“I’ll go to the newspaper first thing tomorrow and publicly cut ties with you,” Shen Wei said without hesitation. “There’s no need for more nonsense. From now on, we go our separate ways.”
Shen Jianguo let out a cold snort and turned away. “Don’t regret this!”
She’s just a young girl let’s see how far she can fall on her own.
If she publicly severs ties with her own family, what decent man in Yuncheng would ever dare marry her?
Shen Wei thanked Liu Jun and his wife. “Thank you for today.”
“It’s nothing,” Shuanghua said, thinking the girl had a mind of her own. “If you need anything in the future, just let us know.”
Since Shen Wei moved in too late, she didn’t cook dinner that night and planned to go eat at a state-run restaurant.
……
“Brother Acheng,” Liu Qingqing chased after Lu Cheng, “we grew up together, childhood sweethearts. I know you love me too why won’t you marry me?”
Lu Cheng’s face turned cold. “There’s no reason. Just give up on me.”
“Qingqing, be good. Listen to your father find a man with good family conditions who will treat you well and marry him. If… if one day I make something of myself, I’ll give you an explanation!”
How could he bear to let the girl he had loved since childhood suffer alongside him?
“Brother Acheng…” Liu Qingqing hugged him from behind, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Other than you, I won’t marry any man.”
“Just marry me. I don’t mind that your family is poor. If my parents don’t agree, then I…,” she said shyly, “I’ll make it a done deal with you. By then, even if they don’t agree, they’ll have no choice.”
“Nonsense!” Lu Cheng sighed. “I’m a man with principles. Stop pestering me!”
Otherwise, he was afraid his resolve might weaken.
“Qingqing, you were pampered by your parents since childhood. You’re not like me,” Lu Cheng said as he gently pried her hands from his waist. “I have my parents, my younger siblings, and my ambitions to carry on my shoulders.”
The woman he would marry had to be someone who could fight alongside him. That Shen Wei seemed quite suitable.
He needed to find a chance soon to explain things to her properly.
“Alright, go home.”
But Liu Qingqing refused. She stuck out her tongue playfully as her stomach growled. “Brother Acheng, Qingqing is hungry.”
“You’re really impossible,” Lu Cheng said, raising his hand to affectionately ruffle her hair. “I’ll take you to the state-run restaurant for a bowl of Sanxian noodles.”
“After this bowl, you’re not allowed to keep clinging to me,” he added seriously. “Otherwise, we won’t even have chances like this to eat together anymore.”
Hearing these heartless words, Liu Qingqing felt as if her heart were being cut by a knife.
On the way to the restaurant, she kept talking about their past how they went to school together, how he would always show up when someone bullied her, how they went on outings and lay on the green grass watching the sunset.
But Lu Cheng never responded.
When they arrived at the state-run restaurant, Lu Cheng ordered a bowl of Sanxian noodles.
As the pillar of his family, he couldn’t bear to spend money on such a luxury for himself. Just watching Liu Qingqing eat was enough to satisfy him.
When the noodles were served, the two kept urging each other to eat first.
Knowing that Lu Cheng’s family didn’t eat well, Liu Qingqing handed him the chopsticks first. “Brother Acheng, you eat first! I can’t finish it by myself.”
“I’m not hungry. You eat.”
“You eat first!” Liu Qingqing pouted.
“You eat first!”
Shen Wei hadn’t expected such a coincidence. Amid the two of them insisting the other eat first, her own dishes arrived a serving of braised pork, a plate of minced meat eggplant, and two liang of rice.
The braised pork tasted just like she remembered perfectly balanced between fat and lean, tender and fragrant. One bite was deeply satisfying.
Liu Qingqing was the first to notice Shen Wei. Her delicate brows immediately furrowed. Could it be that after just one meeting, Shen Wei had already fallen deeply for her Brother Acheng and even followed them here?
How could this woman have so little self-respect?
“Brother Acheng,” she said, cupping Lu Cheng’s face and coaxing him, “am I the woman you love most?”
“Yes,” Lu Cheng answered. After pulling her hands away, he also noticed Shen Wei. At first glance, his attention was drawn to the two dishes on Shen Wei’s table.
The braised pork cost 3.6 yuan, and the minced meat eggplant was 1.2 yuan. Altogether, Shen Wei’s meal cost a full 4.8 yuan, plus a food coupon!
This was far too extravagant!
That amount of money could cover half a month’s food expenses for his entire family. No, once Shen Wei married into his family, she absolutely couldn’t be this wasteful.
“Shen Wei,” Lu Cheng said, straightening his collar as he walked over to her table, “you’re here to eat too?”
He wanted to hear her explain how a woman could order two meat dishes just for herself.
“Comrade Lu, I’m not familiar with you. Please step aside and don’t interrupt my meal,” Shen Wei said coldly.
Lu Cheng grew anxious, convinced that Shen Wei was still jealous because of Qingqing.
He hurriedly explained, “Shen Wei, don’t say things out of anger. I promise you, in my heart, Qingqing is only like a younger sister. After we get married, you’ll be my wife.”
As he said this, a sharp pain stabbed through his heart.
But there was no other choice. Fate hadn’t given him a wealthy family, so he was destined to lose the one he truly loved.
The thought of belonging to another woman in the future made his chest ache like it was being pierced by needles.
So he added, “After we get married, we must treat Qingqing well.”
In her previous life, Lu Cheng had said the same thing after they were already married.
Times had changed, and hearing those words again only made Shen Wei want to laugh.
“Is she your mother or something?”
Lu Cheng frowned, his sharp brows showing clear displeasure. “What did you say?”
“I thought she was your mother whoever marries you would have to be filial to her,” Shen Wei said, swallowing another bite of braised pork. “But that has nothing to do with me. Comrade Lu, although we went on a blind date, I’ve already clearly rejected you. Please stop pestering me, or I’ll report you to the police for harassment.”
Lu Cheng took a step back.
He felt like things weren’t supposed to turn out this way. “Why did you reject me?”
“Ugly looks, unrealistic expectations, a whole bunch of burdens at home, and an inflated sense of self plus you’re constantly entangled with your ‘little sister,’” Shen Wei paused. “Are those reasons enough? If not, I can list more. After all, you have far too many flaws.”
Liu Qingqing couldn’t take it anymore and snapped angrily, “What nonsense are you talking about?!”
Her Brother Acheng was the best man in the world he would surely achieve great things in the future. How dare this hateful Shen Wei slander him like that!
Lu Cheng was also stunned by how harsh Shen Wei’s words were. What did she mean by calling his family “a bunch of burdens”? They were his closest relatives!
“You should just eat,” he said, not believing she truly meant what she said. In his mind, a girl just needed some coaxing when she was angry. “Oh, right let today’s meal be on my tab.”
In truth, Lu Cheng didn’t have that much money on him otherwise, he wouldn’t have ordered only one bowl of noodles for Liu Qingqing.
But he figured Shen Wei wouldn’t actually let him pay, especially since he’d heard she had just taken over a thousand yuan from her uncle. He only wanted to show a bit of gentlemanly demeanor.