Rebirth: Splendid Marriage in the 80s

Chapter 925: Chapter 926: I Don’t Even Mind

He couldn’t believe it when he first heard the news, Chiang Xiao? A painter? And she joined the Painters Association? The very same girl who used to hide by Nameless Creek and doodle with sticks?

Those people must have lost their minds!

How could they choose someone like Chiang Xiao, a girl from a poor mountain village no less?

But he had checked, and it was true.

Now, his only hope was Chiang Xiao.

Director Ding and Ding Meifen had given up on him, and it was only after he had approached them several times that he realized what Ding Meifen had planned from the start.

The father of Ding Meifen’s child held a higher status than Director Ding, and they couldn’t confront him, so they had no choice but to swallow the loss in silence. But Director Ding had another plan in mind, insisting Ding Meifen not to abort the pregnancy, hoping if it turned out to be a baby boy, they could claim his real father’s property after raising him.

So, they needed to find a man to take over the child.

But no single man was willing to take on the responsibility, and those who were either came from families as poor as church mice or had some issues of their own.

Ding Meifen was not willing to lower herself to settle for such men.

After much consideration, the father-daughter duo devised a plan: look for a man with decent prospects, a bit of smarts, and someone dissatisfied with his current situation, then lure him with promises of employment and an escape from poverty. Once they had him securely in their grasp, they could sweet-talk him into divorcing his wife.

After some selection, they ended up choosing Chiang Baoguo.

However, they didn’t expect that Song Xiyun would discover their scheme before they had a firm grip on the situation, resulting in Chiang Baoguo losing his job because of her ruckus.

Ding Meifen had actually developed some feelings for Chiang Baoguo. At first, she had said that if he divorced Song Xiyun immediately, they could get married and she would find him a new job so they could start over.

But Song Xiyun, shamelessly, made a scene, saying that if Chiang Baoguo dared to divorce, she would accuse him of hooliganism! Then she would cause trouble for Director Ding at his job as well.

Director Ding felt the trade-off wasn’t worth it. This level of chaos for the sake of Chiang Baoguo was not something he desired. It was better to find another man for Ding Meifen elsewhere, so he too gave Chiang Baoguo a good scolding and refused to see him again.

It just so happened that during this period, the crime of hooliganism was considered very serious – getting caught could mean facing the firing squad. Chiang Baoguo truly couldn’t dare to entangle with Ding Meifen anymore and resigned himself to staying at home.

But he couldn’t do farm work, was hopeless at household chores, and whenever he went outside, he felt like everyone was laughing at him, too ashamed to meet people. So, he could only sulk at home all day, listening to his father’s sighs and his mother’s increasingly bad-tempered scolding, feeling so suffocated he was almost driven mad.

Now, facing Chiang Xiao, he saw this as his last chance.

”Chiang Xiao, let me join that association! I’ll do anything! You guys surely need people to do work, right? Registration? Bookkeeping? Finances? Warehouse management? Or maybe greeting the leaders? Or even selling paintings; I don’t mind!” Chiang Baoguo whispered, still feeling humiliated to be asking Chiang Xiao for a job, ”My demands aren’t high, just give me fifty or sixty a month, with meals and lodging included, and that’ll be enough!”

”Pfft.” Chiang Xiao couldn’t hold back, bursting into laughter despite the pouring rain.

”What’s so funny?” Chiang Baoguo glared at her angrily, ”I was doing well in my job, why did I lose it? Isn’t it all because of you! Don’t you think you owe me that responsibility? I know my qualifications deserve much more than a salary of fifty or sixty, I’m lowering my standards here, what more do you want?”