Chapter 833: Rural Absurd Past Events Chapter 833: Human Nature Is Selfish, Both Cruel and Realistic

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Afterwards, Zhou Zhihao lay with his head on the pillow, smoking a cigarette.

His expression was heavy.

Beside him, Li Yuncui wore a look of complete satisfaction.

It had been a very long time since she had experienced such wonder.

"I have only one requirement."

Zhou Zhihao suddenly spoke a sentence.

"What?"

Li Yuncui was still immersed in the wonder and didn't react for a moment.

Zhou Zhihao then said:

"If I marry you, I have only one requirement."

"What requirement?" Li Yuncui asked hurriedly.

Zhou Zhihao looked at the ceiling, exhaling a mouthful of smoke:

"I won't help raise someone else's child."

This was his bottom line.

Although his Second Uncle's words were unpleasant to hear, he had to admit that helping raise someone else's child was indeed a very humiliating thing.

Hearing this, Li Yuncui's brows furrowed slightly:

"But the child has already been born; you can't expect me to stuff the child back into my belly, can you?"

Zhou Zhihao, however, said:

"That's not my concern. Anyway, I won't help another man raise a child. If you can't accept this condition, then let's break up — there's no need to talk further. If you accept, then we can discuss marriage."

Seeing Zhou Zhihao's attitude so firm, Li Yuncui knew she couldn't persuade him, but she also had no good solution:

"Then how do I handle my child?"

Li Yuncui didn't know what to do.

She hoped Zhou Zhihao could give her a feasible suggestion.

Zhou Zhihao, however, said:

"You figure it out yourself."

At this, Li Yuncui asked:

"Then the matter of the bride price..."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhou Zhihao cut her off:

"You've already given birth to a child, and you still want a bride price?"

Li Yuncui said weakly:

"There has to be at least a token gesture, otherwise my parents lose face. I've never been married before; I don't count as a divorced woman. This is a first marriage for both of us. You always say I didn't give you my first time — well, this wedding first time I've given to you."

Li Yuncui's words, though somewhat sophistic, were also flawless.

Although she had given birth, she was indeed a first-time bride.

Zhou Zhihao was quite speechless at this, but he didn't refute anything, merely saying:

"You deal with your child first, then come talk about the bride price."

In the blink of an eye, afternoon arrived, the sun sinking in the west.

Li Yuncui boarded the last township bus to Shanggou Village alone.

She leaned against the window, watching the burning clouds outside and the rolling green hills, a vague melancholy rising in her heart.

She was still thinking: how should she handle that child of hers?

Regarding that child, to say she had no feelings was impossible — after all, the child came from her own belly.

But to say she had feelings — she seemed to harbor more resentment than maternal love. She resented the child for trapping her in these mountains, resented the child for narrowing her life's path further and further, resented the child for stripping away all her life's possibilities.

As night was about to fall, Li Yuncui returned to Shanggou Village.

The moment she got home, she heard the child wailing loudly.

Her mother, Luo Jiaxin, was holding the child and soothing her, walking back and forth, squatting and rising, shushing — every method tried, but the crying wouldn't stop.

The child's face was cried red and purple.

Luo Jiaxin was at a loss, frantic:

"Can't you stop crying, you little thing — are you here to collect a debt? If you keep crying, I'll sell you!"

This was just a casual threat from Luo Jiaxin.

But the speaker meant nothing by it, while the listener took it to heart.

Li Yuncui, just back from outside, heard this and her heart suddenly gave a jolt, and then this very idea formed.

"Mom!"

Li Yuncui walked into the living room and called out to Luo Jiaxin.

Seeing Li Yuncui return, Luo Jiaxin couldn't help but scold:

"What did you go to the county town for? Gone a whole day — you had a nice time, but I suffered. Should've known better than to let you give birth to the child back then. This little thing is just here to collect a debt — can't be coaxed no matter what!"

Li Yuncui hurriedly took the child, cradling her in her arms.

The child still would not stop crying.

That was because the child had entered the second month, precisely the time for intestinal colic; without effective relief, the child's belly was uncomfortable, so naturally he would not stop crying.

This is also the reason behind what people call a child's "second-month fuss."

"Mom, how about we sell him?"

While coaxing the child, Li Yuncui uttered this sentence.

"What did you say?"

Luo Jiaxin's face was full of stunned surprise; she could hardly believe her ears.

"I said, let's sell him."

Li Yuncui repeated the words from just now.

Her expression was heavy, not looking like she was joking.

"He is your son!"

Luo Jiaxin was somewhat angry, accusing her coldly.

But Li Yuncui said:

"But he is also a fatherless bastard; I alone simply cannot take care of him. These days I am about to collapse, and you are about to collapse too."

Luo Jiaxin fell silent.

She indeed was about to collapse.

Especially when the child could not be coaxed no matter what.

"If your dad knew you thought this way, he'd probably beat you."

After a long while, Luo Jiaxin finally spoke this sentence.

But Li Yuncui said:

"Just don't let him know. He's out working now, and only returns to the hometown a few times a year!"

Luo Jiaxin fell silent again.

Li Yuncui spoke again:

"Mom, not afraid to tell you the truth — I went on a date today. He's a good man. He said he would be responsible for me for a lifetime, but his only requirement is that he won't help another man raise a child."

Luo Jiaxin remained silent.

Li Yuncui spoke again:

"Mom, please help me. I don't want to be a single mother for a lifetime. I need a man, and you and Dad need a son-in-law too; otherwise when you're old, who will take care of you?"

Luo Jiaxin sighed:

"Even if we want to sell, we'd have to find someone willing to buy. Who would be willing to buy?"

Her saying this meant she had agreed to Li Yuncui's proposal.

She and Li Zhenxing were heavily in debt due to business failure, and life was already very difficult; they truly dared not imagine what it would be like when they were old.

Moreover, they only had this one daughter, Li Yuncui. In her current wretched state, she clearly had no ability to support them in old age, so they indeed very much needed a son-in-law to secure their future.

"Find time to look outside. Those who are older but haven't had children will definitely be willing to buy."

Li Yuncui said this.

She also said:

"If we really can't sell, then give him away for free. A girl might not be wanted, but a boy given away for free — I refuse to believe no one would want him! Anyway, no matter what, this child I simply do not want anymore!"

For the sake of pursuing her love, Li Yuncui steeled her heart and went all out.

This child was the seed left by that irresponsible man. She hated that man to the bone, and that hate naturally transferred onto this child.

Because besides this child, she had no other outlet to transfer that hatred.

So her actively proposing to sell her own biological child — on the surface it looks absurd and cruel, but think it through carefully, and there is an inevitability to it.

Bottom line, human nature is selfish.

Sometimes, even maternal love cannot overcome the selfishness of human nature.

It is cruel, yet also very real.