Chapter 14: “Driftwood”

By the time Jiang Wanwan had calmed down, she realized they had arrived at People’s Park. The park in this era was very different from the parks of her time, which were filled with amusement rides. Here, the landscape was simple and plain. The trees and flowers weren’t manicured, and the crystal-clear central lake only had a few hand-cranked boats floating on it. The boats and the stone slide at the entrance were probably the only forms of entertainment in the entire park.

Even so, the park was packed every weekend. Everywhere she looked, she saw young couples and young parents with their children. Just in the pavilion in the middle of the lake, Jiang Wanwan counted five couples. Couples in this era were much more reserved. They sat with their shoulders at least a fist-length apart, and they rarely looked at each other, preferring to look down and talk.

So, Jiang Wanwan had no idea why they were there. To watch people? Plus, her bag was stuffed with new clothes, and lugging them around the park was tiring. They could be watching a movie instead.

“They only show the same few movies over and over again. Aren’t you tired of them? Besides, every couple comes to the park. If we don’t, it feels like we’re missing something. If you’re tired, just stay on the bike. I’ll push you,” Shen Tingjun said. He agreed that the park was boring, but since they were already there, they might as well walk around to say they did.

So there they were, with Jiang Wanwan sitting on the bike and Shen Tingjun pushing it. One minute, Jiang Wanwan was hoping she wouldn’t run into anyone from the residential area, and the next, she saw her stepsister, Xu Huirong.

A man and a woman were with her. Jiang Wanwan didn’t know them personally, but the original owner’s memories had information on them. The man was Li Shiyuan, the son of her stepfather’s college classmate and also his student. He would also be Xu Huirong’s future husband in the original plot. The woman was Li Shixiang, Li Shiyuan’s younger sister and Xu Huirong’s high school classmate. She was now an apprentice at a clothing factory.

Both of their parents had passed away from an illness when they were young, and their mother had later remarried a butcher. Their lives were better than some but not as good as others. Since their father was well-liked, several of his friends had helped them out.

His parents’ friends helped them out, and after high school, they were able to get factory jobs.

Based on what Jiang Wanwan saw, it seemed Xu Weishan not only helped them find work but also intended to marry his daughter to his old classmate’s son. In Jiang Wanwan’s opinion, this wasn’t doing them a favor; it was setting them up for a lifetime of misery.

“What happened, Little Jiang? Did you twist your ankle?” Li Shiyuan asked with concern after greeting Shen Tingjun.

Anyone with half a brain could see he was trying to save them from an awkward situation. But Xu Huirong didn’t bother to save face and rolled her eyes, blurting out, “She didn’t twist her ankle. She’s just lazy and made him carry her!”

Jiang Wanwan ignored her. She smiled sweetly at Li Shiyuan and his sister. “I did twist my ankle, and we’re on our way home. You just got here, right? You should go on in and enjoy the park. We’re leaving now.”

With that, she lightly tapped Shen Tingjun’s arm, urging him to leave. Just looking at Xu Huirong’s face made her angry.

Once they were out of sight, she asked Shen Tingjun about his relationship with Li Shiyuan. It was rare for people to greet him so casually.

“We were in the same class in high school. We get along pretty well. He’s a good guy.”

Jiang Wanwan pursed her lips. Of course he’s a good guy, she thought. He’s going to be the Party Secretary of the provincial steel factory in twenty years. You don’t get a position like that without being well-liked.

It’s a shame. A good guy like him has such bad luck. He’s going to marry a good-for-nothing like Xu Huirong.

While Jiang Wanwan was cursing Xu Huirong in her mind, Xu Huirong was talking about her.

“Your sister seems a lot more outgoing now. She even greeted us. Before, she would never respond when you said hello to her. I only ever saw the top of her head,” Li Shixiang said, surprised by Jiang Wanwan’s change in personality.

“Outgoing? She was just putting on an act before, trying to make it look like our family was mistreating her. Now she has Director Shen’s son to back her up, so she doesn’t have to pretend anymore!”

Xu Huirong had always hated her stepsister, Jiang Huiwan. It wasn’t just because her father always took her side when they fought. It was also because she always seemed to be out of place in their home. When her father remarried, Xu Huirong was only six.

While she initially rejected Jiang Lan, she eventually saw how kind her stepmother was to her and came to love her as if she were her own mother. But Jiang Huiwan was different. For over a decade, despite her father’s kindness and favoritism, she still only called him “Uncle Xu.”

On the surface, she was quiet, obedient, and helpful with chores, but she never truly saw them as family. Whenever the family gathered happily, she would stand silently and look pitiful, like a thorn in their side, reminding everyone that they were just a patchwork family. In Xu Huirong’s eyes, Jiang Huiwan was a fake and ungrateful person. She wasn’t starving or poorly dressed, yet she loved to act pitiful, as if everyone owed her something.

Li Shixiang looked at her brother, Li Shiyuan. Neither of them said a word. Although they were all part of blended families, Li Shixiang and her brother’s situation was more similar to Jiang Huiwan’s. Their father had passed away, and their mother had remarried. Since most of their family’s income came from their stepfather, their mother always went out of her way to be extra good to her stepfather’s children, giving them the best food and toys. But at least they knew their mother’s heart was with them, and their father’s old friends looked out for them, so they knew they were cared for.

Because he understood her situation, when his mother suggested a marriage alliance with the Xu family, Li Shiyuan, who had a soft spot for Jiang Huiwan, chose Xu Huirong instead. He told her father he liked her. He reasoned that it was better to choose the person who was most beneficial to his situation than for two people with difficult circumstances to be together. Li Shiyuan picked up a fallen branch with flowers on it and gave it to Xu Huirong. He watched her blush, and his smile deepened, the lines around his eyes crinkling.

Just as Xu Huirong was to him, Shen Tingjun was to Jiang Huiwan.

They were all people trapped in the mud, clinging to the only piece of driftwood they could find.