Today's dinner was eaten in silence. As sensitive as Qiao An was, she of course noticed the unusual atmosphere in the house. She ate in silence and did not dare to say a word.

After the meal, Xu Haizhou took the initiative to do the dishes. Qiao Lu held Qiao An and sat by the brazier, warming herself by the fire and cuddling with her son.

"Dad is angry, An An, go and comfort him."

The boy curled up in Qiao Lu's arms, staring at the busy figure at the water pump: "Mom, I'm scared."

"Why are you scared?" Qiao Lu stroked his chin.

"If Dad gets angry, will he hit people?" Qiao An turned to look at her.

Qiao Lu curled her lips and said, "No, you didn't provoke him, why would he hit you?"

"Then why doesn't mommy comfort daddy?"

Qiao Lu: “…”

Sometimes it is not a good thing for a son to be too smart.

Ahem——

She is afraid of embarrassment... Although she has been married to Xu Haizhou for two months and has done everything she should do, they have only been together for a short time and she has never seen him angry. Today's letter is really too embarrassing. What if Xu Haizhou is angry because of her?

So I wanted my son to go over and sell some cute things to please him.

At Qiao Lu's instigation, little Qiao An walked towards Xu Haizhou with hesitant steps.

In the coldest months of winter, the temperature is so low that no matter how thick your clothes are, you can never feel warm outdoors.

Running from the room to the yard, Qiao An's face was cold from the wind. She ran to Xu Haizhou and stood behind him. She took her little hand out of her sleeve, stretched out her index finger and poked his arm carefully.

"Dad... Dad?" She poked him and tilted her head to observe his expression.

"Huh? What's wrong, An An?" Xu Haizhou didn't turn around, but washed the dishes faster. The sooner he finished washing the dishes, the sooner he could go back to the house and warm himself by the fire.

"Dad, Dad, don't be angry. An An is scared."

Xu Haizhou was confused by what he said, and glanced at him with amusement: "Dad is not angry, An An, what are you talking about?"

"My mom and I both think you're angry, but I don't want Dad to be angry." He hasn't spoken a word since the start of the meal. If this isn't anger, then what is it?

He doesn't want to talk when he's unhappy, just like his dad!

"I'm not angry, and I'm not angry with An An, so why should you be afraid of me?" If it weren't for the fact that Xiwan Teng didn't take action, Xu Haizhou really wanted to rub his head.

Why are the words coming out of that little mouth so interesting?

The breeze blew, making the boy's cheeks red, like a ripe apple. He squatted quietly beside Xu Haizhou, his dense eyelashes trembling in the wind, so obedient, so obedient, the milky fragrance on his body could be smelled through the wind.

He spoke in a baby voice but with a very serious expression: "Because when many people are angry, they will curse and hit others. I don't think my father would do that, but I am also afraid."

He was so afraid of being beaten. Every time he saw his brothers and sisters in the yard being beaten by their parents, he felt sorry for them!

"No, Daddy will never hit An An. An An is so well behaved, how could I bear to do that..." She kissed him on the cheek lovingly, making the little guy smile embarrassedly and bite his lower lip.

It’s good that he is not angry. If he is not angry, he will not be afraid of his father anymore.

She blinked her big eyes and laughed crisply, then happily put her hand into the basin: "Dad, I want to wash with you!"

"Thank you, son."

An adult and a child were washing dishes in the yard, and Qiao Lu was leaning against the door watching them. It was a very heartwarming scene.

The water was specially boiled by Qiao Lu, so it was warm enough not to freeze their hands. The two of them washed the dishes vigorously, laughing and joking, as if they were playing some interesting game.

After washing, she went into the house and put the dishes in the cupboard. Xu Haizhou suddenly came over and put his arms around Qiao Lu's waist, burying his face in her shoulder. Her skin was very warm, and it touched his cold nose bridge, causing Qiao Lu to shiver suddenly.

"What's wrong? You're being clingy like a child." Qiao An was not as clingy as him today.

"Go to bed early today." The clear male voice that escaped from his throat was mixed with a barely perceptible dullness, and his breath sprayed on the neck, making it a little itchy.

Qiao Lu shrank her neck and said with a smile, "Okay, then I'll take An An to wash up."

"Um."

After opening the letter, not only Xu Haizhou felt uncomfortable, Qiao Lu was also absent-minded, and those words kept popping up in her mind involuntarily.

Unlike Qiao Lu, Qiao An seemed overly excited and kept muttering to himself until he went to sleep at night.

"Mom, I have learned so many words. Can I read books by myself now?" he asked naively.

With her mother's instruction, Qiaoan can now recognize 15 Chinese characters with two strokes, such as 儿, 十, 七, 八...

Qiao Lu poked him on the head. The young man lost his balance and was caught off guard. He fell backwards and fell straight onto the pillow.

Qiao Lu helped him up with a smile: "What are you thinking about? Of course not. You just got started and you want to fight the big boss?"

Qiao Lu applied perfume on his face, and his chubby face felt so smooth to the touch.

With her mother rubbing her face, Qiao An spoke unclearly: "What is the Great Persia?"

Qiao Lu shook her head: "Nothing, I just said that you can't read the book by yourself yet, you won't understand it."

The little boy pouted and said, "Mom said today that An An can read letters."

"Didn't you say you couldn't read?" Not only could he not read, but he would run away when asked to read, and Qiao Lu couldn't catch him for a long time.

Xu Haizhou also laughed at him and pinched his little paws. Compared to when he first came, the skinny little monkey had turned into a little piglet.

Qiaoan nodded his head like a little chicken pecking at rice: "Mom said I can read."

"Then why didn't you study in the afternoon?" Qiao Lu asked.

"Because I can't," said Joan.

Qiao Lu: "Then you said you wanted to read a book."

Joan: "Mom said I can read letters, so I can read books too."

Qiao Lu: “…” After talking around in circles, she was actually confused by this child. Qiao Lu pinched his cheek and said, “I won’t talk to you anymore. Go to sleep.”

"Mom, wait a minute, I have another question." Qiaoan held Qiao Lu's hand as she tried to cover herself with the quilt.

Qiao Lu stopped and asked, "What's the problem?"

The boy stared at her with his pretty doe eyes, not blinking: "Can I still play with Brother Kang Kang and the others tomorrow?"

"sure."

"Will they still play with me?" Qiao An asked a little worriedly.

"Of course, haven't you become their good friend?"

"Yeah, yes, I'm already their good friend." They will definitely play with him again.

The definite answer gave him peace of mind, and he smiled even in his dreams.

…

After finally coaxing the child to sleep, the couple were able to cuddle together and be affectionate.

"What's wrong? Are you still in a bad mood?"

Today was a rare day; it was not Qiao Lu who was lying in his arms. Instead, it was Xu Haizhou who was lying in her arms, clinging to her like a child. He also liked to rub his face against her shoulder and sniff her fragrance, as if he wanted to draw a sense of security or something else that would make him happy from her.

"No, you and your son are by my side, how can it be bad?"

Qiao Lu smiled silently and rubbed the back of his head: "You only say nice things to make people happy."

"The truth." The man chuckled, his voice hoarse in the evening.

The cold wind howled outside, and the fallen leaves were blown up by the wind, making a rustling noise. It was so desolate and lonely... and it made the room feel even warmer.

Listening to the sound of the wind, Xu Haizhou pecked her on the lips: "Do you know why I'm in a bad mood?"

Qiao Lu adjusted her posture and held his shoulders: "It's because of the letter."

Caressing her shoulders from time to time, Xu Haizhou said, "My eldest brother said... I married you just to bet against him."

No one knows how upset he felt when he saw that text.

How could he be angry? It was clearly love at first sight. He clearly liked her and wanted to marry her and have a future with her.

Perhaps it could be said that he was "lusting at the sight of her beauty", but it was definitely not out of anger.

He has never been angry, so how can he be angry?

Qiao Lu let out a deep breath. It turned out that this was the reason why he was in a bad mood... She was scared to death. She thought that it was because of the letter from his family that he was struggling with whether marrying her was the right choice.

I thought he regretted it...

She sighed, and a huge stone in her heart finally fell. In fact, she didn't have much confidence. In love, women always have a hidden sense of uneasiness more than men.

"Tell me about your family."

The air suddenly fell into an eerie silence, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

After a long while, Xu Haizhou finally spoke in a hoarse voice: "Qiao Lu, I have always been serious about you, without any falsehood."

Her husband's sudden confession made Qiao Lu a little overwhelmed, and her voice contained a hint of panic that she herself could hardly detect.

They have been married for two months, doesn't he know what kind of person he is? Of course she is happy to be confessed to, but she just wants to see what he does, and doesn't care whether he can say sweet words or make a woman happy.

"Yeah." In the darkness, Qiao Lu slowly touched her man's face. Her fingertips were hot and his face was slightly cool. "I know, I believe you. Tell me about your family and your brother."

It has been two months since the marriage, and Xu Haizhou has always simply talked about his family members. It was not until the appearance of this letter today that he was able to completely relieve the pressure and open up about everything.

"My eldest brother is three years older than me, and I have had a very good relationship with him since we were young." Curled up in the quilt with his face close to his wife, he slowly recounted his past experiences.

Xu Haizhou was born in a family of two working people in a northern city. He had a happy family and a happy life since he was a child. His father was a sixth-level clamper in a steel factory, and his mother was a people's teacher. However, when Xu Haizhou was eleven years old, his mother broke her leg in an accident and could not stand for a long time, so she resigned.

The two brothers of the Xu family grew up wearing the same pants since childhood, and their relationship was very good. In order to prevent his younger brother from suffering in the countryside, Xu Haiping, who was 18 years old in 1972 and still half a year away from graduating from high school, responded to the country's call and signed up for the Up to the Countryside Movement in person, so that his younger brother Xu Haizhou could stay in the city.

After Xu Haiping went to the countryside, the fifteen-year-old Xu Haizhou continued to go to school until he graduated from high school. He was assigned by the school to work in the maintenance workshop of a state-owned steel smelting plant. He started as an apprentice and increased his monthly salary from 18 yuan to 38 yuan... The relationship between the two brothers became closer because of going to the countryside. They exchanged letters frequently and told each other what they saw and heard in the city/countryside.

It was not until 1978, when Xu Haizhou was 20 years old, that the country announced the resumption of the college entrance examination!

As soon as the exciting news was announced, Xu Haizhou immediately wrote a letter to Xu Haiping's village to tell him the good news.

After receiving the news, Xu Haiping quickly wrote back to his brother, saying that he would study hard and asked Haizhou to help send some review books so that he could take the exam with him. With the IQ of the two brothers, they would be able to get into a university, or even a junior college. At worst, they could try again next year!

No matter what, this opportunity is not to be missed!

After just three months of review, Xu Haiping was successfully admitted to Hushi University of Science and Technology, a national key university!

But there was one piece of news Xu Haizhou never dared to tell his brother.

Their father had been suffering from chronic glomerulonephritis, or nephritis, three years ago. This is a disease that requires long-term medication to maintain basic body functions. After contracting it, one cannot work hard, stay up late, or drink alcohol...

You can quit drinking, but as a clamp worker, how can Xu Yonghe not feel hard and tired?

He fell ill and could not continue working. When the factory learned of his condition, they were afraid that he would have an accident at his workstation, so after much deliberation they gave him a subsidy of 30 yuan, but the price was to fire him.

Xu Yonghe was the only breadwinner of the Xu family. His resignation was a disaster for the family. Not only did they lose their only labor force, but they also had to bear a huge amount of medical expenses.

At that time, Xu Haizhou was only 18 years old and had two months left before graduating from high school. The family used their meager savings to get through those two months. It was not until Xu Haizhou graduated and was assigned to work as an apprentice in a steel mill that they were able to make some money.

But what can the 18 yuan apprenticeship pay? Not only do we have to take care of daily expenses, buy medicine for my father, and send living expenses to my eldest brother who lives far away in the countryside, the family was once unable to make ends meet.

Seeing that his family was becoming increasingly financially strained, in order to earn more money, in the third month after working, Xu Haizhou chose to follow Hou Caijun to do a side job - profiteering.

Hou Caijun was the neighbor of the Xu family in the next courtyard. He was also born into a poor family. Xu Haizhou often followed him around when he was a child, so he could be considered as a half-elder brother.

By then, he had been a traitor for three years and was very experienced. In just half a month, Xu Haizhou earned half a year's salary as an apprentice.

This was just drinking soup with Hou Caijun, and it did not count as really eating meat. At that time, Xu Haizhou went to work as usual during the day, and after get off work and on vacation, he would resell supplies with Hou Caijun.

If I work as a profiteer full-time, maybe I can become a millionaire in Anshi in a few years!

After all this trouble, my father's medical expenses were finally paid for, the family's expenses were no longer a problem, and I could even send an extra ten yuan every month to my eldest brother in the countryside.

This rekindled his hope in life. He worked at work and became a profiteer after get off work. He claimed to the outside world that he followed Hou Caijun to work as a laborer in a cement factory in the suburbs.

With such a busy and fulfilling life, by the end of 1977, he had no time to stop and review.

When the college entrance examination was just resumed, all the study materials on the market, regardless of whether they could be used for review, were sold out. The demand for review materials was unprecedentedly huge, and even the printing factories were unable to print them in time.

Fortunately, Xu Haizhou did not throw away all his high school textbooks and materials, but he only had one copy, and without any hesitation, he sent them all to Xu Haiping in the countryside. He had no review materials and no time, so the college entrance examination was left unresolved.

The admission rate in 1978 was ridiculously low. On average, only five or six people were admitted out of a hundred or so. This was even lower than the passing rate of the scholar examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties!

Moreover, there were only fifty days between the time when the newspaper announced the resumption of the college entrance examination and the time of the examination. How could it be easy to review and successfully enter university in such a short time?

Without extraordinary perseverance and talent, this would be an almost impossible task.

Fortunately, Xu Haiping lived up to everyone's expectations. Not only did he get admitted to university, but he was admitted to a key university in the country. His family was overjoyed and cleaned up the room early, waiting for Xu Haiping to "return triumphantly" from the countryside.

This year, Xu Haizhou devoted himself to "speculation and profiteering".

He wanted to make a big fortune, and then try the college entrance examination after he had earned more money and became more stable.

At the end of 1978, he followed Hou Caijun to transport a large amount of wheat, but was accidentally discovered by the police and lost both his money and his life! Because of this accident, the reselling market in Anshi was strangled on a large scale. In desperation, he chose to go south with Hou Caijun and announced to the outside world that he was doing business.

Xu Haizhou never told anyone the true situation of the matter. He just suddenly told his family that he was going south with his friends to do business. He said there were many opportunities in the south and he could make a lot of money.

The Xu family members disagreed. They were just ordinary people. Why should they make a lot of money? A stable and ordinary life is happiness! What crooked ways...

He used to be a hard-working and studious kid, but after graduating from high school, he seemed to have suddenly become smooth and opportunistic...

No one at home could understand him. The key point was that Xu Haizhou said nothing and just acted on his own. The two brothers had a rare big fight.

Xu Haiping felt that his younger brother was a complete loser. He was clearly a good student, a smart kid, but he didn't go to college and instead engaged in speculation for the sake of a tiny bit of profit!

After you get into college, do you still worry about not being able to find a good job and make a lot of money? Do you have to waste your youth on such things?

Xu Haiping did not see him off before he left, and no one from the Xu family came to the station except his mother.

Xu Haizhou got on the train alone, left his hometown and came to Li'an City, more than 2,000 kilometers away... Until now, he has settled down here and married a wife.

It was a long story, but he kept it short. No matter how few words he used, they could not express his torment and pressure.

After hearing the whole thing, Qiao Lu fell silent. Her heart felt as if it had been cut open with a blunt knife. It was painful and tormenting.

"So... this Spring Festival... are we going back?"

The room was silent for a long time, until the sky was dark, and then he said in a hoarse voice: "I don't want to go back."

“Why?”

Xu Haizhou swallowed the bitterness, pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.

“They don’t like you.”

He was afraid that she would be wronged.

At the age of 18, I engaged in speculation and profiteering, and I was not afraid; at the age of 20, I went south, and I was not afraid; at the age of 25, I married a single mother, and I was even less afraid.

Qiao Lu was the treasure he had been wanting to hold in his palm for the past twenty-five years.

God knows how happy, how blessed and satisfied he has been in the two months since he married her.

However, the happier he was, the more anxious he was. Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night and fear that the happiness of the past two months was just a fleeting dream.

Although his parents and brother's opinions could not prevent anything, he was still worried, fearing that the slightest danger would destroy their hard-earned happiness.

He didn't want the happy family they had worked so hard to form to be like a rainbow bubble that would burst at the slightest poke.

"An ugly daughter-in-law has to meet her parents-in-law. You send thirty yuan home every month, which proves that you still care about them. Since you regard them as your closest family members, and we are husband and wife, of course I have to get to know your relatives. Whether they like it or not, I have to meet them."

What's more, Xu Haizhou goes home for the Spring Festival every year, but this year he didn't go home after getting married. How do his family members view her?

Do you think she is whispering in his ear? Do you think he is an ungrateful person who has forgotten his mother after getting married?

Qiao Lu hated her eldest brother's inaction and her sister-in-law's tyranny. She didn't want others to think of her as a daughter-in-law like Niu Qiaoli, nor did she want Xu Haizhou to become a son like her eldest brother Qiao Guobin...

"But if you really don't want me to go, I don't mind." These days people travel long distances by train. It takes at least three or four days to travel from the north to the south. It's such a long journey, and it would be tiring to bring a three-year-old Qiao An with me. It would be best if I could avoid going.

Xu Haizhou fell silent again, rubbing his high nose bridge against her cheek again and again, his movements very uneasy.

"Well, let's talk about it after the New Year. It's too late now and train tickets are hard to buy." There was also Spring Festival travel in the 1980s, and it was also crowded, especially the hard seats. Even the aisles were full of people.

Qiao Lu nodded, and seeing that he was not interested, she changed the subject: "Have you bought the crib I asked you to buy last time?"

"Yes, I have found it. I will pick it up tomorrow."

There was a long silence between the two of them.

"Are we still doing it today?" Qiao Lu covered her mouth with her hands under the quilt, her voice sounding a little muffled.

"Do what?" he asked.

In the darkness, Qiao Lu blushed slightly and pushed him away unhappily: "Forget it if you don't want to do it."

I felt a little sorry for him and wanted to comfort him with "actions", but I didn't expect that he was pretending to be innocent... Qiao Lu gritted her teeth and pinched his face.

Xu Haizhou laughed softly, his laughter was mellow and sexy.

Suddenly he held her wrist tightly, kissed her mouth, then the tip of her nose, then her eyes, and finally left a mark on her forehead - full of love.

"Forget it today. I'm a bit tired," he said.

Tired? I guess I’m mentally tired.

"Yeah." Qiao Lu found a comfortable position in his arms and lay down.

It was a good opportunity for her to take a break. She hadn't rested much in the past few days...

The two of them slept in each other's arms, and Qiao Lu couldn't sleep because he strangled her.

"Xu Haizhou, please loosen up a bit. How can I sleep if it's so tight?"

"Sorry." The hand around her waist loosened a little, but still a little tight.

Ten minutes later——

Qiao Lu asked in a low voice: "Haizhou, are you asleep?"

Xu Haizhou twisted his body and said, "Not yet, what's wrong?"

Qiao Lu shook her head: "Nothing, just asking."

Xu Haizhou's laughter suddenly became meaningful: "Why haven't you fallen asleep yet?"

Qiao Lu hesitated for a moment and said, "I have insomnia. I'll take a nap and fall asleep soon."

I didn't tell him because I was confused.

The man suddenly lowered his head, grabbed her red lips and sucked them again and again, lingering: "Is it because you didn't do it tonight that you couldn't sleep well? Huh?"

Qiao Lu was so embarrassed that she almost screamed. She hit him hard in the chest: "Fuck you! Get out!"

I really can't stand it, a pure and innocent young man actually said such obscene words, it's too inharmonious!

How embarrassing! How embarrassing!

Seeing the man next to her breathing gradually getting heavier, Qiao Lu quickly turned over and faced away from him.

"Sleep, sleep!"

Sure enough, after the dirty talk, he fell asleep within a few minutes.

Xu Haizhou slowly approached her and put his arms around her waist.

He seemed to be talking to her, or to himself:

"Go to sleep, they will accept you."

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