Chapter 6 Come Home with Me
Su Hexi raised her eyebrows in shock, thinking he was mad.
The next second, Zhou Lin continued, his eyes painful but extremely serious: "I will treat him as my own child. Come home with me, and from now on... don't have any contact with him anymore. In front of outsiders, I am this child's father."
His voice was low, but it carried a heavy promise that could not be questioned.
Su Hexi was completely stunned.
This man... does this man have some kind of godly complex? He's so willing to be cuckolded? And he's even eager to be a cheap dad?
She was so angry at his ridiculous "responsible" attitude that she laughed instead. It was a sneer full of sarcasm and disbelief: "Zhou Lin, are you sick? Who asked you to raise a bastard? Who asked you to be a cheap father? Is your brain covered in cement?"
Zhou Lin lowered his head, and his rough, cracked fingers with thick and deformed knuckles groped in his mud-stained pockets.
Finally, he pulled out a five-dollar bill that was wrinkled, worn at the edges, and dark in color.
In his palms, stained with dirt and sweat, covered with cracks and calluses, the thin piece of paper seemed so light and yet so heavy. It seemed to still retain the salty taste of body temperature and sweat.
Zhou Lin silently handed the five yuan to Su Hexi gently, even with a kind of humble caution. His voice was hoarse and low, with a sense of resigned fatigue: "This is what I earned today."
Su Hexi couldn't stand the sour smell. Her stomach was churning. She suddenly turned her head and retched, "Ugh..."
"Xiaoxi, come home with me." Beneath Zhou Lin's heavy, suppressed breath, was all his shame, pain, and confusion... At this moment, it was pierced by a deeper, sharper pain. That pain came from the unconditional sacrifice behind his calm words. He didn't want accusations, he didn't want explanations, he just wanted a choice.
As long as Su Hexi chooses him.
Looking at that face filled with exhaustion and grief, Su Hexi suddenly stood up and pushed Zhou Lin's strong body hard, trying to push him out the door: "Get out! Get out! This is my place! My tailor shop! I don't want to see you! Get out!"
She gets annoyed just looking at this foolishly loyal man!
Zhou Lin didn't move at all. He just looked at her with those bottomless eyes filled with pain and confusion. He didn't understand why she was so angry. He had already backed down to this point. What else did she want?
When Su Hexi smelled the sour smell of sweat on Zhou Lin's body, her stomach churned even more violently, and she suddenly tilted her head to the side and retched.
"Xiaoxi..." Zhou Lin looked at her vomiting violently, thinking that she had a severe morning sickness reaction, "Come home with me, so that I can take care of you more conveniently."
"Get out!" Su Hexi almost screamed, using all her strength, "Unless you're here to divorce me, I don't want to see you again!"
Su Hexi finally pushed him out the door, and then slammed it shut with a bang, completely isolating Zhou Lin's heavy and confused gaze.
Leaning against the cold door, Su Hexi gasped for breath, her chest heaving violently. Outside the door, there was a long, deathly silence.
Then, there was the sound of footsteps, so heavy as if dragging a thousand-pound burden, which slowly and gradually faded away step by step.
Zhou Lin left the gradually quiet street in a daze. Su Hexi's final words of "get out" and the slam of the door still rang in his ears. She didn't want him to raise the child, didn't want him to take responsibility, and didn't even want to see him.
But she was his wife. Even if she was noisy, noisy, or even... pregnant with someone else's child, as long as she stayed, he had to take care of her. Especially since she was pregnant, living alone in that shabby tailor shop, with nothing to eat or drink.
He felt a tightness in his stomach, like a ball of wet cotton, heavy and suffocating. Even carrying bags of cement on a construction site had never been so tiring.
Zhou Lin walked aimlessly for a long time. When he came to his senses, he found himself at the entrance of his parents' village on the outskirts of the city. Ever since he moved out with Su Hexi and lost his job, he rarely came back. He was too embarrassed to come back.
He hesitated at the door for a long time before pushing open the creaking wooden door.
His mother, Wang Huixian, was busy at the stove. When she saw him come in, she was pleasantly surprised. Then, seeing how haggard and distraught he looked, she immediately put down her work with such heartache: "Rinzi? Why are you back at this hour? Haven't you eaten yet? Come on, sit down. I'll serve you some food."
"Mom, don't worry." Zhou Lin stopped his mother in a hoarse voice, "I...have eaten."
Wang Huixian didn't believe it. Looking at his sunken eye sockets and chapped lips, she sighed, "Is she making trouble again? Or is it just too tiring working on the construction site? Rinzi, listen to me. If you really can't make it, then..."
"Mom!" Zhou Lin interrupted his mother, took a deep breath, and spoke with difficulty, as if he had made a great decision, "Do we have any free-range eggs left?"
"Eggs? Yes, what's the matter? You want to eat some? Mom will cook it for you." Wang Huixian said as she was about to get them.
"No..." Zhou Lin's Adam's apple rolled, and his voice was so low that it was almost inaudible, "Xiaoxi...she is pregnant. I want to...give her some nourishment."
"What?!" Wang Huixian dropped the ladle in her hand to the ground with a clang. Her eyes widened instantly, and her voice suddenly rose in disbelief and surprise. "Pregnant...pregnant?! Oh my God! Is this true? Rinko! You're going to be a father?! I'm going to be a grandmother?!"
She was so excited that she grabbed Zhou Lin's arm, and the wrinkles on her face were all smiling. Her previous worries were swept away. "Good! This is very good! Oh my! I told you! You young couples, how can you always be at odds! It's good that you're pregnant! It's good that you're pregnant! Now that we have a child, we can feel at ease!"
She chattered away, too happy to know what to do. She immediately turned around and began to search the house furiously: "Eggs! Yes, yes, yes! I've saved up quite a few! All for you! Take them all back to nourish my daughter-in-law! She's just a little girl, and we treated her badly before she married into our family. Now that she's pregnant, the baby will be so precious! She needs to be nourished!"
She quickly gathered together a small basket of plump country eggs, carefully padded them with dry straw, and stuffed them into Zhou Lin's hands: "Take it! Take it quickly!"
Zhou Lin looked at his mother's happy face, and his heart was filled with mixed emotions. He took out the wrinkled five yuan from his pocket and said, "Mom, take this money..."
"What money?" Wang Huixian immediately frowned and pushed the money back. "I'm giving my daughter-in-law and grandson some nourishment. It's only natural! How can I take your money? Put it away! Buy her more delicious food! Or... or how about I cook and bring it to her every day from now on? Can she handle it alone?"
"No need, Mom," Zhou Lin felt sad and quickly refused, "I'll do it for her. You... don't worry too much." He was afraid that his mother would hear some rumors if she went, or be angry with Su Hexi.
"Okay, okay, go do it. Just be careful." Wang Huixian smiled from ear to ear and sent Zhou Lin to the village entrance, still constantly reminding her, "Tell her not to get tired. Tell her what you want to eat and I'll bring it to you..."
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