Ning Yuan didn't wake up the next day as he expected. Instead, she slept for two whole days and was only woken up by the urge to urinate on the morning of the third day.
She clutched her aching and dizzy head, trying to sit up, but fell back down again.
"Oh my, you little rascal, you're finally awake!" came Grandma Xia's familiar voice from beside her.
Ning Yuan struggled to open her swollen eyelids, looked at Grandma Xia, and said weakly, "Grandma... am I sick?"
"It's not an illness, but it's pretty much it." Granny Xia took her pulse, her brow furrowed, and called out, "Old man, bring the medicine."
They kept the medicine warm on a small stove for the little girl.
Upon hearing this, Ning Yuan muttered, "I need to go to the toilet..."
Seeing her like that, Grandma Xia could only help her to the bathroom, saying, "Be careful."
This girl's hangover is too severe, or rather, it's more like a side effect of alcohol poisoning.
Ning Yuan went to the bathroom and came back to drink the medicine prescribed by Grandma Xia.
She followed her instructions, drank a lot of warm water, and lay on the bed for a long time before she regained some energy.
Ning Yuan sat under the persimmon tree, drinking the nourishing porridge that Old Tang had cooked for her. Looking at Ah Bai's bandaged wound, she was in a bad mood: "Have Zheng Baoguo and the others been caught?"
"They've been caught. I heard he and his fiancée have been in prison for at least fifteen years. If they're being targeted as role models, they might even be executed." Grandma Xia said with a look of satisfaction.
Then she remembered something and couldn't help but curse: "And that female classmate of yours, Li Fang, you kindly took her home, and she actually tried to scheme against you to please a scumbag who dumped her. She'll go to jail too."
Ning Yuan paused for a moment, then held the bowl of porridge and said, "I heard about a case from another province. There was a pregnant woman who wasn't a virgin when she married her husband. He always beat and scolded her, complaining that she was 'second-hand goods.'"
"The pregnant woman decided to find her husband a virgin to pay off her debt, so she pretended to fall on the students' way home from school."
“A kind 17-year-old high school girl who was passing by helped her home, and then she tricked the girl into drinking milk laced with sleeping pills, which led to her husband raping and murdering the girl.”
This is a very sensational true case that happened decades later. Her classmate Li Fang, like the pregnant woman, was a foolish and vicious person.
She used to watch crime dramas and knew that rape and murder, as well as acid attacks and disfigurement, meant something in criminal psychology—
Some men believe this represents their eternal control and possession of a pure girl's life and destiny.
Grandma Xia was stunned, a chill running down her spine: "It seems that when a lone woman encounters someone asking for help, she should call the police if possible, really..."
She muttered to herself, "How could there be such terrible malice in this world? After Lin Juanzi woke up, she even told the police that she hated you and that she would curse you to go to hell even after she died."
How could a quarrel between teenage girls in their early twenties escalate to such a malicious and irreconcilable point?
Ning Yuan closed her eyes briefly: "It was my fault for not being careful enough."
The problem isn't scarcity but inequality; malice stems from psychological imbalance and is irrational.
Right now, this is just pure malice stemming from jealousy. But in the future, when she wants to do so many things, learning self-defense will be imperative.
Speaking of self-defense techniques...
Ning Yuan hesitated for a moment: "Rong Zhaonan...has he left?"
She was suffering from alcohol poisoning and had many memory lapses, but she still remembered that he found her in the garbage dump and saved her.
"Nan has left. We don't know where he went. He only said he would send us letters and that we would see each other again in the future." Grandma Xia sighed and looked at her with some worry.
"I... originally wanted to thank him in person." Ning Yuan fell silent. It would be quite difficult for her to find him, but it would be very easy for him to find her.
So, has he thought it through and decided to give up completely?
I had originally intended to sit down and talk to him again, but it seems... there's no need.
He never said it, but she still believed that besides a sense of responsibility, he might also have some feelings for her...
But we're all smart people; no one can't live without the other, and the sun will still rise from the east.
Ning Yuan really wanted to smile, but she knew that at this moment, her smile would be very forced.
She pursed her lips, a mist rising in her eyes: "Grandma... I thought I was very carefree... but I'm still sad because he's gone. Am I useless?"
In her past life, after exhausting herself with all the housework and waiting for her husband to come home from his mistress, she spent her days reading books and using various social media platforms.
At that time, she really envied the freedom and self-assurance of those highly educated young women in the new era on Weibo and Xiaohongshu after seeing the world.
They gradually break free from traditional constraints. They have seen more, are highly educated, and their broadened horizons make them more clear-headed in relationships. Even when they crave love, they understand that loving others means loving themselves first.
Therefore, she has always had a very clear plan for her life.
She wanted to study hard and build a good career like them, and she no longer wanted to deal with messy mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships, let alone swallow her anger and try to get along with her husband, and endure his bad temper and habits.
She doesn't want to worry about her husband cheating, but divorce is difficult, and she worries about illegitimate children taking away her children's property.
Yes, in a few decades, there will be a cooling-off period for divorce, and illegitimate children will be allowed to inherit property.
Love is wonderful, but career and money are the only things that will never betray you.
If she meets a man she really likes, she wouldn't rule out a relationship that doesn't work out. If she has a child, wouldn't she be able to afford a nanny, a childcare worker, or a part-time helper?
Therefore, she never expected anything from Rong Zhaonan at first.
But when he suddenly forced her to become his wife, she finally began to consider finding a balance between his life plans and her own.
The reason is...
She... might like him more than she thought.
"Did I do something wrong? Should I have told him my thoughts so early?" Ning Yuan asked, her eyes red.
Grandma Xia looked at the girl in front of her, who was unusually vulnerable and at a loss due to her illness.
She reached out and pulled Ning Yuan into her arms with a tender feeling.
"Silly girl, you did nothing wrong. The bottom line and life plan of two people should be clearly stated before deciding to be together for life."
The person who loves you will love you for who you are, not for the fake or tamed version of you.
Grandma Xia gently stroked her back: "If he only likes your sweet pretense, the day you can't keep up the act will be the day your conflicts erupt and you get divorced."
Ning Yuan leaned against the old woman, closed her eyes wearily and helplessly: "Yes... we came together because we didn't understand each other, and we separated because we understood each other."
Why is the divorce rate approaching 50% decades later?
It's because too many men and women want to show their best side to their lovers.
Driven by hormones, they got married, and then... neither of them needed to, nor could, keep up the pretense.
You start to find it hard to tolerate the things you don't like about the other person, and you get angry that they can't meet your expectations.
Men are often seen as cowardly, selfish, mama's boys, and unwilling to help others. Few men are capable of taking care of children, doing housework, or earning a few thousand yuan while living like lords at home.
A woman's nagging, her obsession with supporting her brother, her lack of ambition, her suspicion, her harshness, and her inability to earn money while forcing her husband to do so...
In the end, one party might cheat or solicit prostitutes, and everyone harbors their own hidden, numb secrets.
Among the masses, she was just one of those ordinary women, nothing special.
The only special thing is that she can start all over again.
Ning Yuan looked at the blue sky in the distance and took a deep breath: "Grandma, I really envy you and Grandpa Tang. You have such a long-lasting love and mutual support. It's something that's hard to come by."
Yes, she was selfish, but she was not wrong.
Marriage should be a diplomatic exercise between two countries that seeks common ground while reserving differences. From the very beginning, each party should draw its own bottom line and accept it before getting together.
They shouldn't pretend to be patient and endure it. After years or even decades, neither of them can tolerate the other anymore, and they become a resentful couple. If Rong Zhaonan doesn't accept it, she should accept that he has given up on her.
Grandma Xia patted her back and smiled faintly: "Your Grandpa Tang and I haven't always had smooth sailing either. Let's cheer ourselves up and set off in a few days."
Ning Yuan looked up at the dappled afternoon sunlight filtering through the persimmon tree leaves and said softly, "Okay!"
She closed her eyes, basking in the comfort of the sunlight.
Yes, the river of time flows ever onward, and yesterday cannot be retained.
She allowed herself to wallow in sadness for no more than half a month.
She touched her legs and saw bluish-purple finger marks between her slender legs under her skirt, plus the traces of undried liquid she had seen on her legs when she went to the bathroom that morning.
Hmm...
Damn it, Rong Zhaonan is a dog!
She was still sick, and that heartless bastard took advantage of her and ran away!
He better never appear in front of her again in his life, or she'll kick him to death!
...
In the blink of an eye, summer has passed and autumn has arrived. The osmanthus blossoms in Shanghai are fragrant in October, and National Day is just around the corner.
A sea of red flags fluttered along the Bund!
Universities across Shanghai are preparing and rehearsing programs to celebrate National Day.
Fudan University campus, girls' dormitory, room 314 of the Department of Economics and Management
"Ning Yuan, do you think this dress makes me look particularly ugly?" A clear, distinct Beijing accent rang out with obvious disdain.
A tall, slender northern girl with shoulder-length short hair, wearing a knee-length red dress, asked a petite girl hanging clothes to dry in the hallway by the door.
A soft, gentle female voice rang out from the top bunk by the window in the dormitory—
"I think that with your size, nothing looks good on you!"
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