Chapter 14

Liu Ting returned home amid the compliments of her friends. As soon as she entered the house, she saw Li Lijuan sitting in the house watching TV.

Seeing her come in, Li Lijuan looked at her puzzledly: “Didn’t you say you were going to have a picnic in the mountains? Why are you back so soon?”

“I came back just because the results came out.” Liu Ting said somewhat depressedly.

“Failed the exam? No big deal, just take it again next year.” Li Lijuan said indifferently.

“She should have passed the exam. I scored 320.” Liu Ting went over and sat next to her, then picked up an apple and started eating it.

“Yeah, that’s great. Why do you look so unhappy? Could it be that Li Jing said something unpleasant again? Let’s talk to her mother tomorrow.” Li Lijuan said while watching TV.

“It has nothing to do with her. Also, Mom, don’t go to other people’s parents all the time. If you do that, no one will dare to play with me in the future.” Liu Ting pouted dissatisfiedly.

“Okay, okay, I won’t go look for her mother. Then tell her who is pissing you off?”

“No one provokes me, I’m not unhappy.”

“I gave birth to you, of course I know that, but you’re just unhappy. If you don’t tell me, I’ll ask you tomorrow.”

“No, I just feel like I didn’t do well in the exam.”

No, you did quite well in the exam, didn’t you? “

“Someone did better than me.”

“No way, there are people who did better than you.”

“Of course I did. I scored 395 points on the Song Ci test.”

“Song Ci? Is her academic performance so good? If you said Song Zhen, I would believe it.”

“I heard that she hasn’t left the house for the past few months and has been studying at home every day. Also, Song Zhen did better than me in the exam.” She was not unhappy at first, but seeing everyone surrounding Song Ci, she felt a little sad. After all, she used to be the focus of the crowd.

Li Lijuan: “It’s only natural that they scored better than you. They just want to turn their lives around with the college entrance examination. You don’t have to compete with them. Not to mention that they are married, even if they weren’t married, they wouldn’t be able to surpass you. What’s the point of getting into college? Isn’t it to get a good job? You don’t have to worry about that at all. Just look at Li Yannian and Gu Yiran and you will know. Speaking of which, Gu Yiran’s family is really good. If he wasn’t married, I would still want to match you two up.”

Gu Yiran’s figure suddenly appeared in Liu Ting’s mind, and her face turned red.

Li Lijuan saw it and said, “He’s already married, don’t think too much about it.”

“Mom, what did you say?” Liu Ting said unwillingly.

“I’m just worried you might get confused. Gu Yiran has a good family background and is a hardworking person. He’s really good. If there’s anything bad about him, it’s his mother. That’s why I hesitated at first.”

Li Lijuan told her daughter the truth because she was afraid that her daughter would be confused.

“What the fuck?”

“Gu Yiran’s mother was not Chief Gu’s original wife. She was originally just a nanny. Not long after the previous one died, the two got married and gave birth to a son and a daughter in quick succession, which allowed them to gain a firm foothold. I don’t believe there is nothing fishy about this. You say that with a person like his mother, I wouldn’t dare let you marry into our family. If our family is stronger than the Gu family, it would be easy to say. It’s your grandfather and your father’s fault for not being so ambitious. Just wait and see, Song Zhen will have a hard time in the future. I’ve met his mother twice. She looks kind on the surface, but she’s very powerful inside. How could she be interested in Song Zhen, a country girl?”

“Why would she dislike him? Song Zhen is a prospective college student after all, and she herself is a nanny.”

“She used to be a nanny, and now she’s an official’s wife. She hates it most when people mention her background. Looking at Song Zhen reminds people of her past. And people like her, once they climb up, look down on those at the bottom even more than the rest of us do. You’re grown up now, and if you’re not good at studying, you should be married. You should know some things too.”

“Then do you think Brother Gu will divorce her?”

“Hey, girl, I knew you were attracted to me. But don’t worry, your dad and I won’t agree. Our family isn’t bad either. You’re a good girl, why would you marry a divorced man? Maybe he’ll already have children by then, and it wouldn’t be easy to be a stepmother.”

“Mom, why do you always think about me like this? I’m just curious.”

“Okay, eat your apple and don’t disturb me watching TV. Or you can go find your dad. Your dad will definitely be happy if he knows you got over 300 points on the test.”

“I won’t go. Maybe he already knows.” Commander Liu knew it a long time ago. Not only was he happy, he also called Gu Yiran and Li Yannian to his office and told them the news in person.

Gu Yiran and Li Yannian were also very happy to hear this, especially Li Yannian, who rarely showed his emotions in the army and could hardly close his mouth.

Commander Liu was so upset that he decisively asked him to go back, leaving only Gu Yiran to talk. However, he was talking about Gu Yiran going to military school in the second half of the year.

Li Yannian left the commander’s office, intending to keep his mouth shut and maintain his image. Unfortunately, this was so exciting that he didn’t even go back to the training ground. He quickly returned to his office, finally having enough fun. He didn’t eat in the cafeteria at noon, but went home.

Seeing the corners of his mouth curled up, Song Ci thought he knew it, raised his head and said, “How is it? Didn’t it embarrass you?”

“No, it’s such an honor. No, how could you do so well in the exam. It was all my fault before, I shouldn’t have questioned you. If our parents knew about this, I don’t know how happy they would be. I haven’t been home for several years, and I don’t have much to do in the army recently. Why don’t I take advantage of this happy time and just apply for home leave to go back. My mother called me last time and said she missed Xiaoshu.” Li Yannian thought that it was not enough to be happy alone, he had to make his parents happy too. His great-grandfather was a scholar in the old days, and the family has always considered themselves a scholarly family. Unfortunately, apart from his great-grandfather, no one below him was good at studying. If his father knew that his wife was going to Hua University, he would jump for joy. Seeing him so happy, Song Ci agreed, “We will go back after the notice comes out. By the way, how long is your home leave?”

“One month.” Li Yannian said as he stuffed firewood into the stove.

“It’s not short, we should prepare it early. By the way, what do you think we should bring for Mom and Dad?”

“Bring some local specialties. It would be great if we could buy some malted milk. My sister-in-law just gave birth to a little niece.”

“Then I’ll see what happens when the time comes.”

“Well, it’s up to you.”

Xiaoshu was also very happy when he heard that he was going back to his hometown. Although he had never been back, he would talk to his grandmother every time he called, and the relationship between the two was very good.

After being happy, Song Ci suddenly asked Li Yannian, “Are you familiar with Brother Wu?”

“Why are you asking about him suddenly?” Song Ci told him about Xu Yuan’s visit.

Li Yannian thought for a moment before saying, “He’s in the Second Regiment. I’ve only met him a few times, so I’m not very familiar with him. I heard he’s a nice guy, though a bit pedantic.”

“Pedantic?” Song Ci nodded. That was it. No wonder he was being controlled by his mother. She’d say that since he could call and curse, he probably wasn’t seriously ill. He had to come to the army, perhaps for another reason.

Li Yannian hesitated for a moment before saying, “You’d better have less contact with Sister Xu. There was a sister-in-law who always tried to help her, but in the end, no one helped her and she broke down. She was sent back to her hometown and it took a while for her to recover. She has been in the army for six or seven years. When she first came, many people felt sorry for her and wanted to help her, but after all these years, she is still the same as when she first came. You have been with the army for more than two years, and she didn’t usually get close to you. How come she is so close to you all of a sudden?”

Song Ci was stunned when she heard this, and after a while she told Li Yannian about her last trip to the city. She said she had forgotten something, but it turned out that she had forgotten to tell Li Yannian about asking Xiaoshu to take Xu Yuan as his godmother.

Li Yannian nodded. “It’s okay. You’ll be going to college soon anyway. Maybe, as you said, Sister Xu is already well. She’s pregnant.”