Heaven knows, Wang Jianhua never had such thoughts!

But Xia Xiaolan was just being difficult.

Wang Jianhua understood her meaning.

It wasn’t enough that the Wang family tacitly approved of their marriage; they needed to welcome her home with drums and gongs, giving her all the proper ceremonial glory.

Wang Jianhua said he would make it up later, promising to make Xia Xiaolan the envy of other women.

“Future matters can wait, let’s deal with the present first!”

Well, he’d have to go back and persuade them again.

Ran Shuyu disapproved, cursing loudly at home.

Even Wang Guangping thought Xia Xiaolan was being too demanding.

However, Wang Jianhua remained firm in his decision – if he couldn’t marry Xia Xiaolan, he’d remain single. Marriage would be best, but even without it, he could continue his relationship with Xia Xiaolan. Yet his job required a stable family life, not rumors and gossip.

The Wang Jianhua in his dreams was different from reality – he was decisive, and everyone could see his promising future.

Such an outstanding young cadre, after working for just a year, had turned down countless matchmaking attempts from his superiors.

He’d refused so many times that he’d nearly offended all the leaders.

Wang Guangping also saw his determination.

There was no choice – he was set on marrying Xia Xiaolan, and who knew what trouble might arise if their marriage wasn’t arranged. So let them marry – following all the proper procedures, Wang Guangping and Ran Shuyu personally went to that poor place in Dahe Village to propose, giving the full bride price without shorting a penny.

Old Mrs. Xia’s smile nearly split her face, and the entire Xia family came forward to flatter Xia Xiaolan.

The Xia family in his dreams had similar personalities to those in reality.

Of course, Xia Xiaolan was never a virtuous and filial person. When she returned home, she asked the timid and withdrawn Liu Fen if she wanted to go to Beijing together. Liu Fen said who would take care of the fields, Xia Dajun, and Old Mrs. Xia after she left… Xia Xiaolan plugged her ears and immediately withdrew her offer.

At the Xia home, Wang Jianhua saw another familiar face.

Xia Chunhua, Xia Xiaolan’s cousin had been married for several years.

She had married in a neighboring township, but because Xia Changzheng and his wife had kept all of Xia Chunhua’s bride price, not even providing two sets of bedding as dowry, her in-laws looked down on her greatly.

After having two daughters in three years, she had even less status in her husband’s family.

The reason she was now at the Xia home was that she was pregnant with her third child. With strict family planning policies, Xia Chunhua had fled to her parent’s home, hoping for a son with this third pregnancy!

Wang Jianhua was curious, “Even if you have a son, can you register him?”

Now, family planning policies are becoming increasingly strict.

Xia Xiaolan sneered, “If you give away or get rid of the previous daughters, won’t you be able to register the precious son? There are such women in this world, who consider themselves worthless, and their daughters worthless too. She even wrote to me before, asking if I could help her… Wang Jianhua, let me tell you, in the future you must accept whatever children I bear, whether sons or daughters. If by chance I have a daughter and you dare show a dark face, I’ll divorce you and remarry, letting your daughter call another man father!”

Well, although Xia Xiaolan’s temper had never been good, she rarely got angry like this.

It was because she was a girl, and Liu Fen couldn’t have more children. She had been bullied by villagers and mocked by the Xia family since childhood.

This was one of Xia Xiaolan’s major pain points.

Wang Jianhua hurried to show his loyalty, “I don’t want to lose my job. Whether it’s a son or daughter, you only need to give birth once.”

Xia Xiaolan snorted.

Wang Guangping and his wife gave the bride price at the Xia home and discussed the wedding date, then stayed at the county guesthouse.

However, Xia Xiaolan and Wang Jianhua had to stay one night at the Xia home.

That night, there was an incident.

At midnight, Xia Chunhua, with her pregnant belly, crept into Xia Xiaolan’s room and suddenly knelt before her.

Xia Xiaolan screamed in fright, and Wang Jianhua rushed over from next door.

It turned out Xia Chunhua was crying and begging Xia Xiaolan to help her… How to help? She kept talking about her difficult life, saying they were sisters, and since Xia Xiaolan had married so well, it would be easy to give her a hand.

How to help?

The best would be to help raise her two daughters first.

If Xia Xiaolan didn’t agree, Xia Chunhua’s in-laws would give away both her daughters, just as Xia Xiaolan had said, to make room for the unborn “grandson” to be registered.

Wang Jianhua laughed in anger.

What kind of person was this, asking her unmarried cousin to raise children? Fortunately, his parents were at the county guesthouse tonight; if his mother had heard Xia Chunhua’s words, she would have mocked Xia Xiaolan about it for life.

Xia Xiaolan showed no mercy, telling Xia Chunhua to get lost:

“If you can’t afford them, don’t have them! You’re like a sow desperately having piglets, having them and pushing them onto others, you think it’s so simple!”

Xia Chunhua looked pitiful, completely deaf to the rejection.

She turned to kowtow to Wang Jianhua, giving him a huge fright.

How could Wang Jianhua possibly raise someone else’s children?

If reported for violating family planning policies, his future would be ruined.

But Xia Chunhua wouldn’t listen to any of this. In her mind, Wang Guangping was a high-ranking official; if Wang Jianhua and Xia Xiaolan wanted to help her, what was so difficult about raising two more children?

Xia Xiaolan gave Xia Chunhua a severe scolding.

The Xia family members were all awakened.

Seeing the evasive looks of her family members, Xia Xiaolan suspected she had been set up – this was planned by the Xia family. If she dared take in Xia Chunhua’s two daughters, how could she refuse the cousins from her surname after accepting children from outside the family?

Fine, so they wanted to become city dwellers, not by finding their way, but by scheming against her.

Xia Xiaolan immediately packed her things to leave.

Wang Jianhua stopped her, and the Xia family members said everything could be discussed, finally managing to calm her down. The next day in the county town, Xia Xiaolan asked Wang Jianhua if he would look down on her: “None of my family members can be relied upon, I’d be thankful if they don’t drag me down! Marrying into your family alone, without my natal family’s support, your mother will bully me.”

His mother would indeed make things difficult.

But as for bullying… he was there as her husband. When a husband has status in the family, who would dare bully his wife?

Besides, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t someone who could be easily bullied.

If anyone tried to bully her, the house would surely be in chaos.

For family harmony, he’d better work harder in his career, and strive for status and authority, while trying to prevent direct conflicts between his mother and Xia Xiaolan.

Things went more smoothly afterward.

Not long after marriage, Xia Xiaolan gave birth to twin sons for Wang Jianhua.

These two grandsons completely captured Ran Shuyu’s heart, forcing her to show goodwill toward her daughter-in-law.

This was thanks to her fertile womb.

Additionally, several years later, Wang Jianhua faced a major problem at work. Even Wang Guangping couldn’t help, but someone stepped in to assist Wang Jianhua through the crisis.

After investigation, it turned out that when Xia Xiaolan first went to the farm with Wang Jianhua, she had prepared many things for Wang Guangping and Ran Shuyu, including medicines and food. When Ran Shuyu spoke ill of her behind her back, Xia Xiaolan angrily gave everything to a sick old man at the farm.

That old man hadn’t been politically rehabilitated and was nearly dying, but he survived thanks to the medicine and food Xia Xiaolan gave him, living to see his rehabilitation.

The person who helped Wang Jianhua through his difficulties was this old man’s son.

Xia Xiaolan was never one to be modest; she immediately took them as her backing, giving her even more reason to act as she pleased.

Anyway, under her high demands, Wang Jianhua in the dream was always under pressure, but also motivated. Although he was 29 when he graduated from university, by his forties, he had not only caught up with his peers but far surpassed them.

He had fulfilled his promise, making Xia Xiaolan live a life envied by other women.

…

The dream ended.

It was the bang-bang-bang of someone pounding on the door.

“Wang Jianhua, why aren’t you up making breakfast yet, who are you trying to starve!”

The one pounding on the door was the Bureau Chief Zhang’s daughter, Wang Jianhua’s increasingly fierce wife.

For a moment, he couldn’t distinguish what was dream and what was reality.

Was it a dream?

If it was just a dream, how were those details filled in? He even remembered the names of his two sons from the dream.

But that couldn’t be reality either.

In the dream, he and Xia Xiaolan had never broken up.

In the dream, Xia Xiaolan’s personality was different from reality.

In the dream, there was no Xia Ziyu; Xia Chunhua was just Xia Chunhua, who gave away several daughters before finally having a precious son. But she spoiled that son too much; he dropped out of school in his teenage years, first cheating money from the family, then becoming increasingly bold, eventually committing street robbery.

When caught by the police, he shouted that his aunt’s husband was a leader.

In the dream, Xia Chunhua’s knees were too weak; regarding her son’s imprisonment, she once again knelt to beg Xia Xiaolan.

This was against the law, and Xia Xiaolan certainly wouldn’t help.

…So, was this his dream, or another life of his?

The pounding on the door hadn’t stopped, and Wang Jianhua had no time to carefully explore this as he hurriedly dressed and got out of bed.

Perhaps because his current life was so wretched, he couldn’t help imagining another kind of life.

He was originally tall and strong, but due to his wretchedness, he had become somewhat hunched.

He should have had a different life.

If on that night after the college entrance exam, he hadn’t drunk the alcohol bought by Xia Ziyu and hadn’t been intimate with Xia Ziyu, would the life waiting for him have been the one from his dream?