074 The Runaway Female Reader (Monthly Ticket Requested)

"Hello!" Zhu Lin greeted Cheng Xuemin politely, and at the strong insistence of Feng Jiayou, smoothly took a seat beside her.

Aunt Feng was quick as well, setting out a bowl and chopsticks for Zhu Lin and serving her some rice. She said, "Linzi, don't be so formal. Just make yourself at home, like when you were a child!"

"Thank you, Auntie. Thinking back to those days, you were even kinder to me than my own mother!" Zhu Lin's compliments were always sweet, and indeed, in the past, she had often come over to the Fengs for meals, so she never felt like an outsider here.

"Then why be so polite with me? It's just fate that you dropped by today. Jiayou and her husband brought back quite a spread, and there's also a big roast duck!" As Aunt Feng spoke, she ladled out rice and, with a flourish, brought out the other steaming roast duck from the pot and set it on the table.

This afternoon, mother and daughter had both bought roast ducks by mistake: Jiayou and her husband bought one, and Aunt Feng, in her delight, had made a special detour to Quanjude to buy another for her son-in-law's celebration.

Who could have predicted they’d both have the same idea and double up! The original plan was to eat one tonight, and save the other for tomorrow evening, since they either worked or were still in school, and usually had lunch elsewhere.

Now that Zhu Lin had suddenly shown up, Aunt Feng wasn't stingy and brought out the second duck as well. Inwardly, she was pleased by Zhu Lin's remark that she was kinder than her own mother—certainly worth the extra duck. Proud Aunt Feng loved hearing herself praised.

"Hehe, is that so, Jiayou? Did something good happen to you today? You brought back so much food, is it for a celebration?"

Zhu Lin's eyes lit up as she turned curiously to Jiayou, piqued by Aunt Feng’s words.

"Eat slowly, no one's fighting you for it!" Seeing how Feng Jiamo had sneakily nabbed a duck leg from the freshly served roast duck, Aunt Feng lightly tapped her chopsticks and scolded her with a playful glare.

With a guest present, could she not mind her manners a little? In contrast, the younger ones, Feng Liqin and Feng Liwen, had already eaten their fill and gone off to play.

"It's nothing much, really. He just had an article accepted for publication," Jiayou gestured toward Cheng Xuemin, trying her best to restrain herself from showing off, though her words could hardly conceal her pride.

"Oh? Really?! Xuemin, that's impressive! I wouldn't have guessed!" Zhu Lin was genuinely surprised—she never would have thought that Jiayou’s husband was so learned. Wasn’t the gossip that he was just a simple fellow from northern Shaanxi, an uneducated farmer?

"I just followed the trend and wrote something," Cheng Xuemin replied, a little embarrassed as Zhu Lin looked at him, playing along with Jiayou’s modesty.

"How could it be just following the trend if it was accepted? Xuemin, you must have written something inspired by that popular ‘Horseman’ story, right?" At the mention of writing, Zhu Lin’s interest was instantly piqued and she continued, smiling, "When I just got back, I read ‘The Horseman’ in Yanjing Literature on the train. It was excellent!"

"As soon as I got home, I wrote a review and sent it to the Yanjing Daily, but sadly, it wasn’t accepted."

"So Xuemin, for your article to be published is really, really impressive!"

Did this woman take Cheng Xuemin for a country bumpkin who’d married into the family, a semi-literate man who was looked down upon by the Fengs, and that’s why she was so eager to comfort him?

It had to be that! After all, the gossip still said that the old Feng family had taken in a rustic son-in-law, honest but useless. Zhu Lin had just returned to the city; surely she’d heard all about the Feng family.

So when Jiayou introduced her to him, her tone and surprise made sense: "Jiayou, this is your husband?"

Those two words—“this is”—said it all. She'd "heard about him for ages!"

"He's really impressive! That’s why the whole family is here to celebrate him, isn’t it?" Jiayou shot a glance at Cheng Xuemin, deftly taking over the conversation and, rather narcissistically, singing his praises.

"Eat, eat, Linzi, don’t just talk. Try the roast duck while it’s hot!" Aunt Feng, brimming with pride, wanted to tell Zhu Lin that the ‘Horseman’ author she admired, Old Xu, was sitting right beside her. But she thought better of it—no need to flaunt. After all, her son-in-law’s honor was plain for all to see; there was no need to boast.

"Mm, thank you, Auntie! When I was working in Yunnan, I kept thinking about Yanjing’s roast duck!"

"Then eat more, don’t be shy!" Aunt Feng’s eyes twinkled with delight. It was just right that she craved Yanjing’s roast duck—hadn’t she felt the same in the past? Today she was in high spirits. Her daughter and son-in-law had good news to celebrate; otherwise, who would be so extravagant as to serve roast duck for neighbors?

"Thank you, Auntie!" Zhu Lin nodded repeatedly, already savoring the duck, her mouth glistening with oil.

"By the way, Linzi, didn't you seem to have something on your mind when you arrived?" Jiayou, having nearly finished, set down her bowl and chopsticks and brought it up.

"Oh, I almost forgot about Shanshan!" Zhu Lin suddenly remembered why she’d come to the Fengs that evening and quickly asked Jiamo, "Jiamo, didn’t Shanshan come over to play with you?"

Zhu Lin had come out looking for her younger sister. After school, Shanshan had barely been home before heading out again, and the family hadn't thought much of it. But at dinnertime, Shanshan still hadn’t returned, so they guessed she might be at the Fengs’ playing with Jiamo. That’s why Zhu Lin came over to check.

But faced with the Fengs’ tableful of delicious dishes, she’d gotten distracted and forgotten all about her sister!

"Linzi, no, Shanshan hasn’t come by," Jiamo replied, picking her teeth, utterly carefree after a hearty meal.

"Then where could she have gone?" Zhu Lin was puzzled.

"Jiamo, you didn’t tell… about the letter, did you?" As Zhu Lin was about to get up to find her sister, Jiayou suddenly realized something and asked Jiamo.

"Um… I… don’t think so?!" Jiamo, too, was unsettled. Had Shanshan been afraid of confronting her family about the letter and run away from home?

That morning, when Jiamo confronted Shanshan on the roof, she’d mentioned that their mother and sister would bring the love letter Shanshan wrote to Xuemin to the Zhu family for a confrontation that evening. All day, Shanshan had seemed distracted and anxious.

After school, Jiamo hadn’t paid much attention, nor had she told Shanshan she was just teasing—there would be no confrontation at her house. But now, what if Shanshan, fearing a showdown and a beating from her family, had run off and hidden?

If she really had run away, this was getting serious!

"Jiamo, you told Shanshan?!" Aunt Feng turned to her as well, pressing for an answer.

"Jiayou, Auntie, what letter?!" Zhu Lin finally caught on that there was some issue about a letter, likely the reason behind Shanshan’s disappearance. But what letter? Shanshan hadn’t mentioned anything at home.

"Shanshan wrote a love letter… to Xuemin," Aunt Feng blurted out, but immediately realized she’d given herself away.

"What?! Shanshan wrote a love letter to Xuemin? When did this happen? They…?" Zhu Lin covered her mouth in shock. This upended everything she thought she knew.

She had to sort this out: her sister Shanshan wrote a love letter to Jiayou’s husband, Cheng Xuemin? How could that be possible?

How did Shanshan end up entangled with Jiayou’s husband? Shanshan was such a quiet, gentle, introverted girl—how could she have gotten involved with him, let alone write a love letter?

Zhu Lin was practically losing her mind—utterly stunned!

But soon, she realized something was off. The attitudes of Aunt Feng, Jiayou, and the rest of the Fengs seemed… a bit strange. Her sister, writing a love letter to the family’s son-in-law, and yet they were so nonchalant, even half-smiling?

"Lin… it wasn’t written to me, I never saw it, don’t look at me like that!" Cheng Xuemin, overwhelmed by Zhu Lin’s aghast stare, quickly tried to clear his name. Her sister’s letter was addressed to Old Xu, the author of ‘The Horseman,’ not to him—what did it have to do with him?

"Not to you, Xuemin? Then, Auntie, what on earth is going on? Who did Shanshan write a love letter to?" Zhu Lin was growing anxious and confused—she couldn’t make sense of anything they were saying.

"Jiamo, you tell your Linzi sister—this is all your doing!" Aunt Feng knew the truth had to come out and ordered Jiamo, the youngest, to confess everything honestly.

"Mom, you told me to tell her, so I really will!" Jiamo perked up, itching to spill the beans. She’d wanted to brag for ages—her classmates all secretly admired her brother-in-law Cheng, but her strict upbringing forbade her from boasting at school, lest it distract him from his studies.

So she’d always kept quiet, but it had been hard to hold back! Now her mother had given her the go-ahead—was it finally time to come clean?

Did that mean tomorrow morning she could proudly proclaim at school: "Don’t flatter yourselves, Old Xu, the author of ‘The Horseman,’ is my brother-in-law! None of you can compete—my sister keeps a close watch!"

"Jie, I’m really going to tell! We're not pretending anymore, are we?" Seeing her mother ignore her, Jiamo looked smugly at Jiayou, itching to show off.

"Enough, Jiamo. Auntie told you to speak, so go on! What’s going on with you and Shanshan? Where has she gone?" Zhu Lin was truly bewildered by the family’s back-and-forth. What was actually happening here?

"Linzi, let me explain," Jiayou shot Jiamo a glare—enough of the boasting! She picked up the story for Zhu Lin. "It’s like this: Shanshan wrote a fan letter—a love letter—to Old Xu, the author of ‘The Horseman.’"

"Shanshan wrote a love letter to Old Xu, the author of ‘The Horseman’?" Zhu Lin was stunned yet again. Now the letter was addressed to Old Xu, not to Jiayou’s husband?

"Xuemin is Old Xu, the author of ‘The Horseman.’"

"‘The Horseman’ is a piece Xuemin published in Yanjing Literature, under the pen name Old Xu."