East Wind and West Wind
Li Guorong's expression changed, then he smiled again, "My relatives came to visit, and I'm in a bit of a hurry. Sorry to bother you."
Li Guorong hurried towards the library to the north.
Li Jiaoniang sneered inwardly. Teacher Lin's plan was still the most effective. When she married Lin Shaocheng, who was a divorcee, she would be able to do whatever she said.
Located to the north, the Beijing Library covers an area of 20,000 square meters and has a grove of trees behind it, resembling a European café. This grove is a popular spot for couples to date and for ambitious young people to exchange ideas and discuss ideas.
Today it was Li Xiangxi's turn to get food for the three of them. He rode his bicycle, feeling a little uneasy. The figure he had just glimpsed looked like his sister-in-law. Why was she at the library instead of staying home and taking care of her? Thinking about the special Sichuan peppercorn pork he had prepared for today, he pedaled his bicycle toward the factory.
Li Guorong was at the edge of the grove. The men and women there all looked like intellectuals, and several of them wore glasses. Li Guorong felt a little scared, and many of them were speaking languages he couldn't understand.
Li Guorong touched his gold bracelet. Now he earns as much as an atomic bomb selling tea eggs. He walked into the woods with his chest out and his head held high. The leaves on the trees rustled, and occasionally one or two squirrels could be seen jumping on the treetops.
Li Guorong's eyes scanned back and forth like a scanner, and she would approach any male or female pair she saw. Fortunately, Lin Shaocheng was not among them. Was she just being paranoid?
"Watch out." Li Guorong's ears twitched slightly. At that voice, her heart pounded, and her eyes stared straight east. A tall, muscular man was half-embracing a woman, and the woman looked up. The two seemed to be kissing.
Li Guorong pulled the man in front of him forcefully. The man looked up, his dark face filled with confusion. The woman lying in his arms stood up and asked, "Who are you? Why are you meddling in other people's kissing?"
Li Guorong awkwardly stepped back and let go of her hand, saying, "I'm sorry, I mistook you for someone else."
She turned and ran away. It was so embarrassing. In her confused state, she walked to a pavilion.
Four vermilion pillars support lotus-colored eaves, which spread like birds ready to take flight. Inside, a man presses down on a woman's fair ankle, her toes slightly red. The woman holds several books in her arms, exuding an indescribable scholarly air, like a story of a talented scholar and a beautiful woman told by an old man.
Li Guorong's eyes were bloodshot. It was Lin Shaocheng. It felt like something had ripped out of her heart, and the wound was bleeding. So this was how she learned. She had always thought she was just learning from her cousin, but she never expected to have such a beautiful man by her side. They were truly a perfect match.
Her fingers, wrinkled from being soaked in water, and her arms scalded with hot oil, were not as noble as those of a young lady from a scholarly family.
Li Guorong shouted shrilly, "What are you doing?" She rushed into the pavilion like a whirlwind. Both of them looked bewildered, as if they hadn't done anything shameful.
Li Guorong felt as if she were in a volcano, the raging flames burning everything around her. She thought of the hugs and kisses written in the letter, the intimacy of touching each other's feet, and the refreshing orange scent on the woman's body. At this moment, the two of them pretended to be innocent, making her seem like a vicious supporting character.
She stared at the woman, raised her hand high, and swung it with a whistling sound, but a strong hand grabbed her. "What are you doing?"
Li Guorong felt all her strength drain away in an instant. In every conflict, Lin Shaocheng had stood firmly behind her, and he had never stopped her, not even when facing his mother. But now, he was blocking her. On both sides of the scale, this time, she was not the one who held the weight.
Li Guorong turned around and slapped Lin Shaocheng.
Zhao Wanyin cried out in surprise, "Ah, what are you doing? How can you be so barbaric?"
Li Guorong turned her face, her clear eyes bloodshot, like an angry lioness defending her territory. She wanted to rush forward and tear the woman in front of her apart.
Lin Shaocheng hugged her tightly, saying, "What are you being unreasonable about?"
Zhao Wanyin was so frightened that she stepped back. "Hiss, Shaocheng, who is this? Has he been through something? Get him to the hospital right away."
Li Guorong crouched down and slipped out when Lin Shaocheng wasn't looking. She wanted to tear Zhao Wanyin apart, but the anger in Lin Shaocheng's eyes was genuine, and she knew she couldn't do it. She reached for the books next to her—these were the books that had ruined their relationship. She tore the books in half with both hands and then ripped them in half again.
Zhao Wanyin reached out to stop her, but Lin Shaocheng grabbed her arm. "Don't provoke her. She'll calm down in a bit."
Zhao Wanyin shouted, "That's a book! How can you use it to vent your anger?"
Li Guorong's men were even more ruthless. Lin Shaocheng massaged another woman's feet and pulled her arm right in front of him, and the woman still looked down on him for not being cultured.
Her anger cooled down, like being submerged in the ocean at a depth of 10,000 meters from a volcano. Her heart was cold, her blood was cold, and what was the point of her acting like a shrew now?
"Well, you two adulterers, you dare to hug and kiss in front of me, you're shameless."
Li Guorong slapped Lin Shaocheng with all his might. Lin Shaocheng looked surprised and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Wanyin and I have a purely platonic classmate relationship."
Li Guorong sneered. Pure, pure would meet in the grove every day, pure would send love letters, thinking of the heart-fluttering kisses and the warmth of the embraces described in the love letters.
Li Guorong pointed at the two men with trembling fingers, "I'll give you my seat, isn't that enough?"
Tears welled in her eyes. Why was she first schemed against by some random woman after arriving in Beijing, then bullied by her mother-in-law, and now having her boyfriend stolen by Lin Shaocheng's classmate?
Lin Shaocheng released Zhao Wanyin and tried to chase after Li Guorong. Zhao Wanyin fell back in her seat. She had twisted her ankle. It wasn't serious at first, but after Li Guorong pushed her, her ankle was now swollen.
Lin Shaocheng is a responsible man. He is worried that some people with ill intentions might come to this grove, and it would be unsafe for her to be a girl alone. Moreover, Wanyin was seriously injured because of him and his wife. He cannot bear the responsibility of leaving her here if something happens to her.
Lin Shaocheng frowned, wondering why Xiang Xi hadn't arrived yet.
Li Guorong ran wildly through the streets of Beijing. She hated Lin Shaocheng, hated that woman, hated Beijing. Beijing, with its square walls, confined everything. In other people's eyes, she was always climbing the social ladder. Rich families faced each other, poor families faced each other. She wanted to go home, back to the gentle mountains and the affectionate rivers. Coming to the North in her previous life was a mistake. Why was she repeating the same mistake in this life?
Li Guolan was preparing the base sauce, and the chili oil seasoning was already ready next to her. Only her younger sister knew the ratio of this chili oil. She didn't know where her younger sister was or when she would return.
"Bang!" Li Guolan was startled, and the cabbage in her hand fell into the pot. She went out of the main room and saw her younger sister's eyes, which were as red as a rabbit's. "Guorong, what's wrong?"
Li Guorong rushed into his elder sister's arms, saying, "Lin Shaocheng has a woman outside."
Li Guolan gripped Li Guorong's shoulders with both hands, "You can't talk nonsense like that, you caught them cheating."
Li Guorong shouted, "Lin Shaocheng touched that woman's foot and protected her, preventing me from hitting her."
Li Guolan was shocked. "You caught them in bed?"
"In the woods."
Li Guolan's expression changed drastically. "Field combat?"
Li Guorong cried, "I miss Mom, sister, let's go home."
Li Guolan shook her head, "Then aren't you making room for some wild woman outside? And my Bo Bo Chicken is already ready, isn't that a waste?"
Li Guorong felt a chill in her heart. Her older sister didn't side with her and only cared about money. She pushed Li Guolan away, saying, "All you care about is money. If it weren't for me, you'd still be in the village."
Li Guolan's expression changed, her lips moved slightly, her hand fell to her sides, and she walked into the kitchen.
As summer approached, Li Guorong felt a bone-chilling cold. This was the power of family ties. Faced with the opportunity to leave the village and earn money, her eldest sister would not hesitate to give her up.
She rushed to her bedroom, opened the closet, and saw Lin Shaocheng's clothes neatly hanging there. She pulled them down forcefully and stomped on them with her muddy shoes. She took off her gold bracelet and threw it on the floor. The closet was full of clothes that Lin Shaocheng had bought for her, but now she felt disgusted and didn't put anything away.
Li Guorong opened the bedside table and found a savings book with 3,000 yuan inside. This was money she had earned herself. She took the savings book to the bank, withdrew the money, and ran towards Beijing Railway Station. She wanted to go home, and with her older brothers, beat up Lin Shaocheng to show him that he wasn't someone to be bullied.
"Give me a ticket to Chongchuan."
The ticket seller inside said, "We have tickets available in three days."
Li Guorong asked somewhat sharply, "Don't you have today's? I want today's."
The ticket seller rolled her eyes. "If you don't want it, there won't be any left for three days from now."
Li Guorong was already in a bad mood, and he pointed at the ticket seller and cursed, "What kind of attitude is this?"
The ticket seller called out, "Buy it or don't, don't hold up other people, next one."
The people behind him pushed past Li Guorong, saying, "He's going to Shaanxi."
Li Guorong shouted from the side, "Didn't I say I wasn't going to buy it? You're bullying outsiders."
People around her looked at her as if she were crazy. In the current ticketing system, ticket sellers need to be quick to buy a limited number of tickets for customers. Everyone has to think about what to say and which day to buy beforehand, and make preparations in advance. The convenient ticketing system in her previous life and her daughter's planning, combined with Lin Shaocheng's all-encompassing care in this life, made Li Guorong forget how difficult it is to buy tickets now.
A man next to her had his eyes light up and stepped forward, "Hey girl, don't be angry, I have tickets, do you want them? Today's tickets are extra."
Li Guorong followed the man to a corner. "How much?"
The man's eyes lit up. "100 yuan."
Li Guorong turned to leave, but the man quickly stopped him, "How much do you want for that girl?"
Li Guorong said, "At most 40."
The man's expression changed. This was too low. He could earn at most 10 yuan. "At least 60, I can't go any lower."
Li Guorong took the ticket. The train was about to leave, and she didn't have time to haggle with the scalpers. It was a seat ticket, which was barely acceptable.
The black ticket gates resembled a giant beast that swallowed and ate people. Li Guorong boarded the train alone.
At home, Lin Shaocheng called out from the doorway, "Guorong? Guorong?" He rushed into the house.
Li Guolan swung a broom at Lin Shaocheng, who grabbed it. "What are you doing, big sister?" His voice was icy cold, a tone Li Guolan had never heard before.
Startled, Li Guolan dropped the broom and sat on the ground, crying, "My poor sister, married so far away, and still being cuckolded!" She rolled around on the ground, a trick she'd learned from the village shrew.
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