Chapter 117

The village branch secretary was completely dumbfounded.

Instinctively, he wiped his hand on his shirt and shook the hand that was extended to him. The soft, smooth hand was held in his own hand, and it was only then that the village branch secretary suddenly realized: this wasn’t right!

This wasn’t a leader; this was the wife of a junior member of the same clan in the village!

How could an elder man hold hands with a younger woman who was his son’s wife!

The village branch secretary subconsciously wanted to retract his hand. However, the junior member’s wife, who seemed like a cadre, had already firmly grasped his hand with both of hers, not allowing him to pull away. “Uncle, Yan Lei is often away from home, and we’re grateful for your care. Yan Lei asked me to convey his heartfelt thanks to you.”

The village branch secretary: “Ah, yes, yes, it’s nothing, it’s nothing, family, family.”

He just wanted to quickly pull his hand back.

Young wife, your eldest brother is right here watching.

But Qiao Wei didn’t let go of his hand.

“Uncle, Yan Lei’s promises are in my hands. Please rest assured,” she said with a smile.

The village branch secretary’s eyes lit up, and he firmly grasped Qiao Wei’s hand. “Lei’s wife, you’ve worked hard! How was the journey? Did you eat? Come, let’s go back and have a meal.”

“We’ve already eaten,” Qiao Wei finally let go of his hand. “Please don’t worry about me. Come on, Xiang Xiang, call him Grandpa Yan.”

Yan Xiang also wore a white shirt, snowy white, and was extremely polite. “Grandpa Yan.”

“Oh~ Good boy. Oh my, look at this child, is this Lei’s son? Look how handsome he is! Just like Lei when he was young!”

Qiao Wei smiled and instructed Yan Xiang again, “This is your uncle. Your uncle is your father’s older brother.”

Yan Xiang saw his father’s relatives for the first time. “Wow~ Uncle!”

“Ah, ah!” Yan Zhu was stunned by the momentum of Qiao Wei and the village branch secretary’s handshake and conversation. Feeling a bit awkward, he finally found a sense of “getting along with the right people” with Yan Xiang, “Ah, good boy!”

“Um, um, sister-in-law?” Yan Zhu said, “Shall we go home?”

Yan Zhu looked at Qiao Wei now, and her face seemed to be the same as the one in his memory. But why couldn’t he quite match it up?

It was completely unlike that person.

But it had been almost six years since they last met, and it was possible for people to change. After all, they had only spent a few days together before, and they barely exchanged a few words.

Qiao Wei said, “Sure, let’s go.”

The village branch secretary and Yan Zhu helped her carry bags and luggage, and Qiao Wei led Yan Xiang to follow them.

Seeing the transportation, Yan Xiang exclaimed, “Wow~”

A carriage.

Although Yan Xiang often saw carriages, he had never actually ridden in one, not even once.

The village branch secretary laughed, “What’s your child’s name?”

Qiao Wei said, “Yan Xiang, Xiang, which means ‘Hunan,’ the hometown of great men.”

The village branch secretary reverently said, “That’s a good name!”

Yan Zhu picked up Yan Xiang and put him in the carriage. “Hey, Yan Xiang has never ridden in a carriage before?”

Yan Xiang shook his head vigorously.

“Then what do you usually ride?”

“Jeep, bus, bicycle.”

The village branch secretary was amazed. “He’s really a city boy!”

There was a handle on the carriage, and Yan Zhu sat at the front with the carriage driver.

The village branch secretary sat at the back with Qiao Wei and Yan Xiang.

At this time, the sun wasn’t too harsh, the horses were trotting, and the gentle breeze felt comfortable.

Yan Xiang felt that it was similar to sitting on the back of his mother’s bicycle. Unfortunately, since they started taking the public transit bus, his mother rarely rode her bicycle to work.

He lifted his little face, enjoying the breeze and the sunshine.

The village branch secretary secretly observed that Lei’s wife was completely different from what he remembered. Of course, he barely remembered Lei’s wife at all, just that she was thin and quite pretty, but she looked down on people.

Suddenly, Qiao Wei’s gaze shifted over, without any avoidance, and she even smiled at the village branch secretary.

Caught peeking, the village branch secretary felt uneasy and tried to start a conversation, “What does Lei’s family usually do in the city?”

“You can just call me Qiao Wei,” she corrected his address. “I work in the County Committee Office of our county. I am a Grade 6 staff member, and I directly report to the county party secretary. I mainly handle external publicity, write some propaganda articles and social commentary, which are published in the municipal and provincial newspapers. I’ve won awards several times, and my articles have been reprinted by the People’s Daily.”

The village branch secretary had expected to hear something like “taking care of children, doing household chores,” and so on, but he also knew that people in the city were usually assigned jobs, or at worst, “working in a factory and earning a salary.”

He never expected that Lei’s wife, no, Qiao Wei, would actually work in the County Committee Office.

The County Committee Office was the core of power in a county.

She directly reports to the top leader?

Her articles were reprinted by the People’s Daily?

Yan Zhu village branch secretary was stunned.

Qiao Wei covered her mouth and nose and said, “Let’s talk when we get home.”

She kept the village branch secretary hanging the whole way.

Yan Zhu also kept looking back, unable to hide his surprise.

The village branch secretary realized that this uncle also didn’t know what his younger sister-in-law did.

Qiao Wei admired the rural scenery all the way until they arrived at Yanzhuang Village, Yan Lei’s hometown, as remembered by the original owner.

More than half of the households in the village were surnamed Yan, all relatives.

It was rare for distant guests to come to the countryside, especially when the village branch secretary personally went to pick them up. The whole village knew about it and was waiting to see.

As the carriage entered the village, a group of children ran out from somewhere and filled the main road, shouting, “They’re here! They’re here!”

Word spread everywhere.

Throughout the journey, people appeared from nowhere and filled the main road, following behind the carriage to watch the excitement.

There was too little entertainment.

Qiao Wei smiled calmly, not feeling embarrassed by being watched by others, but rather treating the scene as lively.

The village branch secretary could tell at a glance that this was a person who had seen big scenes before.

After the carriage stopped, Qiao Wei jumped down gracefully, then turned around and lifted Yan Xiang. She squinted her eyes and looked at the courtyard.

In the village, this courtyard was considered decent and tidy. It was built with the money Yan Lei earned after serving in the army. He almost spent all his savings at the time to build this courtyard. The money he had now was saved up later.

Yan Lei was really good at saving money!

Of course, the most important thing was that he could earn money!

The memories of this village, this courtyard, and this family were all swept into the dusty corners of the original owner’s mind. It was because of this that Qiao Wei rarely remembered that Yan Lei had a big family.

But now, because of the current situation, everything was brought to the surface by Qiao Wei.

Squinting her eyes, the courtyard in front of her matched her memories.

But the village branch secretary was furious, “Where are the people? Where are your family members?”

There was no one at the door of Yan Lei’s house. Who were they trying to intimidate? As the village branch secretary, personally picking up the guests, if Yan Lei’s family didn’t show up, it meant they were disrespecting him.

He glanced around.

Qiao Wei stood dignifiedly, looking at the courtyard as if admiring the scenery. Clearly, she wasn’t affected by this intimidation.

She had come a long way and couldn’t just enter an empty house in a lowly manner.

From the moment she got off the train, she took the initiative, showed her attitude, and displayed her momentum. She had no intention of engaging in any petty conflicts or playing these little games.

They shouldn’t treat her as “someone from XX family” or “XX’s wife.” Because once she was labeled with such titles, she would be seen as inferior in terms of status, generation, and position.

That won’t do.

She came to treat the old folks, and of course, she needed to efficiently and smoothly complete this task first.

But besides that, as Yan Lei said, she wasn’t here to be mistreated.

Yan Zhu’s scalp tingled.

He actually knew what was going on. Last night, his wife kept complaining: “Leizi’s wife looks down on us. Third sister-in-law and fourth sister-in-law both said we shouldn’t give her too much face.”

He rushed in with a single stride and shouted, “Where is everyone? Where did everyone go? Brothers and sisters have come back from afar! Hurry up and come out!”

After all, he was the eldest son at home, especially now that his father was aging and sick, the eldest son’s position was even more significant.

His shout indeed brought everyone inside out.

Two or three middle-aged and young women appeared at the door, supporting an old lady.

The village party secretary was quite unhappy and scolded, “Leizi’s mother, what’s wrong with you? Qiao Wei has come back from afar, where were all of you!”

The old lady was Yan Lei’s own mother, she mumbled, “Uh… just now, your father… I was busy…”

Women here didn’t interfere, habitually pushing men forward. They dared not say that they were being blocked by several daughters-in-law on purpose to prevent her from coming out.

The village party secretary knew the situation well and couldn’t be bothered to argue with the mothers-in-law. He just said, “Take a good look, this is Qiao Wei, don’t you recognize her?”

Yan Lei’s mother stared.

A young woman in a white shirt and green army pants stood on the steps outside. Short hair, cheeks with a healthy glow. Her eyes were bright and black, full of vitality.

This… was quite different from what she remembered.

She hesitated for a moment and timidly said, “Uh… from Leizi’s family, you’re back?”

Qiao Wei had been staring at this old lady just now. She felt she shouldn’t look so old, but her appearance really was too old.

When she saw her, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of disdain.

Qiao Wei dispelled this feeling, it belonged to the original owner Qiao Weiwei. She refused to accept such subjective feelings.

She had to go see for herself.

She stepped forward, looked up with a smile, and said loudly, “Mom, I’m Qiao Wei, I’m back.”

She gently pushed Yan Xiang forward again, “This is Yan Xiang.”

“Xiang Xiang, this is grandma.” She introduced to Yan Xiang, “This is Dad’s mother.”

Yan Xiang looked up at the old woman and slightly opened his mouth.

This time, he didn’t say “Wow.”

Before coming here, his parents had taught him about some people in their hometown.

When he saw Uncle, he knew he was Dad’s brother, and he did say “Wow,” feeling very curious.

After all, because he didn’t have siblings himself, although he knew he was Dad’s real brother, he didn’t have such strong empathy.

But the old grandma in front of him, she’s Dad’s mother!

Mom, what an important person she was.

Mom was too important to Yan Xiang. So Dad’s mother should be equally important to Dad.

Yan Xiang felt a strange calling.

Without needing Qiao Wei to push him again, he unconsciously took a few steps forward and looked up, “Grandma?”

“Grandma!”

“I’m Yan Xiang, I’m my dad’s son, I’m grandma’s grandson!”

At this moment, Qiao Wei saw the bond of blood in Yan Xiang.

Chinese people are almost impossible to completely sever such bonds. Even though Yan Lei has been away from home for more than ten years, meeting only four or five times in between, each time for just a few days, he couldn’t let go of this family.

At least he couldn’t let go of his biological parents.

But fortunately, the original text is a sweet and refreshing story, it needs to be sweet, yet refreshing.

The top-notch sisters-in-law are designed to be slapped in the face. But they also need to win the heart of the male lead, so the male lead’s biological parents are designed as “honest good people” to be used to win over and move the original female lead.

Sure enough, the original female lead moved the in-laws, and then moved Yan Lei, winning Yan Lei’s heart.

Qiao Wei remembered very clearly that in the original text, Yan Lei’s own mother once exclaimed, “This is the daughter-in-law that our village folks should marry.”

This route is quite good, or it’s really suitable for Lin Xixi. It firmly establishes her virtuous character, allowing her to demonstrate all her strengths in serving others, and achieving good results.

But this is not the path Qiao Wei wants to take.