Chapter 221 Respect the child, allow her to be a little...
With her biggest worry resolved, Gu Lin was noticeably more relaxed.
She stayed at the Fu family home until the afternoon, when she suggested returning to her hotel. Old Madam Fu quickly invited her to stay there instead.
Gu Lin declined, somewhat embarrassed to explain: "I really think staying in a hotel is quite comfortable, especially pleasant."
Her experiences staying in hotels these past few days even sparked a thought in her mind—if she has the means in the future, she really hopes to have her own house to live in alone.
But this idea seemed too hedonistic, and she felt a little embarrassed.
Fortunately, my great-uncle's family did not react in any particular way after hearing this.
Little did she know that, under Tang Mingli's subtle influence over the past decade or so, they had long since become accustomed to this comfortable lifestyle and naturally assumed that people should pursue a comfortable way of life.
So, after hearing her say that, the Fu family felt that since she felt more comfortable staying in a hotel, they would let her have her way.
As for the cost, it was not even on their radar.
The New Year's money that Grandpa Fu and Grandma Fu gave Gu Lin was enough for her to stay in a hotel for ten days to half a month.
After Gu Lin left, the Fu family sat together and scolded Gu Dazhi and his wife before dispersing.
Some went for a walk, while others went upstairs.
Fu Yu went to play in the yard with her grandparents, while Tang Mingli went upstairs with Fu Ci.
As soon as she entered the study, she couldn't wait to ask her husband what method he planned to use to deal with Yang Tao, who was stuck in a rut.
Fu Ci smiled as he looked at his wife, who was so anxious, and suddenly felt like teasing her.
They say loving couples are in sync, why don't you guess?
This wasn't supposed to be a love confession, but Tang Mingli was still deeply moved by the words "loving couple," and playfully scolded, "Why do you keep saying these kinds of things as you get older?"
"Old?" Fu Ci frowned.
Is he considered old at his age?
How old am I this year?
Suddenly realizing his age, he sighed heavily in his heart.
He's forty years old, which is definitely not young anymore.
Fu Ci's mood suddenly became heavy. He couldn't help but think that in a few years, he would grow older while his wife remained young. Would people say that they were an old man and a young woman when they went out together?
Sensing his subtle change, Tang Mingli realized that her unintentional remark had saddened her husband. She quickly hugged him and comforted him, saying, "A man is a boy until he dies. In my heart, you will always be the same as when we first met."
This statement is partly true and partly false.
Undeniably, more than a decade has passed, and time has left its mark on him. But fate has been incredibly kind to him, seemingly only making him more charming and mature.
Speaking of their first meeting, Fu Ci felt even more deeply moved.
“I was only six or seven years older than you before, but now it seems like I’m ten years older than you.”
"No way, you're making me sound like a twenty-six or twenty-seven-year-old girl."
Although she felt she looked only in her early twenties when she looked in the mirror, right now, keeping her husband calm was more important.
"That's right."
He certainly couldn't lie and say that his wife still looked like she was eighteen years old, but if he said she was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight, outsiders would definitely believe him.
Suddenly, he kissed his wife hard and said proudly, "She's mine."
Tang Mingli felt a sweet warmth in her heart.
A man's promise of "I'll take care of you" is more like a slow poison, but Fu Ci has put it into practice for fifteen years.
She hugged her husband tighter and said coquettishly, "Okay, no matter what you become or what I become, our feelings will never change."
It was rare for her to say something so heartfelt, but all she got in return was a dismissive, "That's not necessarily true."
"What's the meaning?"
Tang Mingli released her hand, raised her head, and looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.
Fu Ci remained completely calm and continued, "Our feelings for each other will deepen over time."
Realizing she had been tricked, Tang Mingli found it both funny and helpless, and decided to stop talking about it and get back to the main topic.
"Alright, stop interrupting. Tell me quickly, how do you plan to deal with Yang Tao?"
Fu Ci still had a smile on his lips, "You should have guessed it."
He comes from a respectable family with impeccable morals and values. He is calm, composed, and cultured. Before going into business, he was a public servant who served the people. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t use some underhanded tactics.
Tang Mingli knew that to succeed in the unpredictable business world, intelligence was indispensable. But intelligence alone, without tact, was not enough.
She never asked, and he never mentioned it.
Tang Mingli felt that it wasn't necessary to get to the bottom of things.
Looking at her husband's handsome face, she jokingly said, "I bet you'll use ruthless methods; this will definitely work."
Fu Ci smiled and nodded, telling his wife not to worry.
Don't worry about it not working out, and don't worry about him overstepping his bounds.
After the Lantern Festival, Fu Ci and Gu Lin returned to Shenzhen.
Neither of them mentioned divorce again. However, one day in March, Gu Lin took some time to come back for a few days and completely broke things off with Yang Tao.
After getting the divorce certificate from the Civil Affairs Bureau, Yang Tao looked at Gu Lin with a hint of fear in his eyes, but still habitually put on a brave front and muttered a veiled curse: "Hypocritical."
Gu Lin thought he was insulting her, so she spat and said, "What's the point of talking about being upright and honorable when dealing with a scoundrel like you?"
"If I had done this earlier, I probably wouldn't have dared to look for women outside."
Gu Lin was furious. She was shameless and despicable for having an affair and giving birth to an illegitimate child, and yet she blamed Gu Lin for being too virtuous in the past?
Garbage, thank goodness I left.
-
After leaving the Civil Affairs Bureau, Gu Lin went to the Fu family to tell her great-uncle's family the good news.
After staying one night, I went back to my parents' home before returning to Shenzhen to tell them about my divorce.
Her elder brother and sister-in-law were very happy for her and congratulated her on escaping her misery.
The parents showed no sign of happiness, but thankfully they didn't say anything harsh. They just seemed to have lost all their vitality and wouldn't sit there, half-dead.
Gu Lin was in a good mood and wasn't too affected. After sitting for a while, she made an excuse that she had to go to the station to catch a train and left.
The older brother and sister-in-law chased after him and took him to the bus stop.
While waiting for the bus, I said many comforting words to Gu Lin.
Gu Lin knew that her brother and sister-in-law were not bad people, just like her in the past.
They felt sorry for Gu Lin's past suffering, but they didn't have the courage to persuade her to rebel.
It's true what they say, "Birds of a feather flock together."
She recalled that back when the reform and opening up had just begun, relatives of the Gu family had asked her grandmother to help them ask her cousin to help them with something.
In contrast, neither of their cousins had the courage to leave their stable environment.
What a bunch of good-for-nothings begot.
After starting work at a garment factory in Shenzhen, she realized what a vibrant factory was like; state-owned factories, plagued by chronic problems, simply couldn't compete with private factories.
Thinking of this, Gu Lin asked her brother and sister-in-law, "How is the factory doing?"
When the factory's performance was mentioned, both of them sighed and said that the outlook was not very optimistic.
They all understood that saying things weren't very optimistic was just a polite way of putting it. If the factory weren't state-owned, they wouldn't doubt for a second that it would go bankrupt if there wasn't work available.
Gu Lin laughed in exasperation and said to them, "Do you really think that anything owned by the state won't go bankrupt?"
The eldest brother of the Gu family chuckled and said, "How could a country go bankrupt?"
Sister-in-law Gu also said, "That's right, state-owned factories are not like those private factories."
Gu Lin didn't know what to say anymore. Anyway, some things are useless to say more about; you have to experience them yourself.
Two people who work regular jobs witnessed firsthand what the factory was like, yet remained optimistic, believing it could continue operating for a long time. Conversely, my cousin's wife, who hadn't worked much, had a more acute eye for the problems plaguing many state-owned factories.
The bus arrived, and Gu Lin said goodbye to her older brother and sister-in-law.
After seeing his younger sister off, the eldest brother of the Gu family sighed deeply.
Gu's eldest sister-in-law thought he was saddened by his sister's situation and comforted him, "Don't worry about Gu Lin, I think she's doing quite well now."
When a person is full of energy, their complexion is better than before.
The eldest brother of the Gu family said, "I'm not worried about my sister, but I was thinking about what she asked us earlier. Although I just said how could a state-owned factory go bankrupt, our factory hasn't had any work for more than half a year, and it might really not be able to hold on."
After hearing this, Gu's eldest sister-in-law sighed, "Our factory isn't much better off."
What should we do if things continue like this?
What should we do?
Perhaps this reflects the growing concerns of many.
The newspapers that year discussed the reform of state-owned enterprises several times, and Fu Chengan, who had only recently integrated into society, saw the problems.
At the dinner table that day, I discussed national economic issues with Grandpa Fu.
Two men who had spent their lives in the military were discussing economics in a serious manner, and their views were quite insightful.
Especially when discussing how to carve out a way out in a socialist market economy where the private sector is on the rise, both of them thought of cutting off their own arm to survive.
Tang Mingli looked at them with newfound respect, but also with a heavy heart.
Is the pain of a new era about to begin?
It's still early.
Or perhaps she forgot that every major turning point doesn't happen overnight; it may involve a lot of winding and tortuous exploration.
In my past life, I've seen many people online dreaming about what they would do if they knew the future. Their tone was direct and their ambition was so grand, as if they themselves were on a battlefield reviewing troops.
Even if ordinary people could truly predict the future, the opportunities they could actually seize would be extremely limited.
It's like in a past life, even if many people were to return to the time before housing prices skyrocketed, those with the means could easily buy hundreds or even thousands of houses. Ordinary people, even if they emptied their pockets, could at most own one or two, or maybe two or three.
Nine oxen and a hair are not comparable.
Fu Yu got tired of playing and called out "Mom" twice, but still didn't get a response, so she simply put down the Lego she was playing and walked towards her mother.
"Mother."
Tang Mingli then came to her senses and smiled at her daughter.
"Not playing anymore?"
A month ago, my daughter saw a Lego set at the Friendship Store. After playing with it, she became completely obsessed and started playing with it as soon as she got home from school.
Sure enough, Fu Yu shook her head, "I want to play more."
only……
"Mom, I called you but you didn't hear me. Are you thinking about Dad?"
Fu Yu had a reason for asking this question: every time her mother called her father, she said she missed him.
Tang Mingli was both amused and exasperated by her daughter's misunderstanding.
Not knowing how to explain why he had been daydreaming, he simply nodded.
Life sometimes needs beautiful lies.
To everyone's surprise, Fu Yu smiled slyly after hearing this, and Tang Mingli immediately noticed something was amiss.
"Honey, is there something you're hiding from Mommy?"
Fu Yu shook her head frantically: "No, I didn't hide it from my mother."
After saying that, she covered her mouth with her chubby little hand.
It would be strange if there wasn't a reaction.
But at her age, how much can she really hide?
Tang Mingli decided to respect her child and allow her to have a little secret.
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