Three or Two Things about Rebirth

Qiu Luming regretted it as soon as she said this. She slapped herself on the mouth, put down her work, stood up, and asked anxiously, "Meifen, why have you lost so much weight?"

Han Meifen had an ordinary appearance to begin with, and now she was so thin that her cheeks were sunken, giving her a miserable look.

During the two years she studied in Harbin, she had become much more cheerful. But now, only a few months after returning to work, for some reason, she had become much quieter again.

It's not that she didn't know at all. Qiu Luming knew that Han Meifen's recent weight loss was related to her second brother's marriage. But she didn't understand. Since she knew she was not worthy of him and never thought about confessing her love to him, why didn't she break away from this secret love quickly, but let herself indulge in this hopeless relationship.

In January, Jiayang was covered in ice and snow, with the temperature outside at more than 20 degrees below zero. Han Meifen was shivering from the cold. Qiu Luming sighed, helped her take off her down jacket, let her lean against the radiator, and rubbed her fingers, "Look at you, you are so thin that you can't even resist the cold."

"Lu Ming, I'm going to the reading room to return the books. Have you finished reading those two books? I'll return them for you." Liu Qi saw that Han Meifen was hesitant to talk, so he sensibly went out to avoid her.

"Uh, I haven't finished it yet."

"You, of course, can't finish reading them. You're busy knitting sweaters for your partner every day!" Liu Qi smiled and took a few books out.

As soon as Liu Qi left, the reading room suddenly became quiet, and the friends who hadn't seen each other for more than three months all felt a little awkward.

Han Meifen's sweater hung loosely on her body, which made Qiu Luming feel uncomfortable. Can a relationship that never started, a secret love, really have such a big impact on a person?

"Are you 80 kilograms now?" Qiu Luming pinched her arm.

Han Meifen shook her head, "76 kilograms."

"My God, I'm only six centimeters taller than you, but I weigh thirty kilograms more!" Qiu Luming has always been a little chubby, with flesh on her face and pits on her hands. When she was knitting, she could feel Fei Yuanhang was always looking at her hands.

"I'm sorry, your family is having a wedding, and I should go to help, but, but I..."

"Stop talking, I know. I don't blame you. I only blame my second brother for being too charming. The sister in the command room didn't go to the wedding either. Several girls cried!

But Qin Huifang was so mean! I was busy with her wedding, but she didn't even show up when my family held the wedding!" Qiu Luming felt annoyed when he thought about how he had lost face in front of his family again and again during that period.

"Huifang, she's pregnant. She probably didn't go because she was afraid that your second sister-in-law would be unhappy. Lu Jiaming's family has a rule that if the pregnancy is not three months, you can't tell anyone. She hasn't worked for the past few months and has been resting at home under the watchful eyes of her grandmother."

"Ah? She's pregnant!" Qiu Luming was shocked. "She, she, she, she, when my second brother got married, she had only been married for a few days. How could she have a child so soon?"

"Uh, this, that..." Han Meifen hesitated for a long time but couldn't make out anything.

Qiu Luming simply stopped asking and waved his hand, "Forget it, forget it. Since I'm going to be her aunt, I won't bother with her! Where is she?"

"I just got to work today and reported for work. Then her elder sister-in-law picked her up. She was a little afraid to come and see you, so she asked me to go ahead."

"The Lu family treats her like a giant panda. How dare I get angry with her? I'll just give her a call when I get home tonight."

"Just don't be angry. They said they would come to the reading room this afternoon."

"Why not come with you then?"

Han Meifen laughed, "It's because they are afraid of your bad temper and your mouth. Huifang is pregnant, so you must remember not to embarrass her."

"I don't have such a bad temper!"

"Yes, yes." Han Meifen nodded repeatedly and pointed at the sweater and asked, "Is this knitted for Fei Yuanhang? It seems that they are really in a relationship."

Qiu Luming immediately smiled and nodded.

"Then you, you..." Han Meifen hesitated to speak.

"Ah, I haven't seen you for more than three months. How come you can't speak clearly anymore?" Qiu Luming said directly, "You don't want to ask Xie Zhi, do you?"

Han Meifen nodded immediately.

"It's been a few years now? I let it go a long time ago!" Qiu Luming thought about it and said, "Meifen, you know, I once stopped him on his way to work and confessed to him. Haha, he was so scared that he still doesn't dare to look at me or talk to me. When my second brother got married, he and his wife went to help, but they were so awkward. Alas, they are too timid!"

"You, you really told him?" There was an inexplicable look in Han Meifen's eyes.

"Hey! Don't learn from me! I was young and ignorant at that time, and I felt unwilling to accept it. I only cared about my own integrity, but I didn't consider that others would feel awkward for so long. Now we don't even have friends anymore!" Qiu Luming deliberately emphasized the last sentence.

The light in Han Meifen's eyes went out again. "You don't have to stop me. If I had the courage, I would have confessed my feelings long ago."

"Then let's move on! Otherwise it will be awkward for both of us."

"I'm not like you, I can just turn the page."

"What's the point of being infatuated!" Qiu Luming said angrily.

"You come to stop me now, what were you thinking at that time?"

"I'm not willing to give up! ... I know it's impossible but I still do it. I don't want to have any regrets, and I want to give up completely. So I was ready to let it go before I confessed. ... Meifen, in fact, no one is irreplaceable!"

"I know. I didn't do that because of your second brother... It was about work."

"The work in the data room isn't tiring, right? Your father is the section chief, so how can anyone embarrass you?"

"It's all because of my dad. He offended someone and didn't warn me in advance. I had no idea who his friends and enemies were in the unit. I didn't know the whole story until I really suffered a loss and got angry." Han Meifen wiped away her tears. "As a result, my dad scolded me, saying that I was stupid, couldn't seize opportunities, and was not as good at handling things as my sister. I've had enough of this family! From childhood to adulthood, no matter how wronged I was, they would always scold me and no one would help me. Instead, no matter who of them encountered setbacks or stimulation outside, they would come home to bully me to find balance..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Meifen, I really didn't know you've been through so much recently. Don't cry, don't cry." Qiu Luming hurriedly handed over his handkerchief.

Han Meifen shook her head, walked to the down jacket she had taken off, took out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes, "You don't have to say sorry, it's my own fault. They are right, I'm ugly, not as smart as them, and I don't know how to deal with things. I was born to cause trouble for them!"

"Don't say that, Meifen, you're pretty, but you're too thin. Eat some more weight!"

Han Meifen hugged Qiu Luming and sobbed, "Luming, I should have come to you earlier. I have been so miserable these past few months. I have been so miserable!"

Qiu Luming kept stroking Han Meifen's thin back, "Okay, okay, don't cry, don't cry."

Han Meifen sobbed softly for ten minutes before she raised her head and gritted her teeth and made up her mind, "I want to find a partner and get married as soon as possible. I don't want to stay in that house for even a minute!"

"Don't mess around. You can't get married just for the sake of getting married."

"It's not easy to find someone who truly loves you. There are not many couples in this world who love each other. To put it bluntly, this is how life is!" Han Meifen smiled sadly, "I was probably picked up by their family. When I was a child, my mother said that I was picked up from a garbage dump. I think what she said might be true."

"Well, aren't all parents like this? But my mom didn't say I was adopted. She said I was her biological child. I asked her how she gave birth to me, and she said, from her armpit! She's a teacher, a teacher, and she actually fooled her own daughter like this!"

Han Meifen burst out laughing, tears still hanging on her eyelashes. "Before the third year of junior high school, I thought people were born from belly buttons. It wasn't until the Physiology and Hygiene book was handed out that I went home and read the last chapter on the reproductive system twice that day that I finally understood what was going on."