Chapter 83 – Visiting the Village Chief’s House
Jiang Junmo felt relieved to see that Lu Xia was not fazed by the situation.
As they approached the village chief’s house, he still felt a bit uneasy. Before entering, he asked one more time, “Are you sure about this?”
Lu Xia gave him a surprised look. “Of course, I’m sure. Why? Are you planning to back out?”
Jiang Junmo quickly shook his head. “No, I’m not backing out.”
Lu Xia smiled. “Alright then, as long as you’re not backing out. Let’s go in quickly before they go to sleep.”
With that, she knocked on the door from outside and shouted, “Is the village chief home?”
“Yes!”
A voice responded from inside, and soon the village chief’s wife came to open the door.
The village chief’s wife recognized Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo, but she was surprised to see them together.
“Educated Youth Lu, Educated Youth Jiang, what brings you here?”
Lu Xia smiled at her. “Sorry to bother you, Auntie Li. We came to see the village chief for something. Is he home?”
The village chief’s wife smiled. “Yes, come in.”
Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo entered the courtyard.
Lu Xia casually handed the bag of brown sugar to the village chief’s wife. “Auntie Li, we didn’t have anything valuable to bring as a token of our appreciation for the village chief’s care. This brown sugar is a small gift from us. We hope you’ll accept it.”
The village chief’s wife was instantly delighted upon hearing this. “Oh, you young folks are too polite, always talking in a different way.”
She looked at the bag of brown sugar in Lu Xia’s hand and knew it was quite valuable. Brown sugar was hard to come by these days, and she had wanted to buy some for her grandson, but she didn’t have any tickets and couldn’t even get half a catty.
But now, Lu Xia was giving her so much brown sugar without any special occasion. She was afraid of causing trouble to her family, she hesitated to take it. In the end, she gritted her teeth and shook her head, “No, Educated Youth Lu, please take it back. I can’t accept it.”
Surprised by her refusal, Lu Xia raised an eyebrow. She didn’t expect the village chief’s wife to be able to withstand the temptation.
Before she could say anything more, the village chief came out.
“The two educated youths are here? What’s the matter?”
Lu Xia could only hold onto the bag of brown sugar and smiled at the village chief. “We have something to trouble you with, village chief.”
Then she looked at Jiang Junmo and continued, “Educated Youth Jiang and I have gotten to know each other during this period, and we think we’re compatible. So, we plan to become revolutionary partners and would like to ask the village chief to issue us a certificate.”
The village chief was momentarily stunned, and even the village chief’s wife, who was fond of the brown sugar, was also taken aback.
“Are you planning to get married and need a certificate?” the village chief asked in surprise.
Lu Xia nodded, embarrassedly smiling. Jiang Junmo remained silent, seemingly leaving the decision to Lu Xia.
Seeing that they seemed sincere, both the village chief and his wife were taken aback.
During this time, the news about Shi Chunyan from the accountant’s family setting her sights on Jiang Junmo had spread throughout the village. They had thought that no matter what, Jiang Junmo would eventually marry Shi Chunyan. They didn’t expect Lu Xia to intervene and decide to register their marriage so quickly.
The village chief’s wife was curious. “When did Educated Youth Lu and Educated Youth Jiang start liking each other? There were no signs before.”
Lu Xia pretended to be shy and smiled, spewing out some nonsense.
“Both of us are from Beijing. We had met before in the city, but we weren’t very familiar. After coming to the village and spending time together, we realized that we got along well and decided to be together officially.”
As soon as she said that, the village chief’s wife’s imagination went wild with various scenarios. They had secretly liked each other before, and it was only revealed after coming to the countryside. They were a perfect match, both being educated youths, and so on.
She smiled and said, “Oh, now that you mention it, Educated Youth Lu and Educated Youth Jiang do seem well-suited. A talented man and a beautiful woman.”
Especially Educated Youth Jiang, who was really good-looking. Educated Youth Lu was not bad either. It seemed like she had become more attractive compared to when she first arrived in the countryside. In comparison, she was much better than Shi Chunyan, whose eyes always looked condescending.
*
Chapter 84 – Certificates and Introduction Letter
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However, the village chief hesitated at this moment.
Although he didn’t know what Shi Chunyan was thinking, her recent entanglement with Jiang Junmo had caused quite a stir in the village. He hadn’t seen Jiang Junmo taking any action to stop it, so he probably tacitly approved of it.
If he issued an introduction letter and certificate for Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo, it would likely offend Shi Chunyan.
But not issuing them was not an option either because he didn’t have the authority to prevent them from getting married.
So the village chief was in a difficult position.
Lu Xia had already guessed this after learning about the unity within the village.
She smiled and said, “Besides that, Educated Youth Jiang and I have another request. After we get married, it won’t be convenient for us to stay at the current educated youth spot. So we would like to apply to the village for permission to build a house. Can we trouble the villagers to help us build it? We will pay for the labor.”
Upon hearing this, the village chief was a little moved.
After the autumn harvest, there wasn’t much work in the village. In the past, they would wait for a colder season to join the county’s road construction team and earn some money through manual labor. But that was hard work, and if Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo could hire villagers to work for them, it would provide additional income for everyone without the backbreaking labor.
However, the village chief still had some concerns. “The residential land in the village belongs to the village. If you build a house, it will be yours while you are here, but if you leave in the future, the house will belong to the village.”
Lu Xia nodded. She was well aware of this, so she readily agreed. It was just a house in the village, and she probably wouldn’t care about it in the future.
Seeing their enthusiastic agreement, the village chief smiled. The balance in his heart had tilted in their favor.
He thought that after the two of them got married and moved out with their own expenses, it would not only allow the villagers to earn money but also free up space at the educated youth spot. Then the educated youths would stop pressuring him to build another house for them.
As for Shi Chunyan, it didn’t concern him since he had to issue the introduction letter according to the regulations. Other matters were not his concern.
With this in mind, the village chief directly said, “Alright, since it’s not too late, let’s go to the village branch now and get the introduction letter and certificate. We don’t need to wait until tomorrow.”
Lu Xia felt relieved to hear the village chief’s agreement. “Okay, thank you, village chief.”
However, before leaving, she insisted on giving the bag of brown sugar to the village chief’s wife.
“Auntie, please accept it. The village chief has helped us so much, and we haven’t been able to repay him. Moreover, we’ll be troubling the village chief with building the house in the future. If you don’t accept it, we won’t be able to ask for any favors in the future.”
The village chief’s wife hesitated upon hearing this but didn’t want to push it back.
The village chief sighed and said, “Okay, I’ll accept it this time. But next time, Educated Youth Lu, please don’t be so polite. I’m the village chief, and it’s my duty to help with these matters.”
Lu Xia felt relieved and said, “Don’t worry, in the future, we will definitely trouble the village chief if there’s anything.”
Lu Xia and Jiang Junmo followed the village chief to the village branch. At this time, there were not many people there, so they quickly obtained the introduction letter and certificate, which were stamped and signed.
Finally, Lu Xia could relax.
It was already getting dark, so after bidding farewell to the village chief, they returned to the educated youth spot and arranged to meet the next day before going to sleep.
However, when they entered the house, Su Man gave Lu Xia a strange look and asked, “Where did you go?”
Lu Xia didn’t hide anything and replied, “I went to ask for leave from the village chief.”
“Leave? Do you have something to do tomorrow?”
Lu Xia nodded. “I have to go out for a bit.”
Su Man was curious. If she wasn’t mistaken, Lu Xia went out with Jiang Junmo. She didn’t know what their situation was, whether they were together or just happened to go together to ask for leave.
However, since she had a mediocre relationship with Lu Xia, and Lu Xia didn’t seem inclined to explain, she didn’t ask further.
Thank you for the chapter ♡(∩o∩)♡
This makes no god damn sense…
First of all, why would you marry some abusive asshat because your rep made it seem like you were together
Youre gonna leave this village and go back to the big city
Second, if youre gonna ditch the house when you leave anyway there was literally no reason to get married first…
The villagers were united, including the high officers there. Those officers and the villagers hold their “political review” hostage. This political review was not only able to determine whether they can go to university and return to the city. But, it also can be their doom if it has negative evaluation. As long as the educated youth hurt the villagers’ “interests”, the officers can give them negative evaluation and ruined their future for good.
The educated youth don’t know there would be reopened university exam four years later. They can’t go against the the government’s policy and return to the city at will. As long as they don’t have strong/influential enough family in the city, their only chance to return is exactly that “reputation” (political review).
In LX’s case, she wants a peaceful four years period without drama before the university entrance exam. She needs the peace to prepare for the exam. She wouldn’t get it if she got negative evaluation. She would even lost her chance to participate in the exam if they give her enough demerits to sent her to be “reformed” for a few years.
As for the house, could you build house without owning any land? Even the apartment units need to be built on land. It’s true that they will need to pay the expenses for building the house. But, they don’t have to buy the land. They could treat the building expenses as their rental fee for the land. In exchange, she can get more benefits such as improving her living conditions and getting more freedom and privacy compared to living in the educated youth spot. It’s evidence that LX think the “rental fee” is worth it.
Did you pay attention at all when you were reading this? The reasons were clearly outlined. Jiang Junmo is in a pickle because the girl who had her eyes set on him is the daughter of a powerful official in the village. That man alone has the power to make things very difficult for him in the future, and prevent him from ever being able to leave the village. His daughter is clinging to Jiang Juno in order to make a rumor spread in the village that they are a couple. Once it becomes “fact” that they are a couple, if he refuses marriage her reputation will be tarnished, making him the enemy of her father. He cannot refuse the marriage at that point, or he’ll be doomed, and so the only solution is to marry someone else first. Take the village elder as an example. The rumors had already gotten to the point that he was blindsided by the fact that Junmo was marrying someone other than the village girl, meaning he was already running out of time.
Lu Xia on the other hand is in trouble for slightly different reasons. Her enemy, other than being batshit insane, also has a powerful backing that can ruin her life once it’s time for her to return to the city. Because of this, she can’t handle her directly through physical violence the way she did the other girl, and can only endure the attacks in silence. Problem is, it’s likely that the attacks will escalate. She still has to live in this village for the next 4 years. She was fine this time around, but what if a gang of hoodlums are sent next time? The best way to avoid this is simply to make her enemy no longer consider her a threat at all.
Badabing, badabooom, easy as that.
“…it would not only allow the villagers to earn money but also free up space at the educated youth spot. Then the educated youths would stop pressuring him to build another house for them.”
Wait, excuse me? 😑😑😑 Does he expect them to harbor some educated youths in their “newlyweds” home? Freeing up just two space at the educated youth spot would NOT stop the need to build another house for them. It would stop only after JJM and LX returned to Beijing, leaving their house to be another educated youth spot. Or, when most of the educated youth leave their village. 😑😑😑