re so capable—today you offended this one, tomorrow that one. If you had a leg to stand on, I wouldn’t say a word. But you’re the one stirring up trouble, and you’re still in the wrong! You’ve got the nerve to say I’m groveling? Have you ever thought about this—with someone like you in the family constantly stirring up trouble, how the hell am I supposed to be tough out there?!”

Zhao Feng unleashed a furious tirade, leaving Gao Xiulian’s face twisted with rage. She screeched, “Zhao Feng! What do you mean by that?!”

Zhao Feng roared back even louder, “What do I mean?! I mean from now on, stay home and stop causing trouble! Did you hear me?!”

After yelling, Zhao Feng yanked open his uniform collar, grabbed the teapot on the table, and chugged half of the cold tea. Then he turned to the stunned woman and said, “Gao Xiulian, I’m just a farm boy who became a soldier. I have no background, no connections. Getting to where I am wasn’t easy. I don’t expect you to help me, but is it really so hard for you to not stir up trouble or offend people? Is that too much to ask?”

Gao Xiulian stared at him blankly, her lips moving slightly, but in the end, she said nothing.