Chapter 384 - 386: A Real Eye-Opener
On the day Xia Jing and Yan Hao got married, aside from Xia Lin and Yan Yuan who came, Fang Yuan also showed up.
"Why did you all come together?" Xia Xiao was quite surprised to see Xia Lin, Yan Yuan, and Fang Yuan appear.
Xia Lin smiled and said, "Fang Yuan agreed that he also knew my second sister and brother-in-law. After hearing us talk about it, he followed us here."
Compared to Xia Lin’s cheerful smile, Yan Yuan had a stern expression on her face and didn’t greet Xia Xiao or Xia Jing when she saw them.
Xia Xiao and Xia Jing didn’t pay much attention to her either, but Yan Hao was very happy to see Yan Yuan.
"Comrade Fang Yuan, please take a seat," Xia Xiao called out, handing Fang Yuan a couple of candies.
"Where are your twins? I heard from Comrade Xia Lin that you had twins," Fang Yuan said.
"Over there," Xia Xiao pointed toward where Gao Guoqiang and Zheng Xianghong were; they also came over.
By this time, Xia Lin had already gone to look for the twins, and Fang Yuan followed. Soon, each carried a baby back.
"You seem quite skilled at holding a baby," Xia Xiao observed with a smile while watching Fang Yuan’s actions.
"When my sister’s son was little, I often carried him," Fang Yuan replied with a smile.
Xia Xiao nodded; Ge Liang was now well taken care of at Fang Yuan’s place, which put her mind at ease.
Meanwhile, Xia Lin said to Yan Yuan, "Today is your brother’s wedding to my sister. If you’re going to come, then come, but why the long face? Nobody here owes you anything."
Yan Yuan shot Xia Lin a glare but ultimately didn’t say anything, only looking in Fang Yuan’s direction and sneering, "Didn’t you have feelings for my little brother? What happened, now you’ve got your eyes on Fang Yuan?"
"Do you have a problem? Always hanging ’liking’ this person or that on your lips—is there nothing else in your life?" Xia Lin didn’t want to argue with Yan Yuan, but Yan Yuan had been acting passive-aggressively lately. She used to warn Xia Lin not to pester Yan Tao; now she acted like Xia Lin was commiting adultery.
Xia Lin had grown up with Yan Yuan, knew her for many years, and while the relations between the two families had been complicated these past few years, she was still friendly with Yan Yuan, now that her older sister and Yan Hao were married. However, that attitude of Yan Yuan’s was something Xiao Mo didn’t like.
"You’re one to talk—as if you hadn’t almost dated my little brother before, and now you’re getting close to other men, huh?" Yan Yuan scoffed coldly.
Xia Lin shot back without any politeness, "You’re making it sound so ridiculous. When did I ever date your little brother? With your family like that, and a sister-in-law like you, no matter how good your brother is, I wouldn’t want him."
"Easy for you to say—then why did your older sister marry my older brother?" Yan Yuan mocked, as if the daughters of the Xia family were clinging to the men from her family.
"If you have the guts, then go tell your brother not to marry her. If you can’t do that, then stop spewing nonsense here." Xia Lin walked away after saying this, paying no more attention to Yan Yuan.
Yan Yuan stood there full of anger, staring as Xia Jing and Yan Hao smiled at each other, annoyed that her older brother had been seduced by the vixen from the Xia family, and resenting the injustice it caused her as his sister.
So, in her irritation, Yan Yuan left early.
Xia Xiao watched Yan Yuan leave and said, "What’s up with her? Go ask. She shouldn’t wander off; it’s dangerous to be out and about like this."
"Sis, don’t bother with her," Xia Lin said.
Xia Xiao looked at Xia Lin disapprovingly, "No matter what, the mountain road is treacherous. If she leaves alone and gets lost, or something happens, what do we do? Since you brought her here, you should take her back safely. Go on, coax her back."
Xia Xiao had just seen Xia Lin and Yan Yuan arguing, but since Yan Yuan was brought by Xia Lin, if she stormed off and something dangerous occurred, Xia Lin wouldn’t be able to escape responsibility.
Moreover, today was Yan Hao and Xia Jing’s wedding, so that’s why Xia Xiao asked Xia Lin to woo Yan Yuan back; they had to stabilize Yan Yuan first, no matter what.
Xia Lin pouted, then went back to persuade Yan Yuan, regretting deeply that she ever brought Yan Yuan here in the first place. Had she known, she wouldn’t have.
Originally, Xia Lin had wanted to stay here longer, but because of Yan Yuan, she left with Fang Yuan as well.
Yang Xuehua said to Xia Xiao, "Who knows if there will be another chance to return to the city. Although Yan Hao and Xia Jing are affectionate, if they move back to the city later, and Xia Jing has to live with the Yans, there will be more conflicts."
Xia Xiao shook her head, if they moved back to the city, for sure Yan Hao’s elder brother would too, and with such a small house, how could everyone fit?
Otherwise, when moving back, it was impossible for Xia Xiao to squeeze in with family, not to mention if all the siblings had their own families – the small Xia house wouldn’t be able to accommodate them all.
And the grandmother’s place wasn’t theirs alone, but belonged to everyone; it would be fine for a temporary stay, but certainly not suitable for a long-term one.
This year, there were still quite a few weddings – Xia Jing and Yan Hao got married, over at Red Star Production Team they said Hong Xing also took a wife, He Xuebing and Yu Zhen got married. But the biggest shock was Yang Zhonghong actually getting officially married to Gao Guo Cheng.
This was definitely a bombshell within the Guangming Production Team; such an unexpected marriage certificate caused a great deal of surprise and astonishment.
Further, the age difference between Yang Zhonghong and Gao Guo Cheng was a focus of everyone’s attention – even Li Shengmei had no clue about it.
Everyone found this pair strange, but considering how Yang Zhonghong had always defended Gao Guo Cheng, it wasn’t that surprising she took a fancy to him.
Li Shengmei should have breathed a sigh of relief now that Gao Guo Cheng was finally married, but instead, she felt a flare of fury and embarrassment. If it had been someone else, fine, but Yang Zhonghong was who she wanted to introduce to her nephew Gao Guangming, yet she ended up with Gao Guo Cheng instead.
And now that Gao Guo Cheng had finally taken a wife, and such a young one at that, it left Li Shengmei with a somewhat bitter taste in her mouth.
However, the Gao Family was very happy to see it – they were just glad Gao Guo Cheng wasn’t continuing his bachelor life, and that he could let go of Li Shengmei was a relief for the Gao Family.
Zheng Xianghong said, "What’s so strange about that? Even the higher-ups marry younger wives these days."
Xia Xiao fell silent and didn’t pick up on the conversation – it was better to drop such a sensitive topic.
And for Yang Zhonghong marrying Gao Guo Cheng, Sun Yuhua was perhaps the happiest of all; she didn’t know why, but she was just pleased to see this situation.
Urban resident Yang He was starkly not pleased – on receiving news that his daughter married a rural older man, Yang He was outright furious.
At the beginning of the year, when Yang Zhonghong returned to the city for the New Year and quarreled with Yang He over the matter of moving back to the city, she felt her father, with all his capabilities, couldn’t manage to bring her back to the city, condemn her to spend her lifetime in the countryside.
However, Yang Zhonghong had only been down there for a short time, and with many eyes on Yang He’s position, he naturally couldn’t agree.
So it was unclear what made Yang Zhonghong do such an unthinkable act - whether she genuinely liked Gao Guo Cheng, had an Electra complex, or wanted to retaliate against her family, she clung to Gao Guo Cheng and married him.