Wasn’t this just pure bullying?
The Liang family thought Xiao Lan was just a village girl with divorced parents and a timid, quiet mother – nobody would stand up for her, so they didn’t need to respect her opinion at all. Just like Ding Aizhen’s approach, they assumed bullying Xiao Lan would have no serious consequences, so why not just bully her as they pleased?
If Xiao Lan were plain-looking, Aunt Liu Fang wouldn’t even think of her, let alone scheme like this! Beauty brings misfortune – without enough power to match her looks, being too beautiful meant trouble, meant endless covetous glances! Xiao Lan felt she was accumulating wealth at a decent pace, but the gap in social status couldn’t be bridged by a few tens of thousands of yuan. She had to get into university, and not just any university – it had to be a prestigious one that commanded respect!
If she went to the Fan family now and said she could earn money and didn’t care to marry into their family, they wouldn’t back down. They might even grin widely – thinking it was even better, that they’d get both beauty and wealth by marrying her.
Her mother Liu Fen’s attitude gave her some comfort; at least for now, her mother hadn’t lost her head and was on her side in this battle.
“Nobody can bully me easily. They all want to sell me off to be some old man’s wife – don’t expect me to still acknowledge this aunt. Aunt Li, Mom, when the Liang family comes, don’t soften your hearts. Let me handle them!”
Ding Aizhen had looked down on her and now was sentenced to twelve years.
Xiao Lan had never been soft-hearted, and both Li Fengmei and Liu Fen knew she meant what she said. Not just with her aunt – if anyone didn’t treat Xiao Lan like family, she would become colder than anyone once she turned against them.
Xia Dajun was her biological father and Old Lady Xia her grandmother, but Xiao Lan didn’t care what people would say – she’d directly refuse contact with all the Xia family members!
The more Liu Fen thought about it, the angrier she became. She had treated Liu Fang as a sister, but if Liu Fang had any sisterly feelings, she wouldn’t have done something like this.
“Xiaolan, Mom will do whatever you say. We can’t marry into the Fan family – can’t we just decline this marriage proposal?”
Having inappropriate relationships, with women volunteering to be concubines – in all her years, Liu Fen had never encountered such things; it was completely beyond her imagination. Weren’t concubines something from the old society? Even in the countryside, people who had affairs did it secretly – what woman could be so shameless!
Xiao Lan understood the housemaid’s intentions though. What ordinary girl wouldn’t be deterred when someone wanted to be a concubine before the marriage even happened? Xiao Lan thought Fan Zhenchuan was garbage, but the housemaid saw him as a prize, even encouraging Xiao Lan to stay far away. She wanted to leave, but what about the college entrance exam and her business?
Even without these two concerns, if Xiao Lan left, Fan Zhenchuan would become furious and take it out on her family.
Shameless – wanting to marry a girl his daughter’s age while having an affair with the housemaid. Fan Zhenchuan couldn’t be anything good; Xiao Lan had zero expectations for his character.
Li Fengmei didn’t know what to do either.
Without Liu Yong present, Li Fengmei felt lost, “Should we send your uncle a telegram?”
Xiao Lan shook her head, “Telling Uncle would just make him worry. I should talk to Zhou Cheng about this.”
She could handle other matters without telling Zhou Cheng, but when someone wanted to force her into marriage, Xiao Lan finally remembered that Zhou Cheng was her real boyfriend. After hearing things from Zhuo Weiping, Xiao Lan understood Zhou Cheng’s feelings better. He was somewhat masculine and domineering, but he was only 21 this year, and he had shown enough sincerity and consideration towards her.
Liu Fen was also reminded, “Yes, we should tell Zhou Cheng, otherwise he might misunderstand!”
With Zhou Cheng far away in Beijing, if Xiao Lan didn’t communicate promptly and he later heard about “marriage discussions” here, being so far away and unclear about Xiaolan’s thoughts, he might misunderstand… Liu Fen already considered Zhou Cheng her future son-in-law. Why did mothers-in-law like to make things difficult for daughters-in-law, while mothers of brides had to please their sons-in-law? Wasn’t it because they feared the son-in-law wouldn’t treat their daughter well? Liu Fen also worried about Zhou Cheng’s misunderstanding, causing tension between the young couple.
Grandmother Yu returned from street sweeping and, standing at the doorway, quickly understood the situation after hearing a few sentences.
She walked in carrying her broom:
“Find whatever connections you have – we’re dealing with a tyrant here!”
Liu Fen lowered her head in shame. Grandmother Yu had warned her before that Liu Fang had ulterior motives. Although Liu Fen hadn’t openly disagreed with Grandmother Yu then, she still favored her sister. Only now did she realize how accurate Grandmother Yu’s judgment was – she had only met Liu Fang once, while Liu Fen had been sisters with her for over thirty years. She knew Liu Fang was selfish, but as the elder sister, she hadn’t wanted to fuss about it. Hadn’t Liu Fang just gotten worse and worse?
Li Fengmei was startled – yes, they weren’t completely without connections.
Last time, how did they get out of the police station? Wasn’t there a Bureau Chief Yang who handled things fairly? Maybe they could ask for his help.
Even if someone was a government official, could they force someone into marriage without anyone stopping them?
Li Fengmei was being too naive.
If Xiao Lan went to Bureau Chief Yang about this, he would avoid her like the plague. His enthusiasm had been due to Secretary Hou’s influence, mistakenly believing Xiao Lan would become the leader’s niece-in-law. If Xiao Lan went to him directly, that borrowed authority would crumble – Bureau Chief Yang wasn’t stupid. If Xiao Lan were going to be the leader’s niece-in-law, even if Fan Zhenchuan from Hedong County wanted to force her into marriage, wouldn’t the leader be angry even if he were made of clay?
No matter how powerful Fan Zhenchuan was, he couldn’t throw his weight around outside Hedong County.
Everyone followed the rules, and if Fan Zhenchuan broke them, no one would object if the leader crushed him.
Xiao Lan wasn’t dating Shao Guangrong, so why keep using his connections?
Shao Guangrong’s uncle wouldn’t intervene for Xiao Lan either… With matters of marriage, who knew what disagreements they were having? If they reconciled later, wouldn’t Shao Limin just be meddling unnecessarily?
As soon as Li Fengmei mentioned it, Xiao Lan knew it wouldn’t work. Today, Grandmother Yu didn’t say anything harsh. Hearing that Xiao Lan had locked Liu Fang’s daughter in the shop, she gave Xiao Lan a long look:
“You’ve got backbone.”
It wasn’t that women wanted to be fierce – who wouldn’t want to be a gentle, elegant young lady? But you had to have that kind of fate! It wasn’t easy for most women to establish themselves in society. They either became tough and fierce to protect themselves or ended up like Liu Fen, honest but weak and enduring bullying.
Both types existed – if everyone were competitive, the world would be in chaos.
But whether to choose to be fierce and brave or honest and timid should be the woman’s own decision!
Grandmother Yu felt this deeply. Her temperament might be strange and unlikeable, but if she had been slightly softer, this house would have been divided up by others long ago. What ancestral property? So much ancestral property hadn’t been returned – without fighting for it, how could it fall to a lonely old woman like her?
Xiao Lan thought for a moment, went to the kitchen to search, found a sharp knife, and started sharpening it stroke by stroke with a whetstone.
With each forceful stroke, Li Fengmei’s heart trembled.
People always wanted to bully Xiaolan, but her niece wasn’t easy to bully at all!
The last bus from the provincial capital to Hedong County was at 5 PM. Even if Liang Huan returned late, she should have been home around 6 PM. Liu Fang waited an extra half hour, and when there was still no sign of her at 6:30, she started to worry:
“Could this child have missed the bus? She didn’t even call home.”
Liang Bing’an casually replied, “She’s probably having fun with her classmates and doesn’t want to come back yet.”
Liu Fang was worried – Liang Huan was her precious daughter, such a beautiful young girl. What if she ran into trouble outside? Liu Fang insisted that Liang Bing’an drive her to Liang Huan’s classmate’s house to see if their child had returned.
When asked, the classmate avoided eye contact:
“Liang Huan’s cousin told us to go home first, saying you should go to the provincial capital to pick up Liang Huan. She asked for your phone number… didn’t she call you?”
Since when had Xiao Lan become so close to her Huanhuan?
Liu Fang wasn’t surprised that Liang Huan had gone to the provincial capital and visited Blue Phoenix, but what the classmate said next made her anxious:
“Liang Huan’s cousin was fierce, and wouldn’t let us stay in the shop anymore. Before we left, she closed the shop door, and Liang Huan was still inside – they seemed to be arguing!”
“Child, why didn’t you tell Liang Huan’s mother earlier?”
The classmate’s parent was exasperated and hurriedly pretended to scold their daughter a few times.
They had no choice – Liu Fang’s expression was terrifying like she could eat someone.
Liu Fang did want to eat someone. They went to the provincial capital together, yet only Liang Huan was kept behind. Shouldn’t they have asked if Liang Huan had called home? A teenage girl – how could she be so thoughtless!
“I thought… I thought Liang Huan’s cousin would call auntie…”