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The landlord hadn’t had time to call someone to fix it yet, so it was still hanging halfway on the doorframe.
“Comrade, are you really Yuyao’s husband?”
Lu Jiangting was startled and nodded blankly.
The two women looked at him strangely.
“Then how did your relationship become like this?”
“I…” He wanted to explain but couldn’t find the words; he didn’t know how to say it.
Li Hong said, “She said you tricked her into marriage. Comrade, Yuyao is pretty, but if she doesn’t want you, you shouldn’t trick her into marriage; a forced marriage isn’t sweet.”
Zhang Qianqian nodded, “Yes, a forced marriage isn’t sweet.”
Lu Jiangting, hearing this, angrily said, “What do you mean by a forced marriage? What do you mean she doesn’t want me? What do you know? She and I grew up together, and she’s always liked me; everyone in the surrounding villages knows she’s going to marry me.”
Huh?
The two women looked at each other, bewildered.
“Then why does she say she doesn’t want you?”
“Can I marry her if she doesn’t want to? Military marriages require an investigation; if she doesn’t want to, the investigators will report it; ordinary marriages might have fraud, but can military marriages be fraudulent?”
The two women: …
That seems to make sense.
But…
“But Yuyao really doesn’t want to be with you.”
“Yes, yes, I can see that she really doesn’t want to be with you. Comrade, did you two have a fight?”
Lu Jiangting: …
“Comrade Yuyao looks gentle and has a good personality; I can’t imagine her arguing with anyone.”
The implication was that he must have done something excessive, otherwise, she wouldn’t be so angry.
Lu Jiangting was already in the wrong and didn’t refute.
The two women were busy going to work; seeing that they couldn’t persuade him, they decided to leave.
Lu Jiangting reacted and called out to them.
“Wait.”
The two women stopped at the stairs.
“Did she say where she was going?”
The two women shook their heads.
“Did she say she was going back to her hometown?”
“No way, she found a job, so she probably won’t go back for now.”
“What? She found a job?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of job?”
“It’s…” Li Hong was about to say something, but Zhang Qianqian pulled her back, “I don’t know, she didn’t say.”
They knew better than to say they didn’t know; their expressions showed they did.
The two women hurried away.
Lu Jiangting thought for a moment and went downstairs to find the landlord. The landlord found it strange that he was there; her perfectly good door was broken. Although he compensated her, she was still full of resentment.
Before Lu Jiangting could speak, the landlord started chattering in the local dialect.
He could only guess half of what she was saying.
She was probably asking about their relationship.
You kid, you said you were married.
How come you got beaten up, and then your wife was taken away by someone else?
Lu Jiangting didn’t know how to respond, he only said, “We are married, it was arranged by our parents. We had a fight, and now I can’t find her. But her parents called to ask about her, and I can’t find her, so I can’t answer them.”
The landlord stared at him for a long time, already imagining a huge melodrama in her head.
“Oh, arranged by your parents. Oh my, what kind of backward custom is this? What era is it now, you still need your parents to arrange your marriage? Young man, it’s not that I’m saying this. Those older generations haven’t received much education, they have old-fashioned ideas and stick to old ways, so it’s understandable.”
Lu Jiangting: “…”
“But you, young man, you don’t look uneducated, why do you still believe in marriages arranged by parents? Two people who don’t get along won’t be happy together; you should divorce while you’re young and find someone you like. Don’t delay her, and don’t delay yourself.”
The landlord was speaking the truth, giving him good advice.
But would Lu Jiangting listen?
He wouldn’t.
He was just angry.
Why was everyone advising him to divorce?
Why was everyone saying Yuyao didn’t like him?
No, they didn’t understand anything. Yuyao liked him, she really liked him. He also liked Yuyao; he loved her, he couldn’t live without her. He wouldn’t divorce, absolutely not.
But he had to ask the landlord, even if he was angry, he couldn’t show it.
Lu Jiangting said, “You’re right, it’s precisely because I’ve figured this out that I want to find her to get a divorce, but I don’t know where she is. Auntie, do you know?”
The landlord looked relieved and smiled, “It’s good that you’ve figured it out, you look like a good young man, after the divorce, if you don’t have a suitable partner, I’ll introduce one to you. I have a niece…”
She started rambling again.
Lu Jiangting frowned, not daring to anger her, he could only patiently listen and nod and bow in agreement.
After she rambled for a while, she finally got to the point.
“I don’t know where she is, but I heard she found a job as a librarian.”
A librarian?
“Where is this librarian job?”
“I don’t know, but she comes back every day. Sometimes around six o’clock, sometimes around eight. And sometimes super later.” The landlord said.
Lu Jiangting silently noted this, thanked her, and rode his bicycle to Chenshan Town.
There weren’t any libraries in the nearby towns.
Even if there were, there weren’t many; the boss could handle it alone and wouldn’t need to hire anyone.
But Chenshan Town had several large libraries.
Lu Jiangting, under the scorching sun, started searching; he found her at the second library he checked.
“Yuyao.”
Lin Yuyao, holding a book, looked at the sweaty and dusty Lu Jiangting, stunned.
After a moment of shock, she put down her book and pushed him outside.
She pushed him to a deserted alley next door.
Her whole body was trembling, partly from anger, partly from fear.
“Lu Jiangting, what exactly do you want? Do I have to die before you’ll let me go?”
Lu Jiangting opened his mouth, his nose turning sour.
“Yuyao…”
“Don’t call me; hearing you call my name makes me sick.”
“I… I’m sorry, what happened the other day was my fault; I was also angered by you. You don’t know how sad I was when you said those things, I…”
Lin Yuyao cut him. “Alright, you only know you’re sad; have you ever thought that I’m even sadder?”
Lu Jiangting looked apologetic, “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“You don’t need to explain.”
They were all excuses; she wouldn’t believe them.
“If you really didn’t want to make me sad, you wouldn’t have come looking for me, and you wouldn’t keep pestering me. Right now, besides a divorce, I don’t want to talk to you about anything.”
Lin Yuyao pushed him away, coldly saying, “Go away, this has already become so ugly, and you’ve caused me a lot of trouble. We have no grievances between us, you really don’t need to push me to my death. It wasn’t easy for you to get where you are today, and I don’t want things to escalate to the point of us fighting to the death.”
Lu Jiangting watched her leave, no longer daring to force himself on her.
But, watching her walk away without looking back, his heart ached.
“Yuyao, I really like you, and I really haven’t fallen for anyone else,” he muttered, but only he could hear it.
She was already gone, even if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t want to hear it.