Chapter 22: Man's Dignity

"Aunt Yang, I'm sorry to my parents. I don't want to go back to disturb them. It's good for them to have another child. It gives them spiritual support. I just hope that my younger brother won't be like me and fail to live up to their expectations." I didn't know if I was comforting myself or answering Aunt Yang.

In short, I really can't muster up the courage to face my parents' new family of three.

Aunt Yang's persuasion was fruitless. In the end, she just expressed regret. Then she told me about Xu Zhengnan, "Xiaoyue, Zhengnan went abroad when he was in college. Now he's back home. I haven't seen him every day. I'm lonely at home. If you are free, come to my house for dinner and chat, okay?"

"Okay," I replied.

Xu Zhengnan’s father passed away two years ago. I didn’t know this in my previous life, and I only found out about it now after Aunt Yang told me.

If we keep in touch, I will definitely come back to pay my respects to him.

After chatting for a while, the call ended.

I felt a little lost until my phone started ringing. Then I came to my senses. It was Su Ying calling, so I rejected the call.

Within two minutes, Su Ying pulled me into a group chat. The group name was the name of my high school and class, and there were already more than ten people in it.

Su Ying: Then let’s go to the Lin’an Hotel. Our President Chen will treat us! @Chen Yixiao.

Li Qingqing: We haven’t seen each other for seven or eight years.

Lian Xue: Yes, but why are you suddenly organizing a class reunion? Our class hasn't had a gathering in many years.

Squad leader Wei Lai: Guess who initiated the party?

The group chat was in full swing, those familiar names matched the childish faces in my memory, and I was a little dazed.

After a while, I finally saw the answer.

The party was initiated by Shen Yixiao, so Su Ying said that he would treat them.

I was shocked. Shen Yixiao was a problem student in high school. He didn't have a good relationship with his classmates. Only Meng Zicheng and Liang Feng were his best friends.

How did he come up with the idea of ​​organizing a class reunion?

Shen Yixiao came out and said: Everyone who attends the class reunion can receive a gift worth ten thousand yuan.

Now everyone was excited, and all kinds of happy emoticons filled the screen. I couldn't see the content of the chat mixed in, and I just felt confused.

I don’t know who said: Where is Xu Daxueba? ? No one pulled him in?

When Xu Zhengnan was in high school, he was a well-known academic master who always ranked among the top students. In addition, he was handsome and had always been a popular figure in the school.

He and Shen Yixiao are like two extremes. Someone once initiated a vote to see who is the most handsome boy in the school.

The final result was nothing, because Shen Yixiao beat up the initiator because he was very unhappy about being criticized on the forum.

It seemed that no one had Xu Zhengnan’s contact information, but Su Ying tagged me: Xiaoyue, aren’t you and Xu Zhengnan childhood sweethearts? You should have his contact information, you invited him.

Before Shen Yixiao and I got together, Xu Zhengnan and I were the subject of gossip among other people because we had a very good relationship. It was difficult for other people to say a few words to Xu Zhengnan, but I went to and from school with him all day long, and we seemed to be very close.

But now everyone knows that I am Shen Yixiao's wife, and Su Ying's mention of "childhood sweethearts" was undoubtedly intended to embarrass Shen Yixiao and me.

Me: I don’t know. I haven’t contacted him for a long time.

Su Ying: Oh, the last time I saw you two attending an art exhibition together, I thought you two had always been in touch. Hehe, it seems I was overthinking.

Me: It was a chance encounter and we had no intersection. If you are very curious, why don’t you find a way to contact him.

Su Ying remained silent.

I called Shen Yixiao and he answered quickly.

"Why did you suddenly initiate a class reunion? And without telling me!" I asked irritably.

Because Shen Yixiao and I will definitely have a falling out soon, and showing off our affection in front of our old classmates now will only make our future falling out more topical.

Shen Yixiao's voice was very gentle, "Wife, I think you've been too depressed recently, so I want to invite old classmates to get together. Maybe you'll feel better when you meet them."

"I don't want to participate, and I don't want to see them, let's cancel it." I refused without even thinking about it.

Shen Yixiao refused. He tried to persuade me again and again, but I remained indifferent. In the end, we parted unhappily because of this matter. I hung up the phone in annoyance. Even if the class reunion was held as scheduled, I would not attend.

I exited the group chat directly without considering Shen Yixiao's face.

Shen Yixiao rushed back half an hour later. He looked helpless and coaxed me not to be angry. At the same time, he hoped that I could go to the class reunion with him.

The two of us were in a stalemate, and both of us looked unhappy.

"When you and I were together, we were surrounded by people who laughed at us. My idea was simple. I wanted them to see clearly that they were the ones with poor vision," Shen Yixiao's face gradually showed disappointment. He asked me, "Li Yue, you are not seventeen years old anymore. If you were the current you and met the seventeen-year-old me, would you look up to me? Would you still choose me?"

He really tried his best to resist his inferiority complex. He could only obtain self-identity from the affirmation and admiration of others.

The class reunion was just a show for him to slap those people in the face.

He wants to make me into a happy woman that everyone envies.

"Yixiao, we don't need to show our happiness to others, right?" I softened my tone and controlled my emotions with reason.

"I need it. You will never understand how important a man's dignity is!" Shen Yixiao was rarely emotional. He grabbed my hand, his eyes filled with reluctance. "You were a proud daughter of heaven, a good student with unlimited prospects. You are with me, and I have to endure no less than you. You have never understood my position, right?"

This is called putting the blame on someone else.

I don't want to fall out with him now because I'm afraid he will make preparations in advance to stop me from leaving, but what he said makes me feel particularly ridiculous.

I broke up with my family, gave up my studies, and lived with him in fear and without food to eat. In the end, I felt that I did not understand his situation and position enough.

"Think about it carefully." Shen Yixiao turned and left, leaving only this sentence.

I clenched my fists, feeling as angry as if I was about to explode.

At this time, Su Ying sent me a long screenshot. It was a small group that she and several classmates had created. Everyone in the group was discussing my withdrawal from the group. They speculated whether I had a conflict with Shen Yixiao or that our relationship was not good, so I didn't give Shen Yixiao face.

Su Ying deliberately cut off the avatar and nickname, and I only saw one person posted a text: Although Li Yue was better than Shen Yixiao at that time, now Shen Yixiao has become a big CEO, and she is a full-time housewife at home. She is not worthy of CEO Shen at all, okay? At this party, Shen Yixiao was willing to show his affection with her, so what was she dissatisfied with? I think she is just being hypocritical, afraid that we would say that she is not worthy of Shen Yixiao.