Siheyuan: Cooking journey

"Sisi, look, this is the city where mom and dad used to live..."

Lou Xiao'e held Sisi on her lap.

Sisi's little face was stern, and curiosity was revealed in her clear eyes as she looked at the new world outside the window.

The car moved forward slowly, and after a long time, it slowly stopped.

The driver said politely, "Ms. Lou, we're here. Should I stay here and wait for you, or come pick you up later?"

"No need, you can go back first, and you don't need to come back to pick me up. Please express my gratitude to Mr. Guo for me."

Lou Xiao'e took Sisi out of the car.

The driver took the suitcase respectfully and said, "Ms. Lou, this is your luggage."

Lou Xiao'e nodded, holding Sisi in one hand and pulling the suitcase with the other, looking a little confused, and walked towards the familiar courtyard.

In the front yard, the third aunt was busy watering the flowers. When she saw the fashionable and charming Lou Xiao'e and Sisi in a pink princess dress, she immediately widened her eyes and froze there.

Lou Xiao'e was immersed in memories of the past. She ignored her and walked straight to the middle courtyard.

The third aunt came to her senses and hurried into the house.

Inside the house, the retired uncle was sitting there listening to the radio.

The third aunt said anxiously: "Boss, something bad has happened, something bad has happened, Lou Xiao'e is back."

"Lou Xiao'e?"

The third uncle was stunned for a moment and said in disbelief, "How is it possible? The Lou family has been away for more than ten years. Are you sure?"

"You're right. I saw it clearly."

The third aunt stamped her feet anxiously: "Didn't you see that more than ten years have passed, and Lou Xiao'e hasn't changed at all, except that her clothes are more beautiful, how could I not recognize her?

"Oh, Lou Xiao'e also brought a little girl of eight or nine years old, wearing a little dress, dressed up really well, I have never seen anything like it with my old eyes."

"Oh no."

The third uncle clapped his hands, frowned and said:

"Lou Xiao'e is here to look for Zhuzi. Judging from the girl's age, she might be Zhuzi's maid.

"Who knows if Lou Xiao'e still remembers what happened back then?

"Now that this has come to my door, Teacher Ran is in a bad situation."

As he said that, the third uncle stood up and was about to go out, but he stopped at the door and quickly told the third aunt: "Go to the middle courtyard and take a look. It's not appropriate for me to go over there. Remember, just look and don't talk. Don't go over and get involved. This is the private matter of the Zhuzi family. We have no right to interfere."

"Row."

The three aunts went out in a hurry.

The third uncle sighed and paced around the room.

He Yuzhu is now the director of the steel rolling mill and has a good relationship with Ran Qiuye. Naturally, he doesn't want Lou Xiaoe to come back and disrupt the situation. He also helped arrange Ran Qiuye's work and put some thought into it.

As soon as Ran Qiuye left and Lou Xiaoe came, all the favors were in vain, and I might even be blamed.

Over the years, in order to appear close to He Yuzhu's family, he often showed off in the yard. Everyone knew that it was he who introduced Ran Qiuye to He Yuzhu.

"Why did Lou Xiao'e come back?"

The third uncle was puzzled and anxious.

After thinking about it, he quickly went out and called the steel mill.

At this moment, what others say doesn’t count. The only thing we can do is to ask He Yuzhu to come back.

In the middle courtyard.

Lou Xiao'e stopped and her memory became even more blurred.

Everything in front of me is exactly the same as when I left, with not much change.

"Sisi, that's our home."

Lou Xiao'e smiled and pointed to Sisi. When she saw the open door, she frowned and led Sisi over.

inside the house.

Little Nianqiu was sitting on a small stool, listening to Ran Qiuye teaching her to recite a poem word by word: "Bow your head and think of your hometown..."

"Look down and think of my hometown..."

Little Nianqiu's childish voice echoed in the house.

Suddenly, the room became dark.

Someone came in.

Looking at the woman in front of me who is both strange and beautiful, and somewhat familiar.

Ran Qiuye frowned slightly, stood up and said politely:

"who are you looking for?"

Lou Xiao'e had a cold face. She looked at Ran Qiuye first, then at Xiao Nianqiu, and unconsciously clenched her fists.

Some things, although expected,

But anticipating it is one thing, and seeing it happen in front of you is another.

Angry and helpless,

After all, he is my man, what can I do?

At the beginning, I was the one who left without saying a word, so who can I blame?

But no matter what happened before.

Now that I'm back, I have to take back everything I once had.

Lou Xiao'e made up her mind and looked at Ran Qiuye coldly, her tone equally cold and hard:

"I am Lou Xiao'e, He Yuzhu's wife. I don't care about the past and don't want to ask too much. If you leave now, I will give you enough money to live comfortably for the rest of your life."

"Lou Xiao'e!"

Ran Qiuye turned pale and suddenly became flustered.

I never expected that Lou Xiao'e would appear so suddenly.

Such a direct and cold attitude.

But when she thought of He Yuzhu, Ran Qiuye felt relieved and calmed down. She sat down again, hugged Nianqiu, and said coldly: "You were He Yuzhu's wife, but you left, which was equivalent to giving up the marriage. The relevant departments also recognized your divorce. Now, I am He Yuzhu's legal wife;"

"By the way, my name is Ran Qiuye. He Yuzhu didn't let me leave, and no one can drive me and my child away. This will always be our home, and he will always be my husband and the father of my child."

Lou Xiao'e took a deep breath, clenched her fists even tighter, frowned at her, and said in a cold voice:

"If you leave now, you can still save some face. But when He Yuzhu comes back, you will have nothing."

"I did leave him, but I never divorced him. I was his wife before, and I am still his wife now;"

"For so many years, he has never forgotten us, mother and daughter. He has always been thinking about us, overcoming all difficulties and trying every possible way to come to Xiangdao to find us. Isn't this proof?"

"Since you live with him, you must know that he spent more than a month in Hong Kong every year in the past few years, just to accompany us mother and daughter;"

“I know your situation, and I understand him. I’m not angry. We had already discussed it four years ago. I came back and you left.

“You can go now with dignity and money to worry about for the rest of your life;

"Otherwise, when He Yuzhu comes back, you won't even be able to save your face. He will only choose us, mother and daughter!"

Ran Qiuye bit her lip lightly and subconsciously clutched the corner of her clothes.

He Yuzhu went to Hong Kong every year. She probably guessed the reason, which was to look for Xiao'e. She didn't mind, but she didn't expect that he had already found her.

I knew Lou Xiao'e's words were false, but when I heard her being so arrogant,

Still very angry, very angry.

Ran Qiuye took a deep breath, glanced at her, and said coldly:

"As He Yuzhu's wife, how could I not know what he was doing in Hong Kong?"

"Four years ago, he had the opportunity to stay in Hong Kong and work for five years without having to come back, but he didn't stay and chose to come back to be with us, mother and daughter.

"This incident is enough to show who is more important in his heart. I don't need to explain it too clearly, you should understand;

"He goes to Hong Kong for more than a month every year. What can it prove? It can only prove that he is a good father and goes to see the children, not because of you, his ex-wife. As for the remaining eleven months, he is with us, mother and daughter.

“I believe you are a smart person who knows your priorities;

"As for what you said about you coming back and me leaving, it's useless to tell me. It's only useful if He Yuzhu tells me..."

Lou Xiao'e gritted her teeth and really wanted to bite that stinky man to death. She was so angry that she wanted to turn around and leave.

But why come back!

Even if I'm angry,

She also knew she couldn't just leave like this.

It would be easy to just leave. This house would be given to someone else for free and she would have nothing to do with it anymore.

It was precisely because I understood this that I felt even more aggrieved and more annoyed with that stinky man.

The room was silent.

He Nianqiu had an innocent look on his face. He looked at this and that, finding them very interesting and novel.

This is a cliché plot in a TV drama, where another mother comes to the door and the two mothers refuse to give in to each other and are at loggerheads. It is unimaginable that such things will happen in the future, but I cannot imagine it but I can witness it with my own eyes.

I was so excited that my curiosity was burning.

He Nianqiu was extremely looking forward to seeing how this scumbag dad who flirted and ran away would deal with this difficult situation.

But she looked at Ran Qiuye who looked indifferent.

He understood instantly that if Lou Xiao'e took his father away, he and his mother would be miserable. Although he heard that his father had two wives for special reasons, no one knew how they got along. What if he chose one and abandoned the other?

The probability is fifty-fifty, and it is very likely that they will be in trouble...

No, this matter cannot be let go like this.

He Nianqiu swore secretly in his heart that he must take action to stop it.

Look at the little girl next to Lou Xiaoe, whose face is as cold as ice.

He Nianqiu couldn't help but feel a little proud in his heart. He thought that this must be the legendary sister. Although she was a little cold, there was really nothing to admire about her. She wanted to take my dad away, but there was no way.

A little girl who is at most ten years old wants to compete with me, a sister who has rich experience?

As soon as my dad comes back, I will hug him tightly, act coquettishly and cutely, and the scales of victory will naturally tilt towards my side.

Lou Xiao'e calmed down for a while.

She realized that Ran Qiuye would not back out easily, so she pulled Xiao Sisi to sit down at the table without saying anything more. After all, there was nothing more to say. Everything would be revealed when He Yuzhu returned.

Ran Qiuye sat on the other side holding little Nianqiu, also silent.

For a moment, the room became even quieter.

Lou Xiao'e was somewhat curious, so she looked at her calmly, hesitated for a moment, and asked:

"How did you and him get together?"

“I lied to you before. I didn’t know you existed, and I had never discussed this with He Yuzhu.

"I thought that after so many years, he might have another woman, but I didn't expect it wasn't anyone I thought of, but a stranger like you."

Ran Qiuye bit her lip and asked back:

"Are you guessing Yu Li or Qin Huairu?"

"We meet every day, how could I not notice those special looks? I just pretend not to know."

"Correct."

Lou Xiao'e did not deny it, and was not surprised that Ran Qiuye could guess it. As women, it was easy for them to see some clues after getting along for a long time. Only that wooden-headed man could not notice these.

But this clumsy man married another woman and had a child.

Lou Xiao'e was angry, but also more curious about how he got together with Ran Qiuye. Only by knowing both herself and the other could she predict which side this stupid man would lean towards after he came back.

"How did you two get together? Can you tell me about it?"

“We knew each other a long time ago.

Ran Qiuye hesitated for a moment, then said frankly,

“That was in 61, I had just graduated from college and met him in the library, but later we separated for some reasons;

“Later, I figured it out and tried to find him, only to discover that you were already married;

“My world turned grey when I heard the news;

“Actually, I’ve seen you guys once in the library, more than ten years ago, but I didn’t recognize you at first glance;

“It was also at that time that I realized that there was no possibility for me and him to be together again, and I completely let it go;

“I never thought about looking for him again, nor did I expect that five years later, you would leave;

“I’m not telling you this to show off;

“I just want you to know that I don’t have to possess him;

"Because I've already missed him once, and I won't miss him a second time."

Stinky man!

Only then did Lou Xiao'e understand who she had watched the movie "Liu Erjie" with and who the cushion that He Yushui mentioned was prepared for.

But what can we do even if we understand it?

Those are all things of the past. If I hadn't left, everything now would only exist in the past.

In the past eleven years, I have regretted my decision to leave countless times.

But there has never been a moment when I feel more regretful than now.

It is because of leaving that all the things in the past will resurface.

Lou Xiao'e felt a tightness in her chest and was so regretful that she almost cried.

But if I hadn't left in the first place, what other options would there be?

"Actually, I just lied..."

Ran Qiuye looked at her and said calmly:

“I lied to you that he could stay in Hong Island for five years;

"Every time he looked for an opportunity to go to Hong Kong Island, I could guess that it was to look for you, but I didn't know that he had already found you. Every time he came back, he didn't say much, and I didn't ask much."

“Thank you for telling me this.

Lou Xiao'e lowered her head, her bitterness evident in her words:

"I left at the beginning out of helplessness. If I didn't leave, I would be implicated. I'm not afraid of that, but I'm worried about Sisi. I'm really afraid that he will see me suffering and act impulsively, hurting himself;"

“After so many years of wandering, I miss him all the time;

"Seven years have passed in the blink of an eye. I don't know how I managed to make it through!"

“You missed him once, and I missed him once, so you should understand that I don’t want to miss him a second time;

"I don't blame you, nor do I hate you. The world is unpredictable and there is nothing I can do. What can I do? Even if I go back to the beginning, I still have no choice but to leave. I am not afraid of death and I can even die for him, but I can't watch him go to the end of his road.

"I have nothing to complain about, because this is my own choice. If I have to complain, I can only blame this stinky, stupid man. Why is he so likable, so helpless, and so painful?"

Ran Qiuye felt the same way and even breathing seemed a little difficult.