Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

"I don't eat unleavened flatbread, I want to eat something else." She didn't know what the two of them bought at the department store, she only knew that Su Wanqing packed several large bags and brought a lot of food.

Su Wanqing looked apologetic.

"Mom, look, you weren't eating this or that the other day, so Yan Shen and I forced ourselves to eat it all. We finished the peanuts and sweet potatoes too. The only cooked food we can eat now is unleavened flatbread. The rest is in our luggage, so it's hard to take it out."

Su Wanqing deliberately hid the canned beef and canned fruit in the topmost and innermost part of her luggage.

Zhang Yan, a female educated youth, rolled her eyes as she listened. "Listen to this! Is she even speaking human language? She only finished eating because she was stuffed? If she couldn't finish, couldn't you share some with her? If I had known this woman was so vengeful, and had just treated that old hag kindly, wouldn't she have been able to eat some meat every day?"

Zhang Yan, a female educated youth, regretted it.

"I don't care, I don't eat unleavened flatbread. Bring out all the food you bought at the department store the other day." Zhou's mother slapped the flatbread in front of Su Wanqing.

Aunt Wang looked at Su Wanqing with pity, lamenting that she had such a troublesome mother-in-law.

To everyone's surprise, Zhou Yanshen took the pancake away the next second. "Since you don't like it, Mom, that's fine. I like it. Just find something else to eat." After saying that, he ate the whole pancake in a few bites.

Zhou's mother was dumbfounded and so angry that her chest ached. She couldn't even muster the energy to cause trouble. In the end, her stomach started growling with hunger. She wanted to look in her luggage, but it was too heavy to take out. So she opened the several bags under her seat and found a few fruit candies to eat.

I just hate that vixen, she left her nothing!

She did it on purpose!

Su Wanqing looked at Zhou's mother with a timid gaze, as if she had been wronged, but leaned towards Zhou Yanshen. Her scheming behavior infuriated Zhou's mother.

Su Wanqing snorted inwardly. As long as the man protects his wife, no matter how wicked the mother-in-law is, she can't bully her. Those honest and simple-minded men who are caught in the middle between their mothers-in-law and wives are just pretending to be deaf and dumb, not wanting to bother protecting their wives!

Zhou's mother swallowed her anger and ate the candy, then filled her stomach with water. Finally, they arrived at their destination!

"Yan Shen, we're here. Let's go get something to eat!" Zhou's mother was so hungry that she could eat anything, even a whole fat pig, if placed in front of her.

For three or four whole days, she didn't eat a single bite of food!

She looked around; the train station was crowded, but she spotted the state-run restaurant right away.

"Are you educated youth going to the countryside in Yili? There's a passenger bus here, hurry up and get on, or you'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Seeing that many people were rushing onto the bus in the blink of an eye, Zhou Yanshen didn't even bother to eat anymore, dragging his luggage as he squeezed onto the bus.

"Mom, get in the car first. We'll talk about dinner later."

So Zhou's mother, carrying her suitcase and phonograph, squeezed onto the bus as well. Otherwise, she would have missed the bus today, and without a letter of introduction, she might not even have a place to stay tonight.

In this day and age, there's no such thing as an overloaded or unoverloaded vehicle.

The bus, which has 35 seats, was crammed with more than 50 people, each carrying large and small bags of luggage.

Even Su Wanqing was squeezed into a corner and couldn't move. She had to carry three or four pieces of luggage, and there were also luggage bags at her feet. The three of them could only sit in two seats.

"This is even more crowded than taking the No. 1 subway in Shenzhen." Su Wanqing sighed. In July, the weather was still hot and dry. Before long, the car was filled with various smells of sweat and body odor.

Fortunately, Zhou Yanshen smelled of fresh soap, which masked the other smells.

"Can't we squeeze in?" The driver pushed hard at the door.

"Hurry up, driver, there's really no room left."

The driver then closed the passenger door, opened the driver's door, and started driving off with a clatter.

Zhou's mother sat on the outermost side, with boxes and a gramophone stacked on top of her. To make matters worse, her face was right in front of a burly man's hand, and his armpits reeked of the body odor of someone searching for her.

"Ugh..." Zhou's mother almost vomited from the smell. "Comrade, could you move over? You smell terrible."

The burly man stood with luggage at his feet, surrounded by people, and squeezed between himself and large suitcases, forcing him to stand.

"Excuse me, lady, look, I'm so squeezed I can't move, and it's so hot. But it's okay, you'll get used to the smell."

Su Wanqing pursed her lips, almost bursting out laughing. This big man really knows how to talk!

Zhou's mother covered her nose in disgust and nudged Zhou Yanshen, "Let your wife sit on your lap and make some room for me." She really couldn't stand the body odor.

Zhou Yanshen's face flushed instantly, but he was clearly tempted. He maintained his composed, gentlemanly demeanor, only hesitating, "Wouldn't this be inappropriate?"

"She's your wife, what's wrong with that?" Zhou's mother said impatiently. "Hurry up, what's wrong with you two young people squeezing in?"

So, Su Wanqing "had no choice" but to sit on Zhou Yanshen's lap.

A soft warmth spread across Zhou Yanshen's leg, and he immediately stiffened. The delicate fragrance of Su Wanqing wafted into his nose, and her breath brushed against his face...

Su Wanqing blushed and her heart pounded. It was the first time she had sat on the sculpted man's lap. His muscles were firm and taut, and his profile was sharply defined—he was so handsome that it was impossible for her to resist...

"Ouch." The car lurched and went over a big pothole. Zhou Yanshen fell backward, and Su Wanqing's body bumped into his hard chest.

"Ouch, that hurts," Su Wanqing cried out softly.

Zhou Yanshen froze for a moment, his hand hesitating in mid-air for two seconds before finally pulling the person in his arms into his embrace with his large, veiny hand. "That way you won't sway."

"Um."

Su Wanqing and Zhou Yanshen both kept their heads down, one looking up and the other looking down. They were in a wonderful mood the whole way, enjoying the pleasant journey and the beautiful scenery.

Zhou's mother sat outside, hungry, tired, and sleepy. The burly man's armpit was still in front of her nose, and she had been fuming all the way. Finally, after the car stopped, she vomited with a "goo".

When they arrived at the remote county in the Northwest, seeing the desolate, backward, and barren place, Zhou's mother almost fainted.

"You mean we have to take a dirty, smelly oxcart to the farm? And it's still fifteen kilometers away? And this isn't even the countryside?" Upon hearing the news, Zhou's mother realized for the first time that this small county town was already dilapidated enough, and yet it wasn't even the countryside?

Aunt Wang, feeling hot, took off her coat and waved to the oxcart in the distance, carrying her luggage: "The oxcart is here. It must be the Youth League secretary who sent it to pick up the educated youth. If we don't take the oxcart, we'll have to walk."

Zhou's mother crossed her arms. "I don't ride in an oxcart. The smell of an oxcart is suffocating and it's filthy. Yan Shen, find me a cart. If all else fails, a rickshaw will do." She had grown up in luxury and even during the Cultural Revolution, she rode in a Liberation truck. She had never ridden in such a smelly thing as an oxcart.