Chapter 37
When Li Meiling was eighteen or nineteen years old, she was a famous beauty in the whole neighborhood. After graduating from junior high school, she went to a technical secondary medical school. At that time, technical secondary school graduates were no longer guaranteed jobs, so Li's father spent all his savings and sent her to a small hospital as a nurse. As a result, within two years, the hospital closed down due to a medical accident. Li Meiling had no choice but to go to work in a private clinic.
Although her job was getting worse and worse and her income was getting lower and lower, Li Meiling's love history had always been bright and beautiful. This also enabled her to maintain a good life despite her family's financial difficulties. When she was studying at the medical school, she was in a relationship with the son of a self-employed boss for two years; after graduating from the medical school, she was in a relationship with a young and promising college student doctor for another year.
She was sure she could marry the doctor, but his parents found out everything about her family situation, education and work, forcing them to break up.
At that time, Hong Kong had just returned to China. The influence of "Young and Dangerous" was unprecedented, and gangs were everywhere in society. Li Meiling was also overwhelmed with emotion after watching several "Young and Dangerous" movies. Soon, she started dating a "big brother". The eldest brother’s name is Shangren, and even his name carries a sense of the mighty underworld. Shang Ren was only a few years older than Li Meiling. He already owned three dance halls, five billiard halls, and drove a car with many followers, looking very cool and wealthy. Moreover, Shangren is very handsome and agile whether he is beating or chopping people. Li Meiling was completely bewitched by a man for the first time and wanted to be a good sister-in-law.
But the good times didn't last long. Not long after, a new round of crackdowns broke out. Shang Ren hacked someone to death and was labeled a member of a gang and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
During that time, Li Meiling was like a frightened bird. She dared not go out, for fear that as the eldest sister-in-law, she would also be identified as a gang member and arrested by the police. And her period was two weeks late. So, when her relatives introduced Xiang Wei, a worker with ordinary looks and abilities but a good family background, to her, she agreed without hesitation.
Her parents had no objection. They had always wanted their daughter to live a stable life. Now that Li Meiling had broken up with that gangster and was marrying a factory worker, they could not ask for anything better.
But not long after getting married, Li Meiling realized that she had been deceived.
Xiang's parents were both employed in a bank, which was considered a good situation in that era when everyone was laid off. But my mother is in poor health and I have to spend money on medicine every month. Although the Xiang family has two houses, Xiang Wei's eldest brother occupies one, and the other one is occupied by the two elders and their family. It is a 80-square-meter two-bedroom house, and they only have one room.
There is also Xiang Wei, who claims to be an employee of a large state-owned factory, but in fact his monthly salary is not high. Moreover, this guy is a spoiled little master at home. He is even more lazy and gluttonous than Li Meiling. He doesn't study hard and smokes and plays cards whenever he has free time. Xiang Wei doesn't do housework, and Li Meiling certainly doesn't do it either. In the first year of their marriage, she used the excuse of being pregnant to ask for this and that, and tried her best to squeeze money from the two elders. When asked to do some work, she kept complaining about backache and stomachache. Even the room where the young couple lives and their dirty clothes have to be cleaned up by the old couple.
When Xiang Siling turned three years old, the old couple could no longer bear it and moved in with their eldest son. The house was given to Xiang Wei and his wife.
Li Meiling finally got her revenge, she was now the master of her own house and even got a house.
However, little Xiang Siling's life began to become difficult. The clothes that my grandparents used to wash cleanly are gone. The house was piled high with dirty clothes, and it took a long time for Li Meiling to remember to use the washing machine to wash them; the three nutritious meals prepared on time were gone; the couple often went out to play cards, and when she remembered, she would give Xiang Siling two dollars and let her buy something to eat downstairs; when she didn't remember, she didn't remember.
So Xiang Siling, since she could remember, was a dirty kid who was not taken care of or cared about by anyone. Although her grandparents occasionally subsidized her, they could not raise a child for their youngest son. Now most of their retirement pay has to be given to their eldest son, because they have also realized that they can only rely on the eldest son for their retirement.
Xiang Wei and Li Meiling both have relatively low salaries, but they spend money lavishly. By the end of every month, their pockets are empty compared to their faces. For a long time, they relied on various means to squeeze money from both sets of parents to maintain basic food and clothing. Not to mention, the two of them felt they could survive such days.
Later, Xiang Wei was laid off, and both sets of parents could no longer afford money, and even threatened to break off their relationship. Li Meiling's salary alone is not enough to support a family of three.
But although Xiang Wei said he was going there to work, he was often seen hanging around the streets, but he never came back with any money. During that period, they lived a very hard life, going hungry every day, and sold all the furniture and appliances they could. Later, Xiang Siling was so hungry that she couldn't stand it anymore, and ran to her grandparents with a red face to ask for food. Even so, Li Meiling still asked her to secretly bring back some food or money every day, and would beat her if she failed to do so.
When Xiang Siling was 8 years old, someone wanted to buy their house. The couple was ecstatic and sold the house without saying a word for tens of thousands of dollars. Li Meiling even stopped going to class.
A few years later, Li Meiling met Luo Hongmin when she was at her poorest and most destitute.
By that time, the money from selling the house had long been spent, and the family of three was squeezed into a rental house of less than 40 square meters. Xiang Wei was still the same. Sometimes he could bring back some money, and sometimes he would go home and lie down waiting for food. Xiang Siling grew up tenaciously relying on the help from the elders on both sides and living on a bare schedule. But Li Meiling never thought about divorcing Xiang Wei. After all, the mother and daughter had been supported by the money from selling his house in the past few years. Although he was not ambitious, as long as he had food to eat, they would also have food to eat.
The first time Li Meiling saw Luo Hongmin, she knew that this man would definitely like her. Luo Hongmin sat in his Mercedes-Benz, looking at the mature and beautiful Li Meiling, smoking and smiling.
At the beginning, Luo Hongmin gave Li Meiling the key to the apartment in the machinery factory dormitory, and the two often had trysts there. Li Meiling is a woman who really knows how to deal with things. At 34 years old, her figure is maintained like that of a young girl. Her fair skin is soft and delicate, which makes Luo Hongmin very happy. At that time, he really liked her, so later, he gave her a storefront he had, just outside the machinery factory, and let her do the clothing business. Not to mention, Li Meiling has always had a talent for dressing up, and her clothing store actually earns a lot of money every month. Now, Luo Hongmin looked at her with even greater respect.
However, at that time Luo Hongmin had not thought about marrying her. His ex-wife died of breast cancer just two years ago, and he hasn't had enough of his happy days yet. Moreover, his family is large and powerful, so he must be extremely cautious about matters like marriage.
Li Meiling secretly took her husband and children to live in that house. Before Luo Hongmin came over, she found an excuse to kick them out. Luo Hongmin knew about this but didn't say anything. On the contrary, he thought having an affair was quite interesting. Anyway, the house is under his name, and he has a lot of obedient brothers under him. If he really wants to kick out the two encumbrances one day, it will only take a word.
Luo Hongmin didn't care whether Xiang Wei knew about Luo Hongmin's existence, and Li Meiling didn't ask either. At the beginning, when Xiang Wei lived in this house, he always looked at Li Meiling with a sinister look. But later, every month when Li Meiling gave him money, he seemed to have returned to his old ways, going out every day and playing until midnight before coming back.
As for the fourth person who haunted the house, 14-year-old Xiang Siling, no one cared whether he saw or noticed anything.
It was two months later that Xiang Wei caught his wife committing adultery for the first time.
Xiang Wei went out to play cards that day, but soon lost all his money. He was upset, but had nowhere to go. It was still morning and the sun was high, so he thought that no one would come home, so he went back.
As a result, as soon as I entered the house, I could hear the intense noise and my wife's screams coming from the master bedroom through the closed door.
Li Meiling was also startled when she heard the door open. It was impossible for her daughter to come back from school at this time. The footsteps must be Lao Xiang. She was scared and didn't dare to move. She hugged Luo Hongmin tightly and said in panic: "What should I do? Why is he back? He usually plays cards until very late... How about I go out first, and you..."
Luo Hongmin patted her butt and said, "Move. If he dares to come in today, your whole family will move out, and I will take back your clothing store tomorrow."
Luo Hongmin's voice was neither loud nor soft.
Li Meiling looked at Luo Hongmin's gloomy expression and didn't dare to say anything. She moved tremblingly, with only the house and the storefront in her mind. Luo Hongmin demanded even more fiercely, and soon, Li Meiling could not bear it any longer and did not care that her husband was just outside the door. It might also be that her husband being outside the door made her more excited and she screamed again.
Not long after, there was a loud slam of the door outside.
Xiang Wei left.
After this experience, Luo Hongmin became even more aggressive, sometimes coming to people's homes without even saying hello. Xiang Wei had a stern face at first, but gradually he began to smile and called him Boss Luo. Luo Hongmin smiled and threw him a pack of Hetianxia, and Xiang Wei took the cigarette and left.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com