Chapter 43
Crash——
The hot water slid down her fair and slender calves and flowed into the enamel basin with big red flowers. A big hand with distinct joints pressed down Meng Wanqiu's beautiful ankles and soaked them in the warm water.
Meng Wanqiu sat on the edge of the bed, her pants rolled up to her knees, revealing the bruised skin that stretched from her knees to her feet. Her skin was delicate, and after a day of kneeling, it looked horrible.
Anyway, when Pei Xingzhi saw this, he did not hide his coldness at all. He ignored Meng Wanqiu's wishes and directly picked her up and put her on the bed.
Then I went to get some hot water for her to soak her feet. After soaking in the hot water, the bruises on her legs looked even worse.
Meng Wanqiu grabbed her trouser legs to prevent them from sliding down and getting wet. She looked at Pei Xingzhi's long eyelashes that had drooped, casting a shadow on his lower eyelids, making his delicate features appear three-dimensional.
Both of them have very long eyelashes, but Meng Wanqiu's eyes are round almond-shaped. However, after losing weight, her eyes tend to develop into peach blossom eyes. When she looks up at people, the crimson corners of her eyes look like they are painted with fine rouge, and every frown and smile of hers carries a subtle temptation.
Pei Xingzhi has narrow and long phoenix eyes, eyelashes that look like they are painted with eyeliner, deep brow bones, and pupils as black as a bottomless spring. He has a sense of mystery and distance that makes people afraid to approach him.
She stretched out her fair and slender hand and gently stroked Pei Xingzhi's brow bone, then slid it down, touching the thick feathery eyelashes with the back of her finger, feeling it tremble. She was very cautious, as if she was afraid of disturbing her.
Pei Xingzhi stared at Meng Wanqiu with his unblocked eyes, as if asking a silent question.
Meng Wanqiu withdrew her hand and pursed her lips. "Don't you have anything you want to ask?"
Pei Xingzhi curled his lips, lowered his head and continued to wash Meng Wanqiu's feet, "Nothing to ask?"
"Really?"
"Okay, you really don't plan to leave?" Pei Xingzhi looked up at Meng Wanqiu.
"Do you want me to go with you?" Meng Wanqiu asked back, tilting her head.
Pei Xingzhi stared at Meng Wanqiu intently, applying a little pressure to his hands as he gazed into her clear, piercing eyes. It was these simple eyes and her pure, natural aura that had initially captivated him.
Later, after spending a long time with Meng Wanqiu, Pei Xingzhi discovered the contradictions in Meng Wanqiu. She had extraordinary skills, understood strange pharmacology, and revealed a terrifying cruelty from time to time.
Everything shows that Meng Wanqiu is unusual, completely different from her appearance and temperament.
But Pei Xingzhi still fell in love with her. In such a short time, sometimes when he thought about it, he found it incredible. Before the marriage, he vowed that in this marriage, there would only be responsibility, not love.
Unexpectedly, the person who slapped him in the face in the end was Pei Xingzhi himself.
"I won't make things difficult for you—"
"I want to hear the truth." Meng Wanqiu lifted Pei Xingzhi's chin, bent down to face Pei Xingzhi, and the warm breath from their noses intertwined with each other.
Pei Xingzhi's heart slowed down a bit. Looking at her face so close to him, his Adam's apple moved and his clear and cold voice became hoarse.
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't listen to me."
After saying that, Pei Xingzhi turned his head and broke free from Meng Wanqiu's hand. He said softly, "You don't know how much you mean to me. If you don't leave, I won't go either."
His hair had grown longer, hanging listlessly across his forehead. Meng Wanqiu didn't know if it was her imagination, but she could sense a sense of grievance in his words.
Her heart ached, and Meng Wanqiu clutched her chest. She'd occasionally experienced this feeling before, but now she finally recognized it. She checked her pulse almost every day to make sure there was nothing wrong with her body, so why was her heart aching?
Meng Wanqiu couldn't help but hold Pei Xingzhi's face and turned him around. Her deep eyes were misty at this moment, just like the thin mist that would rise in the mountains before the rain.
"Don't do this, it hurts me."
Meng Wanqiu was really just expressing her feelings, but Pei Xingzhi was struck by lightning when he heard these words. His eyes were unusually dull, and his thin lips were slightly open, as if he was shocked to the extreme.
"Wan, Wanwan, what did you say? Can you say it again?" Pei Xingzhi heard his own cautious voice.
Like a person who has been poor for a long time and discovers a treasure, his first reaction is not ecstasy, but disbelief, and he carefully searches for the truth.
"I said, don't do this, it hurts me."
The voice that usually sounds like wind chimes now seems to be stained with the mist of a rainy day, carrying a moist sadness.
After hearing this, the disbelief on Pei Xingzhi's face faded, and then his eyes, eyebrows, lips and even every strand of hair were filled with joy.
"Ha ha--"
A cheerful laugh came out of his upturned mouth, his chest trembling slightly. Pei Xingzhi put his head on Meng Wanqiu's legs, his shoulders shaking constantly, showing his good mood.
Meng Wanqiu was puzzled, but when she saw Pei Xingzhi like this, the pain in her heart suddenly disappeared.
"What are you laughing at?"
Pei Xingzhi raised his head, and his deep eyes seemed to be filled with sparkling stars. The high wall somewhere in Meng Wanqiu's heart suddenly collapsed, and she fell into this shining sea of stars.
Pei Xingzhi did not answer Meng Wanqiu's question. Instead, he looked at her face and gently kissed her knee. "Wanwan, I love you."
As her bedmate, how could Pei Xingzhi not feel that Meng Wanqiu was ignoring him.
This neglect is not material, but spiritual.
She would ask him where he was going every day, but after he answered, she would stop asking and didn't care what he did.
At first, Pei Xingzhi did not pay attention to these details, thinking it was just Meng Wanqiu's personality problem. The longer time passed, he realized that it was not that she was careless, but that she did not care.
For some reason, she always seemed to be separated from him, putting him in a special place.
A position that is nice to have but not sad to lose.
When he first discovered this, Pei Xingzhi wanted to point it out and ask Meng Wanqiu why.
But then he realized that this was just like the secrets she had hidden. He could only wait for her to tell him and discover them on her own initiative.
If he took the initiative to ask and clarify the problems between them, Pei Xingzhi had a premonition that he and Meng Wanqiu would never go in the direction he hoped.
With this premonition, Pei Xingzhi gave up.
He decided to be patient, try to be nice to Meng Wanqiu, try to love her, break the thick wall in her heart, and let him enter her heart.
Until today, with this trigger, he finally heard the words from Meng Wanqiu that he had been waiting for two years.
She felt sorry for him.
Seeing him in pain, she felt sad too, and heartbroken.
His Wanwan finally realized his love and began to respond to his feelings.
His efforts were not in vain.
Late at night, Pei Xingzhi hugged Meng Wanqiu tightly and covered her with a quilt.
As for the quilt we used to sleep on in separate beds last night, it had been ruthlessly stuffed back into the closet.
Meng Wanqiu decided to leave with Pei Xingzhi.
On this day, she carefully recalled how good Pei Xingzhi had been to her in the past two years, and she also realized her psychological problems. After living in peace for twenty years, her edges and corners had been smoothed out.
This brand new era, which broke through her old ideas, made her admire it but also fear it.
After leaving the familiar Qinghe Village, there were too many unknowns in the outside world, which made Meng Wanqiu subconsciously resist and just want to stay in the safe comfort zone.
Even though she had taken action to eliminate those who threatened Pei Xingzhi, this habitual cruelty did not mean that she had the ability to adapt to the unfamiliar outside world.
Realizing her own problems, Meng Wanqiu felt she could no longer escape. She was escaping this era, escaping Pei Xingzhi's feelings, and also escaping her former self.
The self who would take advantage of his free time to see the mountains and rivers, admire the sun, moon and stars, taste delicious food and drink fine wine, and be unrestrained.
Outside the window, the bright moon covers the earth and the stars twinkle, as if welcoming the upcoming new life.
Pei Xingzhi and Meng Wanqiu decided to leave, but they did not leave immediately. Instead, they were busy with the preliminary preparations.
The whole family was busy with various documents, letters of introduction, train tickets, and luggage to take away.
The person with the most idleness in the family was Meng Wanqiu. Her task was to pack clothes for the two of them, but the hardworking Pei Xingzhi took it over, so she had nothing to do.
Because of this incident, Meng Wanqiu was scolded by Li Lanxiang again.
That morning, everyone in the family went to work or went out, so Meng Wanqiu took Meng Zhuangzhuang, who had just finished school, to fish in the ditch outside the village.
Qinghe Village relies on the mountains for its livelihood. Even during the three years of famine across the country, no one in Qinghe Village starved to death.
The river outside the village is formed by the confluence of small streams flowing from the nearby mountains. The common fish in it are wheatear fish and crucian carp. The fact that these fish were not caught by the people of Qinghe Village during the years in the wilderness shows their ability to escape.
It is no exaggeration to say that he is agile and moves smoothly.
When no one is around, these fish swim freely at the bottom of the water, occasionally emerging for air. But once they hear footsteps, they disappear without a trace.
Therefore, people without some ability cannot catch them.
But Meng Wanqiu is different. Her five senses are very sensitive, and no matter how fast the fish is, it can't be faster than her.
In her previous life, she often slept in the mountains. The wild fish in the mountains were the most intelligent, but Meng Wanqiu had the most experience in catching these fish.
Not long after, Meng Wanqiu caught two, and Meng Zhuangzhuang on the shore hurriedly brought the woven straw rope.
Meng Wanqiu lifted the fish's gills and prepared to hang it up, but the fat and big crucian carp refused to accept its fate and struggled desperately in her hands.
Meng Wanqiu smiled triumphantly and held the fish tightly. "You still want to escape? If you fall into my hands, you will be in my hands..."
Meng Wanqiu frowned. Why did the fishy smell that she was used to smell become so unbearable now?
The fish was still struggling desperately, and the fishy smell seemed to be added with an accelerator, the smell became stronger and stronger, and Meng Wanqiu's face became more and more ugly.
"vomit--"
Meng Wanqiu felt nauseous and couldn't help vomiting. She let go of the strength in her hands, and the cunning fish took the opportunity to break free from Meng Wanqiu's hands.
"thump--"
"Ah, Auntie, the fish ran away!"
Meng Zhuangzhuang quickly stepped on the other fish jumping on the shore and looked at the big fish with regret.
Meng Wanqiu only felt the fishy smell on her hands, which kept drilling into her nose and entering her stomach.
I quickly washed my hands, mashed a special kind of grass by the river, dripped the juice on my hands, and rubbed them carefully. Only then did the fishy smell dissipate a little and my churning stomach calm down.
"It's okay. The fish must be sick. It smells so bad. We won't eat it." Meng Wanqiu said with disgust.
"Even though he's sick, he's still so fierce?" Meng Zhuangzhuang said to himself.
"Okay, let's eat this one today. I'll make you some egg custard tonight." Meng Wanqiu patted Meng Zhuangzhuang's head. Looking at the fish he was stepping on, she subconsciously recalled the churning feeling in her stomach just now. She shuddered and said with lingering fear, "Do you tie fish? If you can do this, I'll give it to you."
"Yes, my father taught me." Meng Zhuangzhuang answered loudly, his face flushed with excitement.
"Then come on."
The rising morning light shone on the two people, and two shadows, one long and one short, were imprinted on the ground, stretched out very long.
Meng Wanqiu didn't take this little episode to heart until she was cooking and processing fish at noon, when the familiar feeling of nausea came up again, and it was even stronger than in the morning.
Meng Wanqiu lay on the stove, covering her mouth and retching again and again. The blood color faded from her face and she looked extremely weak.
After a while, Meng Wanqiu finally realized that there might be something wrong with her body. She placed her right hand on her left wrist and took her own pulse.
Meng Wanqiu frowned and felt the pulse carefully, but could not find any signs of illness. Suddenly, an idea flashed through her mind and was caught by Meng Wanqiu.
Meng Wanqiu widened her eyes and took the pulse again in disbelief, carefully feeling the strange and weak pulse.
This time, Meng Wanqiu can confirm it.
She is really pregnant!
My hand unconsciously moved to my lower abdomen, feeling the subtle difference from before.
Meng Wanqiu bit her lower lip. She and Pei Xingzhi had been using contraception for the past two years, but they still unexpectedly got pregnant.
Thinking that her family had been busy with her and Pei Xingzhi's departure recently, Meng Wanqiu hesitated whether to tell them.
She and Pei Xingzhi were going to leave in a few days. If she told them that she was pregnant at this critical moment, her parents would not stop her from leaving, but they would definitely be worried.
Thinking of this, Meng Wanqiu lowered her eyelids and her hands unconsciously clenched the clothes on her abdomen. She decided to wait until she arrived at the destination and then write a letter to tell her parents, so as not to make them worry in vain because of the bumpy journey.
Meng Wanqiu did not continue cooking, but waited for her elder brother Meng Yanchun to come back and tell him to cook. Meng Yanchun, who had not been ordered around by his sister for a long time, came over happily.
Meng Yanchun felt sad when he thought that his sister, whom he had spoiled since childhood, would leave him in a few days.
He was very happy to spend more time with his sister.
Even more distressed than Meng Yanchun was Dong Hanyun, who had been giving Pei Xingzhi a cold shoulder for several days. But no matter how reluctant she was, she didn't ask Meng Wanqiu to stay.
At the dinner table, Meng Wanqiu's behavior of not eating fish attracted everyone's attention.
Pei Xingzhi picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks and was about to put it into Meng Wanqiu's bowl, but Meng Wanqiu moved away.
Pei Xingzhi: What did I do wrong?
The chopsticks circled in mid-air and returned to Pei Xingzhi's own bowl.
Meng Aiguo and Li Lanxiang looked at each other. The relationship between the young couple has been so sweet lately that it makes them feel jealous.
Li Lanxiang: Your daughter is making trouble again.
Meng Aiguo: Nonsense, maybe I just don’t want to eat today.
Li Lanxiang: Oh, is there any meat she doesn’t want to eat?
The corners of Meng Aiguo's mouth twitched. He also felt that this was too fake, but he didn't want to scold his daughter, nor did he want his daughter to be lectured.
He cleared his throat and took the lead to say, "Xiao Wan, why don't you eat fish?"
When Li Lanxiang heard this, she glanced at Meng Aiguo and only had his daughter in her mind.
Meng Wanqiu remained calm and said, "Oh, I don't want to eat fish today."
"Yes, Xiao Wan, is it because big brother's cooking is not tasty? How about I make grilled fish for you again in the evening? Big brother's grilled fish is delicious." Meng Yanchun suggested.
There was also grilled fish. Just by smelling the fish on the table, she tried hard to control herself from vomiting. Meng Wanqiu cried for help in her heart.
"Auntie, I vomited because of the fish today." Meng Zhuangzhuang added in a baby voice with his mouth full of oil.
"Oh, what happened? Was I hit in the face by the fish's tail?" Meng Yanchun subconsciously imagined the scene of Meng Wanqiu being hit on the mouth by a fish and spitting out the fishy smell, and he couldn't help laughing.
"Yes, that's it." Meng Wanqiu nodded.
So that's it. Everyone felt relieved, thinking that Meng Wanqiu was hit in the face by the fish and was in a bad mood, so she didn't want to eat fish.
Pei Xingzhi noticed that Meng Wanqiu's face was pale and thought that there was something wrong with her body. There was a hint of worry in his eyes and he decided to ask her after returning to the room.
Seeing that everyone was fooled, Meng Wanqiu breathed a sigh of relief, but when she looked up, she met Grandma Meng's meaningful eyes, and her heart began to lift again.
I hope grandma won’t find out.
After dinner, Grandma Meng called her to her room, and her words shattered Meng Wanqiu's extravagant hopes.
"Are you pregnant?" Grandma Meng turned her back to Meng Wanqiu and rummaged through something in her quaint carved wooden cabinet.
Meng Wanqiu's pupils suddenly shrank, and she smiled awkwardly, "Grandma, what's the matter?"
Grandma Meng didn't reply, "Why don't you tell me and make your parents happy?"
Half a year after their marriage, Meng Wanqiu's belly still didn't move, and Li Lanxiang began to worry. She thought that one of the couple had a health problem, and asked them several times in a roundabout way.
Meng Wanqiu and Pei Xingzhi were both confused, but Grandma Meng, who couldn't bear it any longer, told Li Lanxiang about their contraception plan.
Meng Yanchun and Dong Hanyun hadn't had another child for so long, and Li Lanxiang had always been looking forward to having a child with Meng Wanqiu. When she learned that the couple had their own plans, Li Lanxiang was a little disappointed, but she didn't say much.
Meng Wanqiu was stuck. Grandma Meng didn't ask this question, but stated it directly.
Because she knew that Meng Wanqiu and Pei Xingzhi were on contraception, Li Lanxiang didn't think much about it, but the knowledgeable Grandma Meng noticed at a glance that something was wrong with Meng Wanqiu.
Seeing that she could no longer hide it, Meng Wanqiu expressed her concerns.
Grandma Meng pondered for a moment and nodded. "That's a valid reason. I'll keep it a secret for you. But..." Grandma Meng turned and looked at Meng Wanqiu. "You have to take good care of your own body. I'll take care of your child next year."
Meng Wanqiu nodded like a chick pecking at rice, knowing that her grandmother was the most reliable.
After saying that, Grandma Meng turned back, opened the small wooden box from the closet, and took out two golden little yellow croakers.
"Here, it's safer to have money with you when you go out."
Meng Wanqiu looked at the two small yellow croakers in her palm in shock. "Grandma, where did you get these?"
Grandma Meng raised her eyebrows nonchalantly, "Where did it come from? Of course it's mine."
Meng Wanqiu was speechless, silently giving a thumbs-up. Then she happily put it in her pocket. She would not refuse. No one knew the importance of money better than her. If you want to settle down in a new place, you can't do it without money.
Moreover, she saw her grandmother's wooden box, and there was quite a lot of space inside. Grandma Meng always treated everyone equally, and none of the four brothers and sisters would be left out.
"Okay, go out and call Xingzhi in. I have some instructions for him."
Grandma Meng waved her hand and Meng Wanqiu left on her own accord.
When she saw Pei Xingzhi, she still had a smile on her face and said in a cheerful tone, "Grandma is calling you."
Pei Xingzhi saw that Meng Wanqiu's face was no longer as ugly as before, and his mood also improved. He raised his hand and scratched her nose, "I know."
night.
Pei Xingzhi was still the same as before, whispering to Meng Wanqiu in the bed. The atmosphere was getting hotter and hotter, and his hand began to move down.
"no!"
Meng Wanqiu stopped his hand, her eyes sparkling and full of affection, and she panted and refused.
Pei Xingzhi raised his eyebrows in confusion, his eyes serious, his voice cold and hoarse: "Why?"
Is he counting her days? It's not that time yet.
Meng Wanqiu smiled faintly, raised her hand to wipe the sweat from Pei Xingzhi's forehead, put her hand around his neck, leaned close to his ear, and whispered softly, "I'm pregnant."
Until the day they left, Meng Wanqiu would laugh from time to time when she thought of Pei Xingzhi's reaction that day.
It was the first time she saw Pei Xingzhi like that, and it reminded her of the silly high school boy she saw when she went to Fengdong School to see him. He was like an energetic monkey, jumping up and down.
Pei Xingzhi was certainly not like a monkey. He was like a big tiger with abundant energy but no way to vent it. He hugged her and pounded the quilt hard.
Because he couldn't tell his family, he could only vent his joy to Meng Wanqiu. He walked around the room, hugged Meng Wanqiu and talked all night...
Inside the county train station.
Except for Grandma Meng and Meng Fengdong who was going to school, all the Meng family members came to see Meng Wanqiu and Pei Xingzhi off, including six-year-old Meng Zhuangzhuang.
The little boy finally realized that his aunt who had loved him since childhood and his uncle whom he admired were going to leave him.
Meng Zhuangzhuang's tears never stopped along the way. He wiped his tears with his little hands, and the skin around his eyes was rubbed red. Meng Wanqiu wiped his tears with a handkerchief with a distressed look on her face.
"Zhuangzhuang, be good. Auntie will be back for the New Year. You're in school now, so you know how many months there are in a year, right?"
"Woo woo, yes, 12 months."
"Yes, that aunt will be back in six months. Six months, very soon."
Meng Wanqiu gently bent Meng Zhuangzhuang's six fleshy fingers and coaxed him with red eyes.
Li Lanxiang's eyes were also red. She stroked Meng Wanqiu's back again and again. She said all the instructions, but it was as if she hadn't said anything.
Dong Hanyun turned her head away and wiped away her tears secretly.
Meng Aiguo and Meng Yanchun stood on either side of Pei Xingzhi, their eyes slightly red, but they managed to restrain themselves from crying.
"Be careful on the road and be more cautious when dealing with people."
"If you encounter something you can't solve, don't force yourself to fight it. Write to your family, or contact the person I told you about. He's a comrade from the same class as me and is trustworthy."
…
"Take good care of yourself and Xiaowan. Mom and Dad will be waiting for you to come home."
A mother worries when her son is away from home.
There are so many things I want to say, but time is ruthless and will not stop for a family.
The train whistle blew long and white smoke rose up and drifted away on the wind.
Looking at the figures of her family getting smaller and smaller until they disappeared, Meng Wanqiu finally couldn't hold back and buried herself in Pei Xingzhi's arms, choking and sobbing, patting his chest with her hands. The sadness was like a collapsing snow mountain, instantly drowning the two of them.
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