Chapter 35: The Eve of the Storm

There was a brief period, when Gu Yunsu woke up and learned that Wu Limei was also fine, she really felt that all the troubles on this trip were over.

But she soon realized that she was too naive.

It is worth mentioning that there was a small conflict between Wu Limei and Gu Yunsu due to their different work and rest schedules, which was never brought to light, and a small quarrel when Li Jianxiong was caught smoking secretly by his wife again.

The full-scale outbreak of the war began on the afternoon of the third day, triggered by a card game.

That day, Li Jianxiong and Wu Limei received an invitation from another middle-aged couple next door, so they booked a chess and card room and played mahjong.

Everything was fine at first. The middle-aged couple was talkative and enthusiastic. They chatted and laughed with Li and Wu and had a great time. Although they had the responsibility of taking care of their grandson, the well-behaved two-year-old boy sat on his grandparents' laps without crying or making any noise. He was very cute.

Everyone played cards, amused the children, and chatted from time to time. It was really relaxing.

But after a while, the little boy didn't know whether he was hungry or sleepy, he cried loudly and couldn't stop.

The middle-aged couple finally coaxed the child to sleep. They were busy apologizing to them and then, in a low voice, began to complain about the hardships of raising a child.

"My daughter and son-in-law are both working, and the child is taken care of by the elderly in both families in turn. When mother and child meet, they feel more unfamiliar than strangers," said the woman.

Her husband was cheerful: "What can we do? We can't just ignore it."

"Of course you don't care," the woman rolled her eyes, "You don't care about anything. Anyway, I'm the one who suffers. You just got a big fat grandson for nothing. Who wouldn't be happy?" She turned to Wu Limei and said, "Oh, sister, really, enjoy yourself while you can. Otherwise, once your children get married and have children, you'll be tied down again!"

Wu Limei smiled and said, "I can't take care of her. I can't even take care of myself." As she spoke, she lowered her head slightly, not knowing whether she was looking at the cards or at her belly.

Wu Limei's belly was never very big, but even so, her five-month pregnancy had already shown slightly and could not be hidden from others.

Li Jianxiong and Wu Limei did not deliberately hide the news, but because they were not high-profile people, they did not make a big announcement about the pregnancy news. Wu Limei seldom went out and saw few strangers around her, so she had no intuitive feeling about how others viewed her pregnancy.

This time at the resort, it can be said that it was the first time that Wu Limei was scrutinized by others after she became pregnant. There were all kinds of people in the village, looking at her with curiosity, disdain, and even sympathy. Wu Limei was so old that she knew the truth of "walking your own way and letting others see", but even so, she felt uncomfortable.

She didn't tell anyone, she just cursed elegantly in her heart and that was it.

At this moment, her words inevitably drew the attention of the couple opposite her to her belly.

"Sister, I have a question..." The woman hesitated, afraid of saying something wrong and offending others, but she was really curious. She glanced at Wu Limei's belly and asked jokingly, "Is this because I really ate too much or..."

Wu Limei smiled shyly and did not answer immediately.

The woman figured it out and smiled slyly: "Really? Yes——"

But she didn't finish her question.

Because Li Jianxiong suddenly interrupted and said, "Meimei, you are too fat. You should lose some weight!"

Wu Limei: ???

Everyone was stunned and looked at Li Jianxiong.

Li Jianxiong maintained a teasing yet somewhat embarrassed smile, and said with a frown, "Don't mention it. It's embarrassing to my wife."

As long as there is determination, everyone can be a great performer.

Afterwards, Li Jianxiong gave the reason: "I don't know them well, why should I tell them the truth?"

But you won't not tell the truth just because you ate a chicken roll yesterday. You would lie just because you ate shit yesterday and you know eating shit is wrong and others will look at you differently.

So what does Li Jianxiong mean? He is afraid of other people's strange looks because he also thinks it is ridiculous, improper and unreasonable for two middle-aged people to get pregnant and have a child, right?

But why weren’t you afraid when you first decided to have the baby?

Wu Limei complained to her daughter: "Why are you so afraid to admit this? You even lied to others and said that I was fat?"

Gu Yunsu had earlier sent her novel of tens of thousands of words to an editor friend, and just now she was catching up with the reply. While chatting, she took the time to comfort Wu Limei, hoping to make a big deal out of a small matter, and joked, "So you're just mad that he said you were fat."

"Of course not!" Wu Limei was filled with righteous indignation, "I am angry that he did not take responsibility and dared not admit it!"

"But it is possible that he is just too lazy to explain. As he said, he is not familiar with it, so why bother to explain it?" Gu Yunsu analyzed.

Wu Limei: "Impossible! You didn't see his expression. He is just guilty and trying to cover up! Don't I know him?!"

The editor's reply was that the novel's strengths and weaknesses were very obvious. Its strengths were that the theme was profound and the writing was good; its weaknesses were that the plot was not exciting enough, the story was not tight enough, and the language was not light enough. In short... it was not easy to read.

Gu Yunsu actually had an idea in her mind. She had thought about what she was writing and what kind of feedback she would get countless times. She was not surprised by the editor's answer. She just wanted to know: "Putting aside market factors such as click-through rate, just talking about the quality of the text, do you think it's ok?"

Wu Limei waited angrily for her daughter's response. Gu Yunsu sent a message, raised her head and met her mother's eyes, and quickly opened her mouth to speak: "Didn't you advise me the day before yesterday that when two people are together, they have to constantly compromise and give in. If you love him, you have to tolerate him. How come you have forgotten all this now?"

"How can it be the same?" Wu Limei was even more indignant. "Tolerating his minor flaws is just a small mistake. If it's wrong in principle, it's wrong. How can we give in?"

The phone vibrated again, and Gu Yunsu clicked on it and saw the editor’s reply: “It’s OK, but to be honest, if no one reads it, what’s the point of writing it?”

The editor is a really good person, so she is willing to tell the truth at the risk of upsetting others. Gu Yunsu understands this, but it still doesn't make her really indifferent.

What she finds sad is that the market doesn’t buy into many of the things she cares about and thinks are important, and she may not be able to do what the market approves of. An idealist is bound to go against the reality of the world. If she goes forward, she will be a martyr, and if she goes backward, she will be a betrayer. There is really no good way for good people to walk.

Gu Yunsu put his phone aside, feeling a little annoyed and a little impatient with Wu Limei's attitude: "But to be honest, didn't you know what kind of person he is before you got married?"

When people are unhappy, they often don't carefully analyze the specific reasons. Unhappiness in adults is a continuous state, but before a volcano erupts, it must have been brewing inside the mountain for a long, long time.

Maybe it was the poor physical condition caused by not getting enough rest, or maybe it was the frequent friction with Wu Limei recently, or maybe it was that she could never express her dissatisfaction with Xu Wenbin, or maybe... Gu Yunsu might not even realize it herself, but there was another thing that began to make her uneasy and at a loss as to what to do.

It's actually a very small thing.

When the family finished soaking in the hot spring and were preparing to go for dinner, on the way to the locker room, Gu Yunsu accidentally slipped, fell backwards, and fell into Li Yan's arms.

She was wearing a swimsuit and the man held her back with his hands.

There were no unexpected events, and the other person's hand did not stay on her for even a second, but the look in his eyes was wrong. When their eyes met, Gu Yunsu, who had been ambiguous with him more than once, could clearly feel the abnormality in the other person's eyes. It was not just shyness. There was no point in deceiving herself.

At times like this, she wished she could find someone to talk to and ease her inner anxiety, instead of sitting here and comforting the stubborn Wu Limei.

Gu Yunsu asked again: "Didn't I persuade you at first? Didn't you think about the pros and cons? Who was it that insisted on having this child? Now you can't stand such a small thing?"

"Can't I just talk about it?!" Wu Limei's voice gradually rose, and she glared at Gu Yunsu, "I can only talk to you!"

"I know," Gu Yunsu felt sorry for her mother again and tried to comfort her calmly, "I want to say that since you want to have this child, no matter what Li Jianxiong says or how he reacts, just ignore him."

"Is this my child?" Wu Limei was dissatisfied again, "He is the father of the child! How can I ignore him?"

So why was Gu Yunsu too lazy to persuade the other party to argue? Because in the end, for some reason, the one who persuaded the other party would always be the one to argue, but she just wanted to shut up. There were so many questions, and she didn't know what was right and what was wrong. How difficult it was to persuade an adult who already had another set of values.

Sometimes an indifferent person may just be tired.

The phone rang. It was Xu Wenbin. Gu Yunsu didn't answer and hung up.

She then said to Wu Limei: "Anyway, you made the decision yourself, and you can't change anything now. You can only accept it and relax. Otherwise, you will suffer, Li Jianxiong will suffer, and we will all suffer."

Wu Limei didn't like it: "Why is it so difficult for you to say something nice? How did I comfort you when you had a problem? And you treat me like this in return?"

Gu Yunsu thought that it was because she listened to advice. She would think about it before refutation to see if it was really true, instead of just saying "I'm wrong not to listen to you" out of conditioned reflex.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the two people have different thinking patterns. Wu Limei pays more attention to emotions, and she seeks resonance and comfort; but Gu Yunsu pays more attention to logic and wants to provide solutions to problems. What you get is not what you ask for, no wonder you can't agree.

But at this moment, the two of them had no time to think about this level. They were all controlled by their emotions, and venting was more important than communication.

Gu Yunsu: "How did I treat you? Didn't I just tell you a few truths?"

"Oh, the truth?" Wu Limei sneered, "It's because of your dead look that you will never have friends and will never be able to fall in love!"

These words touched Gu Yunsu's pain point.