Chapter 1354

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Whether Li Xiulan had ever fallen in love with Niu Chunsheng, even she herself still hasn't figured out to this day.

She only knew that after experiencing that storm of rumors and gossip back then, she absolutely could not stir up that kind of trouble again, so towards Niu Chunsheng, she had always deliberately maintained a distance.

As for whether Niu Chunsheng ever had impure thoughts about her, she thought probably not either; if he did, then why would he later end up together with Lin Xiaofang?

As for why she cried in a complete mess at Niu Chunsheng and Lin Xiaofang's wedding, it was probably because seeing them so happy made her own hardships stand out in even sharper, more glaring relief, and at that time nothing was going right for her, her negative emotions were off the charts, she couldn't control her emotions and cried — that was perfectly normal.

Their happiness threw her Li Xiulan's hardships into even sharper, more glaring relief, and at that time she was frustrated in everything, her negative emotions were off the charts, she couldn't control her emotions and cried — that was perfectly normal.

Li Xiulan explained this to Gu Wenqing.

Gu Wenqing recorded it patiently.

Looking at Li Xiulan's demeanor and tone as she spoke these words, she knew Li Xiulan was hiding something.

Deep down, she should have loved Niu Chunsheng, or more exactly, she had had a good impression of Niu Chunsheng.

It was just that out of adherence to wifely virtue, she had always kept a friendly distance from Niu Chunsheng.

Gu Wenqing couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Li Xiulan could be said to have upheld wifely virtue her whole life, yet she was ruined for her whole life by a rumor that didn't uphold wifely virtue.

She couldn't break the deadlock, and she didn't run away.

And so this whole lifetime was just spent enduring.

Enduring and enduring, she grew old.

Fortunately her three sons were all relatively promising, so only in the second half of her life did she get to enjoy a bit of blessed peace.

If her three sons had amounted to nothing, her latter half of life would probably have continued enduring in hardship.

Especially with the current marriage customs, bride prices of hundreds of thousands are demanded at the drop of a hat.

If her three sons amounted to nothing and needed their parents' help to get wives, then her latter half of life wouldn't be easy either.

This is no joking matter.

Nowadays there are large numbers of older leftover men in the countryside.

Men from the countryside, lacking a specialized skill, educated from childhood to be honest and dutiful, not good with words — once they enter society, it's practically dropping straight into hell mode.

No specialized skill means they can only work in factories, or do takeout delivery or express delivery.

Being honest, dutiful, and not good with words means they can almost never take the initiative to chat up girls, and even if they did they'd face setbacks because they're not good with words.

If they really want to start a family, in the end only the blind date route is left.

And blind dates are negotiations where all kinds of conditions are laid out on the table with clear price tags.

One could even say it's a stark naked business transaction.

Both sides fundamentally have no emotional foundation.

So the bride price naturally gets driven high.

A house and car are naturally also indispensable.

It's not that the girlfriend is mercenary.

It's just that human nature is like this.

Facing strangers they don't understand, people naturally hope for more guarantees.

After all, once you're married, it's for a lifetime.

This one night, Li Xiulan said a great deal to Gu Wenqing.

There were even some things she had never told her three sons, yet she told them all to Gu Wenqing.

She poured out the bitter waters of most of her life in one go.

Until past one in the early morning, she still wasn't satisfied, still wanted to keep talking.

If it weren't for the fact that tomorrow she still had to go help Wang Yaohua settle the consciousness, she reckoned she could have kept talking to Gu Wenqing.

In a blink it was five in the early morning the next day.

Wang Yaohua called Wang Dashan, telling Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai to go wash the cars first, then assemble outside his residential complex gate.

The Wang family members got up one after another; Gu Wenqing and Li Xiulan heard the movement outside and got up too.

Then everyone went together toward Wang Yaohua's place.

Wang Dashan and Wang Erhai, following Wang Yaohua's instructions, went to wash the cars first, then drove over to Wang Yaohua's place.

Arriving there, several cars had already come, all decorated with wedding ribbons.

The lead wedding car was actually a Rolls-Royce.

Wang Dashan, Wang Erhai, Wang Xiaohua, seeing this scene, all had faces full of surprise.

Where did Wang Yaohua get a Rolls-Royce?

Isn't he very short on money?

At this moment Wang Yaohua came down.

He was already wearing a handsome black formal suit, had a beautiful hairstyle done, a boutonniere with the word "groom" pinned on his chest, looking neat and smart from head to toe.

He walked toward the three Wang brothers, busily taking out cigarettes and passing them over:

"Three younger brothers, I've prepared matching best man outfits, you go upstairs and change! The wedding ribbons on the cars, the wedding planners will handle them! You don't need to worry about it!"

Wang Dashan nodded:

"Alright... Cousin, where did you get the Rolls-Royce?"

Wang Dashan couldn't help but ask a question.

Last night Wang Yaohua had still been putting on a pitiful appearance asking him for a loan, yet this morning he was acting all smug like a rich young master, even producing a Rolls-Royce; this made Wang Dashan feel, in his inner heart, inevitably displeased.

"I can lend you money, but if you take money from me and then squander it like this, that would be letting down my good intentions."

However, Wang Yaohua didn't feel there was anything inappropriate about this at all; he spoke with righteous confidence:

"A wedding ceremony, once in a lifetime, must pass muster on face, so after you all left last night, I personally went and made a trip, rented this Rolls-Royce to serve as the main wedding car, and additionally hired wedding planners temporarily to help with the proceedings."

Wang Dashan gave a dry laugh:

"Hired temporarily, probably quite expensive, right?"

Wang Yaohua, however, said:

"Not bad, just two or three thousand more than market price."

As for how much the market price was, he didn't say.

Wang Dashan also didn't feel right continuing to ask.

Wang Dashan asked weakly again:

"Speaking of, that twenty thousand for the banquet final payment, did you set it aside?"

Wang Yaohua slapped his thigh, as if remembering something:

"Ah, terrible, I was only focused on the wedding planning last night and forgot this matter; it's over, the money you lent me last night has been spent seven or eight parts out of ten, can you lend me another twenty thousand to save the emergency?"

Seeing this, Wang Dashan's complexion turned ugly.

He really wanted to open his mouth and scold Wang Yaohua.

Fortunately at this moment Wang Erhai hurriedly walked over to defuse the situation:

"Cousin, I'm afraid my big brother can't lend you money anymore; his household is all managed by Eldest Sister-in-law financially, I tried to borrow a thousand from him recently and didn't get it, last night my big brother was even scolded by my Eldest Sister-in-law because he privately lent money to you, and then last night his financial authority was confiscated by Eldest Sister-in-law!"

Hearing this, Wang Yaohua patted Wang Dashan's shoulder and lectured:

"Big Cousin, this won't do for you, a grown man, how can you be manipulated by a woman like this? If word gets out you'll be laughed at."

Wang Dashan's face turned black.

Wang Yaohua, however, couldn't see his expression, and turned to ask Wang Erhai:

"Second Cousin, how about you lend me twenty thousand then, we're brothers after all, help your cousin tide over the emergency."

Wang Erhai smiled politely:

"Cousin, it's not that I don't want to lend to you, but I still haven't paid off three million in debt, any money that hits my bank card gets transferred away, I really can't come up with any cash."

Wang Yaohua was surprised:

"When did you take on three million in debt? How come I never heard you mention it before?"

Wang Erhai then said:

"Didn't I open Shanhai Real Estate in the County Town before? Shanhai Real Estate went bankrupt, and I ended up with a buttload of debt; these years I've been paying it off, there was even a period where I had to go back to Shanggou Village to hide from creditors."

"So you went back to Shanggou Village to hide from debt? I heard you went back to start a business."

"Exactly, if it wasn't to hide from debt, who would be willing to go back to that mountain pass? Going back to start a business is just the story for outsiders; after all, I also need face!"

"Hehe, right, right..."

"I was still thinking today to see if I could borrow a few ten thousand from you, Cousin, to tide things over; after all, you're already a successful person who can afford a Rolls-Royce."

Hearing Wang Erhai say this, Wang Yaohua could no longer bring himself to mention borrowing money.

He looked at Wang Xiaohua, thought for a bit, and found it even more impossible to open his mouth.

After all, Wang Xiaohua had only just graduated; how could he have the face to borrow money from Wang Xiaohua?