Chapter 2842 The Agreement

"Let's not talk about this." Seeing Yang Zhaodi's expression darken, Tan Shuangxi quickly turned away, pretending to gaze at the placid river while steadying his own emotions. He forced her image from his mind. A few more glances, and he might waver in his decision.

"When the north is liberated, or when I no longer have to go into battle, I'll come home for matchmaking and settle into a peaceful life. Though I don't know what else I'd be good for. Perhaps even the salt-drying work won't have me anymore." Tan Shuangxi let out a sudden laugh as he spoke, still not turning back.

The two sat in silence, each watching the calm river beyond the window. Dusk had begun to fall, and the Wenlan River glittered with golden light. Someone—neither knew who started it—chuckled softly. Then they exchanged knowing smiles. Today's matchmaking had undoubtedly failed, yet there was a kind of beauty in this moment that neither had ever experienced before.

Leaving the teahouse, though the matchmaking had ended, something lingered between them...

"Shuangxi-ge," Yang Zhaodi broke the silence as they walked along the riverbank, East Gate Market's public carriage station already visible in the distance. "Since you don't want to marry and I don't want to be married off, going home like this just means our families will arrange more meetings. What if we told them that we two are..." She couldn't finish the last few words. Her voice had shrunk to a whisper.

The meaning was simple enough. Tan Shuangxi understood immediately. Yet he couldn't find the right word for it either. What should he call it? Seeing each other? Together? His limited family education had only ever spoken of "parents' orders and matchmaker's words." And though Fubo Army training did include social reform content about marriage freedom, to them those lessons had been like monks chanting sutras—the words passed through without truly landing.

"Dating?... Alright." Tan Shuangxi finally found the word in his mind. Intuition told him this word represented feelings between two people—something that transcended mere suitability for living together.

"That's exactly what I mean. This way, Mother won't pressure me anymore." Yang Zhaodi nodded with her head bowed, hands fidgeting with her clothes. Hearing Tan Shuangxi's affirmative answer, she finally looked up and smiled brightly. On the side of her face turned toward him, a small dimple appeared.

"Zhaodi... Yang Zhaodi..." A woman in a checked cloth jacket waved at them from across the road.

"Sister Mei!" Yang Zhaodi waved back excitedly, then explained to Tan Shuangxi, "This is Sister Mei from my accounting class. She's the class beauty, you know." She gave him a meaningful wink. Yang Zhaodi clearly wanted to walk along with Sister Mei, but Tan Shuangxi had no interest in meeting her, so they parted there. After exchanging the usual courtesies of "see you again," Yang Zhaodi still added hesitantly, "Come find me at the farm when you have time. I'll show you the experimental fields. I guarantee you've never seen anything like them." With that, she skipped across the road, and the two women walked arm in arm toward East Gate Market, chatting warmly.

The setting sun was sinking toward the distant horizon. The Wenlan River stretched like a golden ribbon, winding around this fertile land. Sunset light pierced through the leaves, falling warm upon Tan Shuangxi's face, filling him with peace. The world had never seemed so beautiful. Fate had never felt so unpredictable. In this new world created by the Senate, Tan Shuangxi and Yang Zhaodi no longer followed the rigid trajectory of life and death that could be seen at a glance. Before them lay a vast world and infinite possibilities. And fate, at last, had smiled upon them.

Tan Shuangxi returned home and slept soundly. He'd been running around for days. Lingao itself wasn't large, but he'd covered every corner of it. Now he desperately needed proper rest to settle his nerves.

He woke to find the sun already high. Seeing sunlight on the whitewashed lime walls, he panicked—so late!

Years of military life had given him the habit of rising early. Even on leave at home, sleeping past dawn left him feeling guilty.

He got up and dressed. Beneath the bed, his mother had set out a pair of cork-soled rattan sandals—another new thing from recent years, though farmers rarely wore them. After all, cork soles wore out quickly; one day of farm work would ruin them.

It seemed his family was treating him as a guest. Tan Shuangxi shook his head and walked to the main hall. Breakfast sat on the table beneath a bamboo cover—a bowl of dried rice noodles with prepared sauce for mixing.

Tan Shuangxi smiled. Indeed, they were treating him like a guest. He took his rinse cup and towel to the courtyard, scooped water from the jar, and washed up. Though tooth-brushing was an important part of the Senate's "New Life Movement," the habit remained uncommon in rural areas. Besides, toothbrush and tooth powder cost money. So those mainly affected were soldiers, workers, and relatively well-off families with children in school.

After washing, Tan Shuangxi sat in the courtyard with his large bowl, chopsticks stirring the rice noodles to mix in the sauce. The day was bright and sunny, the warmth gentle, yet a cool breeze made the courtyard quite comfortable.

He set his bowl and chopsticks on the courtyard table, picked a fresh, crisp cucumber from the vegetable-washing tub, shook off the water, and ate alternating bites of cucumber and noodles.

The pumpkin flowers on the fence were in full bloom. White cabbage butterflies fluttered up and down. The road beyond the fence lay quiet—everyone had gone to work. Only he remained this leisurely, this idle. He hadn't known such moments in a long time.

His family's house had been rebuilt not long ago, following the "New Village Planning" model home blueprints. Roughly three main rooms, left and right wing rooms, with front and rear courtyards. Convenient for living and good for the courtyard economy too.

His parents clearly hadn't put much effort into the courtyard. Besides a few vegetable beds for their own use and pigs raised in the back, there weren't really any "projects." With Father, Mother, and his brother—three people tending over a hundred mu of land—they were busy enough as it was.

Their home wasn't far from Maniao. Under Senate administrative divisions, it belonged to "Maniao Town," but they weren't "stove households"—they had no salt pans or salt troughs. Fortunately, the family still owned a few mu of farmland. During the dry season's salt field busy period each autumn, they would do odd jobs; when spring rains came, they'd return home to tend the fields. Except for those few years when Master Gou had seized the salt fields, life had been marginally bearable.

After the Australians came, land and tax records were cleared up and the Heavenly Land Society established. Though the Tan family's annual taxes weren't any lower, all the miscellaneous "fees" were swept away, lightening the burden considerably. After Tan Shuangxi joined the army, they enjoyed many benefits. His father and brother now ran the family business smoothly. They no longer went to do odd jobs at the salt fields—that hard labor was now performed by new migrants from the mainland.

His family hadn't contracted their land to the Heavenly Land Society. Instead, they gradually bought up land from other village families—all thanks to Tan Shuangxi sending back his military pay and wartime bonuses. His parents saved these remittances bit by bit, seizing opportunities whenever others sold their land.

No matter the era, what rural people lacked most was cash. When selling land, they often couldn't get fair prices. The elder Tans, thanks to Shuangxi's remittances, had comfortable cash reserves. And with more and more people heading to the city to "work" these past few years—many selling their land cheaply and moving to towns—the Tan family had gradually accumulated over a hundred mu.

Old Tan and his wife were just past fifty—still in their prime and able to work. Tan Shuangxi's brother, Tan Shuangqing, was seventeen or eighteen. For farming, they'd taken out a loan to buy two Simmental cattle. By rural standards, this counted as a "flourishing family business." The newly built house, the lumber stored away—everything indicated the family was planning a happy occasion. Naturally, the main figure of this celebration was him.

To say Tan Shuangxi didn't want to marry would be nonsense. He was a normal man—a strapping fellow in his mid-twenties who'd spent years in an all-male military. How could he not think about women? As the saying went: three years in the army, and even an old sow starts looking pretty. Tan Shuangxi had been in for more than three years.

"Yellow tickets" provided temporary release, but as he grew older, he always felt something missing at his side. In the military, life was tense and orderly—this sense of emptiness easily filled. But during these days home on leave, waking in the middle of the night, loneliness and emptiness were like a pair of strong hands constantly kneading his heart.

"Perhaps it's time to start a family."

Tan Shuangxi found himself caught in contradiction. On one hand, he didn't want extra worries at home when going into battle, nor did he want to burden a good woman if he died or was maimed. On the other hand, the thought of having a woman who knew his warmth and cold by his side, someone waiting when he came home on leave...

Thinking of this, Yang Zhaodi's every smile seemed to float before his eyes again. He suddenly realized what his careless promise yesterday truly meant—and silently regretted it. That little minx was too clever by half!

Though he understood this agreement held no benefit for him, Yang Zhaodi's flower-like smile still kept him from feeling any real resentment.

Forget it. What was done was done—no use crying over spilled medicine. Tan Shuangxi set down his bowl and chopsticks and swallowed the last bite of cucumber. He thought about doing something useful around the house.

The courtyard was swept clean. The vegetable beds were watered. Even the clothes and bedding he'd brought back—Mother had washed them spotless and hung them out to dry. The pigs and chickens in the back were already fed. Tan Shuangxi walked around but found nothing left to do.

His parents' diligence he'd witnessed since childhood. But that diligence hadn't brought the family much benefit in the past—just barely enough to maintain their livelihood. Compared to now, it truly was "new sun and moon, vast heaven and earth."

Since there was nothing to do at home, he might as well stroll around the village. See if the elders were still around, find out how his childhood companions were faring.

(End of Chapter)