Chapter 135 Watching the Fun in the Courtyard It gets dark in the north…
In the north, it gets dark early. When Mingxi and Weining left home, the sun hadn't set yet. By the time they finished eating and watching the movie, it was completely pitch black.
The streetlights, forming a line along the street, came on, and Mingxi and Weining walked out of the movie theater side by side.
The movie was so captivating that Mingxi was still immersed in the story even after leaving the theater. She angrily exclaimed, "Su Zhe is despicable! He colluded with the 'rebels,' stole materials, killed his own wife, and then framed others. He's so wicked! Luckily, he was finally caught!"
Seeing Mingxi genuinely angry, Wei Ning smiled and said, "If you really like this movie that much, I'll buy tickets again tomorrow, and we can watch it again?"
Mingxi turned her head: "You still want to ask me to go to the movies?"
Wei Ning nodded.
Mingxi curled up the corners of her mouth and smiled, then tossed her head, her high ponytail tracing an arc in the air as she did so, and said, "No, I have something to do tomorrow."
Wei Ning immediately pressed on, "And the day after tomorrow?"
"The day after tomorrow?" Mingxi took two steps out, then turned around and faced Wei Ning, saying, "I'm not sure about the day after tomorrow. Let's talk about it the day after tomorrow."
After saying that, Mingxi strode towards where Wei Ning had parked his bicycle. Wei Ning was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed after her.
Wei Ning: "Then let's talk about it the day after tomorrow. I'll come to your workplace and wait for you there."
Mingxi pouted. This person really knows how to take advantage of a situation. She just said she'd talk about it the day after tomorrow, and this person said they'd wait for her at her workplace.
However, she did not say she refused.
He just patted Wei Ning's bicycle seat and said, "Hurry up, it's so late, my mom will be worried if we don't go home soon."
Wei Ning quickly got into the car: "Alright, let's go!"
When they came, they took the main road. When they returned at night, Wei Ning did not ride on the main road again. Instead, he turned the handlebars and went directly home along the side road. The side road was closer, and after passing through three or four alleys, he turned into the alley where Mingxi lived.
The car quickly stopped at the entrance of courtyard number 68. Mingxi jumped out of the car, waved to Wei Ning, and walked briskly into the courtyard. Unexpectedly, she was stunned as soon as she entered the courtyard.
Lights were on in every house in the front yard, illuminating the yard brightly, and people from the back yard had also gathered in the front yard.
Mingxi scratched her head and immediately spotted Zhao Sulan standing with Aunt He in the crowd. She went up to her and asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Why is everyone gathered in the front yard so late at night? Is there some new directive from the street office? Is our compound going to have another meeting?"
But surely no big meeting is held late at night?
Zhao Sulan shook her head: "What? It's not a big meeting. It's just that your Aunt Li and your Uncle Sun are arguing, and we're all here to break it up."
Mingxi: "Huh?"
Zhao Sulan: "No, to be precise, it wasn't your Aunt Li arguing with Grandpa Sun, it was your Sister Lili and Fang Yan arguing with Grandpa Sun."
Mingxi was even more confused, and asked with a questioning look, "No, Mom, what's going on?"
Aunt He eagerly raised her hand and said, "I know, I know!"
Helpless, Zhao Sulan turned her head to look at Aunt He, signaling for her to speak.
Aunt He: "This afternoon, Teacher Hou came to deliver bone broth to Old Li. He put the broth down and said he was leaving, but Old Sun stopped him at the door."
Mingxi: "Who? Old Sun? Why is Old Sun stopping Teacher Hou?"
“He’s sick.” Aunt He raised her hand innocently and said, “I’m not insulting him. He’s really not normal. He stopped Teacher Hou in the yard and said to her, ‘You don’t know, do you? Li Chunzhi used to be my wife. She just divorced me not long ago. The house she lives in now was given to her by me.’ Teacher Hou was completely confused and had no idea what he was trying to do.”
Not to mention that Teacher Hou didn't know what Old Sun was trying to do, even Aunt He couldn't figure out what Old Sun was trying to do.
He stopped Teacher Hou just to tell him about Aunt Li's divorce from him.
Aunt He knew that Old Sun had stopped Teacher Hou to keep him away from Aunt Li, but telling him about Aunt Li's divorce was a bit too much of a joke.
How old are Aunt Li and Teacher Hou? Their combined age is over a hundred years old, so they can't possibly still be young and unmarried.
At this age, those who are still single are either divorced or widowed, something Teacher Hou is certainly aware of.
Old Sun hurriedly jumped out to give a reminder, which was truly inexplicable.
Doesn't he find it funny when he says that?
Aunt He couldn't understand it.
Mingxi couldn't understand either. So what if they got divorced? Did Old Sun think that divorce was such a big deal?
Believe it or not, that's exactly what Old Sun thought.
Ever since Teacher Hou came by at noon, the whole afternoon, everyone in the courtyard has been gossiping about Teacher Hou's identity. They heard that Teacher Hou is the principal of No. 2 Middle School, a cultured person, a leader, an office worker, and that his monthly salary plus subsidies is more than two hundred yuan. He lives in a small villa and is very well-off.
Old Sun also heard everyone's discussion.
He didn't believe it when he first heard this.
In his opinion, if Teacher Hou is so well-off, he could find any kind of old lady he wanted. How could he possibly be interested in an ordinary old lady like Li Chunzhi, who has no looks, no job, and nothing at all?
But after inquiring carefully, it seemed that the person wasn't lying.
That Teacher Hou is really quite qualified.
I heard that he is not short of money. When he sees students in the school who are not well-off, he will take out his own money to subsidize them. Considering the students' self-esteem, he never told anyone about it. It was the students he sponsored who told everyone about it first.
Old Sun scoffed. He was a petty and narrow-minded person who couldn't bring himself to selflessly donate money to help others. He assumed that everyone else was like that, and after hearing about this, he just thought that Teacher Hou was trying to gain a good reputation.
However, since Teacher Hou cares so much about his reputation, he must also care about Li Chunzhi's divorce, right?
Li Chunzhi is so old, yet she still got divorced. It's obvious she has a restless nature. The reason for the divorce was such a trivial matter. She made a big fuss over something so small, and in the end, she got divorced. It just made her a laughing stock.
If Teacher Hou knew all this, he definitely wouldn't associate with Li Chunzhi anymore.
Old Sun used his limited understanding to speculate about Teacher Hou's personality and firmly believed that Teacher Hou would definitely act as he thought.
So he stopped Teacher Hou directly in the courtyard, afraid that Teacher Hou wouldn't know, and specifically told Teacher Hou about the divorce back then.
"You must be really curious why we got divorced at our age. Actually, it wasn't a big deal, and to be precise, it was my fault. I wanted to borrow money from Chunzhi to repair my mother's grave. My mother's grave collapsed, and I didn't have much money on hand, so I thought I'd use Chunzhi's savings. I didn't expect her to object to that. But I should have known better. Chunzhi and my mother didn't get along even when my mother was alive. I just thought that now that my mother was gone, Chunzhi wouldn't hold it against me anymore, but I didn't expect..."
Teacher Hou: "Didn't expect what? Didn't you expect Comrade Li still to be unwilling to pay? But didn't she say that she was unwilling? She clearly expressed her attitude, but you pretended not to hear it, unilaterally ignored her thoughts, and went against her wishes by directly breaking into her cabinet and stealing her money. Isn't that all your doing?"
Old Sun was instantly speechless.
He stared wide-eyed at Teacher Hou, dumbfounded, never expecting that Teacher Hou even knew this.
Teacher Hou: "You're surprised. Surprised about what? Surprised that Comrade Li told me the whole story of your divorce?"
He paused for a moment: "I don't understand why you're surprised. Do you think divorce is a shameful thing? When Comrade Li told me about this, I was only happy for her. Comrade Li suffered too many grievances during your marriage. Her divorce is a way for her to say goodbye to those hardships and gain a new life. I'm only happy for her."
Old Sun was speechless. Moreover, he hadn't expected that Li Chunzhi had already told Teacher Hou about their divorce, and in such detail. He couldn't even embellish the story to smear Li Chunzhi in front of Teacher Hou. In the end, he could only purse his lips and flee in panic.
Aunt He listened to the whole thing in the courtyard. She already admired Teacher Hou and thought he was a good person. After hearing what Teacher Hou said, her goodwill towards him increased even more.
When she talked about this with Mingxi, her face was full of admiration for Teacher Hou: "No wonder Teacher Hou is a cultured person. He knows how to talk. When Lao Sun went up, he was shut down by Teacher Hou before he could say more than a few words."
Mingxi never expected that Teacher Hou would say such a thing.
But upon closer reflection, she wasn't entirely surprised.
Although Mr. Hou is an intellectual, his previous support for students who had dropped out of school to set up stalls and do business shows that he is not the kind of person with stubborn ideas.
“Wait, that’s not right.” Mingxi suddenly realized, “Didn’t you say that Sun Lili and Fang Yan were arguing with Grandpa Sun? How did it turn into Grandpa Sun and Teacher Hou?”
Aunt He glanced at Mingxi and said, "What's the rush? We haven't even gotten to that yet."
She didn't keep them in suspense and quickly said, "Old Sun went home, and Teacher Hou left too, but after a while, Old Sun and Sun Xuewen came out of the house and ran to Old Li's house, saying that Old Li was so old, yet he was still having an ambiguous relationship with an old man outside, which was shameless and brought shame to his children."
Mingxi rolled her eyes. Old Sun hadn't gotten anywhere with Teacher Hou, so he was resorting to threatening Aunt Li.
They were just bored.
Aunt Li has already divorced him. Whether she finds another old man or not, or how many old men she finds, is none of his business.
Could it be that Grandpa Sun is actually hoping that Grandma Li will stay with him for the rest of her life?
Mingxi didn't hold back at all, speaking her mind directly. Aunt He nodded in agreement: "That's right, whether Old Li finds a partner or not has nothing to do with Old Sun. But Old Sun doesn't think so. He stormed into Old Li's room and gave him a good scolding. Old Li is still injured, but he didn't care and just kept scolding him. Luckily, Sun Lili was there. Sun Lili doesn't give in to Old Sun and immediately jumped out to say that her father is meddling too much."
Aunt He: "To be honest, Sun Lili is also very impulsive. She directly told Old Sun that they are divorced, and her mother can go find whoever she wants. She told Old Sun not to meddle in other people's business."
Sun Lili is definitely not wrong, but it's inappropriate for her to say it.
After all, she is Old Sun's own daughter. If she speaks so bluntly, outsiders might easily misunderstand.
Fortunately, only the people in the courtyard heard this, and everyone in the courtyard knew what kind of person Old Sun was, so no one had said anything about Sun Lili yet.
Aunt He said, "When Old Sun heard Sun Lili say that, he got upset and raised his hand to hit her. Sun Lili was stubborn and insisted that Old Sun should do it. I saw that things were not going well, so I called everyone in the yard out. Everyone stopped him and prevented him from doing it."
“We tried to stop her, but Sun Lili still started arguing with Old Sun. They argued fiercely. Old Sun said it was all Sun Lili's fault. If it weren't for her meddling, Old Li wouldn't have gone out to set up a stall, and he wouldn't have met those other men. He also said that Sun Lili was a heartless ingrate, that he had raised her for nothing, and that when he divorced Old Li, Sun Lili was always causing trouble. Now she's causing trouble again. I bet Sun Lili has long since lost respect for him as her father, and is only thinking about finding a new father.”
Mingxi frowned; Old Sun's words were too harsh.
Sun Lili was indeed involved in the divorce between Old Sun and Aunt Li, but why did she get involved?
It's all because Old Sun went too far.
Old Sun, on the other hand, blamed everything on Sun Lili; he really knows how to shift the blame.
Mingxi pouted: "And then?"
Aunt He: "Later, Old Li couldn't stand it anymore, so he stood up and scolded Old Sun, saying he was out of his mind, that the divorce was Old Li's own decision and had nothing to do with Sun Lili. She also said that she and Teacher Hou weren't dating, just friends, but even if she did date Teacher Hou in the future, it had nothing to do with Old Sun, and told him not to make trouble. Old Sun was furious, and then Sun Xuewen came out too, saying that he didn't agree to Old Li finding another partner, saying that as his children, he was ashamed. Sun Lili argued with him about this, and Fang Yan also sided with Sun Lili and argued with Sun Xuewen."
Aunt He waved her hand, not wanting to talk about it. This family had been arguing so loudly just now, with five people and five mouths, none of them idle, all chattering away.
Those from their neighborhood who came to mediate the fight couldn't get a word in edgewise.
Sun Xuewen stubbornly refused to agree to his mother finding a partner, no matter what they said. Sun Lili pointed at Sun Xuewen and scolded him for being heartless, saying that her mother also had the right to pursue happiness. Old Sun, hearing Sun Lili scolding Sun Xuewen for being heartless, joined the fray again, saying that the truly heartless one was Sun Lili, that ingrate. Aunt Li ignored everyone else and only scolded Old Sun. Fang Yan, while joining Sun Lili in scolding her own husband, also spoke sweetly to Aunt Li, saying that no matter whether Mom dates or gets married, they will still be filial to her.
Anyway, the five of them got into a brawl and argued in the yard for more than two hours.
Aunt He watched half of it, then went home, brought out her rice bowl, and ate while the family was arguing.
Now that they had finished eating, the five members of the Sun family, exhausted from arguing, decided to rest.
Mingxi was filled with regret. They had been arguing for over two hours; it was more exciting than a movie!
If she had known there would be such a big commotion in the courtyard, she wouldn't have gone to the movies with Wei Ning!
Mingxi blinked and asked with great interest, "So this is halftime, does that mean there's a second half after the break?"
"...The second half? Don't you even look at the time?"
Zhao Sulan, who had been silent all along, couldn't help but speak up.
It's already past eight o'clock, almost nine o'clock. If this continues, are we going to quit our jobs and not go to work tomorrow?
Mingxi, always eager for a good show, craned her neck to peek out, hoping to see Old Sun or Aunt Li come out, but after a while, all she saw was a tightly closed door.
After waiting a while longer without any response from either side, Aunt Ma waved her hand and said, "Alright, it seems like we're not going to argue anymore. Everyone, let's go home and rest. We all have to go to work tomorrow."
"It really is, it's almost nine o'clock now..."
"Everyone, go home, everyone go home. We have to go to work tomorrow..."
Everyone went home, and Mingxi followed Zhao Sulan home as well.
Back home, Mingxi closed the door and poured water to wash up. Zhao Sulan glanced at her and asked, "How was your date with Wei Ning today?"
"Cough cough." Mingxi choked: "What date? Mom, don't talk nonsense. I just went to see a movie with Weining."
Zhao Sulan: Oh, so how did you guys enjoy the movie?
Mingxi buried her face in the basin, quickly wiped her face, and said, "It's alright. The movie was pretty good, and the Sichuan restaurant we went to tonight was also quite delicious. Mom, let's go together next time we have time."
Zhao Sulan smiled but didn't say anything.
Mingxi buried her face in the towel while wiping her face to hide her embarrassment.
Zhao Sulan: "Go to bed early after you're done tidying up, you have to go to work tomorrow."
"Mmm!" Mingxi nodded.
After quickly tidying up, Mingxi lay down on the bed. Zhao Sulan had put a hot water bottle in the blankets beforehand, so it was warm as soon as Mingxi lay down. With her head on the pillow, she didn't have time to think too much and quickly closed her eyes and fell asleep.
After a good night's sleep, Mingxi woke up unexpectedly early the next morning. Just after six o'clock, when it was still dark, she got up.
When Zhao Sulan saw her come out of the house, she couldn't help but tease her, "Oh, you've changed your ways today, getting up so early?"
Mingxi grunted twice, then took the washbasin and thermos and went out to wash up.
As November arrived, the weather grew colder day by day. Mingxi disliked washing her hands with cold water, so she always brought out a thermos to add hot water for washing.
There are quite a few people in the hospital who did the same thing as her.
Things are different now than they were a few years ago. Conditions aren't as difficult as they used to be, so people aren't as reluctant to spend those few pieces of coal to heat water.
After Mingxi finished washing her face, she saw Sun Lili come out of Aunt Li's house.
She blinked and then remembered that Sun Lili hadn't left last night; she had stayed at Aunt Li's house to sleep.
Sun Lili walked out hurriedly. Mingxi asked, "Sister Lili, are you leaving?"
Sun Lili nodded and said, "I didn't even tell your brother-in-law last night before staying here. I was afraid he would worry, so I'll go back and tell him as soon as possible, and ask him to ask my brother-in-law to ask for leave for me at work later."
She sighed and couldn't help but complain, "I originally wanted to bring my mom to my place to take care of her, but she didn't want to. She said it's my and your brother-in-law's home, and it's not appropriate for her to keep going there. If it goes on for too long, your brother-in-law will have something to say. Xiaoming, do you think my mom is being too forward? It's my home too. My own mother was injured and hospitalized. What's wrong with me letting her stay at my house and taking care of her?"
Mingxi didn't comment on this, but simply patted Sun Lili's arm and said...
"Sister Lili, Aunt Li is doing this for your own good."
Sun Lili sighed and said, "Sigh, I know she means well, but I don't need this kind of 'good intention'."
Her mother was gentle and didn't like to trouble others. After the divorce, she was even more afraid of becoming a burden to her mother and didn't want to bother her.
But she felt sorry for her mother.
Sun Lili didn't feel that her mother was a burden to her. When she was little, she saw her mother being bullied by her grandmother while her father stood by silently, and she wanted her parents to divorce. But at that time she was too young to take her mother away from that family, and her mother also said that she had no such intention.
Now that her parents are finally divorced, and she has grown up and is capable of taking care of her mother, her mother is afraid of troubling her and worrying that her partner will be unhappy.
To put it bluntly, if her husband had a problem with her because she took care of her mother, she would rather get a divorce and live alone.
Anyway, she has a job and can earn her own money, so she's not afraid of divorce.
Sun Lili's husband on the other side felt a chill run down his spine.
Sun Lili: "Hey, why am I telling you this? You go back and do your thing. I'm going back to ask for leave and I'll be back in a bit."
Sun Lili was worried about her mother, but her mother was stubborn and unwilling to stay at her house, so she had to take leave to come back and take care of her.
Mingxi nodded: "Lili, be careful on the road."
Sun Lili waved her hand and quickly left.
Mingxi watched her leave, then picked up the basin and prepared to return to the backyard. At that moment, another person entered the front yard. Mingxi looked closely and realized it was Fang Yan.
Fang Yan saw Mingxi at this moment and greeted him with a smile: "Hey, Mingxi, good morning."
You can't hit someone who's smiling, so Mingxi smiled and said, "Why are you back so early, sister-in-law?"
Fang Yan deliberately raised her voice and waved the lunchbox in her hand, saying, "I'm here to bring food to my mother-in-law. She's injured and has difficulty making things, so I thought we should go through a little trouble and make a few more trips to bring her food, so she won't go hungry."
Mingxi smiled but didn't say anything, but some people washing up at the pool next to her joined in.
"Oh my, Fang Yan, you're really something! It's rare to see a daughter-in-law like you!"
Fang Yan smiled and said, "It's nothing, it's what we children should do."
After saying that, she slowly walked towards Aunt Li's house with her lunchbox in her arms. The chatter by the pool did not stop because of her departure.
I don't know who said it, but "Sun Xuewen isn't much, but he really made the right choice in marrying his wife. She's well-educated, reasonable, and her way of dealing with people is impeccable."
Immediately, someone chimed in: "That's right, Fang Yan's wife is really good. She's filial and sensible. She even spoke up for Old Li yesterday, and she came to deliver food early this morning. Even Sun Xuewen, her own son, hasn't done this much."
"Last time Old Li divorced Old Sun, Fang Yan also came back with some things..."
As everyone was chatting animatedly, Mingxi couldn't help but interject, "If she really cared about Aunt Li, why didn't she take Aunt Li to live with her yesterday?"
Everyone was stunned.
Yes, if Fang Yan were truly filial, why wouldn't she take Aunt Li in and care for her?
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Author's Note: Sorry for being late again. I'll reflect on this and resume normal updates tomorrow.
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