An Accidental Military Marriage

Ruan Fuguo said, "Dahai, it’s perfect timing. Xue Wen is getting married and we don’t have enough room at home. If you’re willing to give up this house, Mom and Dad can live here from now on. The extra room at our place will be perfect for the newlyweds."

At this, Jiang Dahai could no longer stay calm.

’Offending his relatives was one thing, but he couldn’t lose the house, too.’

"Brother-in-law, Moli is young and doesn’t know any better. She was just speaking out of anger, you can’t take her seriously..."

Jiang Moli pulled Jiang Dahai aside. "Dad, I told you I’m calling the shots now. If I say we move, we move. Just listen to me!"

Jiang Dahai: "..."

Li Hongying had also wanted to try and reason with them, but seeing that even Jiang Dahai had been shot down by his stepdaughter, she could only swallow her words.

"Aunt Hong, don’t just stand there watching the show. Go back to the room and pack up your and Dad’s things."

Li Hongying was used to obeying and subconsciously turned to go back inside. It was only after she entered the room that she realized moving out was no joke. She was about to hurry back out when Jiang Peng pulled her back, stuffed a burlap sack into her hands, and told her to pack the bedding.

Ruan Fuguo watched, inwardly mocking his niece for her stubborn pride. ’A little brat like her thinks she can fight me?’

’He would teach that brat a lesson: it’s easy to invite a god, but hard to send one away.’

"Did everyone hear that? My niece offered this house to us of her own free will. As her uncles, we’ll accept her kind gesture. From this day forward, we’re living here."

Jiang Moli couldn’t care less. "Uncles, Aunts, stay as long as you like. Just remember, this is public housing. Be careful while you’re here. If you break anything, you’ll have to pay for it in full."

The neighborhood onlookers put their heads together, murmuring amongst themselves.

They were all trying to guess whether Jiang Moli was pulling a strategic retreat or just bluffing, or if she was really going to move out.

Even her own father, Jiang Dahai, couldn’t figure out what she was up to.

He knew his daughter. With her personality—always ready to argue her point even when she was in the wrong—there was no way she would give up the house for nothing.

The two brothers, Jiang Dashan and Jiang Dachuan, watched the drama unfold from the sidelines without saying a word, content to let the Ruan family lead the charge.

Both brothers were shrewd. If the Ruan family gained the upper hand, they would jump in to reap the rewards.

If the Ruan family was defeated, they wouldn’t have completely burned their bridges with their brother, Jiang Dahai, and could still face him in the future.

"Sis, we’re all packed!"

Jiang Moli turned to look. Aside from their changes of clothes and staple foods like rice, flour, and oil, even the kitchenware—pots, bowls, ladles—along with thermoses and washbasins had been stuffed into sacks. There were six or seven bulging bags in total.

’Not bad at all.’

"Uncles, Aunts, Grandpa, Grandma, stay here as long as you wish. We’ll be on our way."

With that, Jiang Moli gave a grand wave of her hand and motioned for her family to start moving the bags out.

The crowd of neighbors quickly parted, clearing a path for the family.

One of the nosier neighbors tried to persuade Jiang Dahai, "Mr. Jiang, there’s no need for relatives to get to this point. With your whole family in tow, where can you possibly go?"

Jiang Moli excitedly grabbed her hand. "Aunt Li, I was just wondering where we would stay! You’re so kind-hearted, why don’t we just go to your place!"

Aunt Li was so startled by Jiang Moli’s words that she quickly flung her hand away, as if afraid of catching something from her.

"I left the stove on! I’ve got to go back!"

And with that, she hurried away.

Jiang Moli turned to the other neighbors, but before she could even speak, they all began to turn away.

"I need to buy some cucumbers. My daughter-in-law just loves pickled cucumbers with her rice."

Jiang Moli called out, "Aunt Zhu, I love pickled cucumbers too!"

Aunt Zhu immediately picked up her pace, terrified that Jiang Moli would actually follow her home to eat pickled cucumbers.

She couldn’t afford to feed a whole family.

In no time, not a single one of the onlookers was left.

Who would dare stay? If that shameless Jiang Moli latched onto you, she’d be like sticky toffee—impossible to shake off.

...

Pushing his bicycle and looking at Jiang Peng and the others surrounded by bags big and small, Jiang Dahai couldn’t help but lecture Jiang Moli. "Did you have to make such a scene? If you had just said a few nice words to your uncles and apologized, this whole thing would have blown over. Now look at this. How are you going to deal with this mess?"

"Dad, don’t you worry. Your daughter has this one in the bag."

"What do you mean, ’in the bag’? Do you think this is a war?"

Jiang Peng, shouldering a burlap sack, came closer. "Sis, where are we going?"

"Let’s just start walking. I need to think."

"..."

’So you’re just flying blind, too.’

...

No sooner had Jiang Moli led her family of three away than Jiang Dashan and Jiang Dachuan also left.

They weren’t shameless enough to usurp someone else’s home. Besides, there was too much work to do in the fields.

It wouldn’t be too late to come into the city and have a proper talk with Jiang Dahai after they finished their farm work.

Back in the Jiang family’s courtyard, the Ruan family members looked at each other, at a loss.

"Did Dahai really just leave like that? He doesn’t want the house anymore?"

"It’s not his house to begin with. It’s public housing."

Liu Feng hmphed and went inside, looking all around. "These city houses are really something else. They’re so clean and bright, and the floors are even concrete—so smooth and dry."

The two other wives nodded in agreement.

Even though they didn’t have access to commercial grain rations, getting to live in a city house just once made it all seem worthwhile.

The Jiangs’ place only had two rooms, not nearly enough for so many people. Besides, they couldn’t neglect their work in the fields.

The three brothers conferred and decided they would take turns staying here with the old couple, while the rest would go home.

"We’ll just see who can outlast who. I refuse to believe they’ll stay away forever."

...

Jiang Moli arranged for Jiang Dahai to stay at the machinery factory’s guesthouse.

As an employee of the machinery factory himself, Jiang Dahai didn’t need a letter of introduction to stay there, but he did need accommodation vouchers.

That wasn’t hard to solve. Given Jiang Moli’s status as the daughter-in-law of a high-ranking official, she got ten accommodation vouchers from the factory without breaking a sweat.

"Two rooms, for five days."

When they saw Jiang Moli about to hand over ten accommodation vouchers at once, Li Hongying winced at the cost, and even Jiang Dahai found it too expensive.

One voucher cost eighty cents, meaning their lodging fee would be one yuan and sixty cents per day. An ordinary worker didn’t even earn that much in a day.

"That’s way too expensive. Forget it, we’re not staying."

Jiang Moli replied, "What’s there to be afraid of? Your son-in-law is rich."

Jiang Dahai glared at her. "You can’t just throw money around, even if he is rich. Do you think it’s easy for Xiao Lu to earn money? You’re a wife now; you need to learn to be frugal and manage a household."

Jiang Moli mused, "That makes sense. In that case, we won’t stay at the guesthouse. We’ll go to my mother-in-law’s place. She happens to have a spare room for you two, and Xiao Peng can sleep in the living room."

Jiang Peng said, "Okay!"

Jiang Dahai shot him a death glare. "Okay, my ass. This has nothing to do with you."

’Having such a falling out with his brothers-in-law was humiliating enough. But to drag his family over to his daughter’s in-laws’ house to freeload? Jiang Dahai couldn’t bear that shame. His daughter would never be able to hold her head high in her new family.’

In the end, they stayed at the guesthouse.

’Money could always be earned back, but dignity, once lost, was gone for good.’

Although the family of three now had a temporary place to stay, the housing problem still had to be solved.

The policies of the era didn’t allow for private rental housing. There were only two ways to find a place to live.

The first was to be assigned housing by one’s work unit. The second was to stay with someone else.

But everyone’s living situation was tight. Who had room to take in three adults?

This was precisely why the Ruan family was so sure that Jiang Dahai would come crawling back to them.