The Wang family: It would be great if she were willing.
Qin Chunxiu had not passed, but Su Xiaoman had. This left everyone in the Wang family deeply surprised. They truly had not expected this result.
Yang Meixing, however, was very happy. “Yang Yu and her family must be overjoyed.”
Wang Xun’an snorted a few times, thinking that hateful Old Jiang would definitely come running over to show off again.
Wang Xuanxuan sighed emotionally. “Sister Xiaoman must dance beautifully.”
He Qingmei said, “Passing the exam isn’t easy.”
He Qingmei had predicted Qin Chunxiu would fail, but she had not expected this result either. Su Xiaoman, whom she had looked down on before, had actually passed. Even her cultural test scores had met the requirements. She was about to become a member of the Wenjing District Art Troupe.
Hadn’t they said her education level wasn’t very good? Why were her posted results among the top?
He Qingmei was neither happy nor unhappy. She simply found it strange. Her earlier desire to watch the drama had died down.
Originally, she had wanted to laugh at Qin Chunxiu, but now she had no mood to mock her.
Qin Chunxiu remained silent. No matter what, she could not accept this result. She had failed? She had clearly thought her performance was quite good… Fine, that was one thing, but why had that Su Xiaoman passed?
“Grandpa Wang, Su Xiaoman actually passed. Didn’t they say she hadn’t really learned singing or dancing before? Could Grandpa Jiang have pulled some strings for her?” Qin Chunxiu held it in for a long time, but in the end, she could not help asking.
Although Su Xiaoman was a countryside girl, she was still Jiang Liming’s daughter-in-law…
When Wang Xun’an heard this, he looked at Qin Chunxiu strangely. “Impossible. Old Jiang would never do that kind of thing.”
He had not expected Qin Chunxiu to say something like that.
Qin Chunxiu did not believe Wang Xun’an. She felt Su Xiaoman must have used some other method to get into the art troupe. She wanted to find evidence. She even found one of the examiners, but as soon as she mentioned the girl ranked eighth, the examiner immediately remembered her.
“She was the best dancer that day, and she had the highest score. That young girl has great talent.”
Su Xiaoman getting into the art troupe was truly unexpected for Grandpa and Grandma Jiang, so the three of them celebrated at home again.
Grandma Jiang said excitedly, “This really is something worth being happy about. Old Jiang, in a few days, tell Xiaotu the news.”
She felt sorry for her youngest grandson and wanted him to know something about his wife.
Grandpa Jiang: “Hm?”
He had no intention of telling his youngest grandson. Wouldn’t that distract him?
Su Xiaoman smiled. “Grandpa, don’t tell him yet. Let’s give him a surprise later.”
Grandpa Jiang immediately agreed. “Exactly.”
Grandma Jiang thought about it. “That works too.”
The three of them happily ate and drank together. Afterward, Grandpa Jiang went over to the Wang family to show off again, while Su Xiaoman began preparing to report to the art troupe.
When Xie Yazhi heard that her youngest daughter-in-law had been accepted into the art troupe, she was both surprised and happy. Thinking of how she had once worried about finding jobs for the two children, she felt somewhat self-mocking.
Her youngest son had joined the army, and her daughter-in-law Su Xiaoman was staying with his grandparents. She did not have a proper job, so Xie Yazhi really had wanted to help solve the problem of work for this daughter-in-law.
But now she had become a bit hesitant, afraid that if she directly gave things, the children would not accept them.
Earlier, Mo Xuanyi had come to her and said quite a lot. That person was rather devoted, still thinking about Jiang Yantang, and had said many good things about him in front of her. Xie Yazhi, however, was not very willing to often talk with people about Jiang Yantang anymore.
Now, what she spoke about more were her eldest son, second son, third daughter, that youngest son, and her youngest daughter-in-law…
Xie Yazhi felt Mo Xuanyi was indeed quite devoted and sincere toward Jiang Yantang. In the past, she had not looked highly upon this girl, but now she felt that she and Jiang Yantang might actually be suitable. Sincerity was rare.
Mo Xuanyi knew that her youngest daughter-in-law had no job, so she mentioned that there was a vacancy at a state-run restaurant and that Xie Yazhi could try to get it for Xiaoman.
Xie Yazhi thought it sounded decent, but she did not blindly decide. She went to ask around and only then learned that the state-run restaurant was short of a female dishwashing worker.
At the time, Xie Yazhi felt uncomfortable. She did not know what Mo Xuanyi meant by introducing this job to her daughter-in-law. Was she looking down on her rural daughter-in-law, or deliberately implying that Su Xiaoman could only be a dishwasher in the city?
If she had not asked clearly and directly told her daughter-in-law about this job, would she not have been hated?
Even though Su Xiaoman would not have accepted a job she introduced anyway.
Xie Yazhi’s good impression of Mo Xuanyi dropped sharply. She no longer welcomed her coming over to visit. She made a few new friends and also stayed with some of her previous female friends. Those people advised her to relax, saying that her youngest son was with his grandparents, but he was still her family’s son.
Xie Yazhi felt conflicted, but in the end, she still cared about that child. Before long, she began asking about his news. After learning about his performance, she felt both gratified and heartbroken.
At night, Jiang Liming also said, “Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. The youngest is already nineteen, a grown man. How can he still need his parents managing him every day?”
Xie Yazhi thought this was right. Before, she had worried too much and paid excessive attention to Jiang Yantang’s affairs. Whether they were biological or not, all these children had grown up now. It was time to let them fly on their own.
The child did not acknowledge her. After being sad for a long time, she gradually came to terms with it.
Now that her youngest daughter-in-law had entered the art troupe, she wanted to express something. She had originally wanted to buy clothes and leather shoes, but considering that Su Xiaoman would not accept them, and neither would the grandparents, she prepared some dried fruit, salted duck, and similar things to send to his grandparents’ home instead, without saying anything else.
Su Xiaoman brought her luggage to report to the art troupe. Soon, a dormitory was arranged for her. It was an eight-person room, very small, and six people already lived there. Only she and another young girl, Qin Shanshan, were newly arrived.
Su Xiaoman chose an upper bunk. She liked the quietness of the upper bunk, unlike the lower bunk where people came and went, and where others would occasionally sit on your bed. The only troublesome part was climbing up and down every time.
Many people preferred lower bunks for convenience. With this shaky iron-frame bed, the whole bed swayed whenever someone climbed up or down. Even though one knew it was unlikely to collapse, there was still that psychological worry.
She was now also wearing a brand-new green military uniform, with a red-star cap on her head. Two neat black braids hung in front of her chest. Her watery eyes were large and dark, her figure graceful, and her skin fair and delicate, making her look especially youthful and beautiful.
That silly dog probably could not imagine her dressed like this!
Next time he saw her, who knew how shocked he would be?
Every time she thought of this, a natural smile appeared in Su Xiaoman’s eyes. With her lips pressed together, the corners of her brows and eyes carried a moving smile.
She planned to wear this outfit to a photo studio and take a picture, then send it to Liu Shufeng. Her mother probably had not expected she would become an art soldier either.
Even Su Xiaoman herself had not expected it. At first, she had only wanted to make performance costumes.
“You’re Su Xiaoman? The new one?” The short-haired girl sleeping in the bunk below her spoke.
“Yes.”
“You’re really beautiful. When you smiled just now, even my heart moved. What were you smiling about as soon as you came in? You smiled so sweetly.” Sun Fangfang was very straightforward and asked whatever came to mind.
“Nothing much. I was thinking of my family.” Su Xiaoman rubbed her face. When she thought of Xie the dog, did she really smile that sweetly?
“Yeah, when you first leave home, you miss family. I was the same back then.”
After that, the two did not chat much. Art soldiers were not managed very strictly, but during the first month, they were forbidden from going out. That evening, when all eight girls in Dormitory Eight had returned, Su Xiaoman finally had the chance to recognise everyone.
There were eight of them. Besides Sun Fangfang, there was Zhang Ying, who slept in the bed opposite hers. She was tall, beautiful, and straightforward. There was Zhou Wenjing, who had the voice of a lark. Although her name contained “quiet,” she was not quiet at all, talking nonstop the moment she came in. In the corner were two girls, Lin Shuijuan and Xia Chunxia, both relatively quiet and unconcerned with things that did not involve them. At night, they read books under the lamp.
There was also the pretty Wang Yue, whose speech and manner clearly showed she came from a good family. The other newcomer, like Su Xiaoman, was Qin Shanshan. She looked about fifteen or sixteen, quiet and shy. When she spoke, she had a rustic accent and a strong local dialect.
Every time Qin Shanshan spoke, Wang Yue would correct her.
“Nǎinai. Say it with me. Nǎinai, not làilai.”
“Nan, nan…”
“I don’t understand what you mean. Was it your grandma who brought you here earlier? I brought them in, and the two of them started chatting using their dialect. I couldn’t understand a word.”
…
Wang Yue’s tone was aggressive. Qin Shanshan immediately fell silent, leaving only Wang Yue’s voice in the dormitory.
Just one day was enough for Wang Yue to figure out the family backgrounds of the two newcomers. Qin Shanshan had been admitted from a poor, remote countryside area, while Su Xiaoman surprised her. Wang Yue had originally thought she was from a city family, but it turned out she also came from the countryside. Even more surprisingly, she had already married in the countryside as soon as she turned eighteen.
Wang Yue looked down on this deeply.
“When will you bring your countryside husband for us to see?”
“He joined the army.”
“Really? That’s not easy.”
Wang Yue carried herself with superiority in the dormitory. The others came from ordinary family backgrounds, mostly regular worker families—not rich, but not the poorest either. Some were just daughters in their households and were not valued highly. Then there were two or three rural girls, who were even less comparable.
Wang Yue especially liked mocking Qin Shanshan’s heavy accent, saying it sounded unpleasant. Qin Shanshan therefore did not like speaking in the dormitory, but when she danced, she was extremely beautiful, as if she became a completely different person.
The dormitory faintly revolved around Wang Yue, but Su Xiaoman did not really talk to her. Zhang Ying quietly told Su Xiaoman, “You should build a good relationship with Wang Yue.”
“Her family isn’t simple.”
“Do you know the Wang family?”
Su Xiaoman unexpectedly heard a familiar name and froze for a moment. “????”
Wasn’t that Grandpa Wang’s family next door? The one that argued with Grandpa Jiang every day?
“But doesn’t he only have two granddaughters and one granddaughter through his daughter?” Wang Xuanxuan, Wang Feifei, and He Qingmei—she had met them some time ago.
This time, Zhang Ying froze too. The Wang family’s granddaughters? How did Su Xiaoman know about the Wang family?
“They’re all surnamed Wang. They’re somewhat related.”
“Director Zhang treats her very well. She often knows certain news earlier than us.”
Su Xiaoman nodded, but she had no intention of trying to curry favour with Wang Yue. Every day, she trained and rehearsed on schedule. She had already asked clearly about the upcoming performance for the new recruits. The programme had not yet been confirmed, and Su Xiaoman wanted to perform a solo dance.
However, Teacher Sun, who arranged the dances, wanted Su Xiaoman to play the female lead in a large-scale song-and-dance drama. The original female lead had been Luo Yanyan, but she had injured her leg in a previous performance and was now in hospital for treatment. Teacher Sun had previously promoted Wang Yue to replace her, but now that Su Xiaoman had arrived, she felt Su Xiaoman had more spirit and wanted to change the female lead to Su Xiaoman.
This song-and-dance drama was meant to compete for an award at the provincial level, so they naturally could not be careless. Teacher Sun believed Su Xiaoman would perform better. Director Zhang valued this drama and agreed with Teacher Sun’s suggestion.
The original replacement female lead had been snatched away. Wang Yue was naturally unwilling and resentful. She went to Director Zhang several times, but nothing changed. With nowhere to vent her anger, she led the others in the dormitory to isolate Su Xiaoman.
“What’s so great about Su Xiaoman?”
“She married at seventeen or eighteen. She was just lucky to get into the art troupe.”
…
Su Xiaoman ignored their isolation. She had no interest in forming little sister cliques here. She went to Teacher Sun and fought to add a solo dance to the morale-boosting performance. Teacher Sun could not persuade her otherwise, so she agreed to submit the programme for her.
She reminded Su Xiaoman to train hard.
This solo dance was arranged after the song-and-dance drama.
Su Xiaoman let out a breath of relief. She only wanted to dance for him. No matter what, she had achieved her goal.
Who knew that halfway through rehearsals for the song-and-dance drama, news suddenly came that the content had not been approved by the province and needed major revisions. The programme was cancelled and could not be performed on stage in the near future.
Helplessly, the art troupe changed the programme back to an old model opera they had rehearsed well before, using the original cast.
As the new female lead, Su Xiaoman naturally lost her role. She had not participated in this model opera.
When Wang Yue learned of this news, she nearly lifted her tail to the sky. Now the female lead had become hers again. After Luo Yanyan’s injury, she was the only one who could replace her.
“As expected, heaven really does like joking with people.” Wang Yue was delighted and waved her hand generously. “Today, I’ll treat you all to a meal at the state-run restaurant.”
Su Xiaoman did not go, nor did Qin Shanshan from the dormitory. The others followed Wang Yue out.
Qin Shanshan came over to comfort Su Xiaoman. “Sister Xiaoman, don’t be sad. There will be other chances in the future.”
After losing the female lead role in that song-and-dance drama, Su Xiaoman had no recent chance to go on stage, while Qin Shanshan was assigned to rehearse the role Wang Yue had previously played in the model opera.
She, who had originally been the female lead, now became the only one with no chance to perform.
Su Xiaoman shook her head. She was not sad. “I still have a solo dance programme. Now I can focus on practising it.”
Qin Shanshan thought she was forcing a smile. At this time, large-scale stage plays, song-and-dance dramas, and model operas were popular. Playing the lead role in one was the true opportunity to shine.
Taking advantage of a break, Wang Yue went home. Her parents told her to visit Grandpa Wang’s house more often. Their family was surnamed Wang, but they were not close relatives of the Wang family, only distantly connected.
Her family wanted her to go to the Wang family mainly because of the Jiang family next door. The Jiang family had two outstanding grandsons of marriageable age. They were not yet married and had no partners. Both were young talents with limitless futures, and their father was Jiang Liming.
Wang Yue did not really have that intention—or rather, she had once had it. Unfortunately, whenever she went to Grandpa Wang’s house and chatted with Grandpa Jiang a few times, she never managed to meet the Jiang grandsons. The family also showed no intention of making her their granddaughter-in-law… so she knew this matter was most likely impossible.
But this did not stop her from boasting to Zhang Ying, saying her family intended to form a marriage connection with the Jiang family, that the Jiang family had two outstanding grandsons, how handsome they were, what positions they currently held, what their father was like, and so on…
After boasting, she then said, “But I’m not really interested in this matter. I don’t want to climb into that kind of family.”
“I still want to look at other families.”
The implication in and out of her words was: Ah, I’m different from all of you. The marriage partners my family introduces to me are all so-and-so kind of people. Outstanding men are waiting for me to choose.
If I actually cared about this, I would have the chance to marry into such-and-such a family…
Zhang Ying, however, did not quite believe her. Previously, Wang Yue had misled her into thinking she was the Wang family’s granddaughter, but later Zhang Ying discovered that she was only some distant little relative. Now that Wang Yue was bragging in front of her again, naturally she did not believe it much.
“Wang Yue, is that true? You’re not lying to me, are you?”
Wang Yue felt very uncomfortable with her tone. “You don’t believe me? Tomorrow, I’ll take you to Grandpa’s house. Grandpa Jiang next door treats me very well.”
Zhang Ying nodded and agreed. This was exactly her goal.
The next day, the two of them asked for leave together and changed into clean, pretty clothes. Both had carefully dressed up. In this era, only girls from the art troupe tended to look brighter and more colourful than ordinary girls outside.
Halfway there, the two unexpectedly ran into Xie Yazhi outside the retirement compound.
Wang Yue recognised Xie Yazhi. After introducing her identity to Zhang Ying, she pulled Zhang Ying over and greeted Xie Yazhi openly.
Zhang Ying was very nervous.
After seeing the two young girls, Xie Yazhi merely nodded casually. She had once seen Wang Yue by chance at Grandpa Jiang’s doorway, though she did not remember her clearly. Now, seeing her again, she remembered who she was.
When she heard that the two girls were from the art troupe, her eyes suddenly brightened, and her tone became much warmer.
Zhang Ying noticed the warmth in Xie Yazhi’s tone toward them, and her heart began pounding. She wondered, could Xie Yazhi really value Wang Yue as a potential daughter-in-law?
The smile at the corner of Wang Yue’s mouth deepened. She had not expected Auntie Xie to be in such a good mood today, treating her so warmly and attentively.
Xie Yazhi asked them a few questions about the art troupe. Then she suddenly began asking the two of them about someone.
“Do you know Su Xiaoman? She just joined your art troupe not long ago.”
Wang Yue froze, not understanding why Xie Yazhi would ask about Su Xiaoman.
Zhang Ying did not think much. Hearing a familiar name, she answered directly, “Su Xiaoman? We know her. She’s in the same dormitory as us.”
Xie Yazhi said happily, “Really? What a coincidence.”
Zhang Ying said, “Auntie Xie, you know Su Xiaoman?”
“I know her. She is—” Xie Yazhi paused. She had originally wanted to say Su Xiaoman was her youngest daughter-in-law, but she was afraid that if she said this, that child would be unhappy. So she could only smile and say, “I really like that girl!”
Zhang Ying deliberately joked, “Auntie Xie, saying it like that, could it be that you’ve taken a liking to Xiaoman as your daughter-in-law?”
Xie Yazhi smiled awkwardly. “…If only she were willing.”
Wang Yue hurriedly said, “She already got married in the countryside long ago!”
Leave a Reply