Chapter 7: Good Fortune Can Bring Good Luck to Your Husband

Everyone in the village knew about the engagement, and even the son’s superiors in the army were aware. If they called it off now, wouldn’t that be a laughingstock?

The old couple still had some standing in the village, and their son was a leader in the army—it just wouldn’t do.

But in truth, she was overthinking it. Lu Huaijin was busy with an urgent mission and hadn’t even had time to inform his unit about the engagement.

“Don’t cancel it? And what—just keep pretending? That Jiang Lizhu—no, she’s going by Xia Lizhu now—she’s run off. What do you expect us to do, bring her back from the dead?”

“Didn’t their real daughter just return home? I heard she was raised in the city and is a college graduate. Her conditions are way better than Xia Lizhu’s.”

“Oh, dream on! That’s their long-lost biological daughter, finally found after so many years, and you think she’s going to marry your son? You’re not even asleep yet and already dreaming.”

Lu Dacheng couldn’t believe what his wife was saying. She actually wanted someone’s just-returned daughter to marry into their family as a stepmother. The nerve.

“I don’t care. Tomorrow I’m going to their house. As long as she’s not hideous, we’ll make do and switch brides.”

“You… are you serious? Would you agree to let your real daughter take someone else’s place and marry into a family as a stepmother to two kids?”

“You stay out of it. I’ll go see for myself tomorrow. Now go to sleep.”

With that, Wang Juying turned over and faced away from Lu Dacheng, clearly done with the conversation.

Lu Dacheng, annoyed, yanked the blanket over himself and fell asleep with a snore.

—

The next morning, Wang Juying didn’t even eat breakfast. She put on her clothes and headed straight to the Jiang household.

In the kitchen, Lu Shuanyan had just finished cooking and was bringing out the meal when she saw her mother rushing out the door.

“Mom, where are you going? Breakfast is ready!”

Wang Juying didn’t even turn her head and just kept walking.

Lu Shuanyan frowned and turned back to see her father stepping out of the room.

“Dad, where’s Mom going in such a hurry? I called her to eat and she didn’t even answer.”

Lu Dacheng replied impatiently, “Ignore her. We’ll eat without her. Let her starve for all I care—crazy woman.”

“Ugh, Dad, what are you and Mom even hiding from me?”

“Your mom went to the Jiang house.”

“First thing in the morning? She skipped breakfast to go there? What for?”

“She heard Xia Lizhu ran away and their real daughter is back, so she’s going to check her out. She wants to swap brides for your brother.”

“What?! But what if Jiang Uncle’s real daughter isn’t good-looking?”

“Not good-looking? Your mom said as long as she’s not hideous, your brother can make do.”

Hearing this, Lu Shuanyan silently lit three incense sticks for her brother in her heart, praying to Buddha to protect his future.
If her mom brought back someone even uglier and fatter than Xia Lizhu… Well, alright—Xia Lizhu was pretty fat, so hopefully it couldn’t get worse.

—

At the Jiang household, the whole family was sitting in the main room, drinking porridge and eating roasted sweet potatoes, when Wang Juying pushed open the door and came in.

“Brother Jiang, Shuzhen, having breakfast? No wonder I smelled something good from far away.”

“Ah, Sister-in-law Juying, come in! We made porridge and steamed some sweet potatoes for the kids. Have you eaten yet? If not, sit and have some with us.”

“I haven’t eaten, but it’s fine. I’ll eat when I get home. Don’t mind me.”

There were two bamboo chairs at the doorway—every household in the village had them. Wang Juying sat down at the entrance and stared intently at Jiang Peiyu, sizing her up.

Hmm… Not bad. Way better than Xia Lizhu, she thought.

Pretty, fair-skinned, and delicate—like a little fairy. Curvy where it counted and slim where it mattered. Looked to be at least 165 cm tall. With such good facial features, she had to be lucky and bring prosperity to her husband. Her appearance was perfect for her son.

The more she looked, the more satisfied she was. No way we’re backing out of this engagement. Even if they offer money to cancel it, I won’t agree.

Jiang Peiyu sat beside Jiang Qiyang, eating roasted sweet potatoes. Both of them had black smudges around their mouths, like little kittens.

Feeling someone staring at her, she grew shy and kept lowering her head.

After breakfast, Jiang’s eldest son left with his wife and younger brother to work in the fields. Li Shuzhen asked Jiang Qiyang to take Jiang Peiyu out for a walk.

Then she turned and invited Wang Juying inside the house. The three of them shut the door to talk privately.

“Sister-in-law, I know why you came today, and…” Jiang Fugui struggled to continue.

After all, it had been a child they raised—even if not biological. And the fact was, they did owe the Lu family.

If it had been another household, and the bride they’d paid 600 yuan for ran off just before the wedding, they would’ve made a huge scene by now.

Seeing her husband hesitate, Li Shuzhen took over the conversation.

“Sister-in-law, we truly owe your family an apology.”

“We don’t even know how that girl found out she wasn’t our biological child. But still, we raised her. We did our best.”

“Now she’s run off, and took almost all our money with her. That girl really has no conscience.”

“Can you ask Huaijin to use his military connections to track her down? If you can catch her, you can hit her or scold her all you want—we won’t stop you.”

“If you can’t find her… then we, the old couple, will tighten our belts and go hungry if we have to—but we’ll pay back the full bride price.”

Wang Juying, hearing this, realized they were trying to cancel the engagement. That couldn’t happen. No way could her son lose such a beautiful bride.

She quickly waved her hand. “No need to rush into anything. Let’s talk this over slowly.”

“We’re all neighbors here, we all know what’s going on. We don’t blame your family…” Wang Juying said, then thought to herself—there was no way the Jiang family would bring it up themselves. For the sake of her son’s happiness, she’d have to be the one to do it.

“Look, even though Xia Lizhu ran off, your real daughter has been found, right?” she continued. “So how about this—we don’t cancel the engagement. We just switch brides. After all, our Huaijin’s conditions aren’t bad at all.”

“As for the two kids… if your daughter doesn’t want to take care of them…”

“If it really doesn’t work out, then just let us old folks take care of the kids here in the countryside. What do you think? Would that be okay?”

“This…” Li Shuzhen was clearly troubled. To be honest, she couldn’t be more unwilling.

“Sister-in-law, we just found our daughter,” she said. “To marry her off like this so soon… to be honest, her father and I just can’t bear it.”

Seeing the situation couldn’t be dragged out any longer, Jiang Fugui spoke up plainly.

“What’s the big deal? The families live close to each other. If you miss your daughter, you can always come visit her at our place. She can even come stay with you for a few days. It’s no trouble…”

“No. I won’t marry him. Dad, Mom, you want me to marry in place of Xia Lizhu? I won’t do it. I’m not going to clean up her mess,” Jiang Peiyu suddenly said.

“I don’t want Little Auntie to clean up someone else’s mess either!” Jiang Qiyang added.

His words nearly made Jiang Peiyu burst out laughing, but she managed to hold it in.

Peiyu had taken Jiang Qiyang out for a walk earlier but grew uneasy. After pacing outside for a few minutes, she quietly brought him back and they crouched at the door to eavesdrop.

When she heard Wang Juying suggesting to switch the bride and have her marry over, she couldn’t hold back any longer—she pushed the door open.