Reborn as a Weak Beauty Pampered by All Chapter 1 - 1 1 Its Voluntary Not Holding a Grudge Against
Chapter 1: It’s Voluntary, No Grudges Against Anyone. July 7, Minor Heat.
Next to a tiny brook at the mountain's base behind Aoli Village.
“I’m sorry.”
With guilt flooding his eyes, Zhou Weimin gazed at the girl three steps distant. “If possible, I’d never want to cancel our betrothal, but…”
“I refuse to accept it, and I won’t hear you out.”
Fair-skinned and exquisite, the girl resembled a fairy beneath the streamside willow, her figure apparently radiant. Tense-faced, she uttered those words, then spun around and strode off.
“You… won’t you let me complete my sentence?”
Guilt intensified in Zhou Weimin’s gaze, while helplessness overwhelmed him, assuming the girl was acting willful once more. Unable to restrain himself, he elevated his tone. “Resent me for ending our engagement if you must, but must you gamble away your future happiness like a game?”
“Butt out!”
Furious, the girl shot back without glancing behind or slowing her pace.
“Wed a previously married man, stepmother to three children—you’re utterly insane, courting disaster!”
Disapproval laced Zhou Weimin’s shout toward her retreating form.
“That’s my decision.”
Halting abruptly, the girl whirled to confront her ex-fiancé rooted in place, her teary fox eyes blazing with fury as she exploded,
“Zhou Weimin, hear this: I despise you! Our three-year engagement neared its end with the wedding banquet imminent,
yet your family abruptly nitpicked my health, fretting I might not bear you heirs post-marriage, demanding to annul it right at my doorstep. Your mother declared before my entire family,
not to hinder you, avoiding your childlessness later and village mockery. Zhou Weimin, why stay silent now? Where were you then?
You begged your mother shamelessly for my hand, yet within three years, you furtively tangled with Educated Youth Su from the Youth Educated Institute. Don’t assume it’s a secret!”
Tears stung her eyes, but the girl stubbornly kept them from spilling.
With that vented, she pivoted and pressed onward.
“I…”
Zhou Weimin’s lips quivered, his look intricate, eager to add more yet words failed him. To his surprise, while dithering over pursuing her, he witnessed her apparent stumble, tumbling rearward.
“Li Bao…”
The girl’s pet name, used by kin and villagers since childhood.
Worried-faced, Zhou Weimin yelled her name over and over while dashing to the girl now sprawled supine.
–
The clamor of cicadas and rising-falling quarrel voices roused Kang Li.
Her brows furrowed faintly as eyelids fluttered open, when a foreign memory segment flooded her mind.
Strangely, it wasn’t Kang Li’s memory; soon after, a novel materialized in her consciousness…
“I said no, end of story. Only over my corpse would my daughter wed a remarried man and raise his kids as stepmother!”
Tears streaming, Kang’s Mother Cai Xiufen declared. “Li Bao consented to that remarried man out of spite toward that scoundrel Zhou Weimin, without proper reflection.
And you? What’s your justification? Li Bao’s your daughter too, Kang Laigen. How could you endorse her union thoughtlessly, right before Commune Director Wu, matching our Li Bao with that Luo Yanqing?
He’s got three children already and towers nearly a decade older than our Li Bao. Aren’t you hurling her into flames?”
The main room brimmed with folks—men, women, youngsters—all lips tight, faces grave, as they heard their mother (mother-in-law, grandma) berate their father (father-in-law, grandpa).
“Hear yourself…”
Family head and Aoli Village Team Leader Kang Laigen suffered a pounding headache then. He’d believed he acted for his daughter’s good, idly telling Director Wu during talk
of an old North City superior requesting help finding a match for overseas-returned scientist Luo Yanqing. Absent high regard for his daughter, would he mention it?
After weighing Comrade Luo Yanqing’s traits from Director Wu’s account, would he instantly consent to wedding his cherished daughter to Comrade Luo Yanqing, dooming her to instant stepmotherhood upon entry?
Even though Comrade Luo Yanqing was married once before, already has three kids, and is slightly older than our Li Bao, he's delivering major service to the nation, and hasn't hit thirty years old.
Among his three children, the eldest nears five years old, while the younger two are twins—a boy and a girl—who lost their mother during birth and now stand at around three years. These little ones are remarkably obedient, and if Comrade Luo Yanqing weren't tied up so heavily in his duties,
scarce chances to snag leave for heading home and tending to the kids, plus a string of nannies failing miserably at childcare, he wouldn't dream of seeking a second marriage.
Furthermore, as I mentioned just yesterday, Comrade Luo Yanqing pulls in solid wages and receives assorted coupons each month. Director Wu mentioned that the moment our Li Bao steps into that home, Comrade Luo Yanqing plans to pass his salary ledger straight to Li Bao for handling,
along with every coupon, and his single demand for Li Bao is simply to look after those three children properly at home.”
Cai Xiufen stood firm, unswayed: “This isn't hunting for a wife; it's scouting a nanny for the house. Don't imagine you can talk me into it, Kang Laigen—I've declared no, and no it stays!”
Her dear Li Bao, such a fine young lady—how could she wed a twenty-seven-year-old on his second go at marriage? Absolutely not, she wouldn't consent under any circumstances!
“I'm genuinely acting in Li Bao's utmost benefit. Wife, consider this: given Li Bao's frail health, every doctor has stated that in her life... bearing her own children will prove exceedingly tough,
At present, as parents, we can still get around and pamper Li Bao, ensuring her care without trouble, yet the day arrives when we grow immobile...”
Captain Kang's words got cut short by his oldest son, Kang Guowei: “As long as I have a bite to eat, Li Bao will have a bite to eat.”
His intent rang crystal clear: once the aging parents depart, he as big brother would surely shoulder his sister's support.
“Shut your trap right now, for your father!”
Captain Kang shot a fierce glare at his eldest son and berated him furiously.
That foolish kid was just fueling the fire!
Watching their eldest brother get rebuked by Father, the remaining brothers—skipping Second Brother Kang, Kang Guosheng, stationed in the army—namely Third Brother Kang Guoqiang, Fifth Brother Kang Guoan, and Fourth Brother Kang Guofu, who dashed back from the County Transport Team at dawn,
nearly chimed in to back the eldest brother's stance but bit back their words unspoken.
Lest they draw Father Captain Kang's blanket wrath upon themselves.
“Mom, stop clashing with Dad. I'm fully willing to wed Comrade Luo Yanqing of my own accord.” Kang Li, having quietly slipped off the kang earlier, now leaned against her room's doorframe, speaking to the whole family from there.
Her eyes swept over the relatives gathered in the main hall before settling earnestly and purely on Cai Xiufen, this life's mother, as she declared:
“I'm not doing this from grudge toward anybody. With my condition like this, tying the knot with Comrade Luo Yanqing doesn't have to be a poor choice at all.”