Marrying a childless superior, she became pregnant and lived a carefree life in the 1970s.

Chapter 14 calls Sheng Zexi home for a housewarming party.
At this moment, he seemed to remember something and looked at his stepdaughter, Fang Manping, who was standing to the side.

"Manping, didn't you say the other day that your cultural troupe wanted to go to the Northwest Military Region to perform a Spring Festival cultural show?"

“Yes.” Fang Manping immediately perked up, having already guessed what was going on in her mind.

"Here's what I'll do. I'll approve it for your cultural troupe tomorrow. When you go, try your best to call that kid Zexi back to me. Tell him I have some of his mother's things to give him."

Fang Wanrong's heart skipped a beat. "Husband, what's wrong?"

Sheng Xinhao had no intention of hiding the truth from his gentle and kind wife. "I've talked to Lao Li about it, and we plan to have Zexi and Lao Li's youngest daughter meet during the Chinese New Year."

If we directly tell Sheng Zexi to come back and look at the marriage proposal, he probably won't come back.

Therefore, Sheng Xinhao had to resort to other methods.

Fang Wanrong felt a little flustered. Could the "Old Li Family" that Sheng Xinhao mentioned be the family of Commander Li?
Is that little girl Li Shuyao?

No, we absolutely cannot let Sheng Zexi marry Li Shuyao.

Putting aside the fact that Li Shuyao works in the performing arts troupe and is currently a pillar of the troupe, with good looks and personality, just consider that Li Shuyao's father is Commander Li, and her brother Li Tingxuan has become the troupe leader at a young age, with a promising future. Over the years, she has worked so hard to make Sheng Zexi end up in a situation where he is almost abandoned by everyone. How can she let him have a family like Commander Li and a brother-in-law like Li Tingxuan?

Fang Wanrong couldn't help but feel resentment towards Sheng Xinhao.

She kept saying that A-Yu was filial, but she hadn't seen this man leave A-Yu anything good. She had mentioned before that she wanted A-Yu to join the army so that she could take advantage of his connections in the military, but he refused.

They kept calling Sheng Zexi a scoundrel and criticizing him for being unfilial.

But she still considered his feelings and found him a wife from such a powerful family.

It was precisely because of her carefully maintained composure that Fang Wanrong did not break down and speak out.

Fang Manping was surprised to find that her stepfather's original choice for a daughter-in-law was Li Shuyao, and she was secretly delighted.

Li Shuyao had always liked Sheng Zexi and had always asked Fang Manping to find out information about him for her. However, Fang Manping didn't really want to do such a thing, but what could she do? She liked Li Tingxuan, that tall, majestic, and dazzling young man, who had long since taken up residence in her heart.

If she can help Li Shuyao and Sheng Zexi get together, will Li Shuyao help her and Li Tingxuan get together?
Fang Wanrong glanced at her daughter. She knew about the relationship between her daughter, Li Shuyao, and Li Tingxuan.

She would be more than willing for her daughter to marry Li Tingxuan, but she would resolutely disagree with Li Shuyao marrying Sheng Zexi.

But no matter how difficult it was, she couldn't show it in front of her husband.

So, she pretended not to know and said gently to Sheng Xinhao, "So you've taken a fancy to Commander Li's youngest daughter? Then why did you make me go find her?"

Sheng Xinhao, unaware of Fang Wanrong's thoughts, said, "That kid is not obedient. I'm afraid he won't know what's good for him and won't like or be willing to do anything. If you find a few more, he can be more selective."

"Anyway, you can continue searching on your end."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on it."

Fang Wanrong hadn't paid much attention to finding a partner for Sheng Zexi before, but now she had no choice but to take it seriously.

She had to choose carefully; she'd rather Sheng Zexi marry someone she'd carefully selected than let him have such a powerful ally as the Li family.

After Fang Manping entered the room, Fang Wanrong followed her in.

After the door closed, Fang Manping completely lost her composure.

"Mom, you said Uncle prefers Sheng Zexi and Li Shuyao to be together, so why don't we let them be together?" Fang Manping shook Fang Wanrong's hand.

"No way!" Fang Wanrong slapped her daughter's hand away and glared at her. "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. You're just hoping that if you help Li Shuyao marry Sheng Zexi, Li Shuyao will help you be with Li Tingxuan, right?" "Mom also hopes you can be with the eldest son of the Li family, but Li Shuyao absolutely cannot marry Sheng Zexi. You should know that if Sheng Zexi marries Li Shuyao and has the Li family's support, your uncle will only value him more. After that, what will be left for your brother in this family?"

Fang Manping fell silent, and as she lowered her eyes, she understood once again.

The mother did love her daughter, but compared to her son, her daughter was nothing.

“Pingping, only when your brother gets better will you have someone to rely on and you will be able to get better. I hope you can understand your mother’s good intentions.”

Fang Wanrong thought, how wonderful it would be if Sheng Zexi could never come back, or if he could die on the battlefield.

Then everything in the Sheng family would belong to her son.

"Girl, do you really like the eldest son of the Li family that much?"

"Yes, Mom, I like Li Tingxuan, and I really want to marry him."

Fang Manping is 23 years old this year. She was only 11 years old when she entered the Sheng family with her mother. When she was 16, Li Tingxuan saved her by chance.

From that moment on, Fang Manping fell in love with Li Tingxuan and became hopelessly infatuated.

She didn't inherit her looks from her mother, but from her biological father; at best, she could be described as a pretty girl from a modest family.

But Fang Manping simply liked Li Tingxuan's handsome looks and never forgot the moment he saved her.

Fang Wanrong sighed, opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately said nothing.

Fang Wanrong always doted on her daughter, Fang Manping. Although she couldn't love her as much as her son, she still wanted to give her the best if she could.

"Mom, Li Shuyao will be going to the Northwest Military Region this time too."

“I won’t do much. If they can get together this time, you mustn’t stop them. If they can’t, I won’t help Li Shuyao anymore.”

"Mom, please love me just this once more, okay? I'll be filial to you too."

Fang Manping nestled into Fang Wanrong's arms, full of affection.

Fang Wanrong finally softened and agreed.

Sheng Zexi was unaware that his father was already eyeing his marriage, nor did he know that Li Shuyao, who had been longing for him, was about to go to the Northwest to find him.

He went with the matchmaker to the Gu family to set the date for the engagement and wedding banquet.

The engagement and betrothal ceremony took place 3 days later, and the wedding banquet was held 15 days later, which is half a month later.

He also made an agreement with the Gu family that his maternal grandparents would come at these two important times.

On the Gu family's side, Gu's father and Yao Chunhua were very happy to learn that Sheng Zexi's maternal grandparents would be coming, as it represented how much the groom valued their family and Ningning.

Knowing that Sheng Zexi's family consisted of his biological father and stepmother, and that they didn't have a good relationship with them, they didn't require Sheng Zexi's relatives to come.

Sheng Zexi came and went with the matchmaker, and the villagers were very curious. Yao Chunhua and the others did not hide it from each other.

Soon, everyone in Huaihua Village knew that Gu Jianing was getting engaged and married to a military officer from the Northwest named Sheng Zexi.

These past two days, Wen Zhuqing, who was in pain all over from being beaten, almost spilled the fish soup in her hand when she heard the news.