She couldn't help but complain, "You've never been so protective of your mother before!"
Li Qingming looked up at his mother and said, "I used to tell you to get a divorce, but you decided that you still had a place in this family. You refused to get a divorce, and now you're blaming me!"
A hint of sadness flickered in Zhang Hehua's eyes, but Li Qingming, a grown man, couldn't discern the emotions in his mother's eyes.
Li Qingming added, "I'm married now, and you should also consider your own life's important matters. Although you just got divorced not long ago, you can still find someone else."
"You brat, who would advise their mother to remarry on their wedding night!" Zhang Hehua complained, then looked down at Li Qingming silently washing clothes.
Looking back at the living room, and seeing that Xia Xiaoli didn't seem inclined to come out, he said to Li Qingming, "Qingming, Xiaoli isn't in a good mood today. If she doesn't want to, don't force her, okay?"
The voice was very soft, and Li Qingming nodded upon hearing it.
“There’s plenty of time later. You need to learn to respect your wife. It’s a good thing that you’re helping her with the laundry, so take it slow.” Seeing her son treat his wife this way, Zhang Hehua felt much more at ease. “Qingming, don’t be like your father. He was unlucky and ruined my life!”
“When I went to the city today, I wired him fifty yuan. I’ll wire him every six months from now on, and a hundred yuan a year will be enough.” Li Qingming’s father didn’t like him, and he had always known that since he was a child.
Li Qingming still remembers the frequent arguments his mother and father had when he was a child.
Zhang Hehua nodded and said, "That's good, so that others won't say you're unfilial. You should talk to Xiaoli about this. Also, you should ask Xiaoli how much her brother and sister-in-law's family paid for her leg surgery and pay them back, so that Xiaoli won't feel pressured."
"Yes, I'll tell Xiaoli when I have time," Li Qingming said while washing clothes.
Zhang Hehua continued, "This is a big deal. You need to talk about it later. Whether they accept it or not is their business. You have to bring it up and offer to pay. The cost of treating this leg injury is not a small amount. Since you are Xiaoli's husband, you have to bear the cost."
"Okay, I'll tell Xiaoli later that I'll send the money to my brother and sister-in-law's house tomorrow," Li Qingming nodded.
Xia Xiaoli originally came out to get a drink of water, but she overheard their conversation.
Seeing that they had finished their conversation, Xia Xiaoli hurriedly turned around and went back to her room.
Sitting on the bed, staring down at the floor, fidgeting with my fingers, I realized that, just as my sister-in-law had said, this family was truly wonderful.
Xia Xiaoli's unhappiness disappeared.
I shouldn't have to worry about the mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship anymore.
Just as she was lost in thought, Zhang Hehua came in and knocked on the door.
"Xiaoli, you can rest tomorrow. You don't need to get up too early. I have to go to work tomorrow. I'll make breakfast. You can sleep a little longer. From now on, this is your home. Come and go as you please. Don't worry about me." When Zhang Hehua came in and knocked on the door, Xia Xiaoli snapped out of her daze and stared at Zhang Hehua.
"Okay, thank you... Mom." Xia Xiaoli blushed and her heart pounded when she said that.
When Zhang Hehua heard Xia Xiaoli call her "Mom," she was overjoyed.
"If you're tired, take a rest. You've had a long day," Zhang Hehua said to Xia Xiaoli.
Xia Xiaoli nodded.
"Mom, you should get some rest too," Xia Xiaoli said goodnight.
Zhang Hehua turned around and went back to her room to find clothes to take a shower.
After washing up, Zhang Hehua went back to her room to rest.
When it was time for Li Qingming to take a shower, he took half an hour and even used the soap issued by the army to wash himself.
Xia Xiaoli thought that Li Qingming wanted to talk to her, so she sat on the bed and waited for a while.
After sitting there for an hour, Li Qingming still showed no intention of coming in.
Xia Xiaoli was getting sleepy from waiting.
Li Qingming was drying his hair, a towel hanging around his neck, when he came in from outside. He usually didn't wear a shirt, but today, out of consideration for Xia Xiaoli, he wore a dark blue short-sleeved shirt.
As soon as he entered, his eyes met Xia Xiaoli's.
"You're not asleep yet?" Li Qingming originally thought Xia Xiaoli was already asleep, but he didn't expect her to be sitting on the bed waiting for him.
Xia Xiaoli's face flushed red, and she suddenly became inexplicably nervous.
"I am that one!" Xia Xiaoli stopped midway through her sentence.
Li Qingming thought of what his mother had just said.
"Xiaoli, I want to ask, how much did it cost when your brother and sister-in-law treated your leg injury? We'll take it back to them tomorrow," Li Qingming asked, sitting down next to Xia Xiaoli with a sincere look in his eyes.
“There’s no need to rush that money. I’ll pay it back slowly when I earn my own money. This is my own business.” After Xia Xiaoli finished speaking, she pulled out two bankbooks from the second drawer of the bedside table.
Looking at Li Qingming, he continued, "Battalion Commander Li..."
Li Qingming stared at Xia Xiaoli; the way she was addressed was unfamiliar.
“Just call me Qingming,” Li Qingming said again.
Xia Xiaoli pursed her lips, lowered her head, and nodded slightly.
She looked up at Li Qingming again and said, "Brother Qingming, this is money you and Mom gave me. It's useless. You can take it back."
Li Qingming stared at the passbook, then raised an eyebrow and looked up at Xia Xiaoli, saying, "Why do you say that? This money is for you. This is all the money I have. Although it's a bit little, I will work hard to earn more. Mom has an income now and doesn't need us to give her any. We can still manage."
“No.” Xia Xiaoli shook her head and continued to explain, “Brother Qingming, this money belongs to you and your mother. It’s all money you earned before. It has nothing to do with me. I can’t take it.”
“How can it not be related? We don’t need to be so clear about things. This money is our joint property, meant for our living expenses. The other two thousand is the dowry from your mother. You can use this money as you see fit.” Li Qingming continued, “I know that the marriage has wronged you, and I just want to make it up to you. I also want to thank Xiaoli for giving me this opportunity. Now that we’re family, we don’t need to be so clear about things. My life is very simple; I don’t need you to take care of me. We can share the housework, and I’ll do my best to make sure you don’t feel wronged.”
Xia Xiaoli was about to speak.
“Xiaoli, it’s not difficult to treat me like family. You don’t need to feel burdened,” Li Qingming said again.
Xia Xiaoli looked down at the two notebooks.
“I’ll take this five thousand yuan. You can give this two thousand yuan back to Mom. It wasn’t easy for her to save it.” Xia Xiaoli couldn’t argue with Li Qingming, so she had no choice but to accept it. But then she remembered that two thousand yuan of the seven thousand yuan was saved by Zhang Hehua.
Take out the passbook and hand it to Li Qingming.
“Mom earns twenty yuan a month in the countryside. Although it’s not much, she made quite a bit of money from the chickens and ducks she raised. Mom has money to spend, don’t worry.” Li Qingming took the two bankbooks, put them in the cabinet, closed the drawer, and asked, “You still haven’t told me how much you spent on treating your leg?”
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