Three or Two Things about Rebirth

Qiu Luming didn't say anything.

"I'm talking to you, can you hear me?" He Mansu pulled Qiu Luming.

"I heard it, I heard it! Wait a little longer, don't look for a partner."

"I'm not telling you not to look for..."

"We must catch him, but we must not be trapped by him!"

"Keep your voice down, kid!" What nonsense are you talking about?

He Manshu saw Xia Yanjing carrying the swill bucket out to take out the garbage, and quickly pulled her daughter back home. "This person must have seen Principal Fei and his father. There will definitely be another round of rumors."

"Let it spread. I don't need her anymore. By the way, mom, where did her Liu Yuning get into the college? I haven't seen her recently."

"I failed to get into university, nor did I get into technical secondary school. I went to Harbin to study at my own expense."

"Everyone is going to Harbin to study. The city must be overcrowded. By the way, Xia Yanjing always brags to me about how good her daughter's grades are and makes fun of those who go to school through the backdoor. Don't they have to pay for it themselves?"

"Okay, little girl, stop talking behind people's backs and get inside!"

After entering the house, He Manshu followed her daughter to her bedroom. "Mom hasn't finished talking yet. The most taboo thing for girls is to have their minds and hearts filled with men. There are so many things to do in the world. You should have your own job, your own hobbies, your own friends, and your own world."

"Mom, you've said that three times."

"You have to say it eight times!" He Manshu hit Qiu Luming's arm, "Now that you are dating someone, mom must reiterate that you should love yourself! Don't do anything out of line! Things like Sun Ning and Zhang Weijing staying in a hotel, which were spread by the waiters, are absolutely not allowed! Also, loving yourself means being a little selfish! Dating and getting married are to make your life better, not to make you sacrifice and contribute to other people's families! If you can give that family a child, it will be a huge contribution!"

"Haha, Mom, your contribution to the Qiu family is greater than the sky!"

"How can this child be so heartless?" He Manshu sighed, "Don't be offended, remember, if a man makes you sacrifice too much and pay too much, then he is not worthy of your love! Your sacrifice will make others grateful for three years at most. If they mention it again in the fourth year, you will feel embarrassed. If they don't mention it, you will feel wronged. Over time, you will become a resentful woman!"

"Mom, no one wants me to sacrifice myself. If someone treats me well, I will treat them well. I don't owe them anything."

He Manshu suddenly hugged her daughter and said, "Mom is so conflicted now. I want you to marry a good family, but I don't want you to be too far away from me. Do you know how hard it is for a woman to marry far away?"

Qiu Luming hugged her mother back. She heard from her eldest sister-in-law that her mother always suffered from insomnia during the half year she went to Harbin to study. She also heard from her eldest brother that it was not easy for her parents to raise the four of them without the help of relatives and with their busy work schedule. Her second brother said that before he was ten years old, her mother never went to bed before midnight. She had to teach students during the day, cook, wash clothes, take care of children, prepare lessons, and correct homework. Every night after they fell asleep, her mother would clean the house again and iron the clothes she and her father would wear the next day.

"Mom, I won't leave you. I want you to cook for me every day and take care of my kids."

"What shameless, young lady's nonsense!"

"Sometimes I'm a little girl, sometimes I'm a big girl." Qiu Luming leaned her head on her mother's shoulder. She could hear her mother's fiery heartbeat and smell her faint fragrance. "Mom, my brothers are promising, so let them go out and conquer the world. I'm not promising, so I'll just take care of you."

The mother didn't say anything, but just hugged me tighter.

The mother and daughter hugged for a while, and He Manshu whispered, "Your second sister-in-law will be here soon, I have to tell her quickly. Remember, the best days after marriage are the first two years, and some may even be less than that..."

"My fortune hasn't been..."

"Shut up! Some have been together for less than two years. Marriage and love are two different things. After marriage, it's all about the daily necessities of life, respecting the elderly and loving the young. Ordinary days are the most challenging to human nature, so you have to test him for a few more years. Your second sister-in-law's family is so well-off, and I also tested her for more than a year!"

Now, just keep communicating with Yuanhang. Your father and I said that on purpose. We can’t just give you away to someone else as soon as they ask for your permission. That would be a shame and would make our daughter look unworthy.”

"Tsk, tsk, so cunning."

"Go and learn! Yuanhang is a PhD student. He definitely can't return to Jiayang after graduating with his major. When your third brother's company becomes bigger, if you really can't find another job, go work for him. To put it bluntly, a woman doesn't have to have a big career, but she must have something! She must be able to support herself, have the ability to make herself happy, have self-esteem, hobbies, and money."

"Teacher He is becoming more and more vulgar."

"When you talk to my daughter, you always say what you don't know. It's all your mother's life experience. To be honest, people are selfish. I only say this to my daughter, not my daughter-in-law. If they have the wisdom, they can figure it out on their own. If they can't, it's because their mother didn't teach them."

"Yeah." Qiu Luming hugged his mother again, this time on the other shoulder, and rubbed it.

***

It would take at least ten days or half a month for an ordinary letter to arrive from Beijing to Jiayang.

On average, Qiu Luming would receive a letter from Fei Yuanhang every five days, and they would make a ten-minute long-distance call every Saturday night.

Fei Yuanhang's handwriting is square and powerful, full of life details and insights, without a single sweet word, but full of care and longing. Qiu Luming likes the feeling of receiving letters very much, and reads each letter over and over again. During the Spring Festival of 1993, Fei Yuanhang was not coming back for the New Year, so she was rushing to knit a burgundy sweater for him.

There is no sensation, nor the instant heartbeat when she first met Xie Zhi. That kind of amazement probably only happens once in a lifetime, but Qiu Luming is very satisfied with this kind of long-lasting relationship. In the Republic of China, she thought it would be best to marry into a scholarly family after graduation. It doesn't have to be too rich, but reasonable people are enough.

Qiu Luming finally graduated, but it would take two months to get her diploma. Fei Yuanhang congratulated her in the letter and said he would help her contact a suitable school and apply for the self-taught undergraduate exam.

Finally, he no longer had to go to Nanshangen to attend classes every night. Qiu Luming could feel that his second brother was relieved. Over the past two years, his second brother had been very hard-working. In addition to going to the countryside to handle cases and be on duty, he also went to pick up and drop off Qiu Luming every day.

Fang Yuan brought a bag of delicious food to celebrate his sister-in-law's graduation. "Luming, look what delicious food I brought. Red sausage! Pine nut tripe! Roast chicken! And frozen crabs!"

"Oh, there are crabs! I haven't eaten crabs yet!"

"I ate it once, seven or eight years ago. My dad took me to Dalian for a trip. I ate sea cucumber, abalone, sea urchin, crab, Spanish mackerel dumplings and seaweed buns. They were all delicious. Unfortunately, I had diarrhea after eating. My dad said I didn't have a seafood belly, hahaha."

"The only seafood I've ever eaten is dried shrimp and kelp."

“Hahahaha!” Fang Yuan laughed so hard that tears were about to come out. “Lu Ming just has a sense of humor. My dad said that people with a sense of humor are the smartest!”

Qiu Luming also laughed. She could feel her second sister-in-law's admiration and dependence on her father. She couldn't help but mention her father during the conversation. Fang Yuan was a straightforward and generous person, kind and simple. It was obvious that her family protected her very well. She could also imagine that after she married to Jiayang, her parents at home must have been worried about her all day and couldn't sleep or eat well.

The Fang family had also tested Qiu Jiashu before. The reason they agreed to their marriage was because they were familiar with the Qiu family's style and Qiu Jiashu's character.

Qiu Luming thought it was natural for her second brother to pass the test. She always believed that her second brother was the best man in the world and worthy of any woman. Really, although she thought Fang Yuan was very good, she still thought it was a pity for her second brother that he could not meet a better woman in Jiayang.

Of course, I can’t reveal even a little bit of this to my second sister-in-law.

Alas, there is one bad thing about my second brother. He is just like Qin Huifang, the kind of person who looks unattainable but actually doesn't have much emotional experience. As long as they are determined to pursue her, they will always be able to catch up with her.

The second brother was moved by the sincerity and purity of the second sister-in-law. He liked her simplicity and lack of utilitarianism. Just like when he went to the hotel to accompany Zhou Lina to celebrate the New Year, he married Fang Yuan and didn't mind others saying that he was a son-in-law.

Thinking of Qin Huifang, Qiu Luming was still a little angry. It had been several months, and she seemed to have disappeared. In the small Jiayang County, he had never met her once. She just ignored her calls twice, and she stopped calling!

That day, Qiu Luming was sitting in the reading room, wearing a camel-colored wool shawl mailed by her eldest sister-in-law, listening to the piano music played on the walkman mailed by her third brother, knitting a sweater happily, thinking that Fei Yuanhang's letter should arrive today.

Suddenly, she felt a darkness in front of her eyes. When she looked up, she was stunned for a moment and said angrily, "Hey, you're not dead!"