Chapter 93 Jiang Jianhua persuades Fu Yuanshan
Fu Yuanshan glanced out the window, the cigarette butt flickered in the darkness, and he didn't respond.
Jiang Jianhua sighed and put the soles he had just made into the basket. "I know you still have that thought in your heart, but who is Fu Yucheng? And what is Yinyin's personality? You'd better give up this idea as soon as possible."
Fu Yuanshan tightened his grip on the pipe, and sparks fell on his trouser legs, but he was completely unaware: "I didn't mean anything else."
"No other meaning?" Jiang Jianhua sneered, "Fu Yuanshan, do you think I'm blind or stupid?"
His hand trembled violently, and cigarette ash fell onto the mattress. "What do you want?"
"I want to live a good life." Jiang Jianhua's voice became heavy. "If Yun Tangyin hadn't let me go, I would have been kicked out by now."
Fu Yuanshan's Adam's apple rolled and he moved inward, his back against the cold wall.
"I know you think I'm clumsy and stupid, unlike Yinyin who is well-read and pretty." Jiang Jianhua's voice trembled a little. "But you know how I, Jiang Jianhua, have treated you over the years I've been married to you."
He closed his eyes and dug his nails into his palms.
"Do you remember when we first got married, you carved a wooden comb for me under the oil lamp?" Jiang Jianhua suddenly smiled, wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes. "You said you'd give me some silver when life got better. Now that life is better, you don't care about me anymore."
Fu Yuanshan suddenly opened his eyes, and the shadow of the wooden comb swayed in front of him. The peach wood comb with missing teeth was still lying in Jiang Jianhua's dressing box.
"Yinyin is nice, but she's Fu Yucheng's wife." Jiang Jianhua glanced towards the kitchen, where the light was still on and Yun Tangyin's laughter could be heard faintly. "Even if you snatch her away, what's the use? Will the Fu family tolerate you? By then, both you and I will be kicked out."
He grabbed the cigarette box on the table, his hands shaking so badly that the tobacco spilled all over the table.
"The other day, when I went to the supply and marketing cooperative, I heard Mrs. Wang gossiping with others, saying that you're a playboy and that the way you look at your sister-in-law is wrong." Jiang Jianhua's voice was hoarse. "If these words get to Fu Yucheng's ears, do you think he will give you the cold shoulder like he did last time?"
Fu Yuanshan recalled the look in Fu Yucheng's eyes when he handed him the candy bag. The icy chips beneath that smile could make a person bleed.
"I..." He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Jiang Jianhua.
"You don't need to explain." She added some wood to the stove, the flames making her face look yellow. "I'm giving you one last chance. Either you give up that thought and live a good life with me. When spring comes, I'll give you a baby. Or you pack up and get out now, and I'll just treat you like a dog."
Fu Yuanshan stared at the jumping flames in the stove without saying a word.
"Do you think Yinyin really has feelings for you?" Jiang Jianhua's voice turned cold. "She respects you as her second brother and is giving you face."
He clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white.
"I know you're feeling miserable and feel wronged by marrying me." Jiang Jianhua pushed the oil lamp in front of him. "But there aren't so many things that go as planned in this world. Fu Yuanshan, we're already this old now. I've figured it out. I can't afford to go through so much trouble anymore."
Fu Yuanshan picked up the cigarette but didn't light it.
"I'll go to town tomorrow and buy you some cloth to make a coat." Jiang Jianhua stood up and spread the quilt. "Didn't you always want a new coat for work?"
He said nothing and moved to the end of the bed to make room for her.
"It's cold at night, so cover yourself with something thicker." Jiang Jianhua pushed the thick mattress towards him, wrapped himself in a thin blanket and lay down with his back to him.
The oil lamp cast two shadows on the window paper, one sitting stiffly, the other lying straight, like two stones separated by a thousand miles.
In the second half of the night, Fu Yuanshan heard Jiang Jianhua tossing and turning, mumbling something, as if he was talking in his sleep.
He leaned over to listen, and heard, "Don't grab it...that's mine..."
He suddenly remembered that during the day on the mountain, when Jiang Jianhua helped him untie the corner of his clothes, a jujube leaf got stuck in his hair.
He didn't dare touch it at that time, but now the shadow of the leaf burned his heart like a branding iron.
When it was almost dawn, Fu Yuanshan quietly got up and walked towards the kitchen.
Jiang Jianhua's shoes were placed at the doorstep. There was a hole in the sole. He picked up the needle and thread and clumsily sewed them up.
The morning light shone through the window lattice and fell on the back of his hand.
Those hands used to do clerical work in the art troupe, but now they were holding an embroidery needle, and the stitches were crooked.
Jiang Jianhua lay in the inner room with his eyes open, listening to the noise outside, tears silently flowing into his pillow.
Fu Yuanshan put his shoes back to their original place and glanced at Fu Yucheng's window. There was no movement over there.
He took a deep breath, grabbed the sickle from the corner and walked towards the woodshed.
The whetstone was damp from the dew. He squatted down, and the rustling sound of the grinding wheel rubbing against the blade was particularly clear in the silence of the early morning.
Jiang Jianhua heard the noise in the inner room, quietly got up and looked through the crack in the door.
In the morning light, Fu Yuanshan's profile was tense, his handsome face looked very calm, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the hilt of the knife were throbbing, which made him look more worldly than when he was copying music scores in the art troupe.
With a "click", the blade hit the stone and a gap was left.
Fu Yuanshan cursed, threw the sickle to the ground, turned around and walked out of the yard.
As soon as he reached the door, he saw Yun Tangyin coming out with a wooden basin to pour water. He was stunned when he saw him and said, "Good morning, second brother."
His Adam's apple rolled and he squeezed out a "hmm" from his throat, but his steps paused.
Yun Tangyin's trouser legs were rolled up to her knees, and her exposed calves were covered with several red mosquito bites. Fu Yuanshan glanced at her and then looked away.
"Want to go chop wood?" Yun Tangyin smiled and moved to the side. "There are some newly fallen branches by the jujube forest on the back mountain. They're easy to chop."
Fu Yuanshan didn't respond and walked out silently, but when he turned around, he ran into Jiang Jianhua.
She was clutching a pale blue cloth jacket in her hand, and when she saw him, she hurriedly hid it behind her back: "I...I'm hanging out the clothes to dry."
His eyes fell on her feet. The toes of her shoes were stained with grass juice. They were the same pair he had mended in the early morning.
My throat suddenly tightened, and I said without thinking, "Don't wait for me for breakfast," and walked up the mountain with big strides.
Jiang Jianhua stood there, clutching his jacket, his fingertips rubbing the frayed edges of his cuffs. They were scratched by thorns when he went into the mountains to look for a lost flock of sheep last winter.
At that time, she cried and scolded him for being stupid, but she sat under the oil lamp sewing for half the night, and she was reluctant to throw away the jacket.
Yun Tangyin came over to help her hang her coat on the line and said softly, "Second sister-in-law, Second brother..."
"It's okay." Jiang Jianhua curled his lips. "He just has a bad temper. He'll be fine after a while."
Having said that, my eyes still welled up as I watched Fu Yuanshan's back disappear around the corner of the mountain road.
When the sun climbed halfway up the mountain, Fu Yuanshan came back carrying half a bundle of firewood. When he passed by the supply and marketing cooperative, he turned in as if possessed by a ghost.
Sister Wang behind the counter greeted with a smile: "Brother Yuanshan, what would you like to order?"
He stared at the snacks in the glass case for a long time, his Adam's apple moving: "Give me some...that."
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