Chapter 138 They Don't Love Her
The next morning, Lu Zheng carried two steamed buns and headed to the bus station.
Xia Qianqian stood at the door, watching his back, feeling somewhat uncertain.
Two days later, in the afternoon, as she was sitting in the yard picking green beans, she suddenly heard a car horn coming from the village entrance.
Xia Qianqian patted her apron and ran towards the door.
On the dirt road at the village entrance, a military green jeep was slowly driving by, the red five-pointed star on the front of the vehicle gleaming brightly in the sunlight.
The man in the driver's seat leaned out, grinned at her, revealing two rows of white teeth.
"Get in!" Lu Zheng parked the car at the gate of the courtyard and reached out to help her. "Let's go for a drive."
Xia Qianqian reached out and touched the cold metal of the car door, her tone full of admiration: "You really managed to borrow it? This is a Jeep!"
"It's just an old vehicle that the military logistics department has phased out; it's nothing special." Lu Zheng smiled and opened the passenger door. "Come on in, have a seat, and give it a try."
She had just settled in when Er Ya ran over, grabbed the car door frame with her little hands, and craned her neck to shout, "Mommy, I want to ride in the car too!"
Xia Qianqian simply called out, "Da Ya! Come and ride with us!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the area outside the courtyard wall erupted like a hornet's nest. Three or five teenagers swarmed over, their little arms and legs clinging to the car door, their eyes shining like fledglings just out of their nests.
Lu Zheng smiled and opened all the back doors, and the children scurried inside.
"Sit tight!" Lu Zheng started the car, and with a slight hum of the engine, cheers erupted from the back seat.
Er Ya squeezed into the middle, her little chest puffed out high, and clung to the car window, showing off to her friends on the roadside: "See this? This is my mom and dad's car! They're so awesome!"
Xia Wenwen happened to overhear these words while passing by.
As the military green jeep slowly drove by, the back seat was crowded with chattering children. Xia Qianqian leaned against the passenger seat, her profile bathed in the warm yellow sunlight. Lu Zheng's hands gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles distinct, and a smile she had never seen before played on his lips.
That smile pierced Xia Wenwen's eyes like a needle.
Why is Lu Zheng so open and honest with Xia Qianqian, even lending her his jeep to make her happy?
"Mom!" Xia Wenwen turned around abruptly and rushed home, slamming the steamed bun onto the table. "How long are you going to make me wait? I want to switch back with Xia Qianqian! Lu Zheng should have been my man!"
Madam Xia was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) basking in the sun when she heard this, her face darkened: "What nonsense are you talking about! Your father has already asked someone to go to the Qin family to mediate. The marriage agreement between our two families has not been nullified. Isn't marrying Qin Yan better than marrying Lu Zheng?"
The Xia couple now pinned all their hopes on the Qin family, hoping to use this marriage to return to the city.
Originally, it was thought that he would be purged for following the wrong person, but unexpectedly he ended up in the No. 3 work team. It is said that he is highly valued, and even the people of the South City Revolutionary Committee respectfully call him "Officer Qin".
"As long as Qin Yan agrees to marry Wenwen, not to mention the quota for returning to the city, it won't be difficult for him to find a decent job in the provincial capital in the future," Mr. Xia mentioned to Mrs. Xia in private.
Upon hearing this, Madam Xia slammed the thimble in her hand on the kang table: "Still thinking about Lu Zheng?! Have you forgotten who claimed to 'understand the situation' and persuaded your father to give up the ancestral home in the city to that 'Number 8'? And what happened? He fell from power, and our whole family was driven to this poor mountain village to eat tree bark! And now, you've taken a fancy to that country bumpkin—are you trying to completely disgrace the Xia family?"
Xia Wenwen's eyes instantly reddened when she was touched on a sore spot, but she stubbornly refused to back down: "What's wrong with Lu Zheng? He's much better than Qin Yan! At least he..."
Madam Xia's face darkened: "A girl who knows a few words doesn't know her place! From now on, stop meddling in those 'situations' and 'connections,' and just wait to marry into the Qin family! Would your father and I harm you? Qin Yan is now a favorite of the No. 3 leader. If you marry him, you'll be an official's wife, and he'll bring us back to the provincial capital in the future. That's the right path!"
"The right path?" Xia Wenwen finally couldn't hold back any longer, and all the grievances that had been building up for half a year surged up.
"Qin Yan doesn't like me at all! Are you trying to push me into a fire pit?"
Seeing her like this, Madam Xia sighed and softened her voice: "Silly girl, would your mother harm you? Once a girl gets married, she'll be living a mundane life with whomever she marries. What does liking or disliking have to do with food?"
She further advised, "Besides, a girl as good as you should learn how to please Qin Yan. My Wenwen is so pretty and literate, how could he not be tempted?"
"Tempted..." Xia Wenwen sneered inwardly.
She recalled Qin Yan's perpetually cold eyes when he looked at her in her past life, as if he were looking at an insignificant decoration; she also recalled the tenderness in Lu Zheng's eyes when he looked at Xia Qianqian just now, a tenderness that could not be hidden, like the warm sun in winter, capable of melting one's heart.
How can these be the same?
Since God has given her a second chance at life, she is determined not to repeat her past life, spending her entire life in a loveless marriage with a man who doesn't love her!
Xia Wenwen raised her head, avoiding her mother's gaze, and said in a low, hoarse voice, "I understand."
She didn't argue or defend herself further; she simply lowered her head silently, her long eyelashes drooping down to conceal the turbulent emotions in her eyes.
She used to think her parents loved her and were doing it for her own good. But now she finally understood—what they loved was never her, their daughter, but the wealth and status Qin Yan could bring them, and the ticket that would allow them to return to the provincial capital!
She clenched her hands, which were hidden in her sleeves, her nails digging deep into her palms.
"In this life, she will take control of her own destiny!"
Xia Wenwen clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms, oblivious to the blood welling up. A flame of resentment burned in her eyes—why did Xia Qianqian have to possess Lu Zheng's gentleness? Why was she to be used as a pawn, forced to marry that cold-hearted Qin Yan?
She's going to find Lu Zheng!
Once the thought took hold, it grew like wildfire. She wanted to tell Lu Zheng that Xia Qianqian didn't love him at all! She had kept so many secrets from him, clearly using him!
Even Xia Wenwen herself couldn't say for sure whether her feelings for Lu Zheng were love or resentment.
But the thought of Lu Zheng looking at Xia Qianqian with eyes that held the stars and the sea made her heart ache as if it were being gnawed by a venomous snake.
After a restless night, as dawn broke, Xia Wenwen got up, tidied herself up, and went to the old locust tree at the east end of the village, the only road Lu Zheng took to work.
But Xia Wenwen waited until dawn without seeing Lu Zheng. She frowned and was about to turn back when she heard someone on the roadside saying that Lu Zheng doted on his wife and had driven Xia Qianqian to the provincial capital to buy things early in the morning.
Xia Qianqian!
Xia Wenwen bit her lip until it bled.
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