Chapter 168: It is easy to change the country, but difficult to change one’s nature
Wen Wan didn't need to put down the dishes and wash the pots, she just strolled slowly in the yard. Before Lu Dongping finished his work and had time to talk to her, Lu Dongcai came into the yard.
"Third Uncle!"
Lu Mingjiang was heading into the house, and he had almost stepped over the threshold when he pulled back: "Dongcai, why are you here at this hour?"
Lu Dongcai scratched his head: "I plan to live with Donglin later."
Lu Mingjiang waved at him: "Okay, stay here. Come here. It's been a while since we two have chatted together. Let's chat for a while before going to bed. It's still early!"
Lu Dongcai pulled a bench and sat down on the eaves. Lu Dongping accompanied Wen Wan back to the house and lit the oil lamp before saying, "You wash up first. I'll be out for a while."
Wen Wan responded to him before leaving the house, leaning against the pillar with her arms folded, listening to Lu Mingjiang and Lu Dongcai talking.
"What's going on between you and your wife? Your father and I have been gone for a day, and you've already made such a big fuss at home. Now that you're here, I want to ask you, honestly, do you still want to continue living with her?"
There are some things that Lu Dongcai doesn't want to talk about, let alone to his uncle or even his father.
"I told her I'd give her tonight to think it over. If she wanted to get married, she could live like she did before. If not, she could go to the commune tomorrow morning to get a divorce."
Lu Mingjiang looked at him for a long moment before saying, "Alright, alright! You're a father now, an adult. Just know what you're doing."
Lu Dongping stood there for a while, seeing that he didn't want to say more. Wen Wan happened to come out to pour water, so he took the basin and went to wash himself. Just as he got into bed, Wen Wan rolled over and asked, "What did he say?"
"Just say that you'll give Li Laiying one night to think it over, and that tomorrow morning, you can live your life to the fullest, but you can't divorce me."
I didn't expect that such an honest man like Lu Dongcai could handle things so efficiently.
"So do you think they will divorce?"
Lu Dongping shook his head: "No."
"Why?"
Lu Dongping sighed, "He has always been the soft-hearted one among us brothers since he was a child. If Li Laiying hadn't been too much this time, there would have been no quarrel. Besides, Li Laiying would not want to get a divorce. Where can she go after the divorce? Back to her parents' home? It's not that I look down on her. If she really gets a divorce and goes back, I would still look up to her. She is so sad at home that it is said that she can't even afford clothes. When her clothes are dirty, she squats in the river to wash them together. Then she gets up and takes them off to dry by the river. She squats in the red reed bushes and dares not come out until her clothes are dry. Marrying Dongcai, although not rich, but the family has never treated her badly. She is used to this kind of life and just wants a better life. How could she want to go back to the old days?"
Wen Wan reached out and slowly scratched at his autumn shirt: "Tell me, does a woman really change when she's pregnant?"
Lu Dongping reached out and gently pinched her face. "What are you thinking about? As the old saying goes, it's easy to change the country but difficult to change one's nature. A person's character is there, how much can they change? If they really changed, there is only one possibility, that is, she has always been like this, and everything before was just an act. Look at my mother, she gave birth to three of us, and look at my aunt, she gave birth to five, and they are all doing well. If they were all as unruly as Li Laiying, how could they have survived until now?"
Wen Wan blinked. "That seems to be the case!" She really couldn't imagine what it was like to stay in bed for a month, not wash or groom, and do all the pee and poop in the house. It was just about not being able to be cold, not exposed to the wind, and not getting tired, but how could it be like being paralyzed?
The next morning, Li Laiying got up just as the sky was getting light. She had washed her hair and taken a shower the night before. She sat on the clean bed with a wooden comb in her hand for most of the night.
It wasn't that she was repenting, but she wanted to straighten her hair. However, after rolling around in bed for a month, it was really not easy to straighten her hair. She didn't know how much hair had fallen out, and it was tangled up in knots. She felt like she was about to pull it all out but couldn't pull it out properly. So she simply took a pair of scissors and cut off the hair she had kept for so many years.
She was used to sleeping in and went to bed late at night, so she couldn't open her eyes. But there was already movement outside, and she had no choice but to get up.
When she left the house, not only the adults were up, but Chuyi was also up. Gao Xiulan was holding her in front of the eaves and helping her pee.
Li Laiying sighed heavily and stood there for a long time before she mustered up the courage to walk over and said, "Mom!"
The voice was so quiet that Gao Xiulan felt that she didn't hear it unless she pretended.
Seeing that she didn't react, Li Laiying walked closer and finished peeing before she could make another sound. When Gao Xiulan turned around, they were both startled.
Gao Xiulan rolled her eyes in anger and said unhappily, "What the hell are you doing this morning?"
Li Laiying pursed her lips and said, "Let me hold you!"
Gao Xiulan was really worried. She felt that a truly good person would not suddenly turn bad, and a truly bad person would not suddenly turn good.
Li Laiying didn't like girls or Chuyi, and that was a known fact. She was worried about holding the child now, afraid something might go wrong if she wasn't paying attention. But the child was hers, so she couldn't refuse to hold it.
"Can you do it? She's still soft, so you need to support her waist with your hands. Hold her steady. I'll go get her something to eat first. Breakfast will have to wait a while. Adults can wait, but children can't." As he said that, he handed the child to her and then went into the main room.
Chuyi blinked his beautiful eyes. Maybe he realized that someone was wrong or smelled something wrong, but his mouth pursed and he started to cry with a whimper.
The child's crying was not a big deal, so Gao Xiulan didn't pay much attention to it. She went into the house and scooped out some malted milk, mixed it in the kitchen, and then came out and called her: "Do you know how to feed her? If not, I will teach you."
"Yes, yes!" Li Laiying was so obedient at this moment, completely different from the way she was yesterday and the way she acted some time ago. It was as if she was back to when she first arrived.
However, when she first came here, Gao Xiulan was only satisfied with this behavior, but now——
Forget it, this is fate. She doesn't ask for more. She just wants to live a peaceful life.
Li Laiying took care of her younger siblings when she was at home, but she had never fed a baby who was one or two months old. They just drank breast milk and didn't need anyone to feed them. The first spoonful was not smooth. She scooped too much and it spilled everywhere, and the baby didn't drink any of it. After a few seconds, the baby became unhappy. Once he started crying, he cried very hard and no matter how she coaxed him, he wouldn't stop.
On the way home from school at noon, Lu Donglin was still thinking about Lu Dongcai and his wife. As he walked, he asked Wen Wan, "Sister-in-law, do you think they will get divorced?"
Wen Wan shook her head: "No."
"Why?" If they started fighting, they must dislike each other. If they still don't divorce, how can they live in the same room, let alone sleep in the same bed?
Wen Wan told him honestly: "I don't know why, your brother said so. If he says he can't do it, then he can't do it."
Lu Donglin curled his lips, slung his book bag over his shoulder, and ran out happily with the other kids on the road, and ran away in the blink of an eye.
Wen Wan didn't see anyone when she got home. The chickens walking in the yard seemed to have laid eggs, and they were clucking non-stop, as if asking for credit and reward.
As soon as the door opened, Lu Donglin came into the yard panting. While Wen Wan wasn't paying attention, he ran into the kitchen and scooped a ladle of cold water into his stomach. He reached out and wiped his mouth. Wen Wan came out of the house at that moment. Seeing his flushed face and steaming, she asked, "What are you doing that makes you so hot?"
"I ran a little fast."
"Why are you running so fast? Are there wolves chasing you?"
Lu Donglin threw the book bag onto the doorpost, sat down and took a breath: "I'm thinking about the fact that there's still a lot of work to do at home, so I'm racing against time!"
He is quite good at using words.
"What's so important about the housework these days? You haven't been up the mountain in a few days. The acorns on the holly and water oak trees have almost all fallen, right? If you're not going up the mountain, just stay quiet and finish your homework. You have a midterm exam next week."
Lu Donglin scratched his head and replied, "I know."
Move the table to the door to brighten the room.
Wen Wan also sat outside. Before she had written a few lines, Lu Donglin started chattering, "I just saw Li Laiying in the wheat field. She was rubbing corn with her aunt. She had a sad face and looked so unlucky."
Wen Wan looked up at him and said, "Who taught you to say these words? A man shouldn't be a chatterbox or a sarcastic person. Whether she is good or not is none of your business. As long as she is still in the Lu family, you have to call her sister-in-law."
After saying that, she lowered her head and began to look at the notebook under her hand. Lu Donglin rolled his eyes again when she wasn't paying attention, and then continued to talk: "It's not that I'm sarcastic, it's just that when I think of Brother Dongcai's face, I get so angry."
Wen Wan didn't look up, but stretched out her left hand and knocked on the table: "Don't talk, multitasking."
Lu Donglin pouted and showed her the notebook; "I don't know how to do this question."
Wen Wan took it and glanced at it: "Did you teach in class? Give me the book."
"Sister-in-law, you don't know how either?"
Wen Wan glanced at him. She felt that his tone was a little excited when he said this. Was he happy that she didn't know him?
"It's not that I can't, but I simply don't recognize what you wrote." This child needs a heavy hammer from time to time, otherwise he will always float in the sky and lose his composure too easily.
As he spoke, he didn't notice Lu Donglin's fallen face, and stared at the book in his hand in a daze.
The description of Lu Donglin's textbook as "chewed by a dog" was the most appropriate. The outside looked clean, but the inside was hard to describe. In addition to the circles, crosses and graffiti that she couldn't understand, there were also a lot of swear words, every word of which had a strong Ganling flavor.
Wen Wan flipped through the pages, pursed her lips, and really didn't know what to say to him.
He silently turned to the page he was going to write, took a quick look at it, then did it himself on the back of the notebook before explaining it to Lu Donglin.
Lu Donglin's heart was hanging in the air, and he didn't listen too seriously. He looked at her secretly from time to time, feeling guilty. Wen Wan noticed it but pretended not to notice. After she finished speaking, she asked, "Did you understand?"
Lu Donglin nodded hurriedly: "I understand."
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