Guan Hue was previously a doctor.
As a career woman, her thinking wasn’t traditionally conservative, but in the 1980s, her views on relationships between men and women obviously couldn’t be as progressive as those in the 21st century… Xia Xiaolan’s “past” was so eventful that Guan Hue was momentarily stunned.
Guan Hue didn’t think Xia Xiaolan was being promiscuous – someone who could speak so openly about such matters clearly had nothing to hide. It was those who tried to conceal things that were usually problematic!
Xia Xiaolan wasn’t indifferent either. Despite her calm appearance, Guan Hue could detect her stealing glances.
Xia Xiaolan probably hoped for her encouragement, but when Guan Hue opened her mouth, she couldn’t form a complete sentence.
Could one not mind at all?
Xia Xiaolan was her son’s partner, not Guan Hue’s daughter!
A mother would naturally sympathize with her daughter’s hardships. Liu Fen would unconditionally stand by Xia Xiaolan’s side. Even if the former “Xia Xiaolan” truly had problems with laziness, greed, and vanity, Liu Fen would never treat her poorly. A birth mother always remains hopeful about her child – never mind personality flaws, even criminals who commit murder and arson often have relatives who believe they can reform!
Seeing Xia Xiaolan looking at her expectantly, Guan Hue decided to be honest:
“I’ll need to discuss this with your uncle.”
Guan Hue couldn’t say she trusted Xia Xiaolan’s character. Since Zhou Cheng knew about all those messy rumors and didn’t mind, even if Guan Hue had doubts, she couldn’t immediately turn against Xia Xiaolan.
As relationships progress from strangers to acquaintances, and from acquaintances to intimates, Xia Xiaolan and Guan Hue were just at that awkward stage between familiarity and unfamiliarity. To say she trusted Xia Xiaolan completely was impossible for Guan Hue.
Xia Xiaolan stood up:
“I’m sorry for troubling you. I didn’t know the Wang family was part of this circle.”
The previous “Xia Xiaolan” had only thought Wang Jianhua was an educated youth from the city, unaware that he was the son of a fallen high-ranking official. The current Xia Xiaolan knew Zhou Cheng and had early on noticed his background wasn’t simple. Their feelings had developed naturally – how could Xia Xiaolan exclude Zhou Cheng just because Wang Jianhua was from Beijing?
Xia Xiaolan didn’t know that Wang Jianhua and Zhou Cheng knew each other and their backgrounds intersected!
There was nothing between her and Wang Jianhua anymore, and rekindling their old relationship was impossible. Given their previous conflicts, they were more like enemies. Xia Xiaolan felt that not saying anything might allow the Wang family to cause trouble later, putting the Zhou family in an awkward position… She wouldn’t have bothered telling them if she was just trying to harm Zhou Cheng’s parents.
Having revealed everything, Xia Xiaolan felt relieved.
Ah, attempting suicide by running into a wall was too embarrassing for Xia Xiaolan to even mention.
Guan Hue found it jarring – the Xia Xiaolan standing before her seemed too intelligent to have been so easily manipulated.
Xia Xiaolan was extremely embarrassed:
“I was young and naive…”
This wouldn’t do – she couldn’t stay at the Zhou house any longer. Whatever Guan Hue and Zhou Guobin might think, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t control. She quickly got up to leave.
It was already noon, and though Guan Hue wanted to invite her for lunch, Manager Xia ran away faster than a rabbit.
When Zhou Guobin returned home, Guan Hue carefully selected parts of what Xia Xiaolan had said to tell him. His first reaction was bewilderment: “Why did you ask her about these things?”
Wasn’t this just reopening old wounds?!
She and Wang Jianhua hadn’t even gotten together, and even if they had broken up, it would have just been an unsuitable relationship.
While girls should maintain their self-respect and dignity, they shouldn’t go to extremes and completely avoid speaking to the opposite sex!
“Fine, fine, fine, you’re the only open-minded one, and I’m old-fashioned! I just wanted to understand her relationship with her family. She brought up the topic herself. How was I to know that pulling up the radish would bring up all the dirt with it? She poured out all her family conflicts to me… She’s not stupid, so why is she so honest?”
Guan Hue was very troubled. With the intelligence to get into Huaqing University, how could she not know some things shouldn’t be said to her future in-laws?
Whether in 1985 30 years later, or even 300 years later, from the in-laws’ perspective, they always hope for a “pure and innocent” daughter-in-law. Though unrealistic, this expectation persists – why else would there be so many cases of families strongly opposing their unmarried sons marrying divorced women?
China’s feudal thinking hadn’t even been gone for forty years – how could it be easily eliminated?
Zhou Guobin glanced at his wife. “You don’t know why she’s being so honest?”
Revealing all potentially controversial history at once, to prevent others from using it against her later – this was actually Xia Xiaolan’s smartest move.
The topic had probably come up unexpectedly today, and Xia Xiaolan had just decided to be forthright about it.
This approach showed both Xia Xiaolan’s intelligence and her trust in the Zhou family, believing Guan Hue wouldn’t immediately reject her after hearing everything.
Guan Hue remained silent, her feelings complicated.
Initially, she really didn’t like Xia Xiaolan at all, and even now, she couldn’t say she completely approved of her, but Xia Xiaolan’s honesty was something Guan Hue admired.
“I’m just concerned because we’re in the same circle as the Wang family – we’re bound to run into each other.”
“Since when has our family been in the same circle as the Wangs?”
Zhou Guobin’s tone carried confidence.
The Zhou family had all worked hard and were steadily rising, while Wang Guangping had spent eight years at the farm, regressing rather than progressing. Even now, after being reinstated, his attempts to fit into the circle were awkward and out of place.
Zhou Guobin didn’t consider himself and Wang Guangping to be of the same ilk, so naturally, they weren’t in the same circle!
Guan Hue was left speechless and somewhat angry from embarrassment:
“Weren’t you the one who said she wasn’t suitable for Zhou Cheng? Fine then, let me continue being the villain while you transform yourself into the tolerant and open-minded good guy!”
Offending one’s wife was truly terrifying.
Zhou Guobin discovered his good tea had been put away. He stared intently at the tea leaves floating in his cup for a long while. Tea drinking was his only hobby, and being served these dregs was worse than not being given food at all.
Poor Guan Hue had somehow found these moldy tea leaves from who knows where!
Zhou Cheng’s isolation review had ended, but he didn’t know if his wife had told Xia Xiaolan. Though the girl was honest, they couldn’t let her keep worrying.
…
Having candidly shared her dark history, Xia Xiaolan had shown her true self to the Zhou family.
Hearing that Zhou Cheng’s isolation review had ended, she guessed he must feel somewhat wronged. She wanted to appear before him and hug him, but unfortunately, she didn’t even know where he was!
Family members were honored and received praise from others.
But behind that word “honor,” how many couples had to endure separation?
Xia Xiaolan had specifically researched that Shanghai’s first paging station was established in 1983, while Beijing hadn’t shown any movement yet. She estimated it would be operational in the next year or two, though she couldn’t be certain of the exact timing.
Her worry was, even with pagers available, would Zhou Cheng’s unit allow their use?
Xia Xiaolan dutifully took out a piece of paper to write to Zhou Cheng. When he returned to the Land Academy, he would receive these letters and know she was thinking of him.
Her next short-term goal was to win a place in the English competition!