Read Novel Full Chapter 89
Chapter 89 : Life is split
As she was leaving, Zhang Qiaohui was in a daze and bumped into a man. His strong muscles and firm arms caught her just before she fell. Zhang Qiaohui looked up at the man who had caught her he was a young, handsome man.
As soon as they steadied themselves, Zhuang Guoliang let go of her and asked, “Sister, are you okay?”
Zhang Qiaohui shook her head repeatedly, tears still on her face, and softly replied, “I’m fine, thank you.”
Her gentle voice and red eyes made her appear pitiful. Zhuang Guoliang stared at her, a bit dazed. She resembled his late wife, Cui Lingling, in some way.
Zhang Qiaohui winced as she took a breath and looked at her ankle.
Zhuang Guoliang immediately understood, “Sister, can you still walk?”
Zhang Qiaohui frowned and said, “It seems twisted. What should I do? I’m in a hurry to get home, and there’s no one to look after the children.”
Zhuang Guoliang glanced at the car that had already driven away and said, “Sister, let me take you home. Wait here, I’ll borrow a bicycle from my friend.”
Being helped by such a handsome young man made Zhang Qiaohui feel a strange sense of satisfaction in her heart, and the two of them headed back to Zuojia Bay together.
Along the way, they chatted casually. It turned out they lived not far from each other, as two large teams were stationed nearby.
Zhuang Guoliang escorted her to her door. By this time, it was getting dark. Zhang Qiaohui turned to him and said, “Come in and have a drink of water.”
The two were standing very close, and the sweet scent from Zhang Qiaohui reached Zhuang Guoliang’s nose. Despite her having two children, she still looked great.
Thinking about the turmoil back at home, Zhuang Guoliang subconsciously delayed his return and agreed, “Okay.”
Once inside, Zhang Qiaohui invited him to sit. “Brother, you helped me today. I’ll make you some noodles. Just wait a moment, it’ll be ready soon.”
Zhuang Guoliang sat on a stool, looking around nervously. When he looked up, he saw a black-and-white photo hanging on the wall. The man in the photo wore a military uniform, no older than 30, with a bright smile.
Suddenly, Zhuang Guoliang felt uncomfortable on the stool. After eating the noodles Zhang Qiaohui had made, he quickly bid her goodbye.
He walked out of the door, taking a deep breath of relief, while Zhang Qiaohui stared at the empty noodle bowl, lost in thought.
The dim light from the kerosene lamp flickered, and Zhang Qiaohui felt a strange sensation as if ants were crawling all over her, making her feel uneasy.
Before Zhuang Guoliang even made it home, he could hear the crying of children and the scolding of adults.
His eldest and second brothers were in jail, the second sister-in-law had remarried, and the eldest sister-in-law had returned to her parents’ home. The third branch of the family had cut ties with the Zhuang family, and now they wouldn’t even speak to each other on the street.
He was the only one left in the family who could earn money.
Inside, Jiang Hongmei was shouting at the children, and Zhuang Guoliang felt irritated just hearing it.
He had originally considered divorce, but given the current situation, his second brother’s two children had no one to care for them. With his eldest brother’s three children, plus his own two, the family had become a chaotic mess.
If he divorced Jiang Hongmei, who would take care of the children? How could he handle it alone?
As he was about to enter the house, Zhuang Xiaobao rushed over and grabbed his legs, begging for candy, while also poking him with a branch. Zhuang Guoliang helplessly said, “Dad forgot to buy it. I’ll get you some next time.”
Zhuang Xiaobao wasn’t pleased and pointed at him with the branch, shouting, “Dad’s a bad guy! I’m going to beat you to death!”
Zhuang Guoliang immediately became furious. He had been working tirelessly in the city, running around and nearly killing himself for money, yet this kid was so ungrateful.
Jiang Hongmei watched coldly but said nothing.
Zhuang Xiaobao had always been domineering, encouraged by his mother to resolve everything with violence. He was now the most disliked child in the village, with no one allowing their children to play with him.
“Is that how you talk to your father?”
Zhuang Guoliang got angry, grabbed Zhuang Xiaobao, and spanked him twice on the buttocks. Zhuang Xiaobao started crying loudly, kicking and punching, and hit Zhuang Guoliang hard on the nose.
“I’m going to find grandma! You’re not my father! You’re my stepfather!”
Zhuang Xiaobao had obviously learned this from the villagers. People often said that if you had a stepmother, you would have a stepfather too. His father was so fierce and even beat children, so he must be a stepfather.
Zhuang Guoliang, feeling extremely exhausted, didn’t eat and lay in bed, drifting into a nightmare.
In the dream, there was heavy rain, and he observed his past life as a bystander. In this past life, he had married Jiang Li instead of Jiang Hongmei.
He worked on a private pig farm, and everything went smoothly. He earned his start-up capital by reselling pork.
After the reform and opening up, he contracted the pig farm and several brothers came to help him with the work.
Together, they not only made the pig farm prosper, but they also branched out into other industries, investing in a sausage factory and a cannery.
By the time he was less than 30 years old, he had become a young entrepreneur, building roads and establishing schools in the village.
His two children were filial and obedient, never causing him any worry. One of them was admitted to a prestigious university, studied business management, and returned to take over his business.
The other displayed early artistic talent and, after graduating, stayed in a well-known theater in Beijing, eventually becoming the principal.
He was 87 years old, had a successful career, a happy family, and passed away peacefully from natural causes.
A loud thunderclap suddenly jolted him awake. He found that the place where he was lying was wet. The window had not been closed, and cold wind rushed through the gaps, quickly taking away the only warmth from his body.
Even though the lights were off, the room was a mess, and an unpleasant smell filled the air.
Zhuang Guoliang instinctively called out to Jiang Li to clean up. He had gotten rich too quickly and had too little memory of poverty.
After marrying Jiang Li, he had everything he wanted. He lived a life of luxury for decades, and now, suddenly finding himself in such an environment, his first reaction was disgust.
Then he realized that the place he was in was actually the rural countryside of his youth. He had truly been reborn, back to 1976.
A wave of ecstasy washed over him. In this life, he had seized the opportunity in advance and was sure to achieve even greater success than he did in his past life.
He shivered as he got out of bed, planning to change his clothes, but found that the clothes in the closet smelled musty, as if they hadn’t been properly dried or had been worn without being washed.
It then dawned on Zhuang Guoliang that fate had played a huge joke on him without him even knowing it.
For some reason, he was getting farther and farther from the path he was supposed to take in his past life.
He had married the wrong woman, the pig farm where he worked was gone, several of his brothers were imprisoned, and some of the families had split apart.
Zhuang Guoliang felt a bit depressed, but he quickly cheered himself up.
So what if it was a woman? It didn’t matter who she was. As long as Jiang Hongmei took care of the children, he wouldn’t divorce her.
Even though the banker was now like a rat scurrying through the street, hated by everyone, this situation wouldn’t last long.
If he could predict how future generations would develop, he would definitely be able to get back on his feet.