Lu Xiao knew everything, but he never said a word.
Not about his parents telling him to marry Su Tang after just one letter, nor about his current inability to get a promotion.
He acted completely unconcerned, as if none of it had anything to do with him.
Anyone else in his shoes would have had a meltdown by now.
"It's a letter to let them know I'm safe."
Su Tang swallowed the rest of her words and simply said she was writing to let her family know she was safe.
The next day, after Lu Xiao left for his training session, Su Tang took the letter and went to the post office.
Ever since arriving in the Northwest, Su Tang had wanted to write to her parents in Shanghai.
But too many things had happened one after another, and she never found the time.
Now that she finally had a moment, she had come, bringing with her the questions she needed to ask.
However, Su Tang was afraid of causing unnecessary trouble, so she hadn't written everything out too clearly in the letter.
Her father, Mr. Su, was a man of culture; he would surely understand her hints.
The postal worker glanced at Su Tang, looking her up and down. Just as he was about to accept the letter, Hu Lili's voice called out from a distance.
"You can't accept that."
Hearing Hu Lili's words, the postal worker's hand froze. Su Tang turned to look at Hu Lili behind her.
"You can't accept it. She has a bad class background. Who knows what she wrote in that letter?"
"Aren't all letters from people like them supposed to be handed over to the leadership for inspection before being sent out?"
A triumphant smirk spread across Hu Lili's face. She had seen Su Tang sneaking out earlier and had followed her.
'She really is up to no good.'
Hu Lili reached for the letter, but Su Tang blocked her hand.
"Hu Lili, has no one ever taught you that spying on people is illegal?"
Su Tang put the letter away, glaring coldly at Hu Lili, not wanting to waste another moment on her.
'I thought people from this era were supposed to be simple and honest. How did I end up running into someone as unreasonable and pestering as Hu Lili?'
"Don't try to scare me. I don't scare easily."
"Su Tang, why are you in such a hurry to hide that letter? You're supposed to be monitored by all of us, you know?"
When Hu Lili heard what Su Tang said, she was initially a little scared, but on second thought, she realized Su Tang was the one who should be afraid.
"Who said that?"
Su Tang took a step toward Hu Lili. Faced with Su Tang's powerful presence, Hu Lili couldn't help but swallow nervously.
"Th-There's a rule!"
Hu Lili said stubbornly, but her voice was unconsciously a few notches lower.
"People with bad class backgrounds have to submit their letters to the leadership for review first!"
Su Tang sneered. "Oh? Then why don't you tell me which level of organization made this rule? Was it the commune's revolutionary committee, or the post and telecommunications bureau?"
She pulled the letter from her pocket and held it up in front of Hu Lili.
"Besides, this letter is just to let my parents know I'm safe. If you insist there's a problem with it, we can go to the commune right now and find Director Zhang. We can have him see for himself if there's any subversive content in it."
Hu Lili hadn't expected Su Tang to be so unyielding and was momentarily flustered.
She knew, of course, that she had completely made up the so-called review regulation. While the commune did monitor correspondence, there was no explicit rule to confiscate all letters from people with bad class backgrounds.
She just couldn't stand Su Tang and wanted to find an excuse to give her a hard time and make a fool of her. More importantly, she wanted Lu Xiao to see that marrying Su Tang would bring him nothing but endless trouble.
The postal worker, who had been watching the spectacle from the side, finally spoke up.
"Comrade, since this comrade says she's just writing to let her family know she's safe, we can't just suspect her without cause. If there's really a problem, someone will check it when the letter arrives at its destination. It's not right to hold her letter now, is it?"
Seeing that the postal worker wasn't taking her side, Hu Lili stomped her foot in frustration. "Whose side are you on? She has a bad class background! What if she wrote something she shouldn't have? Can you bear that responsibility?"
"Whether I can bear it or not is my business."
The postal worker waved his hand impatiently. All the bickering was giving him a headache.
"Hurry up and stop delaying her. If you think there's a problem, you can report it yourself."
Su Tang nodded at the postal worker and handed him the letter. "Thank you, Comrade."
The postal worker took the letter, skillfully stamped it with the postmark, and placed it in his mailbag.
Hu Lili watched her plan go up in smoke, her face turning ashen with anger. But she didn't dare say anything more, so she just stomped her foot and ran off.
Watching Hu Lili's retreating figure, Su Tang frowned slightly.
Around the corner from the post office, Zheng Jinxin watched the scene unfold, the corners of her lips curling into a slight smile.
'Hu Lili is an idiot. But this has shown me what Su Tang is really like.'
'She's truly not a woman to be trifled with.'
Zheng Jinxin turned and walked into the service cooperative nearby. As Su Tang walked away, the wind lifted the hem of her blue cotton shirt by half an inch, revealing a dacron petticoat underneath that had been washed until it was faded white.
'A rich man's daughter is different, after all.'
"Nurse Zheng, here to pick up mail again?"
Sister Wang from the service cooperative was leaning on the counter. She smiled and waved a kraft paper package at her.
"A package from your family arrived. There's even a bar of Shanghai brand soap inside."
"What was going on outside just now?"
Hearing Zheng Jinxin ask, Sister Wang immediately lowered her voice.
"That girl, Hu Lili, is just petty and can't stand to see others doing well."
Sister Wang pushed the package over. As Zheng Jinxin put it into her canvas bag, she asked nonchalantly, "Is Su Tang's class background really that bad?"
"I heard her family is in Shanghai, and they're all university professors."
Sister Wang lowered her voice. "If it weren't for that urgent letter from Lu Xiao's father, a girl like her would never have married into a poor, remote place like ours. But the Lu Family's boy probably doesn't think much of her. They got married just like that, without even a wedding banquet."
Zheng Jinxin just smiled without a word. Just as she was about to leave, she heard the sound of a sudden argument break out at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative.
Hu Lili and several other women were blocking Su Tang's path. One of them held up a wrinkled book and declared, "Someone reported you for secretly reading 'capitalist poison'!"
Su Tang looked at Hu Lili, who had gone and now returned, and almost wanted to laugh. 'No wonder she left in such a hurry.'
"There's a foreign name printed on the cover, so it must be problematic!"
She waved the book triumphantly, looking like a petty person who had just gotten her way.
"Hu Lili, the book in your hand is the same one you carry around and read every day. This one's just the Russian version."
"You've been reading it for so long, don't you even remember the first chapter? The first chapter says, 'No investigation, no right to speak.' Have you read it?"
After speaking, Su Tang snatched the book from her hand.
"It seems your heart isn't really in it. You read it every day but can't even remember that."
"That's a much bigger problem."
Hu Lili's expression changed drastically. "Su Tang, stop trying to fool everyone here! None of us understand Russian, so we just have to take your word for it."
"If you don't understand, you can find someone who does. But I won't easily forgive you for slandering me."
Hu Lili's face flushed red, her nails digging so deeply into her palms they nearly broke the skin.
She glared at Su Tang, unwilling to concede, but trembled when she met Su Tang's icy gaze.
That look was just like a butcher's she had once seen at a slaughterhouse, precisely targeting the vital points of his prey.
"If I'm right, you will give me a proper apology. In front of everyone."