live together

Wu Meilai returned to the snack street. She sold her original cart and replaced it with a small tricycle.

Glancing at the time, she saw that the students were about to finish school, so she hurriedly prepared the seasonings, placed three casseroles on the small stove in order, and then took out two folding chairs from the front of the car and unfolded them in front of the stall.

It’s good to buy a tricycle, it’s convenient to carry anything.

Before the bell rang, a student was already climbing over the gate just to get her first bite of food. The security guard behind her cursed and let her go after hearing the bell.

The student rushed into the snack street and saw Wu Meilai at the corner of the street. He said in surprise, "Auntie, you're back?"

Wu Meilai withdrew her gaze from behind the gate and responded with a smile.

"Small bowl of noodles," the girl said. She was a regular customer and very friendly. "I miss you so much."

Wu Mei came to listen to her sweet talk and fried an egg in another casserole for her.

"Thank you, Auntie. Did anything good happen to you?"

Before Wu Mei could reply, the girl took another look at her new food cart and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, there are three stoves now. Now we don't have to queue."

Wu Meilai could see that this student was a real chatterbox and didn't care whether others responded or not, so she just nodded softly and looked towards the school gate again.

High school students rushed out of the gate like a swarm of fish crossing the river.

She saw Zhou Qianling among them, with his hair tied up, wearing frameless glasses, a white sleeveless silk shirt and black suit pants, with a cold expression, which made people know at a glance: this is a serious teacher.

He forced the students around him to move half a body distance away.

The student was originally chatting and joking with Wu Mei. He glanced back casually, said, "Why is our teacher here too?" and quickly shut up. He moved and hid behind the thin pillars supporting the roof of the dining car.

Zhou Qianling got up and went downstairs when he heard the bell. The staff office was one minute closer to the school gate than the teaching building, so he was a little surprised when he saw the ponytail sticking out from behind the mutton noodle stall.

When she got closer and saw the face behind the pillar clearly, she criticized, "Zhang Hui, did you leave early again? The math teacher has already given me feedback three times."

Zhang Hui shuddered, then poked her head out with a playful smile, "No, teacher, I just left the classroom two minutes early, not leaving early."

Zhou Qianling looked at her with a stern face.

Zhang Hui scratched her head guiltily, "Okay, five minutes."

"Don't be complacent just because you're good at math. Look at your chemistry this time..."

Zhang Hui nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"Your mutton noodles are ready." Wu Meilai loaded the kimchi chopsticks and handed them to her. After receiving a grateful look, she watched her quickly slip back into the school.

Turning back, Zhou Qianling pushed his glasses and winked at her. They smiled at each other and then looked away.

"Boss, two bowls of mutton noodles."

After a while, four or five people gathered around the stall. Zhou Qianling retreated to the periphery and watched the stall owner's every move like a bored diner.

As the number of people gradually decreased, she ordered a bowl of noodles and sat at a small table nearby to savor it slowly.

When the meal was over, Wu Mei came to clean the table and sat down opposite Zhou Qianling, who hadn't finished eating yet. She asked, "Is it delicious now that it's cold?"

“Everything you cook is delicious.”

Wu Meilai shook off the goose bumps on her body.

Zhou Qianling finished his drink in a few gulps, bumped his toes against her shoes, and said with a smile, "I have evening study today, wait for me."

"Yeah." Wu Meilai agreed softly. When the alarm rang, she nudged Zhou Qianling and said, "It's one o'clock. Go back and take a nap."

Zhou Qianling glanced around.

The remaining vendors were packing up their stalls.

Leaning over and giving her a quick kiss, Zhou Qianling smiled and stood up, saying, "See you tonight then."

She said in a low voice, as if secretly, "Girlfriend."

Wu Meilai frowned and waited until her figure disappeared behind the school gate before she stood up, put the table and chairs in the front of the car, and drove the tricycle home.

Um...Zhou Qianling’s home.

When she opened the door, the smell of mutton noodles hit her nose. Wu Meilai frowned, opened the window, and then opened the balcony door. The smell was slightly reduced.

Looking towards the small park downstairs, Wu Meilai's eyes softened. When she first arrived in Yanzhou, she would occasionally sit on the swing in the park and look over here. If she was lucky, she would see Zhou Qianling coming out for some fresh air.

She didn't expect that she would have the opportunity to come up and sit, no, to live here.

Because the price of her original residence had increased and there were no suitable houses nearby, Zhou Qianling suggested that she move in.

--It's normal for couples to live together.

That's what she said.

So Wu Meilai reluctantly agreed. However, since she was a mobile vendor, she had to prepare the soup and ingredients at home, causing the place, which was once full of bookish atmosphere, to be dominated by the smell of mutton.

Still have to open a store.

Wu Meilai was thinking and looking into the distance. She saw the big words "xx Middle School" and realized that the straight-line distance from here to the school was actually very short.

The phone vibrated, Wu Mei took a look and hung up.

After entering the house, Wu Meilai threw her cell phone on the sofa, went into the kitchen and started preparing the soup base and side dishes for dinner. She was in a good mood and marinated a few pieces of beef, thinking that they would barbecue together when they came back in the evening.

After finishing, I returned to the living room, picked up my cell phone to check the time, and found that Liu Guiyan had called me more than ten times.

It is undeniable that she now feels inexplicably depressed and confused when she sees anyone or anything belonging to her original family, but she cannot really break away from that family.

She went to the balcony and closed the balcony door out of habit even though there was no one in the room.

The video call happened to come again and Wu Mei answered it.

"Little one, are you okay?" Liu Guiyan's hair was a little messy.

Wu Meilai felt even more depressed, "Yeah."

"Where are you?"

Wu Meilai was silent.

"Oh, your dad hit me again."

Wu Meilai clenched her hands, and after a while, she responded, "Oh."

"Don't look for a husband like your father." She began to sigh and groan, telling how she was disliked at home when she was little, and when she grew up she wanted to marry a poor man, thinking that he would love her, but in the end...

Wu Meilai felt a pain and congestion in her chest. She wanted to scream loudly to vent her feelings, but she didn't. She interrupted with a cold face, "If you have nothing else, I'll hang up."

"Slow down, little one. I called you to tell you that the guy from the Li family found someone to propose marriage to you today. That guy is really good. He earns 8,000 yuan a month and has a good personality. You..."

After hanging up the phone and looking at the two-minute call time in the chat box, Wu Meilai suddenly wanted to smash the phone hysterically.

She slowly squatted down against the fence, buried her head between her legs, and grabbed her hair tightly with both hands.

What's the use of telling me?

What's the use of telling me!

Wu Meilai felt a sore nose and all kinds of emotions flooded into her heart.

Guilt, heartache, anger, helplessness...

After a while, she got up, listlessly opened the balcony door, leaned back on the sofa, and stared at the light bulb on the ceiling in a daze.

Setting up stalls and having late-night barbecues all seem to have lost their meaning.

This is why she doesn't like answering Liu Guiyan's calls. No matter how good her mood is, it will all be gone after the call, and she will fall into deep self-blame and guilt: Why is she in pain while she is living a carefree life?

With the previous experience as a lesson, it was impossible for Wu Meilai to pick her up, let alone tell her her address.

She will not help Liu Guiyan anymore.