The Beauty of the Art Troupe [The 1970s]

[Completed. Next story: Barefoot Beauty of the Seventies]

Shi Man had a dream.

In it, she married Deputy Regiment Commander Ling, the man she'd gone on a blind date with a few days earlier. He was handsome, but cold, fierce, domineering, and intimidating. Even if his future looked bright, he was still much too stern and overbearing.

And she... After they married, she nitpicked everything he did. Whenever anything happened, she became fussy and demanding, always suspicious. After more than ten years of quarrels and turmoil, she finally divorced him. Then things went from bad to worse: she fell from being the song and dance troupe's leading beauty to getting fired, and spent her later years in misery.

Impossible!

Shi Man woke with a start and looked at the fashionable tin of candy the matchmaker had brought. It had been sent by Deputy Regiment Commander Ling, just like in her dream.

She absolutely would not live that kind of life.

Shi Man was the song and dance troupe's leading beauty. Her admirers could line up all the way to the family housing compound. There were plenty of kind, considerate officer's sons with good backgrounds. Why put herself through that?

She immediately turned down the matchmaker and told her parents to find her a suitable son-in-law. Under no circumstances was it to be Deputy Regiment Commander Ling.

-

Ling Zhen had been reborn and knew how fussy Shi Man could be. It made him angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was cold and aloof around women, old-fashioned in his thinking, and wanted to marry only her. He had never even noticed another woman.

Since he'd come back early this time, he would take care of all the troublesome matters sooner. Then she wouldn't have so much to fuss about later.

He came home after work, only to hear the matchmaker clap her hands. "Oh, Deputy Regiment Commander Ling, you always seemed uninterested, so it's a good thing the match is off!"

Ling Zhen: "?"

-

Everyone knew Shi Man was the song and dance troupe's leading beauty. So many men in the military wanted to court her that gifts sent to her home were nearly overflowing.

And that young, stern-faced Regiment Commander Ling Zhen pursued her the most fiercely. After drills every day, he wouldn't even take off his uniform. He'd hurry over to watch her perform, still stiff and buttoned up, sitting in the front row and never missing a show. He kept a close watch on her.

His comrades all advised him, "The troupe's leading beauty has high standards. If she doesn't like you, forget it. So many girls like you. You're not getting any younger, so hurry up and pick one to marry."

Ling Zhen shot them a cold look and kicked one of them with his long leg. "Get lost!"

Is she your wife?

Those animals' eyes practically lit up whenever they saw Shi Man. They'd secretly given the matchmaker all sorts of gifts. Did they think he didn't know?

[Delicate, fussy song and dance troupe beauty x tough, cold, fierce regiment commander]

[Reader's Guide]

1. Fictional period setting, no real-life model. Please don't overanalyze the historical details.

2. The story is frequently revised to improve the setting. The complete, authorized version is only available on Jinjiang. Thanks for your support.

3. Check out the completed story Pretty and Picky in the Eighties on my profile.

4. Comments are disabled because the author has been busy with real-life matters and can't keep up with them. Thanks for understanding.

Next Story: Barefoot Beauty of the Seventies

Blurb: Huo Dongru had always been an ambitious woman who wasn't particularly kind.

In the 1970s, she became a female urban youth sent to the countryside, working as a barefoot doctor in a remote village.

The men around her eyed her beauty like wolves. But she set her sights on a certain regiment commander home on a visit, married Lian Tongfang as she had hoped, and returned to the city with him.

They had a good marriage, had a son and a daughter, and were deeply in love.

But when the southern gold rush began, Huo Dongru was tempted again. Unable to reach an understanding with Lian Tongfang, she abandoned everything and headed south to seek her fortune.

She succeeded.

But as the years passed, Huo Dongru, who had abandoned her husband and children, began to look back fondly on the past. When she returned to ask around, she learned that Lian Tongfang had died in the second year after she left. Their children had been orphaned, grown up gloomy and miserable, and struggled to get by.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Huo Dongru returned to 1975, to the little earthen house where she had first met Lian Tongfang.

On the warm earthen stove, he had his shirt half open, revealing a strong chest and a long knife wound that had yet to heal.

Her hand was feeling around on his chest. She wasn't applying medicine... She was about to drug him.

Huo Dongru immediately pulled her hand back. This time, she wouldn't ruin Lian Tongfang's life.

But Lian Tongfang said nothing. He caught her hand and pressed it back to his chest, shaking off the medicinal powder. Then he embraced her and kissed her lips gently.

Lian Tongfang felt he must have gone mad. After being reborn, instead of taking revenge on that greedy, cold-hearted woman, he had come to see her for treatment just as he had in his previous life, taking off his clothes to recreate their old scene.

Theme: Communication is the key to a lasting relationship