"Let's go with Qiao Lanlan. Have the matchmaker bring her here again in a couple of days," Yan Zheng insisted.
Fearing that Yan Zheng might change his mind after finally agreeing to the marriage, Yan's mother had no choice but to agree. She said it didn't matter that he was cunning; once he was married, she would discipline him properly. She didn't believe that at her age, she was no match for a young woman.
After that, Yan Zheng went back to his room.
Two days later, the matchmaker brought Qiao Lanlan over. Seeing no one else, Qiao Lanlan knew Yan Zheng had chosen her. Yan Zheng handed her a piece of paper. "Comrade Qiao Lanlan and I have only met twice today. We don't know each other well enough to get married. Let's get to know each other for six months first. However, to compensate Comrade Qiao Lanlan and to avoid damaging her reputation, I've decided to give her five yuan every month. I'll live in the company dormitory, and Comrade Qiao Lanlan will live with my mother to cultivate our relationship. I hope you'll tell everyone that Comrade Qiao Lanlan is here to take care of the child, so as not to affect her reputation."
You definitely can't get married after only one or two meetings. If a bad match comes along, the whole family will be ruined.
By letting his mother spend time with Qiao Lanlan every day, she can better understand Qiao Lanlan's character.
Qiao Lanlan wasn't unhappy at all. Living at Yan Zheng's house for five yuan a month was a great thing for her, and she knew she could get Yan Zheng to marry her in less than six months.
Yan Zheng also told the matchmaker not to spread rumors. He told her to say that Qiao Lanlan was working as a substitute at a job in the city, and that the job was hard work with low pay. He said that no one would be jealous of Qiao Lanlan because she was working as a substitute.
That evening, Yan's mother let Qiao Lanlan share a room with her. Since she wanted Qiao Lanlan to get to know Yan Zheng slowly, she also wanted her to develop a relationship with Binbin, since she would be the one taking care of Lili and Binbin in the future.
To avoid affecting Qiao Lanlan's reputation, Yan Zheng moved into the dormitory. He always stayed in the dormitory when he worked overtime, so he didn't need to pack anything.
Even if he didn't marry Qiao Lanlan, he didn't share a room with her, so it wouldn't affect Qiao Lanlan's reputation. Qiao Lanlan could still get married after returning home.
That evening, Yan's mother took Qiao Lanlan into the room and taught her how to take care of Binbin.
Qiao Lanlan wanted to leave a good impression on her mother, so she studied diligently. However, as soon as she fell asleep that night, Binbin started crying loudly. Her mother patted Qiao Lanlan's shoulder and said, "Qiao Lanlan, go check if Binbin has pooped or peed. If not, he must be hungry. Make him some formula."
Qiao Lanlan had just fallen asleep, her eyes barely open from sleep, when she was woken up by her mother-in-law. Remembering that she was currently cultivating a relationship with her future mother-in-law and nephew, Qiao Lanlan got up despite her reluctance.
The examination revealed that Binbin had pooped. Qiao Lanlan wrinkled her nose and went to pour warm water to clean Binbin's bottom. During the cleaning process, she almost vomited.
I never imagined that taking care of children could be so disgusting.
However, fearing that Qiao Lanlan wouldn't be able to take good care of Binbin, Yan's mother got up and sat on the edge of the bed to look at Qiao Lanlan. She told Qiao Lanlan that if she learned to take care of Binbin now, she wouldn't be so flustered when taking care of her own child in the future.
Qiao Lanlan naively believed that her strict mother thought highly of her and was grooming her, so her resentment vanished.
Yes, I'm going to marry Yan Zheng and have children. I need to adjust now so that when I have children, I won't have to ask anyone else for help.
-
As the days went by, the temperature gradually dropped, and people slowly put on more clothes.
That day, the postman knocked on Wenxi's gate again. Wenxi went out to sign for the package, and there were three packages. However, the packages were not very big, so the postman could bring them to her on his bicycle. Otherwise, she would have had to go to the post office to pick them up herself.
The three packages were sent to her by Pei Jingzhou, Jin Changfeng, and Zhou Taohua, respectively.
Wenxi returned to her room and first checked the package sent by Zhou Taohua. It contained local specialties from Zhou Taohua's hometown. Zhou Taohua said that the village had set up a small workshop for pickled bamboo shoots as she had suggested, and they had made a lot of money this year. Since she had invested in the workshop, she received a dividend, which was more than the rest of the villagers.
And her son was born and is already a month old.
She also told Wenxi that Li Junzhong had always been unrealistic and looked down on her, making her work for free in his house for four years, but he refused to marry her, always wanting to find someone better.
However, without her as a free source of labor and without anyone to keep Li Junzhong tied down, the Li family feared that Li Junzhong would abandon them once he stayed away from home.
In fact, the whole family was like that, afraid that you would soar to great heights, afraid that your life would be better than everyone else's. Li Junzhong had no choice but to go back because of the commotion in the Li family.
Then, through an introduction, Li Junzhong married a woman who was far inferior to her in every way. This made Zhou Taohua feel a sense of failure. It turned out that Li Junzhong's requirements were not high. It was just that she had gone to work for others at a young age and seemed too cheap, so Li Junzhong looked down on her.
However, after her husband's encouragement, she came to her senses and realized that she was glad she hadn't married Li Junzhong, otherwise she would never have been happy in her life.
Li Junzhong's wife knew that Li Junzhong used to work outside and how he treated Zhou Taohua in the past. So, fearing that she would be taken advantage of, she did nothing at the Li family home and made trouble time and time again, trying to swindle the money that Li Junzhong had saved up.
Li Junzhong is now in a terrible state of mind. Every time he meets Zhou Taohua, he looks at her with a pitiful and regretful gaze.
Zhou Taohua is such a good woman. She works in his house without complaint and takes care of the household so that he can work with peace of mind. But he actually thinks that he is worthy of the best woman in the world just because he has a job.
Now he understands that a man's success in his career is truly due to the help of a good woman. Otherwise, he wouldn't even have the opportunity to build a career on his own, let alone achieve success.
It's a pity that he only realized this after he lost Zhou Taohua.
Zhou Taohua's life now is far beyond his reach; it truly is a case of fortunes changing every thirty years, and no one should look down on anyone.
Because in the blink of an eye, one's status and position can undergo drastic changes.
After reading Zhou Taohua's letter, Wenxi was glad that Zhou Taohua hadn't been foolish enough to pity Li Junzhong, otherwise her life would have been ruined.
Women should be rational and know when to cut their losses.
Women shouldn't give up on themselves for men. They must have a strong mind, an independent and self-reliant character, and the courage to leave bad men.
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