He glanced coldly at Wang Xiuqin, who sat dejectedly in the back seat, bound hand and foot with her mouth sealed. After ensuring she wouldn’t cause trouble, he got out of the car to help Huo Xiao tie the bicycle to the roof.

Neither spoke in a hurry.

After securing the bicycle, Minister Hu took a puff of his cigarette, exhaled a thick smoke ring, and asked casually, “Want one?”

Huo Xiao rarely smoked, but thinking of Wang Xiuqin’s fate and his mother and wife sending him off, he finally said, “Sure.”

Minister Hu tossed him a cigarette box. Huo Xiao pulled one out, turned away from the wind, lit it with a match, and took a deep breath. The tension in his heart eased a little.

Seeing this, Minister Hu smirked, “Missing your wife already?”

Huo Xiao leaned against the car, squinting toward home. He admitted, “I don’t want to leave.”

Minister Hu was stunned, then burst into laughter. “Ha! Look at you! Not long ago, you wouldn’t even consider marriage, and now you’re like this? Who would’ve thought?”

Huo Xiao ignored him, took one last look at the village, then got in the passenger seat. “Let’s go.”

In a month, he would bring them to Tianjin for a reunion.

_

Minister Hu nodded. “Alright, I’ll drop you at the train station. Use the extra time to discuss this matter with me. What’s the plan?”

“It’s settled,” Huo Xiao replied.

Every time Huo Xiao left, Hu Xiu would feel uneasy for days. This time, she was calmer, knowing they would reunite soon. Besides, she had no time to dwell on it.

Huo Xiao had been gone for just twenty minutes when Chen Guilan stormed over, dragging Danier with her.

It was then that Lin Ting realized Chen Guilan hadn’t given up on the blind date and had secretly taken her daughter to meet the man that morning.

The reason for her fury? Not only did the blind date fail, but the five yuan in her pocket was stolen by the man.

The situation was so absurd that Lin Ting, after recovering from her shock, asked, “Second Aunt, how do you know it was him? What if you just lost it?”

Hu Xiu, hugging Danier, whose eyes were red with frustration, scolded her sister-in-law, “Didn’t Xiao say it was a bad idea? Why did you still go? Look at how you’ve wronged the child!”

“It was definitely him!” Chen Guilan insisted. “We met under the big locust tree in town. No one else was around. Danier refused him, and he bumped into me. Right after that, my money was gone!”

She wasn’t worried about anything else—just getting her five yuan back. In her mind, her nephew was an officer, and even the son of a factory director wouldn’t dare mess with him. She was determined to retrieve her money.

Five yuan was no small sum!

No, she wanted compensation too! At least two cans of oranges! Or yellow peaches!

When Hu Xiu heard her demands, she nearly lost her temper. “Xiao already returned to the army.”

“What? So soon?” Chen Guilan looked stricken.

Hu Xiu slammed the table. “What? You think I’m lying?”

Seeing her sister-in-law’s anger, Chen Guilan shrank back, but she couldn’t help but defend herself. “I wasn’t selling my daughter! I just wanted what’s best for her! If she marries into the city, she won’t have to work in the fields. Isn’t that a good life? Who cares if the man is short? It’s the same when the lights are off…”

“What nonsense! Danier is still a girl!” Hu Xiu fumed.

Lin Ting, holding Miaomiao on her lap, instinctively covered the little one’s ears. As a woman herself, she felt uncomfortable hearing this.

With her nephew gone and no courage to confront the city man, Chen Guilan grew more upset. She clutched her head, muttering, “It had to be that guy! He was near my pocket for a moment, and then my money was gone! Five yuan… I could have bought so much pork…”

Hu Xiu was about to offer to cover the loss, but Lin Ting subtly shook her head. Though confused, Hu Xiu held back and instead turned to Danier.

Danier’s eyes turned red again. She had never been so humiliated by her own mother.

The usually shy girl now spoke up, anger fueling her words. “My mother didn’t tell me anything about him beforehand—just that he was from the city, had a government job, and was a junior high school graduate. But when we met, he was at least half a head shorter than me. I wasn’t interested, but my mother insisted I talk to him alone.”

“Then he started asking if I’d had a boyfriend before, if I’d ever been alone with a man in the woods… He said that to be a wife in his family, I had to be frugal, manage the household, and—most importantly—be ‘clean.’ He also thought I was too skinny and short, that my hips were too small, and doubted I could give birth to a son! He even said the highest bride price he’d offer was eight yuan!”

He had even tried to touch her hand, but she had dodged. She was too embarrassed to say it aloud, worried people would misunderstand.

Now, just thinking about it made her tremble with anger.

“What nonsense! Who says you’re too skinny to have a son? I’m shorter than you, and I gave birth to three tall sons!” Chen Guilan, who had been hoping to guilt her sister-in-law into giving her money, suddenly flared up again, hands on her hips, cursing.

Lin Ting was speechless. Was that really the only thing Second Aunt took away from this? Danier was truly unlucky.

Her mother was unreliable, and her usually dependable mother-in-law was now too angry at Second Aunt to even speak. Lin Ting had to step in to comfort her. “Don’t be upset, Danier. Just think of it as stepping on dog poop. Later, my cousin’s wife will find someone to teach him a lesson, okay?”

Hearing this, Hu Xiu calmed down, remembering how her son had beaten up a troublemaker from the town commune who had tried to harass her daughter-in-law two days ago. “Yes, your eldest cousin’s wife is right. Someone like that isn’t worth getting angry over. We’ll get someone to deal with him later.”

Chen Guilan interjected, “What about the money…?”

Hu Xiu had already realized why her daughter-in-law refused to provide financial help, so she sternly replied, “We have no money! That 5 yuan is a lesson for us.”

Unwilling to give up, Chen Guilan quickly said, “I’ve already learned my lesson. Look, sister-in-law, my lips even have blisters from all this worrying.”

Hu Xiu was generally kind and didn’t mind helping out her brothers-in-law’s families when appropriate. After all, she had been a widow raising children for years and had received plenty of support from them. But that didn’t mean she had no boundaries.

Especially after hearing Danier cry, she hardened her heart and asked, “Now that you know who’s good and who’s bad, shouldn’t you stop judging people just by whether they’re from the city or the countryside?”

Chen Guilan understood, but deep-seated beliefs don’t change overnight. Although she didn’t argue back this time, her expression still showed some reluctance.

Seeing this, Hu Xiu lost patience and pointed to the door. “Get out! Just looking at you makes me angry. Go home!”

Lin Ting added, “Danier, why don’t you stay here for a few days? It’s a good chance to teach sister-in-law how to make thousand-layer soles ^[1]a traditional hand-stitched shoe sole made by layering fabric..”

Danier, though naive and inexperienced, wasn’t stupid. She understood that her eldest cousin’s wife was trying to protect her from being scolded by her mother. Feeling a bit embarrassed but grateful, she shyly agreed.

_

That night, Hu Xiu, as usual, slept with the twins.

So, Danier shared a bed with Lin Ting.

Lying in bed, Danier watched as Lin Ting sat at the dressing table, combing her waist-length hair. She thought her sister-in-law was so beautiful and gentle, and she hoped to be like her when she grew up.

Lin Ting could feel the little girl’s gaze. She put down the comb, gathered her long hair behind her, and then got on the kang.

Lying down, she asked, “I’ve been calling you Danier, but I don’t even know your real name.”

“My full name is Huo Nini.” Danier blushed. Lying so close, she realized that her eldest cousin’s wife smelled nice—like cold cream ^[2]a type of moisturizing skin cream., but also different. Feeling self-conscious, she shifted away slightly.

Lin Ting smiled. “That’s a lovely name.”

Danier was surprised. Did “Ni” really sound nice? Her surname sounded like “mud,” and almost every girl was called “Ni.” Thinking about it, she said, “The third uncle’s daughter is named Furong ^[3]which means ‘hibiscus flower’., and my aunt gave her that name.”

“Nini is a great name too. It means cute and clever.” Lin Ting found it more unique for this time period.

Thinking of this, she felt lucky that both she and her elder sister, Lin Ting, had been named after herbs by the village’s barefoot doctor ^[4]a rural doctor trained with basic medical knowledge..

Compared to the three brothers—Lin Ming, Lin Wei, and Lin Hong—her name was much more meaningful.

Danier had never known that her name had such a nice meaning. She thought her eldest cousin’s wife was not only beautiful and knowledgeable but also very approachable.

She hesitated before asking, “Sister-in-law, do you think getting married is a good thing?”

Lin Ting turned her head to look at the little girl. “Were you scared by the blind date today?”

Danier lowered her eyes and murmured, “A little.”

Lin Ting could relate. In her past life, when she had just entered college, she had gone on a date with a school heartthrob. He seemed decent, and their first meeting was for lunch. But after eating, he invited her to his home, saying he needed to grab something.

At 19, Lin Ting had been naive, protected by her family, and completely unaware of his intentions. When they arrived, he suddenly made unwanted advances. Terrified, she had burst into tears, slapped him, and ran away.

After that, during her four years in college, she avoided dating, convinced that all men were bad.

Later, she got busy with postgraduate exams and work, and the idea of relationships faded into the background. In modern times, marriage was a personal choice, but in this era, an unmarried woman would be criticized relentlessly.

Lin Ting knew she had been stronger than Danier, yet she had still been afraid. How much worse would it be for such a soft-hearted girl?

She didn’t want to mislead her, so she answered honestly, “I don’t know if marriage is good or bad. I’ve only known your cousin for a few days, but we get along well. He’s responsible, kind, family-oriented, has a stable job, and your mother-in-law is good—which is really important. And your cousin is also good-looking…”

Eh? The more Lin Ting thought about it, the more she felt like she had gotten a great bargain. What was going on?

After all, someone like Huo Xiao, if placed in the future, would definitely be considered a dream man.

The eldest cousin’s wife didn’t say anything embarrassing, yet the 17-year-old girl blushed for no reason. After a long while, she murmured softly like a mosquito: “Eldest cousin’s wife must really like eldest cousin.”

Lin Ting sighed internally. What was with all these people surnamed Huo?