Chapter 3
“Didn’t your folks back home write ahead? Even Baosheng looked surprised,” said Cheng Wenhua, puzzled.
Of course Li Baosheng was surprised—his family hadn’t told him a thing about Xia Sha coming.
The old couple had figured they’d already sent her away and saw no reason to tell him. Better to keep it from him than risk his wife finding out he was hiding something.
Tian Cuifen, however, couldn’t tell whether Cheng Wenhua’s words were genuine curiosity or veiled sarcasm.
“Wait here a minute, I’ll go check with your dad.” She hurried inside and lowered her voice to ask Li Changshun, “What do we do?”
Li Changshun had already put on his shoes and was pulling on his coat. “Don’t panic. Wenhua probably doesn’t know yet. If she did, she’d already be making a scene. She wouldn’t be speaking up for Baosheng now. My guess is those Xia siblings heard something from somewhere.”
That’s what he said, but when he went out, he still carefully studied Cheng Wenhua’s face.
Tian Cuifen was even more anxious—she wanted to walk faster but had to slow down because Cheng Wenhua was holding her belly for support.
Even if Cheng Wenhua didn’t know now, who could say whether Xia Sha would start making a fuss when they got there?
They’d already strung her along for four years—and still wanted to drag things out longer…
When the couple entered the room, the first thing they did was look toward the Xia siblings. The two were sitting by the door, drinking water. One kept shifting in his chair, clearly impatient, while the other sat quietly, eyes lowered, gentle and calm.
As for their son, Baosheng—
he just sat stiffly on the edge of the kang, still in a daze.
Seeing them come in, Xia Sha pressed her lips together and gave a soft smile. “Uncle Li, Aunt Li.” After greeting them, her gaze drifted past them to the three-year-old girl sleeping behind Baosheng. “Didn’t expect it—five years gone and Brother Baosheng already has such a big child.”
Same face, same mild tone—yet Tian Cuifen’s scalp prickled.
Li Changshun, on the other hand, stayed composed. He took off his glasses, wiped the fog from them, and said with a laugh, “Why didn’t you let us know you were coming? Just now your aunt and I were saying you should be arriving soon, and she was planning to go to the station tomorrow to meet you.”
He was clearly speaking for Cheng Wenhua’s benefit—testing whether Xia Sha intended to make a scene.
Xia Sha only lowered her gaze without replying. Xia Wanhui opened his mouth but, seeing his sister, shut it again.
Relieved, Li Changshun put on his round glasses and made introductions: “This is Baosheng’s wife, Wenhua. And these two are relatives from Baosheng’s great-aunt’s side—just call them cousin.”
Then he quickly glanced at the clock. “It’s getting late, and you’ve got a child. Let them stay at our place tonight.”
Whatever the situation, the most important thing was to get the Xia siblings away—don’t let them talk to Baosheng’s wife.
Cheng Wenhua, pregnant and tired, didn’t insist they stay either. She got up to see them out, handing Baosheng a flashlight at the door. “The streetlights are off—walk your parents and cousins out.”
Baosheng glanced at her, then at Xia Sha, and followed them out.
Once they’d left the alley, he couldn’t hold back anymore. “What are you doing all the way up here in the northeast?”
“To marry you, of course. What else do you think?”
Xia Wanhui finally snapped. If his sister hadn’t warned him beforehand, he’d have thrown a punch the moment he saw Li Baosheng.
Li Baosheng froze. “Y-you came here to marry me?”
He looked flustered. “I didn’t mean to break off the engagement. We grew up together—I’ve always thought of you as my wife. But we were new here, didn’t know anyone. My parents said I needed to marry a local to settle down. Laidi was still a kid back then—not even fourteen…”
When his parents first suggested marrying someone else, he’d disagreed.
But what they said wasn’t entirely wrong—he was a worker now, and Xia Sha wasn’t quite a match for him anymore.
A trace of guilt crossed his face. “It’s my fault, I should’ve told you sooner instead of letting you come all this way for nothing. I was in a difficult spot—you’ve always been the understanding one. I knew you’d see things my way.”
Xia Sha was speechless.
He broke the engagement, cheated on her, and now expected her to understand him?
Was the original her really that saintly, or was this man just brain-dead?
Maybe she should apologize instead—Sorry for showing up and making things awkward for you, Mr. Li.
Honestly, Li Baosheng wasn’t bad-looking—fair, scholarly. No wonder Cheng Wenhua liked him. But after seeing someone who could be a literal national treasure, looking at him now… she just saw a weak man with no spine and less sense.
She turned away from him and said to Li Changshun, “Aunt said your kang collapsed and there’s nowhere to sit. Let’s go talk at the guesthouse.”
“The kang collapsed? When did that happen?” Baosheng blurted, not catching on.
And just like that, the excuse Tian Cuifen had used to shoo them off was exposed by her own son. Her face turned green.
Li Changshun focused on the key part. “Talk? Talk about what?”
“About terms, of course.”
Xia Sha’s tone was calm. She didn’t intend to blow things up—it wouldn’t help her anyway.
The man was already married, one kid asleep on the bed, another in the belly. What was she supposed to do—make him divorce her?
But not making a scene didn’t mean letting it slide.
She smiled faintly. “You don’t think you can just apologize and call it even for breaking off a fifteen-year engagement, do you?”
Back in the small guesthouse room, Tian Cuifen’s mood was the opposite of that afternoon’s.
Li Changshun’s face was grim too. Realizing how much Xia Sha had changed in five years, he dropped the emotional act and sent Baosheng away.
Under the yellow light, he studied Xia Sha for a long time before asking, “So what are your terms?”
“I want 1,500 yuan,” she said, blunt as a knife.
“Why don’t you just rob us!” Tian Cuifen nearly jumped up. “1,500! You’d have to save for four years without eating or drinking!”
That was in the city. In the countryside, you couldn’t even make a hundred a year.
Xia Sha lowered her head. “We were engaged for fifteen years. You’ve delayed me four years already. Don’t you think I deserve that much?”
“Fifteen hundred’s enough to get two factory jobs for Laidi!” Tian Cuifen started up again, until Li Changshun shot her a look.
He adjusted his glasses. “Be reasonable. He’s already married. We didn’t exactly mean to deceive you.”
If it wasn’t intentional, why were they so desperate to stop her from meeting his wife?
Xia Sha bit her lip, pretending to hesitate. “Then… could you help me find a job in Jiangcheng? That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
That was her real goal. The sky-high demand before had just been to make refusal harder.
After all, she was a transmigrant—sooner or later, the differences would show.
Better to stay in the city and work than go back to farming and dealing with that awful brother.
If marriage was like employment, and the husband like the employer, then since they broke the contract first, compensating her with a new job seemed fair enough.
Tian Cuifen thought it was very much not fair. Her own daughter Laidi still didn’t have a job—why should they find one for Xia Sha?
Besides, if Xia Sha stayed in Jiangcheng, they’d be running into her all the time—what a headache.
Li Changshun rubbed his temples. “Couldn’t you ask for something else?”
Xia Sha stayed silent.
He sighed. “It’s true our family wronged you, and we should make it up somehow. But things have changed—policies are different now. The state doesn’t let just anyone transfer from farming to industry anymore. Back in ’57 or ’58, you could get off the train and someone would ask if you wanted a job, even handle your household registration right there.”
“Didn’t Aunt just say she could get Laidi a job? So it’s not impossible, is it?”
Li Changshun froze and glared at his wife.
Before he could say more, Xia Wanhui snapped, “So it’s fine for your Laidi but not for my sister? We brought the engagement contract—just say yes or no!”
Where Xia Sha could negotiate calmly, Xia Wanhui was ready to flip the table.
Sometimes blunt people are harder to deal with than clever ones. Li Changshun was getting a headache—when suddenly came a knock on the door.
“Public security inspection! Everyone show your introduction letters!”
In those days there were no ID cards; you had to show an introduction letter to stay at an inn. The registry was filed with the police, and officers regularly checked guesthouses. Many kept a spare room just for them.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Li Changshun, nearest the door, opened it.
A young officer stepped in, glanced around, then checked the registry. “Who’s Xia Sha? Who’s Xia Wanhui?”
“I’m Xia Sha.” She took her introduction letter from her yellow canvas satchel.
The officer compared it with the registry. “Here to get married, right?” He looked at the Lis. “And you two?”
“We’re relatives,” said Li Changshun quickly. “Just visiting. We’ll be leaving soon.”
“Then make it quick. You’re not allowed to stay overnight.”
He handed the letter back and left to check the next room.
Even after he was gone, no one spoke.
The sound of doors opening and closing outside filled the silence.
Xia Sha seemed utterly unhurried, almost bored.
Li Changshun couldn’t tell if she was just calm or running out of patience. Finally, after a long stalemate—long enough for her to yawn—he said heavily, “We’ll go back and discuss it.”
“No rush,” Xia Sha said lightly. “Your wife picked a nice guesthouse. I’m quite comfortable here.”
—Of course she was. They were paying for it.
Li Changshun’s face darkened. “Rest for now. We’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”
At the door, he turned back once more. “You’ve really changed these past years, niece. Quite impressive.”
Her smile faded. “What can I say? People have to grow up.”
That made Xia Wanhui think of the time she was poisoned, and made Li Changshun recall her father’s death. He said nothing more and left.
By the time the couple got home, the moon was high.
Li Laidi hadn’t gone to bed. As soon as she heard the door, she switched on the light. “How’d it go?”
Li Changshun didn’t answer—his face was grim. He poured himself a cup of water instead.
Laidi turned to her mother.
Tian Cuifen looked tense. On the way home, her husband had already scolded her for botching things up. Who’d have thought five years away would turn Xia Sha into someone bold enough to bargain with them?
Tentatively she said, “Maybe we could ask Wenhua’s father to help get her a job?”
She was genuinely afraid Xia Sha might take the engagement contract public. If that happened, forget getting promoted—just keeping her husband’s accounting job might get tricky.
Before Li Changshun could respond, Laidi exploded. “Why should we find her a job? What about me?”
If they helped Xia Sha first, it’d be that much harder to pull strings for her later. Even as a store manager, favors had limits—and Baosheng’s father-in-law wasn’t exactly soft clay to be molded at will.
In Tian Cuifen’s mind, her son came first. She tried to soothe her daughter. “You’re not eighteen yet. There’s time.”
But Laidi wasn’t stupid. “So you mean you’ll get her one but not me? I’m your daughter!”
Tian Cuifen snapped, “Watch your mouth! If it were one of the Zhao girls talking to me like that, I’d have slapped her already!”
As their voices rose, Li Changshun slammed his enamel cup onto the table. “Enough! Both of you!”
He hadn’t even started sorting things out, and the two of them were already fighting.
As if getting Xia Sha a job were that easy—it meant changing her household registration from rural to urban.
It looked like the Lis weren’t getting any sleep tonight.
Meanwhile, back at the guesthouse, Xia Sha was perfectly at ease.
After soaking her feet in hot water to ease the travel fatigue, she crawled into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
The region was rich in forest resources, so unlike back home where they burned straw, here the kang was heated with solid firewood. It burned longer and steadier. By the time only a faint warmth was left, the sky was already pale.
After washing up and folding her blanket, Xia Sha lay down again.
Xia Wanhui kept peeking out the window. “Sis, you think they’ll agree?”
Of course he hoped she could stay and become a factory worker. It was far from home, yes—but no backbreaking farm work, no family drama, no near-death from pesticide poisoning. But would the Lis really do it?
Hands resting on her stomach, Xia Sha said lazily, “They’re paying for the room and bringing us meals. They’re not in a hurry—why should we be?”
Honestly, she could live like this forever. She hadn’t enjoyed such an easy life since becoming a corporate drone.
That convinced him. He flopped onto the bed beside her.
Sure enough, the Lis didn’t dare let them go hungry—by seven the next morning, breakfast arrived.
Li Laidi brought it herself, slammed the bowls of millet porridge and pickles onto the table, then snatched up the empty containers and turned to leave.
Trying to steal her job, and she expected a smile? Lucky she hadn’t poured the porridge on her head. If only Xia Sha had starved to death back home!
To Laidi, Xia Sha was pure bad luck. But Xia Sha only teased her, “What’s this attitude? Don’t want me eating your food? Should I go to Brother Baosheng’s house instead? He’s nicer—and his wife’s much more polite.”
Laidi ground her teeth, then stomped back, carefully setting the bowls down again. “There. Happy?”
In the old days she’d bullied Xia Sha, snatched her things, made her do chores. Now Xia Sha was the one lording it over her—and it stung.
She stormed out, kicked a rock, and hurt her toe, which only made her angrier.
Meanwhile Xia Sha enjoyed her breakfast, took a long nap, then went out strolling with her brother to get familiar with the city.
The guesthouse was in a remote area near the train station—just a paper mill and a textile factory nearby. To reach the Lis’ neighborhood you had to cross a river. No wonder they’d been put up here—so as not to bump into anyone they knew.
When they came back, Li Changshun had already been waiting outside half an hour.
He hadn’t expected that while his household was in chaos, the two culprits would be out sightseeing.
Swallowing his irritation, he followed them inside and got straight to the point. “You’re registered as rural folk. I can’t pull strings for a factory job. But—I can introduce you to someone who already works in a factory. Many places hire employees’ spouses too. You’d still get in that way.”
