Bai Zhenzhu was very generous and righteous, carrying the spirit of the jianghu.
When her apprentice brother mentioned financial difficulties with the profitable fruit stand, she readily gave it up to him – this incident revealed her character.
It was this personality that caught Xia Xiaolan’s attention, leading her to suggest that Bai Zhenzhu try her luck in Pengcheng, even lending her startup capital. Reality proved that Xia Xiaolan’s judgment wasn’t wrong – she had picked the right person. Bai Zhenzhu was grateful and reciprocated the kindness. Later, when Xia Xiaolan wanted to start a building materials store, Bai Zhenzhu invested her entire savings without hesitation, putting in tremendous effort to make the store flourish.
Kang Wei only came to help recently. In any business, the startup phase is always the most challenging. During that period, Bai Zhenzhu kept a vigilant eye on the store’s operations, not daring to rest, even renting out her profitable street stall. At least for now, Bai Zhenzhu remained very loyal to her principles.
Xia Xiaolan knew Bai Zhenzhu through Bai Zhiyong and Zhou Cheng, who were subordinates in Zhou Cheng’s unit. However, Xia Xiaolan had only met Bai Zhiyong once – naturally, her emotional connection was with Bai Zhenzhu.
Bai Zhiyong might be Zhou Cheng’s friend, but Bai Zhenzhu was Xia Xiaolan’s friend, and she had to consider Bai Zhenzhu’s interests. Being generous was admirable, but Xia Xiaolan worried that Bai Zhenzhu might be too generous… Bai Zhiyong had left his sister and grandmother behind when he went to work, and the Bai family was largely supported by Bai Zhenzhu alone.
Now Bai Zhenzhu was doing business in Pengcheng, where she had bought a house and lived regularly, taking care of their grandmother as well. She had completely given up their Yangcheng house to her brother.
For Bai Zhiyong’s wedding, Bai Zhenzhu must have contributed significantly financially.
Xia Xiaolan didn’t know what kind of person her new sister-in-law was but feared that satisfying her expensive tastes might cause Bai Zhenzhu trouble in the future. From her observation, Comrade Bai Zhenzhu had no immediate plans for marriage, focusing entirely on her career, and appearing rather masculine – this was her personal style. While Xia Xiaolan admired this, she worried others might not see it the same way.
Though Bai Zhiyong was trustworthy, would his new wife think that his sister remained unmarried just to earn money for them?
When she shared these concerns with Kang Wei, he clenched his fist and said, “How could someone as capable as Zhenzhu be bullied by an ordinary woman? But Sister-in-law, you’re right. I’ll follow your lead!”
Even the strongest people have weaknesses. Though Bai Zhenzhu could fight and do business, could she raise her fists against her sister-in-law?
Xia Xiaolan worried that Bai Zhenzhu might be constrained by “family ties.” She feared that setting such high expectations might cause Bai Zhiyong’s wife to develop ulterior motives.
Xia Xiaolan had heard that Bai Zhiyong’s wedding followed tradition with new household items and their old house in Yangcheng was renovated with Liu Yong’s help. She prepared two watches as gifts in Zhou Cheng’s name – not imported ones, but domestic brands. She planned to give 200 yuan as a wedding gift.
Kang Wei immediately agreed to match this amount. Liu Yong also agreed to this sum, and Kang Wei even prepared a gift on behalf of Shao Guangrong. None of them knew Bai Zhiyong personally – they were all giving face to Bai Zhenzhu, and 200 yuan was already quite respectable.
That weekend, Xia Xiaolan’s group headed straight to Yangcheng.
Though Bai Zhiyong wasn’t a prominent figure in Yangcheng, the wedding of the Bai Family Martial Arts School’s heir still drew many well-wishers from the martial arts community. Forty tables were set for the banquet, with Bai Zhizong and his new wife making toasts at each table.
She probably hadn’t expected the Bai family wedding to have so many tables. The matchmaker had only mentioned that the Bai family used to run a martial arts school, that Bai Zhiyong was now a cadre in Beijing, and that the family consisted of just a grandmother and sister – a simple household structure. After marriage, they wouldn’t need to live with the grandmother and sister-in-law… The bride was quite attractive, and her family held leadership positions in state-owned enterprises. During the matchmaking, she had approved of Bai Zhiyong and agreed to marry him, partly because of the simple family structure and not having to serve her parents-in-law.
State enterprise people and martial arts circles were two different worlds – the bride’s family truly didn’t understand the significance of the “Bai Family Martial Arts School.”
Of the forty tables at the banquet, only five or six were occupied by the bride’s relatives and friends – the rest were there for Bai Zhiyong.
The wedding guests were quite diverse – some had a strong street presence and didn’t look particularly reputable. Others were poorly dressed yet were referred to as “Senior Brother” by Bai Zhiyong and given seats of honor. The bride and her relatives seemed confused.
Nowadays, only close relatives and friends are invited to celebrations and funerals. Banquets were expensive, and guests also had to spend money on gifts. There was no custom of extravagance in such events… so where did all these guests come from, when they said there were only a grandmother and sister, with both parents deceased?
Speaking of her daughter’s sister-in-law, Bai Zhiyong’s mother-in-law wanted to cover her eyes.
The marriage had already been arranged when she first saw Bai Zhenzhu – was this really a sister-in-law? She looked more like a brother-in-law!
“How can this be a proper young lady?” she thought.
Whether proper or not was unclear, but she certainly didn’t look like a young lady.
If the bride hadn’t insisted on marrying, her family wouldn’t have agreed.
They had hurriedly inquired about Bai Zhenzhu after the engagement, learning only that she did business in Pengcheng. What kind of business could turn a young woman into someone who dressed like a man?
Now, seeing all these “street people” who knew Bai Zhenzhu, Bai Zhiyong’s mother-in-law’s eye twitched nervously.
Were all these people associates of Bai Zhenzhu?
It certainly wasn’t because her son-in-law – Bai Zhiyong had left Yangcheng to work in the north years ago and was now a promoted cadre. How could he associate with such questionable characters?
Bai Zhiyong’s mother-in-law’s gaze fell on Xia Xiaolan.
She had never seen such an alluringly beautiful young woman in her half-century of life.
And this woman had come with Bai Zhenzhu… truly inappropriate!
Xia Xiaolan noticed Bai Zhiyong’s mother-in-law staring at her. This was a wedding celebration – everyone was here to be happy – so Xia Xiaolan smiled at her.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but in that instant, Bai Zhiyong’s mother-in-law’s expression turned quite unpleasant.
It was truly puzzling.
The bride’s entire family worked in state enterprises, while the Bai siblings carried a strong jianghu air. These two vastly different families becoming in-laws seemed completely mismatched. Who knows who introduced them? Xia Xiaolan noticed the bride’s smile seemed forced as she made toasts.
Kang Wei lowered his voice, “Sister-in-law, isn’t that Bai Zhiyong’s mother-in-law? Why does she keep looking at us?”
“Who knows, maybe she doesn’t like the food!”
Xia Xiaolan chuckled. Kang Wei looked at the table full of excellent dishes – this banquet must have cost Bai Zhenzhu quite a bit. The food was so sumptuous that Kang Wei couldn’t find fault with it. If this wasn’t good enough, they must be expecting dragon meat!
What could Xia Xiaolan say? Bai Zhiyong had finally gotten married, and their grandmother’s face was wreathed in smiles, her wrinkles smoothed out with joy. This was a day of celebration – any oddities should be overlooked.
As Xia Xiaolan was thinking this, there was a commotion at the entrance, with someone raising their voice:
“We’re here to offer congratulations – surely the Bai family won’t deny us even a cup of wine?”