Buy a house with 30,000 yuan and live in a small town

Chapter 524: Perfection = More Attempts

It would have been fine if Song Ningwei hadn't said anything, but as soon as he said these comforting words, Gu Xuemei, who hadn't yet fully recovered, was so angry that she was seriously injured.

Gu Xuemei fell on the sofa, clutching her chest, unable to make a sound in pain. Song Ningwei hurriedly picked her up and rushed her to the hospital, forgetting the child at home. Fortunately, Jingyu was already a big kid in the fourth grade of elementary school. Although she was also scared, she knew not to run around and cause trouble for the adults, so she called her grandparents and grandparents to explain the situation.

The elderly people from both families split into two groups, one to take care of the children and the other to go to the hospital to check on the situation.

There's nothing wrong with the examination results. It's just caused by excessive emotional fluctuations. It will be fine if you have a good rest.

After that, Gu Xuemei was really depressed for a while and lay in bed for a long time. She really couldn't understand how her good life had turned out like this.

When Gu Xuelan and Yuan Lianyun came to see her, she asked: "Is there a disaster in my life? Why can't God see me doing well?" Every time, when life was about to get better, if she took one more step forward, she would fall into a pit.

Yuan Lianyun thought, there is no such thing as fate or disaster in this world. The "fruits" we get today are all the "causes" we planted the day before. However, she is the eldest sister-in-law, so she can't be too blunt: "Xuemei, don't let your imagination run wild. That's all feudal superstition and can't be trusted. Your most important task now is to take care of your health, and everything will be fine."

Gu Xuemei was about to cry as she spoke: "How can I get better? How can I get better? I'm back to the time before liberation overnight. I have nothing left..." She felt that after this incident, her spirit was almost crushed.

Yuan Lianyun advised her: "Think about Jingyu. If you don't cheer up, what will happen to the child?"

Gu Xuemei was still crying.

"Why are you crying?" Gu Xuelan put the fruit plate she brought over on the bedside table with a "click" and asked her, "Don't you understand how your life has become like this?"

Gu Xuemei stopped crying and looked at her.

Gu Xuelan said directly, "Think about the choices you have made every step of the way over the years. Your parents asked you to study hard but you didn't, and you secretly followed others to do business. Yes, that's right, you were indeed successful at that time, and it was thanks to you that grandma's medical expenses were settled. Then you encountered the contract incident, right? But didn't your friend Meixia help you get the money back? In general, you didn't lose anything. How big a blow could this incident have on you, so that you didn't dare to step out of the house to try again? It's okay not to go out. Dad asked you to go back to school, but you were too embarrassed to go. Well, just open a store in our town, isn't that good? Think about it, there was no girl of your age in the surrounding area who was as high-spirited as you, but you didn't think about how to take your career to the next level, and you insisted on getting married..."

Gu Xuelan had not been a teacher for nothing all these years. She had practiced her speaking skills very well in class. She spoke a lot without stopping, leaving Gu Xuemei no chance to refute.

Hearing this, Gu Xuemei couldn't hold back any longer: "What do you mean I don't want to pursue my career but I have to get married? You and my elder brother are married, so why can't I get married? Why?"

"Song Ningwei is not a good match for you!" Gu Xuelan responded to her, "At the beginning, everyone in the family advised you to be cautious. Mom and Dad did not agree to this marriage. Mom also analyzed with you what kind of situation you would face once you got married, but you didn't listen and insisted on getting married..."

Gu Xuemei interrupted her loudly again: "What's wrong with me getting married? I don't have any education, so why can't I marry a college student?"

"Ha," Gu Xuelan laughed briefly, "You finally admitted it, didn't you? Look, this is the college student you married! What's the use of him? What use is he to other than dragging you down? Did he take care of you when you were pregnant with Jingyu? Did he serve you when you were in confinement after childbirth? Were the three crises you encountered after marriage all caused by him?"

The first time was stocks, and the second time was wine. Although the wine business was finally done after Gu Xuemei's approval, Gu Xuelan felt that if Song Ningwei hadn't wanted to do it, her sister wouldn't have had this idea, but would have stayed at home to take care of the baby, and wouldn't have ended up being cheated again. The third crisis was the accidental miscarriage caused by wine. The child that was finally expected was gone, and how much damage miscarriage would cause to the body! He, Song Ningwei, actually said so lightly, "Don't take it too seriously." It turned out that the child didn't flow out of his body, and he wasn't the one who was injured, so he could not take it seriously.

Gu Xuelan got angry just thinking about it and felt sorry for her sister.

Gu Xuemei remained silent.

Gu Xuelan continued, "I told you before we got married, and your mother also told you that marriage is a big deal. You can't just look at the surface when judging a person. You can't ignore his other shortcomings because of one of his advantages. Now you've suffered, don't you see clearly? Don't talk about fate for man-made things. Instead of complaining about God here, you should think about what to do next. In my opinion, it's better to get a divorce. There is no need for this kind of marriage to continue. What if he does something weird in the future? What will you do? Are you going to be dragged down by him and fall into the pit again and again?"

Gu Xuemei didn't listen to the rest. When it comes to divorce, she is about to explode. She has never thought about divorce before: "Divorce? Sister, are you and sister-in-law here to see me or are you deliberately trying to make me unhappy? It is better to tear down ten temples than to ruin a marriage. You actually want me to divorce? Jingyu is still so young. What will happen if Ning Wei and I divorce her? How will the neighbors look at me? Where will I put my face when I go out?"

"Face again, face again, right?" Gu Xuelan reached out to poke her forehead. She really didn't know what was in her sister's head. "Is face more important or real life more important? Do you live your whole life for others to see?"

Yuan Lianyun quickly stood up and grabbed Gu Xuelan. Gu Xuemei picked up the pillow beside her and threw it at Gu Xuelan: "Get out! I don't want to see you——"

Gu Xuelan wanted to say something more, but Yuan Lianyun dragged her out of the bedroom and closed the door behind her. "Say less, say less. She's still recuperating."

Gu Xuelan pointed at the bedroom door, her hands shaking, and said angrily: "Sister-in-law, look at her!"

"I know," Yuan Lianyun pulled Gu Xuelan to sit on the sofa in the living room, "Luckily Song Ningwei and Jingyu are not at home, otherwise if they heard you advising divorce here, wouldn't they regard you as an enemy?"

Jingyu was at school, while Song Ningwei was at the store. Gu Xuemei had been recuperating at home these days, so Song Ningwei sent Jingyu to school and went to the store to look after it. Of course, he was not needed to look after it, as Song's mother was always there. At most, he helped with cleaning, collecting money, or getting things from the warehouse.

Gu Xuelan sighed: "I just blurted it out because I was so angry. I didn't think too much about it."

"Don't say that again in the future." Yuan Lianyun advised. In fact, she was not optimistic about the marriage between Gu Xuemei and Song Ningwei, but this was a matter that only they knew the ins and outs of. Besides, Gu Xuemei and Song Ningwei obviously still had feelings for each other. Gu Xuelan's words at this time would only make Gu Xuemei feel more uncomfortable, and would have no other effect.

Gu Xuelan understood the reason, so Yuan Lianyun didn't say much. After the two sisters calmed down, she acted as a peacemaker and asked the elder sister to apologize to the younger sister, and the matter was over.

Gu Xuelan's words did have a certain impact on Gu Xuemei. This impact made her begin to re-examine Song Ningwei as a person. Gradually, she discovered that apart from the halo of his academic qualifications, he seemed to be no different from ordinary people. No, sometimes he was even worse than ordinary people.

If she doesn't compare herself with others, she will just compare herself with her brother-in-law Liu Nanshan. Putting aside her academic qualifications, Gu Xuemei discovered that Song Ningwei was really inferior to her brother-in-law Liu Nanshan in every way.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about the things in the store. Liu Nanshan can run the fruit shop very successfully by himself. Gu Xuemei has never heard of him having any arguments with customers. But Song Ningwei is different. Whenever he goes to the store, at least one customer will leave with an unhappy look on his face that day.

Everything really cannot be compared. The more Gu Xuemei compared, the more discouraged she became. At the same time, she also realized that she really couldn't be depressed anymore, otherwise Song Ningwei would destroy the reputation of the store she had worked so hard to open.

After Gu Xuemei returned to the store, she stopped letting Song Ningwei go there and asked him to concentrate on the Lord at home. After all, Song Ningwei is a college student, and one of his few advantages is that he is a good student. So he should be responsible for keeping an eye on Jingyu's studies. It would be best if Jingyu could be trained to be a college student as well, so that he won't be like her in the future and have no judgment when encountering things.

Song Ningwei really stayed at home obediently. When Jingyu went to junior high school and the family's savings increased, he could not stay there anymore. He wanted to "play a role" again.

This time, Gu Xuemei refused to believe him no matter what, so she held the money tightly in her hand and didn't give him any chance to take advantage of it.

Song Ningwei had no choice but to ask his parents for support, but it was even more unlikely that his mother and father would support him. So he went to his eldest brother Gu Xuehui, thinking, if no one supported him, then if his eldest brother thought his idea was feasible, would he be able to get support?
As a result, Gu Xuehui also rejected it.

Gu Xuehui told him not to mess around. If he really didn't want to stay at home, he should just find a job and work honestly. At least he would have a fixed salary.

Not long after that, Song Ningwei went to work in a very quiet department in Gu Xuehui's unit.

Gu Xuehui's original words to Gu Xuemei were: "Let him go there and enjoy early retirement. Don't think about anything else. Just work quietly until retirement." However, less than a year later, the incident of gift-giving that touched the leader's spine occurred, and Song Ningwei was severely reported to Gu Xuehui by his direct leader. All the big and small matters were reported at once, and Gu Xuehui drove Song Ningwei away in anger.

After Gu Xuemei learned about this, she suspected that Song Ningwei was mentally ill. She felt that not only did he betray her, but he also caused her eldest brother to lose face, so she had a big quarrel with him.

Since then, Gu Xuemei's filter for Song Ningwei was completely shattered. She looked at the man in front of her who had grown pregnant and whose hairline had receded since she didn't know when, and who had huddled in the corner of the sofa without saying a word after being scolded by her, and wondered, why did she get together with him in the first place? Oh, it was the university diploma in his hand. She suddenly remembered what Gu Xuelan had said to persuade her not to get married. Gu Xuelan said, "Don't be blinded by one thing."

Gu Xuemei didn't sleep all night, she stayed awake until dawn, and went over everything that happened in the past few years. She thought, "Women can hold up half the sky", but she, Gu Xuemei, didn't hold up half the sky, but the whole sky of the family. With this ability, she could do anything, but she ended up living like this. Yes, what her sister said was right, these were all her own choices, and it seemed that at every turning point, she made the wrong choice...

In the days that followed, until Song Jingyu's college entrance examination, there was no peaceful day in this family. Because Gu Xuemei's mood towards Song Ningwei had changed, she felt that he was not pleasing to the eye in every way, and she would quarrel with Song Ningwei whenever she was not pleasing to the eye. As for Song Ningwei, he had no idea what he had done wrong to upset his wife, and he dared not talk back when being scolded. He just huddled in the sofa like a quail, waiting for Gu Xuemei to finish scolding him. Often when Gu Xuemei saw him like this, she would get angry again.

The most serious quarrel between the two was when Song Jingyu was in her third year of high school. This time, it was not Gu Xuemei who scolded Song Ningwei unilaterally. Perhaps something she said really hurt Song Ningwei, and Song Ningwei finally stood up and "resisted". He locked himself in the kitchen, smashed all the pots and pans in it, and then slammed the door and went back to his parents' house.

Gu Xuemei even shouted from behind: "If you dare to step out of this house, I will divorce you!"

Song Ningwei still left.

Both families have advised these two people many times, especially Yuan Lianyun and Gu Xuelan.

The second time Gu Xuelan persuaded Gu Xuemei to divorce was after Song Ningwei was fired by Gu Xuehui's unit, but Gu Xuemei still didn't want to divorce. Face issues accounted for a certain proportion, the children accounted for a certain proportion, and the most important part was Song Ningwei's parents. The two old people were really good to her, no worse than her biological parents. If Song's mother cried again, she would be helpless. What's more, she still had feelings for Song Ningwei.

They won't divorce, but they quarrel every day. Gu Xuelan advised Gu Xuemei: "Since you don't plan to divorce, just live your life peacefully. Don't quarrel every three days or every five days. It's not you who picks on him and scolds him unilaterally. Don't you know that Jingyu hides from me when you quarrel? You said you didn't want to divorce for the sake of the children, but look at the current situation. Is it good or bad for the children's growth?"

Gu Xuemei calmed down a lot after hearing this, but sometimes she couldn't control herself. She felt uncomfortable because she couldn't vent her anger, so she started quarreling again.

Of course, they didn’t divorce this time.

The two quarreled and neither of them cared about the child, so Song Jingyu ran away from home.

This frightened both families and they hurried out to look for her. Fortunately, Song Jingyu did not have any bad thoughts. She just wanted to go out for some fresh air. Her parents would definitely find her immediately if she went to her second aunt's house. So she took the last bus at night to her eldest uncle's house in the city.

After that, things really calmed down between Gu Xuemei and Song Ningwei. Gu Xuemei didn't know what Song Ningwei was thinking, and she didn't bother to know. She just made do with him anyway, because she was afraid of getting divorced and being lonely when she got old.

Time flies, and I really get old. The days are really getting by just by making do.

The three aunts and sisters-in-law turned an alley and chatted as they walked. They had already walked out of the side door of the central park and returned to Wutong Avenue.

Gu Xuemei was still regretting: "Sister, to be honest, if I had listened to you guys at the beginning, at that most critical turning point, if I had not been so concerned about my reputation, my life would probably have been very different. Or, if I had been like you, and planned for myself from the beginning and had a goal, maybe I wouldn't have experienced those bad things."

In fact, Gu Xuemei has always envied Gu Xuelan. She envied the fact that she and her brother-in-law were in love for a lifetime and had never had a quarrel. She envied her success even more.

Gu Xuemei once thought that Gu Xuelan had no future. She had been admitted to university and had the opportunity to stay in the province, but she insisted on coming back. After getting married, she could have bought a house in the city and lived there if she worked hard, but she didn't make any progress and insisted on staying in the town.

Later, she gradually understood that Gu Xuelan was just like that. She loved home and didn't have high demands on life because she was spiritually rich. She didn't have high demands on her husband and children either, as long as they were safe, healthy and happy.

Gu Xuemei thought, if she could have the chance to live her life over again, she would like to experience the life her sister had lived.

But there is no such thing as “if” in this world. Life has already come to this point, there is no point in regretting.

Gu Xuelan and Yuan Lianyun both advised her not to think about it anymore, as overthinking would only make her get stuck in a rut.

Yuan Lianyun said, "Your life is pretty good now, isn't it? Jingyu not only fulfilled your wish, but also exceeded it. She is studying for a master's degree. Now she is married and has a child. She has a good relationship with Xiao Zhao and has a good income. There is nothing to worry about at home. Otherwise, you can still go out to play whenever you want."

Mother Song and Father Song had transferred the restaurant to Gu Xuemei's name a long time ago. The restaurant is still open now. The chef is an apprentice brought up by Father Song. Gu Xuemei only needs to check the accounts regularly. She no longer runs her own restaurant. She is too old to work, so she rents it out to someone else. The monthly rent is not much, but it is enough for her and Song Ningwei's daily expenses in the town.

Gu Xuelan said: "Yes, for example, I may not be able to go out and play even if I want to."

"Why can't you leave?" Gu Xuemei asked, "Xuxu isn't married yet, and you don't have to help take care of the children. You have money and time, so you can go on a trip whenever you want."

"Who said there are no children?" Gu Xuelan smiled, "Aren't the three little ones at home almost like children? Xuxu will probably be busy after the spring. When she's not at home, someone has to take care of the three little ones, right?"

Yuan Lianyun couldn't help but ask: "Is her script about to start filming? Which one is she going to film this time? Does she have to follow the crew all the time?"

Gu Xuelan said: "I don't know the details, but it seems to be a story about crime. It's the script she is revising now. She revised it over and over again. She said that after the revisions, the director was satisfied, so she started casting and filming."

Gu Xuemei was worried about another problem: "How long will it take to shoot this time? It won't be like the last drama that took three months, right? She and Qingsong have just been dating for a short time. Being apart for such a long time is not conducive to the development of their relationship." She heard from Jingyu that three months is a short time. Some dramas can take half a year or even longer. Some celebrity couples in the entertainment industry eventually divorced because they were apart for too long due to work.

After hearing what she said, Yuan Lianyun was a little worried: "Xue Lan, didn't you say that they were dating with the intention of getting married? If they are separated for too long, it will really be detrimental to the cultivation of their relationship."

Gu Xuelan was not worried at all: "It's okay, let the couple deal with their own affairs. But I don't think Qingsong is someone who will change his mind so easily." Thinking back to the time when Xu Qingsong came with gifts and told her and Liu Nanshan very seriously that he wanted to pursue Xuxu, they almost thought he was coming to propose marriage directly. Also, don't think she can't see that Qingsong sometimes sticks to their Xuxu.

Before she finished talking about this topic, Gu Xuemei jumped to another one and said to Gu Xuelan, "Sister, you have to keep a close eye on Xuxu no matter what. Marriage is not a joke. Even if Qingsong thinks she is a good match, you have to let them talk for a while. Don't rush into marriage. From this point of view, it's also good for Xuxu to go out and follow the crew. Time and distance are the touchstones of love."

"Oh my," Gu Xuelan stretched out her tone, "Sister-in-law, look, she can actually say that marriage is not a joke and you can't rush into getting married. I really have to look at her in a new light."

"I've long wanted to go back and slap myself back then. If that doesn't wake me up, I'll just slap myself to death." Gu Xuemei continued the teasing, saying, "If I could do it all over again, sister, I think it's okay not to get married and be a career-oriented strong woman. That kind of life would be quite fulfilling."

"What you said is true," Yuan Lianyun smiled, "No matter what kind of life is, it will never be perfect. If there is a so-called perfection, it can only be as you said, in the scenery you have never seen and the road you have never walked."

"Yes," Gu Xuelan agreed with her sister-in-law and joked, "It's actually very simple to have a fulfilling life. Just try more. For example, get married and then divorced, have a child before marriage and another child after marriage, cheat when you are in love and cheat again after marriage, walk all the roads in the world, see all the scenery, and eat all the dishes..."

These words made Yuan Lianyun and Gu Xuemei laugh.

The three of them felt a little hungry as they walked, so they bought some snacks from a roadside stall and shared them. They slowly returned to where they parked the electric bike. Liu Nanshan, Gu Xuehui and Song Ningwei were already waiting there. Liu Wangxue, Xu Qingsong and the three little ones had not returned yet.