Chapter 120 The Old Man's Jealousy (Part 2)
Zhou Xiye looked at the person leaning close to him and said, "No, after we eat, we'll go see Dad and then go to the mall to buy some things."
Jiang Zhizhi smiled and replied, "Okay."
Standing with her hands behind her back, watching Zhou Xiye cook, she glanced around from time to time. In the neighboring houses on both sides, it was all women cooking, and the men at home didn't know how to cook. She leaned over again and said, "Zhou Xiye, is there a lot of male chauvinism here? Men aren't allowed in the kitchen."
Zhou Xiye nodded: "It is indeed more serious here, but you have new ideas, why would you care about this?"
Jiang Zhizhi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized that Zhou Xiye was responding to her calling him an old stubborn man last night!
She couldn't help but giggle and nudged his arm, saying, "Zhou Xiye, men shouldn't hold grudges."
After having breakfast, the two went to the hospital to visit Jiang Zhenhua.
In the ward, only Jiang Zhenhua and Song Wanying remained.
Seeing Zhou Xiye and Jiang Zhizhi arrive, Jiang Zhenhua quickly asked Song Wanying to help him sit up: "Xiye, you're here? If you're busy, you don't need to come over. I'm much better now."
Then, looking at Jiang Zhizhi, he asked, "Is Zhizhi's injury any better?"
Before Zhou Xiye could speak, Jiang Zhizhi smiled and said, "I'm much better. I'll be fully recovered in a few more days."
Zhou Xiye walked to the bedside: "Dad, how are you? Does your wound still hurt? Has the doctor said when you can be discharged?"
Jiang Zhenhua sighed: "This injury is quite serious. I don't even dare to take a deep breath. The doctor said I need to be observed for a few more days."
Zhou Xiye nodded: "It's nothing serious. Just stay in the hospital and rest. If there are any problems, you can let the doctor know in time."
After exchanging a few words about their illnesses, we suddenly ran out of things to talk about.
Jiang Zhenhua was silent for a moment, then looked up at Song Wanying: "Take Zhizhi to buy some fruit and see what she wants to eat?"
Jiang Zhizhi understood that Jiang Zhenhua had something to say to Zhou Xiye. After all, what kind of fruit could the supply and marketing cooperative possibly have? Besides apples and pears, they were all naturally grown, and although they didn't look good, they tasted great.
Even though she didn't want to talk to Song Wanying, she still obediently followed Song Wanying out, giving the two of them some space to talk.
After Jiang Zhizhi and the others left the ward, Jiang Zhenhua looked up at Zhou Xiye and said, "Zhizhi is sometimes spoiled, but she is still very sensible. We really let her down and misunderstood her a lot because of Sun Xiaoyue's matter."
Zhou Xiye still had some reservations about this matter: "Dad, you've dedicated most of your life to revolutionary work, and you've been quite hasty in this matter. Zhizhi is the child you raised; you should know her character very well. If she had been bad since childhood, would you have continued to spoil her?"
"Does your pampering of her mean she's kind-hearted by nature, and that while she might have a few minor tantrums occasionally, they're harmless?"
Jiang Zhenhua nodded unconsciously: "That's right. Although Zhizhi has been rebellious for a few years, she won't do anything too outrageous."
Zhou Xiye frowned: "So, after Sun Xiaoyue got home, why did you immediately question and deny her? You were wrong about the child. But you subconsciously pushed these mistakes onto Zhizhi, and even let those rumors fly around, without ever thinking of clarifying things for her."
Is this fair to her?
Jiang Zhenhua opened his mouth, but really didn't know what to say.
Back then, Sun Xiaoyue said that Jiang Zhizhi had ganged up with the other kids in the compound to bully and isolate her, and they believed her.
Sun Xiaoyue said that Jiang Zhizhi was dating some scoundrel and didn't come home at night, and they believed it.
They never bothered to verify these things, nor did they ever think to find out the truth or help Jiang Zhizhi clear her name.
Perhaps in their subconscious, if Jiang Zhizhi were a little worse, they could feel at ease being disappointed in her and then give all their love to Sun Xiaoyue.
Jiang Zhenhua wiped his face and smiled bitterly: "Xi Ye, you're right. I said I would keep Zhizhi at home, but I never really cared about her."
Zhou Xiye restrained his emotions: "It's just human nature. I just hope that we can understand and be more tolerant of Zhizhi in the future. Also, you have a responsibility to help Zhizhi clarify those rumors."
"Instead of letting those rumors exist and be used to attack Zhizhi from time to time."
Jiang Zhenhua nodded with an awkward smile: "I will, Xiye. I know it's a bit late for me to say this. Before, I did think that I would treat Zhizhi well, but leave the property in Beijing to Xiaoyue. But now, I want to leave the property in Beijing to Zhizhi. I'll give you the deed, and you can give it to Zhizhi later. At this critical juncture, if I give it to her, she definitely won't want it."
Zhou Xiye refused: "I won't make this decision for her; you should give it to her yourself."
After a moment of silence, Jiang Zhenhua sighed heavily: "Alright."
After that, neither of them spoke. Jiang Zhenhua looked up at Zhou Xiye, who was standing with his back to the light. The light enveloped him, and his young face was hidden in the light, so his expression could not be seen, but he could feel a pressing aura.
Upright as a pine tree and with the spirit of bamboo, pure and resolute, he is someone worthy of trust.
I felt a little comforted, at least Zhizhi married the right person.
...
Jiang Zhizhi followed Song Wanying out, and neither of them spoke a word the whole way.
Jiang Zhizhi had nothing to say, while Song Wanying didn't know what to say.
Only after learning that Sun Xiaoyue was not his biological daughter did he begin to consider whether he had been too harsh on Jiang Zhizhi. He also thought about Jiang Zhizhi's childhood and felt even more guilty.
Once they arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative, Song Wanying finally spoke: "Zhizhi, do you want an apple or a pear?"
Jiang Zhizhi had no objections: "Either is fine."
Song Wanying silently went to buy two catties of apples. After leaving the supply and marketing cooperative, she finally couldn't hold back and stopped to look at Jiang Zhizhi with red eyes: "Zhizhi, I made a mistake before. I only wanted to make up for Xiaoyue and neglected you, which also hurt you."
Jiang Zhizhi smiled nonchalantly: "It's all in the past, let's not talk about it anymore."
Song Wanying knew that Jiang Zhizhi was unwilling to forgive her: "Zhizhi, I know that apologizing can't undo what happened before. In the future, as long as you are still willing to call me Mom, I will definitely treat you well."
Jiang Zhizhi still didn't want to forgive Song Wanying, and said indifferently, "Let's go..."
As they walked toward the hospital, Song Wanying had no choice but to follow.
The two returned to the ward in silence.
Jiang Zhizhi gave Jiang Zhenhua a few words of advice, telling him to take good care of himself and that she would come to see him whenever she had time.
Only then did he leave the ward with Zhou Xiye.
As soon as they left the hospital, Jiang Zhizhi couldn't wait to ask Zhou Xiye, "What did my dad say to you when he asked you to stay?"
Zhou Xiye's eyes held a hint of gentleness: "He told me some things about your childhood."
Jiang Zhizhi clearly didn't believe it: "This is it? Why did you need to send me away? I thought I was going to tell you some clues about my background. I'm very curious about that."
Although she didn't crave family affection, she was curious about what exactly happened back then and who the original owner's biological parents were.
Zhou Xiye shook his head: "He didn't mention that. After all, even Dad doesn't know about what happened back then. He'll look into it once he's better."
Jiang Zhizhi waved her hand: "Never mind, these things aren't that important."
...
Jiang Zhizhi didn't know what they were going to buy at the department store. Zhou Xiye led her straight to the fabric counter. Without asking Jiang Zhizhi's opinion, he directly told the salesperson, "We need three meters of wool fabric, three meters of polyester fabric, and two meters of pure cotton fabric."
After saying that, he said to Jiang Zhizhi, "Look at the color, cotton cloth can be used to make cotton-padded jackets."
Jiang Zhizhi was stunned for a while. She learned from Yang Fengmei that at this time, each person only had 11.5 meters of cloth ration coupons per year, so the whole family had to be very frugal when making clothes.
If you want higher-quality raw materials, you'll have to pay extra.
Zhou Xiye wants to buy more than ten meters at once; is he going to starve?
She quickly waved her hand, saying, "I have clothes, I don't need to buy so many."
Seeing that Jiang Zhizhi was a delicate and tender young girl, and then looking at Zhou Xiye, whose face was slightly dark and whose eyes had some wrinkles, the waiter guessed that this soldier, who was quite old, had found a young and beautiful wife and was spoiling her rotten.
She smiled and said, "You're getting married, right? Then you'll need to make several nice outfits for the newlyweds. And you'll need clothes for all four seasons, symbolizing that everything is new and that the couple's life will get better and better."
Jiang Zhizhi didn't know if there was really such a saying, but she was still quite happy to hear the other person say the words "young couple": "Really? Then I'll choose."
There are few colors to choose from for wool fabric, with gray and blue being the most common. After thinking for a while, Jiang Zhizhi chose an uncommon pea green and black, white for polyester fabric, and a light yellow for cotton fabric.
After the fabric was torn up, the place next door was where clothes were made.
There were four or five clothing designs posted on the wall. Jiang Zhizhi looked at them, but none of them were what she wanted. She tried to communicate with the tailor, but found that the tailor, who was wearing reading glasses, was even more stubborn than her and had his own ideas.
Unable to communicate effectively, Jiang Zhizhi gave up hope and let her master handle things as he saw fit.
Leaving the tailor shop, Jiang Zhizhi was still very happy: "It's almost noon, let's go home."
Zhou Xiye looked around, unsure what else the young lady liked: "Is there anything else you'd like to buy?"
Jiang Zhizhi immediately shook her head: "No, no, spending money like that is too wasteful."
Looking at her distressed expression, Zhou Xiye said, "Don't you know that you also receive food coupons every month?"
Jiang Zhizhi was stunned for a moment: "What?"
The original owner's memories never concerned these things; Song Wanying managed the household's grain and oil supplies, apparently on a per-person basis.
She thought that all of this would be gone after she got married, since she didn't even have a job.
Zhou Xiye didn't think much of it, and it was normal that Jiang Zhizhi didn't know: "After you get the marriage certificate, your household registration and food ration will be automatically transferred to me, and your food rations, oil coupons, meat coupons, and even cloth coupons will all be issued from the army."
"Your ration book hasn't been issued yet, so it's temporarily in my ration book. As for the coupons, you can collect them on the first of each month."
Jiang Zhizhi then remembered that she was a registered resident with a commodity grain household registration. Not having a job meant she didn't have money, but she would still receive food and clothing.
This is egalitarianism, where one can enjoy the fruits of labor without working.
...
When they came out of the department store, Jiang Zhizhi was still distracted and almost bumped into someone. Luckily, Zhou Xiye reacted quickly, put his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her aside.
The young man who almost bumped into her was also startled and quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
Jiang Zhizhi snapped out of her daze and looked at the young man in front of her. She was amazed; she hadn't expected there to be such a handsome boy in Ganbei.
At seventeen or eighteen years old, with fair skin, delicate features, and a clean, sunny, youthful aura.
Zhou Xiye replied that it was nothing, and then glanced down to see Jiang Zhizhi staring at the boy with amazement in her eyes. He took a step forward without making a sound, blocking Jiang Zhizhi's view, and said to the boy again, "It's nothing, you can go now."
The boy smiled brightly and waved his hand: "I'm really sorry, I'll be more careful next time."
As he spoke, he ran towards the department store. His white shirt billowed in the wind, his trousers were a bit short, and he wore a pair of clean white sneakers. He exuded a very well-mannered and sunny aura.
Jiang Zhizhi couldn't help but turn around and look at the boy's back, then nudged Zhou Xiye: "There are such handsome boys in the city, and their skin is so fair."
Zhou Xiye didn't really like this topic: "What do you want to eat for lunch?"
Jiang Zhizhi had no idea that her words had hurt Zhou Xiye twice, because of his age and skin color.
Still remarking, "There's a strange sense of familiarity about this place, don't you feel it too?"
Zhou Xiye's voice lowered slightly: "No."
Jiang Zhizhi didn't know where this inexplicable sense of familiarity came from. In the end, she concluded that it must be because the other person was good-looking, so she felt close to him!
It wasn't until they got home that Jiang Zhizhi realized Zhou Xiye had been unusually silent the whole way.
Thinking back, it seems that he has been silent ever since he met that boy.
Jiang Zhizhi sat on the edge of the bed, smiling as she watched Zhou Xiye bring her water to wash her hands, and then watched him pour out the water after washing his hands.
When he came back in, Jiang Zhizhi suddenly cried out in pain, frowning and clutching her right shoulder.
Zhou Xiye hurried over: "What happened? Did you aggravate your wound?"
Jiang Zhizhi's face scrunched up: "I don't know, the wound hurts so much."
Zhou Xiye hesitated for a moment: "Take off your coat, let me take a look at your wound."
Jiang Zhizhi frowned: "It hurts so much, I can't move my arm."
Zhou Xiye could only sit down next to her. When he reached out to help her unbutton her clothes, Jiang Zhizhi grabbed his wrist and pressed it tightly to her chest.
It's soft and fluffy, like a ball of fire exploding in your palm.
Jiang Zhizhi: "..."
He pressed the wrong spot!
Oh well, let's just go with the flow and try to cheer up this unhappy man.
Zhou Xiye swallowed hard, then spoke again, his voice slightly hoarse: "Let go."
Jiang Zhizhi pressed his hand down hard, her face flushed red, but she looked at him with a smile in her eyes: "No, I want you to feel my heartbeat. Don't you feel how fast it beats? Whenever you get close to me, I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my chest."
Do you know what this means?
Zhou Xiye was no longer able to think; the softness of her hands stirred a desire in him for the first time.
Jiang Zhizhi smiled and said, "That means I like you."
Zhou Xiye lowered his eyes to meet hers; her amber pupils, like a mesmerizing kaleidoscope, made him want to succumb to them.
I couldn't help but lean down...
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