WRS – Chapter 77

When they got home, it was still early. Jin Xiuzhu took out paper and pen to draw, and even asked if Li Yun liked reading. She said there were a few books at home.

Li Yun nodded. Yesterday while chatting, Jin Xiuzhu had mentioned that she used to be an elementary school teacher. Later, when she followed her husband to this place, she quit her job.

She didn’t read much, but she could still focus when she wanted to.

The book Jin Xiuzhu brought out was a novel written by Fang Min. When they moved previously, the first things she packed were her books and drawing tools. She had taken great care of them. Later, Fang Min mailed over two more books, and Jin Xiuzhu had practically worn them out from reading.

Li Yun wasn’t a talkative person either. She directly picked up a book and started reading. Beside her, Jin Xiuzhu quietly sketched without asking anything more.

In the quiet living room, only the occasional sound of pages turning could be heard.

Close to eleven o’clock, Jin Xiuzhu finally set down her pen and took Li Yun to the kitchen to cook.

Seeing that Li Yun’s mood had calmed, she smiled and said, “All three kids will come home for lunch, so we need to cook a bit more. I’m not very good at cooking. The one who cooks best in this house is my eldest son, Xiao Yan. He can make anything.”

Li Yun looked surprised. “How old is he?”

“Sixteen. He started school late, but he’s very sensible and has been helping with housework since he was young.”

Li Yun nodded with envy. “That’s really nice.”

Jin Xiuzhu glanced at her stomach and curiously asked, “Is this your first child?”

Li Yun stiffened at that question, her hands pausing as she picked vegetables.

Jin Xiuzhu quickly said, “I didn’t mean to pry. If you don’t want to talk about it, we can chat about something else.”

Li Yun lowered her eyes, her tone a bit downcast. “It’s not that I can’t say it. This is my third pregnancy. I didn’t manage to keep the first two.”

Hearing this, Jin Xiuzhu looked at her again.

Li Yun gave a bitter smile. “My health isn’t good. It’s hard for me to get pregnant, and even if I do, it’s difficult to keep it. I don’t know how things will go this time…”

Jin Xiuzhu pressed her lips together. “Didn’t you see a doctor?”

“I did. The doctor said I’m weak and shouldn’t overwork myself. My family thinks I’m not young anymore and that if I don’t give birth now, it’ll be even harder later. They urged me to quit my job and come here to live with my husband, so I came.”

Jin Xiuzhu frowned. In her opinion, in this era work was far more important to a woman than a man. If a woman had the ability to support herself, why rely on a man? Even great leaders had said that women hold up half the sky.

She hesitated but couldn’t help asking, “That woman who was standing at your door earlier—who was she?”

Li Yun fell silent. After a long while, she said, “She’s the younger sister of my husband’s friend. She had been matched with him before, but she disliked how poor his family was and married someone else. Now she’s divorced and has come back looking for him.”

Jin Xiuzhu raised her brows slightly.

Li Yun let out a cold laugh. “I only found out after coming here that she’s been living in a nearby village for almost six months. My husband arranged it. If I hadn’t discovered it accidentally, he probably wouldn’t have told me. He said nothing happened between them. I don’t know if that’s true. I just feel like I have nowhere to go.”

She took a deep breath and stroked her belly. “If this child hadn’t come… I could’ve gone home. Divorce would’ve been fine too. But now that I’m pregnant, it’s hard to leave, and I don’t want to stay either. He told me to stay in the city and rest, so that’s what I’m doing. This child has been so hard to come by. The doctor said that if I lose this one, I may never have another chance in my lifetime.”

Hearing this, Jin Xiuzhu couldn’t help reaching out to check her pulse.

Li Yun froze, looking at her wrist, then at Jin Xiuzhu in confusion.

After feeling her pulse for a while, Jin Xiuzhu explained, “I know some herbal medicine. Your constitution is indeed weak, but not to the point of never conceiving again. With good care, you’ll be fine. As for the difficulty staying pregnant, it could also be the man’s problem.”

Li Yun looked at her in shock and whispered, “Really?”

Jin Xiuzhu smiled. “Really. I helped my friend when she was pregnant. Her condition was similar to yours. Now she’s very healthy—and pregnant again recently.”

Li Yun’s emotions were complicated but tinged with joy. She desperately wanted to have a child of her own.

But after conceiving and losing babies so many times, she was terrified now—terrified that this one would be lost too. The only reason she still remained here was because of the child in her womb.

Otherwise, she would’ve left long ago.

Li Yun asked again uncertainly, “Can this child stay?”

“After lunch I’ll write you a prescription for stabilizing the pregnancy. If you follow it properly, the baby will stay. If you can’t manage that… then you may have to wait for the next time.”

Li Yun’s face lit up. She nodded seriously. “I’ll definitely follow it.”

Jin Xiuzhu acknowledged with a hum and added, “Keeping a good mood is also very important for pregnancy. If you’re always anxious or worried, it’s bad for the baby’s development.”

Li Yun understood what she meant. She gave a bitter smile. “But I really can’t help thinking too much. I truly regret marrying him. If I’d known all this would happen, I never would’ve agreed.”

Her eyes reddened. “He clearly has someone he likes. Why did he marry me? I can live perfectly fine without him. I didn’t need to be with him. Why drag me into their mess?”

Jin Xiuzhu nodded. “It’s a troublesome situation. That woman didn’t go home after divorcing and actually came all the way to find your husband. And your husband put her in a nearby village. Even if nothing happened, it seems like something happened. If people talk, it’s an insult to you.”

Even in ancient times, although concubines existed, it was still shameful to keep women outside. Let alone now, when monogamy was the law. Jin Xiuzhu really didn’t know what Li Yun’s husband was thinking.

But considering Li Yun’s current condition, she advised, “Right now your health comes first. Everything else can wait. If you can, it’s best to endure for a while and tell your husband to send that woman away. After that, you two can discuss what to do next. Whether you divorce or continue… decide based on what’s best for you. But first, remove that woman from the picture.”

Li Yun listened blankly.

These days she had thought about so many things—from anger at the beginning, to numbness now. She had even decided that if she miscarried again, she would divorce and go home, letting the two of them be together.

She hadn’t planned to tell anyone these things. Her family believed it was a great blessing that she married him. Even if she told them, they wouldn’t understand—only tell her to put up with it. His family had long regretted choosing her and thought her ungrateful because she’d been married for years without a child.

“That woman came to speak to me once. She wanted me to step aside for them. So it wasn’t a coincidence I found out—they wanted me to know. Honestly… divorce wouldn’t be so bad.”

Jin Xiuzhu’s mindset was different from most women of this era. She never took men very seriously. If she encountered something like this, she would be sad, yes, but she would choose whatever benefited her the most.

So she continued, “If your husband wants a divorce, then negotiate and get what you deserve. If he doesn’t want a divorce, then have him send that woman away. Whether you stay or leave is entirely up to you. But from what I see, arranging for you to stay here means he does care at least a little. That woman is desperate. She can’t get what she wants from him, so she’s disturbing you. If you get upset or fight with your husband, she gets her chance.”

Li Yun looked up at her.

Jin Xiuzhu smiled. “For the sake of your baby, endure for now. Treat your husband like a boss who pays your salary. Work isn’t always pleasant, but as long as you get the money, it’s fine. When the day comes that you’ve found a better job you like, you can ‘resign.’”

It was the first time Li Yun had heard someone compare marriage to work. But Jin Xiuzhu’s words suddenly made everything feel clearer.

She had been an elementary school teacher. Students angered her, coworkers and supervisors angered her, but she still greeted them politely every day—because she needed the job.

If she treated her husband like a coworker or boss, she wouldn’t need to feel so bitter. And now that she wasn’t working, she could wait until the baby was older, then find a job again. After that, she could decide on divorce.

Li Yun’s expression eased. “Whether or not he did anything wrong, the fact that he hid that woman in the village says enough. But you’re right, everything else comes second. First I need to give birth safely. After the child grows, I’ll find a job. Then I’ll divorce.”

She was a determined person. Once she made a decision, she wouldn’t change it. Just like now—she had wanted to leave, so she left. She would rather die than stay in the army camp to see him again.

Divorce was certain. Since those two liked each other, she had no intention of staying between them.

As for Jin Xiuzhu’s suggestion that her husband had feelings for her—Li Yun didn’t believe it. Everything he did was just for the child.

Jin Xiuzhu didn’t argue. “It’s good that you can think clearly.”

Li Yun smiled faintly, her expression lighter than before.

As Jin Xiuzhu tossed the washed vegetables into the wok, she said, “After lunch I’ll write you the prescription. Once you wake up from your afternoon nap, I’ll go with you to the Chinese medicine clinic to get the herbs. My family were once imperial physicians—specializing in treating women in the inner palace.”

Hearing this, Li Yun finally felt her heart loosen. So it was ancestral knowledge—then she must be truly skilled.

Compared to her man, she cared more about the child in her belly. She was very glad she had taken the initiative to knock on the door yesterday.

At noon, Jin Xiuzhu cooked four dishes. When the three children came home, they greeted everyone one by one. Looking at the lively kids, Li Yun’s mood improved, and she even ate an extra bowl of rice.

She didn’t go home at noon either. He Yan secretly climbed up to the wall and saw that the woman standing at the neighbor’s door still hadn’t left. So Jin Xiuzhu kept Li Yun for lunch and told her to take a nap together.

In the afternoon, around three or four when it wasn’t so hot anymore, the two finally went out to get her medicine. When they left the house, the woman at the neighbor’s doorstep was gone.

Li Yun let out a cold laugh and said to Jin Xiuzhu, “Just wait—tonight my husband will definitely come over.”

Jin Xiuzhu patted her hand.

Li Yun followed her to the Chinese medicine clinic. After picking up the herbs, they went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a medicine pot.

Jin Xiuzhu even followed her next door to teach her how to decoct the medicine, and then explained some dietary taboos, telling her not to eat cooling foods.

Li Yun nodded repeatedly, then sent Jin Xiuzhu to the door.

Sure enough, just as Li Yun had predicted, during dinner at Jin Xiuzhu’s house, they heard the sound of arguing from next door.

Jiang Mingchuan was also home. Hearing the noise, he frowned and paused his chopsticks to listen.

He Yan and the others heard it too and asked, “Mom, do we need to go take a look?”

Jin Xiuzhu shook her head calmly. “Ignore it. We’ll eat our own meal.”

He Yan said, unable to help himself, “Mom, weren’t you getting along pretty well with her today?”

Jiang Mingchuan also looked at Jin Xiuzhu. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t get involved? How did you end up ‘getting along’?”

Jin Xiuzhu shot him a look. “She came to me first. What was I supposed to do—slam the door in her face? She looked like a decent person, so I chatted with her a bit.”

“Just met a few times and you say she’s ‘decent’?”

Jin Xiuzhu ignored him. If he couldn’t see it, that didn’t mean she couldn’t.

She wasn’t bragging—no one’s tricks could escape her eyes. Anyone she found respectable must be someone who handled themselves very well.

Seeing Jiang Mingchuan unconvinced, she told him what Li Yun had said earlier. Then she added, “Am I wrong? If nothing were going on, why would he ask me to ‘comfort’ his wife but avoid telling me what actually happened? If I had gone over directly to talk to her, she’d be even angrier. What if she hurt the baby? Then we’d be blamed for it.”

Jiang Mingchuan frowned after hearing that; he also felt she had a point. He hadn’t thought it through earlier and didn’t expect the matter to have such a backstory.

He Yan was furious. “That Tan guy is too outrageous! He’s married—how can he still have entanglements with another woman? No matter how pitiful that woman is, she should go find her own family, not cling to him. I’d be angry too!”

Jin Xiuzhu turned to Jiang Mingchuan. “Why aren’t you talking? What—are you sympathizing with that Tan fellow now?”

Jiang Mingchuan felt extremely wronged. “Sympathize with what?”

Jin Xiuzhu snorted. “Back when we lived over there, Zhao Yun came looking for you plenty of times.”

He didn’t expect she still remembered that. “But it stopped later, didn’t it?”

Back then, Zhao Yun had even run upstairs right in front of her to act coy with Yang Yao. That Yang Yao wasn’t a good person either—he later married a woman much younger who talked like she was constantly baby-talking.

Wu Erzhu had told him the woman looked a bit like Jin Xiuzhu, only much uglier, but he disgusted Jiang Mingchuan enough. He never dared tell Jin Xiuzhu, afraid she’d remember Yang Yao again.

Jin Xiuzhu said sarcastically, “That was because I made a fuss. If I hadn’t, who knows what would’ve happened later? Li Yun is just too timid to cause a scene. If it were me, I’d show that pair of dogs how I deal with them!”

Jiang Mingchuan sighed helplessly. “I didn’t say or do anything! How did I suddenly become part of a ‘pair of dogs’?”

She ignored him.

Only Fu Yanyan secretly glanced at Jiang Mingchuan, thinking he really wasn’t wronged at all.

In her past life, Jiang Mingchuan wasn’t much different from this Captain Tan. Because he felt guilty toward Zhao Yun, he would always help her whenever she came to him—money, labor, whatever she needed. The angrier Captain Yang got, the more Zhao Yun went to find him, and then “Jin Xiuzhu” would fight with him. Their whole household was filled with smoke.

Hearing the arguing next door now made Fu Yanyan feel like she was watching the scenes from her previous life replay.

Jiang Mingchuan sighed. “I’ll ask Xiao Tan tomorrow.”

Jin Xiuzhu said calmly, “What’s there to ask? I don’t want anything to do with a man like that. If he can’t even manage his own household, what kind of achievement can he have?”

Her tone was full of disdain.

Jiang Mingchuan knew she was angry and didn’t dare provoke her. He only responded with a quiet “mm” and continued eating.

He Yan, sharp as ever, declared, “I’ll never do that kind of thing. Whoever I marry, I’ll treat her well. I won’t go messing around outside. Only two-timing men do that.”

Jin Xiuzhu’s expression softened. She nodded. “Good. Our family does have good men.”

He Yan beamed.

Jiang Mingchuan glanced at his son expressionlessly, feeling like the boy was insinuating something.

He Yan met his father’s gaze and blinked.

Jiang Mingchuan: “…”

Fu Yanyan saw this exchange and couldn’t help smiling.

The next day, Li Yun came to find Jin Xiuzhu again, but only to borrow books. It was too lonely at home alone; having someone nearby felt better.

She didn’t talk much. When Jin Xiuzhu drew, she quietly read. She didn’t mention last night’s argument, and Jin Xiuzhu didn’t ask.

But she wasn’t that interested in the books. After finishing two, she couldn’t help asking who had taught Jin Xiuzhu medicine and whether she could teach her too.

She was bored staying home all day and wanted something to do.

Jin Xiuzhu didn’t expect her to be interested. She herself had only learned a half-baked level and wasn’t sure she could teach properly.

But Li Yun trusted her. “It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re willing to teach me. I just want something to do.”

Jin Xiuzhu hesitated, then suddenly became serious. “I can teach you—but you must formally acknowledge me as your master. I don’t pass these skills to outsiders. I only learned them to help my family, but if you truly want to study, then the meaning changes. If you’re going to learn, you must learn properly. I don’t want to waste time.”

Li Yun was stunned. She hadn’t expected that. But she wasn’t someone who hesitated. Learning a skill was a good thing—bowing to a teacher didn’t matter.

She asked, “How do I do it?”

“In ancient times, the ceremony was strict—you needed offerings and money. We’ll simplify it. Prepare one jin of rice and one jin of meat tomorrow. Let me warn you though—if I become your master, I’ll be strict.”

Li Yun agreed without hesitation.

Jin Xiuzhu immediately wrote her a reading list and told her to prepare the books; they would start with the basics tomorrow.

Li Yun left with the list and bought half the books that afternoon. The rest weren’t available in the department store, so she planned to write a letter to her friends to help her buy them.

The next morning, Li Yun went to the street where vegetables were sold and bought one jin of meat—and felt it wasn’t enough, so she bought some seafood too. She put everything in her basket and headed to Jin Xiuzhu’s house.

She didn’t really understand the process—she just did whatever Jin Xiuzhu instructed.

After serving her tea, Jin Xiuzhu took a sip, dipped her fingers into the cup, and pressed a drop of water onto Li Yun’s forehead. Then she explained some rules.

Li Yun touched her forehead, feeling inexplicably at peace, as if she had suddenly found a place she belonged.

Jin Xiuzhu was a strict teacher. The moment the ceremony ended, she began the lessons, taking out the books Li Yun had bought and explaining everything line by line.

Her thinking was broad—sometimes one sentence would lead her far into another topic. Li Yun felt completely lost, but Jin Xiuzhu didn’t care and only told her to listen carefully.

Li Yun had been quite smart when she was younger, but even so, she struggled. After studying in the morning, she went home in the afternoon to immediately review and memorize. Jin Xiuzhu required her to memorize every book by heart.

Although it was difficult, Li Yun forced herself to do it.

Maybe because studying was so consuming, she no longer had the energy to think about the mess at home.

When her husband came back again, he found that Li Yun no longer paid any attention to him. When she saw him, she didn’t react emotionally—she only said, “We’re running out of money. When’s your salary coming?”

He looked at the books and notebooks covering the table but didn’t ask. “This month it’ll be late—around the twenty-fifth.”

Li Yun said, “Oh. Then just come back on the twenty-fifth.”

Then she lowered her head and continued studying, completely ignoring him.

“…”

Captain Tan stood there watching for a while, and seeing the woman not spare him even a single glance, he went to the kitchen to heat water and bathe.

That night, he waited for a long time in bed but she never came. In the morning, she was lying with her back to him, leaving space between them.

He lowered his eyes, dressed, and left.

Perhaps because she now had an apprentice, Jin Xiuzhu’s days became fulfilling. In the blink of an eye, it was January.

At the beginning of January, before the three children were on break, Jin Xiuzhu returned to the capital alone. She first went to S City’s train station and met Bai Jingzhi there, then they traveled together to the capital.

They arrived on the 10th. The first thing they did was clean the house. Jin Xiuzhu had already contacted Zhong Xue beforehand, and Zhong Xue had helped collect all the packages she’d sent—quilts, candy, biscuits—all piled up in the living room.

Zhong Xue knew they would arrive today and even brought her parents to help tidy up. After cleaning, they began arranging the send-off banquet for the wedding at the end of the year. The date was set for the 28th. Although the process was already planned, there were still things to prepare, like the venue and the gifts.

Zhong Xue’s parents said they could reserve a table at a state-run restaurant.

Jin Xiuzhu was extremely grateful. When Zhong Xue left, she said she’d already reserved the alcohol and would bring it the next day.

They kept busy until the 26th, when Jiang Mingchuan finally arrived with the three children. The four of them were dusty and tired, especially the little girl clinging tightly to her father’s neck, her eyes red as if she had cried.

Jin Xiuzhu: About to marry off my sister-in-law… feeling reluctant.

Jiang Mingchuan: Sigh.

He Yan: What are you all reluctant about? If anyone should be sad, it’s Aunt Zhu’s family—they’re practically marrying off a son!

Fu Yanyan: Don’t say it so bluntly.

Liuliu: Uncle-in-law said he’ll come to our house for New Year next year.