Chapter 167: Divorce If You Don’t Want to Live Together
Li Laiying finally saw what it was like to have the best temper and say the harshest words.
Lu Dongcai continued, his tone indifferent, as if there had been no quarrel at all, and the couple chatted casually as before: "You know, my eldest brother is in the army, Dongfu is a good student, and he will definitely pass the exam to go to the city in the future. I am the most unsuccessful and can only work in the team to earn work points. But it's good this way. My parents have worked hard for most of their lives and gave birth to five of us. They can't be alone when they are old. I want to take care of them in their old age, so there is no possibility of our family splitting up. For so many years, my mother has had the final say on small matters at home, and my father has the final say on big matters. It was like this before, and it will be like this in the future. If you don't understand, let me explain it to you more clearly. What I mean is that as long as my mother is still alive, she will be the one to run the family."
After saying that, Lu Dongcai actually laughed. He felt that he had said everything he needed to say, and he felt relieved.
He stood up and stretched out his hand to Li Laiying.
Li Laiying stared at him blankly but didn't move.
Lu Dongcai nodded: "Think about it carefully."
He was busy, with a lot of work to do. Li Laiying hadn't been to the fields for the past six months of her pregnancy, so she hadn't earned any work points. With the addition of a new year's gift, everyone would get an extra ration, but that would be a hassle when it came time to average it out at the end of the year. He'd probably have to make up for it with the team. He'd been delayed all day today, so he'd try to finish what he could. Tomorrow, he'd have to go back to the fields, clearing the land, plowing, and carrying manure—all of which were work points. If he didn't take a break, he could always earn a little more and make up for the shortfall.
Next door, brother and sister Lu Dongping and Lu Chun'e had returned. As soon as Lu Dongfu arrived at the door, Gao Xiulan asked him to go to the wheat field to rub the leftover corn. The work points that were about to be earned could not be deducted like that.
Gao Xiulan held Chuyi in her arms as she sat at the doorway of the new house, talking to Lu Dongping and his wife: "What do you think I should do? We have a new child, Chuyi, this year, and she hasn't been to work for half a year. Dongfu has to go to school, and out of the six of us in the family, only your uncle, Dongcai, and I are working to earn work points. Life has been tough these past two years, and if our family doesn't find peace again, how can we manage?"
Lu Dongping frowned: "What does Dongcai mean?"
Gao Xiulan freed a hand to wipe her nose and said, "You know what kind of personality he has. He has never been a pushover. During the confinement period, the woman didn't get out of bed for a whole month. He served her tea and water, and took care of her excrement and urine as if she were serving an ancestor. I've told you so many times, that's not how you compromise with people. Everything is mutual. If you are more considerate, I will treat you better. He was like paralyzed during the confinement period, and he still needs to be served like this. What kind of thing is this? There's no point in talking about it. He said it was only a month's matter and he would be fine after the confinement period. But he didn't get better after the confinement period! Such a good-tempered man can quarrel at home. How crazy do you think the woman must be? She was not like this in the first two years after she got married. This child is like she was possessed by a ghost. They are completely like two different people."
"You said a couple is supposed to spend their whole lives together, but this is not the case. There are still decades to go. How are you going to get through life if you don't understand each other? Dongcai is a grown man after all. I can tolerate his quarrels, but you messed up your face like that. How can he face people? How can people laugh at him? You can't imagine what she is capable of. When I walked in, she was lying on the ground, and I didn't even notice she was hanging by her feet. It almost scared me to death, and I thought she was crazy. Tell me, is this something a human being can do? She's only been out of confinement for a few days? No one in this family has ever tormented her, and she doesn't even consider herself a human being."
"According to my heart, whether she doesn't want Chuyi or tickles Dongcai like that, I have to drag her to the Li family to ask how they raised their daughter. If she can live with it, then live with it. If not, then divorce. But this matter can't be done this way. We know everything about their family. They are all women, and it's not easy for women. These days, divorced women have no home and no way to make a living. I don't want to commit that sin."
Lu Dongping said, "The quarrel has been resolved, and the quarrel has been resolved. You and your uncle should not worry about this matter. Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. Dongcai is a gentle person, but he is not stupid. When a couple lives together, it is either the east wind suppresses the west wind or the west wind suppresses the east wind. With Li Laiying's personality, there are only two possibilities for her to continue living together. Either Dongcai will catch her, or she will catch him. It all depends on which path Dongcai wants to take and what kind of life he wants. Can a person live without bumps and bruises? These are all small things, not worth the whole family to mess up. You and your uncle are not young anymore, you can't worry about him for the rest of your life. While you are still strong, take care of Chuyi first. Children are close to whoever takes care of them. If she doesn't want it, then she doesn't want it, that's it. If she gets pregnant again, she will give birth to a boy, and if she gets pregnant again, she will give birth to a girl. I don't believe she can still not want it. If that is the case, then this woman can't have another child no matter what."
At that time, if Lu Dongcai still wanted to follow, there would be no hope for him.
Gao Xiulan didn't say anything else. She was feeling extremely conflicted. On the one hand, she was thinking about how difficult life was for a divorced woman, and on the other hand, she was thinking about what kind of troubles would arise in the future with such a person in the family.
Wen Wan looked at her watch and said, "Oh, it's already six o'clock. Why haven't Dad and Uncle come back yet?"
Gao Xiulan heard this and said, "It's not certain whether these two will come back today. They have rarely visited the Li family in recent years. Even if Li Guifang has a bad temper, your second uncle will probably want to keep her as a guest."
"That's not certain. Even if Dad and Uncle were to stay, they wouldn't necessarily stay. Living in the city sounds good, but with a family crammed into such a small place, where would they stay?"
Gao Xiulan said, "No matter what, two grown men can't find their way back? I'm going back, you guys should hurry up and do what you need to do. I won't keep you any longer, there are things to do everywhere."
Wen Wan kept her: "Aunt, why don't you go back yet? Have dinner here tonight!" In just a short while, who knows what the situation is over there, whether Li Laiying is still sitting in the yard, and whether there will be trouble again if she goes back.
Gao Xiulan waved her hands repeatedly: "No, no, I have a home but can't go back to it or what, how can I be afraid of her? Who have I, Gao Xiulan, ever been afraid of in Lujiazui?"
Having said that, he took the child and left.
The yard was quiet. Smoke was rising slowly from the chimney above the kitchen. Lu Dongcai was cooking in the kitchen, while Li Laiying was still sitting under the eaves with disheveled hair, sewing a quilt.
Gao Xiulan entered the yard, she acted as if she didn't see anything, but her stopped hand revealed everything.
Gao Xiulan ignored her and carried the child into the kitchen. Looking at the two brightly lit stoves, she asked Lu Dongcai, "What are you cooking? Why are both pots on fire?"
Lu Dongcai said, "Boil some water and wash her hair. If you don't wash it, it will be infested with maggots."
Gao Xiulan glanced at the sky outside and said, "Be careful. You've just been out of confinement for a few days, and it's getting late. If you catch a cold, I'll need you to take care of me later."
Lu Dongcai responded, "I know what I'm doing." Hearing this, Gao Xiulan was furious: "You know what I'm doing, but you have no idea. Let me ask you, what does this mean? How can this be handled? Is she going to live like this or not?" She didn't lower her voice, she just wanted the woman to hear it. In fact, she knew in her heart that if Li Laiying stopped making trouble and sat there sewing quilts, then it must be over, and life must go on. She couldn't leave the Lu family, her natal family. It wasn't that Gao Xiulan looked down on her, but because she saw that Lu Dongcai was easy to talk to, Li Laiying dared to act like this. Why not go back to the Li family and try it out? She was just a cheapskate who had lived a good life too much.
Lu Dongcai leaned against the wall and said, "I'll go sleep with Donglin tonight and let her think it over. If she wants to, then live it well, take good care of Chuyi, and do what she needs to do, just like before. If not, then divorce. We'll get a divorce tomorrow morning."
Gao Xiulan didn't say anything. She guessed that divorce was impossible, so she hoped that her son would be more capable and be able to catch the woman. No matter what the woman thought, she would have to keep it to herself in the future. Even if she was not a human being, she would have to pretend to be one.
Lu Dongcai boiled the water, called Li Laiying, and then took the child from Gao Xiulan's arms. Gao Xiulan wiped her hands and went to cook.
The Lu Minghai brothers came back with Lu Dongfu and Zhang Hongying. Lu Dongping's estimation was absolutely correct and it was impossible for them to stay overnight.
When Lu Mingjiang got home, he sat down and sighed, "Ah, a nest of gold or silver is not as good as my own doghouse. Home is still the coziest place."
Zhang Hongying was helping Lu Dongping in the kitchen. As she worked, she asked, "What's wrong? I took all that money and went out to drink, but you still can't eat enough?"
Lu Mingjiang waved his hand. "Don't mention it. It's too hard to explain. Going to the city and having a seat is just asking for trouble."
Then he called out to Lu Donglin, "Where have you been? Add some water for me to soak my feet. I'm so hot that I haven't been able to breathe all day."
After soaking my feet, I put on my old cloth shoes at home and put my Liberation shoes on the windowsill. The meal was ready in the house.
The family sat casually on the doorstep, eating and chatting. Lu Donglin, a big mouth, was worried that Lu Mingjiang and Zhang Hongying would be late and not know what happened, so he danced and recounted what happened on the doorstep that afternoon like a big opera.
Lu Mingjiang had no idea that they had been gone for just one day and such a thing had happened, and Zhang Hongying had no idea that such a thing had happened in broad daylight.
Lu Donglin still felt it was not enough: "My aunt said that she didn't even go out during her confinement period because she was afraid of getting exposed to the earth's energy. She urinated and defecated in the house, and Brother Dongcai poured it out for her."
"Shut up! Do you want to eat or not?" Lu Dongping kicked him.
Lu Donglin pouted, carrying his bowl and moving to a place farther away from him to sit down and continue blabbering: "If you ask me, Brother Dongcai should have some backbone. Keeping a wife like this is a disaster. She's so cruel and so pretentious. He should have divorced her long ago. Didn't he live just fine without a wife for the past twenty years?"
Zhang Hongying glared at him and said, "What do you, a little kid, know about bullshit? Just eat your meal!"
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