Chapter 3

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

He Dazhu heard footsteps coming from outside the door, looked up, and discovered that the person appearing in the lamplight was actually his former old flame Li Xiulan; he thought he had drunk too much and was hallucinating, so he hurriedly rubbed his eyes:

"Xiulan, how did you come to be here?"

Li Xiulan looked at He Dazhu's drunken, bleary-eyed appearance, and felt a pang of discomfort in her heart.

Because she knew that He Dazhu's bad habit of alcoholism was something he had gradually picked up after they separated.

"Brother Dazhu, is Sister-in-law Chunhua not at home?"

Li Xiulan looked left and right.

At this moment, she very much hoped that He Dazhu's wife Liao Chunhua could be on the scene, because only with her present could unnecessary misunderstandings be avoided.

"That woman nitpicks this and that, despises me for being poor, despises me for not knowing how to work; I quarreled with her a couple of sentences, and she got angry and ran off to her maternal home."

He Dazhu lowered his head and choked down a whole cup of liquor into his belly.

At the same time, choked down into his belly along with it were life's many disappointments.

It is said a poverty-stricken couple faces a hundred sorrows, and in He Dazhu and his wife Liao Chunhua this is embodied to the fullest.

The two had only been married half a year, yet they already quarreled incessantly, even to the point where they could barely carry on.

"Brother Dazhu, between husband and wife there must be more understanding, more tolerance; Sister-in-law Chunhua is actually a pretty good person."

Seeing her former old lover now so weathered and dissipated, Li Xiulan felt a twinge of unbearableness in her heart.

She actually still hoped He Dazhu could live a good life.

"Don't mention that stinking woman; just mentioning her is unlucky. She isn't as gentle and considerate as you. Back then, how was I so cowardly? You originally belonged to me……"

He Dazhu glanced at Li Xiulan, his gaze landing on her slightly bulging belly, then his face filled with pain, and he couldn't help but viciously slap himself two big slaps.

Li Xiulan indeed originally belonged to him; four years ago Li Xiulan's parents disagreed with Li Xiulan and He Dazhu being together, forcing the two to separate. Li Xiulan gave He Dazhu one chance, telling him to meet at the haystack by the stream that night, and clearly expressed her willingness to let raw rice become cooked rice with him.

Only a pity He Dazhu himself was unpromising.

That night in the haystack, under the hazy moonlight, He Dazhu watched Li Xiulan take off her clothes piece by piece before him, yet he only held Li Xiulan and trembled once, doing nothing else besides that, then turned and fled.

This flight of his also meant the feelings between him and Li Xiulan were thoroughly over.

And now, each with their own family, it was even more impossible to walk together again.

"Brother Dazhu, let past matters be past; let's not bring them up again. Yang Dafu says the Family Planning Office people in town have set their sights on me. I plan to take the child and go to my maternal home to hide for a few days tomorrow morning. Can you help look after the livestock at my home, and that batch of silkworms of mine?"

Li Xiulan's eyes held a plea.

He Dazhu's face full of unbearableness, he couldn't help but curse loudly:

"Wang Zhanggen is too not-human; how can he abandon you and two children and go off by himself to enjoy a carefree life outside? And right now you're even carrying a third in your belly!"

Li Xiulan hurriedly spoke up for her husband:

"Zhanggen has to go out to work to earn money; he also has no choice in the matter."

He Dazhu cursed again:

"Those beasts at the Family Planning Office are even more not-human! However many children someone else wants to bear, what business is it of theirs? They do nothing but conscience-less things!"

Li Xiulan felt stifled; she didn't understand why He Dazhu had to curse east and west:

"Brother Dazhu, in the end, are you willing to help me or not?"

He Dazhu at this moment choked down another mouthful of old liquor into his belly:

"You go with peace of mind; I'll help you look after the livestock at home properly."

With this promise from He Dazhu, Li Xiulan's heart finally let out a breath of relief. Filled with gratitude, she hurriedly placed the house keys on the table:

"This is the courtyard main gate key, this is the living room key, this is the firewood room key, this one with the red string is the silkworm room key. Brother Dazhu, that batch of silkworms of mine has now reached the big appetite phase; they need to eat comparatively more mulberry leaves. In the morning you must pick four bags of mulberry leaves, in the afternoon also four bags. This period will trouble you. Later when the silkworms cocoon and are sold for money, I'll split half with you."

He Dazhu, however, very generously waved his hand:

"What are you telling me this for? What relationship do we have? Don't talk money with me! You just go to your maternal home tomorrow with peace of mind to nurture the fetus! Everything at your home I'll help you look after properly!"

Speaking to here, He Dazhu suddenly looked up, eyes full of gentle pleading:

"Xiulan, can you let me kiss once? Just once……"

Li Xiulan was He Dazhu's white moonlight in his heart; back then he lost this white moonlight because of cowardice, causing his heart to always have a regret that could not be compensated.

So although he knew it was rash, he still, borrowing the alcohol's courage, made this excessive request.

Li Xiulan in her heart actually refused.

After all, now is not the same as before; if it were before she could give everything to He Dazhu, but now she cannot. Now she is Wang Zhanggen's wife; how could she still engage in excessive intimate behavior with He Dazhu?

However, she worried that if she refused this small request of He Dazhu's, would He Dazhu also refuse to provide her help?

So, after a struggle in her heart, she finally nodded with difficulty:

"Just kiss once, no other things allowed……"

Li Xiulan felt she was sorry to her husband Wang Zhanggen, but life's various pressures had already left her no choice.

He Dazhu, obtaining Li Xiulan's permission, his muddy eyes immediately turned clear.

He seemed to suddenly sober up; with a whoosh he stood up, fiercely pulled Li Xiulan into his embrace, and then kissed her.

Agreed was just one kiss, but He Dazhu kissed countless kisses, and uncontrollably moved his hands.

Li Xiulan felt the roaming on her chest; a bolt of lightning flashed through her body. Her heart full of resistance, she twisted her body and hurriedly tried to push He Dazhu away:

"Brother Dazhu, don't……"

He Dazhu, however, seemed not to have heard her words, continuing his assault on her.

And, urgently wanting to go a further step.

To compensate for his cowardice during their tryst in the haystack back then, and the lifetime regret it brought him.

But right at this moment!

"He Dazhu, Li Xiulan, what are you doing?"

A sharp woman's voice, like a knife tip scraping glass, suddenly tore through the silence filling the room.

Li Xiulan and He Dazhu looked up and discovered Liao Chunhua had appeared at the living room door at some unknown time; both their faces changed drastically, and they hurriedly pushed each other away guiltily.

"Sister-in-law Chunhua, listen to me explain..."

Li Xiulan was both anxious and afraid, wanting to explain.

But Liao Chunhua gave her no chance to explain, stepping forward and raising her hand to give Li Xiulan a slap.

With a "Slap" sound, it rang through the entire room.

"You stinking bitch, daring to come to my home and seduce my husband!"

Li Xiulan was struck until she screamed, feeling a wave of dizziness, her whole face burning hot.

Liao Chunhua was furious to the extreme; she never would have imagined that just after she said she was returning to her maternal home, such a thing would happen in her home.

If it weren't for her forgetting her key and running back a trip, she still wouldn't know about this matter!

"Watch me not beat you to death, you dead broken shoe!"

Liao Chunhua grabbed Li Xiulan's hair in one handful, slapped Li Xiulan several more times, directly beating Li Xiulan until she cried; Liao Chunhua still wasn't satisfied, raising her foot to kick Li Xiulan's slightly protruding belly.

"Pregnant and still not behaving, watch me kick you until you miscarry!"