Chapter 78 One Egg "Divorce, we must divorce! A man with only one egg..."

Li Rou, carrying her daughter Qian Qian, was escorted into the house by her mother, sister-in-law, second brother, and second sister-in-law. Zhong Ying did not follow them in; instead, she stood at the door and spoke to the concerned people about the water turbine.

When everyone heard that the production of the water turbines at the agricultural machinery factory would be scheduled for more than half a year later, on the one hand, they were more confident about building the hydroelectric power station, because so many production teams were building it and the agricultural machinery factory was already in short supply; on the other hand, they felt that waiting for six or seven months for the machines was too long and would cause delays.

"Does it really have to wait that long? If we calculate it this way, even if we get the machine, it'll probably coincide with the busy farming season."

"Yes, we definitely can't let the construction of the hydroelectric power station delay the wheat harvest. If that happens, the hydroelectric power station will have to be postponed until the off-season. Will that be enough time? Yu, Han, and Yang, those educated youths, can only stay in our production team for a year..."

"So, should we order this machine or not? If we do, we'd better hurry, or we'll have to wait in line again..."

The people in the Tonggan production team were all talking at once, pointing out all the points that Zhong Ying was struggling with and worried about, which was also the reason why she couldn't make a decision on the spot at the supply and marketing cooperative.

Yu Jing pondered for a moment, then spoke up, “We still need to order the machine, but we can make a wooden water turbine for now and replace it with the one from the agricultural machinery factory.”

Her words immediately calmed everyone down, like a stabilizing force.

Li Ming's brow was still furrowed, worried about his daughter who had just returned. He remained standing outside, overseeing the overall situation. "Alright, Yingni'er, make another trip tomorrow and get the machine ordered as soon as possible."

Zhong Ying responded.

"The water turbine isn't urgent. Let me go back and draw up some blueprints first," Yu Jing said, considerately leaving the time for the Li family to resolve their household affairs.

Yu Jing is intelligent and quick-witted. It is unusual for a married woman to suddenly bring her daughter back to her parents' home, let alone for Zhong Ying to bring them back. Zhong Ying went to the county town on official business, but she suddenly brought the Li family mother and daughter back. Something must have happened, and it must be something very serious.

Yu Jing tugged at Han Yanqun's arm, "Then we educated youths will go back to the educated youth settlement first. We still need to study the wooden water turbine."

With her taking the lead, the others weren't oblivious either. Even the curious Hu Mo, who seemed to have bugs crawling in his stomach, followed the others and left. There were no secrets in the production team; they would find out sooner or later why Li Rou had suddenly returned home.

Li Ming and Li Gang turned around and hurriedly went into their home.

Zhong Ying lagged behind and called out to Yao Dongxiu, "Sister-in-law Nie, can I trouble you with something?"

Yao Dongxiu stopped in her tracks as she and her mother-in-law were asking each other questions and leaving.

After a while, Yao Dongxiu, who had chatted with Li Rou alone for a while, looked at the girl and didn't know what to say.

Li Rou was embarrassed and stammered, not knowing what to say, "Sister-in-law..."

Qian Qian was pulled along to play by her peers Li Xiuqing and Li Guangfu. The eldest, Li Xiuyun, looked at her younger brother Guangzong while also glancing at her other younger siblings. The children's faces were filled with pure joy.

Yao Dongxiu could only sigh and go back into the house with Li Rou.

Upon seeing the two enter, everyone in the room turned to look at them, including Zhong Ying. She had specifically asked Yao Dongxiu and Li Rou to exchange information. Didn't Zhong Haishen say he had a problem? Yao Dongxiu was studying medicine; perhaps she could get some information from Li Rou, his bedmate who knew him best.

Li Rou looked like she wanted to disappear into the ground. Yao Dongxiu met Li Ming's gaze directly. "Sigh, Captain, this is really... How come it took until today to discover that a man only has one testicle..."

This is why Yao Dongxiu was speechless. The truth was so outrageous that if Li Rou had known a little more, she would have noticed something was wrong when her man took off his pants, instead of being deceived for so many years and thinking it was her own problem.

At the same time, Yao Dongxiu felt it was reasonable. Nowadays, women are ashamed to talk about such things. Who would really observe and examine that area? And when they do that, it's always in the dark. I'm afraid many women have had quite a few children, but they still don't really understand their own men's bodies.

Yao Dongxiu couldn't help but sigh again. She finished her task and left in time, after all, this was a family matter of the Li family. Besides, she wanted to hurry home and take off her two sons' pants. These two boys must have grown up by now, right?

After Yao Dongxiu left, the main room of the Li family fell silent, and everyone was still in shock.

A man, one egg? Shouldn't a man have two eggs?

Every man surnamed Li present was thinking the same thing: how could Li Rou have been kept in the dark for so many years when they had known the "common sense" of eating, drinking, and defecating since they were young?

Liu Hongyan felt as if her heart was being torn apart. She held onto Li Rou's hand tightly, tears streaming down her face. "It's all my fault. It's all my fault for not explaining everything to you clearly back then..."

Li Rou simply gripped her mother's hand tightly and shook her head.

Tian Mei and Nie Jinfeng were secretly shocked. They never expected that their sister-in-law would be ruined for so many years because of this. If it were them... they would never have paid attention to anything about one or two eggs.

Zhong Ying sighed deeply, just like Yao Dongxiu had earlier, and shook her head at Li Linshi: "Our country's sex education..."

"It's still my fault," Li Ming said heavily, a sense of vicissitude and old age suddenly appearing on his face.

Li Ming was both open-minded and traditional. He had the foresight to value his children's education, but he also traditionally cared about the separation of men and women. All his children were taught this way: there is a difference between men and women, and they should not look at the opposite sex's body indiscriminately. As a result, his siblings were all exceptionally honest and conservative in this regard, and none of them were as unruly as Fengshou from Liu Qiang's family.

Unexpectedly, this turned out to harm his own daughter.

Li Ming was filled with frustration. Although he couldn't dote on his daughter as much as Zhong Lao Er, he still had many sons but only one daughter, Li Rou, who held a certain weight in his heart.

"Rou Nier, what are your thoughts now? Do you still want to be with him?" Li Ming asked heavily.

Li Gang was the first to ask in surprise, "Dad?"

What do you mean by "Do you still want to be with him?" But does that mean we have to break up? That would be so embarrassing!

Unexpectedly, his sister really thought that way. Li Rou calmly said, "No, I want a divorce."

Since getting married, Li Rou has had few happy days, as if she is surrounded by criticism and negative emotions every day.

Li Gangshi was immediately shocked and turned to look at Li Rou. Did she know what she was saying? Divorce? This would become the talk of the entire production team!

Everyone else in the room was taken aback by the two words Li Rou uttered.

Li Rongshi was startled, but quickly sided with his sister, "Divorce! We must divorce! What use is a man who only has one testicle!"

Zhong Ying couldn't help but give her second brother an approving look, and then chimed in, "I also support my sister's divorce. That whole family has problems; they deliberately tricked their disabled son into getting a wife!"

Li Ming took out his pipe and sighed, "Then let's get a divorce."

Liu Hongyan felt sorry for her daughter, "Come home and live with your parents from now on..."

“Divorce isn’t that easy. I’ve never heard of a girl who couldn’t handle a divorce,” Li Gangshi tried to persuade everyone to reconsider. “Besides, the problem lies with Qian Haishen. He definitely doesn’t want a divorce. Not only would it sound bad to others, but it would also be difficult for him to find another one—”

Li Gangshi narrowly managed to swallow back the words "was deceived".

“It’s alright, I’ll take care of your divorce,” Zhong Ying said, stepping forward. “As the women’s team leader of our production team, I’ll negotiate with the local women’s federation.”

With tears in her eyes, Liu Hongyan looked at her youngest daughter-in-law, "Yingni... our whole family wants to thank you."

Li Gang wanted to say something more, but seeing that his family had reached a consensus, wouldn't it be wrong for him to stand up and object at this point? So he could only shut his mouth again.

"So what if it's embarrassing? At least act like an older brother." Li Gangshi rubbed his face and took a deep breath. "Then Rou'er can stay at home for now. I'll have Xiuyun and Xiuqing move back from the side room to my room and make room for you and your daughter."

“Brother, it’s not right for your whole family to live in one room,” Li Rongshi said. “Let my sister come and live with me. I just cleaned out an empty room in my house.”

Tian Mei, who had been silent all along, spoke up, "No, that room was prepared for Jin Feng to give birth in. Let my sister stay at home instead..."

Watching her brother and sister-in-law chatter away, Li Rou felt a mix of emotions. For a moment, she wondered if she should just hold back and not go home and cause her family so much trouble...

"Come live with me."

Zhong Ying said, "I also have empty rooms there."

Countless married women endure terrible marriages not only because of differing values, but also because of practical issues. They have nowhere to go in their parents' homes, so they can only swallow their anger and resentment.

When Zhong Ying stepped in to defuse the situation, everyone suddenly realized, "That's right, the house next door was originally built for Li Linshi, and now only Zhong Ying lives there. It's good that Li Rou brought Qian Qian to live there so that she can keep her company."

Her wandering heart settled down again. Li Rou looked at Zhong Ying and kept saying, "Thank you, thank you..."

Besides saying thank you, she really didn't know what else to say.

This was nothing more than a small favor for Zhong Ying. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I tell the other women in the production team about my sister's situation? So that they can all go back and remind their daughters a little more."

When Li Gang was about to reprimand her, Li Rou agreed first.

“Go ahead and tell me, you’ll find out sooner or later anyway,” Li Rou smiled with relief, her tone gentle. “Take my mistake as a warning, and don’t be as stupid as I was.”

That evening, the families in Tonggan Production Team closed their doors to talk. Those with daughters used the story of Li Rou to tell the girls some obscure knowledge about men. Those with sons were checking themselves, wondering if they had all the right features and if they were missing any.

Hearing the creak of the door opening, Deng Xia quickly shoved Zhong Chunsheng, "Hurry up, grab the candles and go check! If you don't go, who will? Do you think I should go? He's a grown man, after all!"

Left with no other option, Zhong Chunsheng opened the door and went out.

Zhong Xin had just pulled down his pants in the outhouse when his father walked in right after him, startling him. His urge to urinate vanished, and he asked in his distorted, hoarse voice, "Dad?"

At first, Zhong Xin thought it was just a coincidence that he and his father went to the outhouse at the same time, but soon his gaze fell on the candle burning in Zhong Chunsheng's hand, and he suddenly became suspicious. When had anyone ever lit a candle in the outhouse? This was such a waste.

Old Zhong, who was sent to check on his son's development, felt embarrassed, but still took a careful look by candlelight and then felt relieved. His wife, too, was prone to believing everything she heard; were men with only one testicle rare, or were normal men more common?

On the other side, Li Linshi was pushed down onto the bed. His light blue shirt collar was visible through his gray V-neck cardigan, and he was also neatly tied with a black tie. However, his matching trousers had been forcibly pulled down halfway. He raised his hand to cover his eyes to avoid facing the situation, unaware that this only made him look more erotic and vulnerable.

Zhong Ying manually covered her face, shifting her position left and right, and couldn't help but mutter in puzzlement, "Whether it's only on one side or not, it looks weird, doesn't it? So which side does Qian Haishen only have?"

Li Lin suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling the overly curious person towards him.

With a gentle flick of his slender fingers, he hooked the red string around Zhong Ying's neck. The small wooden pendant hanging from it, still warm from her body, emerged from her clothes, echoing the red hair tie on Li Linshi's pale wrist, as if they were tokens of their love exchanged.

"Don't even think about it." Li Linshi narrowed his eyes, his tone unfriendly. "Thinking about other men while wearing my memorial tablet?"

Zhong Ying wasn't frightened at all. She simply pressed herself against Li Linshi's chest and smiled at him, "Can't you even think about it?"

Li Linshi also laughed, "No."

The next afternoon, Qian Haishen rushed to the Tonggan production team alone, humbled himself and wanted to take Li Rou and her daughter back home.

At the same time, Zhong Ying and Deng Xia also arrived at the entrance of the Women's Federation in the county town.

Deng Xia is a rural woman who has lived in the countryside for most of her life. When she first came to the county town, she was inevitably a little timid.

Zhong Ying noticed her mother's unease, so she stopped in her tracks.

“In ancient times, fathers and sons went to war together,” Zhong Ying said, holding her mother’s hand to give her strength. “Now, with us two here, we’ll definitely show that the Qian family that the women of our Tonggan Production Team are not to be trifled with!”

Deng Xia's fighting spirit ignited instantly in her eyes, "Yes!"

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Author's Note: Our side has dispatched two super-strong combat forces from the Tonggan Production Team.