“About Zhenzhu’s sister-in-law…”

On the way back, Xia Xiaolan only made this brief comment.

Kang Wei, somewhat slow on the uptake, asked, “What about Zhenzhu’s sister-in-law?”

Though she seemed frightened at first, hadn’t she calmed down later?

Without prolonged interaction, Xia Xiaolan hesitated to judge Bai Zhenzhu’s sister-in-law. Today was unexpected—the bride’s family all worked for state enterprises and had never encountered such a situation, so their reaction was understandable.

Bai Zhiyong’s marriage had been a persistent problem. He was one of those who’d been pushed by his work unit to return home and settle down due to his age. Though the organization didn’t formally require it, marriage hadn’t been on Bai Zhiyong’s mind at all!

At least Bai Zhiyong had come back to marry, which made both Bai Zhenzhu and Grandmother Bai happy. That was enough—future issues could be dealt with later.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t need to return to Pengcheng; she had an afternoon flight to Beijing. After leaving the wedding, she headed straight for the airport. With flights so limited now, Ji Jiangyuan naturally took the same flight back. Once aboard, he sat beside Xia Xiaolan:

“My mother is going to marry George next month.”

Xia Xiaolan raised an eyebrow. “Then I should congratulate you.”

Ji Jiangyuan shook his head: “You don’t understand.”

He had seen through his mother’s thoughts, sensing intentions of reconciliation, but later observed that his mother had indeed grown distant and cold toward George.

Why suddenly decide to marry George now?

It wasn’t just that George’s career had gotten a big opportunity—Ji Jiangyuan felt something must have happened.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t noticed any signs that Ji Ya wanted to reconcile with Tang Hongeen. Even if the Queen had hurt someone’s heart, she wouldn’t set herself so high, waiting for someone to beg for reconciliation… There might be such pathetic men, but Mayor Tang wasn’t one of them.

Not thinking along these lines, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t empathize with Ji Jiangyuan’s confusion.

After takeoff, Xia Xiaolan’s mind was still full of concerns.

The Golden Sand Pool construction site couldn’t have any mishaps. Had that gangster Ke Yixiong heard something, or was he trying to deceive her? Lost in thought, she fell asleep.

Ji Jiangyuan was speechless.

“Why push yourself so hard?”

She made everyone around her tense—like Ji Jiangyuan himself, who felt ashamed of wasting time if he wasn’t working as hard as Xia Xiaolan.

…

“The Bai family is simply outrageous!”

After the wedding, Chang Ying’s mother exploded in anger.

They had completely lost face in front of relatives today. After barely finishing the wedding feast, several relatives had complained:

“Who made this introduction? How could you agree without checking?”

“Just because you heard her match was official, you ignored everything else?”

“This was practically a gangster gathering—”

How could Chang Ying’s parents be happy hearing such comments?

They weren’t entirely satisfied with their son-in-law, to begin with. Earlier, they had focused on Bai Zhiyong being an official, and the Bai family’s sincerity about the marriage—buying the four major appliances and renovating the house. But no amount of sincerity could make up for today’s chaos. The Bai family’s social circle was too rough—completely incompatible with the Chang family.

After the reception, Bai Zhiyong was still drinking with his martial brothers while Chang Ying opened red envelopes with her cousin. Her mother worried: “This boy Zhiyong hosted 40 tables at once. Look at how those guests dressed—how much could they possibly give? This banquet must have been a huge loss. Does he have enough money left? He must have spent quite a bit before the wedding. For today’s bill, should I help you make up the difference?”

Chang Ying’s cousin grinned, “Auntie, I think it’s enough. Sister-in-law’s relatives and friends were quite generous.”

She had opened several red envelopes that felt thick, expecting small bills, but found they contained all ten-yuan notes.

By coincidence, she had opened the ones from Xia Xiaolan’s group.

All ten-yuan notes—a 200-yuan red envelope was quite substantial. Looking at the gift registry, Mother Chang saw there were quite a few such generous gifts.

Her expression turned awkward: “They’re all reckless thugs living for today, showing off what little money they have, spending it wastefully!”

Chang Ying showed her mother the gift box from Xia Xiaolan:

“They’re not thugs—this is from my husband’s unit captain’s partner.”

Mother Chang opened it to find two watches.

Though domestically made, the two watches together cost nearly 400 yuan.

She had seen the seductive-looking woman hand the box to her daughter but hadn’t heard what was said. “That flirtatious-looking one is the captain’s partner?”

She had thought it was Bai Zhenzhu’s friend and found her improper, now feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Unit officials were very selective about their partners because marriages required political vetting!

In previous years, political vetting examined family background, political status, overseas connections, and ideological conduct. Though it might have relaxed slightly in recent years, an improper female gangster would never pass the vetting.

Chang Ying, pleased with Xia Xiaolan’s generous gift, corrected her mother:

“What do you mean flirtatious? She’s just naturally beautiful.”

The gifts and money were secondary—what mattered was that her husband’s superior captain valued him so much, indicating her husband had a promising future.

Chang Ying truly liked Bai Zhiyong as a person.

The Bai family only had an elderly grandmother. With Bai Zhiyong working up north, elderly Grandmother Bai couldn’t manage everything. Chang Ying thought the sister-in-law’s issues could be easily resolved—as the eldest sister-in-law entering the Bai family, she would be like a mother figure and could surely guide her sister-in-law onto the right path.

“The restaurant bill will be covered, Mom, don’t worry about it.”

Mother Chang finally stopped nagging.

Bai Zhenzhu had asked Liu Yong to renovate the old house, rushing for the wedding, so it wasn’t luxuriously done—just a simple renovation.

But the windows were bright, and the room contained the four major wedding appliances, making it look quite comfortable overall.

Mother Chang nodded in satisfaction, “I didn’t expect the Bai family to be so well-off. I was just worried you’d suffer after marriage. You and Zhiyong will be living apart—being a military family member is so hard!”

Being poor was difficult.

Having money made things a bit easier.

One couldn’t suffer both spiritually and materially—enduring both hardships would be too much. Better not to let her daughter marry at all in that case.

Bai Zhenzhu was still unaware that her new sister-in-law was determined to guide her onto the right path.

Mother Chang thought the Bai family was well-off, but what assets could they have?

The Bai family used to run a martial arts school—unlike Ke Yixiong who extorted money as a gang leader, they had no money at all.

After his promotion, Bai Zhiyong’s salary had increased slightly, and he sent most of it home.

Like Bai Zhenzhu, he was loyal to his friends, helping his martial brothers whenever they had difficulties. After working for so many years, he had barely saved a few hundred yuan. The four major appliances and house renovation were all paid for by Bai Zhenzhu.

As the elder brother, Bai Zhiyong felt embarrassed and firmly refused to let his sister pay, saying he should only spend what he could afford to find a wife.

Bai Zhenzhu smiled warmly: “Brother if you hadn’t let me meet Xiaolan, I wouldn’t be where I am today. You gave me this opportunity. We’re siblings, and Grandmother is counting on you to marry soon and continue the family line. Are you going to argue with me over spending this little bit of money?”

Sister-in-law Xiaolan was indeed wonderful. Bai Zhiyong’s attention shifted:

“That dog Ke Yixiong still hasn’t given up. He came to make trouble today, both to humiliate our Bai family and to talk to my sister-in-law. If I don’t teach him a lesson, I’ll be failing both the captain and sister-in-law’s help to our family!”