Chapter 94 Marrying Up: Swallowing Needles; Marrying Down: Eating *
He had already made up his mind to deceive her under the guise of being friends.
Anyway, she seems quite easily moved. Once she's tricked into coming home, she'll be in complete control of everything!
Cuiping waved goodbye to him, and her impression of Chen Laowu changed considerably.
Actually, he's not as greasy and hot-tempered as he looks. Maybe he's just the kind of man who looks ugly but is actually a caring and warm-hearted good man.
"It's cold outside. I'm going to work. You should go home now."
Old Chen chuckled good-naturedly, urging her to go back while smacking his lips and tentatively asking, "Cuiping... you wouldn't be looking down on me because you've taken a fancy to one of those young men in the courtyard, would you?"
Cuiping waved her hands repeatedly, "No, no!"
How dare she look down on others?
She herself wasn't a particularly good person.
"That's good." Chen Laowu smiled and suddenly leaned closer to her. "You're so beautiful, I'm afraid they'll have their eyes on you."
Cuiping was startled by his sudden movement. "No, no way."
She also wanted to explain that they were just friends and not dating.
But Chen Laowu patted her on the shoulder and said, "Alright, go back now, I'll be worried about you getting cold."
Cuiping choked and left in a panic, not daring to look back.
The smile on Chen Laowu's face gradually disappeared only after watching Cuiping's departing figure.
Hmph! She's just an easy woman to manipulate; he doesn't believe he can't handle her.
How could she not be moved by such a gentle approach?
He put on his fur hat, tucked his hands into his arms, hummed a little tune, and walked out, just about to cross the cordon.
Suddenly, he bumped into an officer.
"...Who are you?" Old Chen squinted to make sure he could see clearly, then suddenly realized, "Are you Aunt Li's son? Hello, sir!"
He raised his hand in a salute, nearly knocking his hat off; he looked utterly ridiculous.
"Don't shout nonsense, this is a military compound." Li Zhengyang twitched the corners of his mouth, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.
"You... you succeeded in your blind date?"
Chen Laowu chuckled, "That's right, we were introduced by Aunt Li, so it's 100% guaranteed to be successful. You have to come to the wedding banquet!"
Of course, he wouldn't tell Li Zhengyang about being rejected by the roadside earlier.
Because at that moment he already felt that winning over Cuiping was a piece of cake.
Cuiping is just being coy and can't bring herself to do it; she's definitely secretly very happy with herself.
A sense of desolation filled Li Zhengyang's eyes, and even the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth suddenly changed its meaning.
His heart felt like it had been filled with a whole bottle of vinegar, yet he still refused to give up, "Does she really want to?"
"Of course, women... they have to be reserved, but she has already agreed to meet me alone next time. I guess that counts as a deal. If you ask me, Aunt Li's introduction of this woman is really good. She's much younger and prettier than the divorced women I've met before. Those divorced women have all had their babies, and their figures are all out of shape. They're not even worth looking at."
Chen Laowu got more and more excited as he spoke, completely ignoring the fact that Li Zhengyang's expression had completely changed.
Li Zhengyang took a deep breath, barely managing to conceal his loss of composure.
Seeing that he wanted to continue speaking, Li Zhengyang interrupted him directly, "I have other matters to attend to at my unit, so I'll be leaving now."
After saying that, he strode out before Chen Laowu could react.
*
Jiang Family
After finishing her work, Deng Qiu brought the dishes to the table and called to Cui Ping, "You've been busy all day and haven't even had time to cook. Hurry up and sit down and have a bite to eat."
Zhizhi clung to Aunt Cuiping's hand, refusing to let her leave.
"Yes, Aunt Cuiping was very busy today. Several military officers wanted to ask her out next time, but she refused them all."
"Really?" Jiang Anchao's voice was slightly nasal, clearly indicating he had a cold. He then handed out chopsticks. "Cuiping, which one have you taken a fancy to? Let me go and find out about their family situation."
"No!" Cuiping quickly shook her head, a blush rising on her cheeks. "How could I be worthy of them? They're all younger than me, and some of them have never even been in a relationship. Their circumstances are too different. I didn't even consider it."
After handing her the food, Deng Qiu said firmly, "How can you say you're not good enough for her? I think you're great in every way, whether it's your looks or how you take care of the family. You're just too insecure, and that's not good."
Seeing that his wife's temper was becoming more and more assertive, Jiang An grinned.
He joked, "When you first married me, weren't you worried all the time that we would break up?"
"Get lost, eat your food, and drink your cold medicine later."
Deng Qiu rolled her eyes at him, wondering who had thrown a tantrum last night. It was just that she felt cold and wanted to sleep in separate blankets.
Well, they're not happy about it.
He insisted on kicking off his own blanket, threatening to freeze to death, rather than sharing a blanket with his wife.
She was still complaining, saying she disliked him for being too old and not good-looking enough. She said they used to be willing to share a blanket, but now sharing a blanket greatly affected their relationship, and he absolutely refused to share a blanket.
At the time, she was both amused and exasperated, laughing at him for being so superstitious and believing such things so readily.
It's freezing cold outside, and the season for snow is just around the corner.
He was so cold that he caught a cold.
Jiang Anchao squinted and sighed, "That's how it is with old married couples. Once they get what they want, they don't cherish it anymore. Before, he called me 'Brother Jiang' so affectionately, and he would secretly cover me with a blanket in the middle of the night because he was worried that I would be cold sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Now, I've kicked off the blanket and am sulking, but he still waited for ten minutes before letting me in."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Deng Qiu grabbed a pancake and stuffed it into his mouth, giving him a glare with her beautiful eyes. "You don't have to say that last part, the child is still here!"
Deng Qiu turned her head and picked up a large piece of fish belly meat and put it into Cui Ping's bowl.
"The yellow catfish that my comrades from the Anchao army got are so fresh. I made fish pancakes, eat them while they're hot to warm yourself up."
Cuiping smiled shyly, but when she looked at the couple together, her eyes were full of envy.
"No wonder Qingqian said you two are a model couple in the military dependents' home. You two have such a good relationship, and the children you raised are all sensible and easy to take care of."
Deng Qiu smiled slightly, feeling a little embarrassed by the compliment.
"Sigh, we're just making do. Isn't that how every family gets by?"
Jiang Anchao frowned and said with dissatisfaction, "What do you mean by 'just getting by'? Are you looking down on me?"
Go eat your food...
Deng Qiu was speechless; she just couldn't understand why he had to chime in on everything.
It's like feeling uncomfortable if I don't speak.
Didn't you realize she was trying to persuade Cuiping? If she kept showing off her love in front of Cuiping, wouldn't that be deliberately provoking her?
Seeing her father's discomfiture, Zhizhi sat at the children's table, covering her mouth and giggling.
"Dad, I never thought you'd end up like this."
Jiang Anchao wrinkled his nose and made a face at his daughter.
"Just eat your food!"
The little devil is now making fun of himself.
Sure enough, even the warmest cotton-padded jacket will eventually let in a draft.
"These fish cakes are delicious!"
Zhenwei, holding a bowl, pleaded with Deng Qiu, "Mommy, Mommy, give me a bowl."
"Eat less, or you'll get indigestion," Deng Qiu scolded him, but she still served him rice incredibly fast.
That small bowl was almost overflowing; the rice looked like it was being pressed down very tightly.
We finished dinner in a lively atmosphere at the Jiang family's house.
Zhizhi took Aunt Cuiping's hand and went for a walk. The two walked on the street covered with fallen leaves, and the dim streetlights cast shadows on the leaves.
The little cub asked expectantly, "Do you really not like those officer uncles?"
Perhaps I feel closer to Zhizhi emotionally, or perhaps it's because I put cooking wine in the fish pancakes we ate today and got her drunk.
After enduring so many years of silence, Cuiping finally couldn't help but reveal her true feelings at this moment.
“Not everyone can be like your mother, who found a man as good as Commander Jiang after her divorce. Zhizhi... Your mother is educated and has a respectable job, but your aunt is not. Your aunt is a rural woman, destined to spend her whole life around the boiler and children. Your aunt doesn't have a house or a formal job in the city, so she is destined not to find someone with particularly good conditions.”
As the old folks often say, marrying into a wealthy family is like swallowing needles; it may look glamorous on the surface, but in reality, it's incredibly bitter.
Marrying down to someone who eats shit might not seem like a good thing on the surface, but it really is. In fact, everyone around you can tell that you're eating shit.
When it comes to marriage, it's best to be well-matched in terms of social standing and background, so that neither person is inferior to the other and neither person oppresses the other.
A divorced woman like her, without a diploma or job, can only find men who are lame, widowed, or who slaughter pigs or grow vegetables.
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