NOVPUBAll were startled by her reaction, and Yao Jiping nervously grasped her hand.
Lin Jing smiled at Yao Jiping and sat down again, "It started the year before last, right?"
Xia Guofu, after all, was too ashamed to recount the story himself and chose silence as his response.
"Liang Siyu, that’s a nice name. The girl looks... quite plain, too...."
"Jingjing..."
"Shut up!" Lin Jing cried out, on the verge of tears, "I wish you happiness. I’ll get the divorce papers sorted when I get back. Xiao Xiao will stay with me. Let’s go, A’tao!" She closed her eyes and turned away, not letting her tears fall.
Xia Guofu tried to follow her, but when he saw Yao Jiping’s fierce gaze, he finally slumped back down in resignation.
"Ha~ wanting a boy." Lin Jing remembered Xia Guofu’s promises when Xiao Xiao was born and felt like a joke to herself.
Lin Jing’s profession was as a Mandarin teacher at a public elementary school, affiliated with the educational bureau, thus she was also a part of the system.
The school had certain annual quotas targeting young married females like Lin Jing who had just given birth.
Five years ago, he said it didn’t matter whether it was a boy or a girl, that a daughter could carry on the family name. Five years later, he came to tell her, ’My mom wants a grandson.’
Lin Jing found everything ridiculously absurd—a tenured teaching position discarded, the fines for having more children could be dealt with, but she could never accept infidelity for such a reason, all within just five years....
Now that things had reached this point, she felt like a joke, mocking herself.
In the original timeline, Liang Siyu also got pregnant in 2003, but back then Xia Guofu didn’t have enough money to buy a house in Xiao Xiang. The mistress felt that having the child wouldn’t be secure enough, and after discussing, they decided to abort it.
But this time, with the earnings from wholesale crayfish in the hundreds of thousands, the mistress naturally wanted to tie Xia Guofu down with a child. Not for anything else, even if their affair got exposed, getting a house and some money out of it would still be worthwhile. Having seen the glamorous life of big cities, Liang Siyu wouldn’t dream of going back to the countryside.
Liang Siyu told Xia Guofu about her pregnancy; initially, he did not want it. However, after confirming at a small clinic that the baby was a boy, Xia Guofu changed his mind.
If there had been no child, Lin Jing might have forgiven Xia Guofu once again, like in the past life, but unfortunately, there were no "ifs".
...
Upon returning to the hotel, Lin Jing cried one last time.
"Have you really decided?" In the room, Yao Jiping sat opposite Lin Jing and asked.
"Mm... do you think I should do this?" Even though she had made up her mind, Lin Jing still hoped for Yao Jiping’s support.
"Whatever decision you make, I support you!" She stood up and embraced her best friend.
"Thank you, Jinping." Lin Jing felt the urge to cry again.
She felt that if she discussed this with her parents and relatives, they would unanimously say that she should consider the child and that divorced people lead bleak lives in their old age...
"Have you thought about how to tell Xiao Xiao?" Yao Jiping asked.
Lin Jing shook her head, "I don’t know."
"How about I let my naughty boy do it? The two little ones might find more common ground," Yao Jiping suggested spontaneously, knowing well the cleverness of Xu Qingfan.
Thinking of the two little ones at home, Lin Jing’s face momentarily brightened with a smile, "Mm, listen to you, Xiao Fan really is... sensible."
Seeing her best friend smile, Yao Jiping continued, "Jingjing, what if we make Xiao Xiao my daughter-in-law? That way, there’s no tension between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, and we can even save on the dowry."
"And she can walk back to her mother’s house in a few steps," Lin Jing added with a laugh.
"...."
...
Xu Qingfan, asleep at home, had no idea his mom had just "sold" him. A familiar tingling sensation woke him from his slumber.
Opening his eyes, he found Xia Xiaoxiao’s head resting on his arm again, at some point.
Xu Qingfan rolled his eyes, having already provided her with a pillow and a silken quilt, wondering how she had ended up in his bed again.
He gently extracted his arm that Xia Xiaoxiao was lying on, and, propping his head with one hand, watched her sleep.
"Xu... stinky pig..." Xia Xiaoxiao mumbled in her sleep.
Three dark lines formed on Xu Qingfan’s forehead as he was about to flick Xia Xiaoxiao’s forehead when she continued, "Don’t go... brother..."
Xu Qingfan chuckled, "Such a tsundere."
He shook his head amusedly, got dressed, and got up.
The two had gone to sleep past one in the morning, and it wasn’t even ten in the morning yet. If it weren’t for Xia Xiaoxiao’s disturbance, Xu Qingfan might have slept till one in the afternoon.
[Since I’m up, might as well go to the market to buy groceries and cook!] Xu Qingfan thought to himself.
Xia Xiaoxiao, still capable of talking in her sleep, probably would sleep for a while longer, so Xu Qingfan wasn’t worried about her waking up and not finding him around.
After washing up, he rode his bicycle to Fupeng Market, grabbed a 50-cent scallion pancake for breakfast, and began strolling through the market with his bicycle.
Navigating the market for vegetables was quite tricky: those who looked like out-of-towners driving a tricycle to sell their produce were the ones to avoid, as they might cheat on the scales.
And those vendors without clear pricing, especially the elderly women, should also be avoided as they might top up their scales unscrupulously, charging five yuan for vegetables worth three.
Having cooked quite often during the previous life’s mask period, Xu Qingfan had become quite a seasoned shopper himself. He bought eight crabs, a pound of beef, and a pound of ribs. For lunch, he planned to make stir-fried crab with scallions, stir-fried beef, and a Lingnan Province soup—carrots and corn stewed with ribs.
