Chapter 68 Trying to Persuade

Chapter 68: Talking Some Sense Into Her

Lu Yun's father asked Lu Yun when she planned to marry Zhou Yanze. Lu Yun kept quiet about Zhou Yanze's earlier proposal, only saying they'd just let things happen and get married when it felt right.

Lu Yun hadn't decided when to get married either, and didn't know how long "letting things happen" would take. Lu Yun was very satisfied with her current life and wasn't ready to settle down and start a new chapter just yet.

Sister He's son and daughter-in-law were getting married. She invited everyone from the office, and separately told Lu Yun and Chen Qiao that they must come. Lu Yun would definitely attend since she needed to continue working with Sister He, and the red envelope with cash she gave Sister He would naturally need to be a fatter one.

Sister He: "My daughter-in-law's got way more sense than her own family! She didn't demand a higher bride price and even got me and my old man gifts. Once they're married, I've gotta help them out more."

Chen Qiao and Lu Yun went to the cafeteria together, and Chen Qiao said to Lu Yun privately, "I bumped into Sister He's daughter-in-law the other day. She seems very gentle, but you can tell she's sharp as a tack. Now that Sister He's family is well-off, not picking a fight with Sister He for her family's sake is the smart play. Sister He will continue to support them in the future, so those two are gonna have an easy life together."

Sister He's son was getting married on the weekend. Lu Yun went to the hotel with Chen Qiao on the weekend. As they waited for the wedding to begin, the people at their table were either from the same office or the same factory.

The place was buzzing.

Someone asked Lu Yun when she would get married.

Lu Yun smiled and said, "When I get married, you all must come."

The couple arrived, and the atmosphere became even more festive. Lu Yun was grinning so hard her eyes crinkled up.

Sister He brought her son and daughter-in-law over to toast Lu Yun personally. Lu Yun drank a little—about a sip—not enough to get drunk, but the stuff was way too strong.

Lu Yun looked up at Sister He's son and daughter-in-law. The son's face was already flushed red from drinking.

She wondered if Zhou Yanze would be that red at their wedding. Maybe they should just skip the toasts entirely.

Thinking of this, Lu Yun realized she actually did want to marry Zhou Yanze—she just wasn't ready to tie the knot yet. Otherwise, she wouldn't be thinking about whether Zhou Yanze would get drunk at their wedding.

Sun Chun came to find Lu Yun looking like she hadn't slept in days, and Lu Yun thought it was weird.

Lu Yun really couldn't guess why Sun Chun had come to see her. After racking her brain, the only thing she could think of was Chen Shu. But then she dismissed that thought—maybe Sun Chun wanted her to talk the Zhou family into something?

Sun Chun: "You're Chen Shu's cousin, right?"

Lu Yun: "Yes, why?"

Sun Chun blurted out, "Did you know Chen Shu's into me!"

Lu Yun was floored. "You're saying Chen Shu likes you?"

Sun Chun: "Chen Shu's not just into me—she's into Zhou Jun, my boyfriend too."

Lu Yun: "I'm not following you."

Sun Chun was about to lose it. It wasn't just Lu Yun who didn't understand—Sun Chun didn't either. She'd figured Chen Shu was a love rival, thought Chen Shu was sneaky and manipulative, but it didn't seem to be that way! Ever since Chen Shu confessed she liked Sun Chun, she'd been driving Sun Chun to and from work every day. Even on Sun Chun's days off, Chen Shu would be camped out downstairs. Things between Sun Chun and Zhou Jun had gotten weird too.

Sun Chun had cursed Chen Shu out, but Chen Shu didn't change a bit. The last few days, Sun Chun had just called in sick and stopped showing up.

Payday's next month. Sun Chun had taken too much leave, so her paycheck was gonna be way smaller than last month's. She was already broke as it was—what was she gonna do?

Sun Chun: "Go knock some sense into your cousin! Tell her to leave me and Zhou Jun alone! How can she pull something this crazy?!"

Lu Yun still had her doubts. She didn't really believe Chen Shu would like Sun Chun. Chen Shu had to be up to something, but it was really hard to guess. Lu Yun was also pretty fed up with Chen Shu's antics—the stuff she pulled was a real jaw-dropper.

Lu Yun: "I'm not close enough with Chen Shu to have to talk her out of anything. So don't come bothering me about this again."

Lu Yun's dad was completely floored. He was so shocked he couldn't even talk.

Lu Yun's dad: "What the hell is she doing?"

Lu Yun: "How would I know?"

She said that, but Lu Yun really did want to know what Chen Shu was playing at. It was like pieces of a puzzle were slowly falling into place.

Li Cai came to deliver the account books to Lu Yun, looking super stressed. "Boss, there's this woman who keeps coming into the store, and someone else is waiting for her outside. She won't leave, doesn't buy anything, just hangs around the store. The one waiting outside came in for an interview last time."

Lu Yun thought of Chen Shu and Sun Chun. She said, "Don't sweat it. I'll swing by the shop tomorrow."

After promising Li Cai, Lu Yun went to the shop after work. Chen Shu was standing outside the store looking totally lovesick, and Lu Yun almost couldn't hold it together.

Lu Yun: "You like Sun Chun?"

Chen Shu didn't want to own up to liking Sun Chun in front of Lu Yun, and she was struggling to keep up the charade. Chen Shu was also conflicted. A long time ago, she had been grateful to Lu Yun—back when they were in the countryside, Lu Yun would bring her little presents, stuff her own family never gave her, and even slipped her some spending cash. Later, Chen Shu got jealous of Lu Yun. She wanted to live better than Lu Yun, and she figured if she ever got the chance, she'd totally outshine Lu Yun!

Anyway, in front of Lu Yun, Chen Shu couldn't just flat-out say she liked Sun Chun, and she was also scared Lu Yun would look down on her.

Chen Shu: "None of your business."

Lu Yun: "She's hiding out in here, and it's bad for business. If you don't fix this, I'm gonna go to Jiang Xiangqian."

Chen Shu: "Then go ahead and do that."

Lu Yun: "Then I could just help her out instead."

Chen Shu stormed into the store with a sour face, and once inside, she looked crushed. "Why do you keep showing up here! Is it because of my cousin?"

Sun Chun slapped Chen Shu a few times, right across the face. Chen Shu took it all for the money!

Chen Shu: "I'm way better than my cousin, I swear!"

Sun Chun: "Chen Shu, I think you've got rocks in your head!"

Sun Chun was even scared Chen Shu might ask, "If you don't like me, is it because you like my cousin?" She hightailed it out of the store and wasn't coming back for a few days.

Since Lu Yun was already at the shop, she let everyone clock out early and took them out to eat before heading home.

In the evening, Lu Yun sat in her room going over the books, looking totally pleased.

The next morning, when she saw Zhou Yanze waiting outside for her, Lu Yun was beaming.

Zhou Yanze: "Wanna go see the peach blossoms today?"

Lu Yun: "Didn't we already see them last time?"

Zhou Yanze: "The peach blossoms are all out now."

Lu Yun: "Sure."

There wasn't much going on at the factory today. Lu Yun was about to nod off in the office when Sister He came back and dropped some tea in the office, which perked Lu Yun right up.

Sister He: "Sister Lü quit!"

Lu Yun: "Didn't she just get promoted last year? Why's she quitting?"

Sister He: "She's got a lot of talent. A new clothing factory just opened in town, and they're killing it. Sister Lü is going to work there. I heard she's gonna be a director the moment she walks in! I also heard our factory might actually lay people off this time. We don't have a lot of orders right now. Some folks are even thinking of jumping ship to go with Sister Lü."

Lu Yun listened for a bit and got a little down. She didn't shake it off until she hit the cafeteria with Chen Qiao at noon. They had baozi for lunch—chive and egg—and Lu Yun really liked them.

After work, Lu Yun and Zhou Yanze went to check out the peach blossoms. They were in full bloom and really pretty, so Lu Yun hung around for a good while.

Folks in the compound were chatting, and the talk turned to Han Gang's wedding. Han Gang should've tied the knot ages ago—he's not getting any younger, and it wasn't easy for him to finally do it.

Lu Yun overheard that Han Gang was getting hitched and eavesdropped for a bit.

The woman Han Gang was marrying was the daughter of some new-money family, but the catch was he'd have to marry into her family. They only had the one son, and Han Gang went along with it.

The Hans only had one son, Han Gang, and they actually said yes?

Lu Yun went home and asked her dad, "They really went along with it? No drama?"

Her dad said, "Why would they kick up a fuss? They can't wait for Han Gang to marry into that family."

Lu Yun looked stumped and asked, "How did that family even take a shine to Han Gang?"

Her dad was a bit puzzled too—not that Han Gang was a bad guy, but he wasn't exactly a looker or some super capable guy.

Her dad said, "Maybe it's just love?"

The Sun family was at it again!

Widow Li had landed a great daughter-in-law, and Han Gang had snagged a wife with money. Aunt Han was seething inside—her son was better than Li Zhuang and Han Gang in every way, right? Yet he ended up stuck with a daughter-in-law like Zhao Lan.

Aunt Han lit into Zhao Lan, "If it weren't for you, our Sun Zhi would've found a great wife!"

Aunt Han snapped at Sun's dad, "This is the daughter-in-law you picked!"

Aunt Han even went after Lu Yun, and, like Sun Zhi, brought up Chen Shu—if it weren't for Chen Shu, they wouldn't have been so quick to push Sun Zhi and Lu Yun together and think it was a good idea more than once.

Aunt Han said, "If you were willing, forget a new-money daughter—you could even land a woman who's already loaded! That Han Gang has no shame, and neither does his whole family. Their son is marrying into the bride's family—and he's an only son, no less—yet they act like it's some big honor, strutting around the compound all proud. People will be talking behind their backs!"

Zhao Lan rubbed her belly. She'd been putting up with it all along, but this was the last straw!

Without that new-money guy, she could still find another man!

Zhao Lan said, "Divorce! Sun Zhi, I'm done with you. Go find yourself a new-money girl!"

Zhao Lan packed her stuff and, belly out, got ready to head back to her folks' place.

Aunt Han said, "What, you already found another man?"

Zhao Lan threw a cup of water in Aunt Han's face and said, "Found another man or not, I'm divorcing Sun Zhi!"

Zhao Lan headed back to her folks' place again.

The compound folks were gossiping. Aunt Jiang looked worried and didn't even dare talk to Widow Li.

It had to be Widow Li's doing again!

Widow Li said, "Guess Zhao Lan finally came to her senses. With a family like that, divorce is the better option. The daughter-in-law's about to pop, and they still have her cooking."

Aunt Jiang immediately took Widow Li's side, "In this compound, you're the one who gets it. You're absolutely right!"

Aunt Han was furious and wanted to storm out, but Sun's dad stopped her.

Sun's dad said, "I told you, don't bully her too much. Now she's really going to divorce you. You should go to her folks' place right away, apologize, and show some sincerity!"

Aunt Han said, "What are you in a hurry about? Now she can't be with that new-money guy anymore. When she gives birth, won't she need us to take care of her? We'll talk about it when she has the baby! And you—you're not allowed to go either. Sun Zhi, you're not allowed to go either! She's about to give birth, can she still control us?"

Lu Yun said, "This time Zhao Lan really seems to want a divorce, but why did they suddenly start fighting?"

Lu's dad had run into Han Gang and Aunt Han today, and Aunt Han's expression was full of jealousy.

Lu's dad said, "What else could it be for? Because Han Gang is marrying into the bride's family. She wishes it were her son doing that instead—that would be better than marrying Zhao Lan. She's also envious of your aunt."

Author's note:

None