Chapter 213: Comfort
At night, Wen Wan lay in bed with her eyes open, staring at the dark ceiling, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
"Dongping!" she shouted.
Lu Dongping responded and kissed her twice in a daze: "What's wrong?"
"I can't sleep." Lu Dongping's sleepiness was disturbed by her.
He reached out and pulled her into his arms and said, "Why can't you sleep? Are you thinking about that?"
As he spoke, he put his hand into her clothes.
Wen Wan reached out and pulled him out: "No, I'm not in a good mood and don't want to do it."
"What's wrong? Why are you in a bad mood?" Lu Dongping started to behave as soon as he woke up. He thought that talking about being in a bad mood when sleeping was nonsense. If you are in a bad mood, you should do something to improve your mood. He would take good care of you, and once you feel comfortable, your mood would improve immediately.
Wen Wan asked, "Do you know where those people came from today and what they did?"
Lu Dongping knew a little about this, after all, the person was taken over by people from their Armed Forces Department and Revolutionary Committee.
"They're from the provincial capital. Their whole family is composed of intellectuals. I'm not quite sure what mistakes they made. The document was sent directly to the Revolutionary Committee. It's————————————————————————————"
Wen Wan seemed to understand a little.
"Lu Dongping, let me tell you more about my family!"
"Well, you say."
Wen Wan spoke slowly, "Actually, at the beginning of the year, I thought about sending bacon home, but my seventh brother told me not to send it because my father was no longer in the capital. He said he was suspended from his job for investigation and would be sent down to receive reform and re-education. And then, there was no news. I asked my seventh brother, and he also received a letter from home the year before, and there has been no news for so long. I also received a letter from my father the year before, but he didn't say anything in the letter, and he didn't even tell me that he was no longer in the capital. He just asked me to take good care of myself. He sent me a lot of tickets and remittance slips. At that time, I was still wondering if he had been saving these things since I left, and he didn't want to use them, so he sent them all to me."
"I was still wondering if his family, including his current wife, would quarrel with him. But then my seventh brother told me that he was no longer in the capital and had divorced that woman. Then I realized that he had sent me all the belongings he could."
Wen Wan's nasal tone became heavier as she spoke: "I am really very willful and very ignorant. I have never been a good child since I was a child. My mother was injured when she gave birth to me, and her health has been poor for many years. Our family is afraid of making her angry. She hopes that I will be like her in the future, that I can join the art troupe, stand on the stage, and be an artistic and elegant person. She taught me this and that since I was a child. In fact, I don't like learning those things at all, but I have to learn them to make her happy. I especially want to be like the other children in the compound, running home after school with my schoolbag on my back, and then jumping rubber rope and kicking shuttlecock in the yard. In the summer, I can go out for a picnic to enjoy the cool air, and in the winter, I can go to Shichahai to skate. But I can't do all these. I have to go to school during the day, and after I come back, I have to practice calligraphy, piano, and voice."
"I often find myself multitasking on the second floor, holding a book on the windowsill and watching the children running by below, filled with envy. I wish there would be a day when no one would supervise me and I could do whatever I want like them."
"Later, my mother's health deteriorated, and my father watched over her day and night but she didn't get better. Now that she's gone, there's finally no one to take care of me, but I can't be happy. I don't have a mother anymore, I'd rather she take care of me. I don't want to go out and play with others anymore, but she can't come back."
"Less than two years after she died, my father remarried. They had a wonderful relationship, one that everyone in the compound envied. But just two years after she passed away, my father remarried. What I couldn't accept even more was that the woman he married was from the countryside, older than he was, and she brought a man much older than me with her, saying he was my father's son."
"I felt like the image of him in my heart collapsed overnight. They got married, and the woman moved in with her son and daughter-in-law. From that moment on, there wasn't a single moment I didn't hate that place, and there wasn't a single moment I didn't want to leave that home. So I went to the countryside. At that time, the farthest place my group of educated youth were going to was right here. I didn't give it much thought; I just wanted to get away and never go back."
"But right now, I'm feeling really bad. If I hadn't been so stubborn and gone so far, at least I would have known and been there for him when he got into trouble! No matter who he got married to, his love for me isn't fake, and neither is his relationship with my mother. Why would I have taken that risk? When Seventh Brother told me about this, I didn't understand what being sent down to the countryside meant. I just thought it meant going from the city to the countryside to work and support rural development, just like me. But today, I know it's not the case at all."
"When I think about him, who had been strong all his life, being watched by people with a sign hanging over his head, unable to even lift his head, being scolded, spit on, and having rotten vegetable leaves and clods of dirt thrown at him, I feel breathless. And my second uncle and third uncle, they, they were all sent down to the countryside. I don't even know where they are now or how they are doing. Are they also living in the same stinky cowshed as those people in the afternoon?" His voice choked as he spoke more, and tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes, wetting Lu Dongping's autumn clothes.
If she hadn't said it, Lu Dongping really wouldn't have known that she had so many things on her mind.
But what could Lu Dongping say after she said this? That she shouldn't have come so far out of spite? That was nonsense. If she hadn't gone to the countryside out of spite, how could he have known her, how could he have made her his woman?
To say she was right to gamble out of anger? That's nonsense; it's just adding fuel to the fire.
Can only comfort.
He reached out and gently wiped her tears: "Don't cry, your crying makes me feel so sad."
"Don't panic, don't overthink it. Xu Qingming definitely didn't lie to you. You two have been close since childhood, so he certainly wouldn't hide anything he knows from you. There's a difference between being suspended for investigation and being demoted. If they're really caught doing something wrong, there will definitely be a notification. You're his only relative now, so you'll definitely be notified. If you haven't received a notification, then you're definitely safe. Don't overthink it and don't scare yourself."
After saying this, he paused and said: "If you are worried, then I will ask him again. If he has something wrong, he may not hide it from you but from me. Or, when you are on vacation, during the summer vacation, I will see if I can take a long vacation, and I will go back with you to see what the situation is with Dad, so you can feel more at ease." He finally said it. Seeing her so uneasy, Lu Dongping couldn't help it.
Wen Wan was stunned for a moment: "Go back? Can I go back?"
Lu Dongping said, "We'll know if it works after we try it. We can also try and see if there's any problem with Dad. You're an educated youth sent to the countryside, not a bad guy sent down there. You can ask for leave to go back once a year. You just arrived two years ago and didn't go back, and you didn't go back last year either. You can go back once this year. If you add up the money, it shouldn't be a problem to get a letter of introduction. As for me, I'm going to ask Minister Lin. At worst, I'll be on duty every Sunday from now on, and I won't take a break during the Chinese New Year. I'll definitely be able to get leave approved."
Wen Wan stopped talking and hugged him tightly, rubbing her furry head against his arms again and again, which made Lu Dongping's heart melt.
Maybe she felt relieved after saying what she had been holding back, or maybe Lu Dongping's words worked, Wen Wan fell asleep quickly, but she didn't sleep well. She dreamed all night, but when she woke up, she couldn't remember what she dreamed about.
They were in the mountains and had no idea what was going on outside. They didn't know that in the county town, except for the elementary school, the high school was in chaos again.
The next day, Lu Dongping went to see Xu Qingming. Without beating around the bush, he asked him directly, "Have you been in touch with your family in the past few months? How's the situation in the capital? Wanwan's family?"
Xu Qingming sighed, "I also received a letter from home before the New Year. After replying, there has been no news for several months. I only know that my uncle is probably no longer in the capital and has gone to a farm in the north. I don't know anything else."
Lu Dongping looked at him, thought for a moment, and then said a few words of comfort: "It should be fine. You are here. If there is anything wrong with the elders at home, the news will be passed on."
Xu Qingming nodded, "Okay." Then he instructed him, "Take care of Wanwan. I think she must have been really scared yesterday. That girl is just tough on the outside but soft on the inside. I'm afraid she's worried sick about her uncle."
Lu Dongping nodded: "It's not right for you to say that."
When he arrived at the Armed Forces Department, he reported to Lin Chenghai in advance: "Minister Lin, I want to discuss something with you."
Lin Chenghai sat there and raised his eyelids to look at him.
"I plan to come on duty every Sunday from now on. I don't need to be on duty this year."
Lin Chenghai sneered: "The sun rises from the west? When did you become an activist?"
Lu Dongping glared and said jokingly, "When have I ever been unmotivated? I've never been slow when it comes to tasks, okay?"
Lin Chenghai snorted, "That's true, but I've never seen anyone run faster than others. Others aren't fast because they can't, but you're fast but don't want to run fast, especially since you've been dating and married for over six months. I feel like you're really not that good at this!"
After saying that, he paused before continuing, "You're being nice to me for no reason. Tell me, what's going on in your mind?"
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