Both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law assumed Bai Guo was joking. How could it be that wretched girl Jiang Ling? Was she even worthy?

Before they could voice their doubts, they saw none other than Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu—people they were all familiar with—standing right beside the factory director, who was holding a script in his hand and officiating the wedding.

Sun Yilan muttered under her breath, “When did that girl get in with the factory director? And she didn’t even mention it at home.”

Bai Guo, who had recently listened to Jiang Ling speak ill of her family, now wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. She couldn’t tell who in that family was the real villain and who wasn’t.

Director Ding himself had been worried that making such a big scene today might lead workers to suspect that the newlyweds were his relatives, and that he was misusing public resources for private matters.

So during the wedding ceremony, Director Ding gave a detailed introduction of the newlyweds. One was a young technical backbone from the Technical Section, with a family from out of town. The other was the daughter of an ordinary loading and unloading worker at the Daily Chemical Factory, now a young clerk in the Accounting Section.

He broke down their family backgrounds piece by piece, all to make it clear to the workers: go ahead and ask around—are these two my relatives? I, Ding Hui, am a man of absolute fairness and impartiality.

Jiang Ling had no idea how she even got through the day. Her face felt like it was about to split from smiling so much. But Song Guanshu wasn’t faring much better.

Luckily, weddings during this time were simple. After reading the marriage certificate speech, Director Ding, on behalf of the factory, presented the couple with a thermos and an enamel basin.

Jiang Ling’s eyes lit up instantly. She happened to be in need of a thermos.

After spending half a day being paraded around like a monkey, at least she got something out of it.

After the banquet ended, the workers dispersed cleanly and quickly.

But the Jiang family hadn’t left yet.

Even though Director Ding had gone out of his way in the marriage speech to distance himself from the couple, most of the workers still believed that the young pair had some sort of special connection to the factory director’s family.

The Jiang family thought the same. While Director Ding was delivering the speech, they leaned over to those at their table and said, “That bride is our daughter.”

Someone at the table asked, “If she’s your daughter, then how come you, as the parents, didn’t go up to give a speech?” Let alone a speech—shouldn’t they at least have had red flowers pinned to their chests to indicate they were the bride’s parents, instead of just claiming it verbally?

Ordinarily, Sun Yilan would’ve scolded Jiang Ling right then and there for being unfilial.

But now that her daughter and son-in-law had earned the favor of the factory director and become favored individuals in the eyes of factory leadership, she couldn’t flatter them fast enough—there was no way she’d speak ill of her daughter now.

“I forgot,” she said. Because she couldn’t very well admit that, as the mother, she hadn’t even known her daughter was getting married today.

The thought made Sun Yilan furious. All she had done was scold the girl a couple of times, yet Jiang Ling had been so heartless as to not even inform her family about such an important matter as her wedding. Truly, they had raised a thankless ingrate. All she could hope now was that Jiang Ling would still remember the kindness of being raised, and when she became successful, she wouldn’t forget to help her younger brothers move up too.

After the workers had finished eating, they simply dusted themselves off and left. But as the couple at the center of it all, Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu had to stay and help the canteen clean up the bowls, chopsticks, tables, and chairs.

As a mother, Sun Yilan still cared about saving face and didn’t want to lower herself to apologize to her daughter.

While Jiang Ling was tidying the tables and chairs, Sun Yilan quietly joined in to help, hoping her actions would soften Jiang Ling’s heart and prompt her to speak first.

Jiang Ling was more than happy to have someone helping and didn’t care about her mother’s true intentions.

There was overtime pay for extra work in the canteen. Seeing the young couple sensibly staying behind to clean, the staff thought well of them. No wonder Director Ding had agreed to officiate their wedding.

That kind of awareness and tact—many people in the factory didn’t have it.

The canteen auntie kindly told them, “We’ve already got the routine down. You two don’t need to help anymore. Go on and head back.” They couldn’t delay the wedding night, after all.

Jiang Ling wasn’t particularly fond of doing chores. The reason she lingered in the canteen pretending to help was because she didn’t want to be alone with Song Guanshu just yet.

Sun Yilan was waiting for Jiang Ling to soften up. But instead of showing her mother any attention, Jiang Ling was chatting and laughing with a stranger—the canteen auntie—while completely ignoring her birth mother.

Sun Yilan really wanted to throw a fit, but she reminded herself that this child had grown up now, had her own standing, and couldn’t be treated like a little girl anymore.

She stood in a corner, repeating to herself not to lose her temper. She endured it again and again, until finally, one of the canteen staff came over and said, “We’re about to lock up. The factory already said the canteen only provides lunch—no dinner.”

That staffer had a bit of a temper. Seeing this woman lurking around suspiciously, she even wondered if she was trying to steal something.

She muttered under her breath, “I’ve never heard of anyone hosting a wedding and providing both lunch and dinner. Do they really think the host family is some kind of tycoon?” Her tone was sharp—she clearly had no patience for people who liked to take advantage of others.

In her eyes, Sun Yilan was just another freeloader.

Sun Yilan had never been so humiliated. She shouted, “Who are you calling a freeloader? The ones getting married today are my daughter and son-in-law! Have you ever seen someone freeloading at their own family’s banquet?”

The staff member raised her eyebrows and said, “Even if she’s your daughter, you still can’t just stand around our canteen like this.”

Any normal person would’ve gone home right after lunch. But this woman’s behavior was odd in every way.

The canteen workers had been on their feet all day and were exhausted. They just wanted to go home and rest. They didn’t really care what Sun Yilan’s ultimate motive was—so long as she wasn’t a thief, it didn’t matter.

At noon, only Sun Yilan and Zhao Hongyun had shown up to crash the wedding meal. The men of the family thought it was disgraceful and chose instead to stay home and cook up some plain noodles.

Zhao Hongyun was pregnant, and Sun Yilan was worried that standing too long might affect the baby. She suggested that Zhao Hongyun go home first while she stayed behind at the canteen to find a chance to soften her stance and speak with Jiang Ling.

It wasn’t just concern for her daughter-in-law and the grandchild she carried—Sun Yilan also had her own agenda.

Without her daughter-in-law around, it would be easier for her to make peace with her daughter.

But things didn’t go as she had hoped. By the time Sun Yilan returned home, Zhao Hongyun had already shared everything she’d witnessed at the canteen with the father and son.

The two men of the Jiang family were waiting eagerly to hear how Jiang Ling had managed to get in with Director Ding.

When Sun Yilan came home wearing a sullen expression, the Jiang men immediately knew that her attempt had failed.

Jiang Zhifu cursed in anger, “She really is a thankless little wretch.”

Jiang Ling, the so-called thankless wretch, was now sitting on the back seat of Song Guanshu’s bicycle. She showed no intention of keeping a low profile and casually wrapped her arms around his waist.

She was worried that Song Guanshu might still be holding a grudge over having acted as her human cushion earlier and would purposely throw her off. When there was no one else around, he never pretended to be a gentleman—and he could be incredibly petty.

Wrapping one’s arms around a man’s waist in public was considered quite bold for this era.

But the wind was strong, and passersby were all busy hurrying along with their heads down, so no one noticed.

Song Guanshu wasn’t used to physical contact. With someone riding on the back, he pedaled unsteadily in a zigzag fashion and eventually wobbled his way back to the Steel Factory’s residential compound.

The compound consisted of a large area of single-story houses. The Steel Factory was a massive operation with over ten thousand workers. They had been talking for years about building residential buildings for the staff, but for various reasons, everyone was still living in the old courtyard homes.

Jiang Ling could hardly believe what she was seeing—this living environment was even more modest than she had imagined.

Housing was tight during this time. Every household had at least two or three children, and even their own space was barely enough—renting out part of the home to outsiders was almost unheard of. The fact that Song Guanshu had managed to rent a place at all was already extremely rare, even if it was just a small west wing room.

What Jiang Ling didn’t understand was: with so much of the family property already returned to the Songs, why was he still choosing to endure hardship in Beicheng, living in a place like this?

A cold, detached voice cut into her thoughts.

“Come in.”

It was just a small wing room, yet it had been divided into a front and back section—the outer area served as the kitchen, while the inner room was the bedroom.

Though the space was humble, it had been cleaned to a meticulous degree—so much so that it almost felt excessive.

Everything inside was essential to daily life, yet there was no sign of actual living. It felt more like a showroom than a home.

When Jiang Ling sat down along the edge of the kang^[1]A kang (炕) is a traditional raised platform made of bricks or clay found in northern Chinese homes. It is heated from underneath—typically by the flue of a stove—and used for sitting, sleeping, … Continue reading bed, Song Guanshu subtly furrowed his brows.

Just as she was about to place her bundle on the kang, he could no longer hold back and stopped her. “Let me do it.”

Watching Song Guanshu place her belongings on the floor, Jiang Ling belatedly realized—this man actually looked down on her.

As if sensing she had finally seen through him, he dropped all pretense now that no one else was around, reverting to his usual cold and indifferent self.

The factory provided free dormitories for young workers, but Song Guanshu had chosen to live farther away in a rented space, simply because he didn’t want to share a room with anyone.

Now that his private space had been invaded, he felt uncomfortable all over.

Did Jiang Ling not realize that Song Guanshu didn’t want her here? Of course she did. No matter what she did, his expression always seemed to say he had something to say—but held it in.

As long as he didn’t say it outright, Jiang Ling would pretend not to notice anything.

Who told Song Guanshu to insist on registering their marriage? This was his karmic reward.

Everyone ought to face the consequences of their own choices.

If one overlooked the fact that he was a “villain,” Song Guanshu actually made a pretty decent roommate—he spoke very little and never initiated conversation unless necessary.

He was also extremely clean. The house was spotless under his care, without any of the odd smells usually found in a bachelor’s place.

But after nightfall, trouble arrived.

There was only one kang bed in the entire wing room, and it was just big enough for two people to lie side by side.

Following his usual routine, Song Guanshu spread the bedding right in the middle of the kang.

The head of the bed was too hot, and the foot too cold—right in the middle was the most comfortable spot. He had always slept there.

When Jiang Ling saw him lay the quilt down in the center, she stared in silence for two seconds before asking, “Are you planning for the two of us to sleep under your quilt tonight?”

For the first time, she saw genuine shock on Song Guanshu’s face. Her intention had been to mock him.

But his reaction was far too amusing, and Jiang Ling couldn’t help herself from adding, “Actually, I don’t really mind. You know how fond I am of you. Sharing a quilt with you? I’d probably wake up laughing in the middle of the night from a dream.”

What she didn’t expect was his completely unexpected response.

The corners of Song Guanshu’s lips curled up ever so slightly. “Alright.”