Chapter 164: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 164: Wang Dashan Returns Home After Retirement

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

The wedding ended amidst joyful blessings.

Niu Chunsheng took the initiative to greet Li Xiulan, then left with his wife and children.

Li Xiulan merely nodded politely in response to Niu Chunsheng, exchanging few words.

The two were no longer in the same world.

Past events, washed by the passage of time, had long been let go.

Whether missed opportunities or regrets, none of it mattered anymore.

Even Wang Zhanggen no longer cared.

He just smiled and asked Niu Chunsheng one question:

"Why only one daughter? Don't you plan to have a son while you're young?"

Niu Chunsheng smiled politely in response:

"One daughter is enough. I don't want to violate the Family Planning Policy, besides, modern society no longer values males over females, and most importantly, I don't want my wife to suffer anymore."

Wang Zhanggen scoffed at Niu Chunsheng's words.

On the way back, he muttered to Li Xiulan:

"I think Niu Chunsheng simply can't have one. I don't believe he doesn't want a son."

Li Xiulan was somewhat speechless:

"Whether he can have children or wants a son has nothing to do with us. Just live our own lives well. Why meddle in other people's business so much?"

Wang Zhanggen seemed not to have taken Li Xiulan's words to heart, still muttering to himself:

"What good is it that Niu Chunsheng earns so much money? He only has one daughter. When she marries off, won't his property eventually fall into outsiders' hands? Most importantly, without a son, how is that any different from cutting off the family line?"

Li Xiulan felt Wang Zhanggen's words were going too far, and said:

"You'd better not say such things to outsiders. Saying this out loud will cause trouble!"

Wang Zhanggen chuckled:

"I know, I'm not just saying this to you, am I? I definitely won't say it to outsiders. I'm not that stupid."

Then he smiled and said:

"I have three sons, and Niu Chunsheng doesn't have a single one. Looking at it that way, I'm more promising than Niu Chunsheng!"

Li Xiulan no longer responded to Wang Zhanggen's words.

Because she knew that no matter what she said, he could never change his mind.

Before long, winter arrived.

Wang Dashan returned from military service.

When he left, the whole village saw him off, lively and bustling.

But now when he returned, he was alone, carrying a luggage bag, and not a single person in the village came to pick him up.

When he got home, he found the front door tightly shut.

His parents had gone out to do masonry work and were not at home; they would only return after finishing work in the evening.

He could only wait patiently at the doorstep.

Two years of military life had brought great changes to Wang Dashan's temperament.

He now kept a short buzz cut, his skin was tanned wheat-colored, his eyes held a bit more determination, and he had become more manly.

Two years had also made this familiar home feel somewhat strange.

The pigsty in the courtyard had been abandoned, piled with dry firewood; apparently, the family no longer raised pigs.

The old dog at home didn't even recognize him, barking at him for a good while, until he went over with a brick to pet it, whereupon it tucked its tail and dared not bark wildly anymore.

The vegetable garden outside had also become unfamiliar, no longer the vegetables he had planted when he left, but replaced with other vegetables.

Sugarcane and corn were also planted in the vegetable garden.

The sugarcane had already grown over two meters tall.

When he was young, there were few snacks at home. Besides liking to buy cheap fruit as snacks, his mother also liked to buy sugarcane back for the three brothers to eat.

Sugarcane was cheap; a large bundle cost about ten yuan, enough for the three brothers to gnaw on for more than half a month.

His younger brother Xiao Hua probably chewed too much sugarcane while losing his baby teeth, which caused his teeth to be uneven.

Wang Dashan waited at the doorstep for several hours until sunset, when his father and mother finally returned from the construction site.

They wore tattered clothes, covered with cement dust and dirt.

Years of masonry construction work had tanned their skin to a bronze color, their skin aged and wrinkled like old tree bark.

His mother looked somewhat hunched from afar, like an old person in her fifties or sixties.

But in reality, his mother was only in her forties.

"Dad, Mom!"

Wang Dashan called out to his parents.

Li Xiulan was immediately stunned, looking up at this somewhat unfamiliar son.

"Dashan, you're back?"

Wang Zhanggen seemed calm, because when he had called earlier, he already knew his eldest son had decided to retire from the military, so his return now was only natural.

"Mom, I'm back!"

Wang Dashan hurriedly walked up to them.

Li Xiulan took Wang Dashan's hand, somewhat excited:

"Let Mom take a look at you, how come both hands are covered in calluses, these two years you've suffered, haven't you!"

"It's nothing, just trained out from training!" Wang Dashan smiled radiantly.

"Quickly go inside and rest, Mom will kill a chicken tonight to supplement your body!"

Li Xiulan hurriedly went to open the room door.

Wang Dashan carried his luggage into the living room, discovering the living room's arrangement was almost no different from when he left.

His father went to brew tea water and came over, the two father and son chatted while drinking tea.

"Since you've retired from the army and returned, what plans do you have for the future?"

Wang Zhanggen asked.

"Go out and find a job."

Wang Dashan answered like this.

Wang Zhanggen at this time asked:

"Do you know Zhang Zhiqiang from our village?"

"I know him, used to often play glass marbles together, what happened to him?" Wang Dashan's face showed puzzlement.

Wang Zhanggen then said:

"He got married not long ago, and his wife is already pregnant."

Wang Dashan immediately exclaimed in surprise:

"Married this early!"

Wang Zhanggen then sighed:

"Yeah, others marry and have kids this early, you've retired and returned now, you also need to seize the time. After you go to the city, don't just bury your head in work, remember to find a partner, you're not young anymore!"

Wang Dashan was somewhat at a loss whether to cry or laugh:

"Dad, I'm only 20, that doesn't count as not young, right!"

Wang Zhanggen kept a straight face:

"20 is already very old, in our era, everyone married at seventeen or eighteen! Time passes very fast, if you don't find a partner now, in a blink of an eye you'll be thirty, by then even if you want to find one you won't be able to!"

Wang Dashan laughed dryly:

"I didn't say I won't find a partner, I also want to date, but it depends on fate, only if feelings match can we date, I don't want to be together with a girl I don't like!"

Li Xiulan at this moment came in carrying a plate, casually inserting a sentence:

"Don't keep worrying, our Dashan is tall and big, and also handsome, plenty of girls will chase him in reverse, how could he worry about not having a partner!"

Wang Dashan smiled radiantly:

"Mom, I love hearing these words! Hope it's really as you say, that girls really come chasing me in reverse! Then I'll save the effort of chasing girls, chasing girls nowadays is terribly troublesome!"

Wang Zhanggen at this time said:

"Best to find a local one, don't find one too far away, especially out-of-province, that even more cannot be found, otherwise visiting relatives later will be troublesome."

Li Xiulan echoed:

"Right right right, I heard out-of-province girls, the bride price is scarily high, still our local ones are good, the bride price is just for an auspicious sign, doesn't need too much money. Zhang Zhiqiang's marriage, he only gave 9,999 as bride price."

Wang Dashan dry-laughed, instantly feeling tremendous pressure.

He didn't expect he had just returned, and was being urged by home to go find a partner.

If he had known home would urge this urgently, he might as well have stayed in the army.

But a decision made and gone out, like water splashed out, is impossible to take back.

Although parents' nagging is somewhat annoying, have to admit, actually he himself also wants to date.

Right at the prime of youth, when fire is most vigorous, regarding matters between men and women, to tell the truth, inside his heart actually quite yearns, quite anticipates.

"Dad, Mom, you can rest assured, I'll definitely go find a partner, I'm not a monk, this matter doesn't need you to urge me and I'll still go do it!"

Wang Dashan promised like this.

……