Chapter 50: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 50: Shangou Village 50

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Just like that, Li Xiulan took over the Village Entrance Convenience Store again.

Her life thus improved again.

Not only was she no longer as tired as before, she no longer had to endure wind and sun, and could even find time to accompany her children and help them with their homework.

She told Wang Zhanggen this good news, but Wang Zhanggen's tone was cold:

"I told you not to get too close to Niu Chunsheng, yet you got that close to him again. Do you take my words as wind in your ears? Or are you really having an affair with him?"

Wang Zhanggen's attitude made Li Xiulan feel very chilled.

She had originally thought Wang Zhanggen would be happy for her, but unexpectedly got such a result.

"Wang Zhanggen, how narrow-minded can you be? What are you thinking! Chunsheng already has a partner now; he's going to open a shop in Town with his partner, that's why he transferred this convenience store to me!"

Li Xiulan explained in a bad mood.

But Wang Zhanggen still spoke stubbornly:

"I bet his partner doesn't even know he's been good to you."

【16】 This made Li Xiulan so angry she shouted in a shrill voice, "You're neurotic, always suspicious! I saw you shopping with another woman with my own eyes and didn't manage you that much, so what right do you have to keep suspecting me!"

This put Li Xiulan in such a rage that she shouted in a piercing voice, "You neurotic, always suspicious! I saw you shopping with another woman with my own eyes and didn't say so much, what right do you have to always suspect me!"

However, one sentence from Wang Zhanggen directly extinguished her anger:

"It was you who called me."

Li Xiulan was left speechless.

Her heart felt like it was being cut by a knife; she silently hung up the phone, and tears flowed uncontrollably.

Yes, she had brought this on herself; why had she stooped to call Wang Zhanggen?

She shouldn't have said anything to Wang Zhanggen!

She knew her relationship with Wang Zhanggen had long reached its end, and continuing would only torment each other, but for the sake of those three children, she had no choice but to maintain the status quo.

Sometimes she even sighed, if only she hadn't had children, how good that would be?

Without the burden of children, perhaps she would have divorced Wang Zhanggen long ago, and perhaps she would already be working in City now.

And if she could go to City to work, what kind of life would that be?

She heard the neon lights in City were very bright, the people in City dressed fashionately, lived in high-rise buildings, and had air conditioners and refrigerators...

Li Xiulan tried hard to imagine the scene in City, but she had lived over thirty years and had never left this small town; with her life experience and knowledge, imagining the prosperity of Big City was truly too difficult.

Fortunately, her life was now barely getting by.

With this convenience store, even if Wang Zhanggen's conscience was eaten by a dog and he stopped sending money back in the future, she and her three children wouldn't starve to death.

Days passed one by one like this.

Before long, it was the end of August 1998.

Second Son Wang Erhai was also going to school.

Because Wang Erhai hadn't been registered for household registration yet, to send him to school she could only pay extra fees and couldn't enjoy the Country's nine-year compulsory education.

Li Xiulan went to Shangou Primary School to ask.

Without household registration, she needed to pay four hundred fifty yuan in enrollment fees, plus fifty yuan for books and miscellaneous fees, and fifty yuan for desk and chair fees.

A total of five hundred fifty yuan, for one semester.

Li Xiulan didn't hesitate much and just paid the money.

She didn't even go to tell Wang Zhanggen a word.

Nowadays, relying on running the Village Entrance Convenience Store, she had already saved some money.

It was the same whether Wang Zhanggen was there or not.

She just treated Wang Zhanggen as if he were already dead.

Taking out so much money at once to pay tuition, in the past she wouldn't even dare to think about it, especially after she had compensated Yang Dafu a huge amount of medical expenses back then, her family was already on the verge of bankruptcy.

On the first day Wang Erhai went to school, he unexpectedly didn't cry or make a scene.

Li Xiulan thought he would be like Wang Dashan, needing a bamboo stick to chase and beat him before he was willing to go to school.

As a result, she found she had thought too much.

On the morning of September 1st, Wang Erhai carried his schoolbag on his own and went to school with his older brother Wang Dashan, jumping around energetically, no need to urge him at all.

Instead, it was the usually well-behaved Xiaohua who started crying and making a scene at this time.

He saw his two older brothers both going to school, and he wanted to go too.

Li Xiulan found his behavior both funny and exasperating, and could only comfort him:

"You're not old enough yet; wait until you're old enough in two years and I'll send you to school!"

Xiaohua cried with tears and snot:

"I want to go to school now, go now!"

The main reason Xiaohua cried and made a scene was that after his two older brothers went to school, there was no one to play with him; he was rather introverted and basically couldn't play with the other children in Village, and others always mocked him, Xiaohua, for this feminine name.

Xiaohua cried and demanded to go to school; Li Xiulan had no choice but to find some old books for him to look at, teach him to read and write, teach him various arithmetic problems, and then comfort him, saying this also counted as going to school.

What surprised Li Xiulan was that this youngest son of hers actually showed amazing aptitude in studying.

For arithmetic problems within one hundred, as long as she taught him the calculation method once, he could quickly apply it to similar cases; multiplication and division, once learned, he basically knew them, and for him there was no difficulty at all.

He also learned pinyin and character recognition very quickly; some characters that were only learned in third or fourth grade, he actually recognized after flipping through the textbook several times himself, and many ancient poems in the primary school Chinese textbook, he could memorize after looking at them a few times.

This made Li Xiulan favor Xiaohua even more in her heart; she even specially bought him a Xinhua Dictionary and various books, and whenever she had time, she taught him to recognize characters and do arithmetic problems.

Another Mid-Autumn Festival arrived.

This year Wang Changgen called back ahead of time, saying he would return for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Li Xiulan felt not a shred of happiness at Wang Changgen's stance, merely replying flatly:

"If you want to come back then come back, what are you telling me these things for."

She no longer had any feelings for Wang Changgen.

If this man were not the biological father of three children, she would not even be willing to have excessive contact with him again.

"I'm coming home for Mid-Autumn Festival this year, and you're not happy at all?"

Seeing Li Xiulan's reaction so flat, Wang Changgen asked irritably.

"Heh, it's the same whether you're here or not."

Li Xiulan saying this left Wang Changgen feeling deeply aggrieved.

However he surprisingly broke from habit, not quarreling with Li Xiulan as before.

"Xiulan, I admit I was busy with work before, neglected you and the children, am I not now trying my best to make it up to you? This Mid-Autumn Festival, the Factory originally only gave one day off, but I specially requested three days leave, just to go back and have a proper reunion with you all, we are a family, don't be so cold towards me, okay?"

Hearing Wang Changgen's words, Li Xiulan felt some surprise in her heart.

The Wang Changgen of before would never lower himself to apologize to her.

"So, you got dumped by that woman?"

Although Li Xiulan didn't have much education or worldly experience, her intuition was extremely sharp.

This sentence spoken aloud directly left Wang Changgen speechless.

Very clearly, Li Xiulan had guessed right.

That woman who had gotten together with Wang Changgen initially, on one chance occasion, discovered Wang Changgen not only had a wife but also three children, immediately had a huge fight with Wang Changgen, then broke up.

Facing Li Xiulan's questioning like this, Wang Changgen fell silent for a full half minute.

His silence was deafening.

In the end it was still Li Xiulan who spoke to break the awkwardness:

"When you come back, remember to buy some snacks and toys for the children, don't come back empty-handed..."