A foreign city, dear you

This happened because one time, when Ye Lian was sending a WeChat message to ask Cao Xueqin if he would come back for dinner, she accidentally mentioned the word "bao". Cao Xueqin was so happy that he thought Ye Lian was particularly fond of him and even called him "bao". After that, he kept this in mind and asked Ye Lian to call him bao whenever he had the chance.

Now that he had unexpectedly made some money, he took the opportunity to hand it over and asked Ye Lian to call him treasure.

Ye Lian, however, refused to call him that. She felt that since they were already an old couple, how could she still call him treasure? She couldn't bring herself to call him that.

Ye Lian just replied nonchalantly: Haha, you are so funny.

Cao Xueqin replied with a picture of Ultraman looking very arrogant and walking without recognizing any relatives. Ye Lian laughed again when she saw it.

*

Ye Lian smiled and started to cook lunch.

Today's menu is fried yellow croaker, braised pork, seaweed egg drop soup and green vegetables.

It is March now, and the college entrance examination is less than three months away. We have to ensure Cao Lanshan's nutrition. Yellow croaker and braised pork are both Cao Lanshan's favorite dishes.

Ye Lian was preparing to fry fish.

Suddenly, with a "bang", a large piece of something fell down and almost hit Ye Lian on the head, scaring Ye Lian.

Ye Lian looked up and found that the ceiling light had fallen down and was hanging in the air by the electric wire, and there was a large square hole on the ceiling.

In this shabby house, even the ceiling lights are about to fall down.

Ye Lian was really at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Ye Lian didn't dare to move it, so she just left it hanging there. But she felt it was a bit dangerous, so she took a photo and sent it to Cao Xueqin, with the caption: Husband, the kitchen ceiling light is broken, what should I do?

Ye Lian knew that although she could not satisfy Cao Xueqin's wish to be called treasure, the title of husband was also very useful.

As soon as Cao Xueqin heard her calling him husband instead of his name, his tone would immediately soften.

As expected, Cao Xueqin replied immediately with a very doting line of words: Don’t be afraid, wife, don’t worry about it, your husband will be home soon.

Ye Lian couldn't help but smile again.

She knew that Cao Xueqin would take on the matter without hesitation and she didn't need to worry about it at all.

Anyway, over the years, as long as it was a little difficult and required strong hands-on ability, Ye Lian classified it as a job of counting stars and gave it to Cao Xueqin. Cao Xueqin was also very proactive and conscientious, and completed every job of counting stars diligently and responsibly.

*

When Cao Xueqin returned home, Ye Lian still had one last dish to prepare.

As soon as Cao Xueqin entered the door, he called out, "Wife, your husband is back."

As he spoke, Cao Xueqin walked into the kitchen.

He looked at the ceiling lamp hanging in the air, but ignored it for the time being. Instead, he hugged Ye Lian out of habit, then took out the envelope and said to Ye Lian, "Come, hug your husband, and your husband will hand the money over to his wife."

Ye Lian was really fed up with being "coerced" by Cao Xueqin like this all the time.

She giggled, hugged Cao Xueqian obediently, took the envelope, and asked him, "How much?"

Cao Xueqian said: "You count it yourself."

Cao Xueqin paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Is your husband obedient? My friend advised me not to hand it over and keep it as private money, but I refused to listen."

Seeing Cao Xueqin's cute expression, Ye Lian also found it very funny and asked him, "So how did you answer him?"

"I told him," Cao Xueqin said in a serious tone, "the happiness of keeping some pocket money is not as great as the happiness of seeing my wife happy."

Ye Lian burst into laughter.

Although Cao Xueqian's words sounded a bit confusing, she could certainly understand them. Cao Xueqian was afraid that the whole world didn't know how much he doted on his wife.

Because she was in a hurry to cook, Ye Lian didn't count the money for the time being. She hurried to the room to put it away and then ran back to the kitchen.

Cao Xueqin was already checking the ceiling light and the hole in the ceiling.

"How is it? Is this lamp still usable?" Ye Lian asked him.

Cao Xueqian replied: "One of the clips on this lamp broke off. I fixed it with hot melt glue and used it as a makeshift device. Then I bought a new one and replaced it."

“Should we buy it from the landlord, or should we buy it ourselves?”

"Forget it, let's just buy it ourselves. We don't want to bother."

Ye Lian said "Okay", and then asked Cao Xueqian: "Have you decided on the company's office address today?"

"Today, Cheng Yufei and I went to an office building to look at an office. We were both satisfied, but we still wanted to compare the rents."

Ye Lian said "oh" and started to carry the dishes out of the kitchen. Looking at the time, Cao Lanshan should be home soon.

And Cao Xueqian went to find the melta gun...

*

In the afternoon, Cao Lanshan went to school.

Cao Xueqin also went out to do something with Cheng Yufei.

After the New Year, Cao Xueqin and Cheng Yufei finally decided to start a business together again. Ye Lian was quite confident about their cooperation and did not ask much about it.

Ye Lian counted the stack of money that Cao Xueqin brought back at noon. It was actually not much, only ten thousand yuan. What Cao Xueqin handed over was not money, but his love for his family and his wife.

Cao Xueqin hadn't drawn for a long time, but a friend urgently needed a picture and came to him for help, so he took time out to help. Otherwise, he wouldn't have drawn this picture.

After Ye Lian had tidied up her house, she thought there was nothing else to do, so she started writing her novel again. She had been writing the novel intermittently, and it was almost 60,000 words.

Sometimes Ye Lian would have the urge to go to the website to try to sign a contract to see if she had the ability to get the contract.

Although Ye Lian wrote the novel purely out of interest or hobby, who doesn't want to prove themselves?

Before, Ye Lian didn’t dare to sign the contract, thinking that if she signed the contract, she would have to guarantee continuous updates. Later, she learned that she could sign the contract first and then write slowly, so she was tempted.

Ye Lian plans to try to sign a contract when she has written 100,000 words. She will sneak out and see whether it is a mule or a horse.

Ye Lian then sat in front of the computer, quietly writing her novel, immersed in her novel world, everything was so peaceful.

But in the evening, the news that Cao Xueqin brought back shocked Ye Lian.

*

Tonight, Cao Xueqin came back from having dinner outside.

As soon as Cao Xueqin entered the room, he said to Ye Lian, "I heard some news today that made me very upset."

"What news?" Ye Lian asked.

"It's Wang Daqun." Cao Xueqin's face was heavy.

"What happened to Wang Daqun?" Ye Lian realized that it seemed to be bad news.

"Wang Daqun is dead." Cao Xueqin said in a low voice.

"No way? Wang Daqun is dead?!" Ye Lian opened her mouth in shock when she heard it.

"How is that possible? Who told you that?" Ye Lian asked in disbelief.

"Hu Bingyang told me this in a message. He heard it from Li Damao." Cao Xueqin said sadly.

Ye Lian didn't know who Li Damao was, so Cao Xueqin explained that he was a man from Wang Daqun's village. When he first came to Yancheng, he worked under Wang Daqun together with Hu Bingyang.

"Why did he die suddenly?" Ye Lian asked curiously.

"I heard that he had cancer, and it was in the late stage of laryngeal cancer. He had no money to treat it, so... Alas..." Cao Xueqin sighed sadly.

"Laryngeal cancer?" Ye Lian suddenly remembered and said, "The year before last, it should be the year before last, he came to you and said he wanted to do the smart lock business with you. At that time, his throat was hoarse, swollen, and he was coughing. Maybe he was already sick at that time."

"That should be the case. I heard that he kept putting it off and didn't go to the hospital. He was so tall and strong, and he always worked hard. He just passed away like that. There is no longer a person named Wang Daqun in this world."

"Yes, things are unpredictable. No one can predict what will happen."

"It was the first time I heard that a young person so familiar to me had died. I felt very sad. It felt like death was so close to us. Human life is so fragile."

"Yes, he is too young. He is only in his forties. He must have many regrets and resentments." Ye Lian also sighed.

"Well, he is very persistent about some things." Cao Xueqin agreed.

Ye Lian nodded and continued with deep feeling:

"He always wanted to drive a BMW, but it never happened until he died; he always wanted to have a son, but it never happened.

"In fact, he cares too much about these things and spends too much energy on them, so he can't see other beautiful and happy things in life. He works hard all his life, but he is also very tired all his life."

The person is no longer with us, and Ye Lian no longer talks about the things that Wang Daqun did that disgusted her and made her uncomfortable.

Ye Lian paused for a moment and then continued, "I wonder how Li Huamei is doing with her child? Does she know that Wang Daqun is gone?"

Among Wang Daqun's wives and other women, Ye Lian was only familiar with Li Huamei.

"Yes, Wang Daqun and Li Huamei's daughter should still be young, probably in elementary school. I wonder if the little girl needs help? If so, we can help her." Like Ye Lian, Cao Xueqin did not know the name of Wang Daqun and Li Huamei's daughter.

"Li Huamei and Wang Daqun have been divorced for so many years, and they should have lost contact for a long time. How would we know where she went? Besides, we were not very familiar with her." Ye Lian understood Cao Xueqin's feelings, but she felt that even if she wanted to help, she didn't know where to help.

"That's right," Cao Xueqin put his arm around Ye Lian's shoulders and said, "Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go out for a walk."