Chapter 586
The two arrived at the riverbank, where most of the ice had melted, leaving only thin sheets of floating ice drifting on the water’s surface.
Jiang Yexun found a spot farther from the riverbank and gently set his little wife down in his arms.
“You stay here and wait for me. I’ll sprinkle some bait, and I’ll catch some fish soon,” he coaxed with a gentle tone.
But just as he turned around, his hand was firmly grabbed.
“Did you forget something?” Su Xiaoxiao tilted her head playfully and winked at him.
“What?” Jiang Yexun was momentarily caught off guard.
Su Xiaoxiao didn’t say much more. She pulled him closer to the riverbank and then turned, throwing her arms around him.
Jiang Yexun froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up as though he had remembered something.
Within seconds, fish began leaping onto the shore—grass carp, catfish, carp, and more, a variety of fish. In fact, due to the cold weather in the northeast, even crabs began crawling up onto the shore.
The two quickly separated.
Jiang Yexun picked out some medium-sized fish and placed them in a bamboo basket, then tied a string of fat, plump crabs together with vines before heading back to the village.
The aunts out for a stroll spotted Jiang Yexun, carrying over twenty crabs in one hand and holding Jiang Ruanruan’s hand in the other. They couldn’t help but feel envious.
“Hey, Yexun, you got back and went straight to the river for a feast? Your skills are amazing! We were thinking of catching some fish and crabs, but we just couldn’t manage,” one of the aunts remarked.
“Look at how good your relationship with Comrade Su is! We were worried you two wouldn’t make it since you were heading back to Shanghai,” another one teased with a smile.
Jiang Yexun had already married Su Xiaoxiao, so he wasn’t bothered by their teasing. He just gave a slight frown.
The aunts quickly stopped talking, not daring to say more.
Su Xiaoxiao noticed the awkward atmosphere and stepped in to smooth things over, “Yexun is reliable and treats me well. My parents and brother are good at judging people, so they naturally have no complaints.”
“That’s right! Your elders are leaders in the big city, they must have great taste,” the aunts quickly agreed, nodding.
Though they were reluctant to admit it, they couldn’t help but think of Aunt Guo, who used to make compromises but was now living with her son and daughter-in-law in Shanghai, enjoying life for several months. Despite not splitting the family, Aunt Guo had never returned to the old Jiang house to endure hardship, and she now had a nice new house to live in.
Her son could hunt, and her daughter-in-law’s family was doing everything they could to support them.
They looked at Su Xiaoxiao, who was only three months pregnant. Not only had her skin turned fairer and more tender, but she had also gained quite a bit of weight.
Thinking of this, they couldn’t help but curse themselves for lacking vision.
No, it wasn’t just lacking vision. They were blind!
In the past, they had looked down on Jiang Yexun’s family, thinking the background wasn’t good, and that Jiang Guoli, the village leader, was clearly biased toward his two children from his previous marriage. They didn’t want to marry their daughters to him.
Several families had tried, but when they saw that Jiang Yexun wasn’t interested, they didn’t want to keep trying. Later, they had thought Su Xiaoxiao was too proud, incapable of doing farm work, and feared their sons getting involved with such a woman.
And now, the two most capable and wealthiest people in the whole village were together.
Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun didn’t care about their thoughts. Hand in hand, they returned home.
Aunt Guo had already prepared most of the dishes, and everyone else had arrived.
As soon as she saw the crabs in Jiang Yexun’s hands, she smiled and took them from him.
“Xiaoxiao loves spicy crabs, and this time, the female crabs are just the right size and fat. But Xiaoxiao, you should eat a bit less, as crabs are cold in nature, and eating too many will upset your stomach. You can have more fish. I’ll make some braised fish for you.”
“Thank you, mom,” Su Xiaoxiao said sweetly as she hugged Jiang Yexun’s arm and looked at Aunt Guo with a smile.
Aunt Guo’s heart nearly melted at her words.
Jiang Yexun wanted to help, but Aunt Guo gently pushed him out of the kitchen.
“Enough, your friends are here. You young people can chat, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to help out with chores later. There’s no rush.”
Jiang Yexun agreed and didn’t insist. He sat down at the table, still holding Su Xiaoxiao’s hand.
He Xingzhi and Zhang Tiewa exchanged glances before He Xingzhi sighed. “Ever since Luo Shanzhu went to the city for work, he hasn’t come back. His family acts like they’re too good for us. I think our brotherhood is coming to an end.”
“It’s fine. People with different paths don’t have to walk together,” Jiang Yexun said with a faint smile.
He then unscrewed a bottle of Maotai liquor and poured each of them a glass.
He Xingzhi took a big gulp, then shook his head in discomfort. “My sister’s like a ticking time bomb. I can’t keep following you guys into the mountains anymore. She’s like a hunting dog, always looking for mistakes I’ve made so she can get revenge for her adoptive parents. I’ve decided—I’m going to endure it with her, focus on farming, and stay put. I’ll keep an eye on her and, in a few years, find a reliable family to marry her off. I’m just going to think about my own future now.”
They say you can tell a child’s future by their behavior at three years old. He hadn’t believed it before.
But now, seeing his misguided sister, He Xingzhi was genuinely exhausted.
Zhang Tiewa reached out to pat He Xingzhi on the back. “It’s okay. It’s just ten years. In ten years, you’ll still be in your thirties. You’ll still have a chance to make something of yourself.”
“Yeah,” Jiang Yexun agreed lightly.
“You see, Yexun said so! Once your sister gets married, contact us. We brothers will be able to work together again,” Zhang Tiewa said with a grin.
But He Xingzhi didn’t continue the conversation.
He was saying that today to end their partnership.
As for his sister getting married, that wouldn’t change anything.
The rift had already formed, and no one would feel comfortable with each other in the end.
Su Xiaoxiao and Jiang Yexun both understood that.
But seeing Zhang Tiewa in such a good mood, they didn’t want to say it too bluntly.
“By the way, Siyu, what’s going on with the youngest son of Team Leader Kong’s family? That came out of nowhere,” Su Xiaoxiao asked curiously, turning to Qian Siyu, who had been silent all this time.
Qian Siyu bit her lip before speaking. “I went to the supply and marketing cooperative to call my parents for the New Year. On the way, I slipped on the snow and bumped into Kong Zhiyuan. He carried me back and later sent me some medicinal wine and eggs, among other things. I thought he was thoughtful, and then he confessed his feelings to me. I’m already twenty-five, and I’ve been here since I was eighteen, seven years now, and this is my eighth year. If I don’t marry soon, I might never get married.”
“If you could go back to the city in a year or two, would you still be with him?” Su Xiaoxiao asked bluntly.
Qian Siyu opened her mouth but swallowed her words.
If she could go back to the city in two years, she wouldn’t want to stay in the countryside for the rest of her life.
“I’ve told you guys before that you should study hard. The country is very likely to restore the college entrance exams. When I went to Shanghai this time, I specially visited Beijing. I found that the country’s demand for talent is increasing. The college entrance exams will definitely resume, either this year or next year. It can’t be delayed.
Think about it: if you marry him, won’t you have to immediately have kids and raise them while working? When would you have time to study? How many families will let their daughters-in-law go back to school after they’ve become mothers? Even if they say nice things now, don’t they fear that once you return to the city and become a university graduate, you might never come back?
Now, universities and vocational schools are assigning good jobs in the city, and graduates will certainly be given good opportunities. Besides, your fiancé was sent away when he was young. It was Kong Dongfeng who became the village leader, and only then did they bring their youngest son back. He didn’t grow up with them, so there’s no real affection. In the future, your relationship with your in-laws will be strained. With your temperament, it’ll be hard to establish a good relationship.”
Su Xiaoxiao was straightforward with Qian Siyu, sharing exactly what she thought.
She didn’t mention Kong’s family’s darker side, though.
After all, both in this life and the previous one, Qian Siyu and Tao Junlan had genuinely cared for her and had truly advised her for her own good.
Tao Junlan also chimed in, “Exactly! Xiaoxiao’s right! And don’t forget, when times were tough, they even gave away their biological son to someone else. Isn’t that too heartless?”
“Right! Now that they’ve turned their situation around, they’ve taken back their son. It’s so ungrateful. Who didn’t go through hardships back then? They spent so much money and effort raising him, and now they just come and take him back whenever they feel like it,” Zhang Tiewa added.
Qian Siyu, who had been hesitant before, now began to feel anxious after hearing their words.