"Why are you crying again?" Zhang Fengxia wiped away her tears and said, "Didn't I say I would help you? Look at you, you were just saying how many ups and downs you've been through, and that you know more about life than I do. Why are you acting like a child?"
"Isn't this a happy feeling?" Jiang Xiaoyan breathed a sigh of relief, looked at her and smiled, saying, "I'm fine, you should lie down and rest, you've been exhausted these past two days."
"Are you really alright? You can't lie to me!" Zhang Fengxia looked at her suspiciously.
"It's really nothing. You promised me, and now that there's a solution, why would I be threatening to kill myself?" Jiang Xiaoyan smiled and patted her shoulder, saying, "Get some rest."
Seeing that she was in good condition, Zhang Fengxia felt relieved. After a quick wash, she lay down on the bed next to her. She had intended to secretly close her eyes and see how she was doing, but the past day and two nights had left her exhausted, and she soon fell asleep.
Jiang Xiaoyan lay there not sleeping. She stared quietly at Zhang Fengxia, a sorrowful smile on her face. She was thinking to herself that she had always felt that she was no longer worthy of Lu Feng. Apart from the mundane matters of money and daily necessities, the two of them had hardly had any communication.
She kept convincing herself that once she had a child, he would be her man, and even if one day she grew old and lost her beauty, and he dared to abandon her, the child would have to confront him and demand an explanation.
What can a woman without any real strength rely on?
All I have left are my children.
But all of that vanished in an instant. The pressure from her family, society, and herself destroyed her. Now, Jiang Xiaoyan just wants to find a better stepmother for Duoduo to take over from her.
It was already midnight. She buried her head in the blankets and sobbed, muttering to herself, "I really can't bear to part with you. You're so good to me, and I love you so much..."
Lu Feng returned home, sat in the living room with the TV on, but there were no programs and the screen was filled with static. He had a cigarette in his mouth, unaware that it had burned down to the butt.
"oops!"
Lu Feng cried out in pain as his cigarette burned his finger. He threw the cigarette butt on the ground; he had already smoked half a pack and his throat was practically burning.
But then another one was lit.
The night was so quiet that Lu Feng could even hear the distant barking of dogs, so loud in the still night sky.
His thoughts were pulled back to that dilapidated rented room. Lu Feng felt as if he were standing next to the horizontal plane again, holding two wires in his hands.
A fateful choice!
Lu Feng recalled many things: Jiang Xiaoyan being scolded to tears by Li Dafang, being looked down upon at the factory dinner, and how she would pat Duoduo on the two wooden beds at night to coax her to sleep, her eyes secretly glancing at him, her face turning red with embarrassment.
But all he wanted to do was set up a cannery.
Summers in that little house were really hot; they couldn't even afford a fan, so they used a hand fan instead. But every day when she went back, she was so happy. She would buy some vegetables and meat. She would say that she was extravagant, having meat at every meal, but she had a lot of energy when cooking.
Every day when I went home, I would tell her how much money I had made. Jiang Xiaoyan would look at me with the same kind of admiration she would show for a great hero. But I don’t know when those days started to become less frequent.
Lu Feng became busy, and they saw each other less and less, spending most of their time on the phone. The two of them were like two isolated islands, only able to contact each other briefly through phone calls.
A jumble of memories flooded his mind, blurring the lines between his past and present lives. Lu Feng took a deep drag on his cigarette, coughing as if choked by the smoke.
It was past 3 a.m. when Lu Feng finished a pack of cigarettes. His throat felt burning, so he drank a glass of water and quietly went upstairs to rest. He didn't fall into a deep sleep until it was fully light.
Zhou Ya took Duo Duo to school. The doctor came to check on her in the morning and told Jiang Xiaoyan that she could go home to rest in the afternoon, but she still needed to be careful.
Around 2 PM, Lu Feng woke up, made a call to the factory, and instructed the other vice presidents to take charge of daily operations and Yang Yan to expedite the logistics process. He said he wouldn't be going there for the next couple of days.
Inside the factory, it seemed like things weren't quite right; neither was General Manager Zhang nor General Manager Lu.
However, everyone kept their thoughts to themselves and didn't say anything. In addition, Jiafeng Electronics has been riding high lately, and everything they do goes smoothly, so there are no problems with their daily work.
Around 3 PM, the phone rang. Lu Feng reached for it and asked, "Who is it?"
"Me!" Zhang Fengxia tried to make her voice light and cheerful as she said, "We've had enough fun, we'll be home soon, you can come home for dinner tonight."
"I didn't go to the factory today," Lu Feng said in a hoarse voice.
"What's wrong with your throat?" Jiang Xiaoyan couldn't help but ask with concern, "How did it suddenly get like this?"
"Maybe I ate something wrong, and I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't go. When are you guys coming back? What do you want to eat? I'll cook for you."
"You're in this state, what are you going to cook for me? I'll go back and cook for you," Jiang Xiaoyan said with concern. "Have you taken your medicine? If it's really bad, you should go to the hospital to get it checked out. You're so busy all day long, you can't let this interfere with your work!"
"It's nothing!" Lu Feng couldn't help but say, "It's nothing to me, you... were you having fun?"
"That's great, it's been an eye-opening experience. Let's not talk about this anymore, we'll discuss it when we get back." Jiang Xiaoyan said and hung up the phone.
Zhang Fengxia shook her head helplessly as she looked at her. Even in her condition, she was still worried about Lu Feng's health. She was destined to be a worrier all her life!
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