Chapter 61
Zhou Minlin passed by Huang Liju's boyfriend's dormitory with a thermos and heard that there were many people inside.
Huang Liju's boyfriend said, "Treating a woman is like training a dog. The nicer you are to her, the more she'll act and disobey. But if you hit or scold her, she'll just be obedient."
Zhou Minlin took a look inside, grinned, and left.
While chatting together, Zhou Minlin mentioned the remarks made by Huang Liju's boyfriend, and Xiao Shuang said: "What can we do? It's a matter of two people willing to fight and to be beaten. She just buys into it."
Meihui said, "I heard from other boys that Huangliju gave him several kilograms of melon seeds, and he shared them with others, saying he wanted to taste his girlfriend's cooking. There were at least three or four kilograms. He also said that if he asked Huangliju to kill her, she would immediately hang herself."
Wang Jiazhi was surprised and asked, "Three or four pounds of melon seeds?"
She seemed to remember that time when she went to her dormitory to comfort her, she saw a large bag of melon seeds on the table, and a lot of the kernels had been eaten.
Xiao Shuang should have remembered it too, and said, "He was bullied and wanted to die, crying his hair disheveled, yet he still had the mood to eat sunflower seeds for him."
Wang Jiazhi asked, "Can we share it with others?"
Xiao Shuang said, “That’s right.”
In Wang Jiazhi's eyes, eating melon seeds would of course be stained with Huang Liju's saliva, and sharing them with other boys would not be...
Sure enough, Huang Liju’s boyfriend never liked her.
I remember when I was little, my neighbor told me that his sister-in-law was very willful and sensitive, probably like Lin Daiyu, but her brother doted on her. She was sulking for some reason and said she couldn't eat, skipping a whole meal. So her brother cracked a plate of sunflower seeds and gave them to her.
The neighbor wanted people to think that her brother was affectionate and warm-hearted. Wang Jiazhi was in high school at the time and she just thought that the girl's sister-in-law was too pretentious and her brother was too artificial.
I remember that in "Jin Ping Mei", Zheng Aiyue and Han Daoguo's wife ate a lot of melon seeds in order to please Ximen Qing, and then packed them in exquisite handkerchiefs or purses, and gave them to Ximen Qing along with love letters and heart-shaped knot tokens made of their own hair.
Han Daoguo's wife sent those things to Ximen Qing because he hadn't contacted her for a long time. Ximen Qing took some medicine when he went there, and when he came back, Pan Jinlian fed him too much medicine, and he died of excessive indulgence.
The annotations at the time said, "Even if he knew he was going to die, he would probably still be willing to go." Wang Jiazhi thought, even a woman would be moved by this. There were love letters and purses, and he even personally cracked sunflower seeds and cut his hair to make a heart knot. Even if she knew it was for money and not true, such sincerity could melt a heart as hard as stone.
The most common nuts between couples are melon seeds. Hazelnuts and peanuts are also delicious, but they are too easy to peel. Only melon seeds are small and difficult to peel, which shows the care taken.
The book doesn't seem to be like this, because they didn't really like Ximen Qing, but wanted to please him so they could get more money. If this were really between a couple, it would seem too undignified.
When I came back from taking a shower in the evening, I saw Xiaoshuang sitting cross-legged on the bed like a little mouse, eating melon seeds.
Xiao Shuang looked up and smiled, "I want to give him some too."
Wang Jiazhi thought to herself, "Didn't you say he likes to eat peanuts?"
Sure enough, she wanted him to have what others had.
Xiao Shuang said, "Eat, I bought a lot."
Xiaoshuang likes to eat five-spice sunflower seeds, but this time she bought the original flavor. Eating too many of these seeds can easily make her throat hoarse. Xiaoshuang's lips became dry and black from eating too much.
"He's really an old man, he just likes to eat this. But I didn't tell him, he must be very happy to see it."
When Xiao Shuang does the same thing, he doesn’t feel useless, but rather very cute.
The room was filled with the dry aroma of roasted melon seeds. Wang Jiazhi, her hair damp from washing, sat on the edge of the bed in aubergine pajamas and white slippers. Memories of the past suddenly returned.
Because she felt it was unrealistic at the time, she always doubted its authenticity and ignored it. Thinking about it now, she still thinks it was an illusion.
Since she wiped her tears off his clothes, she still had to cheer up and attend social events the next day. She couldn't let others notice it.
I put on makeup early in the morning, but my eyes are still a little swollen. I don’t know if they really didn’t notice or just didn’t say anything.
She played mahjong from morning to afternoon. She couldn't eat anything for lunch. She was dizzy from losing money. Now she no longer cared about how much money she lost.
In the past, she still cared. If it was Kuang Yumin and Old Wu's money, she wouldn't care how much she lost. But these funds were obviously not their money, but the people's blood and sweat.
It doesn't matter now, because she can't change at all. It doesn't matter whether she feels the pain or not, she won't lose less money.
He came back in the afternoon, but didn't come over. He went straight into the study.
She was very frustrated and thought to herself, "Sure enough, he doesn't care about me at all."
Mrs. Ma had won the most money these days, and everyone was clamoring for her to treat them all. They were planning to go out to dinner tonight, again at a Sichuan restaurant. She hadn't paid any attention to who had won the most money these days, and only discovered it when the other two offered to treat her.
They liked to bring her along when they played cards, because she was there to bring in the money. Even though these wives of officials spoke of their wealth, they were still very concerned about the money at the mahjong table. They were certainly wealthy, but who wouldn't care about money?
Especially since they don't have the financial power in the family, they still have to look to their husbands for valuable things.
Mrs. Ma wore three diamond rings, but the four-carat one was the most common. Wang Jiazhi felt that it was not only because it was a gift from Lao Yi and she wore it out of show, but also because the other two were not as good in size or quality as this one.
Although Mrs. Ma is beautiful, I heard that her husband has someone else outside. It's not just because he is busy with work that he doesn't come home every other day.
Of all the ladies Mrs. Yi interacted with, it seemed only Mrs. Liang's husband had a concubine, but she lived a relatively comfortable life. Despite having a concubine, she was feared, and her husband respected her. The other ladies, though they didn't have concubines, had husbands who were either promiscuous or had small mansions and children, but they weren't as comfortable as Mrs. Liang.
Mrs. Ma asked if they wanted to invite Old Yi to dinner that night. Mrs. Yi smiled and said, "Why should we take him with us? He's been too busy lately and probably won't go."
Mrs. Ma said provocatively, "It's better to ask, otherwise I'll seem impolite."
Mrs. Yi sneered and said to her mother, "Go ask if he wants to go to Mrs. Ma's dinner party tonight."
Wang Jiazhi thought to herself, "Just try it if you dare!"
After a while, my mother came back and said, "My husband said he won't go anymore. He also said that if we always eat Sichuan food, you won't find it spicy."
Wang Jiazhi thought to herself, "Exactly. It's so spicy, but why do I love it so much? I keep eating it endlessly."
Mrs. Yi smiled triumphantly and said, "He just doesn't know how to appreciate my kindness."
Mrs. Ma sneered and said nothing.
Mrs. Liang smiled and said, "Mr. Yi has been going home more often these days."
Mrs. Yi said, "Maybe there aren't that many things to do in the government office anymore."
Mrs. Ma said sarcastically, "Maybe my family is too worried."
Wang Jiazhi pretended not to understand and picked up the tea to drink.
I thought to myself, "Worried? If you really cared about me, you wouldn't have been away from home for a few days."
A little later, Grandma brought over more snacks. Seeing everyone else's plates filled with mung bean cakes and nuts, she didn't have an appetite and didn't even look at the plates beside them. A moment later, she turned around and saw that besides a few snacks, there were also several kinds of peeled nuts, a huge pile of sunflower seeds, some hazelnuts, peanuts, pine nuts, and peeled almonds.
She was stunned for a moment and forgot to play her cards.
Look at other people’s plates, they are full of unpeeled nuts.
Who would crack melon seeds for her? If he did that, it would be really outrageous. But compared to this possibility, the possibility of someone else in the family doing that was even more outrageous than him.
She looked up at the clock. He had been back for more than two hours, so he had time to do these things.
As soon as he came back, he went into the study and cracked melon seeds and peeled nuts.
Amma told him she hadn't eaten properly all day, and that she'd been eating Sichuan food that night, which she couldn't eat, so he peeled nuts for her. Or maybe he was worried about what happened yesterday and came back early to see her.
She shook her head, wondering what she was thinking. This was impossible, this was simply outrageous.
She was distracted for a moment and didn't pay attention to the cards. When she came to her senses, she found that she had won!
She really had no talent for mahjong. No matter how hard she tried, she would lose. Of course, if she didn't try, she would still lose. It was only once that a blind cat would catch a dead mouse.
Everything that happened that day seemed so unrealistic and far-fetched.
But she ate all the nuts anyway.
Wang Jiazhi pondered the past, and now when she thought about it, it didn't seem as unreal as it did then.
He was very gentle and considerate at that time and treated her very well.
It took Wang Jiazhi a while to come back to her senses. She saw Xiaoshuang wrapping the cracked melon seeds in a purple handkerchief.
Wang Jiazhi felt a little lost. It seemed like she had never done anything romantic, not at all. She was just endlessly silly.
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