Chapter 4: Swapping the Match

Wang Shuiying, who was standing right behind Gu Wan and had also seen Qin Zhijun sitting in the wheelchair, abandoned any thought of going back to sit in the courtyard to shell edamame. She slapped the dust off her hands and headed straight out.

“Eldest Sister-in-law, where are you going?”

Perhaps because her voice was too quiet, or perhaps because Wang Shuiying was in too much of a hurry, Gu Wan received no response.

However, she soon learned where her sister-in-law had gone. Zhu Fengxian, who had originally been working out in the fields, came running over from a distance with her pant legs rolled up and clods of mud still clinging to the soles of her shoes. Seeing that she was passing right by her own front gate, she didn’t even step inside, heading straight for the Qin household instead.

A moment later, her sister-in-law walked into the yard carrying a hoe. It turned out she had gone to deliver the news to her mother.

Gu Wan watched from across the yard. Her parents didn’t linger outside the Qin house like the other onlookers; instead, they went directly through the front gate and straight into the house.

Paying no further attention to it, Gu Wan headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Today, her father and eldest brother had gone to the township to help build a house. When her mother cooked porridge this morning, she had already scooped out the rice reserved for dinner.

Just as she set up the large wok to steam the rice and began chopping napa cabbage, she heard the loud, frantic squawking of a hen in the courtyard. Poking her head out through the window frame to look, she saw her mother pouncing on the laying hen, pinning its wings behind its back, and preparing to march right back out with it.

Wang Shuiying followed closely beside her and asked cautiously, “Mom, that’s the only hen in our house that still lays eggs. Are you…”

“I’m catching a hen to nourish Zhijun’s body! Don’t stand there gaping—go back to shelling your beans.”

She was used to being the sole authority in this household and saw no need to consider what her daughter-in-law thought. Then, pondering whether a single old hen might still be a bit too little, she grumbled under her breath that she needed to grab some eggs as well.

Carrying the clucking, miserable hen, she strode into the kitchen. The eggs were kept in a large black earthenware jar. Holding a small basket, she uncovered the jar and began counting eggs into it without stopping until she had put in eight.

Gu Wan stole a glance at her mother’s slightly reddened eyes and the bottomed-out jar. Goodness, her mother was truly generous—she was even willing to part with Niuniu’s most treasured rations.

It was turning dark by the time Zhu Fengxian finally returned home. Right on her heels, Gu Jinsheng arrived back as well, leading Gu Chao.

While Gu Wan and Wang Shuiying busied themselves with setting the table, Zhu Fengxian sat down and recounted everything to the father and son, dabbing at her eyes with her sleeve from time to time.

“What a fine young man Zhijun is—I watched him grow up with my own eyes. How hard is it for a peasant soldier in the countryside to make something of himself? Yet he fought his way up to become a battalion commander. Everyone said endless good days lay ahead for him, but who could have known Heaven would be so blind? The couple of the Old Qin family are such good people—how could good people meet with such a bitter fate?”

Wang Shuiying had originally felt pained over their hen and eggs, but hearing Zhu Fengxian put it this way, she couldn’t help but feel a little heavy-hearted as well.

Gu Chao sighed deeply as well. Truth be told, Qin Zhijun could be considered the most accomplished man of their generation in the entire village. Just a short while ago, everyone was saying that whoever married him was destined to be an officer’s wife—a life of immense good fortune. Yet in the blink of an eye, disaster had struck.

He asked in a low voice, “Is Zhijun’s leg really beyond saving?”

Zhu Fengxian shook her head with a heavy sigh.

“Your Uncle Dayou told me that it’s going to be very difficult for Zhijun’s leg to ever recover.”

Early the next morning, the military jeep that had brought Qin Zhijun home drove away. Stream of visitors from the village slowly began calling on the Qin family, most of them carrying a handful of eggs to pay their respects.

Gu Wan, who sat in her own yard washing clothes, would occasionally look up and see villagers drifting in and out of the Qin house. However, around eleven o’clock, an unfamiliar old woman arrived.

To call her unfamiliar meant Gu Wan was certain she wasn’t someone from Qinghu Village.

It wasn’t until after dinner that evening, when Zhu Fengxian returned from visiting neighbors and slammed her hand against the table in fury, that Gu Wan finally understood: the unfamiliar visitor at noon had been a matchmaker from Sanjiawan.

“Your Aunt Chunhua was so angry she fell sick! What a piece of work that Zhao family is! When they saw Zhijun was a battalion commander with a bright future, they wanted to cling to him. The moment they heard he was injured a few days ago, they made sure to confirm the news, and right at midday, they hurried a matchmaker over to say the engagement was off! Claiming that since they hadn’t formally engaged yet and had only had a initial meeting, it didn’t count anyway. How can people be so snobbish and cold-hearted?!”

Gu Wan simply listened to it as neighborly gossip, just as she always did, letting it pass by.

To her complete surprise, early the next morning, Gu Jinsheng and his wife took a trip over to the Qin house. When they returned for breakfast, her father directly announced to the family that Gu Wan’s marriage had been settled.

It wasn’t Qin Zhihua—it had been swapped to Qin Zhijun.

“Xiao Wan, Mom knows this is doing you a wrong. I asked about Zhijun’s leg—even after it heals, he might not walk very well in the future. But this child has a great character and temperament, and he’s driven to make progress. Aside from not having as much prestige on the surface, you won’t suffer any real hardship marrying him. The entire Qin family will treat you well.”

“Don’t blame your parents either. We humans must know how to repay a debt of gratitude. Back in ’69, if it weren’t for your Uncle Qin and Aunt Chunhua, neither you nor your brother would have survived. Times were too dire back then. Why did your grandmother hoard the money and refuse to hand it over for me to take you to the hospital? Because times were hard and there wasn’t enough food to eat; she was relying on that money to fetch a bit more grain on the black market to keep us alive. When even blood relatives were unwilling to take such a risk for us, your Uncle and Aunt Qin bit the bullet and handed over all their household savings for me to save your lives. A kindness like that must be remembered for a lifetime. Once you marry over, I’ll have your eldest brother help you two out as well. Consider this our way of repaying the Qin family’s life-saving grace from back then.”

Gu Wan’s head buzzed as she heard Zhu Fengxian continue.

“There’s no need for a formal engagement either. Our two families know each other inside out, and we spoke of marrying into each other’s family years ago, so it counts as an oral engagement. I’ll discuss it with your Aunt Chunhua, and you two can get married directly. Special circumstances call for special measures, and Zhijun needs a caring person to look after him right now.”

Gu Wan stared at her parents, her mind filled entirely with a single thought: I’m going to make a complete fool of myself.

She didn’t dare defy her parents. Naturally, judging by the looks on their faces, nothing she said would make a difference anyway—the matter was set in stone.

After breakfast, Gu Wan didn’t perform her usual household chores and instead retreated to her room. Her sister-in-law Wang Shuiying glanced at her retreating back, opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

Which girl wouldn’t want a grand and respectable wedding? Having a situation like this dropped on her, Xiao Wan was bound to feel miserable.

Gu Wan had been quiet and obedient since childhood, doing whatever her parents told her to do. If her body hadn’t developed that humiliating affliction whenever she encountered Qin Zhijun, having her parents arrange for her to marry into the Qin family would actually be the best possible outcome.

At least she was familiar with Uncle Qin and Aunt Chunhua, and it was close to home.

Whether she married the eldest or the third son made no real difference to her—truth be told, she wasn’t familiar with either of them.

However, with this humiliating affliction of hers, how on earth was she going to live under the same roof with Qin Zhijun?

Gu Wan suddenly froze. Wait, no—there is a difference!

If she married Qin Zhihua and failed to control herself, throwing herself at Qin Zhijun, she would be violating all moral order and social norms. Just like those women publicly denounced years ago, she would be branded a shameless, hussy.

But if she married Qin Zhijun… in the event that she failed to control herself and threw herself at her own husband, that… didn’t seem like such a huge problem, did it?

At any rate, she lacked the courage to reject the marriage. She hadn’t dared say no when Qin Zhihua was mentioned, and changing it to Qin Zhijun now was no different.

Setting aside whether her mother would beat her—at least that reaction was predictable—she truly didn’t dare imagine how her father would react.

And if she could only choose between the two, Qin Zhijun seemed like the far safer option.

Meanwhile, at the Qin household.

First came Qin Zhijun’s injury, followed by the Zhao family from Sanjiawan sending a matchmaker to break off the match. Lin Chunhua had already been sick with worry and anxiety over the past few days. Hearing the matchmaker’s words had lodged a lump of fury in her chest that nearly caused her to faint, making her look several years older overnight.

Thinking of how her son was already in this condition, was he now going to suffer the entire village’s pity and gossiping fingers because of a canceled match? The more she thought about it, the more her heart ached. It wasn’t until this morning, when the Gu couple came over to console them and suggested marrying Gu Wan to Qin Zhijun, that the haze weighing over the Qin couple’s hearts finally lifted a little.

Zhu Fengxian had a sharp tongue but a kind heart. Years ago, she had been heavily oppressed by Old Mrs. Gu. Seeing her two children on the brink of death, the Qin couple had discussed it and sent over every penny they had left to save their lives. They had done it without expecting any reward, yet the Gu couple had remembered it all these years, never failing to share whenever they got their hands on good things.

Originally, Gu Wan was promised to the third son, but this hadn’t been disclosed to him before the eldest met with this accident. At this critical juncture, the old Gu couple came over to propose marrying Gu Wan to the eldest instead. Lin Chunhua truly shed tears on the spot. In this world, sowing seeds of kindness would eventually bear good fruit. She wasn’t afraid of suffering anything herself, but with her eldest son’s leg injured, she truly couldn’t bear to see his marriage deal him another blow.

He had striven in the army for all these years and hadn’t managed to settle down even at twenty-six. Lin Chunhua felt guilty toward her eldest son. However, now that such a misfortune had befallen him, even if the Gu couple was willing, was the girl Gu Wan actually willing?

The elderly couple agreed that they needed to gauge Gu Wan’s thoughts before settling the matter. After all, it was Gu Wan who would be living with their son in the future; if she harbored resentment in her heart, it would be hard for the two of them to build a harmonious life.

Yet what kind of person was Gu Wan? She was the most gentle and obedient girl, someone who had never dared to shake her head at her own parents since childhood.

Having thought it through a bit more, she felt that having Qin Zhijun as her husband was vastly better than having him as an elder brother-in-law.

When Lin Chunhua returned from the vegetable garden and dropped off a head of napa cabbage at the Gu house, casually testing Gu Wan’s willingness in conversation, Gu Wan no longer felt any resistance.

Lin Chunhua was so overjoyed that upon returning home, she couldn’t resist hurrying into Qin Zhijun’s room to break the news.

“Zhijun! The Zhao family wasn’t willing to marry their daughter to you, but someone else recognizes your worth! Let me tell you, your marriage is settled!”

Qin Zhijun was puzzled. The Zhao family had gone out of their way to have the matchmaker bring the cancellation right to his face to ensure the Qin family wouldn’t entangle them further. At a time like this, who would be willing to marry their daughter to him?

He looked up at his mother. Knowing that his parents had been worried sick for him lately, he felt deeply guilty. However, in his current state, he didn’t want to drag anyone else down. Thus, he advised, “Mom, the chances of my leg healing are very slim. To be honest, I don’t want to get married right now.”

How could Lin Chunhua not understand her own son? Her nose tingled with sadness. Hiding her emotion slightly, she stepped over, patted her eldest son’s shoulder, and scolded gently, “What nonsense are you talking about? Let me tell you, the girl is completely willing! It’s the girl from the Gu family right next door—Gu Wan.”

Gu Wan…

“Mom tells you, she’s a good girl. I watched her grow up, and I’d be delighted to have her as our daughter-in-law. Everyone in the Gu family is kind-hearted. You must treat Xiao Wan well in the future and never let her suffer the slightest grievance, do you hear me?”

From the moment he heard the name “Gu Wan,” the voice of the middle-aged woman sitting next to him on the bus echoed in his ears: “Isn’t this Xiao Wan from the Gu family?”

He didn’t hear a single word of what his mother said afterward. In his mind, a pair of almond eyes brimming with tears floated into view, the memory vivid once more. Was it that young girl who had fallen into his arms on the bus?

He was somewhat unsure. Having served in the army for ten years, he had rarely returned home, making him unfamiliar with most villagers, especially those a few years younger than him. Yet the same village, the same name, and even the same path home—and being neighbors—it all matched up.

Seeing him lost in thought, Lin Chunhua assumed he was moved, and she smiled with satisfaction.

Patting his shoulder, she said, “Just wait to be the groom. Your father and I will arrange everything for you. I’m going to tell your father right now.”

With that, before Qin Zhijun could even react, she rushed off like a gust of wind.

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