Chapter 5: Dad, I’m Married, and I Have Two Children

The place where Su Jinyan was sent to the countryside was Hongqi Brigade, Heijiabao Town, Yanchuan County, Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province.

This was the real Loess Plateau with winding mountain roads, and every household in the village lived in a cave dwelling.

Although cave dwellings were said to be warm in winter and cool in summer, it wasn’t entirely practical. Summers were stuffy but bearable, but winters were truly cold, with thick ice forming on the windows and sills. Wealthier or more industrious families built heated walls, but the Zhao family didn’t have one. Zhao Yuanyi had gotten an iron stove for the original owner, and they burned charcoal every day, which many villagers criticized as being spoiled! The young wives, however, were green with envy.

Her reputation as a vixen and a lazy woman resounded through several surrounding brigades.

The original owner had never had good relationships with the villagers or the people at the educated youth center. She didn’t have to work every day and didn’t even leave the house, earning her the nickname of a lazy woman from the villagers.

The oxcart swayed and creaked for more than two hours before reaching the town. Zhao Yuanyi didn’t go directly to get the certificate but drove the oxcart to the supply and marketing cooperative. He ran inside and bought half a catty of fruit candies, immediately stuffing one into her mouth as soon as he came out.

Su Jinyan smiled, took the kraft paper package, took out a candy, peeled it, and stuffed one into his mouth as well.

They looked at each other and smiled. The ordinary fruit candy tasted incredibly sweet to both of them.

Su Jinyan seemed to be experiencing the taste of love for the first time. Even though her whole body was stiff with cold, her heart was filled with joy.

Counting it this way, she and this man were now married.

Commune compound, Internal Affairs Department.

When they entered, there were only four staff members and no one else.

As soon as Zhao Yuanyi entered, he gave each of the four people two candies. “Comrades, my wife and I are here to get our marriage certificate today. Please have some wedding candy.”

Even though the tall and handsome man didn’t smile, everyone could feel his good mood.

Although these people didn’t care much for the candy, in this era, it was still rare for people to give them candy when registering their marriage. They all smiled happily and, after a few jokes, congratulated the couple on growing old together and having children soon.

“Hehe, this young man is getting married and is so happy he can’t close his mouth. You can tell these two are in love.”

“Young man, young lady, congratulations.”

“Young man, you’re so lucky! This bride is so beautiful, she’s not from around here, is she?”

“Hehe, congratulations, congratulations. We’ll accept the candy to share your joy. Please bring out your household registration booklets and letters of introduction, and I’ll process it for you.”

Zhao Yuanyi nodded in response and took out the household registration and letter of introduction he had prepared earlier. Su Jinyan took out her household registration and handed it to the staff member.

With just a few candies, the speed of processing their certificate was surprisingly fast. In less than ten minutes, with the official seal stamped, each of them received a piece of white paper with the character double happiness printed on it.

It was just a piece of white paper, very similar to the award certificates from a long time ago. Zhao Yuanyi held it and grinned foolishly for a long while. Embarrassed by what the staff member said, he pulled Su Jinyan out of the office.

“Yan’yan, shall we go take a photo?”

Su Jinyan smiled and nodded. The two parked the oxcart in the office compound of the town commune and walked to the photo studio.

To Su Jinyan’s surprise, this small photo studio even had wedding clothes and head flowers prepared.

Wearing the studio’s clothes cost one yuan per photo, while not wearing the studio’s clothes cost six mao per photo.

No matter the time, it seemed there were always many people who knew how to do business.

The women’s clothes were a red fine cotton top and black trousers, as well as a set of military green clothes. The men’s clothes were a dark blue Zhongshan suit and a military green Zhongshan suit.

Since they were there, both of them wore two sets of clothes and took two group photos and two individual photos.

When they came out of the photo studio, it was already eleven-thirty. Thinking that the post office hadn’t closed yet, Su Jinyan said, “Yuanyi, I’m going to call my parents.”

She should tell them about her marriage in advance. What if bringing them back directly scared them?

The phone was quickly connected, and she heard the voice she remembered, Su Chengguo.

In the book, Su Chengguo had been depressed because of the divorce. Although his business later flourished, he had ruined his health and suffered from illness for the rest of his life, living a very unhappy life.

“Dad.”

Hearing Su Jinyan’s voice, Su Chengguo asked happily, “Xiaoyan, are you taking the bus today?”

“No, not for another day or two. I was afraid you’d be anxious waiting, so I called you.”

“Oh, Xiaoyan, is something wrong? Why does your voice sound so low?”

Su Chengguo’s anxious voice came from the other end of the phone. Su Jinyan sighed inwardly. She wouldn’t let the events described in the book happen.

“No, I just miss you a little.”

“By the way, Dad, there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

Su Chengguo on the other end of the phone instantly became serious. “What is it? Is your brigade holding back your household registration?”

Su Jinyan smiled, thinking that her father could really imagine things. “Of course not! Your daughter is the city’s top scorer, a Peking University student. How would the brigade dare to stop me from returning to the city?”

In fact, the original owner wasn’t exactly a top student. The reason she had scored so well this time was mainly because it was the first year the college entrance examination was reinstated, and many candidates had already forgotten their knowledge. The original owner’s grandmother was a university professor and valued education highly. The original owner had been tutored by her grandmother throughout junior and senior high school, so she had a good grasp of knowledge.

As soon as the notice for the reinstatement of the college entrance examination came out, the original owner’s family sent her books and test papers. Her grandmother also sent her many test papers by mail, which was the reason why the original owner was able to score so well.

“It’s just, Dad, there’s something I haven’t told you all along, because I was afraid, you’d worry.”

“I got married. I got married in my second year in the countryside. You now have a three-year-old grandson and an eight-month-old granddaughter.”

“My husband also passed the entrance exam for Beijing Medical University. This time when I return to the city, I plan to bring them with me.”

“Wh-what!”

Su Chengguo on the other end of the phone reacted and stood up abruptly in shock. The chair flipped over with a loud “bang.”
“What happened? Did those people in the village bully you? Force you to marry?”

Su Jinyan looked at Zhao Yuanyi, who was a meter away, and quickly said, “No, Dad, no one forced me to marry. Some things are a long story, and it’s hard to explain over the phone.”

“Over the years, my in-laws have been very good to me, and my husband has also been very good to me. He never makes me work in the fields or do housework. He’s really good.”

“My in-laws are in poor health and can’t work. It doesn’t matter if they stay in the village. I was thinking of bringing them to the city. While we’re studying, they can help take care of the children.”

Su Chengguo on the other end was clearly unable to accept this. When Su Jinyan went to the countryside, the family had repeatedly told her not to marry in the village, worried that she wouldn’t be able to endure the hardship and wouldn’t want to work in the fields, so she would just randomly find someone to marry.

Despite all their worries, she had still gotten married, and had kept it a secret for four years, even having children!

It wasn’t that people in the village were bad, but sometimes their values were too different, and they might not live happily together.

After a long while, Su Chengguo finally said, “Okay, I understand. Call me after you buy the tickets.”

Then he hung up the phone with a “bang,” clearly very shocked.

Even if he didn’t approve of his daughter marrying a rural man, since they were married and had children, he couldn’t possibly let his daughter abandon her husband and children.

After the phone call ended, although Zhao Yuanyi’s expression was still calm, Su Jinyan could tell that he was very nervous.

Su’s father’s tone on the phone wasn’t good.

“Yuanyi, I’m very sorry. I didn’t tell my family about my marriage before because I didn’t want them to worry. Now, my dad is a bit unable to accept it for the moment. Don’t worry, my parents are both very good people. Over time, they will see your good qualities.”

Zhao Yuanyi was nervous inside, but on the surface, he nodded as if nothing had happened. “Let’s go, I’ll take you to eat.”

This was the first time the new son-in-law was “meeting” his father-in-law, even if it was just a phone call, his heart was pounding with nervousness.

More importantly, he was worried that the Su family would make them separate.

Su Jinyan pulled Zhao Yuanyi to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought him a set of light gray clothes. She also bought a top for each of her in-laws, two catties of pork, and three catties of bones that didn’t require coupons. Then they went to the train station and bought four train tickets for noon the day after tomorrow. Two of them were sleeper berths, which they bought using their university admission notices. After that, they went to a state-run restaurant, and each had a bowl of noodles.

After returning home, Sun Shi couldn’t wait to see the marriage certificate.

When she saw the marriage certificate, she actually cried with joy, carefully touching it. “Good, good, you two are officially married today. Mom will stew a chicken and make some white noodles. Let’s celebrate!”

Sun Jinyan put the snake-skin bag sewn pouch on the kang. “Mom, I bought some meat. There are still a few catties of white flour at home. Let’s make pork and cabbage dumplings. There are some bones; we can make soup tomorrow.”

“Wrap a lot.”

Sun Shi paused and then nodded happily. “Okay, okay, Mom will wrap a lot.”

Su Jinyan had never cooked in either her past or present life, so she didn’t interfere. She took out the clothes she had bought for the old couple and gave them to them. They were slightly larger, just right for wearing over their cotton-padded jackets these days.

Watching Sun Shi’s tearful eyes, moved to keep saying “good, good, good,” she quickly hugged the child and went back to her room.

She couldn’t stand seeing people cry the most.