Chapter 22 In this world, it's possible to find a man with even slightly normal values...
Li Baohua asked Tang Mingli to meet up because she was so frustrated that she felt she had to talk to someone to vent to, or she would die.
Now that Tang Mingli has taken the initiative to speak, she naturally wants to say a lot.
It's not that she only has Tang Mingli as a friend, but this is something she can't just tell anyone.
Since reconnecting with Tang Mingli, Li Baohua couldn't explain why, but he just really liked her and felt very comfortable around her.
When I wanted to confide in someone this time, she was the first person I thought of.
Although the two had a good relationship before, they never felt this way, otherwise they wouldn't have gone without contact for several years after graduation.
Perhaps it's because we were all young and immature back then, and didn't know how to get along with friends.
After taking a big gulp of juice, Li Baohua told Tang Mingli all the strange things that had happened in their family recently.
Everything started when her older brother returned to the city.
Back then, one of their two children had to go to the countryside.
The eldest brother was already an adult and a boy, so he was the obvious choice.
At first, the whole family was quite optimistic about this, including the eldest brother himself. He thought that he would only need to train in the countryside for a year or two before coming back. After all, that was the slogan they were promoting, and he wasn't the only one going to the countryside; almost every household was doing it.
But as the years went by, both the eldest brother himself and his family gradually began to feel anxious.
Although many young people who went to the countryside did return to the city, the number of those who were able to return was far too small compared to the number of people who went to the countryside.
The eldest brother felt this most directly. After being sent to the countryside, he witnessed firsthand how some educated youth, having spent too long there, had no hope of returning to the city and had no choice but to settle down in the countryside.
He wasn't so pessimistic at first, after all, he was only in his early twenties when he first went to the countryside. Who knew that four or five years would pass in the blink of an eye, and he was no longer young. If he didn't return to the city soon, he would either be an older single man in the countryside, or find a wife and settle down there.
Either way, it's something their family doesn't want to see.
The parents only had one son, so naturally they didn't want him to be far away from them.
The eldest brother himself was even more unwilling. Who would want to spend their whole life in the countryside, toiling in the fields?
The eldest brother was more anxious than his parents.
In the past year, he has been sending a letter home almost every month, asking if there is any way for him to return home.
In the last few communications, the words even became heated, forcing his parents to find a way to bring him back to the city, otherwise they would disown him as their son.
Returning to the city wasn't something that could be done on a whim. Which of the educated youth in the countryside didn't want to go back? Even those with powerful family connections couldn't make it, let alone the ordinary people like them.
But even if there's no other way, we have to find a solution.
Li Baohua's parents were so worried that their hair turned mostly white. They swallowed their pride, begged countless people, smiled countless times, and even spent all their savings accumulated over half a lifetime. It was only after many hardships that they finally managed to bring their eldest brother, who had been living in the countryside for many years, back to the city.
As Li Baohua spoke of this, tears welled up in her eyes, and she said with heartache, "Do you know how hard it was for my parents to save this little bit of money?"
Tang Mingli didn't know, but she could imagine.
For workers on a fixed salary, saving money is really no different from ants hoarding goods.
She gently patted Li Baohua's hand, comforting him, "Money is like water; don't dwell on what you've lost. At least you're back. People are always more important than money."
Thinking about the country's possible policies in the near future, I couldn't help but say a few more words.
"It's good to come back early. Who knows what might happen if you stay any longer? So even if the educated youth can return to the city whenever they want in the future, don't regret it. The sooner you return to the city, the less suffering you'll endure."
Li Baohua didn't know Tang Mingli's true intention in saying those words, and thought she was just fantasizing. He laughed at her, saying, "It's easy to go to the countryside but hard to go back to the city. If you know the situation, how can you just go back to the city whenever you want?"
Tang Mingli could only smile along.
I wonder what the Li family will think next year when they find that the educated youth sent to the countryside can return to the city without having to go through so much trouble.
Can one calmly accept this outcome? Or is one filled with indignation at the injustice of the world?
Or perhaps it's regret that after persisting for so many years, why not persevere a little longer?
But what's most agonizing about waiting isn't the time itself, but the lack of hope.
Despair at the unknown outcome is enough to destroy a person's spirit.
Li Baohua continued, "I wasn't sad about these things before, but what my brother did after returning to the city made me feel heartbroken about my parents' sacrifices."
Finally, the conversation turned to the older brother's awful behavior in relationships after returning to the city, which was exactly what Tang Mingli wanted to know.
Simply put, after Li Baohua returned to the city, his family, including himself, were quite anxious about his marriage, as he had reached a certain age.
So, the parents hurriedly asked a matchmaker to introduce them to a potential partner.
The other party was a temporary worker at a sweater factory.
Although it's a temporary job, apart from the lower salary, it's no different from being a permanent employee.
Brother Li Baohua and his family are quite satisfied.
However, the woman disliked him because he didn't have a job.
Considering that he would indeed have to shoulder the responsibility of supporting the family after getting married, Li Baohua's older brother, even though he was not very willing, eventually took over his father's job at the meat processing plant.
After securing a job, my relationship with my blind date also stabilized.
He thought everything was going in a good direction, but one day he suddenly told his family that he and his blind date were incompatible and could not continue their relationship.
Both families have already sat down to discuss the marriage. Can you just dismiss it with a simple "we can't be together anymore"?
Li Baohua's parents naturally objected strongly, but under pressure, he finally revealed that he had met someone else.
Upon hearing this, Li's father slapped his son in a fit of anger.
But the slap didn't wake him up; instead, it made him angry, and he went to break up with his blind date.
If the woman is willing to break up, then this matter ends here.
The woman disagreed, and even went so far as to cause trouble at the Li family's house and the meat processing plant.
This incident made the matter widely known.
Not only that, the woman's family also scolded the matchmaker.
The matchmaker was furious and came to the Li family to scold them.
A matchmaker's tongue can sometimes be so venomous that even a lick of it would poison you. Given that the family was clearly in the wrong in this matter, they were even less likely to hold back their words.
The Li family has lost face.
Li Baohua's older brother's reputation is ruined, but he doesn't care; he's already found someone else. But she does care; she's already twenty, the perfect age to find a partner.
After this incident, who would introduce her to a good potential partner?
This was what devastated Li Baohua the most.
Even though it was her brother who made the mistake, she also lost her reputation.
When Tang Mingli heard Li Baohua say that if the woman agreed to break up, the matter would be over, she subconsciously frowned.
She never expected Li Baohua to say such a thing.
What does "forget it" mean?
A scumbag boyfriend is fickle and cheats on his girlfriend, so why should we try to be amicable?
Li Baohua didn't notice the change in Tang Mingli. Finally, she spoke her mind, which had been bottled up for days, and felt much better.
"Looking back now, the biggest mistake my parents ever made was paying such a high price to bring him back to the city, and before they even had a chance to catch their breath, they were busy worrying about my older brother's marriage."
Even if it's urgent, you should wait.
Once my older brother's life gets back on track, and once his family has recovered from this ordeal...
But it seems like the parents can't be blamed for this. The older brother keeps saying that he was delayed by going to the countryside, that he has no job and no girlfriend, and that he's destined to be a widow.
His parents felt anxious and guilty, which is why they rushed to find a matchmaker to find him a partner.
Li Baohua despises her older brother and is also disappointed in his blind date.
“I don’t know what’s so great about my brother that made her so infatuated. If they’re going to break up, they can just find someone better than him.”
Tang Mingli replied casually, "Maybe your brother is good with words and knows how to charm girls."
She couldn't think of anything else besides this.
Too many men appear honest on the surface, but are actually glib and slick.
Li Baohua had never been in a relationship and didn't understand men, so she didn't grasp the meaning behind Tang Mingli's words. She felt deeply about it: "It's really not good to be too hasty in marriage. It's too ugly to break up."
"Your brother was wrong to do this," Tang Mingli corrected her, emphasizing the key point in her words.
Li Baohua knew this too, nodded, and asked Tang Mingli, "What do you think I should do? I even thought about going to my brother's new lover and telling her the truth, but I'm afraid."
Call her selfish or cowardly if you will.
With things turned out like this, it's definitely impossible for them to get back together. If she ruins her brother's new relationship too, and he ends up single for life, wouldn't she become the one who's guilty?
Li Baohua felt a little ashamed, but still clung to a sliver of hope as she asked, "If it were you, what would you do?"
Tang Mingli could no longer manage a smile.
She wanted to put herself in Li Baohua's shoes and try to understand her position of standing on the side of her own brother.
But she couldn't help it; after all, he wasn't her own brother, and she couldn't empathize with him at all.
Even if it were her own brother, he probably wouldn't be able to empathize; he would only get angrier.
Everything she heard from Li Baohua today completely changed her worldview and her opinion of Li Baohua.
I can't quite describe the feeling, but I just feel a bit uncomfortable.
She always thought Li Baohua was the kind of girl who had a smooth and easy life, was simple and happy, and had no guile.
But today...
You can't say she's cunning, but what angered her most after her own brother did such a thing was that it ruined her reputation, and she couldn't understand why her blind date didn't just break up with her. This made it very difficult for Tang Mingli to calm down.
Before answering Li Baohua's question, Tang Mingli wanted to know one more thing.
When did your older brother say he didn't want to be with his blind date?
Li Baohua thought for a moment and gave a time.
This was shortly after Tang Mingmei started working at the brown sugar factory.
In such a short time, did the two get together while they were in the countryside?
However, the man returned to the city first, thinking that the woman had no hope of returning, so he secretly went on blind dates with her.
Who knew that Tang Mingmei would come back and get a formal job, so they started targeting her again.
If what I'm guessing is true, then Li Baohua's older brother is truly the worst kind of scumbag.
Does Tang Mingmei know? Probably not. Otherwise, given her proud personality, how could she possibly accept it?
Regardless of her relationship with Tang Mingmei, Tang Mingli hated this kind of man and couldn't bear to see a woman being deceived like this.
Tang Mingli remained silent with her brows furrowed. Li Baohua grew impatient and urged her, "You still haven't answered me. If you were in my situation, what would you do?"
"I will tell both girls about what that scumbag did."
Tang Mingli's return was delivered with forceful words, leaving Li Baohua stunned, completely unexpected to hear such an answer.
Then her cheeks burned. Tang Mingli's gaze was like a silent slap, repeatedly striking her face.
She instinctively wanted to retort, but was too ashamed and indignant to speak, and lowered her head in embarrassment.
Now that things have come to this, Tang Mingli feels it's time to make things clear.
"You might not believe it, but your older brother's new girlfriend is very likely my cousin."
"What?" Li Baohua suddenly raised his head, his face full of disbelief.
I clearly remember that she was an orphan who grew up with her grandparents and had no other relatives.
"No, I haven't heard you mention, you haven't mentioned having a cousin." Li Baohua was so flustered that she started to stutter.
That's naturally because the two of them don't get along.
Tang Mingli just smiled and didn't say anything.
After the initial panic subsided, Li Baohua felt angry.
He was angry at himself, and also at Tang Mingli.
How could she be so stupid? Their names are so similar, how could she not have thought they might be relatives?
No, and you can't blame her.
The elders weren't very educated, so they named their children things like "Mei" (美), "Li" (丽), or "Juan" (娟), "Ting" (婷), or "Di" (娓). Back in my school days, many students in the same class had the same name.
What should we do now?
If I tell Tang Mingli all the awful things my older brother did, will she turn around and tell my cousin right away?
Definitely!
What about the older brother?
Only then could Li Baohua no longer deceive herself; she was indeed selfish and ugly.
She harbored resentment towards her elder brother for his actions, yet her heart still leaned towards him.
The perfect outcome she wanted was for her previous blind date to let go and stop causing trouble, for her older brother to marry his new partner peacefully, and for them to live a stable life together from then on.
Now, the ugliness she had tried so hard to hide, the ugliness she had even tried to deceive herself about, has been completely exposed.
A wave of overwhelming shame washed over her, which then turned into a torrent of anger as she accused Tang Mingli: "Why didn't you tell me she was your cousin when you heard her name? You did it on purpose, didn't you?"
Tang Mingli neither denied it nor could she deny it.
She did it on purpose.
Li Baohua: "Tang Mingli, you are despicable and shameless. You tricked me into revealing information."
Something seemed to gently brush past her heart, leaving Tang Mingli with a touch of sadness.
No emotion in this world can withstand the test.
An awkward atmosphere had spread between the two, and in the end, Li Baohua was the first to get up and leave in a huff.
After Li Baohua left, Tang Mingli also returned home looking dejected.
When she arrived home, her mother-in-law and grandmother were eating chilled rice cakes made by Aunt Guihua. But she had lost her appetite, and after saying hello, she went upstairs by herself.
Fu's mother and Madam Fu were surprised by her reaction; normally, she would never refuse to eat.
What's wrong with Mingli?
"Maybe I'm just too tired."
The two elders asked and answered each other, guessing what was going on.
Upstairs, Fu Ci was still reading in his study.
Tang Mingli admired his ability to calm down and study.
What kind of person can resist temptations and distractions and stay in this huge study to read for so long?
She sat down in the chair listlessly, blinking as she looked at her husband who was engrossed in reading.
Little did he know that he had already noticed her the moment she entered the room.
Noticing her gaze, Fu Ci looked up and immediately realized something was wrong with her.
Concerned, she asked, "Weren't you going out to meet some friends?"
Knowing his wife's personality, she should be in high spirits after meeting with her friends.
What unpleasant thing happened?
After saying "yes," Tang Mingli suddenly added, "But we might not be friends anymore after this meeting."
It's a little sad; Li Baohua was her first friend in this world.
This sounded a bit serious, so Fu Ci closed the book.
"how so?"
When asked this question, Fu Ci thought it was a quarrel between the two women.
Only after his wife explained the whole story did he understand why she looked so tired.
He even found it somewhat unbelievable that he had the illusion that his cousin seemed to be associated with a lot of messy and unlucky things.
How can anyone make such a mess of their life?
Fu Ci couldn't understand it; he just found it unbelievable.
Tang Mingli found it quite interesting to see Fu Ci frowning and looking like he wanted to say something but couldn't.
A serious person can even show great focus when they frown.
Since she's already told Fu Ci, she won't just keep talking about it.
It's said that men tend to see things from a male perspective, and she wanted to see if he was the same.
So I asked Fu Ci, "What do you think I should do about this?"
Fu Ci blurted out, "Of course we can't just sit idly by."
Even if the other party is not the wife's cousin, but a stranger, since they know about this, they can't just ignore it.
This answer made Tang Mingli very happy.
She never expected that he would be so happy because of his attitude.
Never mind, let's just be happy.
It's so hard to find a man with even slightly normal values in this world; you should be happy about that.
Thinking that tomorrow was her day off, she said to her farewell, "I plan to go back to my uncle's house tomorrow..."
"I'll go with you."
Tang Mingli was about to ask, "Do you want to come along?", but before she could say it, Fu Ci took the initiative to ask.
The faint smile on his face finally reached his eyes.
Although I don't know what Fu Ci could do there, having someone familiar by my side would at least make me feel more at ease.
Well, there's still some time until tomorrow, she needs to think carefully about what to say when she sees her uncle and the others.
For Tang Mingli, taking a bath is the most helpful time to think about problems.
So she told Fu Ci to continue reading, got up, went back to her room to get a change of clothes, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.
Fu Ci had wanted to talk to her about that friend, to tell her that life is a journey, and so are friendships, so there's no need to be too sad. Just know that there are people who will never drift apart, like him.
But such words were indeed a bit too cheesy for him, and he missed the opportunity because he hesitated.
Fu Ci reflected seriously and felt that a man shouldn't be so hesitant; he should be more decisive next time.
He believed that with his wife's insightful personality, she would soon figure things out on her own. Whether she wanted to accept it or not, as long as life moves forward, friendships are just temporary.
-
Inside the bathroom, the sound of running water was deafening.
As the water streamed down her cheeks, Tang Mingli's thoughts gradually cleared.
Just as Fu Ci had guessed, Tang Mingli quickly recovered from the gloomy mood she felt because of Li Baohua.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
