“Why is there suddenly a Tang County?”
Chen Ying held the hands of her two children and stood beside Xie Shijun, looking at the city ahead with a particularly complicated feeling in her heart.
She remembered that when they left back then, this place was just barren hills and wild fields, a place where even weeds wouldn’t grow. How had it suddenly turned into a city?
After marrying Xie Shijun, she had made up her mind to no longer concern herself with Tangjia Village or the Chen family. She had no idea how much Tangjia Village had changed over the years.
The Xie family, on the other hand, did keep in touch by mail. Most of the letters came from Xie Shijun’s mother, Xu Qiulan. The content of every letter was pretty much the same, just mentioning that Tangjia Village had changed a lot. At the time, unless something was especially urgent, they wouldn’t send a telegram.
As for Xie Shijun’s two younger siblings, they were not close to Chen Ying, and there was basically no interaction.
Chen Ying looked at the bustling city in front of her. It was clearly very different from her previous life, and she had a growing sense of unease. What bothered her even more was that Xie Shijun didn’t get the chance to be promoted to regiment commander, and she couldn’t become the regimental commander’s wife.
Because of Xie Shijun’s transfer out of the military, their relationship had become a bit tense, and they had quarreled many times over it. In the end, Chen Ying had even gone to ask others and finally confirmed that it was indeed very difficult for Xie Shijun to get promoted. Only then did she reluctantly agree to return with him.
Later, she heard from Xie Shijun that the hometown had developed well, and returning might not be a bad idea. Besides, with his qualifications, his post after returning wouldn’t be low. Chen Ying could only let it go.
Setting everything else aside, Xie Shijun treated her decently, at least much better than Song Ye in her previous life. And they did have a son and a daughter. Continuing to make a fuss wouldn’t do any good.
“Shijun’s wife, you two haven’t been back for a long time. You’ve been away from Tangjia Village too long, of course you don’t know how much has changed here.” Xu Qiulan was holding her grandson and granddaughter, smiling broadly, clearly very satisfied with her current life.
Chen Ying noticed that Xu Qiulan was wearing a fashionable coat, gold rings on her fingers, a gold necklace on her neck, and gold earrings too. That whole set of gold jewelry nearly blinded her.
The Xie family had gotten rich?
What Chen Ying found hardest to accept was that Xu Qiulan, at her age, had even powdered her face and drawn her eyebrows. And… it seemed her mother-in-law was also wearing a jade bracelet on her wrist, which looked expensive at a glance.
The Xie family really had gotten rich.
This time, Chen Ying was sure of it. She had once looked down on the rustic Xu Qiulan, but now she plastered a smile on her own face. No matter what, now that she was back to live here, she couldn’t afford to offend her mother-in-law.
She didn’t know much about the rest of the Xie family, but one thing she knew clearly was that Xie Shijun was extremely filial and had great respect for Xu Qiulan. Xu Qiulan had raised the three siblings all by herself in that era, which must have been incredibly difficult for a woman.
“Mom, after Shijun and I left, what happened here?”
Xu Qiulan had a decent impression of Chen Ying and said with a smile, “That’s a long story. Anyway, after you two left, Tangjia Village has really changed a lot.”
“Let’s go home first. I’ll slowly tell you everything after we get back.” Thinking of all the changes over the years, Xu Qiulan added, “Unbelievable, really unbelievable. People from big cities are really something else.”
Chen Ying pressed her lips together, feeling more and more uneasy.
When they got to the Xie home and saw the detached Western-style house, its luxuriousness rivaled many expensive villas in later years. Not only that, but on the way there, the surroundings were full of similar villas. She really didn’t know what to say.
In her previous life, none of this had existed.
Discover more from Lilly Translations
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.