Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Let’s form a family

There was a sound of water coming from the kitchen, and Shi Xiangming withdrew his gaze.

A bunch of wild flowers was stuck in the half-broken pickle bed by the window, and there seemed to be drops of water on the petals that were about to fall.

The ink bottle on the desk has been half used up. Even in the city, not every student can afford it.

You can imagine how much effort Wang Heping and his wife put in to get a fountain pen ticket.

The house is simply furnished, but the family's love for Wang Nian can be seen everywhere.

Soon, Wang Nian walked into the room carrying a basin of hot water.

"Wipe your sweat first. I'll go heat up the food."

Since Wang Nian didn't come, Shi Xiangming didn't move, and the food had gone cold in ten minutes.

"I'll go light the fire." Shi Xiangming quickly collected his thoughts and covered the lunch box again: "You've been tired for a long time, sit down and rest for a while."

"Then let's go together."

When Wang Nian first saw Shi Xiangming, she found that he was handsome and had long legs. When she saw him again, she found that he was not a male chauvinist and was not the type who would wait for food to be delivered to his mouth.

However...it is possible that he is now in a stage where he is eager to show off.

But after spending some time with him, Wang Nian discovered that his meticulousness was engraved in his heart, and he had a very clear distinction between himself and outsiders, and he could tell where the boundary was just by looking at certain small movements.

After the food was heated up, Shi Xiangming first opened the lid of the lunch box, then handed the chopsticks to her before he started to prepare his own meal.

"I see that all the lesbians in the city wear blouses." After taking two bites, Shi Xiangming remembered the main purpose of this trip and quickly stood up to pick up his briefcase in the corner.

The gifts for the elders were carried in a net bag, while the gifts for Wang Nian were placed separately in the bag.

The kraft paper was wrapped in a square shape, but a small piece of light blue was visible in the gap in the middle.

After handing the paper package to Wang Nian, Shi Xiangming took out a pair of black leather shoes with buckles from the package. The buckles had a metallic luster and they looked not cheap at all.

"I don't know if these shoes will fit you. If they don't, I'll buy you new ones next time."

The first time Shi Xiangming saw the leather shoes, he thought of Wang Nian’s pair of Liberation shoes, the edges of which were painted with gray lines.

In order to buy clothes and shoes, I even went to the tractor factory leader to exchange them for a pair of leather shoes. After several days of twists and turns, I finally got the pair of leather shoes.

Wang Nian took it, took off his cloth shoes and tried it on.

Shi Xiangming squatted down at this time and pressed the top of the leather shoe with his thumb: "Shoes that don't hit your feet are comfortable to wear. I saw that the big toe of your rubber shoes was a little deformed that day, so I specially picked a style with a larger toe."

Wang Nian: “…”

Once again, she was moved by Shi Xiangming's attentiveness. She saw him pinching his shoes left and right again, and finally stood up with satisfaction.

"After dinner, I'll help you modify the cart so it won't be so hard to push..."

From this point on, the two of them started chatting while eating. They didn't talk about their interests or hobbies, but rather some trivial family matters.

Shi Xiangming did not specifically mention his job, but only occasionally mentioned the nature of his work.

Halfway through college, he became part of the first batch of students to study mechanical engineering abroad under the arrangement of the state. Later, due to the suspension of domestic universities, he stopped his studies and returned home.

After returning to China, I immediately joined the Academy of Engineering as a researcher. During those turbulent years, I had more time to concentrate on research and study.

As for what happened later, Jiang Xiangbei had heard about it to some extent from Huang Qiuhong and Wu Ying.

There were changes in the marriage, so he filed for divorce, and then he was transferred to Factory 431 for support.

After Wang Nian finished his meal, Shi Xiangming took the rice bowl to the kitchen, washed it, and then returned to the room and sat down at the desk again.

"I have something to tell you about my first marriage..."

Seeing Shi Xiangming's serious expression, Wang Nian quickly put down his pen and listened quietly to what he had to say.

As Shi Xiangming slowly spoke, shock gradually crept up Wang Nian's cheeks, and in the end he even exclaimed twice in a loss of composure.

I really don't know how to describe the twists and turns in this story.

Shi Xiangming's first wife was Jiang Feng, whom Grandpa Shi had married without telling him when he was still alive.

After returning home, Shi Xiangming originally wanted to tear up the marriage certificate and send the woman back to her parents' home, as if this marriage had never happened.

But Jiang Feng threatened to commit suicide, saying that she would hang herself at the door of Shi's house as soon as she left the house. Her parents also advised her to accept the marriage since their fingerprints had already been pressed on the marriage certificate.

Shi Xiangming finally accepted his fate and decided to continue living like this with Jiang Feng. Afterwards, the two returned to the city and lived in the house allocated by the Engineering Academy.

Jiang Feng was a girl who grew up in a feudal family. She was introverted and taciturn, and basically regarded her husband as everything in her life.

After his eldest son Shi Shuwen was born, Shi Xiangming's work became increasingly busy.

During this period, I went on a business trip for a provincial and municipal joint project. It took me a year and a half to return to the city from the mountains.

"The first thing I saw when I pushed the door open was that Jiang Feng was... pregnant."

The first scream came from here. Wang Nian looked around cautiously, enduring his eyelids that were about to cramp from blinking.

He had been away for a year and a half, and his wife was eight months pregnant, but no matter how he calculated, the child could not be born to Shi Xiangming.

There is no doubt that the second daughter Huang Qiuhong mentioned is not Shi Xiangming's biological daughter.

Jiang Feng had an affair with someone. Her lover was a boiler worker at the Academy of Engineering. It was obvious whose child was.

The second exclamation comes from the even more shocking development in the next sentence.

Jiang Feng begged for forgiveness in vain, and even went to the workplace to make a scene, which led many colleagues who were unaware of the situation to believe that Shi Xiangming was the one who abandoned his wife and children.

The matter was not resolved yet, but Jiang Feng's lover was arrested first, on charges of reselling steel used in the experiments of the Academy of Engineering.

The Public Security Bureau followed the clues and finally found Jiang Fengtou.

Jiang Feng was uneducated and didn't know what was confidential or not. Under the coaxing of her lover, she secretly gave the laboratory key to her lover to copy while Shi Xiangming was busy.

Jiang Feng gave birth to a daughter in the labor camp. The Public Security Bureau could not find anyone to take care of the child, so they had no choice but to contact Shi Xiangming's leader.

Finally...Shi Xiangming took the child home.

"Jiang Feng begged me again and again to find a good place for the child, and to not let the child fall into the hands of Jiang's family, otherwise he would definitely lose his life."

Shi Xiangming also found several places for the child to go, but he didn't know if the child was born to be with him, but in the end it didn't work out for various reasons.

"You know, if I don't take over, the child will have to be sent to an orphanage and wait to be assigned to another province. I... can't bear to do that."

Wang Nian understood and nodded.

The orphanage today is very different from that in the previous life. The children in the orphanage also need to be assigned for adoption. If they are unlucky and are assigned to a remote and poor place, their fate is doomed to be bumpy.

"The child will be named Shi Wan. My mother will help take care of both children. When the factory allocates housing..." Shi Xiangming glanced at Wang Nian and continued, "I plan to bring both children here."

How could she hide the fact that Shi Wan was not her biological daughter from her family? Some relatives gossiped about her and said a lot of unpleasant things to the child.

As a result, the personalities of the two children were seriously affected. In her letter, Shi's mother also hoped that Shi Xiangming could take the children away and away from that place of trouble as soon as possible.

The eldest brother, Shi Shuwen, would start fighting whenever he heard someone say his younger sister was a bastard, and he often had bruises on his face and body.

My younger sister Shi Wan was introverted and self-deprecating, and was often frightened by the children in the alley and started crying.

"My parents were also afraid that people would gossip about them, which would affect my eldest brother's family."

Wang Nian tilted his head slightly to look at Shi Xiangming, who had no extra expression on his face, but he seemed to see bitterness on his face.

The past that Shi Xiangming talked about was filled with the helplessness and loneliness of leaving home to study at a young age and going abroad alone.

After the marriage was arranged by grandpa, parents cut off ties with him, but then turned around and advised Shi Xiangming to just get along!

The reason turned out to be that he was worried that his elder brother would be criticized by others in the unit.

After that, they got married and had children without their parents' presence. Until Shi Xiangming came to work at Factory 431, the two children were actually taken care of by a nanny.

Shi Xiangming has been working at the factory for two and a half years, and his family has written to him many times urging him to take the children away.

There was not a word to blame his parents, but between the lines there was the helplessness of having to move forward alone.

"Raising one is fine, and raising two is the same." Wang Nian gently covered the slightly pale hand beside him and applied a little force: "Can the two of us raise two children?"

"You don't have to do anything." Shi Xiangming turned his hand over and held it tightly: "I can support the three of you."

"I trust you."

At this moment, the two of them don't need to make any more promises.

Although Wang Nian didn't know at the moment that it would not be a problem to support a few more children with that salary, she just believed that this person could do what he said.

As for Shi Xiangming...he was very excited because he was about to have a complete family!

***

After their last long conversation, their relationship progressed rapidly in the next two months.

Shi Xiangming has been busy with two things recently.

First, the factory has accepted the housing application report and we can move in as soon as the new family building is completed.

The second thing, of course, was to frequently go to the Red Flag Brigade to discuss the specific details of the marriage with Wang Heping and his wife.

The marriage application has been approved, and they just need to find a suitable time to go to the county town to take photos and get the marriage certificate, and then they will become an official couple.

Before that, of course, there are a series of trivial matters such as betrothal gifts and dowries, including whether to hold the wedding banquet and how to hold it, which also need to be discussed.

After all, supplies were scarce and hosting a banquet would cost a lot of money, so most people in the commune would choose to spend the money on themselves.

Wang Nian had no opinion on whether to hold the banquet or not.

After discussion, Shi Xiangming and Wang Heping and his wife decided not to hold a big event, but just invite friends and relatives for a meal to liven up the party.

However, Shi Xiangming made good preparations for the betrothal gift. Although he did not understand much, under Huang Qiuhong's guidance, he prepared everything, including the three major items and the thirty-six legs. He also privately prepared two hundred yuan as a red envelope for Wang Heping and his wife.

When Wang Nian found out about this, Wu Ying was already giving the red envelope to Wang Nian as his own pocket money.

"aunt."

It would be a lie to say that he was not moved. Wang Nian choked up while holding the twenty big reunion photos.

Thanks to grandpa and aunt for raising her, Shi Xiangming thought of her.

The grandfather and the grandmother took this gratitude as care and put it into Wang Nian's pocket.

"I still remember when you came to my house you were still a little kid who couldn't even walk steadily."

Wang Nian had just returned from the pigsty, his face still stained with grass debris from cutting grass for pigs. Wu Ying gently brushed it away, and her eyes gradually turned red.

In the past, I was always worried that I would fail to live up to the instructions my brother and sister-in-law left before they passed away, and that I would not be able to find a good husband for my child.

Now as the wedding day approaches, all I feel is reluctance.