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Chapter 354: Chapter 354: How soon after your marriage did you get divorced?
"Isn’t there still a difference between good and bad?" The nurse, oblivious to Lin Man’s uncomfortable expression, continued with her chin raised, "I think Dr. Si is more handsome. He has a fair complexion, and his eyes, nose, and mouth are all attractive. Furthermore, it’s almost impossible to find anything wrong with him."
The most important thing was, as a hospital staff member herself, her evaluation of Dr. Si, consciously or unconsciously, was slightly inclined to the positive side.
Upon hearing this, for some unknown reason, Lin Man suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable, and she argued: "Mr. Zhao is also quite good! If we really need to nitpick, there’s nothing unsuitable about his looks, is there?"
The nurse stared at Lin Man with a puzzled expression, speculating: "Lin Man, you seem a bit off today. Don’t you usually praise Dr. Si? When people talk about him, you always speak up for him. Why are you suddenly siding with Mr. Zhao now? Don’t tell me you’re attracted to Mr. Zhao?"
Everyone privately speculated that Lin Man was in love with Si Chen; however, given that Si Chen was married, they only dared to discuss it in private and never outed it openly. Hence, the sight of Lin Man speaking favorably about another man, Mr. Zhao in this case, seemed quite unusual to the nurse.
She wondered, could it be that Lin Man has switched her affection to someone else?
Feeling uneasy under the nurse’s scrutiny, Lin Man quickly said, "I’m just observing objectively, nothing more. I can’t talk anymore, I have things to do."
After that, she walked into the neighboring ward. However, her mind was filled with thoughts of Zhao Wenkai. Ever since Zhao Wenkai had handed her a handkerchief, she had constantly been seeing his face in her mind, and had barely thought about Si Chen.
She had initially planned to use her lunch break to call Lin Fengying, but that plan was now completely forgotten.
What she didn’t know was, even if she hadn’t forgotten about it and managed to make the call, there would’ve been nobody to pick up.
Lin Fengying had been in the city, taking care of Zhang Lijuan all this time. It was alright when they were not living together, but now that they were, Lijuan was dissatisfied with everything Fengying did, made faces at her all day, and always criticized and picked out faults with her work. This had driven Lin Fengying to tears in her son’s presence several times.
However, Si Boyi was still recovering from the shock of nearly losing his wife during childbirth. He was worried that anything might affect Lijuan’s health, and found himself in a dilemma in the face of his mother’s complaints.
"Mom, Lijuan can’t get upset while she’s in her postpartum month. Otherwise, it might leave behind serious health issues. We have to indulge her a bit right now. If you feel upset, you can go back home and stay there for a while. I will hire a nanny to look after Lijuan. I had promised to hire a nanny for her earlier. If it weren’t for your disagreement, I would have hired one long ago so that you wouldn’t need to tire yourself out, and Lijuan could be more comfortable."
"Hiring a nanny would be quite costly. We folks from the countryside can’t afford those luxuries, having a child and then needing a nanny?" Upon hearing about hiring a nanny, Lin Fengying felt bitter about it, her tears brimming as she said: "When I had you three, I had no one to take care of me during my confinement, and still I managed just fine. Besides, if I just sit idle at home and don’t look after Lijuan during her confinement and you have to hire a nanny instead, what would Lijuan’s mother think of that? What would the villagers say about me?"
Her eldest son had forgotten his mother after getting a wife, and now her younger son was following suit. Feeling terribly wronged, Lin Fengying felt as though she had raised two thankless sons.
Both her sons were spinesless, dreadfully afraid of their wives, making her, a widow, sufferr. If she had known things would turn out this way, she should’ve...
"It’s our life, why should we care about what other people say? Now that our lives have improved, what’s wrong with hiring a nanny so that you can relax, and Lijuan gets to enjoy?"
Being caught between his wife and his mother was a big headache for Si Boyi.
It could all be solved so easily by hiring a nanny, yet his mother adamantly refused. Now she’s complaining in front of him—what was he supposed to do about it?
Should he drag Lijuan out and beat her up?
Frankly speaking, his mother was just obsessed with keeping up appearances and making her own life miserable.
"I’m only trying to save money for you and your wife, aren’t I?" Lin Fengying argued, wiping her runny nose on her shoe, which made Si Boyi frown.
He said sternly, "Mom, I’ve told you many times that you need to break this habit of wiping your snot everywhere. We run a beverage shop; if customers see what you’re doing, it could affect our business."
Since moving to the city, Si Boyi had gradually changed his lifestyle habits. Attention to personal hygiene was stressed for working in the beverage business as Tong Yao had once said. He had always remembered this and had been meticulous about it, and later also required Zhang Lijuan to be the same.
His mother, however, was the only one who couldn’t break this habit, no matter how many times he reminded her.
"Fine, you now feel all superior and consider me unclean. It’s not like the old days when you had to beg food from me, isn’t it? Now that I can still move, you are disgusted by me; wait till I am old and unable to move, why not just roll me up in a mat, throw me in a pit out back and bury me!"
Since her youngest son was still ignorant of her past wrongdoings and he was honest and simple by nature, Lin Fengying dared to play up to him and show the crying and noisy side of a village woman.
Si Boyi was exasperated by Lin Fengying’s tantrums. With a face dark as coal, he didn’t know how to deal with her and said helplessly, "Mom, why have you changed so much since coming back from Kyoto?"
He spoke the truth. Lin Fengying had indeed changed since returning from Kyoto. She felt it was because of her eldest and youngest sons that she had missed out on happiness in her youth, leaving her singled out today.
Now her oldest son and youngest son were both settled down with their own families, but she was still alone. Moreover, she had to serve her daughter-in-law like a nanny. Why did she have to go through all this?
If she had chosen to follow Si Weimin back in the day, she might be now living a comfortable life in Kyoto. No one liked to struggle, Lin Fengying was no exception; she regretted not being more selfish in her youth.
While the mother and son were in an impasse, one weeping and wailing and the other with a face black as charcoal, the store’s telephone suddenly rang. It was Si Xiaohui on the line. This was the first time she had called since Lin Fengying had returned.
Upon hearing that it was Si Xiaohui, Lin Fengying immediately snatched the phone from her son’s hand. "Xiaohui, how are you doing there? Lin Man told me earlier that she found jobs for you and Song Yu, but you both quit not long after. What are you guys doing now? Has your uncle visited you?"
Hearing Song Yu’s name, Si Xiaohui rolled her eyes and irritably responded, "Mom, I don’t want to hear about Song Yu anymore. I want to divorce him. I can’t even stand to look at him right now. I must have been blind back then to fall for him. I was fooled by his sweet talk. My uncle said that he would come to Li City when he has time to help me with the divorce proceedings."
"What?" Lin Fengying was taken aback. "You’ve only been married a short while and you’re getting a divorce?"
If this becomes known, won’t she become the talk of the town?
