Chapter 22: Just a Daughter
He Xiaolan first took the subway to Shangdi to find Wang Qingwei, then drove to Tianjin. If the road conditions were good, she could pick up Yueyue from school. Yueyue had been in elementary school for over a month, and she had never picked her up before. The school gate was crowded, and every parent was eagerly waiting.
He Xiaolan and Ms. Zhang Xinrong stood under a tree, chatting casually.
"How much did the house sell for?"
"Thirty-seven thousand, and that's before they bargain. I'll definitely have to bargain again when I see them the day after tomorrow. I estimate it'll be good if I can sell it for thirty-five in the end."
"This price is a bit low. Why don't we not sell it for now? What if the price goes up in the future?"
"Mom, we won't change our minds. We agreed to listen to me, so just do as I say. Beijing's housing prices have started to drop this year. The house we bought won't show any difference in the first five years. Wait until five years have passed, and you'll see. At least we'll have a basement and a parking space."
"You know everything and understand everything. I can't argue with you. There won't be much money left after I sell it."
"Then spend it sparingly. What else can you do? All your money has been donated to support Myanmar's construction."
"Why are you talking so harshly? You're just like your dad, not a bit like me." He Xiaolan used to get angry when Ms. Zhang Xinrong said this, feeling it was an insult. After all, He Guoqiang was no good. Now, He Xiaolan was too lazy to argue. It seemed like there was nothing she could do; it was her genes.
"Then don't look for He Guoqiang when you are young, and don't give birth to me with him."
After saying that, He Xiaolan squeezed forward and watched groups of little kids running out of the school. Yueyue spotted her mother standing in the crowd from a distance, ran over happily, and showed He Xiaolan the small flower pencil she got in math class.
"Mom, I got 100 points on today's quiz. This is a reward from the teacher."
"That's great, what did you have for lunch today?"
“I don’t like carrots.”
"Why don't you like carrots?"
"Because carrots are for rabbits to eat."
Genes never lie. Wang Qingwei doesn't eat carrots and insists that carrots are for feeding rabbits.
"You are exactly like your father."
"Dad doesn't eat carrots, and neither do I. So we can feed the carrots we save to the rabbits. Mom, can I have a rabbit?"
"No..." The first lesson in human growth is to endure rejection from others. He Xiaolan knew that Yueyue was just speaking on impulse and said it casually. If she was told not to raise the child, then she would not raise the child.
It was already eight o'clock in the evening when He Lianhua and Wang Yunfu arrived in Tianjin. Ms. Zhang Xinrong felt that driving in the middle of the night was very dangerous, so the family had to stay at home together. He Xiaolan glanced at the room and saw four adults and a child. They had to walk sideways and there was no way they could sleep.
"Then my mother and I will stay in a hotel and we will be back early tomorrow morning."
After leaving home, He Xiaolan sat in the car and started to book a hotel. She looked at the evening time and calculated the departure time in the morning. She had to leave at 6:30 in the morning. It was already 10 o'clock. With such a short time, she felt that staying in a hotel was a particular disadvantage.
"Or we can just drive back. If you are really sleepy on the way, you can take a nap in the car. Then you can go to your aunt's house in the morning and have a good rest. I called your aunt in the afternoon."
"How do you earn the money? You can't even afford to stay in a hotel. Once you've booked it, I'll give you a red envelope so you don't have to complain here."
"Mom, is this some crazy thing? Don't you know what's going on in our family right now?"
Ms. Zhang Xinrong was a little angry. She opened the door and was about to get out of the car. "I don't want to stay here with you and suffer this. I will take the train back by myself. You drive by yourself."
"Stop making trouble. Can you please go to a hotel? It's the middle of the night. Where are you going?"
The mother and daughter each had their own bed. He Xiaolan texted Hua Hudie and Qin Tiantian from her bed, telling them about her miserable day. "If anything happens in Tianjin, please keep an eye on it for me. I can't get back in time, so I'll depend on you two." Within half a minute, Qin Tiantian replied, "Why don't you divorce Wang Qingwei? It's useless. Divorce him, and then kowtow to us and get married."
To be honest, He Xiaolan hadn't seen Wang Qingwei for almost a week. She hadn't even seen him when she drove to his company today; he said he was in a meeting. She figured she'd ask him what he'd been up to lately when he was free.
Wang Qingwei sat at his computer at the company, stretching his neck wearily. He looked at Tao Lin's office, which was still lit. It was almost one o'clock, but he showed no sign of leaving. Tao Lin had a strong grudge against him because of the Zhang Hang incident. Zhang Hang's parents, holding the 20,000 yuan Wang Qingwei gave them as evidence, insisted it was hush money from the company. Initially, they had proposed insurance, but had changed their minds recently. They wanted the company to pay them 5 million yuan first, and then work-related injury insurance.
Lin Yaping brought her children and elderly parents to cry several more times, but nothing came of it. Wang Qingwei privately tried to persuade Lin Yaping, but the family was stubborn and wouldn't listen. Tao Lin felt Wang Qingwei was primarily responsible for Zhang Hang's entire situation. Just as the company was developing new software, he was simply assigned to oversee it, depriving him of any real work, leaving him to wait for bugs. If they appeared, he fixed them; if they didn't, he just sat there and waited.
With the work environment like this, Wang Qingwei considered changing jobs. He asked friends and asked Qian Helin to ask people around. At Wang Qingwei's age, even if he could find a new job, the salary would be cut in half. He could bear it for the sake of money. He didn't want to tell He Xiaolan about these things. No matter what, he couldn't bring his work emotions home. As a man, he wanted to save face. He felt that he was doing so poorly at the company, and it would be embarrassing if his wife and children knew.
Ms. Zhang Xinrong couldn't sleep, and it was boring to scroll through Douyin, so she thought about chatting with He Xiaolan.
"Do you know? Actually, when you first brought Wang Qingwei back, I didn't want to do it. I wasn't good-looking and my family was just so-so. It was only when your uncle and aunt said that the boy was okay that I agreed. You know, the guy upstairs from us, Song Quezi's daughter, she found a small rich man in the county, and he has thirteen apartments..."
"What's the point of you saying this now? How about I get a divorce and find someone new? I'll also find one with thirteen apartments."
"I just can't talk to you. What's your attitude? What can I say if you want to? You divorced and found someone else with a child. Can you find someone? It's useless to say these things. Your life is your own. How you live it is up to you."
He Xiaolan felt somewhat unwilling after hearing what Ms. Zhang Xinrong said. She jumped up from the bed and looked at her.
"You tell me this, what's your life like with He Guoqiang? No matter how bad Wang Qingwei is, he won't find a woman outside to have a son. I'm wondering, you are my biological mother, what's wrong with you praising me?"
"Can mother and daughter both say nice things to each other?"
"Go to sleep! Save your nice words for your dreams. I still have to drive for six or seven hours tomorrow. I don't want to argue with you anymore."
Returning to He Xiaolan's hometown from Tianjin, the plains along the way gradually began to give way to hills. This small county, full of kindness and rules, had nurtured He Xiaolan for eighteen years. The plants and trees here seemed largely unchanged. The willow trees along the riverbank in the city had only a few sparse leaves left, like her uncle's hair, a few strands still firmly clinging to her scalp.
He Xiaolan's aunt had already announced her return home in the "Zhang Family Fun" group. As soon as she got out of the car, she ate the steamed buns she'd made, a mix of six or seven kinds of wild vegetables. After finishing them, she could only hope for the best, considering that Ms. Zhang Xinrong had been hospitalized in the spring. When Wang Qingwei found out, he gave her the nickname: Zhang Shennong.
Her uncle and aunt kept urging He Xiaolan to eat more, as she looked thinner in the few years they hadn't seen her. They asked about her job, her house, and Yueyue, and the meal was over. Lying on the supposedly miraculous massage bed her aunt had bought for 80,000 yuan, He Xiaolan felt like her whole body was falling apart, but she couldn't fall asleep.
Ms. Zhang Xinrong was still outside introducing her life in the choir to her aunt and sister-in-law, playing one video after another, and singing from "On the Songhua River" to "Spring Story" on her mobile phone. Everyone tacitly agreed not to mention Ms. Zhang Xinrong's twilight love that was defrauded, and just talked about gossip.
A north wind blew through the window, and the irregular movement of the massage bed beneath her made her flesh ache. This scene used to appear often in her mind's eye. Later, as she moved further and further away from home, her memories of this place began to fade. The shops along the street had changed, and the park she passed by on her way to school as a child had been renovated. The only thing that remained unchanged was the number on her ID card. No matter what He Xiaolan did, no matter how hard she tried to escape, she would always be the daughter of this small mountain town.
Her aunt walked into the room and sat beside the bed looking at her. Years of diabetes made her thin. She gently combed He Xiaolan's hair. He Xiaolan was a little uncomfortable with such an intimate action. She moved slightly, but was afraid that her aunt would be embarrassed.
"Your massage bed is very comfortable."
"Child, aren't you tired of taking care of the household in Beijing alone? How come you have lost so much weight?"
"I'm not tired, nothing happened, it doesn't matter where I live."
Ms. Zhang Xinrong walked in upon hearing the noise and signaled He Xiaolan to stop talking nonsense and stop revealing her scandal. She was always so wary, and it seemed the shadow He Guoqiang had cast upon her would haunt her for the rest of her life.
"I have an appointment with the agent and the buyer to view the house tomorrow, so let's have a good rest today."
"What time did you tell them? I want to go to the market with your aunt and buy some fried dough sticks." Ms. Zhang Xinrong said in a light tone. In front of her sister, she could put everything aside and be a happy old girl.
"If you go to the market, I will tell them that I have had lunch and will come at two o'clock."
My aunt quickly stopped them, "There's no such thing as trading in the afternoon, let's go in the morning", and then she took out an almanac from under the therapy bed, muttering to herself as she turned the pages, "Ten to twelve in the morning is the best, let's go with this time, I'll ask your brother and Xiao Cheng to go with you, it's not enough for just the two of you, we need two men to show off."
The two people arranged by my aunt are indeed very strong. My cousin is 1.75 meters tall and weighs 200 kilograms. Xiao Cheng, He Xiaolan's cousin-in-law, is 1.83 meters tall and also weighs 200 kilograms. If these two people walk side by side, they can't even squeeze through the door.
"They're too young. Let's bring your uncle along too. He doesn't have anything to do tomorrow anyway," my sister-in-law gave her final instructions.
The house-selling team was officially established in this way.
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