Sun Yeshu’s words made Chen Ru cry.
Being taunted for her plump figure and round face was more than the young woman could bear.
She knew she was an anomaly. At a ti when most people were struggling to get enough to eat, she was overweight. She already had low self-esteem, and now she felt utterly mortified.
The girls around her saw her crying and offered a few perfunctory words of comfort.
"Chen Ru, don’t pay any attention to her. She’s just jealous of girls who are prettier than her and can’t stand it, so she deliberately takes her anger out on you."
"Exactly. What’s wrong with her? Chen Ru, you’re... not unattractive, really."
Chen Ru was the most good-natured of the group. She was often berated by Sun Yeshu, but she acted as if she had no temper at all and never got angry.
After offering a few more verbal platitudes, the group dispersed.
Pressing her lips together, Chen Ru walked ho alone.
She was used to licking her wounds alone.
「Leng Yuan’s house.」
Chen Beiguo, the brigade leader, strode excitedly to the door with a telegram, just as Leng Yuan was walking over from the other direction. He imdiately broke into a smile.
"Perfect timing! You’re back. I have an application form here; could you help write it out?"
Leng Yuan invited him inside.
Chen Beiguo saw Gu Jiaojiao and the two children reading in the courtyard, and the atmosphere was exceptionally pleasant. He then casually handed the docunts and the telegram to Leng Yuan.
As he handed them over, he inadvertently saw the words on the telegram and froze, completely stunned.
"’Return at once for marriage. Job arranged.’ Wh-what does this an? Don’t her parents know she’s already married here in the countryside?"
After Chen Beiguo spoke, the entire courtyard fell silent. Leng Yuan set down the firewood, his dark eyes instantly snapping over, his expression inscrutable.
Gu Jiaojiao was so startled that the letter and telegram tumbled to the ground.
Just as she was about to pick them up, a pair of hands snatched them up faster than she could.
The telegram indeed read exactly as Chen Beiguo had said.
Leng Yuan’s dark eyes shifted, his brow furrowing deeply.
Gu Jiaojiao was at a loss for words.
She had no choice but to stand up and lean over to get a look at what was in Leng Yuan’s hands.
’It really was a telegram from her scumbag dad and stepmother, telling her to co ho and get married.’
’It also ntioned a job arrangent, aning if she went back to get married, they could find a job for her.’
’It seed this marriage prospect had so influence, to be able to arrange a job just like that.’
Gu Jiaojiao glanced at it once before looking away, showing no sign of taking it to heart.
Chen Beiguo was speechless.
He glanced at Leng Yuan, then back at Gu Jiaojiao.
"Well, um, I just rembered I have sothing to do. I’ll be going now."
’As for the application, that could wait for another day!’
Chen Beiguo beat a hasty retreat, disappearing in a flash.
Gu Jiaojiao put down her book and told Sweet Girl and Xiao Yang to go play by themselves. Then, she pulled Leng Yuan into the room.
’If they ended up arguing, it wouldn’t be good for Xiao Yang to see.’
Once inside, Gu Jiaojiao pushed Leng Yuan down onto a chair. She sat on the edge of the bed opposite him, so they were face to face.
Gu Jiaojiao cleared her throat and began to explain. "That telegram... it’s just their wishful thinking. I had no idea what this was all about."
"I’ve never told you about my family situation before. My biological father is a factory director, and my stepmother is the factory director’s wife. When my stepmother married him, she brought a daughter with her. That girl looks so much like my father... I suspect she’s actually their biological daughter."
"When the policy for sending youth to the countryside ca down, I was supposed to inherit my biological mother’s job, which ant I didn’t have to go. But my stepmother refused to let her own daughter be sent down, so she had go instead."
"In fact, my stepmother secretly signed up. I only found out the day before I had to leave. I didn’t have ti to prepare anything; I just collected my provisions and was rushed off."
"I was practically in a daze when my stepmother and my own father shoved onto the transport."
Gu Jiaojiao spoke, her tone even, as if she were talking about soone else’s family.
Leng Yuan’s dark eyes deepened. Seeing her watching him so intently, as if afraid he’d be angry, he gave a faint, resigned smile.
"I’m not angry."
’He just felt a pang of heartache for his girl.’
’Even though she spoke of it so casually, he could still imagine what kind of life she must have lived.’
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