章)July 1977.
It was not the dog days yet, but the weather was already hot.
Zhai Fengjiao came back from outside, sweating all over her forehead. She took out a handkerchief at the door to wipe her sweat. When she was about to enter the house, she heard her mother Qian Xiuzhi talking to someone in the house.
"Ive asked someone to find out. Lin Xiangyangs family has a grandmother, a brother and a sister. His grandmother is still paralyzed in bed. The family is very poor. If Jiaojiao marries, she may not even have enough food to eat, and she will have to work as a nanny to serve others. I treasure my daughter as much as my eyes, and I dont even want her to wash a handkerchief. How can I ask her to serve people?"
"Mom, Jiaojiao is stubborn. You cant force her. Let her go first, and then slowly persuade her."
It was her elder sister Zhai Fenglings voice.
Qian Xiuzhi: "No, you cant let her go this time..."
Zhai Fengjiao lifted the curtain and entered the house.
Zhai Fengling was sitting opposite the door. When she saw Zhai Fengjiao coming back, she winked at Qian Xiuzhi, then stood up and wrung a wet towel for her, saying softly: "Look how hot it is. You are sweating all over. Wipe it quickly."
Zhai Fengjiao didnt take the towel, and went to the inner room with a frown and said nothing.
Zhai Fengling and Qian Xiuzhi looked at each other, Qian Xiuzhi winked at Zhai Fengling, and Zhai Fengling followed, and saw Zhai Fengjiao take out a big bag, open the closet, take out her clothes and stuff them into the bag.
Zhai Fengling was surprised and said, "Jiaojiao, what are you going to do?"
"Move out."
"Where to move?"
"Live in the dormitory, or live with Wenli, or in a guesthouse if that doesnt work. Anyway, its better than living at home."
After she zipped up her bag and was about to leave with it, Zhai Fengling stepped forward and snatched her bag: "Child, if you move out, mom will be worried to death."
"Will mom worry about me? She will control me from childhood to adulthood, from head to toe, even when I date someone..."
"Mom is doing this for your own good..."
"Shes not doing this for my own good, shes doing it for her own face, shes just a snob, she hates the poor and loves the rich!"
Qian Xiuzhi was so angry that she wanted to vomit blood. She took a few deep breaths before she suppressed her anger: "Ill do whatever you want in other matters, but I cant do this one thing. No matter how you think of me, I dont agree with you and Lin Xiangyang!"
Zhai Fengjiao said angrily: "I am willing. I just want to marry him. Apart from him, I will not marry anyone else in this life!"
Zhai Fengling, "Jiaojiao, you know what the conditions of Lin Xiangyangs family are. If I marry him, I will just serve others, or serve a paralytic."
"I chose it myself, I am willing."
Qian Xiuzhi felt a dull pain in her heart, but her attitude was unusually firm: "As long as my mother is alive, this thing will not work!"
Zhai Fengjiao became stubborn and stiffened her neck: "I just want to marry him, otherwise, I will die!"
After saying that, she threw her bag to the ground, opened the curtain and ran out.
Zhai Fengling was caught in the middle, persuading this and that, and was very anxious. Seeing Zhai Fengjiao running out, she wanted to chase her, but when she saw Qian Xiuzhi covering her chest and looking unhappy, she knew that her mothers chest pain had recurred. She was so scared that she quickly helped Qian Xiuzhi sit down, poured a glass of water, and gave Qian Xiuzhi medicine to take.
After taking the medicine, Qian Xiuzhis face just calmed down a little, and she pushed Zhai Fengling out: "Dont worry about me, go and see where she ran to."
Zhai Fengling was about to go out when she heard someone outside shouting: "Xiuzhi, your Jiaojiao jumped into the river, go and see!"
Qian Xiuzhi felt a buzzing in her head, and the water cup in her hand fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
Zhai Fengjiao was dazed and heard her mother crying in her ear, crying and nagging, over and over again, she heard two words clearly: get married.
Zhai Fengjiao was very irritable and helpless: since graduating from college, urging her to get married has become commonplace. Now as long as she goes home, a blind date is arranged immediately.
In the past, at most she would nag a few words, but now she is playing the sympathy card?
Zhai Fengjiao felt a headache, so she opened her eyes reluctantly, and then she saw a handsome man, tall, with a straight figure, handsome features, and a very stable and reserved person.
Zhai Fengjiao was still not conscious, and thought that this man was the new blind date arranged by her mother. In addition, her mother kept crying and nagging, making her dizzy and annoyed, so she raised her hand and pointed at the man and said, "Marry him, right? Okay, as long as he agrees, I have no objection."
After so many blind dates, this one looked the most pleasing to the eye. Anyway, she couldnt avoid the marriage stage. As long as this man had no objection, she might as well marry him and get through this stage first, so that her mother wouldnt nag her all day long, which would annoy her to death.
As soon as Zhai Fengjiao finished speaking, there was silence all around, and then there was a sound of inhalation: Xu Hangs family lives in a small western-style building, and his family has been senior cadres since his grandparents generation. He himself became the deputy director of the Public Security Bureau at a young age, and his future is limitless. In addition, he is handsome, and the girls who want to marry him can line up to go around Jiangcheng.
But everyone knows that he is out of reach, so they just think about it in their hearts. Who would dare to say it out loud, especially in front of Xu Hang!
But Zhai Fengjiao dared to say directly that she wanted to marry him, and in front of so many people!
Could it be that she thought that when she was rescued, Xu Hang hugged her, so she wanted to blackmail him?
Someone stood up for Xu Hang, "Jiaojiao, Director Xu was kind enough to save you, you are not going to blackmail him, are you?"
"Thats too conscienceless."
"Why blackmail? We are all witnesses. Director Xu didnt do anything to her. Why does she blackmail him?"
"Thats right, a girl, dont you think its shameful?"
...
Qian Xiuzhi was unhappy and shouted, "She was scared and her mind was still confused. She said to me in anger. You are old, how can you not understand what she said!"
Not to mention that Xu Hang didnt like her daughter, even if he liked her, she would not agree.
She wanted her daughter to marry a good family, but she didnt want to marry someone as high as Xu Hang, whose family background was too high.
It is not easy to be a daughter-in-law of a rich family, and the husbands family looks down on her. She is reluctant to let her daughter suffer grievances when she marries there. In her opinion, it is enough for the mans family background to be slightly higher than her own, so that her daughter will not suffer hardships and will not be wronged when she marries there.
So she really did not think about marrying her daughter to a rich family.
Qian Xiuzhi is not someone who can be easily provoked, and she is also protective of her shortcomings. Once she speaks, no one dares to say anything about Zhai Fengjiao, but they are all waiting to see how Zhai Fengjiaos trouble ends.
After several people shouted like this, Zhai Fengjiao came to her senses, and she felt something was wrong. She suddenly sat up, looked around, and then she was dumbfounded.
Seeing that she looked strange, Zhai Fengling patted her and called her softly, "Jiaojiao."
Zhai Fengjiao had not recovered from her shock yet. She turned her head and looked at her blankly with dull eyes. Zhai Fengling touched her head distressedly, "Its okay, lets go home."
After saying that, she helped her up. Zhai Fengjiao felt dizzy and subconsciously stood up with Zhai Fenglings hand. As soon as she stood up, the police uniform on her body slid down. Zhai Fengling quickly grabbed it and wrapped it around Zhai Fengjiao again.
The police uniform belonged to Xu Hang. It was probably because he saw that Zhai Fengjiaos clothes were wet, so he took it off and put it on Zhai Fengjiao.
This was because he was careful. After all, she was a girl, and wet clothes stuck to her body, revealing her curves. If someone saw it, she would gossip.
Qian Xiuzhi also stood up and said to Xu Hang gratefully: "Director Xu, I apologize to you on behalf of my daughter. She just said something to me out of anger. She didnt mean anything else. Please dont take it to heart... You see, your clothes are all wet. Go home and change them. Ill wash the one Jiaojiao is wearing and send it to you later."
Seeing that Zhai Fengjiao was fine, Xu Hang said "hmm" and then rode away.
His family lives in the military district family compound. It is a two-story Western-style building with red bricks and gray tiles, which is very simple and elegant.
Grandma Xu likes to grow flowers and Grandpa Xu likes to grow vegetables. Half of the yard is planted with vegetables and the other half is planted with flowers. The two old people have been competing to see who grows better. When they have time, they will tidy up the yard, just like taking care of their children. The flowers and vegetables in the yard are full of vitality.
Xu Junjie was playing in the mud in the yard. When he saw Xu Hang coming back, he shouted, "Uncle!" He ran to Xu Hang, glanced at him, and then turned around and ran to the kitchen: "Grandma, Mom, uncle didnt listen and went to play in the water. His clothes got wet."
His mother Wang Yiting flicked him on the forehead: "I thought your uncle was the same as you."
Yang Lan wiped her hands and walked out of the kitchen. Seeing that Xu Hangs clothes were indeed wet, she asked curiously: "Whats wrong?"
"On the way back, a girl jumped into the river."
Needless to say, she jumped in to save someone.
Yang Lan said distressedly, "Hurry up and take a hot bath, dont catch a cold."
Xu Hang said "hmm", and then went to take a bath in the house.
The conditions in the military compound are good, with hot water available 24 hours a day, but he prefers to take cold showers, basically using cold water all year round.
When he came out of the shower, the meal was already served.
Today is Sunday. Xu Hangs eldest brother Xu Yuan and his family of three came. There are 8 people in total, and they filled up a large table.
During the meal, they asked Xu Hang about saving people. When they heard Xu Hang say that the girl was fine, the whole family was relieved.
Grandma Xu: "Its good that she is fine. We have raised her so big. If something happens to her, my parents will be so angry."
Yang Lan: "Thats right. This girl is also very angry. She cant think about anything and jump into the river."
Wang Yiting asked casually: "What kind of girl is she? How old is she?"
Xu Hang suddenly saw a delicate little face. Although her face was a little pale because of the shock, her eyebrows and eyes were still beautiful, especially when the water drops slid across her face, she was as fresh and beautiful as a lotus in clear water.
Although he didnt know what was going on at the time, he didnt find it annoying when he suddenly said that he wanted to marry him.
He casually replied: "About 17 or 18 years old, pretty."
The whole family was stunned, and then looked at each other meaningfully.