country bumpkin

Chapter 374 The Rebellious Liu Jing

After saying that, the two held hands and went to Xuanmei's house.

Xuanmei's house is located to the west of Baiyan's house. It takes about 8 minutes to walk to Xuanmei's front door.

The gate was open, but there was no one in the yard, and not much stuff in it; it felt deserted and quiet.

They went straight into the courtyard and headed towards the house door. They stopped at the door and gently knocked; the door was bolted from the inside and couldn't be opened from the outside.

"Knock knock knock... Is anyone home? Xuanmei, is Xuanmei home?" Yunya knocked on the door and shouted at the top of her lungs.

Footsteps came from inside the house, and Xuanmei opened the door.

When she saw that it was Yun Ya, a smile immediately appeared on her face.

She said eagerly, "Oh! It's you, Yunya! That's great, you've finally come. I thought you'd forgotten about me!"

Yun Ya looked at her with a smile, her eyes full of joy, "How could that be? I could never forget you, no matter who else I forget."

Xuanmei was overjoyed and pulled Yunya's hand to lead her into the house.

Upon entering the house, Yunya saw that the room was simply furnished with an old table, a few chairs, and a rickety wooden bed.

Xuanmei warmly pressed Yunya into a chair and said, "Yunya, sit down for a while, I'll pour you a glass of water." She then went to get the kettle.

Yunya looked around the room and suddenly noticed a somewhat worn photograph hanging on the wall. The photograph showed two boys and two girls.

Yunya pointed at the photo and asked, "Xuanmei, who is the person in this photo?"

Xuanmei brought over a glass of water, glanced at the photo, and her eyes dimmed. "This is my brother and my younger brother, and my sister and me."

Hearing this, Yunya felt puzzled and continued to ask, "Where are your father and mother? Why aren't they in the photo?"

Xuanmei's eyes reddened, and she forced a smile. "My father passed away a long time ago, leaving my mother to hold this family together."

Yun Ya felt a pang of sadness. "I'm sorry, I didn't know about these things. I shouldn't have brought up such a painful topic."

Xuanmei gave a wry smile and said, "It's okay, it won't feel so bad after a while."

Yun Ya comforted her, "Don't worry, I'll spend more time with you from now on. Just let me know if you need any help."

Xuanmei said gratefully, "I'm content with what you said. Let's not talk about this anymore. Let me tell you about some interesting things that happened to me recently."

So the two sat in the house, drinking water and chatting, their laughter occasionally drifting out of the room.

Bai Yan watched the two of them chatting away about gossip, unable to join in, and feeling utterly bored. She said goodbye and went back to her parents' home.

After she left, Xuanmei told Yunya about Liu Jing's family introducing her to a potential partner.

Liu Jing didn't want to go on blind dates, so her mother locked her at home and wouldn't let her go out.

Yunya stared in disbelief, her mouth agape. This was a new society; how could such outdated ideas of arranged marriage still exist in this modern world?

Xuanmei was also helpless. He said, "I don't know how to help her. Her mother is very fierce, and her father is very strict."

Yunya asked, puzzled, "You've been to her house a few times, how do you know so much?"

Xuanmei said, "A few days after I returned home before the Lunar New Year, Liu Jing called me. She told me about this and invited me to visit her home, so I went and stayed there for two days before coming back."

Xuanmei continued, "At first, her mother told her to go on blind dates, and her attitude wasn't that firm. But later, for some reason, her parents' attitude became very firm."

Yun Ya seemed to have a thought about a possibility, but she didn't say it aloud. She was afraid that if she said it in front of Xuan Mei, Xuan Mei would feel responsible for Liu Jing's situation. Xuan Mei would be sad, blame herself, and feel guilty.

The truth of the matter was indeed because of Xuan Mei.

When Liu Jing first came back, she kept talking about Xuan Mei, and every sentence she uttered was about her.

Her mother immediately sensed something was wrong; her daughter was developing feelings for another girl. This suspicion sent a chill down Liu Jing's spine.

Later, Liu Jing invited Xuan Mei to her house. Liu's mother carefully observed the way the two interacted and found that her daughter's thinking had indeed gone astray.

So after discussing it with her husband, she decided they were determined to correct their daughter's ways. The only way to do that was to find her a boyfriend.

The young man I'm introducing now is someone they've also taken a liking to. He comes from a good family and has good personal qualities, and they're very satisfied with him.

Liu Jing disagreed, but she couldn't persuade the two adults. So, Liu's mother separated her from Xuan Mei and locked her in the house.

The more Liu Jing rebelled, the more she could only threaten her parents into letting her go out by going on a hunger strike.

The situation remained deadlocked.