I became the Counterpart of the Winner in a Period Novel-Chapter 162 - 159: Who Is Zhao Zhao

Jianjun thought about it too; if there was a disturbance, it would affect the reputation of the brick kiln.

"I understand what you mean, sister. We’ll calculate it properly when we get back, and discuss it further. If the queue is too long, we will reject any new orders."

"Sister, can we eat now?" Xiao Ran asked, rubbing his small stomach, clearly hungry.

"Yes, you can."

"Then I’ll help sister with the bowls and chopsticks."

"Xiao Ran, third sister is taking the bowls, you take the chopsticks."

The little guy was displeased: "Third sister, that’s mine."

Zhenmei pouted, "Yes, yes, it’s yours. Go ahead and take it, okay? I’m just waiting to eat, how nice!"

Mrs. Jiang heard this and admonished, "You, an adult, should be ashamed to argue with Xiao Ran. Really!"

Zhenmei: "..."

"Oh, braised pork, candied sweet potatoes, cold fern salad, matsutake chicken stew. Yueyue’s cooking smells so good!"

"Yueyue, where did you find the matsutake?" Zhenmei thought her younger sister was really lucky; she had lived in Qingshan Village for twenty years, often roaming the mountains, but had never found such precious mushrooms.

"Oh, Jin Zhi took me to Wuyun Mountain to find them. You guys have no idea, Wuyun Mountain is truly a treasure mountain. We should have climbed to the summit earlier, but now people are stationed there all over and have banned access."

Mrs. Jiang interjected, "You better not go next time; since it’s a restricted area, as an outsider going there, you’d bring trouble to Jin Zhi."

Jiang Mingyue: "..." Indeed, a biological daughter pales in comparison to Yan Jinzhi in her mother’s eyes.

Zhenmei teased, "Mom, why do you always protect Mr. Yan? Yueyue knows what she’s doing and won’t affect him."

Mrs. Jiang explained, "Of course, we have to protect him. Jin Zhi is your big brother’s lifesaver; without him, our family would be in trouble. Ah! Such a good young man; who knows which family will be lucky enough. It would be great if he could become one of us." Then Mrs. Jiang’s gaze went straight to Jiang Mingyue.

Jiang Mingyue: "..." Please spare me! Feeling something is one thing; it’s another when elders get involved. She doesn’t want them interfering in her relationships.

Luckily, Mrs. Jiang, although she harbored those thoughts, dared not say anything to Jiang Mingyue. What Jiang Mingyue didn’t realize was that Mrs. Jiang wasn’t afraid to bring it up; she was pondering whether her daughter was a match for him.

If spoken, Jiang Mingyue would have fainted on the spot.

Having caught up on sleep in the morning, she didn’t need an afternoon nap, urging her third sister to rest, but Zhenmei saw her not moving and didn’t go either.

"I’ll keep you company."

"I’m not a child; there’s no need for you to keep me company. You should go and rest."

"Stop urging me. Think about it, in a few years, when both of us get married, we’ll have our own families, and it’ll be difficult to even meet up. Yueyue, why do women have to get married?"

Jiang Mingyue: "..." It’s possible not to get married, but in today’s social environment, not marrying comes with too much pressure.

"Third sister, don’t you have someone you like?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Zhenmei remained silent.

Jiang Mingyue had a gut feeling something was up, and it was partly her fault; since moving to a new house where they slept separately, she hadn’t interacted much with her third sister.

"Is there someone?"

Zhenmei blushed and looked down, "Don’t talk nonsense. I just find him different from the villagers, and he seems good in every way."

Jiang Mingyue’s internal alarms rang.

She recalled the narrative of Zhenmei’s life described in the book; originally there was a young man in the village who secretly liked her, but she only saw the suddenly arriving educated youth. This educated youth was special; he didn’t come with a batch of others, but was personally sent by Secretary Bai’s assistant.

Seeing such a grand entrance, anyone not naive could tell he had significant connections.

As a result, the village head of Qingshan Village dared not assign him any tasks, as he was not worried about food or clothing. He would just eat and sleep at the educated youth point every day. Yet, he was good-looking and from a good family, attracting many female educated youths and village girls secretly delivering food to him.

Still, he did not mess around emotionally and was indifferent to everyone until he saw Jiang Zhenmei.

She was captivated by the handsome man wearing a white shirt and black pants, and secretly, like the other girls, delivered food to him. At first, Zhai Hanjin only glanced at Jiang Zhenmei’s purity, until a landslide occurred. She blocked a flying stone for him, or he could have been disfigured in Qingshan Village. From then on, they began dating. Zhai Hanjin was not an ordinary person, and after six months in Qingshan Village, he was recruited as a researcher by the National Research Institute due to a report he submitted.

Third sister also followed him to Beijing.

But being a village girl, she underestimated life outside.

Zhai Hanjin’s mother was particularly shrewd.

Her son couldn’t endure loneliness for half a year and married a village girl without notice, which infuriated her. Now she brings her home, but smartly praises Jiang Zhenmei in front of her son, while making things difficult behind the scenes. Jiang Zhenmei didn’t learn how to build relationships with city folks, and Zhai Hanjin was always busy. She didn’t know whom to ask, and time waits for no one. The mother-in-law might not say bad things about her daughter-in-law, but the maid would. The maid was in league with the mother-in-law and would intentionally mention things to Zhai Hanjin. One or two incidents were fine, but piling them up over time leads to dissatisfaction.

Moreover, the mother-in-law frequently invited guests, among which was a girl named Murong Xian, who fancied Zhai Hanjin. Her interference during events led the marriage to end three years after registering.

Zhenmei divorced Zhai Hanjin without asking for a penny from the Zhai family and left empty-handed.

Only after leaving did Zhenmei realize she had nowhere to go. She wanted to return home but feared disappointing her mother. She stayed at the train station for a week, met a woman who took her to a construction site, and worked for ten years. Ten years later, the young lad who had always liked her in her hometown—not young but a man by then—found out about her whereabouts and insisted on taking her home and marrying her. Her life finally turned smooth and happy.

Wait... village youngster?

It was mentioned, the name seemed to be "Zhao Zhao," Jiang Mingyue was puzzled. Though she didn’t often interact with villagers, she personally compiled the list while assisting her brothers, and there was no young man with "Zhao" in the name.

"Third sister, is the educated youth you fancy named Zhai Hanjin?"

Zhenmei looked surprised at her sister, "Do you know him?"

Zhenmei did not directly answer, "Who is Zhao Zhao in our village?"

Zhenmei glanced oddly at her sister, somewhat unnaturally averting her gaze, "Why are you asking?"

Jiang Mingyue sensed something odd, "Is there someone? Who is it? Third sister, you have to tell me."

Zhenmei reluctantly said, "Zhao Zhao is Jiao Can."

Jiang Mingyue: "..."