The salty life in Life of Pi

Chapter 98 Dad, are you going to marry Aunt Tian?

In the park where Wu Xianyu often goes fishing.

Lin Miaomiao looked very depressed. The stray cat had died. After being sent to the pet hospital, the doctor shook his head.
"There's no need to rescue it. It must be a stray cat. Its body functions have all reached their limits. To put it simply, it died of old age. This is considered a natural death for stray cats."

After communicating with the doctor, in order to avoid the cat's pain during the final period of time, the doctor euthanized the stray cat, and the two of them came to the park with a small body bag.

Borrowing tools from the park ranger, Wu Xianyu dug a small hole under a tree and placed the body bag in it.

After filling the soil back in, the ground rose slightly, but not so obvious, just like the inconspicuous stray cat when it was alive.

Lin Miaomiao kept staring at the little mound of earth. Yuwan and Laotie also felt that their master was in a bad mood, so they squatted beside Lin Miaomiao obediently. Yuwan would rub Lin Miaomiao from time to time, trying to make her feel better.

Wu Xianyu returned the tools and washed his hands. He was sweating so much that he could only go home and take a shower. Seeing that Lin Miaomiao was still sad, Wu Xianyu sat on the ground beside her and said:

"You've been looking at it for quite a while, what are you thinking about?"

Lin Miaomiao shook her head, propped her chin with both hands, and looked at the earth bag with a dazed look.
"I don't know what I'm thinking. I just feel sad, but not that sad. I feel a little sad because I realize I'm not that sad."

Lin Miaomiao's words were a bit confusing, but Wu Xianyu still understood them and chuckled.

"Why are you acting so literary? Do you feel you need to feel even more sad for this stray cat? It would be better if you shed a few more tears to express your sadness?"

Turning to look at Wu Xianyu, Lin Miaomiao's eyes became a little more alert. Seeing Lin Miaomiao's eyes, Wu Xianyu reached out and touched her face, comforting her.

"Don't think too much. We don't have that much connection with this stray cat. We just fed it a few times. If we really have a close connection, it should be Yuwan and Laotie. After all, she is their mother. But look at them, apart from their caution when they first found the stray cat and their nervousness when they arrived at the hospital, do they have any other negative emotions?"

Looking at Lao Tie lying beside her and Yu Wan circling around her, Lin Miaomiao looked helpless and muttered:
"Two heartless people."

But she had obviously come out of that strange mood. Standing up, Lin Miaomiao looked at the small river not far away and the fisherman on the shore, then turned to look at Wu Xianyu.

"Why haven't you been fishing lately?"

Wu Xianyu tilted his head, looked at Lin Miaomiao with a squint, snorted, and stood up.
"Guess why? As long as you don't bring two supervisors to watch me, I promise to come fishing when I have nothing to do."

"Hahaha, next time, let Yuwan and Laotie eat their fill before watching you fishing."

"Hmph, let's talk about it next time."

After saying that, Wu Xianyu patted his trouser legs, stretched his body, turned around and walked out of the park.

Lin Miaomiao hurriedly followed, holding the two cats, with a smile on her face.

The two came back from the park. When they returned to the community, except for Laotie who was still walking slowly, Yuwan was already lying in Lin Miaomiao's arms and acting coquettishly. Lin Miaomiao didn't feel hot and walked home with the cat in her arms.

Wu Xianyu had just opened the door when Yuwan turned over and rushed into the living room swiftly. He lay down under the air conditioner and stretched comfortably. Laotie walked into the living room with elegant steps.

When Wu Xianyu and Lin Miaomiao were about to enter, they heard the sound of a door closing upstairs, and Lin Miaomiao stopped.

After waiting for a while, Wang Shengnan and Lin Dawei came down. Seeing Lin Miaomiao and Wu Xianyu, they were stunned for a moment, but then they reacted quickly. Wang Shengnan greeted Wu Xianyu and saw Wu Xianyu turn around and go into the house after greeting him. Then she said to Lin Miaomiao,
"Your dad and I will take your grandparents to visit your aunt, you just stay at home and play."

"Huh? Why don't you let me go see my aunt?"

Lin Miaomiao was a little puzzled as to why she was not allowed to go. After all, she was a relative of Wang Dingnan, so she should go see him if he was sick.

Lin Dawei gently touched Wang Shengnan's back with his arm, and when she turned her head and raised her chin, Wang Shengnan frowned and looked at Lin Miaomiao.
"I'll tell you when I get back. If you want to see it, go next time. I'm leaving now."

After saying that, Wang Shengnan didn't even look at Lin Miaomiao's reaction and hurried downstairs. Lin Dawei only had time to whisper to Lin Miaomiao:

"I'll tell you when I get back"

I followed Wang Shengnan downstairs.

Standing at the door, Lin Miaomiao scratched her head and turned back to the living room of Wu Xianyu's house.

In the evening, Wang Shengnan and Lin Dawei returned home with heavy steps. They rested on the sofa for a while, and then Lin Miaomiao also came back.

Wang Shengnan saw Lin Miaomiao and remembered that she hadn't made dinner yet. She stretched her body and was about to stand up when Lin Dawei pulled her back.
"Okay, I ordered takeout, that's it for tonight, don't work yourself up."

"That's fine, it's okay to eat occasionally."

Wang Shengnan obediently sat back on the sofa, closed her eyes and dozed off.

When Lin Miaomiao saw the two of them like this, she had all the questions in her mind but couldn't ask them anymore.

After a while, there was a knock on the door by the delivery man. Lin Miaomiao stood up, opened the door, took the takeaway, put it on the table, and invited the two to come and eat.

The family of three sat at the dining table, and Lin Miaomiao finally couldn't help but speak

"Mom, what happened to my aunt? Why are you so tired?"

Sighing, Wang Shengnan no longer concealed

"Your aunt has schizophrenia. Your grandparents went to see her this afternoon. It turned out that her condition was unstable and your grandparents were scared. Your father and I were busy running around and were exhausted the whole afternoon."

Lin Miaomiao bit her chopsticks with a look of shock on her face
"Ah? My aunt is mentally ill?"

"tsk"

With a light sigh, Wang Shengnan raised her eyelids and stared at Lin Miaomiao sharply. Lin Miaomiao immediately realized that she had said the wrong thing and turned her head to spit a few times.

"Mom, can my aunt still live a normal life?"

"The doctor's diagnosis is not very optimistic. He has now been transferred to a psychiatric hospital. The worst-case scenario is that he will stay in the hospital for life."

"Why is it so serious? Is it because of the divorce between my aunt and Teacher Tang?"

Lin Miaomiao had no appetite anymore and was waiting for Wang Shengnan's answer with a frown.

"Not entirely, but the divorce from Teacher Tang is also part of the reason. The main reason is that your aunt's biological father also has a mental illness. Your aunt inherited it. Fortunately, Jiaojiao didn't inherit it, otherwise it would be troublesome."

"Wait, wait, isn't my aunt my grandpa's biological daughter?"

The heavy news one after another made Lin Miaomiao dizzy. Wang Shengnan squinted and looked at Lin Miaomiao, feeling that there was something behind her words. "Your aunt is my aunt, your grandfather's sister, born to someone else. It was a special period, and the two separated. You can guess what happened at that time. Don't ask, don't talk about it, and don't tell your aunt. She is not well now, and she can't be stimulated."

At this time, Lin Dawei, who had been eating in silence, spoke up.
"Don't let Miaomiao go for now. She's in her third year of high school, and it's the most important time. It's not good to let her see patients at this time. If she gets startled, it will affect her studies."

"That's true, let's talk about it later."

Wang Shengnan originally didn't want Lin Miaomiao to go see her sister. She had been tormented by Wang Dingnan this afternoon, so she decided to take advantage of the situation.

Lin Miaomiao looked at her parents' tired expressions, and imagined what a mental patient looked like. She shuddered and lowered her head to eat in silence.

After dinner, Wang Shengnan seemed to remember something and took out her phone to send a message to Tang Yuanming.

"Yuanming, don't take Jiaojiao to see Dingnan for the time being. Her condition has not been very clear recently. My parents were scared this afternoon. Jiaojiao is still young and can't stand the shock."

After reading the message from Wang Shengnan, Tang Yuanming sighed and was about to reply when a voice interrupted his train of thought.
"Yuanming, why are you playing with your phone while eating? Look, Jiaojiao is unhappy."

When she looked up, she saw Tang Jiaojiao sitting on Tian Shanshan's lap, smiling happily. Tian Shanshan's smiling face also radiated maternal love. If the students in the school saw her like this, they would definitely think that she was still sleepy.

Tang Yuanming responded and casually sent a message to Wang Shengnan, put down his phone and continued eating.

After dinner, Tian Shanshan cleaned up the table and took Tang Jiaojiao to take a bath. Tang Yuanming breathed a sigh of relief. It was quite necessary to have a hostess at home. At least he didn't have to worry about Jiaojiao slipping while taking a bath alone.

When Tang Jiaojiao came back from Tian Shanshan's dormitory smelling delicious, Tang Yuanming hugged her into bed, chatted with her for a while, and gradually calmed down.

After a moment of silence, Tang Yuanming tentatively spoke

"Jiaojiao, what do you think of Auntie Tian?"

Tang Jiaojiao was still not sleepy for a while. Usually at this time, she was still watching videos on her phone with Lin Miaomiao. When she heard her father's words, she turned her big eyes and looked at Tang Yuanming.
"Be good to me. Dad, are you going to marry Auntie Tian?"

"cough cough"

Tang Yuanming was choked by his own saliva, coughed a few times, and looked down at his daughter with a helpless look.
“Who do I learn these things from every day?”

"So Dad doesn't want to marry Aunt Tian?"

These two sentences directly blocked all of Tang Yuanming's escape routes. Looking at Jiaojiao's bright eyes, Tang Yuanming looked away, his tone filled with helplessness.
"It's not that I have to marry her, but she is the most suitable. Dad, I don't really have any feelings for her, but it just happened that she needs a home and I need a mother. It's a bit unfair to her."

"Does Auntie Tian have feelings for you? I feel like she likes me more."

"yes"

Tang Yuanming simply started chatting with Jiaojiao

"Your Aunt Tian is infertile and will never be able to have her own children in this life, but because of this problem, she likes children more. So she took medicine for several years and went to every hospital in the country. She endured until she was in her thirties, but the problem was never solved, and finally she got divorced."

Tang Jiaojiao poked her head out from under the quilt, leaned against the bed like Tang Yuanming, and looked at her father.
“I don’t understand even if you tell me this.”

"Why are you acting stupid again?"

Tang Yuanming touched Tang Jiaojiao's head with a smile on his face.

After spending a few days with Jiaojiao and Tian Shanshan, Tang Yuanming sent Jiaojiao back to Wang Shengnan's home. The main reason was that Tang Yuanming had to start working as the head teacher of the key liberal arts class.

After Lin Miaomiao took Tang Jiaojiao to find Wu Xianyu, Tang Yuanming sat on the sofa in the living room, feeling a little nervous, and did not dare to look up at Wang Shengnan and Lin Dawei.

Seeing him like this, Wang Shengnan was a little confused, but still served him tea and fruit.

After a moment of silence, Tang Yuanming took a deep breath and spoke.
"Um, big sister, I want to discuss something with you."

Wang Shengnan looked at Tang Yuanming who kept his head down, and had a bad feeling in her heart, but she still listened.

"It's like this. I have a colleague who is also a teacher at Elite Middle School. She treats Jiaojiao very well. Then she is also divorced. The reason for the divorce is that she can't have children. She once asked if she wanted to live together, so."

Hearing Tang Yuanming's words, Wang Shengnan became angry. She closed her eyes, folded her arms and leaned on the sofa.

The atmosphere in the living room became increasingly tense, but with a sigh from Wang Shengnan, the atmosphere returned to normal.

Wang Shengnan took a sip of the tea, suppressed her anger, and spoke

"You and Dingnan are already divorced. I can't interfere with you. As long as she treats Jiaojiao well, I have no objection. If she treats Jiaojiao badly, I will bring Jiaojiao back no matter what."

Tang Yuanming nodded, his face was not very smiling, but rather very bitter.

"I know. If she hadn't been so nice to Jiaojiao, I wouldn't have had this idea. It's really inconvenient for a man like me to take care of a girl. Besides, I've seen too many children from single-parent families. I don't want Jiaojiao to become one of them."

After hearing Tang Yuanming's explanation, Wang Shengnan's anger gradually disappeared. This matter was a confusing matter no matter how you looked at it.

Lin Dawei saw Tang Yuanming off as usual. When they got downstairs, Lin Dawei said to Tang Yuanming:
"It's really hard to rent a house near the school. The prices are too expensive. I've been looking for one for you, but I recently found a house that I'm planning to sell. It's not in the school district. But as a teacher, it's probably not necessary for you to be in the school district, so I want to hear your opinion."

Tang Yuanming was a little hesitant. Was the money he had really enough to buy a house in Jiangzhou?
"Brother-in-law, I want to hear the price first"

"I found it for you, it must be within your acceptable range. I will send you the information about this apartment later, and you can go back and think about it carefully."

He patted Tang Yuanming on the shoulder, sent him into the car, and changed his tone.
"Live a good life. Don't call me elder sister or brother-in-law anymore. You should consider the teacher's feelings."

Tang Yuanming turned to look at Lin Dawei, feeling a little ashamed. He thought for a moment and said:

"Dawei, no matter how I call you, in my heart, you are still my elder sister and brother-in-law"

"Okay, that's it, let's go"

Lin Dawei waved and watched Tang Yuanming leave the community.

After the car drove out of the community gate, Lin Dawei turned around and walked upstairs. When he reached the stairs, he thought of something and took out his cell phone.
"Hello, is this the Velvet Cake Shop? Hey, I'd like to ask how much your custom-made cake costs. Yes, it's a birthday cake."

When Wu Xianyu heard Lin Dawei's voice, he stopped moving. The door had already opened a crack, and Lin Dawei's words were clearly heard by him and Lin Miaomiao.

(End of this chapter)