Who Cares
Lin Wangshu and Lei Zhengde had more or less made things official a little over a year ago.
After that, Lei Zhengde brought Lin Wangshu back to Beijing to visit family. They went to the Lei household, and they also paid a visit to the Lin family.
When Lei Zhengde came to the Lin home, he brought along a long slab of pork. Every neighbour in the area soon knew that Lin Wangshu had found herself such a fine prospective husband. They were practically one step away from beating gongs and drums to celebrate.
The Lin family naturally assumed that this son-in-law was settled.
But who could have imagined that after the two of them returned to the city, the Lei family suddenly refused to acknowledge the match?
They said there was no such thing and flatly denied everything.
That left the Lin family dangling over the fire—and Lin Wangshu along with them.
Social customs were conservative in those days. If a woman went to see a movie with a man, everyone would practically round it up to an engagement.
And Lin Wangshu and Lei Zhengde had already gone this far, yet the marriage still fell through?
That was practically the same as being dumped.
Once word spread, her reputation certainly would not look good.
Still, the Lin family had their pride.
If the marriage was off, then it was off. Who needed to cling to them?
Worst came to worst, Lin Wangshu could stay at home as an unmarried aunt for the rest of her life.
Lei Zhengde’s mother looked down on people, but Lei Zhengde himself was naturally unwilling to give Lin Wangshu up.
He pleaded with his mother, and after causing a considerable fuss, she finally agreed to let him marry her.
Of course, Lei Zhengde’s mother still had to put on airs.
After all, the two of them had already been together for so long. What else could Lin Wangshu possibly do?
Wasn’t she simply determined to cling to the Lei family and marry into their household?
So there was no need to fuss over bride price or wedding gifts.
She might as well hurry up and marry in.
Even now, Lin Wangshu could clearly remember Lei Zhengde’s mother drinking her early-spring tea, not even bothering to look at her as she casually said,
“You’re already involved with our Zhengde. What else can you do now? We’ll send a bicycle over to pick you up, and you can just come live with us.”
Those words had been slaps.
One after another, striking Lin Wangshu across the face.
She had been young then.
She did not understand.
She had simply allowed herself to be trapped by it.
They had already dated. They had already hugged and kissed. She genuinely had never considered another possibility.
Besides, Lei Zhengde kept pleading with her, pestering her, swearing over and over that he loved her.
What she had not known was that she still had many choices in life.
She had not known there was such a thing as a *sunk cost*.
Everything she had already invested was gone.
Milk once spilled could not be recovered.
There was no reason to cry over it, much less allow it to dictate every choice she made afterward.
Lin Wangshu was immensely grateful that she had been given the knowledge and experience of more than ten additional years.
She could use them to take everything back.
She could erase the humiliation that was waiting for her.
So now, after hearing Lei Zhengde speak, Lin Wangshu merely asked calmly,
“Zhengde, how exactly are you planning to persuade your mother?”
Lei Zhengde glanced across from them.
The girl sitting opposite had gotten up to fetch hot water.
Only then did he lower his voice.
“What else can I do? I’ll coax her. Then I’ll find a way to get Grandpa involved. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely give you a proper explanation.”
Lin Wangshu said, “If it’s too much trouble, then forget it.”
The moment she said that, Lei Zhengde looked at her.
“Why would you say something like that?”
Lin Wangshu replied, “Isn’t that what your family wants?”
Lei Zhengde reached out and took her hand.
“That’s my family’s opinion. I already told you I’ll find a way to convince them. Don’t worry. I’ll definitely marry you.”
Lin Wangshu studied Lei Zhengde seriously.
Separated from him by more than ten years of time and experience, she examined the young man making this promise to her.
At this moment, he truly meant it.
He really did want to marry her.
Lin Wangshu smiled faintly and quietly pulled her hand free.
“Stop being so clingy.”
There was an intense, stubborn streak in Lei Zhengde’s personality.
Lin Wangshu had experienced more than enough of his relentless pestering.
For now, she had no intention of confronting him head-on.
Lei Zhengde was only in his early twenties.
He was young, passionately in love, and had not actually gotten what he wanted yet.
How could he possibly bear to let her go?
He would definitely try every possible method to marry her.
In her previous life, Lin Wangshu had lowered her head and obediently tried to win over the Lei family.
She would not do that again.
All she had to do was thoroughly offend them.
With the Lei family losing face because of her, this marriage would naturally fall apart.
Seeing Lin Wangshu smile, Lei Zhengde assumed she had only been joking.
He leaned closer and lowered his voice.
“Wangshu, don’t worry. Once we get back, you go home first. In a few days, I’ll make my mother hurry over to propose the marriage properly.”
Lin Wangshu said, “Your mother might not agree.”
Lei Zhengde replied, “Then we’ll beg her together. What else can we do? My mother dotes on me. If I really start making a fuss, what can they possibly do about it?”
The moment Lin Wangshu heard that, she frowned, her face openly showing disgust.
“If you want to beg, then *you* beg. I’m not begging anyone! I don’t have time to grovel around playing games with your family!”
Lei Zhengde thought she was merely being temperamental.
She had always had a bit of a temper, and that was precisely what he liked about her.
So he hurriedly coaxed her.
“All right, all right, I understand. I’ll beg them. Even if I have to kneel there and beg, I won’t let you suffer the slightest grievance. Just don’t be angry with me.”
Lin Wangshu gave a cold laugh inwardly.
She could not be bothered with him.
…
By then, the train had already entered Beijing.
Many passengers in the carriage craned their necks toward the windows.
Quite a few clearly had not returned home in many years, and some were already becoming emotional.
Lin Wangshu also turned her head and looked outside.
On both sides of the railway were barren fields and low, crowded courtyard dwellings. Large slogans painted in white lime still remained on the walls.
She could even see green and grey clothing hanging from iron clotheslines outside people’s homes.
A deep familiarity washed over her.
It was the familiarity of this city.
The crowded, tightly packed way of life that belonged to narrow living spaces where every aspect of food, clothing, shelter, and daily existence overlapped.
Once the train entered the city, it slowed even further, clattering along inch by inch.
Someone in the carriage began to cry.
Someone even shouted,
“Beijing! I’m back!”
But what surged through Lin Wangshu’s heart was different from everyone else.
She had returned.
Returned to Beijing.
Returned to her youth.
For everyone else, this was merely a return across distance.
For her, distance and time had intertwined.
The years themselves had flowed backward.
Amid everyone’s anticipation, the train finally came to a stop.
People shouldered their luggage and desperately tried to squeeze toward the exit.
In truth, there was no harm in getting off a little later.
But who among them was not impatient?
Some passengers already had relatives waiting outside for them.
Those families had apparently managed to learn the arrival time in advance.
Lei Zhengde and Lin Wangshu had quite a lot of luggage.
Lin Wangshu had absolutely no intention of exerting herself, so she left all of it to Lei Zhengde.
Lei Zhengde grunted and strained as he hauled the luggage out.
Once outside, he looked around.
He did not see anyone from his family.
He muttered,
“Why hasn’t anyone come to pick us up? I told them when we’d arrive!”
Lin Wangshu was somewhat disappointed too.
She did not particularly want to waste her time getting tangled up with Lei Zhengde.
Even by the time he reached his thirties, when he had already kept a mistress and fathered a child with her, his methods had never improved.
He only had one trick.
He would shamelessly cling to her, coax her, tease her, acting as though she were a three-year-old who could be pacified with a few sweet words.
If that did not work, he would cry and hug her.
And if even that failed, he could always kneel and beg forgiveness.
What could she possibly do with a man like that?
He was like sticky taffy.
Even when you tried to avoid him, you could not shake him off.
That was why she desperately wanted to see Lei Zhengde’s family.
She wanted them to see for themselves that she had bad manners and an unimpressive family background.
She would throw in a few provocative remarks too.
With how particular and status-conscious Lei Zhengde’s mother was, she could guarantee that the woman would become so furious she would never allow Lin Wangshu through the Lei family’s doors in this lifetime.
As for Lei Zhengde—
his family could keep him under control.
As long as he stopped coming around and pestering her.
Lin Wangshu had no interest in repeatedly wasting time on this family’s nonsense.
After all, there were only a little more than six months before the college entrance examination was reinstated.
She needed to pick up her books and begin studying as soon as possible.
Because she had worked as an administrative staff member at Peking University in her previous life, she had accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge and experience.
Her English was excellent too.
But when it came to the current college entrance examination, she still felt uncertain.
She vaguely remembered that English scores were not counted in the 1977 examination.
That meant everything came down to mathematics and Chinese.
She was confident about Chinese.
But mathematics?
She had no idea.
What exactly did high school students learn?
She could barely remember.
Then another thought occurred to her.
This was 1977.
The college entrance examination was about to be reinstated.
If she could successfully get into university and spend several steady years enjoying campus life, she would graduate at precisely the moment when Reform and Opening Up began creating enormous opportunities.
With her knowledge of the future, there would be countless things she could accomplish.
Her heart surged with excitement.
At last, the crowd flowed out of the railway station.
Lei Zhengde stared up at the grand Beijing Railway Station and could not help saying,
“We’re finally back. *This* is what you call a big city!”
Lin Wangshu glanced at it.
At this point in time, Beijing Railway Station was still relatively new.
Compared with the buildings around it, it did indeed look imposing.
But Lin Wangshu had already grown accustomed to high-rises in her previous life.
It did not impress her much anymore.
She said to Lei Zhengde,
“Let’s go home first. The trolleybus stop is over there. We can take one.”
Lei Zhengde was just about to agree when he suddenly spotted a Hongqi sedan nearby.
Its horn sounded repeatedly—
*beep, beep, beep!*
Drawing the attention of everyone around it.
Someone inside the car was waving at him through the window.
Lei Zhengde immediately became excited.
“Mom! Mom! Sis! Over here! I’m over here!”
Two women quickly got out of the sedan.
One was Lei Zhengde’s mother, Shen Mingfang.
The other was his older sister, Lei Zhenghui.
Shen Mingfang wore a red-and-blue checked blouse beneath a smoke-grey corduroy jacket with a large pointed collar.
Her short hair had been permed into curls, and she wore leather shoes.
Lei Zhenghui was even more fashionable.
Her hair was styled in the popular “Ke Xiang” cut, with wispy bangs and slightly curled ends.
She wore a fitted white blouse beneath a bright yellow knitted top, paired with high heels.
Even Lei Zhengde could hardly believe his eyes when he first saw how his mother and sister were dressed.
Yunnan had been desolate.
Everyone there wore dusty blue clothes or green military uniforms.
Where would they ever have seen outfits like these?
Women generally wore their hair in two long braids.
Now that he had returned to Beijing and seen his mother and sister, his horizons had finally been broadened.
When he left Beijing years ago, hadn’t everyone loved wearing green military uniforms too?
How had everyone become so stylish?
Compared to them, he and Lin Wangshu looked hopelessly rustic.
Like complete country bumpkins.
Shen Mingfang was already hurrying toward him excitedly.
She grabbed her son’s hands and looked him over from head to toe.
As she looked, she began to cry.
“You’re finally back! You’re finally back! Look at you—why did you have to go through all this? You’ve suffered terribly out there all these years!”
Lei Zhenghui, meanwhile, had already picked up some of the luggage beside Lei Zhengde’s feet.
“Why is there so much? Is all of this yours?”
Naturally, that question drew her attention to Lin Wangshu standing beside him.
At first glance, Lin Wangshu looked undeniably rustic.
She was still wearing the same green military uniform she had worn when boarding the train in Yunnan.
Because Beijing was warmer, she had left the jacket open, revealing a white blouse with tiny floral prints beneath it.
Two thick braids rested over her shoulders.
She looked thoroughly old-fashioned.
A military uniform like this would have been highly sought-after a few years earlier.
But not anymore.
Lei Zhenghui looked Lin Wangshu over, then smiled and asked,
“And you are?”
Lin Wangshu knew that smile far too well.
That scrutinising look.
That courteous, polite, yet unmistakably distant smile.
That was Lei Zhenghui.
Lin Wangshu had actually visited the Lei household before.
They simply had not formally met.
Yet here Lei Zhenghui was, pretending otherwise.
Lin Wangshu smiled too.
“I’m Zhengde’s friend. We came back together.”
The moment Lei Zhengde heard that, he immediately corrected her.
“She’s my girlfriend. Her name is Wangshu. I brought her home before, but you weren’t there, Sis, so you didn’t get to meet her. Now you finally have!”
At that, Shen Mingfang also looked over.
One glance was enough for displeasure to rise inside her.
Lin Wangshu might be dressed like a country bumpkin, but she was undeniably beautiful.
Willow-leaf brows.
Almond-shaped eyes.
Although her face showed traces of exhaustion from the journey and the hardships of rural life, it was still obvious that she was young and had naturally good skin.
With a little care, she would undoubtedly grow into a stunning beauty.
The problem was—
she was *too* beautiful.
The first time Lei Zhengde had brought her home, Shen Mingfang had disliked her on sight.
But her son had been infatuated at the time, and since he was still stuck in Yunnan enduring his assignment, Shen Mingfang had not said anything.
Now that he was back, however, it was time to discuss matters properly.
In Shen Mingfang’s opinion, the most important qualities in a daughter-in-law were dignity, propriety, and virtue.
She needed to be capable both outside the home and in the kitchen.
Naturally, it would be best if their families were well matched in status.
Even if the woman’s family was not equal to the Lei family, they at least needed to be respectable.
Only then would the marriage bring honour.
Her son could not possibly marry some pretty little temptress just because she had a beautiful face.
Wouldn’t that make her son a fool being taken advantage of?
So Shen Mingfang smiled.
It was a smile that never reached her eyes.
“Girlfriend? What was her name again? Look at my memory. I’d completely forgotten about that matter.”
Lei Zhengde stomped his foot impatiently.
“Mom, how could you forget? Her name is Lin Wangshu. Her family lives in Baizhifang.”
Hearing that, Lei Zhenghui looked slightly surprised.
“Baizhifang? Isn’t that practically Fengtai? That’s the suburbs, isn’t it?”
Lei Zhengde quickly said,
“It’s not Fengtai. It’s in Xuanwu. It’s just close to Fengtai.”
Shen Mingfang smiled.
“You can’t blame your sister for not knowing. When would people like us normally travel that far? Xuanwu, Fengtai—who can tell the difference? Our little circle is small. We mostly stay around Dongcheng and Xicheng. Going as far as Haidian is already enough of a journey for us.”
There was an old saying:
*Dongcheng is rich, Xicheng is noble, Chongwen is poor, and Xuanwu is run-down.*
Those districts were at least still counted as part of the city.
As for somewhere like Fengtai?
Naturally, people like the Leis regarded it as the countryside.
Lin Wangshu heard this and smiled.
“My family really does live right at the edge of Xuanwu, very close to Fengtai. When I was little, trains passed right by our house. The surrounding area was practically wilderness.”
She continued cheerfully,
“Ever since I was a child, our neighbours always said they hoped their daughters would marry into Dongcheng or Xicheng and live a good life. Then they could bring plenty of nice things back to their maiden families so everyone could benefit too.”
That was obviously an extremely inappropriate thing to say.
Shen Mingfang’s face immediately darkened.
Just as she had expected.
This girl really *was* looking for some rich fool to exploit!
Disdain also appeared on Lei Zhenghui’s face, and the corner of her mouth curled downward.
Only Lei Zhengde hurriedly began making frantic faces at Lin Wangshu, desperately trying to signal her to stop.
Lin Wangshu did not even look at him.
She continued,
“But I’ve never wanted to marry into Dongcheng or Xicheng. I’ve disliked those places since I was little.”
She smiled.
“I heard plenty of people over there look respectable enough on the outside, but in reality they’re just snobs who look down on everyone else.”
She gave a light shrug.
“Who cares about them?”
The moment those words left her mouth, Lei Zhengde stared at her blankly.
For a moment, he seemed unable to process what she had just said.
Shen Mingfang was absolutely dumbfounded.
This—
What kind of way was that to speak?!
Lei Zhenghui, meanwhile, looked Lin Wangshu up and down with amusement.
She had never seen anyone so ridiculously affected.
Just who did this girl think she was?
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