Chapter 136
After having the New Year's Eve dinner and seeing off Xiang Changchuan and his two nephews, Gu Xi was already yawning with sleepiness.
She became very sleepy after becoming pregnant, and she would feel extremely tired whenever it was time to sleep.
Shen Mingzheng said, "I won't stay up all night this year. Go to sleep first."
"I haven't showered yet..." she muttered. "I smelled terrible after eating hot pot, and my hair smells too. I need to wash my hair and shower so I can wear new clothes tomorrow."
Shen Mingzheng knew her personality, "Okay, I'll wash your hair for you."
After all that fuss, it was already quite late.
Xu Yuansheng and her sister were responsible for staying up all night on New Year's Eve, while Gu Xi went back to her room to sleep first. Shen Mingzheng went back to keep her company so that she wouldn't have trouble sleeping in the cold bed.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Xi woke up at around nine o'clock in the morning. The sky outside was bright, and the sounds of children wishing each other a Happy New Year could be heard from afar.
Everyone was quite understanding of her tendency to sleep, and they didn't disturb her. They waited for her to wake up naturally and then heated up her breakfast for her.
Breakfast was chicken soup dumplings, which suited Gu Xi's taste perfectly. She ate with gusto and felt hopeful about the future.
I spent the first day of the Lunar New Year eating and drinking at home, the second day visiting my neighbors in the family compound to wish them a Happy New Year, and the third day visiting Commander Zhang to wish him a Happy New Year.
When they learned she was pregnant, everyone took good care of her.
Zhang Wanxia pulled Gu Xi aside and looked her over, saying, "I really can't tell you're pregnant. You look about the same as before."
Gu Xi laughed and said, "I'm still in the early stages of pregnancy. Maybe I'll be heavily pregnant by the time you see me next time."
The main performers in the cultural troupe are very busy people; sometimes they are so busy that you might not see them for months at a time.
The last time I saw her was more than two months ago. She was extremely busy with performances and filming before the Lunar New Year.
Zhang Wanxia thought about her pregnant appearance and said confidently, "Even if you're heavily pregnant, you'll still be the most beautiful pregnant woman." Then she added regretfully, "I still want you to go into film. You're so beautiful, you're perfect for the big screen..."
Gu Xi couldn't help but laugh. Two years had passed, and she hadn't expected that she still hadn't given up.
"Of course, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life. I can't stand to see you waste your beauty. A face like that should appear on the big screen so that future generations will know that our era has such a stunning beauty."
Gu Xi didn't talk to her about that, but instead asked her if she was going to go on blind dates again this year.
“The matchmaking has already started,” Zhang Wanxia said nonchalantly. “But I’m just too busy. I’ll just show up briefly and then leave. Anyway, I sometimes have to go to film movies there, and outsiders aren’t allowed to get close, so no one will bother me. It’s fine.”
During the Lunar New Year period, she couldn't avoid blind dates every day. She had already decided that after today, she would go back to the dormitory of the performing arts troupe and would rather stay in the troupe to practice than stay at her uncle's house.
Seeing that she was only focused on building her career and had no interest in romance, Gu Xi naturally encouraged her, which made her even more determined in her choice.
While you're young, you should be bold and adventurous, and definitely not rush into the "grave" of marriage.
Xu Yuansheng and her sister: "..."
Although Zhang Wanxia is focused on building her career, she also cares about other people's marriage prospects.
She turned to Yuansheng and asked, "By the way, Yuansheng is twenty years old this year. Does he have a boyfriend?"
"No……"
“Okay, come with me to the blind date later and help me out.” Zhang Wanxia said, then looked at Xu Huaisheng with a regretful expression, “Sixteen years old, it’s still a bit early.”
Otherwise, we can have another person help share the burden.
Xu Huaisheng: "..."
In the end, both Xu Yuansheng and her sister were pulled over by Zhang Wanxia to help alleviate the pressure of blind dates.
Xu Huaisheng was completely bewildered. She was just a junior high school student. What was she doing here?
Brigade Commander Zhang's wife, Liu Aiyun, was also speechless. Her niece, in order to avoid blind dates, had even dragged along underage girls as a substitute—it was truly...
If her own mother finds out about this, she might get so angry that she goes to the military base and yells at them.
**
The Chinese New Year is spent eating and drinking.
After the Lantern Festival, people who went home for the Spring Festival returned one after another, bringing with them many local specialties from their hometowns. They shared these with their neighbors, and Gu Xi also received many local specialties from people.
When Gu Yuanyang and Ji Ya returned, they brought them a lot of things, all of which were sent to her by relatives and friends. Among them, the most were things prepared by Feng Min.
Inside were food, household items, medicinal herbs, and tonics, as if they were going to empty the house out of it.
That's too much.
Gu Xi could feel Feng Min's deep affection and love, which warmed her heart and made her even more eager for Feng Min to come over.
Xu Yuansheng helped tidy up and said with a smile, "Big sister, Aunt Feng is so kind, she treats you like her own daughter."
“Yes.” Gu Xi smiled, her eyebrows relaxed. “If it weren’t for… I probably would be Aunt Feng’s daughter now.”
She also felt a pang of regret that she couldn't become Feng Min's daughter.
“But if that’s the case, you won’t be able to marry your brother-in-law,” Xu Yuansheng reminded her. If the Shen family adopted her, the two of them wouldn’t be able to get married.
However, it's not necessarily the case. As long as the adoption relationship is terminated, the adopted daughter can become the daughter-in-law.
Given Aunt Feng's affection for her sister, she might even be reluctant to let her sister get married and instead marry her adopted daughter to her own son.
Gu Xi said, "It's okay. If I become an adopted daughter, I won't get married. I'll stay by Aunt Feng's side for the rest of my life."
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuansheng glanced at her. It seemed that her sister preferred to be Aunt Feng's daughter rather than marry her brother-in-law.
Luckily, my brother-in-law wasn't there, otherwise he would have been really upset to hear all this.
Qiao Hui also gave them local specialties.
However, Gu Xi noticed that Qiao Hui was in a bad mood, as if she had a very bad New Year at her in-laws' house.
"Qiao Hui, what's wrong?" Gu Xi asked worriedly.
Qiao Hui wanted to say something but held back, only saying, "It's nothing."
"Really?" Gu Xi took her hand. "We're friends. You can tell me anything. Don't keep it to yourself and make yourself miserable..."
Qiao Hui sat there blankly for a while, but in the end she couldn't help herself and wanted to confide in someone.
She said, "Gu Xi, do you know that the person Chief of Staff Gao actually wanted to marry back then wasn't me..."
"Huh?" Gu Xi looked at her in surprise, feeling like she was about to hear another melodramatic story.
Sure enough, Gu Xi soon learned that the Chief of Staff Gao had originally intended to marry was not Qiao Hui, but Qiao Hui's cousin, Qiao Rui.
Qiao Hui's parents are researchers at a research institute. Because they are busy with their work, they cannot take care of their family. Qiao Hui was raised by her grandmother from a young age.
Grandma Qiao Hui had two sons, Qiao Hui's father and her uncle.
My uncle and aunt are both ordinary workers. The couple has three children: two older sons and a younger daughter, Qiao Rui. Qiao Rui and Qiao Hui are the same age and grew up together.
Unlike the stunningly beautiful Qiao Hui, Qiao Rui has delicate features. She was loved by her parents and brothers as she grew up, and has a charmingly naive temperament. She is also sweet-talking, so the elders all like her, and she has many friends and is very popular.
When the Gao family was looking for a partner for their son who was serving in the army, they chose Qiao Rui.
Both families were satisfied after meeting, and Gao Wenbin and Qiao Rui agreed. Just as the two families were about to discuss the wedding date, Qiao Hui was harassed by a group of thugs on her way home from get off work. Gao Wenbin, who happened to be passing by, rescued her, and the two of them fell into the water together. This incident was witnessed by many people.
If that were all, it would have been fine, but her cousin Qiao Rui was furious when she saw this scene and angrily questioned Qiao Hui in front of everyone whether she had deliberately seduced her brother-in-law.
Because of Qiao Rui's words, bad rumors started circulating about Qiao Hui.
Even Qiao Hui's parents at the research institute were alarmed and stepped in to help mediate, ultimately leading to Qiao Hui marrying Gao Wenbin.
**
Gu Xi was stunned.
She asked incredulously, "Is your cousin stupid? Why would she say something so misunderstandingable in front of everyone? What's it to you? If she hadn't cursed, things wouldn't have turned out this way."
These days, falling into the water and rescuing people are very normal things. Just because a man and a woman have hugged in the water doesn't mean they have to get married. This era is really not that feudal.
Qiao Hui smiled bitterly, "Perhaps it's because my cousin and I have always been used as a control group since we were little. Although my cousin is prettier than me and is loved by the elders, she is not as talented as me in her studies. In addition, my parents are researchers and cannot accompany and take care of me like normal parents. To compensate me, they are very generous with money and will give me whatever I want..."
It can be said that, apart from her less-than-ideal appearance, Qiao Hui's life has been very good since childhood. She has no worries about food and clothing and has everything she wants.
In contrast, although Qiao Rui was loved by her parents and brothers, she couldn't get whatever she wanted like Qiao Hui. Her family didn't have enough money to buy her things. Even though her uncle and aunt would sometimes prepare something for her, it was always according to Qiao Hui's preferences, not something prepared specifically for her.
This disparity was something she couldn't bear.
Qiao Hui envied her cousin for having parents around and being cute, making it easy for her to win everyone's favor.
Qiao Rui envied her cousin for being good at studying. Her parents were respected scientists who earned more money than her own parents, and her cousin could have whatever she wanted.
Especially since the two sisters lived under the same roof, they were often compared by others.
Jealousy can make people lose their minds.
So when Qiao Rui saw her soon-to-be husband embracing her cousin, whom she envied and was jealous of, she was provoked and broke down. She lost her temper and said those hurtful things in public, ruining the wedding between the two families and bringing unpredictable consequences.
Qiao Hui didn't want to get married because her cousin's words put her in a difficult position. If she didn't get married, she didn't know what kind of rumors would spread.
Her parents felt sorry for her and worried that the rumors would drive her to her death, so they had no choice but to ask the Gao family for a marriage proposal.
And so she married Gao Wenbin.
Unfortunately, the Gao family preferred the likable cousin, not the one whose appearance was too stunning and unappealing.
After marrying into the Gao family, Qiao Hui could sense her in-laws' dislike for her, especially her husband's sisters, who would always make sarcastic remarks to her whenever they returned to their parents' home. However, she was not one to be bullied and would not sit there and let them scold her. She would fight back and even dare to talk back to her in-laws, giving them the cold shoulder...
After a while, life at her husband's family home became increasingly unsettling.
Gu Xi suddenly realized why Qiao Hui had never accompanied the army all these years.
"...We've been married for seven years and still don't have a child. My family keeps urging me to come and join them in the military," Qiao Hui said with a wry smile. "They want us to have a baby soon."
Although life at her husband's family home was always chaotic, at least she didn't have to face her husband. Although it was somewhat self-deceptive, she felt it was quite good.
“Now that we have a child, there’s nothing we can’t overcome,” Qiao Hui continued. “This year, when we go back for the Spring Festival, we also want to take our daughter back to see her grandparents. My parents only have me as their daughter, and they’ve always wanted to meet their granddaughter…”
Unfortunately, the trip back home turned out to be very unpleasant.
The reason is that she only gave birth to a daughter and not a son for Gao Wenbin. Her in-laws inevitably had objections and kept urging her to have another child. They didn't value her daughter much and kept belittling her in their words.
That would have been fine, but then his cousin Qiao Rui gave birth to three sons in quick succession after getting married. The contrast was too stark, and people started bringing up the past again, saying that Gao Wenbin shouldn't have married her...
My in-laws are relatively calm, but my husband's older sisters just can't stand it.
In their view, their younger brother is good enough, so why would he marry a vixen who is unattractive and restless?
Unfortunately, this woman's personality wasn't likable either, and she even only planned to have one daughter...
Qiao Hui is not one to swallow her anger. She can tolerate them talking about themselves, but she can't stand it when they talk about her daughter.
So everyone had a restless New Year, and she regretted going back.
How wonderful it would be to spend the New Year with Gu Xi while I'm at the military base.
Gu Xi glanced at her, noticing her bad mood, and said, "Qiao Hui, science has actually proven that whether a child is a boy or a girl is determined by the man. Even if Chief of Staff Gao had married your cousin back then, he might still have been destined to have a daughter."
Qiao Hui exclaimed "Ah!" and stared blankly at her.
This view is rare. Nowadays, people believe that whether a child is a boy or a girl is determined by the woman's womb, and if a woman cannot give birth to a son, they will blame her.
Qiao Hui certainly wouldn't put pressure on herself to have a son. Since she had decided to have only one daughter, she wouldn't waver. It's just that the people around her were talking about her, which inevitably made her feel annoyed.
"Don't take those things to heart." Gu Xi smiled at her, her voice gentle. "You have to live your own life. Since you can't get along with them, don't go back. Let's keep our distance and avoid seeing each other."
Qiao Hui said, "How could I not see them? After all, they are family..."
"What's the big deal? If you don't like seeing them, then don't. Even if you do meet, treat them like strangers. No matter what they say, just ignore them! As long as Chief of Staff Gao is on your side, that's all that matters... I think Chief of Staff Gao is quite open-minded. He likes Nannan very much, so I believe he doesn't care whether it's a son or a daughter."
Qiao Hui thought of her husband's doting affection for their daughter, and that made sense.
He also agreed to have only one child, which was something we had agreed on beforehand.
Gu Xi glanced at her and asked, "By the way, when you married Chief of Staff Gao, did you two have a proper talk?"
"ah?"
Seeing her confused expression, Gu Xi understood.
People these days are more reserved, especially intellectuals like Qiao Hui, who are even more introverted. It's likely that the couple hasn't had a heart-to-heart talk since they got married, and their problems have probably been sitting there all along.
Gu Xi said, "If you have time, you should have a good talk with Chief of Staff Gao, talk about what happened back then, ask him what he thinks, and if there is any misunderstanding, just speak openly."
She could tell that Qiao Hui still harbored resentment about what happened back then.
At that time, she was unwilling to marry Chief of Staff Gao, but because the rumors were too terrible, she had no choice but to marry him. However, the couple never communicated properly, which led to her being very cold towards her husband, Chief of Staff Gao.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com