Chapter 5

Li Yannian stayed in the dormitory that night. It wasn’t until the next evening that he returned with his belongings. Besides his bedding, he also had a pile of books—mostly high school textbooks. Song Ci was delighted, and after dinner, he urged him to study with him.

Li Yannian also thought it would be good to read more books, but unfortunately, he started snoring on the table after reading only two pages. Song Ci woke him up and asked him to go to the room to rest and not disturb her studies. He did not get angry and happily went to rest.

It was the end of April, just a few days before the Gaokao. Aside from housework and playing with Xiaoshu, Song Ci spent the rest of her time studying, staying at home. During this time, Liu Meihua would come to her as if nothing had happened, complaining about what had happened to Song Zhen, only to be rebuked by her with a few words. However, when Xu Yuan came, she stopped studying and instead spent the entire day chatting with him. Because she rarely left the house, she missed several good performances.

Perhaps she had truly come out of it. Xu Yuan looked much better and made two pairs of tiger-head shoes for Xiaoshu, who was so happy she couldn’t stop smiling. Song Ci was happy for her. Although she wasn’t particularly interested in the gossip she shared, she still listened attentively, which Xu Yuan found very satisfying. She felt that Song Ci was different from others. Even though she didn’t talk about her dog much anymore, whenever she opened her mouth, others would act impatient, making her lose the will to speak. With Song Ci, she felt the same feeling she once had when chatting with others, which was really enjoyable.

In early May, Song Ci was washing clothes with Xiao Shu by the river when Wang Juan came over and said, “Song Ci, your aunt is here. She’s waiting at the gate. Go over and take a look.”

After hearing this, Song Ci hurriedly picked up the clothes on the stone slab and put them in the basin. Then, holding Xiaoshu’s hand, he was about to go to the gate. But after only a few steps, Wang Juan snatched the basin from her hand and said, “You can go by yourself. I’ll leave the clothes at your door. Xiaoshu, stay here too. I’ll take you home.”

“Thank you, sister-in-law. I’ll pick someone up and come right away.” Song Ci said as she quickly walked towards the gate. The family quarters were inside the military area, quite far from the gate. Song Ci walked for a long time before finally reaching the gate. Before she even got there, she saw Li Yanfang waving at her, “Third sister-in-law.”

“Xiaofang.” Song Ci responded and then went over to confirm Li Yanfang’s identity with the sentry.

“Did you eat on the way?” Song Ci asked as they walked. Perhaps it had been so long, she had forgotten many details from the book. She thought for a long time on the way here, but she couldn’t remember why Li Yanfang suddenly came to the military region.

“No, your place is really remote, I almost couldn’t find it. Luckily I met a car from your military district on the road. People knew that my brother was also serving here, so they gave me a ride.” Li Yanfang had a shy look on her face as she spoke.

Song Ci suddenly had a bad feeling and couldn’t help asking, “Have you asked for their names? When your brother comes back, you can invite them to your house for dinner.”

“Is my brother not at home? Why didn’t you ask? His name is so nice, Gu Yiran. Sister-in-law, do you know him? Does he have anything?” Li Yanfang asked expectantly.

“Your brother has gone out on a mission and no one knows when he will be back. As for Gu Yiran you mentioned, he is married. By the way, Xiaofang, why didn’t you call before coming to the military region?” Song Ci turned his head to look at her.

Li Yanfang turned her head away feeling a little guilty. “Third sister-in-law, please don’t be angry. I came here secretly, and my parents don’t know.”

“What about the letter of introduction?”

“It’s our factory that opened it. There’s nothing going on at the factory right now, so I applied for unpaid leave and then came to your place.”

“No, I have to call Mom first.”

“Fight me! I’m already here, how can she pull me back?” Song Ci looked at her speechlessly, “Tell me, why did you come all the way here? But don’t say you missed your brother and me. If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll send you back.”

“Just say it. My parents want me to marry Zhang Chengcai, but I don’t want to. What era is this? There are still arranged marriages. I at least graduated from high school, and Zhang Chengcai didn’t even finish elementary school. He’s not good-looking and dull. I don’t want to marry him. Third sister-in-law, you will understand me, right?” Seeing that there was no one around, Li Yanfang told the truth immediately. She felt that her third sister-in-law would definitely understand her, as they both graduated from high school.

Song Ci didn’t know what to say for a moment, and after a while he said, “Talk to Mom about it when we get through the phone later.”

“I know, but it went in one ear and out the other.” Li Yanfang nodded quickly.

Song Ci was amused by her expression, but he couldn’t say anything. As they were talking, they walked to a phone booth. After paying, they called the commune. After waiting for a while, Zhang Xiumei finally arrived.

“Hey, words.”

“Mom, it’s me.”

“Xiaofang?”

“It’s me.”

“Why are you with your third sister-in-law? Are your third brother and sister-in-law around?”

“It’s because you keep nagging me to get married soon that I want to come to my third brother’s place and have some free time. Mom, I’ve arrived safely at the military area, don’t worry about me. My third sister-in-law is here, and my third brother is on a mission. Phone calls are expensive, so please keep your conversation short.”

“You dead girl, if you come back I’ll ask your father to cut you, and you let your third sister-in-law answer the phone.”

“Sister-in-law, mother asked you to answer the phone.”

“Mom, is everything okay at home?”

Zhang Xiumei: “Everything is fine. The phone bill is expensive, so I won’t say anything more. You can let Xiaofang stay at your place for a few days and then send her back, okay?”

Li Yanfang: “Mom, I’ve taken two months off. I’m staying here for a while.”

Zhang Xiumei: “You dead girl. Ci, it’s not good for you to offend your sister-in-law. Let Yannian come and tell me what I said.”

“Oh.” Song Ci nodded.

Zhang Xiumei: “Okay, I’m hanging up now.”

“Okay.” Song Ci just hung up the phone and saw Li Yanfang looking very happy. Without saying anything, he led the group home. Xiaoshu was still at Wang Juan’s house.

When they got home, she asked Li Yanfang to sit inside first, then took two peaches and went to the next door. Xiaoshu was playing in the mud with Wang Juan’s son Dazhu. When he saw her, he called out “Mom” and then lowered his head to play in the mud again.

“Auntie, I exchanged these with a fellow villager yesterday. They’re very sweet, please try them.” Song Ci handed over two large peaches. Wang Po usually didn’t like Song Ci very much, but when she saw her bringing the peaches, she finally smiled, accepted the peaches, said thank you, and said nothing more.

Song Ci was about to call Xiao Shu back when Wang Juan came out of the house, “Song Ci, you’re back. What’s going on with your aunt? You didn’t even know she was here.”

Song Ci was helpless. Wang Juan wasn’t a bad person at heart, but she was always talking. “It’s not that I need to study, but there’s no one to look after the little tree, and she’s fine, so I asked her to come over here and help me take care of the little tree.”

“I think your aunt is not young anymore. Does she have a boyfriend? Do you want me to introduce her to someone? There are many good guys in our military region who are still unmarried.” Wang Juan said with interest.

“She just came and I haven’t had time to ask. I’ll go back and ask her. Sister-in-law, you go ahead and do your work. I’ll go home first. Xiaoshu.” Song Ci called Xiaoshu again.

“Just let him play with Xiaozhu. My mother is watching. You can rest assured.” Wang Juan said while standing under the eaves.

“Then I’ll go back first.” Song Ci didn’t say anything more.