Chapter 408
As soon as he got off the ground, she hugged his legs and rested her head on his waist.
Some things are really something you can’t change in your lifetime since you were three years old.
"I'll get a towel to wipe your tears."
Even so, I still want to act coquettishly for a while.
After wiping her face, she hugged him for a while to replenish her energy before getting out of bed.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to cook."
"I'm leaving in the afternoon, go back to sleep. You only slept for three hours yesterday."
"No, I'm going to cook and then go to sleep."
He sighed softly, there was nothing he could do to her.
Now is the time to eat fresh lotus seeds. She peeled the lotus seeds from the lotus pod yesterday and planned to make lotus seed porridge for him when he came back today.
Now she was sitting at the table peeling lotus seeds. She didn't allow anyone else to help her, not even him.
If someone else gets involved, it's not her own doing.
A scene from a movie, where a maidservant flatters, “The prince loves the dumplings you make the most. I’ve prepared the wrappers and fillings for you.”
The lady on that side wrapped it up seriously.
She thought to herself that these were her favorite dumplings. The wrappers and fillings were already made by others, and she just made them.
But the girl doesn't love her husband at all, so it would be strange if she didn't just be perfunctory.
He leaned on her shoulder, closed his eyes and rested, then peeled off the green skin of the lotus seeds with his hands, removed the outer membrane, separated them into two halves and took out the lotus seed core. After peeling two or three, he put them to her mouth and asked her to eat them.
She ate several before she noticed that he could peel lotus seeds with his eyes closed, and he peeled them very quickly and cleanly.
"How could you be like this?"
He said calmly, "There are lotus flowers everywhere in my hometown. I have been peeling them since I was a child. I can peel them with my eyes closed."
At that time, he peeled a lot of melon seeds and nuts for her. Later, when I was in college, I saw a very famous movie, a comedy.
A lively and cute but carefree and impulsive girl, her boyfriend is a quiet and somewhat cowardly scholar.
The girl knows some kung fu, but she can't help but get impulsive, hitting people when she gets angry. Her boyfriend always tries to calm her down, but when she gets angry, she hits him too. But they both love each other very much, and their complementary relationship is very interesting.
The girl always asks her boyfriend to crack some sunflower seeds for her, so that she can eat them all in one bite. The girl has a big mouth, and when she has enough, her boyfriend will say with a smile: "Open your big mouth and eat them all in one bite."
It’s so interesting every time I think about it.
After peeling enough for a bowl, she went to the kitchen to make porridge. The porridge cooked quickly and was just the right amount to go with the pickled vegetables she had prepared.
He likes to eat porridge made with fresh lotus seeds, and he wants the lotus seeds to be about 80% cooked. He doesn't like the ones that are too tender.
He was also curious about how she knew so many of his preferences. In his dream, Wang Jiazhi had lived with him since she was 19, and had spent her whole life with him.
When she woke up from the dream, she still remembered some things. She remembered her mother-in-law saying to her, "He likes to eat porridge made with fresh lotus seeds. Not too tender, but about 80% cooked. If you have time, make it for him while the lotus seeds are on the market."
Unexpectedly, they all matched. I don’t know if it was because he didn’t want to disappoint her, so he said he liked her even though he didn’t like her.
But it was true once. Once when playing mahjong, Mrs. Yi asked someone to go out and buy some green rice cakes as snacks. There were two boxes of snacks, and after the ladies finished eating, there were still a few left.
The next morning at dinner, Mrs. Yi offered him a few remaining pieces to try. She blurted out, "There's pine pollen in it."
He was also very surprised at that time. How did she know that he was allergic to pine flowers?
Colleagues used to say privately, "Old Yi has it tough. When we go to his house for dinner, we don't see any of his favorite dishes. Can we blame him for not wanting to go home?"
Now he said: "No wonder he likes the one he has now. I heard that when it comes to meals, he picks out his favorite dishes and cooks them himself. It's no wonder that he doesn't like socializing outside now. He just likes staying at home."
Actually, he wasn't that pitiful. He seldom ate at home, but his taste was known to the cook and his mother. He and Mrs. Yi shared a table and ate two dishes. When he was not at home, the cook would cook only what Mrs. Yi liked. When he was at home, the cook would just cook what he liked.
As for how Wang Jiazhi's cooking was known to those people, Grandma and the little girl knew what could be spread and what could not be spread. Old Yi also wanted others to know.
He was eating there, and she leaned her head on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
He knew what she meant, that she wouldn't have a relapse. Didn't he know that this disease was incurable?
"I dried all the books over here a few days ago. If the weather is good tomorrow, I'll dry your books over there as well."
"Some old stuff, it doesn't matter if they're not exposed to the sun. Why would you go there on such a hot day?"
"I'll just go take a look."
The next day was indeed sunny and windy. As soon as he left, Wang Jiazhi went over there and moved out his old books and things stored in the warehouse and put them away. There were still some books left, so she changed into her casual clothes to put them away so as not to dirty her good clothes.
She cleaned up together with the aunt and the little girl over there.
Now, her mother was also quite flattering her. She gradually felt that Mrs. Yi had no future. Although Wang Jiazhi didn't know what had happened to make her mother lose confidence in Mrs. Yi, they had been married for twenty years. It was impossible for her to feel this way just because Old Yi gave her car away.
"She's back home now, cutting stones every day, spending so much money. If she doesn't play mahjong, she won't be able to save any money."
"ah?"
My mother said that Mrs. Yi played with jadeite rough stones at home.
"She bought them by the basketful. How could she possibly get the treasure? All her money was wasted. The gentleman didn't care!"
Of course, Old Yi didn't care. He gave Mrs. Yi a fixed allowance every month and she could spend it however she wanted. Money belongs to someone once it's given to her, so why should she spend it herself?
Mrs. Liao absolutely hated this. Mrs. Yi spent her allowance freely, and Old Yi never asked how she spent it. Old Liao only gave her a small amount every month, and she was often late. When she couldn't make ends meet and asked for more, he would insist on documenting every detail of how the money was spent, as if she had embezzled it. Fearing he would default on her payments, she kept a detailed account of every single thing, even buying two extra apples.
There was something hidden in what A-ma said. Mrs. Yi felt that most of the property that was hers would be taken away by Wang Jiazhi, so she fantasized about offering a sky-high price for the jade to make up for this huge loss.
Wang Jiazhi thought it was nonsense. Merchants weren't fools. They'd already figured out the valuable stones and kept them, selling the junk at a high price. Mrs. Yi wasn't that stupid either. She was probably just in a bad mood, so she used this method to relieve her boredom.
When Wang Jiazhi just moved out, Mrs. Yi asked her mother about the grandeur of the place. Of course, her mother knew about it, but she didn't dare tell her.
"It's just a small mansion, not a main house. It's enough to live in comfortably. There's no need to worry about the pomp and circumstance. Sir, you are not someone who doesn't understand." This was all I could say to her.
I couldn't tell her the house over there was twice as big as this one, with the spacious garden she'd always dreamed of, a large Western-style lawn, two big dogs, and three times her allowance. Of course, Wang Jiazhi didn't like the big lawn; she used it all to grow flowers and fruits and vegetables. She only had a big dog, which she had brought over from here.
If she knew about this, she would be restless in the city without even having to wait until she returned to the countryside.
As she and her mother were drying his old clothes, she said, "Sir is a kind and righteous man. If it were someone with bad morals, he would just give them some money and never care about them again. What can she do?"
Wang Jiazhi laughed and said, "That's the crime of abandonment. How can that be allowed?"
Grandma said, "Even if you sue, you won't win. Without the dragon and phoenix stickers and official documents, if they don't recognize you, it's just cohabitation."
"How could there be nothing?" Wang Jiazhi picked up a large paper tube and wondered what it was.
"No, there isn't one. We were planning to get married, so we said we'd go back the day before, get married the next day, and leave the night after. In the countryside, you worship heaven and earth and you're considered husband and wife, but the old man and the old man in the village said that without paperwork, we're not legally married. If your son becomes successful in the future and refuses to acknowledge his wife, who has lived through all his hardships, without paperwork, wouldn't that be a rip-off? So we went to the city and bought some dragon and phoenix stickers. But on the day of the wedding, the cat spilled the ink, ruining the entire sticker, so the ceremony didn't go through."
Wang Jiazhi yawned, clutching one of his gray robes on the bamboo pole, and resting her head on it. The warmth from the sun was so comfortable. She really needed to catch up on some sleep. She didn't get much sleep last night, and even after a night of sleep, she still felt tired.
"Her family had fled famine from other places and were incredibly poor. My husband brought some money back, but he saw she didn't have a single decent piece of clothing for her dowry. The next day, he took her to the city to buy her things. He said there was a government office in the city that could handle paperwork, so he took her there. She bought two pieces of fabric and came back so happy. He asked if the paperwork had been done, and she said the government office had lost its seal that day and couldn't do it. He went to buy dragon and phoenix stickers, but they said the last one was sold and they didn't have new ones, so he bought some cloth instead. People in the countryside don't care about that; they believe worshipping heaven and earth makes them husband and wife. The next year, he brought her to the city to enjoy a better life, and she didn't have to serve her in-laws anymore. He was doing his best for her."
Wang Jiazhi smiled inwardly and said, "Legally, he has been single forever."
She laughed as she hung the clothes to dry, "Even without that piece of paper, everyone would know they are husband and wife."
Grandma sighed and said, "Don't underestimate that piece of paper. Mr. Kong found someone outside and got the paperwork from the government office. Mrs. Kong sued him for bigamy, but the court said they didn't have the dragon and phoenix stickers or any official paperwork, so they weren't husband and wife, just cohabiting. Mr. Kong's ex is the legal spouse."
"Some of those who caused such an ugly scene, do they still have any shame?"
She recalled how he had said several times that divorce wasn't difficult. So, this wasn't difficult. But he wasn't a beast. He didn't think it was necessary to not get the certificate. He probably didn't intend to deny it later. If he really wanted to deny it, he wouldn't have waited until today. After all, back then, he didn't care much about that. Some of those who had marriage certificates had lost them long ago. Marriage certificates were recorded in the government office, so if they were lost, there was a way to trace them. But with all the chaos and changes in government, who knew if the government records were still there?
She probably understood that her mother was probably affected by the recent news. Thinking that Mrs. Yi had only held a ceremony but no legal documents, she had even less hope for Mrs. Yi.
Wang Jiazhi thought of her mother and father's marriage certificate. It had a photo of them both, the government seal, and the mayor's signature. Below were lotus flowers, leaves, pods, and roots, and above it, a pair of mandarin ducks facing each other.
As a child, she was fascinated by everything related to flowers and plants. She looked at the plants on the certificate several times and still remembers these plants. Now that I think about it, having these images on the marriage certificate also symbolizes a large family. Government documents are always solemn and formal, but this down-to-earth touch is truly heartwarming. Some officials, like fathers and mothers, love their people like their own children. Naturally, parents hope their children will have a happy marriage and many children.
In her dream, she actually went with him to register. At that time, the people at the yamen laughed and said, "You came at the right time. We are moving this afternoon. If you are late, your trip today will be in vain. The new place is far away."
On the marriage certificate, there are two magpies facing each other at the top, and a bunch of flowers below, including red peonies, white lilies, sea blue bells and pink roses.
God knows why I remember the things in the dream so clearly, even the details are so clear.
There was also a marriage certificate, on which he had written in cursive script:
The red thread ties the couple together till old age.
The present life is peaceful and the years are quiet.
Wang Jiazhi had finished hanging the laundry and went to look at the books drying. Inside one of them, she unexpectedly found a two-inch photo of him when he was young. He was really young back then. It seemed like this was the photo on their marriage certificate.
The higher up the ladder in their profession, the less likely they are to take photos, fearing they might be leaked. It's just that, when their photos are published, they're furious, and the editor thinks they're a nuisance, while they're innocent.
She wondered if the editor was truly stupid or just pretending to be one to have gotten to that position. She didn't know what ordinary people understood. She didn't believe he didn't know. He did something wrong, yet he felt like someone else had bullied him, feeling wronged. He couldn't be as stupid as Kuang Yumin, could he? If that were the case, she wondered how he got to that position. It certainly wasn't his own doing.
Thinking back to when Kuang Yumin was about to be assassinated, there wasn't even a single photo of him. Now thinking about it, it was incredibly stupid. I'd only seen him a few times, while Ouyang had only seen him once. Huang Lei, despite parking his car outside every day, had only ever seen a fleeting silhouette except for that first time. Kuang Yumin was the same. The doorman knew him well, but he, like Huang Lei, couldn't get in. At most, he'd seen a profile or a back view. The others had no idea what he looked like.
If that happens, aren't you afraid of killing the wrong person?
What an idiot.
But later she didn't think so anymore. She had watched a movie in which the male protagonist said to the female protagonist: You are so beautiful that I can't forget you after seeing you once.
Maybe they would be impressed if they really met, but no one wanted to admit it.
Whether in this life or the past, it was true. Lai Xiujin had always believed, as Kuang Yumin had said, that Wang Jiazhi was utterly miserable, sleeping endlessly with such an ugly old demon, and she herself wanted to believe it. Old Wu didn't have a photo of him in his middle age, so he pulled out a photo of him in his twenties and thirties and asked them to identify him. Lai Xiujin collapsed after seeing it, and had a huge fight with Kuang Yumin.
After that, Lai Xiujing still had feelings for Kuang Yumin, but she also always felt that Kuang Yumin's face looked like a donkey.
He came home early today. When he entered the house in the afternoon, he saw the curtains blown high in the wind. Upon closer inspection, he realized it wasn't a curtain, but a piece of fabric hanging on the window.
On a pure white background, two pink lotus buds, about to bloom, are perched atop each. A white butterfly rests on each, and a few oval, grass-green leaves adorn the surroundings. It resembles an ink painting.
He thought about it and remembered that he had bought it when he was studying abroad. He had spent quite a bit of money on it. This material was like a painting. It was originally useless, but he loved it so much that he was willing to spend a lot of money to buy it.
She sat on the edge of the bed and watched the fluttering fabric.
He laughed and said, "I'm about to forget how I found it."
He said he had forgotten about this piece of fabric, which made her a little angry.
He sat down beside her and she took his arm and rested her head on his shoulder.
"I bought it when I was studying abroad. I hesitated for a long time before buying it. Although I won't use it, I like it very much. It looks like a painting in a roll. It just happens to suit you. Let's make it into clothes."
"Then just treat it as a painting, not a garment."
"Look at it on you, it must look better than as a painting."
Wang Jiazhi thought, as expected, it’s like this from young to old.
They sat in front of the painting, the silk blown high by the wind, passing over their heads, then falling down and passing over their bodies.
Then the material was not clamped firmly and floated down, just covering the two of them tightly, revealing the outlines of two heads.
Through the silk, I could hear her say, "There's a movie where the heroine is barefoot and steps on the hero's toes. The two of them are covered with silk scarves and kiss while dancing."
I heard him say, "Haven't we tried this? You can't breathe with this on."
"What about dancing?"
"You're so big, I can't walk on tiptoe. And you can't dance."
"You're annoying! Those two must have practiced this countless times. It's unlikely to be feasible."
They lifted the fabric, but she hung it up again.
She hadn't slept well in the past few days, and after a day's work today, she leaned her head against him, feeling drowsy. The two of them tried to catch up on some sleep, and as they fell into a deep sleep, the fabric was soon blown away again, floating down on them like a white quilt, with two lotus flowers and two butterflies on it.
Two hours later she woke up, her head still aching. That was what happened after a long night; no matter how much she tried to catch up on some sleep, she still felt dizzy and exhausted.
She nestled in his arms and smiled, "What if you met me when you were in your twenties?"
He smiled and said, "I'll give you lotus seed cake and a rabbit toy, little one."
"Hateful. I mean, what if I were twenty?"
"Then I will marry you home."
"I don't believe that there are so many people who like you."
"Really, if it were you, I would definitely do it."
"At that time... I was worthy of you." She said this with some regret.
"Don't talk nonsense. You deserve better than me."
"Except you, no one else would..." She stopped talking here and continued, "I don't want it. I came here to find you. I don't want it if it's not you."
She stretched out an arm to pull the quilt, and then she realized that she was covered with silk.
What else could I hope for? I had no emotional qualifications. But who wouldn't want to be with the one they loved, openly and honestly? Who wanted to be so shady, not even daring to mention his name in public?
A clichéd plot from movies and novels: the extramarital lover goes crazy and insists the man divorce her and marry her. Sometimes it's to divide the property, sometimes it's out of genuine love. The man, unable to bear it, kills his lover, leading to a murder case.
Before I encountered this, I also thought the woman was stupid. It's understandable if she did it for money, but not getting married is unacceptable. It's just because of love. He and his wife are already in a formal relationship. They are no different from husband and wife except for the lack of a formal relationship. Why does she have to cling to that empty name?
In the past two years, she has come to understand that this feeling of being out of sight is really uncomfortable.
Who doesn’t want to marry the person they love officially and live together openly and honestly?
When love is deep, you care about everything, but in the end you let go of everything.
She knew she was not qualified and had no chance.
Whenever she thought of this, she thought to herself, those five people must be made to live a life worse than death for generations to come, and never die a good death!
A few days later she called a tailor to make clothes. Even though the material had been stored for almost twenty years, it was still very strong and had no threads left.
"You two will go out with me tomorrow."
She sat beside her mother and peeled an apple for her. She asked in surprise, "What are you going to do?"
"Don't ask, just go."
"Don't go out, you'll be very tired."
"It's okay, just go."
She was only sixteen at the time, and she trusted everything her mother said. Even when her mother was sick, she would tell her several times that the doctor said she would get better, or that she would go to a certain hospital for treatment and she would definitely get better.
But it's getting worse and worse, there's no improvement at all.
But she still believed in her mother, and every time she thought, maybe this time it really would be okay. Of course, adults knew more than them, the children.
When she lay in bed, she had actually tucked the quilt in very tightly, but her mother always did this, so she had to tuck it in again.
She had sensed it a long time ago. These days, her mother asked her father to live in the attic so that she could stay with her for a few days.
Later, when I was in college, a female classmate told me that when she returned to her hometown, her grandmother was ill. She said to her, "Sleeping on the kang with grandma for a few nights is one less night to sleep."
After hearing this, she couldn't help but lower her head and cry.
The next morning, my aunt accompanied my mother and took her and her brother out. My mother and aunt took one tricycle, and she and her brother took another.
The car drove for several hours and arrived at a two-story wooden building in the countryside. When we went upstairs, we saw an old man with white beard and white hair in the house.
Her mother asked her and her brother to greet the old man. The old man looked at them for a moment, nodded to the young aunt, and the young aunt asked them to go downstairs. They didn't know what happened next.
"You've all seen it. The most impressive thing about my life is my daughter. She's such a talented person, smart and motivated, very good at studying, can write and draw, has a good temper, and is very obedient. There's nothing wrong with her. But my husband doesn't love our daughter. She's only 16 years old. If I die..." At this point, she couldn't hold back her tears and sobbed softly with her handkerchief covering her mouth. After wiping her tears, she continued, "I'm relieved about her brother, but she can't close her eyes even if I die. How can I bear to let her go?"
The old man's face flashed with worry, but he immediately smiled and said, "Don't worry, ma'am. Your daughter is destined to be rich and powerful. But she will have to endure a few years of hardship. In this life, she will bear a calamity for her husband. Once it passes, she will be rich and prosperous for a long time. Who can live a life without suffering at all?"
Her mother laughed and said, "You're right. How can anyone live without suffering? But our family has a little money, far from being rich. What kind of person should I marry?"
"Of course he is destined to be rich and noble."
"A destiny of wealth and honor? You won't be a concubine, will you? That won't do..."
"Your daughter's face is as round and smooth as pearls and jade. She doesn't look like a concubine at all. Of course she's a wife."
"That's good. We would rather not have such wealth and luxury than be a concubine. And she has to like it herself."
"It must be something she likes. There's nothing she likes more."
"That's good. I was saying, of course I can't let my daughter down. It doesn't matter if she's rich or not; the most important thing is that she likes it. She's definitely not the type to despise the poor and love the rich."
Her mother thought that with her daughter being so outstanding and ambitious, it was impossible for her to marry an ordinary man. The so-called misfortune was that the son-in-law she married would also come from a poor family. She would have to endure some hardship in the first few years of marriage, but later, when life improved, she would enjoy wealth and prosperity.
"What about my son?"
The old man said with a smile on his face, "Your son will suffer for a few years, and then everything will be fine. You don't have to worry. Your husband loves his son so much, so why should he worry?"
Her mother thought it made perfect sense and said with a smile, "That's true."
"And my husband, oh, I should have brought him too."
"Your husband takes his son with him wherever he goes. He is rarely seen. Look at your good fortune as a husband. Your husband, like your son, has to suffer, but everything will be fine in the end."
Her mother smiled and said, "That's good."
Her mother also thought that her whole life, including her parents and brother, had always been kind to others and had never done anything that was against their conscience. Her two children and husband would surely be blessed by God. Even if she died, they would not suffer too much.
Her family had never believed in such things, but when people were at their wit's end, many would seek help from the gods and Buddhas. Many years ago, my aunt and my mother were chatting about an old fortune teller in my hometown who was very accurate. His predictions always came true many years later. One day, my mother suddenly brought it up with my aunt, wanting to have a fortune told.
Later, when the young aunt saw that the old man had only accepted a small amount of money out of courtesy, she knew there was something hidden. After sending her mother and them downstairs, she said that she had left something behind and went back upstairs.
The old man said, "She is at the end of her rope. Only tell her what will make her happy. If you know anything else, she will be sad, but it won't change her fate."
After a day of running around, her mother returned home feeling even weaker, but in good spirits. Her father returned, somewhat annoyed, and said, "You're right. It's fine to spend some money on medical treatment, but it's foolish to spend it on this charlatan who's playing tricks on you."
Her mother laughed and said, "It didn't cost much. It's really a scam. It's just a small amount of money."
Her mother happily spoke old people's words to her father.
His father angrily said, "You have long hair but little knowledge. Anyone would say such ambiguous words. I am fine. When you die, everything is fine too. You will have no more worries."
Her mother just smiled and said nothing. She knew she was going to die, but her husband's words still broke her heart. "If someone dies, everything will be fine?" She couldn't let go of her own death.
Wang Jiazhi later realized that what his father said was right. In that line of work, sometimes you can't tell the truth, but you don't want others to say that you were wrong in the future, so you use this kind of rhetoric.
Death is perfection, everything is fine. Living in excruciating pain, death is even more perfect.
Husband and wife are destined to be together, they planted the Jade Indigo Field in the previous life.
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