Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Meng Li stood in the middle of the crowd, kept replaying the original story in her head.

Although this scene wasn't in the original book, the Ji Yunshu in the original was a paper tiger—all bark, no bite. Whenever anyone rebutted her, she would stammer and fall silent. How could she be like this now, standing her ground and arguing back, even quickly spotting the loopholes in Meng Li's words?

The women nearby shot Meng Li looks that cut like knives, yet she kept her eyes fixed on He Jianjun.

She didn't need to care about what others said—what mattered was how He Jianjun saw her. She couldn't let all her efforts come to nothing because of this.

But He Jianjun wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be gazing at Ji Yunshu as if admitting fault, lips pressed together, his thoughts somewhere else entirely.

Ji Yunshu glanced at Meng Li, and seeing that she had no intention of answering, didn't push it. She turned and walked away.

The onlookers glanced back and forth between them, their curious looks darting between Meng Li and He Jianjun. But since they were right outside the workplace, they didn't want to cause a scene, so they quickly dispersed.

Meng Li braced herself and said hi to He Jianjun, walking over just as she caught his faint smile. Had she looked more carefully, she would have noticed that there was something cold and calculating behind He Jianjun's smile.

--

Meanwhile, Ji Yunshu hadn't walked far before Pei Yufeng caught up with her. The two walked one in front of the other, neither speaking. The sun was starting to set, and the light wasn't as harsh, but the air was still thick with heat.

"Brother Pei, thank you for today." Ji Yunshu slowed her steps slightly until she was walking alongside Pei Yufeng. "What are you doing here?"

"My dad's old army buddy sent some raisins from Xinjiang. I figured you'd like them, so I brought them over. Aunt He said you weren't home, so that's how I knew." Pei Yufeng quickly explained.

"Thank you, Brother Pei, and thank your father and grandmother for me too." Ji Yunshu gave Pei Yufeng a sweet smile. "Every year your father sends raisins to grandmother—I'm just tagging along on her good fortune."

The two of them chatted as they headed home. Ji Yunshu was in a good mood and started asking Pei Yufeng about his day-to-day life on the island. Pei Yufeng answered seriously, and Ji Yunshu listened, feeling totally envious.

Pei Yufeng's post was by a bay on the southern side of Qiongzhou Island. The scenery there was beautiful—mountains and water, the sea stretching out endlessly to the horizon, and it was full of the dried red fish and other seafood Ji Yunshu loved. Every time Pei Yufeng brought up the island's seafood, Ji Yunshu secretly salivated. She was dying to visit Qiongzhou Island!

Time flew when they talked about stuff Ji Yunshu actually cared about, and before long, they'd reached the gate of the Ji family's courtyard.

Ji Yunshu pushed open the gate and went inside, saying goodbye to Pei Yufeng. He Qiuxia was in the yard taking in the laundry. Seeing her return, she asked, "Did you get that sorted out?"

"Yeah, it's handled. That shouldn't happen again." Ji Yunshu took the clothes from He Qiuxia's hands and helped fold them.

He Qiuxia sighed and didn't ask further, just told Ji Yunshu to take the raisins Pei Yufeng brought inside.

Ji Yunshu thought this matter was finally over, but what she didn't know was that when He Jianjun got home, he slammed his army backpack down on the table, his head full of the mocking looks he'd gotten when he was turned down.

His mother brought him a bowl of mung bean soup. Seeing the look on his face, she asked, "What's wrong?"

He Jianjun didn't answer. He took a sip of the soup and set the bowl down hard. His fingers tapped twice on the table, his eyes fixed on the surface, his mind replaying what Ji Yunshu had said earlier—in front of so many people, she hadn't saved him an ounce of face.

He Jianjun couldn't hold it in anymore and swept everything off the table. The ceramic bowl shattered on the floor, splattering mung bean soup all over the table and the ground. His mother was startled and didn't dare ask any more questions.

A few more days passed, and the paperwork on Ji Haiguo and Meng Guangze's end was finally almost done. Meng Guangze and Wang Wanru had run back and forth several times, getting the letters of introduction reissued over and over, until they'd finally gathered all the paperwork to transfer Meng Li and Ji Yunshu's household registrations.

Around that time, rumors started going around the compound. The higher-ups were cracking down on political background checks—family members with bad class backgrounds couldn't get military benefits. Ji Yunshu wasn't Ji Haiguo's biological daughter; her biological parents were capitalists, so she couldn't continue living in the compound, and she couldn't get the military's grain and oil rations, medical care, or dependent benefits.

Word of this got back to He Qiuxia, and she went to ask Ji Haiguo. Ji Haiguo sat in his study, quiet for a long moment before he spoke: "Someone filed a complaint with the Political Department."

He Qiuxia's face turned white: "Who wrote it?"

Ji Haiguo didn't answer. He wouldn't say, but He Qiuxia knew in her heart. This kind of thing usually flew under the radar—who didn't have a relative crashing with them? Especially since she was his adopted daughter, someone he'd watched grow up, no different from his own flesh and blood. Only someone with a grudge against the Ji family would report this. Ji Haiguo had been a soldier for over forty years without ever having a cross word with anyone—besides the He family, who had recently broken off the engagement, who else could dislike Ji Yunshu living in the compound so much?

He Qiuxia clutched the edge of her apron, unable to speak for a long time. She wanted Ji Yunshu to stay, but Ji Haiguo was a man of unwavering integrity his whole life, and his greatest fear was being accused of favoritism. The accusation letter had already been submitted, and the Political Department leadership had spoken. If he insisted on keeping Ji Yunshu, that would be knowingly breaking the rules—in serious cases, it could result in disciplinary action!

He Qiuxia's eyes reddened. She turned and went into the kitchen, secretly wiping away tears.

If only she'd known this day would come, she never would have arranged that "feudal remnant" of a childhood engagement! Now look what had happened—she'd lost her daughter.

When Meng Guangze and Wang Wanru learned the news, they were packing up at the guest house. Hearing that Ji Yunshu had to leave the capital, Wang Wanru's hand paused. She looked up at Meng Guangze, her eyes reddening as well.

"What if..." Wang Wanru opened her mouth, "what if we let Yunshu come back to Su City with us? Once her household registration is settled there, she can get Su City's grain and medical benefits. Our family's class background isn't good, but at least we won't go hungry. The medical conditions aren't as good as the capital, but with proper care, she should slowly recover. If the child comes back with us, we won't let her suffer."

Meng Guangze couldn't think of a better solution either, so he nodded.

The next day, the two families sat down together again.

Wang Wanru rubbed her hands on her thighs nervously and said, "Brother Ji, Sister He, we know you've been wonderful to Xiao Shu, but given the current situation, the child will only suffer if she stays here. Why not let her come back to Su City with us? We promise to take good care of her and won't let her endure any grievances."

He Qiuxia's tears welled up in her eyes. Her lips moved, wanting to say "no," but the words wouldn't come. She knew this was the best option under the circumstances. If Ji Yunshu stayed in the compound without a household registration, without grain and oil rations, even seeing a doctor would be difficult. Going back to Su City with the Meng family, at least she'd have food, drink, and a place to live.

Ji Haiguo looked at Ji Yunshu: "Xiao Shu, it's your decision to make."

Ji Yunshu sat there, thinking that this moment had finally come.

She thought again of the images from her dreams—the people of the compound spurning her class background, the young people wearing red armbands shouting slogans of "Down with the capitalist's daughter!" Now her class background was already rejected by the military compound. If she really went back to Su City with the Meng family and became a capitalist's daughter, would everything that happened in her dreams follow as well?

Ji Yunshu feared hardship, and she feared dying miserably like she had in her dreams. But what differed between reality and her dreams was that Meng Guangze and Wang Wanru were especially good to her, and Meng Yunzhen was also very kind to her. So she couldn't just stand by and watch them be overthrown.

But what could she do? She was just a nineteen-year-old girl, and now she was even about to lose her household registration.

Ji Yunshu lowered her head, her mind in a mess.

Meng Li sat nearby, watching Ji Yunshu's dejected expression. The corner of her mouth twitched upward slightly, then quickly pressed back down. She picked up her teacup and took a sip, keeping her head lowered in a demure manner. But in her heart, she knew that once Ji Yunshu left, she would never come back.

That night, Ji Yunshu lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. She stared at the ceiling, her mind racing with what to do. After thinking it over, only one solution came to her.

—Use her marriage to gain protection for herself and the Meng family.

But which soldier's son in the compound, with a spotless background, would be willing to marry her, a capitalist's daughter?

Ji Yunshu thought and thought, until she finally drifted off into a hazy sleep.

The next morning, she was shaken awake by He Qiuxia. He Qiuxia said Pei Yufeng had come rushing over urgently, saying he had something very important to tell her.

Ji Yunshu hurriedly washed up and tidied herself, then opened the gate of the Ji family courtyard to see Pei Yufeng standing at the entrance in a faded military shirt, his gaze lowered as if lost in thought.

The early morning sunlight fell on Pei Yufeng, as if gilding him with a layer of gold. His expression was still cool and composed, only his brows slightly furrowed, seeming a bit nervous.

"Brother Pei, what's wrong? Why are you looking for me so early?" Ji Yunshu asked quickly, afraid she might be holding him up.

"There's something I need to talk to you about. Let's go somewhere else." Pei Yufeng looked at Ji Yunshu's wide, round eyes and said solemnly.

The two walked together to the small exercise yard in the compound. A row of poplar trees lined the edge of the yard, their leaves rustling in the wind. The morning light wasn't harsh yet. When they arrived, Pei Yufeng suddenly seemed to remember something and asked apologetically, "Yunshu, have you had breakfast yet? I... I was in such a hurry. Maybe we should go to the cafeteria first..."

Pei Yufeng rarely seemed so flustered. Ji Yunshu grew even more curious about what he wanted to say, so she cut him off directly: "It's fine, Brother Pei, I'm not hungry. Tell me what it is first."

Pei Yufeng took a deep breath, his hands at his sides clenched tightly into fists. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he paused, feeling it wasn't quite right. He opened his lips but couldn't get the question out, going back and forth several times before finally finding the right words. "Yunshu, I... I wanted to ask you... do you have someone in your heart?"

Ji Yunshu was completely stunned. She hadn't expected Pei Yufeng to ask that. She looked into his eyes, where her reflection was clearly visible. His dark, bright pupils no longer held their usual calm, replaced instead by an intangible worry and anxiety.

Pei Yufeng was asking her this question very seriously.

"No." Ji Yunshu shook her head and answered earnestly. "I told you before, I don't."

Pei Yufeng's eyelashes trembled slightly for a moment. He lowered his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitched, as if he were exhaling in relief or holding something back. In that instant, his expression was neither clearly happy nor unhappy—Ji Yunshu even felt she could read frustration, sadness, and even... a hint of self-reproach in his face?

But when Pei Yufeng raised his head again, his expression had returned to its usual calm. His eyes were slightly brighter than before, as if a small flame inside them was steadily growing brighter.

He took a step forward, closing the gap between them.

"Sister Yunshu, I know this is sudden, but if I don't say it now, I don't know if I'll ever have another chance." Pei Yufeng kept his eyes fixed on Ji Yunshu's as he spoke, not wanting to miss any flicker of emotion on her face. Each word came slowly, deliberately, as if he'd been preparing for this moment for ages.

Ji Yunshu held his gaze just as intently.

"Will you marry me?" Pei Yufeng had been standing straight, half an arm's length away from Ji Yunshu. But as he spoke those words, he stepped forward half a pace, until the tips of their shoes were almost touching.

Ji Yunshu almost thought she had misheard: "Brother Pei, what did you say?"

A breeze blew past, sweeping strands of Ji Yunshu's hair across her face. She didn't even think to brush them away, just stared at him in stunned silence.

The tips of Pei Yufeng's ears turned red, but his gaze didn't waver. He continued looking straight at her. "If you marry me, you can stay here. You won't have to go to Su City, and no one will dare question your family background."

"Sister Yunshu, would you be willing?"

Author's note:

Pei Yufeng: She doesn't like anyone else, and she doesn't like me either. Thanks for reading! Xiao Pei finally made a bold move!