Chapter 468: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 468: This Isn't My Fault, This Is All Fate

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

"Changgen, Xiulan, the clothes you're wearing — why do they feel a bit familiar?"

On the road, Zhang Zhongtian chatted idly while driving.

Wang Changgen sat in the passenger seat, while Li Xiulan sat in the back row.

"These are the clothes we wore when we got married."

Li Xiulan answered truthfully.

"No wonder I found them familiar — so they're what you wore at your wedding. In a blink, twenty-plus years have passed; didn't expect you two to have kept these clothes all this time!"

Zhang Zhongtian's tone carried surprise.

Clothes from twenty-plus years ago, still this intact — it was indeed a bit surprising.

Wang Changgen chuckled and said:

"No choice. The family was poor, no other new clothes; this one set was the best, so we wore this set."

Zhang Zhongtian glanced at Li Xiulan in the back seat through the rearview mirror; seeing the now-aged Li Xiulan, then recalling the beautiful Li Xiulan of twenty-plus years ago, he couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.

"Time really flies — in a blink, twenty-plus years, and we've all grown old."

Li Xiulan replied with a bitter smile:

"Yeah, Xiao Hua's graduated high school; time really has passed too fast."

Zhang Zhongtian said at this point:

"You two count as having suffered first and sweet later — three sons all grown into adults, and each with no small promise; just wait to enjoy blessings in your later years. I'm different — my son's unpromising, no great ability, can only go to the city to work for others; ask him to come back and develop in the village, he's unwilling, high expectations but low ability."

Wang Changgen said:

"Zhiqiang didn't give you a grandson? In my view, that's what counts as real promise — my three sons, to this day not one married; speaking of it, it's shameful!"

The Zhiqiang in Wang Changgen's mouth is Zhang Zhongtian's son Zhang Zhiqiang.

Zhang Zhiqiang married long ago; now his son can walk and talk.

But he works alone outside, while his wife Li Xiaohe stays alone in Shanggou Village raising the child, becoming a left-behind woman.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhongtian treats Li Xiaohe decently enough, and the Zhang family's economic strength is quite good, so Li Xiaohe hasn't suffered much in Shanggou Village; on the contrary, she lives quite comfortably, every few days taking the child to the town or county town to play.

Left-behind women in this era live much better than the left-behind women in Li Xiulan's time.

When Li Xiulan was a left-behind woman, she not only had to care for the children, but also do farm work, do housework, even solve economic problems herself.

When Wang Changgen worked outside, he hardly ever sent money home.

Li Xiulan raised silkworms, planted cassava, ran a small shop, even did masonry work — all forced by circumstance; if she'd had money to support three sons, she wouldn't have worked herself to death doing these things.

"Changgen, your three sons are so outstanding, they definitely won't worry about finding partners — it's just whether they're willing to look!"

Zhang Zhongtian responded with a hearty laugh.

He truly envied Wang Changgen and Li Xiulan from the bottom of his heart.

This couple — simply like scratching a lottery ticket and hitting the jackpot.

One after another, three sons, and all three so promising.

Eldest son returned after military retirement, before long started a company and had his own career.

Second son, though high school graduate, was tricked into doing pyramid scheme, but came back quickly; now working at his eldest brother's company, most likely a leadership-level figure too.

As for the youngest son, even more incredible — actually tested into Tsinghua!

You know, the whole Shanggou Village, since the college entrance exam resumed in '77, hasn't produced a single university student!

No 985 or 211 university students!

No key university students!

Not exaggerating — not even a single second-tier-or-above university student has ever come out!

Before, only a few junior college students appeared.

Never expected a Tsinghua student like Wang Xiaohua would suddenly emerge!

Besides the ancestral grave rising green smoke, no other reason can explain this!

"Just afraid they themselves aren't willing to look; I see Dashan and Erhai busy working to earn money, not too willing to marry!"

Wang Changgen said it like this.

Though his words carried belittling meaning, his face was full of vanity.

"Marry what marry — last time you were hospitalized for surgery, Dashan and Erhai spent so much money; how can you let them marry?"

Li Xiulan spoke this sentence at this moment.

She thought, this matter really does have to blame Wang Changgen.

If he hadn't had cerebral hemorrhage, Dashan and Erhai wouldn't have spent that much money; maybe Wang Dashan would've married this year.

Wang Dashan and Du Xiaojuan reconciled; their relationship seems pretty good; if finances allow, distance to marriage shouldn't be far.

"How can this blame me? This is all fate! If I hadn't had cerebral hemorrhage, Xiao Hua might not have gotten into Tsinghua either!"

Wang Changgen refuted righteously and forcefully.

His logic — if outsiders heard it, they'd absolutely stare wide-eyed, unable to believe.

Whether Xiao Hua gets into Tsinghua or not — what does it have to do with his cerebral hemorrhage?

But he firmly believed there must be a necessary connection.

His cerebral hemorrhage was the price for Xiao Hua getting into Tsinghua, and this was determined by the ancestral grave's feng shui.

"Changgen, what does Xiao Hua getting into Tsinghua have to do with your illness?"

At this, even Zhang Zhongtian, who was usually so considerate and good at socializing, was puzzled and couldn't help but ask another question.

Wang Zhanggen spoke with firm conviction:

"This is the result of feng shui. It's a long story, but to put it simply, for Xiao Hua to get into Tsinghua, a price had to be paid, and my cerebral hemorrhage that nearly cost me my life was that price!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhongtian chuckled and said:

"Put that way, you've indeed paid a huge price. For this family, you've truly devoted yourself until death."

"Of course!" Wang Zhanggen couldn't tell Zhang Zhongtian was flattering him and took it seriously. He said:

"It's just a pity Xiao Hua doesn't understand this principle. He's just a bookworm, completely unaware of my good intentions! Take before when I smashed his MP3 — wasn't that for the sake of his studies? Yet he still resents me to this day. If I hadn't smashed his MP3, would he have tested into Tsinghua? Forget Tsinghua, he probably wouldn't even have tested into Shaoguan University! Party Secretary Zhang, am I right?"

Zhang Zhongtian nodded with a smile in agreement:

"Right, right, right. Changgen, you're right. I was too indulgent with my son. When he was studying, he said he wanted an MP3, I bought it for him; he said he wanted a Little King Tong, I bought that too. And in the end, you all saw the result — he didn't even test into high school and went out to work."

Zhang Zhongtian's words weren't just surface agreement, but heartfelt approval.

Electronic devices harm people profoundly!

His son Zhang Zhiqiang being this unpromising now is all because of electronic devices!

Zhang Zhongtian also said to Wang Zhanggen:

"Xiao Hua doesn't understand now, but after some time he'll understand. After all, he's always been buried in books, so not understanding human relations is normal. You all need to show him more tolerance."

Wang Zhanggen said:

"Naturally. You don't know what kind of attitude he gives me. If I didn't tolerate him, I'd have kicked him flying with both feet long ago!"