Return to Yanzhou?
Wu Meilai felt relieved and went to register exhausted. When she raised her hand, she felt a sharp pain all over her body. She realized it was caused by the stick Wu Ergou had swung at her today. Fortunately, she had hit him with several sticks in a row. Wu Ergou would definitely not recover if he didn't stay in bed for ten days or half a month.
The hospital bill was more than 3,000 yuan, and there was not a penny left in the previous bank card. Wu Meilai planned to borrow some money from her aunt. When she opened WeChat, she saw several new messages in Zhou Qianling's chat box. She paused and skipped them.
When it was late at night and Liu Guiyan fell asleep, she slowly leaned back on the chair in the corridor and opened the dialog box.
Zhou Qianling: Are you feeling better?
Zhou Qianling: I miss you.
Wu Meilai felt a pain in her eyelids, so she turned off the screen, leaned against the wall, and stared at the light tube in a daze.
When did it all start? She and Zhou Qianling embarked on this illogical path.
Was it when he was attracted to her the first time they met, or when he visited her at the Zhou family's ancestral grave under the pretext of cutting grass for pigs?
Shake your head.
It was when she exposed her body in the hotel, and it was also when she took herself to watch a film with implicit emotional content.
Wu Mei came to realize later: from the beginning to the end, it was this unknown city dweller who seduced her.
Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, she tempted herself to eat the forbidden fruit.
Wu Meilai found a "reasonable" reason and extricated herself from the ridiculous behavior.
That's right, I was forced.
As long as you drive the snake away, you will return to normal.
As for the life-saving grace, Wu Mei came to convince herself: Zhou Qianling did all this just to sleep with herself? She succeeded, and her body had been given to her.
Wu Meilai distorted a mutually enjoyable sexual/love affair into a one-sided plunder in order to eliminate her own guilt.
She turned on her phone and typed in the input box: Don't mess with me anymore.
Delete and re-enter: We are over, let’s be well.
The cursor flashed for a long time, and the content of the input box changed again: You are a good person, I hope you find the right person, and we will not contact each other again in the future.
His thumb lingered on the send button for a long time, not letting go.
——
Zhou Qianling sat on the sofa, staring at his phone with a cold look in his eyes.
Third Auntie pushed the fruit plate towards her and whispered to Zhou Fang, "Who offended Xiaoling? He looks so angry."
Zhou Fang forced a smile and shook her head, "She was born with this sour face." She pushed the fruit plate a little closer and said, "You didn't eat dinner yesterday, and you said you weren't hungry for breakfast. You have to eat something to fill your stomach."
Zhou Qianling tapped the chat box with his fingertips. When he heard the words, he turned around and saw the worry in Zhou Fang's eyes. He was stunned for a moment, raised his hand to pick up a piece of apple and put it in his mouth, then put down his phone to watch TV.
She just let the figures circle around her irises and couldn't focus on them at all.
There was a ding-dong sound in his pocket, and Zhou Qianling took out his cell phone.
It is a red envelope sent by the students' parents.
Zhou Qianling frowned. This parent had been constantly finding excuses to give her red envelopes since she added them. She patiently replied that all students were treated equally, then returned the red envelope.
Returning to the homepage, Wu Meilai’s column was deserted, and Zhou Qianling sent a message: Auntie, are you feeling better?
After waiting for a long time, this piece of news still fell into oblivion like the more than ten pieces of news before it.
A week has passed since that day, and Wu Mei hasn't replied to any of her messages. Zhou Qianling doesn't know if he didn't do well enough that night and made her uncomfortable.
In anxiety, she bit her nails unconsciously.
Zhou Fang's eyes were filled with worry, and she interrupted her thoughts, "When does your school start?"
Zhou Qianling paused before looking at the calendar. "There are still thirteen days left."
"Then it's time to go back and have a good rest for a few days so that we can prepare for the start of school."
Seeing Zhou Qianling frown, she added, "Let's do it tomorrow. Your father will be home soon, and we can have a family reunion dinner."
Before Zhou Qianling could reply, Third Auntie exclaimed, "So urgent? Just stay a couple of days. It's so rare for you to come back." Something occurred to her, and she asked, "Is it hard for you two mothers to sleep in the same bed?"
"No." Zhou Qianling looked at Zhou Fang and said bluntly: "I don't want to leave yet."
Zhou Fang was silent for a moment, but didn't insist on going back. Instead, she said, "Okay, I see the flowers in the fields and mountains are blooming. You can take a walk with Mom. If you go back, it will take a long time before you can see them again."
——
"Go back? Back to where..."
Liu Guiyan leaned back on the hospital bed, took the buns from Wu Mei, and looked melancholy and sad.
"Go back to your parents' home." Wu Mei came to put a straw in the soy milk, tested the temperature, and handed it to her. She said with a slight annoyance, "Are you going back to Yuxianwan to be beaten by Wu Ergou?"
Liu Guiyan took it, placed her hand gently on her leg, and murmured, "Home? My mother's family belongs to my brother, and my husband's family belongs to my husband and son. How can I have a home?"
She raised her head and forced a smile, as if to explain, but also to persuade herself: "Besides, we are an old couple now. If we run back to my parents' house to hide for a day or two and then get sent back by my brother-in-law, we will just be laughed at."
With that said, it seemed like there was really no need to worry about whether to run away or not. Liu Guiyan resigned herself to her fate and said, "Women in this world are like this. If you marry a chicken, you follow the chicken; if you marry a dog, you follow the dog."
Thinking of this, she felt much more at ease. "We're all the same. Just bear with it and it will pass. Your father is relatively good. He knows when to strike hard and his temper isn't bad. You don't know some people, tsk tsk, who would hit you with tongs if you're not happy. That's really miserable."
When Wu Mei came to see her, she was so happy that she didn't say much and just ate buns quietly.
She always felt that there was something wrong with Liu Guiyan's logic, but she couldn't tell where the problem lay, so she stopped thinking about it.
As she was talking, a nurse came in as usual to check her electrocardiogram and condition, reminded her to pay the bill, and then left.
Liu Guiyan frowned and said, "Little one, I'm fine now. Let's go back. Staying in the hospital is just a waste of money."
"Well, let's observe for two more days."
Speaking of money, Wu Meilai was also very worried. She wanted to open a shop to make money as soon as possible, but it was time to dig potatoes in spring. Wu Ergou and Wu Han could not be relied on, and it was not known when Liu Guiyan would be able to dig potatoes. Besides, the doctor advised not to overwork during this period.
The more Wu Meilai thought about it, the angrier she became. She was shocked to realize that she and Liu Guiyan had been raising two useless things. She was so angry that she just wanted to sell them.
Despite her thoughts, Wu Meilai started working without stopping after returning to the village.
After being beaten, Wu Ergou lay on the bed and groaned all day long. He had even more reason to be lazy and didn't dare to boss Wu Mei around anymore. When he was angry, he would scold Liu Guiyan and Wu Han. Both father and daughter treated each other like air.
Wu Meilai tried to find joy in the midst of suffering. After all, she was no longer under the control of Wu Ergou, and she was too busy to think about Zhou Qianling.
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