Hua Zi quickly pulled on the ox reins, bringing the oxcart to a stop.
Hua Zi and Man Hua looked at the newcomer with some curiosity, but still took the initiative to greet him: "Comrade Li Yan."
The deputy secretary of the brigade is here waiting for Ning Yuan so early in the morning?
Li Yan nodded to Hua Zi and Man Hua: "I came to the village on business today, and Comrade Ning Yuan asked me to pass on a message to her."
Manhua looked at Huazi knowingly and said, "Didn't you say you didn't have a bathroom to use when you went out? Let's go."
Hua Zi was stunned. When had he not needed to relieve himself? He pooped when he went out!
Manhua jumped out of the car, twisted the flesh on his arm, and dragged the grimacing Hua Zi into the nearby grove.
Seeing this, Ning Yuan had no choice but to get out of the car, her brow furrowing involuntarily: "Comrade Li Yan, who called my family again?"
Li Yan's hair was still a little damp, which showed that he had arrived quite early, hence the morning dew that had soaked his hair.
I waited at the village entrance early in the morning just to deliver a message to her?
Li Yan looked at Ning Yuan, his feelings somewhat complicated, and asked, "I heard that Rong Zhaonan's ex-fiancée came a few days ago?"
Ning Yuan lowered her eyes and asked coldly, "What does this have to do with my family, Comrade Li Yan?"
Li Yan paused for a moment, then said, "Your mother called twice a few days ago, hoping I could tell you to call her when you have time, either at the brigade or the post office."
Ning Yuan frowned. It seemed that her words of truth on the phone last time, which had given Ning Jinyun a strong dose of medicine, had worked.
She nodded: "Okay, I understand, thank you for telling me."
She paused, then looked up at Li Yan with her big eyes: "I know my aunt tried to set us up, but I'm already married, you know that, right?"
Li Yan looked somewhat dejected: "I know, I just..."
“Comrade Li Yan, you don’t need to do anything for my aunt and my mother anymore. Otherwise, it will easily cause misunderstandings, which is not good for either of us.” Ning Yuan interrupted him, speaking without any room for negotiation.
Now that she has decided to sever ties with her past life, she will no longer do anything that could cause misunderstandings!
Li Yan was stunned and fell silent, feeling an indescribable sense of loss.
"I should go to the county with Sister Manhua to buy things. It's not good to leave too late." Ning Yuan nodded to him one last time with a faint look in her eyes, then turned and walked neatly towards the grove.
Ning Yuan called back Man Hua and Hua Zi, and they got back onto the oxcart.
Seeing that Ning Yuan didn't speak, Man Hua looked at Li Yan and smiled awkwardly, "Then you go ahead with your work, we'll be leaving now."
Li Yan could only nod and watch them leave.
He had mixed feelings. Rong Zhaonan's flamboyant fiancée had come from the capital to the village and caused quite a stir; the whole commune knew about it.
So, having learned that she often goes to the county town to buy things on Sunday mornings, I specially waited for her here, not only to bring her news from home, but also because I had some things I wanted to say.
Ning Yuan didn't want to talk to him, and he understood that she wanted to avoid suspicion.
However, there are some things he simply cannot keep quiet about.
Li Yan clenched his fist, turned around and walked towards the village. He was going to wait for Ning Yuan to come back!
...
On the oxcart
Manhua glanced at her husband, who was humming a song as he drove the carriage, and whispered in Ningyuan's ear—
“Xiaoyuan, although Li Yan is a promising young man and many girls in the commune are interested in him, you are already married. If he keeps looking for you, it will bring you trouble.”
The villagers are all conservative, and there are many gossipy women. She didn't want to see a girl like Ning Yuan get hurt.
Ning Yuan replied softly, "I know, Sister Manhua. Li Yan and I only met a few times back then, but we didn't decide to date."
Manhua was relieved. At this point, meeting a few times to get to know each other meant having conversations in public places, such as when studying or working, to get to know each other better.
but……
Manhua suddenly became very serious and instructed Ning Yuan: "Dr. Rong has resumed his work. You must keep a close eye on him. If he wants to return to the city, you must make him take you with him. Don't believe his nonsense about going back to pick you up!"
She was a sent-down youth from the "Old Three Classes" (referring to the three graduating classes of 1966-1967), and she had seen many male sent-down youths who returned to the city abandoning their wives and children in the countryside.
Ning Yuan's household registration was permanently transferred to the village because of her marriage. Rong Zhaonan was registered under the same household registration. When he resumed his work and moved his household registration back to the capital, he didn't even need Ning Yuan's consent.
Ning Yuan coughed lightly: "Sister Manhua, he probably won't be going back to the city right away. Besides, not everyone is a Chen Shimei. Look at you, you've given up on going back to the city too, haven't you?"
Manhua gave a bitter smile: "Men and women are different. I am a woman. I carried the child for ten months, endured two days of excruciating pain before giving birth, and nursed the child without sleeping at night. I can't bear to part with the child."
She paused, then sighed softly, "Childbirth is very painful and dangerous for women, but men can have a child in one night. It's so easy for them to abandon their child and find another woman to have it."
Mothers are always more soft-hearted than fathers. When it comes to raising children, whoever takes care of them the most, suffers the most, and is the one who is most reluctant to part with them.
Ning Yuan fell silent, recalling a paper published decades later in an authoritative medical journal that confirmed that paternal love is not as easily generated as maternal love due to ten months of pregnancy.
Men can only quickly embrace the role of father by personally participating in childcare, feeding, bathing, putting the child to sleep, and cleaning up after them.
Otherwise, most men just treat their children like extra kittens or puppies in the house. They'll play with them when they're happy, but when they're not, they'll say they're tired from work, lie on the sofa, or squat in the toilet for hours playing on their phones instead of coming out to look after the children.
Ning Yuan could only gently pat Manhua's hand to comfort her: "Fortunately, Brother Hua and the old Party Secretary's family are good people."
A smile finally appeared on Manhua's face: "Well, at least my son listens to me, which is why he was able to come out and sell goods with you to make money this time."
Hua Zi felt that his city wife was a high school graduate, an educated person, and much better than him, a primary school student, so he was willing to listen to her.
Although the mother-in-law still tries to put on airs from time to time, her father-in-law, the old Party Secretary, often reminds her to listen to his wife, who is literate and good at math, when it comes to important matters.
This also makes the mother-in-law less likely to torment her daughter-in-law like other rural mothers-in-law.
The brothers and sisters-in-law have a good relationship and help each other out; they are a harmonious family.
The two chatted and laughed in hushed tones, and arrived at the secondhand market in the county town around nine o'clock.
Hua Zi helped unload the goods and arranged them for the two of them.
They were all kinds of fungus, mushrooms, cured meat, smoked pheasant, smoked rabbit meat, and some wild medicinal herbs that Manhua had specially dug up from the mountains.
There were things like Panax notoginseng, Polygonum multiflorum, and Schisandra chinensis, as well as a few pieces of Ganoderma lucidum that Manhua had picked up before.
Before being sent down to the countryside, Manhua worked in a state-run pharmacy and knew some medicinal herbs. In the past, when the village clinic didn't have enough medicine, she would help to go up the mountain to get some herbs.
"Wife, I'll come pick you up at 4:30 this afternoon!" Hua Zi waved to Man Hua with a simple and honest smile after seeing that he had almost finished unpacking, and then jumped back onto the oxcart and drove off.
With spring approaching, he's also the village's tractor driver, busy hauling fertilizer and pesticides for the village.
Manhua watched her husband leave, then looked around anxiously: "We're really not going to get arrested, are we?"
She was still a little scared.
As Ning Yuan spread out the mountain produce, she said nonchalantly, "No, if someone comes to arrest us, we'll just run away!"
Anyway, in my past life, street vendors dodged city management officers in the same way.
Manhua: "..."
Okay...okay!
The two men each took out a small stool and prepared to set up their stall.
At the same time, several strange figures immediately set their sights on Ning Yuan the moment she appeared in the black market.
As soon as her gaze swept over, several figures blended into the crowd of shoppers.
Ning Yuan glanced in the direction of the person who had been watching her, a cold glint flashing in her dark eyes, but she said nothing.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
