People who eat melon are in 70 - Chapter 32

Jiang Yutao raised an eyebrow, never expecting that such a small village like Liushu village would be so full of hidden talents. First, there was Gu Nianwei, and now another main female character?

Xia Yuhua? Is that you, Xia Yuhua, from the shores of Daming Lake?

Melon-eating System: [Xia Heyu, Xia Heyu, not Xia Yuhua!]

Jiang Yutao shrugged it off, not caring: “Come on, quickly download the plot into my brain; I want to know more!”

The Melon-eating System wasted no time; after its upgrade, it operated smoothly, loading the plot into Jiang Yutao’s consciousness in under a minute.

As Jiang Yutao pulled Gu Nianwei toward the Su family, she opened the bookshelf and selected a pink-covered book behind Gu Nianwei’s.

This was a rebirth novel, featuring the female lead Xia Heyu, the male lead being Zhu Yuemei’s younger son Su Zhengtang, and the male supporting character being Zhu Yuemei’s grandson Su Yang. Good grief, are there no other men in the world? Why must it be this pair of uncles and nephews?

The plot began with Xia Heyu marrying Su Yang. According to the story, in her previous life, she first dated Su Zhengtang in middle school. When he failed to get into high school, she broke up with him.

Later, she started a relationship with Su Yang in high school, and as soon as they graduated, they rushed into marriage. However, their married life was far from ideal; Su Yang was a mama’s boy, who listened to his mother Sun Xiaojuan, while Xia Heyu was a spoiled person who couldn’t compromise, leading to frequent arguments between them.

Su Yang couldn’t stand the family atmosphere; every time the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law clashed, he would escape. Eventually, while avoiding them, he found refuge in another woman’s arms. From that point on, he was never without a woman outside. Their on-and-off relationship lasted nearly ten years, ultimately ending in divorce.

During this time, Xia Heyu had a son and a daughter, but after the divorce, the Su family didn’t let her take the children. She left empty-handed, facing her family’s extreme disappointment because of her disobedience. Not daring to return, she chose to work in the city, earning just a few dozen yuan a month.

By this time, it was the 1980s. Su Zhengtang had ventured out during the early days of the reform and opening-up policy, and by the time Xia Heyu divorced, he had become quite wealthy, a notable tycoon in the county.

Moreover, after marrying the educated youth Zhao Yonglan from the youth station, he treated her exceptionally well and pampered her greatly. They built a house and settled in the county, and Xia Heyu had to pass by their home every time she went to and from work.

With someone like that to compare to, Xia Heyu felt tortured inside, especially as her miserable divorce contrasted sharply with Zhao Yonglan’s improving life. She constantly regretted her choices, often wondering if she hadn’t broken up with Su Zhengtang or married Su Yang, would her life have been different?

Perhaps out of sheer unwillingness to accept her fate, she was reborn, returning to the day she married Su Yang.

Xia Heyu was ecstatic. The first thing she resolved to do upon her rebirth was to divorce Su Yang. Naturally, with Su Yang being deeply in love with her, he refused. Their struggle extended over tens of thousands of words, and in the process, she also found herself entangled with Su Zhengtang. To make matters worse, she caused Zhao Yonglan, Su Zhengtang’s wife from her previous life, immense distress. Ultimately, with Xia Heyu’s intervention, Zhao Yonglan married an old bachelor from the neighboring village, living a very miserable life.

Now unimpeded, Xia Heyu divorced Su Yang and, breaking through societal barriers, ended up with Su Zhengtang. The novel concluded with the two living happily ever after.

Time was pressing, and Jiang Yutao didn’t read the book but only glanced at the summary, feeling uncomfortable: “Is this the so-called repentance novel?”

The melon-eating system, well-versed in such matters, was equally speechless after realizing the book’s content: “This is a disgrace to repentance novels; usually, they involve rebirth to be with their husband, but this one is different.”

“Zhao Yonglan is actually the supporting character in this book?” Jiang Yutao was even more baffled. It hadn’t been long since Zhao Yonglan had her showdown with Zhu Yuemei. How could Zhu Yuemei make Zhao Yonglan her daughter-in-law?

What a joke! Zhu Yuemei would probably chew Zhao Yonglan up if she saw her.

From Zhao Yonglan’s perspective alone, it was clear that the book had been completely altered.

The melon-eating system noticed this too, and they exchanged glances. It had never encountered such a tricky issue before. It quickly sent the problem to the main system, which promptly provided a solution: “The main system says we just need to focus on the important plot points; the rest doesn’t concern us.”

Anyway, since it was already a small world in chaos, there was no need to fantasize about normal operations. Just like that book of Gu Nianwei’s, it had long since fallen apart beyond recognition. As long as it didn’t continue to collapse and explode, that was enough.

“How did this small world collapse? Wasn’t everything going well?” The male and female leads were happily living together, the male lead’s career was gaining traction, and the supporting characters had all received their comeuppance. What was there to be dissatisfied about that would cause the small world to collapse?

The melon-eating system directly displayed the world after the novel ended, still featuring familiar white paper with red characters, strikingly obvious.

Jiang Yutao looked closely, and after finishing, she felt overwhelmed with complaints: “So the reason this small world collapsed is that the female lead, after marrying Su Zhengtang, still thought he was lacking in romance and flair, and then cheated after encountering another man?”

“And she even fantasized about having a love child? When the male lead’s company faced a financial crisis, she planned to take half of his wealth and elope with her toy boy?”

“After eloping, when the money ran out, the toy boy quit, and when she saw her ex-husband thriving again, she wanted to reconcile? When he refused, she tried to use their child as leverage, only to accidentally lose the kid? And when she found the child, he was already gone? As a result, she made the devastated male lead take drastic measures?”

“Seriously? A character like this can still be the female lead?” Jiang Yutao began to question her life. Was the threshold for female leads in novels this low these days? Anyone could become one?

The melon-eating system replied, “It fits her character perfectly; she’s always been someone who looks down on the poor and favors the rich. Isn’t it normal for her to act this way?”

“Fair enough.” Regardless, it wouldn’t stop Jiang Yutao from enjoying the drama.

The Su family’s courtyard grew lively again, with everyone gathering over there.

Jiang Yutao instinctively pulled out some original-flavored sunflower seeds from her pocket. She and Gu Nianwei leaned closer to Xu Dazui: “Aunt Xu, what’s going on this time?”

The Xia family was part of the commune, and while they might not have had a lot of power, their living conditions were certainly better than those in the village. Initially, the Xia family was reluctant about Xia Hanyu marrying Su Yang, but they couldn’t resist Xia Hanyu’s affection, especially since Su Yang had some prospects working at the grain station in the commune.

In that era, a job at the grain station was quite a lucrative one. After some negotiation, the Xia family agreed. However, just as they were preparing for the wedding, Su Changshan’s scandal broke, causing him to lose his position as village secretary and get sent to the farm.

The Xia family felt embarrassed about having such in-laws, and Xia Hanyu’s parents even wanted to call off the engagement with the Su family. However, Xia Hanyu cried and created a scene, insisting on going through with it. Yesterday, during the wedding procession, the Xia family’s expressions were grim, and they obstructed Su Yang more than usual, but he ended up taking the wedding party back with him anyway.

Aunt Xu enthusiastically explained to Jiang Yutao, “This little bride didn’t return with the wedding procession yesterday. She came over by herself just before dark, and after spending the night, she said she wanted a divorce. Now she’s making a scene.”

Gu Nianwei looked at Xia Hanyu as if she were an idiot: “So she sleeps with someone for a night and then decides she’s unhappy and wants to leave?”

“Exactly! Who knows if she’s even thinking straight? If she wanted to get married, wouldn’t it have been better not to show up at all? Instead, she runs over and spends the night. Isn’t that just pointless? It’s completely absurd!” Fourth Aunt Jiang had never encountered a girl like Xia Hanyu in her life.

“She’s quite good-looking, but how could her mind be so off?”

To be the heroine, one must be attractive, and Xia Hanyu had fair skin, a round face, and big eyes—features that were highly favored in this era. Even in later times when the ‘thin and white’ aesthetic was popular, such looks could still be deemed cute.

Xia Hanyu was still wearing the bright red shirt from yesterday’s wedding and black polyester pants, arguing passionately with Su Yang, who stood in front of her.

Su Yang, standing across from her, was about 1.7 meters tall, combining the best features of the Su family, looking quite handsome and sunny.

Jiang Yutao felt a bit ashamed; after nearly two months in the countryside, she had heard a lot about Su Yang’s gossip but was seeing him for the first time. She didn’t know if it was the influence of the plot or if he was genuinely that busy, but even though he worked at the commune, he had never returned home.

Jiang Yutao also spotted Su Yang’s uncle, Su Zhengtang, who stood beside Zhu Yuemei. As the official male lead, Su Zhengtang was taller and better-looking than Su Yang. This was also Jiang Yutao’s first time seeing him; after failing to get into high school, he had been sent by Su Changshan to learn a trade at a furniture shop in the county.

Given the upheaval at home, he was worried about Zhu Yuemei and had returned several days ago. Jiang Yutao had seen him a few times but hadn’t spoken to him at all.

Remembering what she had just read, Jiang Yutao couldn’t help but look at Su Zhengtang with a hint of sympathy.

The major victim number one was Gu Nianwei.

Su Yang was still in a daze. Last night, Xia Hanyu had come to his house, and they had spent a passionate newlywed night together. Who would have thought that when he woke up, she would slap him and then declare she wanted a divorce?

As if that wasn’t enough, she was now causing a scene in the yard, drawing a crowd outside. Su Yang’s head felt like it was going to explode. After experiencing the chaos caused by Su Changshan, he dreaded being the center of attention even more.

This reminded him of the astonished, mocking, and disgusted looks people in the commune gave him when they learned that Su Changshan was his grandfather.

It felt as if his self-esteem had been trampled into the ground, causing him immense pain. He looked at Xia Hanyu with a hint of rage, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. If circumstances allowed, he truly wanted to punch her.

It was all because of her that he had lost so much face!

“Hey, Hanyu, tell me what I’ve done wrong, and I’ll change. Let’s talk this over at home, okay?” Su Yang had always been pampered as the grandson of the village head.

As a prominent figure among his peers, Su Yang grew up spoiled, even having to make his younger uncle step aside.

He attended school with Su Zhengtang, where their academic performances were on par. When Su Zhengtang fell ill and failed to get into high school, Su Yang emerged as the most distinguished descendant of the Su family.

After graduating high school, he began working at the grain station, feeling like a city dweller. Unless it was urgent, he didn’t even want to return to the village. He was satisfied with Xia Hanyu, who, despite not coming from a wealthier family than some of his high school classmates, was someone he had “stolen” from Su Zhengtang.

He gritted his teeth in frustration; this was the first time in his life he had lost face to such an extent.

Over the years with Xia Hanyu, he had never been accommodating. Instead, it was Hanyu, equally spoiled at home, who tolerated him. Yet he remained dissatisfied. The moment she did anything slightly wrong, he would belittle her with all kinds of grand principles.

After more than ten years of marriage, Xia Hanyu knew Su Yang’s temperament well. Seeing his self-righteous expression made her eyes burn with anger. In their previous life, even as Su Yang cavorted with other women, he refused to let her go. She bore him a son and a daughter, yet it never won back his heart. Instead, he continued to demean her while living recklessly.

She hated the heavens for making her reborn but not sending her back to before she entered high school. That way, she could have helped Su Zhengtang study and made progress together with him.

Or even a day earlier would have been fine; then she wouldn’t have married Su Yang. If she broke up with Su Yang and got together with Su Zhengtang, it would have been straightforward. Now, she had to go through the trouble of a divorce.

As for whether she was a virgin, Xia Hanyu didn’t think about it. She had been dating Su Yang since high school, and they had done everything already.

Aunt Xu beside her clucked her tongue and said, “You say the new bride spent one night and then wants a divorce? Isn’t that because Su Yang is lacking in some way?”

Clearly, Aunt Xu wasn’t the only one with that thought; everyone’s gaze turned to Su Yang’s lower regions. The volume of rural women’s voices was high, and Aunt Xu spoke without lowering her voice, causing Su Yang’s face to turn pale.

No man could withstand such a topic.

As soon as Aunt Xu finished speaking, the system’s task notification chimed in: [Ding~ Observe the female lead causing a divorce scene and applaud publicly, receive 5kg of rice, 250g of pork, 5 feet of fabric, and 1kg of spiced melon seeds.]

Jiang Yutao felt a bit embarrassed: [System, this feels a bit ridiculous. Think about it—people are having a divorce, and here you are clapping. Are you trying to live too long?]

The upgraded system responded firmly: [That’s the host’s issue, not mine.]

Jiang Yutao pondered that this little idiot had become a bit arrogant after the upgrade; she needed to find a chance to teach it a lesson.

While Jiang Yutao was bantering with the system, Xia Hanyu spoke up: “Don’t you know what you did? Back in junior high, when I fell into the water at the east side of the commune, was it you who saved me or was it Zhengtang? Do you dare to say?”

“Why did Zhengtang have diarrhea right before the college entrance exams? Do you dare to say it had nothing to do with you?”