Chapter 21
Lu Yuanzheng glanced at her with a smile on his face, following her example and whispering, “They’re afraid that you’ll renege and not marry me!”
Xu asked, “”
She smiled and said, “Do you think I believe it?”
“Really” Lu Yuanzheng emphasized, “I’m a soldier, and I’m always away from home, so whoever marries me is like a widow That alone discourages many female comrades! I also have a son, so any young lesbian who marries me will have to be a stepmother” He lifted his finger and tapped the scar on his face, “Think about it every day when you open your eyes and see such a hideous face, will not be shocked?”
Xu asked: “”
This is really self-aware
She blinked, “Are you abetting me to repent?”
“No, I just want to praise your bravery” Lu Yuanzheng really wasn’t afraid that Xu Man would regret her marriage
He could tell that Xu Man had thought long and hard about marrying him, weighing the pros and cons
Of course, she didn’t hide the fact that “deal” was how she described their marriage
She didn’t necessarily like him, but she definitely wouldn’t go back on marrying her
Xu Man rolled his eyes, sat up straight, and stopped talking to him
“I’m not lying to you They’re really afraid that you’ll regret not marrying me” Lu Yuanzheng restrained his smile and said softly, “My uncles are the most”
Xu Man blinked, understanding the reason after a brief thought
When Lu Yuanzheng came back to visit his family with his child, his uncles would be especially happy
If Lu Yuanzheng really entrusted his son, his uncles would not be able to take care of Dongsheng due to the pressure of family ties and other aspects
But having a child who doesn’t know what he’s doing, who needs to be taken care of, and who needs to be given rations, is an additional financial pressure on a family
Even if Lu Yuanzheng prepares enough living expenses for Dongsheng Even if Lu Yuanzheng provided Dongsheng with enough money to live on, the aunt and auntie would not be willing to bring up another child
Therefore, it is best for them to have Xu Man as the “wrongdoer” to marry Lu Yuanzheng
Xu Man pursed her lips, this is human nature, understandable but hard to accept
“In addition, I have little time, has not been according to the normal wedding to, and then not according to the rules will not be anyone have a problem”
Any young comrades who get married afterward can be dismissed with a single sentence: “Then you go to the army!” or “You go to the army for others!” Or “Are you going to be a stepmother to someone else?”
Xu Man thought about it for a moment and realized that this was indeed the case Everyone regarded her as an ingrate, and only sympathized with her
Not even half an hour into the meal, the wedding process had already advanced to the selection of the date
Both men and women invited a few respected elders, there are those who know the yellow calendar, on the spot to ask for Xu Man and Lu Yuanzheng’s birthdate on the spot together
After a while, three good dates were calculated
The first is three days later
Xu Qiushi dismissed on the spot: “Three days which is too late? Let’s not talk about purchasing wedding supplies, just three days, relatives can’t even notify over”
Not to mention the household, even the production team, some have not yet pressed the phone, to get people’s homes to send invitations
The second day is sixteen days later, the third day is a month later, obviously too late
The Xu family was still a bit hesitant, half a month was too tight
Lu Yuanzheng stated, “Grandma, mom and dad, don’t worry, even though the wedding is simplified but Xu Wen will not be short of what she deserves, I won’t let her suffer”
Xu Wen grunted, “You haven’t gotten married yet, so change your mind earlier!”
Lu Yuanzheng only laughed and didn’t say anything
Xu Wen understood, said three options, in fact, only sixteen days later this one option
After a meal, the day is set, the bride price list will be sent to the Xu family, handkerchiefs are also changed, just waiting for the preparation of the wedding
When everyone finished eating, Lu Yuanzheng sent the Xu family out the door
“Ask me, will you be taking a vacation or going to school this week?” Grandma asked Xu Wen, who had not yet gotten into the car Grandma asked Xu Wen who hadn’t gotten on the bus yet
“Go to school, right? It’s not good to take too long of a vacation”
Sang Xiaoqing reacted quickly and busily said, “That’s just right, let Yuanzheng send you there in the afternoon!” Only after saying that did she ask Lu Yuanzheng, “Is Comrade Yuanzheng free this afternoon?”
Lu Yuanzheng glanced at Xu Man, who was clearly a bit restrained, and nodded, “Guarantee that I’ll send Ask back to school safely”
Lu Yuanzheng sent Xu Man literally just to the school entrance
“I won’t go in You’re still a student after all, and your classmates will see us together for fear of bringing you trouble” Lu Yuanzheng took off the woven basket from the handlebar and handed it to Xu Man, “I brought you some food, you can share it with your classmates if you can’t finish it”
Xu Man thought it was the leftovers from lunch and nodded to take it
The so-called leftovers referred to dishes that were served on the table but basically didn’t move the chopsticks
This kind of dish was a waste to throw away
“Slow down on your way!”
“I’ll pick you up from school when the weekend comes” Lu Yuanzheng turned the car around and waved his hand at Xu Qian, getting on his bike and leaving
The wedding was only one day, but bits and pieces were quite time-consuming, and half a month was a tight schedule
Xu Wen didn’t remember until she got to the dormitory that she hadn’t brought a change of clothes at all
Who would have thought that just having an engagement dinner, she would be packed and sent to school without even returning home
Luckily, Zhu Meizhen gave her a month’s worth of food expenses last week, or else she would have to drink the northwest wind this week
It seems not to be able to drink the northwest wind, Dongsheng also gave her a bunch of school meal tickets, save a little bit to eat a month will not be a problem
When she arrived, Li Yun was squatting by her bedside to make up her homework, and Shao Yueyue had not yet arrived
“Ask, you’re quite early today?” Li Yun was a bit surprised, usually Xu Wen is the last one to arrive at school
“Well, today there are p family members to send me here, faster than usual waiting for the bus” Xu Wen put the woven basket on her bed, then went to the wooden cabinet to take the already hairy pickles to the dumpster behind the dormitory to dump them
The location of their dormitory was really bad, and they didn’t dare to open the windows on the back wall in the summer
At the end of the central road was the public toilet, which was located diagonally behind the dormitory There was a dumpster in front of the toilet
Not the kind of one-meter-high square dumpster, it is a big rectangular tin box that looks a bit like a tank, with a few small doors for throwing garbage in
I don’t know how often it’s cleaned, but it’s so full that it’s impossible to throw the garbage in
Winter is okay, now this season, the disgusting smell wrapped in countless mosquitoes and flies flying all over the sky, really give people a headache
Xu Wen dry retching a few times, red eyes first to the faucet under the glass bottles filled with pickles to wash before returning to the dormitory
She put the glass bottle on the wooden cabinet, just in time to see a fly landing on the wooden cabinet, reminding her of the scene just now, the acidity in her stomach just suppressed began to surge again, and she could not hold back another dry heaving
Li Yun looked up to see Xu Man covering her mouth, her eyes tearful, hurriedly got up and walked over, concerned, “What’s wrong with you?”
Unable to speak, Xu Man shook his head and pointed his hand backwards
Li Yun understood, put his own cold boiled water divided some to Xu Man cup handed to Xu Man: “This time the whole school students are busy in the new school site, no one to clean the school’s sanitation, this dumpster not to mention the inside, even the outside is full It’s summer again, and that smell is really disgusting to anyone who smells it”
“Ah ah ah! It stinks! Is the school planning to stink us to death?”
After Li Yun finished speaking, Shao Yue also arrived and pinched her nose to enter the door before letting out a long breath
Li Yun held up a cup and asked Shao Yue, “Do you want some water to pressurize it?”
Shao Yue waved her hand and took off a large army green water bottle from her shoulder, “Please drink orange water for you two”
She poured the water from both Xu Wen’s and Li Yun’s cups into a clean lunchbox and poured a full cup of orange water for both of them one by one
“It’s icy, drink it to cool off”
Xu asked and tasted it, it was cold and sweet and sour indeed delicious
“Let’s go to the cafeteria to eat? I came to my grandma’s house with my mom in the afternoon, came back a bit late, didn’t have time to eat” Shao Yue hand rubbed her stomach and invited them
Xu Wen shook his head, “I brought rice If you don’t mind, why don’t you eat together?”
She weighed the woven basket that Lu Yuanzheng had given her, and didn’t know how many dishes were in it
She guessed that three people would definitely have no problem eating
Li Yun and Shao Yue thought that Xu Man had memorized the salted vegetable dumplings at home again, so they looked at each other and nodded their heads
If they didn’t eat, Xu Man wouldn’t eat theirs either
“What kind of delicious food did you bring? Let me pad it down first!” Shao Yue was really hungry
The dormitory had only one aisle, and now Xu Man was squeezed in the innermost part of the aisle, with one wall, one wooden cabinet, and one bed in front of Li Yun, who was sandwiched in the middle, so she couldn’t climb over the bed
Xu Man pointed to the woven basket on his bed and said to Shao Yue: “I haven’t had time to take it out yet, so take a look at it yourself! I don’t know what’s in it since my family collected it for me today”
Shao Yue had been classmates with Xu Man for more than a year and had always been on good terms, so she didn’t be polite with Xu Man and turned around and walked over to Xu Man’s bed to open the woven basket
The top layer was foam disposable lunch boxes with the name of the state-run hotel printed on them
Shao Yue took them out one by one and set them on the floor, saying, “Ooh! Ask, why did you bring so many restaurant dishes?”
Xu Wen didn’t want to say much and only said, “Someone invited our family for dinner today Ordered more dishes and brought some back You guys don’t mind”
“How could anyone mind such a sumptuous dish? Huh? What is this?” When Shao Yue took the last dish out, she brought up the plastic paper that was padded under the lunch box, revealing the dress underneath, “Wow! Such a beautiful dress? I saw it when I was shopping with my mom the night before last, and I like it too, but it’s a bit expensive and doesn’t suit me This dress is suitable for people with white faces”
Xu Wen was confused, not knowing what Shao Yue was talking about
Luckily, Li Yun was attracted by the dress and turned to make room
Shao Yue had already reached out and taken the skirt out of the woven basket, gesturing in front of herself
Only then did Xu Man see clearly the skirt Shao Yue was carrying in her hand, a sleeveless red waist dress with white dots on it, with a bow tied around the waist
The style is simple and generous, but the color is too colorful, really not friendly to people with dark skin
Xu Wen walked to the skirt and touched it, pondering
This skirt should be bought for her by Lu Yuanzheng, is it considered a wedding dress?
Wei Zhuang Commune is a poor place, most people get married by wearing a red dress, sometimes even the pink can be satisfied, do not pay attention to the wedding clothes
This dress is already very formal
Xu asked to slander: you bought a dress is to tell me sound!
Now it’s good, let Shao Yueyue see them first, do not know how to hide
Shao Yue loosened her hand, returned the skirt to Xu Man, and pulled out a cheongsam from the woven basket, the cheongsam was a light green color, very delicate
This time Li Yun was shocked, “Ask, are you getting rich?”
They were all aware of the conditions of Xu Man’s family, and Xu Man himself was a particularly thrifty person
Li Yun and Shao Yue suddenly saw Xu Man packing food from restaurants and new skirts and cheongsams, and were somewhat uncomfortable
Unfortunately, Xu Man herself was also confused, she shook her head, didn’t say anything, let Li Yun help herself with the skirt, squatted down
Shao Yue returned the woven basket to Xu Man, and moved the foam box containing the meal to one side herself
There were also two sets of clothes in the woven basket
One set of short sleeves with a bustier skirt, and one set of a thin long-sleeved top and khaki flared pants
Further down, there were two pairs of shoes, a pair of sandals and a pair of heels
The bottom layer is a bunch of one-in-a-row meal tickets, and a letter
Shao Yue and Li Yun were completely stunned
“Ask, is this from that classmate surnamed Wen?” Li Yun was also surprised to see Xu Man see the skirt, obviously unaware of it
Xu Wen had wanted to hide her marriage, but she didn’t realize that there were so many surprises underneath the “leftovers” that Lu Yuanzheng had prepared for her
In fact, the food was not leftovers, it should have been freshly made He probably wanted her to invite her dormitory members to dinner
Seeing that she couldn’t hide it any longer, Xu Wen simply admitted, “It’s not from Wen, it’s from Instructor Lu”
Shao Yue and Li Yun looked at each other, both puzzled: “Why did Instructor Lu send you these?”
Xu Wen only opened his mouth
Shao Yue’s eyes lit up and grabbed the opportunity to speak, “I know! Instructor Lu is thanking you for helping him with Dongsheng!”
Xu Man: “” You’re so smart!
Li Yun shook her head, “You can’t give so many things for helping to bring up a child, right?”
There’s food, clothes, meal tickets and letters, so Li Yun ventured a guess: “Could it be that Instructor Lu is courting you?”
Xu Wen shook his head, “Pursuing can’t be talked about We got engaged today”
Shao Yue nodded, “I said how the instructor will chase Xu asked, the original is engaged engaged? Ah!!!”
Xu Man hurriedly got up and covered Shao Yue’s mouth, “Hush, don’t scream! It’s not good to be heard”
Shao Yue nodded, and Xu Man let go
Li Yun covered her forehead and took a long breath, raising her hand and swinging it, “Ask, you’re talking later, you let me slow down”
Xu Man shrugged his shoulders and opened the envelope, which in addition to the letter also contained a few sheets of great unity
Lu Yuanzheng’s words were just like his person, unruly in their rules
The gist of the letter was that according to the wedding customs of their production team, Lu Yuanzheng should have prepared six sets of clothes for Xu Man, but Xu Man still had to go to school and didn’t have a lot of time, so he took it upon himself to buy four sets so that Xu Man could try them on to see if they fit
The meal ticket was bought by him when he was an instructor, and he didn’t bring it to military training anyway, so he asked Xu Man to accept it
The meals were newly ordered by him He said that he wanted to invite her classmates to dinner, but he was not convenient to come out and had to ask her to bring it
Xu Man pondered, very doubtful Lu Yuanzheng their production team is really have this custom
If there is really a ritual of buying clothes for the woman, why did no one mention it at the dinner table? Why did he secretly give it to her?
The meal ticket was refundable, and it was obviously useless to buy it, so he gave it to her on purpose
As for the money, what Lu Yuanzheng means is that they will be husband and wife soon, and it’s only right for him to provide for her as her husband, so he hopes that Xu Man will accept it
Of course the money was only for Xu Man’s pre-wedding use Lu Yuanzheng said that he would hand over all the allowance after the wedding, and now he still had to use it for the wedding
Xu Man shook her head as she watched, but the corners of her mouth were upturned
She counted it down to ten whole large sums
She put the money away and told Li Yun and Shao Yue, who were full of curiosity, about herself and Lu Yuanzheng
But did not say much, only said that the blind date acquaintance
Shao Yue listened to a very melancholy: “Ask, why do you want to get married so early ah?”
Li Yun is understandable: “What can I do if I don’t get married? Our high school does not have a job assignment, and we can not go to college When you reach the age, you have to get married I’ve been dating several times, I just didn’t ask so fast and succeeded in one go”
Shao Yue sighed, “That’s also true It’s good to go to school!”
Xu Wen comforted, “Don’t be discouraged, the university entrance exams may be resumed at some point Our high school has been closed for a few years, but it has resumed?”
Shao Yue’s emotions came and went quickly, and her eyebrows spread out again, “That’s true Maybe it will resume next year!”
Xu Wen laughed and didn’t say anything
In his heart, he said, your guess is really accurate
The three of them chatted while squatting in the aisle to eat
Xu Man leaned against the wall, Li Yun squatted to the north of Xu Man, and Shao Yue squatted to the south
Dormitory conditions are limited, we all eat like this
It would have been cooler to eat outside squatting on Hongtian Road in the summer, but the smell of the dumpster was just too choking
Their last row of girls’ dormitory people would rather suffer the heat in the dormitory than smell the smell of the dumpster
At the end of the evening study hall, I don’t know who reported this to the principal
Halfway through the evening study session, Xu Wen and the girls were called out by their homeroom teacher to clean up and clear out the garbage
The whole school was mobilized, of course, to clean up more than just this one dumpster behind the dormitory area
There were four such garbage cans in the whole school, all of which were so full that you could hardly see the garbage cans, and the stench was so strong that flies were flying around
The school didn’t have that many masks to give to the students, so they took their own handkerchiefs or clothes and put them directly on their faces, waiting for the garbage truck to get rid of the dumpster and then helping to clean up the remaining garbage
The male students took the hose and rinsed the trash
After a lot of trouble, when the trash was cleaned up and rinsed out, the evening study hall was also over
Xu Man’s class and the other two classes were responsible for cleaning up the dumpster in the northwest corner of the school
After finishing, Xu Wen, Shao Yue and Li Yun didn’t go back to the classroom, and walked to the dormitory together
“It’s not working! I feel like my whole body stinks right now! I want to take a shower!” Shao Yue was devastated
Xu Wen was also devastated, but more realistic: “What to take a bath with?” Not to mention the bath hall, their dormitory didn’t even have a bucket
Li Yun suggested, “Why don’t we take turns washing? There is still some time before lights out Let’s get three pots of hot water and three pots of cold water When the first one finishes washing, we’ll make three pots of hot water and three pots of cold water That way they can all simply scrub in the dormitory”
The dormitory was a concrete floor, and wasn’t afraid of getting wet, and being a bungalow it wasn’t afraid of leaking Just sweep the floor after washing it in a while
Shao Yue raised her hands, “I agree”
Xu Man nodded, “I have no problem with it either”
The three girls ran back to the dormitory and hit the hot and cold water in turn
The first to wash was Xu Man
Because Li Yun and Shao Yue expressed their desire to see her put on new clothes after the bath
Xu Wen didn’t dawdle, and one more minute of dawdling would mean one less minute of time
After she scrubbed herself clean, she changed into a white short sleeve and bustier dress and joined Li Yun and Shao Yue in the water
“Thought you’d be wearing a cheongsam” Li Yun tsked, “This one suits you too”
“Lights out in a while, wanted to wear something loose” Xu Q&A, she also felt that this dress was too fitted, especially the waist
Shao Yue sighed, “Sure enough, beauty is beauty even in a sack”
Xu asked in a hurry to come out, hair did not dry still dripping water, slightly messy
The top two buttons of the white short sleeves were not fastened, revealing the obvious collarbone Short sleeves tied into the Slim knee-length bustier skirt reveals two white thin straight calves, under the dim light, white as if glowing She was originally thin waist, wearing this kind of fitted clothes more appear thin waist less than a handful
Shao Yue second wash, Li Yun third
After Li Yun went in, Shao Yue and Xu Man stood on the red brick road in front of the dormitory and chatted
Shao Yue pestered Xu Man, “Ask, are you and Instructor Lu really getting married?”
Xu Man nodded, looked around, and instructed Shao Yue, “Keep your voice down Also, please help me keep it a secret with Sister Yun Yun”
Shao Yue nodded vigorously, “I know”
It was normal for them to get married at this age, it was just that Xu Wen was still in school in the end, and it always felt a bit strange
If the classmates knew, they were afraid that they would gossip
“Xu Man!”
Xu Man and Shao Yue turned around at the same time following the sound
Wen Yiming was holding a stack of books, seemingly in a bit of a mess, and stood on the central main road looking at Xu Man
Xu Man hesitated, but still said to Shao Yue, “In a moment, you can clean up with Sister Yun Yun first, I’ll go say a few words to him”
Shao Yue, her face full of curiosity, nodded, “You go!”
Xu Wen walked up to Wen Yiming and stopped in his tracks, “Do you have something to look for me this late?”
Wen Yiming looked around and saw that no one was around, and lowered his voice, “Xu Man, you can’t marry Lu Yuanzheng even if you don’t want to marry me now You’re ruining your own future!”
“What do you mean?”
“You know full well that the resumption of the college entrance exams will be announced in two months why would you do something so self-destructive?”