Chapter 163, Section 162: A Double Marriage
"Are you Jiang Wende from Class 2 of Experimental Primary School?"
Hearing the man's tone of doubt mixed with surprise, Jiang Wende was clearly taken aback.
He did study in Class 2 of the Experimental Primary School, that's true, but how did this person know?
"Who are you……?"
"Me, Lin Gaoyuan! The skinny little one who sat in the row when we were kids!" Lin Gaoyuan laughed and gestured, "Do you remember now?"
Long-forgotten memories gradually surfaced from the depths of his mind. He did indeed recall a skinny, small fellow, but he couldn't connect him at all with the slightly chubby, burly man in front of him.
"I vaguely remember him, I vaguely remember him, that one..." Jiang Wende closed his eyes and said, "That Lin Gaoyuan who always got scolded by the teacher?"
No wonder I felt a strange sense of familiarity when Yan Wan mentioned that her father's name was Lin Gaoyuan. It turns out that the two were elementary school classmates!
"Hahaha, you make it sound like everyone in the class got scolded by the teacher back then." Lin Gaoyuan sighed, "When we were in school, our families were either farming or herding cattle, so we didn't have time to study."
Jiang Wende nodded in strong agreement. If the wheat at home was harvested, he would ask the teacher for leave to go home and help his parents harvest the wheat.
"Fast forward, fast forward, no need to change shoes."
He quickly invited his old classmate into the house. Upon seeing this scene, Jiang Xia and Lin Yanwan simply exchanged a faint smile and handed over the herbal tea they had prepared.
This scene also occurred when the two were engaged in their previous life, only now the timeline has been moved forward a few years.
“I remember I haven’t seen you since you graduated from elementary school. Where did you go all those years?” Jiang Wende asked.
"Where else could I go? I dropped out of school. My family was poor back then and couldn't afford to go to school, so I had to follow my fourth uncle and become a carpenter. Although I didn't earn much money traveling all over the country, I gained a lot of experience." Lin Gaoyuan took a sip of her cold tea and smiled.
Jiang Wende nodded. In those days, being able to have enough to eat was considered good; people didn't dare to dream of a better life.
"I'm not much better off. After graduating from junior high school, I learned to drive. At first, I drove a tractor in the village. Later, as the country's economy improved, I gradually started driving trucks, and now I drive a taxi."
The two grown men sat on the sofa, sipping tea and reminiscing about their past hardships. Coupled with their shared elementary school classmate relationship, they got along very well.
Ji Wanqiu sat quietly to the side, unable to get a word in edgewise, so she got up and went into the kitchen to see if her mother-in-law could help.
"To be honest, I didn't expect it to be you at first. You've changed so much, you're completely different from when you were a child."
Jiang Wende went into his study and found an old, black-and-white photograph that was clearly yellowed. Dozens of children stood in front of a single-story house with blue tiles, their faces beaming with smiles.
"Is this you? If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have recognized you," Jiang Wende said with a smile, pointing at a skinny child.
"You're right? Let alone you, I doubt I'd even recognize myself if I saw a picture of myself as a child."
Lin Gaoyuan said with deep emotion: "Back then, we didn't have enough to eat and suffered from long-term malnutrition. I was dark-skinned, short, and thin. Later, as life got better, my body grew bigger and the changes gradually became more significant."
"As for you, you haven't changed much from before, otherwise I wouldn't have recognized you at a glance."
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Jiang Wende laughed along, in a very good mood. In a way, this could be considered a kind of reunion with an old friend in a foreign land.
"Let's have a drink later! I'll go get my treasured Wuliangye that I've kept for years. Let's drink to our hearts' content today, and not leave until we're drunk!" Jiang Wende said with great enthusiasm. He doesn't usually drink much, so it's clear how happy he was today.
"drink!"
Lin Gaoyuan agreed without hesitation. He often socialized, and drinking had almost become a part of his life. Not to mention that he was already happy today, and running into an old classmate was an unexpected bonus.
“I still have many of the poets Li Bai and Li Bai. I’ll send you some some another day. They’re also fine wines that I’ve been treasuring for over ten years.”
Jiang Wende smiled and didn't refuse. This was a matter of personal relationships. The two of them would naturally deepen their friendship through their interactions. Moreover, judging from the development of the two children, the two families would most likely become in-laws.
"Old Lin, I really didn't expect that you would be Yanwan's father. I'm both surprised and delighted," he exclaimed.
Lin Gaoyuan laughed and said, "Don't you think the world is too small?"
"No, it's just that I think fate is a really wonderful thing. I never expected to meet in this way." Jiang Wende handed over a cigarette, feeling deeply moved.
"Of course! We were classmates, our son and daughter were classmates, and now we've even been admitted to the same university. It would be strange if our two families weren't connected." Lin Gaoyuan lit a lighter, took a deep drag of smoke, and leisurely blew out smoke rings.
In this society where personal connections matter, people feel especially close to each other as long as they have some kind of relationship.
Not to mention, Xia Shanshan is Xiaoman's homeroom teacher, and the two children are in the throes of a passionate romance, so it's natural that they're even closer than family.
If I had known about their relationship, I wouldn't have had to take those two punches from Jiang Xia.
"By the way, Lao Jiang, there's something I have to tell you." Lin Gaoyuan sat up straight, his tone suddenly becoming serious.
"I acted impulsively a few days ago and beat up Jiang Xia twice..."
Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Wende interrupted without hesitation, saying, "Good job! I've disliked that kid for a long time too."
Lin Gaoyuan was stunned for a moment, and said in astonishment, "You're not even going to ask why? Your son was beaten up, aren't you angry?"
"He deserves the beating. He's always so irresponsible. It'll teach him a lesson."
Jiang Wende laughed and said, "That day I asked him, and at first he said he fell by himself. Later, his mother had to step in, and he finally stammered out the whole story. In my opinion, dating is dating, but you still need to have basic boundaries. Otherwise, what's the difference between you and a street thug?"
"So, I have to apologize to you for this. I failed to raise my son properly. If this happens again, don't hesitate, just grab a slipper and give him a good spanking!"
"Hey, hey, Lao Jiang, please don't say that."
Lin Gaoyuan took the blame, saying, "That day it was mainly my fault. I was too impulsive. I acted rashly and didn't understand the situation before I started hitting people. Even Yan Wan couldn't stop me."
He sighed as he spoke.
"That kid was pretty good. He didn't utter a sound even after being beaten up, and he was very respectful to me. Most people would have fought with me long ago after suffering such a great injustice."
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