Chapter 43: Durian Critical Hit

Yang Yi ultimately left with a pale face, but that afternoon, just after Lin Wei had finished teaching the children, she came back again, eyes red as she asked, “Weiwei, can we talk again?”

Lin Wei paused when she heard that, then turned to Chen Bamei, who was waiting for the kids to finish class. “Can you take them out to play for a while?”

Chen Bamei knew they had something to discuss and immediately got up. “I’ll take them out,” she said, and called the three children to come with her.

Ruirui and Little Shitou got up as soon as they were called, but Mingming was clearly curious. Seeing Yang Yi’s red-rimmed eyes, he wanted to stay and eavesdrop, so he moved slowly.

But Lin Wei saw right through him. She flicked her son lightly on the forehead and asked, “Don’t want to go out and play? Want to stay home?”

Today, Mingming was suddenly very into studying. He said hesitantly, “I haven’t finished writing my characters yet.”

It was rare for her son to be enthusiastic about learning, so Lin Wei didn’t want to crush his spirit. She smiled and said, “Since you’re so eager to practice, you can stay home.” Then she looked at Yang Yi. “Shall we go for a walk?”

Yang Yi didn’t care where they talked—she just wanted a quiet place—so she nodded. “Anywhere’s fine.”

With her agreement, Lin Wei smiled at the now-dumbfounded Mingming. “Mommy and Auntie Yang are going for a walk. You stay home and finish your characters properly. I’ll check them when I get back, okay?”

Mingming swallowed hard, realizing his plan had failed. “Mom, I suddenly feel like going out to play. Can I write later instead?”

“Of course—” Lin Wei drew out her voice. Just as Mingming’s eyes lit up, she turned cold. “—not. You still have half a page left. I expect it to be finished correctly before I return. Miss a character, get one wrong—one whack with the ruler. Got it?”

Since their afternoon lessons became more regular, Zong Shao had built a small chalkboard and even brought home a box of chalk. Seeing that, Lin Wei also had him make a teaching ruler, mostly for show.

Although the ruler was only ever used to point at the board, it was still effective for keeping the kids in line.

Take now, for example. Mingming wanted to argue, but when he saw his mom holding the ruler, he chickened out and said pitifully, “Got it!”

With Mingming settled, Lin Wei went out with Yang Yi.

Since the topic wasn’t suitable for others to hear, the two didn’t stay in the residential area. Instead, they walked across the beach and followed the coastline.

For the first few minutes, neither spoke. Lin Wei was waiting. Yang Yi hesitated, unsure how to begin.

In the end, the tears came before the words.

Hearing her cry, Lin Wei stopped and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, handing it over. “Here.”

Yang Yi took it, wiped her tears hard, and sniffled. “Weiwei, help me decide what to do. I really don’t know anymore.”

“You’re not even telling me what’s going on. How am I supposed to help?” Lin Wei didn’t refuse but wasn’t about to take over everything either. “Why don’t you tell me what happened after you left my place?”

“I went home and my mother-in-law immediately started criticizing me again. I was so angry I just went to my room. She came up and pounded on my door, said awful things, but I ignored her. Eventually, when she got tired of yelling and went downstairs, my brother-in-law—Qi Tao’s younger brother—came to knock on my door. He said he heard what she said, apologized to me, and told me not to take it to heart.”

Yang Yi looked down at her shoes, now covered in sand and grit. “I thought about what you told me, and said to him—I don’t need your apology. I just want you to speak up for me when your mom badmouths me.”

“And then?”

“He didn’t change his stance. He said their mom’s always been the head of the house, and his words might not carry weight.” Yang Yi’s voice choked. “Weiwei, do you know? In that moment, I broke out in a cold sweat. Six years—from the day I married into that family, moved here with the army, I’ve been handling everything for him—his food, clothes, education, even helping him find a job and a wife. He always said I treated him well and that he’d repay me someday. And this is how he repays me?”

“How old was he when you married into the Qi family?”

Yang Yi nodded. “He was already fourteen.”

“Well, there you go. People say ‘a sister-in-law is like a mother,’ but his own mom was still alive, and he was halfway to being grown. How much do you think he really remembers or appreciates what you did?”

Then Lin Wei changed her tone, trying to comfort her. “But you’ve got a husband, a child. You don’t need his gratitude. He’s just a brother-in-law. If you’re disappointed, treat him like a distant relative, or ignore him altogether. That’s your choice.”

“You’re right. I have a husband, a child. Whether he remembers what I did or not doesn’t matter.” But then Yang Yi bit her lip again. “But do you think Qi Tao knows about all this?”

“If you want to find out whether he knows, that’s not hard. The hard part is: once you find out, what will you do?”

“You mean…?”

“If he doesn’t know, great—just have him send his mom and brother back home. Out of sight, out of mind. But if he does know and pretends not to—then you’ll have to seriously consider whether you still want to live with this man.”

Yang Yi asked, “But if I don’t live with him, who else can I live with?”

“You married him. You didn’t sell yourself to him. If it works out, fine. If not, break it off. Divorce is legal. As for who you live with in the future, that’s up to you. Even if you don’t want to marry again, living alone is also an option. There’s no rule that says a woman has to be with a man.”

As soon as Lin Wei finished, Yang Yi shook her head. “Divorce? No, no, I can’t…”

In this era, for most people, getting married was a lifetime commitment. Divorce wasn’t even something they considered.

Even Lin Wei had been shocked the first time she heard that someone’s parents had divorced. The boy had looked so pitiful that she forced herself to hide her surprise and rack her brain to comfort him.

That shock had stuck with her, even though she couldn’t remember what the boy looked like anymore. She still remembered what he said, and how she felt.

It wasn’t until the political movements intensified and many couples divorced due to differing ideologies that Lin Wei fully understood—marriage isn’t indestructible.

Still, Lin Wei brought it up only to offer another path, not to insist on divorce. Seeing Yang Yi’s strong reaction, she didn’t push further. She just said, “If you still want to be with him, then I suggest you don’t dig deeper into this. There’s no need.”

If she kept digging and found out the man beside her was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, all the past love and affection would turn out to be just a dream. That kind of pain would be even worse. If Yang Yi still wanted to live with him, she’d only suffer more.

Better to let it go. It might be a muddled way to live, but at least you get through the days.

Yang Yi understood what Lin Wei meant. Her shoulders slowly slumped. She hadn’t yet decided whether to keep digging or let it go, only murmured, “I’ll think about it. I’ll think about it.”

Then she tried to cheer herself up and gave Lin Wei a crooked smile. “Sorry to trouble you today. I’ve taken up your whole day.”

Lin Wei shook her head. “We’re friends. Don’t mention it.”

…

Back home, Lin Wei first checked Mingming’s homework. All the characters were there, none were wrong—but the handwriting was a mess, slanted and uneven in size. Clearly, he hadn’t been focused.

Looking at her mother’s expression, Mingming was obviously nervous, stretching his neck to look at his writing notebook, but as soon as he moved, his mother stopped him with a look. Mingming dared not move again, pursing his lips and slowly sitting back down.

Lin Wei placed the writing notebook in front of Mingming, then picked up Rui Rui’s notebook from the nearby chair and opened it, placing it in front of him as well: “You look at it yourself.”

Mingming responded with an “oh,” took a glance at his own notebook, then glanced at his brother’s, and then looked back again, repeating the process. After flipping through both, he looked up and said, “I didn’t write it wrong.”

Lin Wei replied, “I want you to look at the handwriting.”

Mingming gave another “oh” and lowered his head to continue looking.

“Did you notice anything?” Lin Wei asked.

Mingming honestly said, “Rui Rui’s handwriting is nicer than mine.”

“And then?”

“And then… then…” Mingming scratched his head, unable to think of anything else.

Lin Wei helplessly asked, “Don’t you want to learn from Rui Rui and improve your handwriting?”

Mingming pointed at the notebook and said with confidence, “I’ve practiced! Look, I’ve written so much!” But then his enthusiasm dropped, and he scratched his head again, saying, “Even if I practiced, it’s still like this, what can I do?”

Lin Wei said, “… How about this? If you can write like Rui Rui in the future, you can write half as much, but if your handwriting still looks like this, all big and small, you’ll have to write the same amount as usual. How does that sound?”

Mingming’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

Mingming thought that less homework meant he had gained an advantage. But in reality, that wasn’t the case. Lin Wei only assigned half a page of writing, plus ten math addition and subtraction problems. Given his pace, excluding playtime, he barely spent 20 minutes on homework.

On the other hand, if he wrote properly, his speed would naturally slow down. Even though the homework load might decrease, the time spent on it wouldn’t necessarily be reduced by much. He might even have to focus more and put in more effort while writing.

Of course, if he could improve his speed without sacrificing quality, Lin Wei would be very happy.

So Lin Wei smiled and nodded. “Of course it’s true.”

“I’ll definitely write well in the future!” Mingming happily raised both hands to make a promise, then after a while, he tentatively asked, “Mom, can I go play now?”

Lin Wei put away their writing notebooks, tilted her head, and said, “Go ahead.”

…

After dinner, Zong Shao brewed a pot of tea, while Lin Wei sliced a plate of mangoes and dragon fruit. The couple sat together, watching the sky, the sea, and the sunset.

This was Lin Wei’s favorite thing to do after joining the military on the island.

She didn’t need to think too much, nor did she have to talk much. Just watching the sea, listening to the cicadas, and feeling the evening breeze was very relaxing.

At first, Zong Shao couldn’t quite get used to this kind of relaxation. In the past years, he had always been tense. Even though he would relax a little in front of Lin Wei and the children, it was still limited.

So when he sat with Lin Wei to watch the sea, he would always sit up straight, at most unbuttoning his windbreaker for some air.

But Lin Wei sat there with the intention of relaxing. If the bench had a backrest, she would have collapsed into it, but even without it, her posture was as relaxed as she liked, sitting however was comfortable.

However, once Zong Shao was there, sitting stiffly beside her, she had to sit up straight too. After all, she also had an image to maintain.

Therefore, back then, Lin Wei found Zong Shao a bit annoying, but she thought they had just reunited as a couple, and they weren’t that familiar yet, so she had to maintain some decorum.

But after getting more comfortable with him, Lin Wei didn’t worry so much anymore. She didn’t care how stiffly he sat, and she still moved the single sofa out of the room to lounge in. She even made sure to move the sofa far away so the comparison wouldn’t be so striking.

As the saying goes, “You are who you hang out with,” and as Lin Wei’s true nature emerged, Zong Shao began to follow her example.

However, he still had some baggage and didn’t lounge around like Lin Wei. He only relaxed his shoulders and back, leaning against the wall and stretching out his long legs in a comfortable manner.

So when Zhao Li came with the latest gossip and durian to share with Lin Wei, she saw the couple eating fruit and chatting in such a relaxed manner. She was extremely envious and immediately joined them.

The couple’s peaceful moment was interrupted by the durian attack, and Zong Shao could only stare silently: “…”