Not long after Shu Yan returned home, Lin Hui came over.
"Big news! A very beautiful woman came today, kneeling in the middle of the road, crying and begging Fang Zeyu for forgiveness. She's the girl Fang Zeyu saved all those years ago. She's shown up, holding up a clapperboard with the story written on it, and she's crying her eyes out." Lin Hui was particularly excited, and it could be said that all the women in the area were quite excited.
"The girl he saved back then?" I never expected that the girl would come here and kneel down to beg Fang Zeyu for forgiveness.
"Yes, her mother came too. She knelt down and hugged her daughter, crying and saying that she was forced to slander Fang Zeyu back then, and she has always felt guilty. She hasn't had a single peaceful day or a good night's sleep. She also said that the girl's father was depressed because of this, and he passed away last year. He wasn't even sixty years old. It's so heartbreaking to hear that. So, you can't do anything that goes against your conscience. I heard that the girl isn't doing well either, but I don't know the specifics. Being too beautiful isn't good either. It's better to be ordinary like us."
As she spoke, Lin Hui carefully examined Shu Yan's appearance and exclaimed in surprise, "Wait a minute, I'm just average-looking, when did you become so beautiful?" Perhaps because they saw each other every day, Lin Hui had never paid much attention to Shu Yan's appearance before, but now, upon closer inspection, she felt a pang of envy. "How did you become so beautiful without me even realizing it?"
Shu Yan has good facial features. Before, she was too fat and her features were all crowded together. After losing weight, her features became more prominent. She has big eyes, a high nose bridge, slightly pouting lips, and fair skin. If she isn't a stunning beauty, she's definitely a pretty girl.
Shu Yan was both amused and exasperated. "I just lost weight and whitened my skin. You're beautiful too. We're just beautiful in different ways."
To be honest, her face looks even better after losing weight than before. Shu Yan is quite vain now, and she has to look at herself for a while every morning after her skincare routine.
Lin Hui touched her face. "Stop comforting me. No, I'm going to lose weight too. How did you lose so much weight all of a sudden?"
When I first met Shuyan, she was so fat! She must have weighed at least 150 pounds. Look at her figure now, she's curvy in all the right places, slim in all the right places, with a great figure that any woman would love.
"Diet and exercise. When I first started losing weight, I didn't eat dinner. After a few days of starvation, I couldn't stand it anymore. Then I started drinking some soup or eating some fruit. Later, when I needed to restock, I ate some staple food, otherwise my body couldn't handle it, so I only ate a little bit. Now I don't even dare to have a second bite. It's mainly about exercise. You know best how hard I worked before I married my aunt. Every morning I would get up early to run to buy breakfast and groceries, come back to make lunch for Jingjing to take to school, then take the kids to school, run to wait for the bus, and be busy in the store. The main thing was restocking. If you stay up all night a few times, you're guaranteed to lose weight." Shu Yan felt that burpees were also very useful, mainly because she controlled her diet and worked hard.
"You only eat one bite of food tonight?" Lin Hui asked incredulously.
"It's not that bad. Just a small bowl, about half a bowl, with some seaweed soup and an apple or cucumber." After eating this for a while, my skin has improved. It's quite good once you get used to it.
“You don’t need to lose any more weight now. You’re perfect as you are now. If you lose any more, you’ll be too thin.” Lin Hui felt she couldn’t take it anymore; she loved meat.
In this era, it's just right. But if it were twenty or thirty years from now, Shu Yan would be considered a little overweight. I asked Hu Ruixue before, and there really are special body sculpting clubs. She has a membership there, and Shu Yan has tried it twice. She plans to get a membership later too. Her flesh is a bit loose, and once it's toned, she'll definitely lose even more weight.
"Oh dear!" Lin Hui clapped her hands. "Why are we talking about this? Let's get back to Fang Zeyu. I'm telling you, everyone around here is talking about him. A lot of people are cursing his stepmother, saying that they only framed Fang Zeyu because they believed his stepmother's slander. These people... But Fang Zeyu is really unlucky. He did a good deed and this happened to him. He spent so many years in prison for nothing, and his age has been wasted. He's already thirty-six or thirty-seven now, and it's hard for him to find a wife."
Shu Yan's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. "Someone has arranged a marriage for him?"
"No, that's not it. It's just people making wild guesses. But Fang Zeyu has been exonerated and can finally get married. It's a pity that at his age, it will be difficult for him to find a good partner," Lin Hui said regretfully.
She has no good job, isn't very rich, and is disfigured; it seems like no path is viable.
Shu Yan didn't continue talking to Lin Hui about Fang Zeyu. Instead, she told her about gossip from their neighborhood, such as which mother-in-law treated her daughter-in-law badly, and which daughter-in-law was domineering and treated her mother-in-law badly.
After seeing Lin Hui off, Shu Yan turned on the TV and absentmindedly changed channels.
The phone rang, and after answering it, there was a long silence on the other end.
"If you don't say anything, I'm hanging up," Shu Yan said.
"I... am now qualified to pursue you openly and honestly." Fang Zeyu said solemnly, his eyes red and his breath coming in heavily.
Shu Yan blinked. "So you weren't pursuing me before? You were just teasing me?"
"Yes." Fang Zeyu frowned. "No." He suddenly wanted to slap himself. "I wasn't teasing you. I'm pursuing you. No, it's not that I'm kidding. I... I want to pursue you, but I know my situation. I'm afraid of dragging you down. I don't dare. I..."
It was rare to hear him speak so flusteredly, and Shu Yan's lips curled into a smile. "Did you find that evidence?"
"Hmm." Fang Zeyu was worried that Shu Yan might think he had gone too far.
"Enduring hardship and eliminating the root of the problem, that's good." Shu Yan genuinely thought it was good.
“Shu Yan.” Fang Zeyu smiled. He knew that Shu Yan was a decisive person, not the kind of delicate and weak girl.
"Um?"
Fang Zeyu picked up the bottle of wine beside him and took a few gulps. "Would you be willing to give me a chance to get to know you?"
"That's it?" Shu Yan asked back.
"Shuyan. I like you, I like you a lot. I don't know when it started, maybe it was when you told the children that I was a hero. Maybe it was when you saved Doudou but took it for granted. Maybe it was when you brought me food. Also, the food you cook is really delicious, it's the first hot meal I've had since I got out, it warms my heart."
There were no romantic words or vows of eternal love, but the last sentence, "The food you cooked was delicious. It was the first hot meal I had since I came out, and it warmed my heart," instantly touched Shu Yan's heart.
"The opportunity is yours; whether you seize it or not is up to you."
After returning from Tianbao Hospital, Shu Yan would often think about the problems between herself and Fang Zeyu whenever she had free time. The biggest obstacle between them was the child. Shu Yan didn't doubt that Fang Zeyu would be good to the child, but since it was Fang Zeyu's first marriage, he would definitely want to have his own child. After having their own child, not to mention Fang Zeyu, Shu Yan herself couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't favor the younger one.
Shu Yan brought up this issue during dinner at Hu Ruixue's house last time, and then Hu Ruixue asked, "Why did you decide to take the step of having a child with Fang Zeyu?"
Shu Yan was stunned. "Yeah, why did you think so far ahead?"
It was because she was already planning to marry Fang Zeyu that she took that step.
Shu Yan thought a lot about it. There was no doubt that she liked Fang Zeyu, so it was normal for her to think so far ahead. They were both not young anymore and had experienced ups and downs. Unlike young people, they didn't just get together if they liked each other and break up if they didn't. Marriage was a big deal, especially since she had two children. But she didn't need to think so much. If she really thought like that, she wouldn't need to get married at all and could just raise her children alone.
In the end, Shu Yan felt she should give each other a chance. She was only twenty-five years old, even though she was mentally in her thirties. She still longed for love and marriage, and she still hoped to have someone by her side. She was afraid of being alone.
"Shu Yan, you agreed?" Fang Zeyu's joyful voice came from behind.
"I'm just giving you a chance," Shu Yan pointed out the key point.
"You agreed." A loud, hearty laugh rang out, and Fang Zeyu said excitedly, "I will work hard, and you will definitely become my wife."
"A few dishes and you're already this drunk? Go wash up and go to bed early." Shu Yan hung up the phone and leaned back on the sofa, lost in thought.
"Mom." Jingjing handed her a glass of warm water.
"Thank you! Why aren't you asleep yet? You have class tomorrow." Shu Yan glanced at the time; it was almost ten o'clock, which was quite late for the child.
"Mom, my little brother said you're going to find us a new dad. Is it Uncle Fang?" Jingjing asked Shuyan nervously.
Shu Yan didn't expect Tianbao to tell Jingjing this. The two children are getting closer and closer, and they are sharing secrets with their mother.
"Are you... really that annoying?" Shu Yan asked her cautiously as well.
Jingjing lowered her head. "I'll listen to Mom."
Shu Yan understood what she meant. She didn't want her to remarry, but she was afraid that stopping her would anger her.
Tianbao is young and doesn't understand things, or perhaps he's influenced by his classmates and thinks it doesn't matter. Jingjing already knows a lot; if she remarries, she definitely can't be like she is now, with all her focus on them.
Taking Jingjing's hand, Shuyan said very seriously and solemnly, "Jingjing, you've always been very smart, so today I'm treating you like an adult and talking to you from the bottom of my heart. I married your father when I was seventeen and gave birth to you when I was eighteen. I became a mother without knowing anything. Back then... I'm sorry, do you blame me?"
Hearing her mother apologize suddenly, Jingjing was startled, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears. "Mom, you..."
"Mom has always wanted to apologize to you, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it." Shu Yan hugged Jingjing and gently stroked her head. "Mom realized her mistakes, so I divorced your father and brought you to Nancheng to start a new life. Jingjing, Mom has worked so hard because of you. Even when things were tough and tiring, Mom thought about giving up on you, so how could I not want you now?"
Jingjing cried softly. It is said that children have shallow memories, but how can they forget some unforgettable things? She used to live in a life where she could be abandoned at any time, so she has always felt insecure and was afraid that her mother would abandon her after finding a new father.
"Don't cry. Jingjing, you must remember that Mom will always love you, always hold your hand, and never let go."
“Even if Mom is with Uncle Fang, she can’t abandon Jingjing.”
Does this mean they agree?
"Mom hasn't been with Uncle Fang yet. They're just getting to know each other. I'll only agree to be with him if he passes your tests." Shu Yan tapped her nose.
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