Chapter 23

Xu Wen suffered from these problems for a week.

Even on Monday, she was tempted to rush home.

In fact, Xu Wen had borrowed the bicycle and got the leave note, but she hesitated again when leaving the school.

It is easy to break off an engagement.

Given Lu Yuanzheng's character, he would definitely not make things difficult for her.

If Xu Wen found an excuse that he learned about the college entrance examination news by accident, his family would not blame him.

But what happens after the engagement is broken off?

Even if Xu Wen could successfully get into university, it would only be herself who would escape from the poor Wei Village.

Even though there was no tuition fee for going to college, the Xu family still faced the same dilemma.

When she comes back during the winter and summer vacations, the family of seven will still have to sleep on one kang. No, eight people will have to sleep on one kang.

Before she graduated, her family was still so poor that they could barely make ends meet.

Although the land contracting to households started in 1979, the reform was not completed until 1983. For a remote and small place like Wei Zhuang, the reform would not have been implemented until 1982 at the earliest, right?

And Dongsheng.

If she refuses to be Dongsheng's mother, Dongsheng will definitely be very sad.

Dongsheng is a particularly sensible child. He has been very good at observing people's expressions and trying to please others since he was over three years old.

It seems very attractive, but if you think about it carefully, these flattering behaviors are just self-protection of insecure children.

Lu Yuanzheng said that Dongsheng had never called other lesbians "mom" before.

In the past, a sister-in-law in the compound teased Dongsheng and asked him to acknowledge her as his mother, but Dongsheng refused to open his mouth and kept saying that the sister-in-law was not his mother.

No matter how he told Dongsheng that Xu Wen was not his mother, Dongsheng still insisted that Xu Wen was his mother and always said that Xu Wen smelled like his mother.

Xu Wen feels sorry for Dongsheng and also likes him. She is already mentally prepared to have multiple sons. When it comes to making a decision, she is actually a little reluctant.

Most importantly, Xu Wen found that even if there were sufficient reasons to break off the engagement, even if she didn't need to sell her own marriage in exchange for Lu Yuanzheng, she was still a little hesitant.

Even if you ask this rationally, you still can't figure out the reason for hesitation.

So she gave up and rushed back, deciding to think it over before making a decision.

I was thinking about this until Saturday after school.

As soon as Xu Wen walked out of the school gate, he saw Lu Yuanzheng waiting for him on the roadside. The depression that had been weighing on his heart for a week inexplicably dissipated a lot the moment he saw him.

The bicycle was parked on the side of the road. Lu Yuanzheng leaned on the bicycle, with one leg bent backwards, his eyes pinched with his fingertips, his head half lowered, and his eyes occasionally glanced over here.

Seeing Xu Wen from a distance, he put out the cigarette with his fingertips and waved at her with a smile. His forearms were smooth and the steel watchband on his wrist was slightly reflective in the sunlight.

When Xu Wen came up to him, Lu Yuanzheng looked her up and down. She was wearing the white short-sleeved shirt and skirt that he bought for her. He praised her, "Very beautiful!"

I don't know whether to praise the person or the clothes.

Xu Wen snorted: "Comrade Lu often buys clothes for lesbians, right? He is quite good at choosing. Not only are they beautiful, but they are also suitable."

"It's so unfair! This is the first time in my life." Lu Yuanzheng shook his head. He had only measured her waist with his own hands. He lowered his head to look at Xu Wen's waist and frowned: "You've lost weight. Your face looks a little haggard. Did you not get enough rest or are you tired from work?"

Xu Wen shook his head, "It's a bit bitter in summer."

Lu Yuanzheng glanced at her without saying anything. He held the handlebars and used his feet to push the bike open. He patted the back seat and said, "Get in the car. I'll take you to buy clothes. Don't I still owe you two sets of clothes?"

Xu Wen shook his head. "Can we go home first? I'm a little tired and don't want to go shopping."

Hearing this, Lu Yuanzheng turned around, looked at her deeply, nodded and said nothing.

Xu Wen sat sideways in the back seat, holding Lu Yuanzheng's waist.

The two of them were in silence.

When they were almost at the commune, Xu Wen finally spoke up: "It's a long journey."

"Um."

"If... I mean if, I regret the marriage now, would you agree?"

Lu Yuanzheng was silent for a long time before he spoke, and only asked, "Have you made up your mind?"

Xu asked: "..."

Although she thought Lu Yuanzheng would not blame her, she did not expect him to be so calm.

It was so calm that I was about to cancel the engagement.

Xu Wen felt inexplicably unhappy.

It's like a girlfriend asking her boyfriend: "If I break up with you, will you agree?"

The boyfriend said, "Okay, then you should take care of yourself in the future."

It's like I've been waiting for this sentence all the time.

"What do you mean?" Xu Wen tried to lean over from the side to see Lu Yuanzheng's expression.

Lu Yuanzheng still looked forward, raised his hand to hold Xu Wen's head and gently pushed back: "Sit tight, don't fall down." After a pause, he replied to Xu Wen, "What I mean is, if you have decided, then I will go and cancel the wedding."

All relatives and friends have been notified. If the event is to be cancelled, they will have to be notified one by one.

His vacation time is getting shorter and shorter.

Xu Wen has always been a very rational person. In fact, in her previous life, her classmates even gave her the nickname "the most sober person in the world".

But at this moment Xu Wen felt that he was more rational than Lu Yuanzheng, and the difference was probably the difference between silver and king.

For a moment, Xu Wen didn't know whether he should be glad that Lu Yuanzheng was so easy to talk to, or be angry that he was so indifferent.

Xu Wen felt increasingly frustrated and asked him, "Do you really not care? You don't seem surprised at all."

Lu Yuanzheng shook his head: "I do care. When I saw you for the first time, I noticed that you were hesitant. Although I don't know why you want to break off the engagement, if you really have made up your mind, I respect your choice. So, have you made up your mind?"

Xu Wen hasn’t thought it through yet.

My heart became even more confused.

Because of his casual words, I felt inexplicably sad.

"If I really break off the engagement, will you be sad?"

Lu Yuanzheng replied: "It doesn't matter. Sometimes sadness can't change anything."

For example, because he will be sad, the war will not be avoided, and because he is sad, his comrades will not be sacrificed.

Similarly, he didn't think that if Xu Wen really wanted to cancel the engagement, she wouldn't do so just because he was sad.

So he would rather handle things properly before getting sad.

“Very important.”

Lu Yuanzheng seemed stunned for a moment, then said softly, "A little bit."

Xu Wen knew that when he said "a little", he didn't really mean it, it was just a restrained expression.

"Give me another day to think about it, and I'll tell you when I'm ready. Also, thank you for being so tolerant of me."

When Xu Wen arrived home, he found that there was another table full of sumptuous food.

Xu asked: "..."

She knew that this meal was not for her, so she gave him the snacks she had brought for Xu Qie and ran to wash her hands.

Zhu Meizhen stood up and looked out the door, then asked Xu Wen, "You came back by yourself? Where's Xiao Zheng?"

"He had something to do, so he went back first." Xu Wen lied without changing his expression.

In fact, Lu Yuanzheng felt that she was upset and it was not appropriate for him to visit her again.

"This kid! What's the hurry? He's already at the doorstep and hasn't even come in to have a meal." Zhu Meizhen walked back to the table a little disappointed.

She specially prepared a table full of dishes!

Xu Wen, on the other hand, looked at Xu Wen suspiciously and asked tentatively, "Did you have a fight with Lu Yuanzheng?"

"No." Xu Wen denied that it was indeed not a quarrel.

"We didn't quarrel. With Lu Yuanzheng's personality, he wouldn't do anything like passing by his father-in-law's house and not even entering!"

Xu asked: "..."

You are really my brother.

Xu Wen had no appetite. He ate a few mouthfuls of rice in a hurry and ran back to the inner room under the pretext of taking a nap.

After a while, Zhu Meizhen chased into the house, sat on the kang, touched Xu Wen's head, and said, "Wen Wen, have you encountered any difficulties?"

Xu Wen's eyes suddenly became sore and he choked up and called out "Mom".

"Silly girl, I gave birth to you and I didn't know you? As soon as you came back, I noticed something was wrong with you. What happened? Did you really have a fight with Xiao Zheng?"

Xu Wen shook his head, raised his hand to wipe his eyes, sat up, crossed his legs and asked Zhu Meizhen: "Mom, what did Lu Yuanzheng say to you and my dad that day? Tell me, okay?"

Zhu Meizhen sighed softly, took Xu Wen's hand, and patted the back of her hand gently: "There's nothing you can't say, but I'm a little embarrassed... Your father and I feel we owe you. That day..."

That evening, when Lu Yuanzheng just walked in, Xu Qiushi and Zhu Meizhen were a little unhappy, thinking that Lu Yuanzheng was a little rude.

He came to the house with a matchmaker in the morning, and came by himself in the afternoon without even bringing the matchmaker. If this gets out, I'm not sure how he'll be able to find a partner in the future.

In view of Lu Yuanzheng's profession, Xu Qiushi and Zhu Meizhen didn't want to chase him away directly. They asked Lu Yuanzheng to sit down with cold faces and didn't even pour him a cup of tea.

Lu Yuanzheng was not here for tea. The first thing he said was, "Uncle, aunt, I came here by myself this time because I want to talk to you about Xu Wen. Do you know that Xu Wen suffers from insomnia? He can't sleep for nights."

Xu Qiushi and Zhu Meizhen looked at each other and shook their heads in confusion; neither of them knew about this.

Lu Yuanzheng told Xu Wen everything about how he met him.

Xu Qiushi stood up suddenly, clenched his fists and prepared to set off on his journey.

Lu Yuanzheng had a calm face and did not evade or evade.

Xu Qiushi's hand stopped in mid-air.

Fight, right? We are here to save you.

Don't fight? It's true that he was flirted with me.

Xu Qiushi clenched his fists until they made a creaking sound. Finally, he slammed the table heavily, snorted, sat back down, and turned his head away.

Zhu Meizhen, who had been on guard against a fight, was slightly relieved when she saw Xu Qiushi put down his hand, and quickly asked, "Comrade Lu, why did you ask about Insomnia? This kid has always been a thoughtful person and doesn't like to talk about anything."

"The first few times I saw her, her whites of the eyes were covered with red bloodshot, her eyes were dark blue, and her face was haggard. Her hair was falling out quite a bit. My comrades and I were in a similar state every time we stayed up late. It was obvious that she didn't get enough rest. Later, I asked her indirectly, and she revealed that she only slept during the day."

Every night was torture for Xu Wen. Lying straight on the kang for seven or eight hours, without saying a word or moving, anyone with a weak mental state would have collapsed long ago.

Zhu Meizhen burst into tears, "This child...this child...we all have long hair, and even though there was a lot of hair on the ground, I didn't expect it was all hers. Why can't she sleep all night long?"

Lu Yuanzheng was silent for a moment, then pointed to the inner room and said, "I came here this morning and accidentally saw your inner room. I found that there was only this one kang. I guess the whole family sleeps together, right?"

After hearing this, Xu Qiushi was still a little confused, but Zhu Meizhen understood it immediately.

There are no extra rooms in the house. Ask a girl in her twenties, it is inconvenient to change clothes or take a shower, let alone sleep.

Zhu Meizhen wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and murmured, "Why doesn't this child say anything?!"

But he also knew that it was useless for Xu Wen to say anything, as there was no way to create more rooms in the house.

"I'm useless. I let the child suffer." Xu Qiushi raised his hand and slapped himself. "This is all because I met Comrade Lu. If I had met a man with bad intentions, my life would have been ruined!"

Zhu Meizhen cried out: "Why didn't she say anything when asked. She even said that she was drowning and was saved by Comrade Lu."

Xu Qiushi patted Zhu Meizhen on the back and said, "That girl is just afraid that we will feel bad if we know about it."

Just like now, I feel like I am a burden to my children.

"I married Xu Wen, not only because I wanted to be responsible, but also because I felt I was a good match for her." Lu Yuanzheng took out a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and handed it to Zhu Meizhen, then continued, "Uncle, aunt, you are Xu Wen's parents and you know her better than I do. You should be able to see that she doesn't really want to marry a man. She just doesn't want to be a burden to the family, but she wants freedom. And I can give her all that."

"I have several houses and I am not at home all year round. After marriage, she will live by herself. This way, she doesn't have to hide in the cemetery to take a bath. Although it is in the wilderness, it is not safe after all. If something happens, it will be too late. The problem of changing clothes to sleep can also be solved. I promise not to touch her in the next year. If she meets someone she likes or simply wants a divorce, I will agree."

Zhu Meizhen wiped her tears and disagreed: "That won't work! Marriage is not playing house. How can you get divorced after getting married? Wouldn't that break your spine?!"

In this area, no one would get divorced even if a couple fought in the street.

How can you plan for divorce before getting married?

"Xu Wen wouldn't care about that little bit of fame, and neither would I."

"We care." Zhu Meizhen disagreed.

"Auntie, I'm talking about the worst-case scenario. Of course, if Xu Wen is sincere with me, I will definitely not let her down."

Xu Qiushi thought for a while and asked one last question: "Aren't you afraid that Wenwen won't be a good stepmother? Besides, how can Wenwen take care of your children when she's still in school?"

Lu Yuanzheng shook his head: "My uncles can help take care of it. I will arrange these things and will not burden Dongsheng with questions."

Xu Qiushi closed his eyes and made the decision: "Okay! I agree to your marriage."

Zhu Meizhen sobbed with red eyes: "Xiao Zheng told us not to say these things in front of you."

Xu Wen's eyes were also wet. It turned out that Lu Yuanzheng knew everything.

This man... really hurts her heart.

Zhu Meizhen wiped her eyes, and then wiped Xu Wen's eyes, "Why? Why are you asking this suddenly?"

"Just a little curious."

It is said that no one knows a child better than his mother. Zhu Meizhen looked at Xu Wen from beginning to end and asked suspiciously, "Wenwen, you don't want to marry Xiaozheng anymore, do you? We can't be like this! The marriage has been arranged and all relatives and friends have been notified. If you want to regret it now, you will become a laughing stock in the whole commune."

Xu Wen hummed, "Yes!"

The sound was not loud, but very firm.

Zhu Meizhen stared at Xu Wen for a while, nodded, and asked tentatively: "Then when you wake up, don't go herding sheep. Go to Xiao Zheng's house and ask him and the children to come home for dinner."

"good."

"Are you very sleepy? If so, go to sleep first and I'll save the food for you. If you're not that sleepy, why don't you eat first and then go to sleep?"

Xu Wen felt better and was actually a little hungry, so he followed Zhu Meizhen off the kang and went to the outer room to eat.

As soon as the mother and daughter sat down, they heard someone shouting outside the door.

"Excuse me, is Comrade Xu Wen at home?"

Xu Wen happened to be close to the door. He stood up and opened the curtain. There were several strangers standing outside the door.

"Who are you?"

A man in the front row took out his ID and flashed it to Xu Wen, "We are from the speculation office. Please come with us."