Chapter 34 Explosion
When Pu Xiang returned to the village, she changed her clothes into a sweater, pants, sneakers, and a light camel down jacket that was just long enough to cover her buttocks.
It doesn't get dirty and isn't suitable for work, but wearing this color in winter makes you look brighter than the dull black.
She also put on a dark camel wool scarf and a pair of small silver earrings. Her hair was not slicked back, but combed into a not-too-eye-catching 3:7 straight part, which gave her a youthful and bright look in the middle of winter.
Pu Xiang is only 25 years old now. In later times, this age would mean that he or she has just graduated from college. If he or she is a graduate student, he or she would still be a student.
In other words, in the countryside at that time, if a woman had a five-year-old child, she would be considered a middle-aged woman.
Pu Xiang rode her bicycle all the way from the county town to Shijia Village and went straight back to her parents' home.
Pu Xiang's home is in Damao Village, next to Shijia Village.
It's not too far away. There's just a medium-sized river between the two villages, about 20 to 30 meters wide, with deep and fast-flowing water. If you don't want to take the road to go around the two villages, you can also go to the ferry and take the ferry.
The area where Pu Xiang's mother's family lives is called Xiaohewan. The river is winding, and the houses built along the river are not as neat as those on Shi's side.
There are two on this side and three on that side. Pu Xiang's house is at the innermost. If she wants to go home, she has to go through the alleys of her neighbors.
Meeting people is inevitable.
Pu Xiang had only turned off the road a few meters when he ran into his neighbor.
She grew up here since she was a child, and every neighbor knew her face. It was just that she was dressed up and her temperament completely changed. They were stunned for just a second, then immediately pointed at her and slapped their thighs.
"Third sister!"
It was mid-morning and everyone was idle after breakfast. When they heard the sound, someone immediately poked his head out of the house.
There were also four or five middle-aged women gathered together to basket in the sun and knit, with plastic bags filled with wool balls slung over their arms, their hands busy all the time, and they just ran out like that.
"Big flower lady."
Seeing that the road ahead was blocked, Pu Xiang had no choice but to get out of the car and greet everyone one by one.
"Third sister is back. Where have you been recently? I haven't seen you since then."
"Your parents were looking for you a while ago, why don't you come back to see them?"
"That's right. If you don't come back, you should at least ask someone to send a message back. You don't even know how much your mother has cried recently."
…
Pu Xiang didn't have anything to say, she just pushed the cart forward and said, "Well, I just came back to take a look. Auntie, mother, you guys are busy, I'm leaving first."
She pushed her bike out of the crowd and could hear people whispering behind her.
"She's divorced, isn't she?"
"She must have left. Otherwise, why did the Pu family go through so much trouble recently?"
"I heard that the Shi family has started looking for a new daughter-in-law. This must be true."
"So she just left the Shi family like that? The Shi family has such good conditions, but she doesn't know how to cherish such a good life. If my daughter wants to marry into such a family, I will strangle her to death if she dares to divorce!"
…
Pu Xiang could actually hear what these middle-aged women were saying. Whether they did it on purpose or unintentionally, she had already expected this scene and didn't care.
After a few years, divorce will not be a rare thing.
"Look at her. I guess she's hooking up with a wild man. She's dressed like a seductress, not as simple as before. Naturally, she doesn't like the men in the village."
Suddenly, these words came out from behind me, and then there was a moment of silence.
Pu Xiang stopped in her tracks. Shi Dafu hadn't even started to compose a dirty talk for her yet, but this one popped up.
After being reborn, Pu Xiang decided that she would never suffer a loss. She could accept people saying that her divorce was not a good thing, but if they spread dirty rumors, she would tear her mouth to pieces!
As soon as the car stopped, Pu Xiang took off the sheepskin gloves on her hands and threw them into the basket.
She turned around and recognized the person who was speaking by the voice: Pu Xiaolian, a woman born in Xiaohewan, not someone who married into the village from another family.
Her parents gave birth to six daughters, but none of them were male. In the end, she, the eldest in the family, married a live-in son-in-law, who was only a dozen years older than Pu Xiang, so they were of the same generation.
Pu Xiang didn't care who the other person was or what his identity was at this moment, and walked straight up to him.
"You just said that, tell me again!"
Pu Xiaolian never expected that Pu Xiang would come right in front of her, and her gossiping face froze in an instant.
"Say, what?"
Pu Xiang looked at her coldly: "Say to me again what you just said from that broken mouth of yours."
Pu Xiaolian opened her mouth but didn't respond immediately.
None of the aunties and mothers nearby came forward to persuade them, they were all just reading the gossip.
The longer the silence lasted, the more Pu Xiaolian felt her face burning with pain, as if she was afraid of Pu Xiang.
They're divorced, so what if she said a few words?
If she wasn't with a random man, what's wrong with the clothes she's wearing? Her face is much whiter and tenderer than before. If she wasn't with a random man, why would she make herself look like this?
Thinking of this, Pu Xiaolian felt her confidence restored. Pu Xiang dared to confront her like this, it must be because she was right.
"I told you that you hooked up with a strange man, so what? What can you do to me...Ahhhhh!!"
Pu Xiang reached out and grabbed the other person's hair, pulling it hard.
"Come on! Come with me to the police station now. You have a big mouth and you dare to make up nonsense for me, right? What's the name of the wild man? Where does he live? Where did you see him? If you can't say anything, you are slandering me. I will sue you in court and make you apologize in the newspaper, otherwise you will be imprisoned for a few days!"
Pu Xiang had seen country women fighting since she was a child. Although she had never done it before, she had learned how to do it just by watching them.
She is now quick, accurate and ruthless. She blocks all this dirty talk right from the beginning, letting people know that she is not someone to be trifled with. If they want to make up lies about her, they should think about the consequences.
Pu Xiaolian was not as tall as Pu Xiang, but she was shorter and stronger. She wanted to resist and reached out to grab Pu Xiang, but Pu Xiang exerted more strength on her, making her scream in pain.
Seeing the two men starting to fight, the aunt and mother nearby hurt over to persuade them to stop.
"Third sister, third sister, let's talk it over nicely. Let go of your hands. We are old neighbors now. It won't look good if we fight."
"Third sister, we all know you are a good person and would never do such a thing. Xiaolian is just a chatterbox and has no bad intentions."
"Yeah, yeah, let go first."
Several people tried to persuade her, but Pu Xiang didn't let go at all and even put more strength on her hands.
"Auntie, mother, don't say anything yet, let Pu Xiaolian speak for herself! Today, just tell me who the wild man is and where you saw him, and I will let you go immediately! Otherwise, I will drag you to the police station!"
Pu Xiaolian felt like her scalp was about to fall off. She now believed that Pu Xiang might really do what he said, so she dragged her to the police station.
"I was just kidding! I was just kidding. There was no wild man. I didn't see anything!"
Pu Xiang tightened her grip again.
Pu Xiaolian screamed: "I was wrong, I was really wrong, I will never tell lies again, let me go!"
Only after hearing what she wanted to hear did Pu Xiang let go and said, look, aren't they all quite smart? They know exactly what to say and when.
Pu Xiaolian's head suddenly loosened its strength and she couldn't control her strength. She staggered sideways and then sat down in a basin of clothes soaked in water placed by the well in front of someone's house.
"ah!"
Pu Xiaolian screamed again, the water was so cool!
She jumped up, holding her clothes, but they were already soaked.
"Go back and change your clothes quickly, or you'll catch a cold."
An auntie pushed her and told her to hurry up. Pu Xiaolian didn't know what was going on in her mind, but now that her scalp was free, she didn't argue with Pu Xiang anymore and just walked away in shame.
Pu Xiang shook her hands to get rid of the few strands of hair stuck between her fingers.
"You can scold me for telling me about my divorce, but if you make up such a lie, I will slap her in the face next time!"
Pu Xiang looked around and spoke very seriously. No one dared to speak immediately. Seeing that the atmosphere was about right, she smiled again and said, "Auntie, mother, don't think I'm fierce. I'm divorced. Others have said such harsh things. If I am told such lies again, I will be even more miserable. You can see that I dress differently from before. It has nothing to do with men. I just found a man in the county. I have a job selling women's clothing next to the central building. It's a job requirement. You have to dress nicely. If you have time or want to buy new clothes for the New Year, come to the store. Who says women have to rely on men to live? Can't you buy bright clothes with your own money? Every day, you think men are like you have no hands or feet. It's a new era, but you still think it's an old society. "
After Pu Xiang finished speaking, De Xin pushed the car and went home.
This time, the middle-aged women waited until she was far away before they started gossiping.
"Hey, do you think what Third Sister said is true? Did she find a job in the county?"
"I think it's probably true. If she really found a strange man like Xiaolian said, how could she be so tough?"
"Well, why should we doubt it? Third sister is the one we have watched grow up. She is such a hardworking and capable girl. When have we ever seen her chatting with a man? Do you think she would? She is divorced, and her man is having an affair outside. The news has spread."
"Hahahaha, you're right. What wild man would be so stupid as to look for someone like her? She's nothing like that kind of enchanting little goblin."
"So she really is working in the county, that's amazing!"
"When can we go to the county town? Isn't it the New Year in two months? We need to buy new clothes. We can go to her store. If it's cheap, we can buy one too."
…
Pu Xiang walked less than a hundred meters home and greeted everyone in their Xiaohewan production team.
They were standing at the edge of the alley looking at her, their eyes looking as if they were looking at something rare.
In other words, there is a 65-year-old old lady living in Pu Xiang's heart, otherwise, at the age of 25, she might not be able to handle it.
By the time she pushed the car to her own drying field, her parents, brother and sister-in-law had heard the noise and were already standing at the door waiting for her.
Pu Xiang parked her bicycle at the door of her house but didn't push it inside.
"Dad, Mom, brother, sister-in-law." She called them one by one.
When Pu Xiang's mother Li Xiaocao saw her little daughter, her eyes immediately turned red: "It's been so long, more than a month, you damn girl, you finally came home to visit?"
Pu Xiang felt that her mother was pitiful, but she couldn't really sympathize with her.
When their divorce certificate was torn up and they saw her being locked up by the Shi family, why didn't she jump out and cry, saying that she didn't agree with what was done?
She was now well and sound, standing here fully dressed, and she began to cry towards her.
Pu Xiang ignored her mother and walked up to her father and said, "Dad, I'll talk to you about the relocation when I get back."
Pu Youfu, who was always silent, frowned tightly: "What do you want to change your household registration? I told you, I don't agree with your divorce. I married you off, and you belong to someone else. There is no reason for you to come back."
Pu Xiangting said calmly: "Shi Dafu is going to marry again."
"That's because he hasn't remarried yet." Pu Youfu said angrily, "You should go to his house and apologize to him. My father-in-law is not the kind of unreasonable person. The last time he came to our house, he kept saying good things about you and didn't say anything bad about you. Where can you find such a person?"
Pu Xiang was tired of hearing these nonsense, so she pretended not to hear them all and said, "Dad, I don't want to talk to you about the Shi family right now. I just want to talk about my household registration. I have nowhere to move to now. I want to move out of the Shi family and move back to my mother's home. Can you give me the nod?"
Pu Youfu stopped talking again, which made it clear that he was not ready to give in.
Pu Xiang told herself not to be angry. When she came, she had already prepared herself mentally. She was ready to throw money at him and didn't expect any father-daughter affection.
"Even if your daughter begged you here today and asked you not to spend a penny, you would not agree?"
Pu Youfu still didn't speak. Pu Xiang turned her gaze to her mother and her brother. None of her closest relatives spoke.
Li Xiaocao looked at her with tears in her eyes, "Third sister, don't be stubborn with your dad..."
Pu Xiang's sister-in-law couldn't stand it any longer, so she tried to smooth things over: "Mom and Dad, my third sister is back, don't stand at the door and talk, go inside first, we are all family, is there anything we can't discuss properly?"
She reached out and pushed Li Xiaocao, then looked at the neighbors next door, who were all leaning over and listening.
Soon the news spread to the whole village.
Li Xiaocao then remembered to push Pu Youfu: "Go inside and talk. Go inside and talk."
Pu Xiang's sister-in-law also came over to bring people in, and the whole family went into the house.
Pu Xiang calmed down for a moment, but still wanted to solve the household registration problem. She said, "It's impossible to go back to the Shi family. They have already found someone and gave 1,800 yuan as a betrothal gift. It's impossible to remarry."
The whole family was silent; it looked like this marriage could not be reconciled.
Pu Youfu: "Then hurry up and marry someone else. It won't be a big deal if your daughter's household registration is transferred back to you!"
Hearing this unexpected yet completely reasonable answer, Pu Xiang opened her mouth, not knowing for a moment how to tell her father that in this world, a woman can live a good life with her own abilities without a man and without getting married.
The times they lived in were extremely hard, and life would have been impossible without a man in the family.
But now it's different.
Pu Xiang said, "Dad, I have found a job in the county town now. I have an income every month and I can support myself."
What she said was absolutely correct, but after hearing this, Pu Youfu not only did not agree with her, but became even angrier.
"If you weren't divorced, would you need to do this?"
Pu Xiang: “…”
Seeing that the father and daughter seemed to be getting angry again, Li Xiaocao, the mother, quickly persuaded Pu Xiang: "Third sister, your father is doing this for your own good. We can't go back to the Shi family, so why don't you find someone else to marry? Ah? A matchmaker came to ask a few days ago, and he sounds like an honest man who can live a down-to-earth life. Why don't you go and take a look at him?"
ha?
The matchmaker has come to our door!
Pu Xiang had a blank expression on her face: "Who did you introduce?"
Li Xiaocao's eyes lit up immediately, thinking her daughter was interested, and quickly replied, "He's from our village, not far from home, his name is Liu Dazhuang, he's 37 years old this year, his wife died of illness two years ago, and they have only one son. You don't have to have another child after you marry him, just live your life. If you make money, you can still give it to Jiajie, the man's family said they don't care about that."
From the same village, his surname is Liu, he is 37 years old, his wife died two years ago, and he has a son.
Pu Xiang read it over and looked at her mother in disbelief: "Is that Liu Quezui?"
The man was born with a cleft lip, so the villagers called him "Quezui" and have been calling him by this nickname ever since.
Li Xiaocao nodded: "Yes, that's him."
Seeing that her daughter's face looked strange, she shuddered again and stammered, "She is a little old and not good-looking, but, but..."
Pu Xiang replied: "But he's a man."
She really didn't expect that after living to such an old age, she would have to experience what it feels like for women in later generations to be forced into marriage.
"I won't go to see it. I don't want to get married again after the divorce. Today I'm going to talk about the household registration... Dad?"
Pu Youfu had no idea in his life, but the only idea he had was spent on his daughter.
"Don't even think about moving your household registration back. Either remarry Dafu or marry someone else and move your household registration to your man's place!"
There is no room for negotiation.
Pu Xiang really underestimated her father's stubbornness. Now that she thinks about it, her personality is probably more like her father's.
She is also stubborn.
It seemed that the issue of relocating the household registration was a non-issue. She had originally thought of talking to her brother privately and offering him money as a “briber”, but now she didn’t want to do that anymore.
Her dad was angry, and she is still angry.
Being bullied by others would be fine, but now she has nowhere to go and even her own family won't help her. Why should she give them this money?
She has the money and would rather let others make it!
Pu Xiang looked around the family and only saw disapproval and sympathy on her sister-in-law's face, but her sister-in-law had no say in the family.
"Forget it, just pretend I wasn't here today, that's all."
Pu Xiang went out and pushed the cart to leave, and her sister-in-law chased her out.
"Third sister, I will help you think of a solution for the household registration issue. Don't rush to make a decision. You definitely can't marry Liu Quezui. You have to think carefully about other men. Marrying someone is a family affair. If you meet a bad one, you can't get rid of him. That's hard life."
Pu Xiang said, "I know. Thank you, sister-in-law. Don't worry about it. My parents and my brother are like that. I have given up and will not come back. Sister-in-law, take care of yourself. Also, there are more people doing small businesses outside now. You are a good cook. Consider setting up a small food stall. It is better than burying your head in the fields to grow crops and make money. You have to think about the cost of your children's schooling in advance. Don't listen to my parents and my brother. There is no one in the family who has no future. They don't know how to look at the outside world and want to rot in the field. You have to let the children go to high school and college in the future, go out into the world to make money and live a good life."
Pu Xiang's sister-in-law is really quiet and doesn't talk much. When Pu Xiang once thought about divorce, she was the only one who didn't say anything to persuade her.
She could understand that it was impossible for a sister-in-law to support her sister-in-law's divorce, especially when the whole family was against it.
She felt sorry for her sister-in-law when she looked at her. She worked so hard, but her family was poor. Their two children, a daughter and a son, did not go to school after graduating from junior high school.
It’s not that I didn’t get into high school, it’s that I did but had no money.
When Pu Xiang asked to borrow money, her sister-in-law thought about it for two days and finally refused. The child has to go to college after high school. How much money will it cost for two seven-year periods, a total of 14 years?
If you just go to high school and not to college, then it's no different from graduating from junior high school, and in the end you still choose not to go to school.
Then, in the countless years that followed, this incident became a point for the child to blame her parents, and also became a knot in the heart for her sister-in-law to blame herself.
There’s nothing we can do if the child didn’t pass the exam, but this one obviously passed.
Yu Gaozhu was moved by what she said. The people in her family were almost blind and could not notice the changes in Pu Xiang's dress and appearance, but she could see it.
Not long after that, Pu Xiang seemed to have changed. She said she found a job in the county town. She must have really found it, and the salary should be pretty good.
Her family is poor and has no money. They barely built this house and have a lot of foreign debts. They don't know when they can pay them back. If there is an opportunity to make money, she will definitely go.
"Okay, I'll listen to you. I'll go outside and take a look!"
Pu Xiang was very relieved that there was at least one normal person in the family who could listen to others. She told her sister-in-law the location of her women's clothing store and asked her to find her when she was free.
The two men had almost finished their conversation when Li Xiaocao ran out of the house in small steps.
"Third sister!"
She came over and called her daughter, and immediately put a handful of things into her pocket. "This is the money and three golds that your father-in-law sent over. They are all yours. Take them. There is also the one thousand yuan borrowed for building a house. Your father-in-law said that it was your own private savings, and he will return it to you when the family has money... Think carefully about finding another partner. Your father is doing this for your own good. How can he harm you?"
Pu Xiang didn't push away, but just looked at her mother.
She has always known that her family is not as good as she imagined, but it is not as bad as she imagined either. Just like many unhappy families in this world, it is not good enough to make people become better people, nor is it bad enough to make people determined to get rid of it at all costs.
There is affection, but not much.
Pu Xiang didn't say anything else. She just said "let's go" and rode away.
Li Xiaocao looked at her daughter's resolute back and couldn't help shedding tears. Yu Gaozhu felt unhappy seeing her like this.
"Mom, if you really love Third Sister, then you should persuade Dad. He has forced the person away. What's the point of crying? It makes you feel like the person being forced is you!"
How can you be a mother like this!
When Li Xiaocao was confronted by her daughter-in-law, she immediately stopped crying and looked so aggrieved that she looked more like a little wife in front of her daughter-in-law.
"I, I can't persuade you. You know your father's temper... How dare I say anything..."
Yu Gaozhu was so angry for Pu Xiang that she walked into the house irritably and saw her man who looked like he had no mouth.
"Third sister just left like that, and you didn't say a word?"
Pu Jianguo had a bitter face, just like his father: "Dad has already said it, what should I say?"
Yu Gaozhu was so angry that her heart ached: "You said you agreed to let the third sister move back! It's just a household registration issue, what's wrong with letting her move back? The third sister is right, this matter doesn't cost the family a penny, and no one needs to support her, why don't you agree?"
Pu Jianguo was speechless. It wasn't like he disagreed, so why was he yelling at him?
Pu Youfu came out upon hearing the sound, but said nothing.
Yu Gaozhu was holding back her anger, but somehow she couldn't suppress it anymore. She openly said it to her man, but in reality she was also speaking to her foolish father-in-law.
"You guys are so pushy. She's already divorced, but you still don't let her transfer her household registration back. You want her to marry a man like Liu Quezui. It's better for her to live alone than to marry a man like that! She doesn't even go home to live now. I don't understand why it's not okay to just transfer her household registration? Do you think it's shameful for her to get divorced? Even I, your sister-in-law, don't mind, so why do you? It was her husband who cheated on her and they got divorced, not her! No, let her transfer her household registration back. I agree. If you don't agree, I can't live like this anymore!"
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