Chapter 39: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 39: Mountain Gully Village 39

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Li Xiulan felt as if a bolt of lightning had flashed through her heart; she simply could not believe her own eyes!

She never would have imagined that she would actually see her own husband at the market!

Hadn't Wang Zhanggen said he wouldn't be coming back for the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Her first reaction was: could Wang Zhanggen be giving her a surprise?

So she immediately broke into a smile, wanting to walk over and call out to Wang Zhanggen.

But after taking just two steps, she froze in place.

Her two legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and she couldn't take another half step.

Because she saw a strange young woman smiling as she walked over, then holding hands with Wang Zhanggen, walking away intimately.

Throughout the whole process, Li Xiulan never saw Wang Zhanggen's face; she had only ever seen his back.

But she firmly believed she absolutely could not be mistaken.

The man who had shared her bed and pillow for so many years, the man who had borne her three children, was now walking away hand in hand with a strange woman!

Li Xiulan felt her life was collapsing with a crash.

She was unwilling to believe this fact, but the fact lay cruelly before her eyes.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

Suddenly her second son Wang Erhai's voice came to her ears, and Li Xiulan finally snapped out of her shock.

Her complexion had turned as pale as paper at some point, and her body was trembling uncontrollably.

Tears, most unpromisingly, slid down from the corners of her eyes.

"It's nothing, nothing, let's go look over there!"

Li Xiulan was unwilling to believe that back was Wang Zhanggen; she kept admonishing herself in her heart that she must have been mistaken, so now she wanted to catch up and see that person's face, to get a definite answer.

However, when she walked toward the bustling crowd ahead, she discovered that back and that strange woman had long since disappeared.

On this bustling Market Street, amidst the sea of people, Li Xiulan brought her two children around in two circles, but still could not see that back again.

Even so, she was still not reconciled; she still wanted to confirm that her thought was wrong.

So she hurried over to the department store side, borrowed a phone from the Boss, and called the factory where Wang Zhanggen worked.

"Hello, hello, I want to find Wang Zhanggen."

Li Xiulan gripped the phone nervously with both hands, pressing the receiver to her ear, with an anxious mood.

"Wang Zhanggen isn't at the Factory."

A strange man's voice came from the other end of the phone.

Li Xiulan's inner heart suddenly clenched, and her trembling lips asked:

"He... where did he go? Isn't your Factory closed for the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

The strange man replied:

"Indeed not closed, but he resigned, resigned a week ago, so now I don't know where he went either. Who are you to him?"

"I am his wife."

"Hehe, he has a wife, I always thought he was single. Anything else?"

"No, no..."

Li Xiulan hung up the phone, her heart feeling empty.

It seemed her whole person was falling, falling all the time, the weightless feeling making her very uncomfortable, even a bit like vomiting.

She could basically confirm now that Wang Zhanggen really did have another woman.

And she was from this very town.

This Mid-Autumn Festival, he chose to spend the holiday with that woman, and didn't come back to spend it with her and their three children!

Li Xiulan's heart was like a knife twisting.

She didn't know what meaning all her past contributions had!

She had borne Wang Zhanggen three sons, what meaning did that have!

Life seemed to suddenly lose its anchor, leaving her only able to drift in the pitch-black Sea.

She felt she was drowning, she couldn't breathe, she felt very stifled.

"Mom, let's go back, you promised to make me a Lantern!"

Wang Erhai's voice once again entered her ears, pulling Li Xiulan back from her daze.

"Okay, go back, we'll go back right now!"

Li Xiulan dried her Tears.

She didn't know how to face Wang Zhanggen's betrayal.

But no matter what, life still had to continue.

She brought Wang Erhai and Wang Xiaohua back Home, her mind still full of Wild Thoughts, but she had already started making a Lantern for Wang Erhai.

Her hands were very skilled, her needlework was good; usually she could mend torn Clothes to look like new, so making a Lantern was naturally no problem.

She not only had to make one for her Second Brother, but also one each for her Eldest Brother and Youngest Brother.

But as she busied herself, Tears flowed down uncontrollably again.

"Mom, why are you crying?"

Wang Erhai, helping out on the side, saw his mother crying again, his face full of puzzlement.

Wang Xiaohua used her small hands to wipe the tears from Li Xiulan's face:

"Mama don't cry, where does Mama hurt, I'll help you cover it."

Usually when Wang Xiaohua fell and hurt herself, Li Xiulan would go help her cover the wound.

So now seeing Li Xiulan cry, he also thought Li Xiulan had hurt herself somewhere.

"It's nothing, nothing, Mama's fine, Mama will make the lanterns well for you, you go out and play for a while, no need to circle around me."

Li Xiulan wanted to be alone quietly, she needed solitary space too much, to think carefully about future matters.

"Little brother, let's go to the Convenience Store to find Uncle Niu!"

Wang Erhai was very sensible, he knew Mama definitely had something on her mind, and this matter might only be solvable by Niu Chunsheng.

So the two of them scampered out.

Seeing they had left, Li Xiulan alone in the dilapidated main hall could no longer hold back and burst into loud weeping.

Weeping heart-rendingly, weeping until heaven and earth went dark.

She once thought Wang Changgen was honest and dutiful, impossible to do something betraying her, so she followed him wholeheartedly, willingly bearing three children for Wang Changgen! Even if they gathered little and parted much, even if life was hardship, she still chose fidelity, chose to grit her teeth and persist, chose to guard this marriage!

Yet never expected, no matter how honest and dutiful a man, there comes a time when he changes his heart!

Actually ever since Wang Changgen's attitude on the phone became impatient with her, she had already detected signs.

Seeing what she shouldn't have seen on the Street today, was actually long since destined in the dark.

Now placed before Li Xiulan are two roads: choose to turn a blind eye and pretend nothing was seen? Or choose to divorce Wang Changgen?

Both roads are incomparably difficult; choose forbearance, and all grievances must be borne alone, and moreover must endure a man who doesn't love her for a lifetime!

But if choosing divorce, what about the three children?

She couldn't bear to part with these three children, all three raised by her own hand, whichever one, she was unwilling to give up!

Wang Changgen worked away from home year-round, basically never raised the children much, she also wasn't sure if the children following Wang Changgen could have a better life.

"Sister Xiulan, what's wrong with you?"

Just when Li Xiulan's heart was in chaos, Niu Chunsheng appeared before her.

Wang Erhai and Wang Xiaohua ran to the Convenience Store, told Niu Chunsheng about Li Xiulan's crying; Niu Chunsheng heard it, without a second word, immediately shut the store door and ran over to see what happened.

Li Xiulan seeing Niu Chunsheng appear, couldn't help a warm current flowing through her heart; she could no longer control herself, ran over and buried her head in Niu Chunsheng's embrace, wailing loudly:

"Chunsheng, my husband has another woman outside, what am I to do from now on!"