Back To The 80s-Chapter 44: Doubts_1

Upon hearing the word ’child’, Gu Xiaodong’s expression stiffened slightly, fortunately, Liu Mei was standing behind him. He was silent for a while before he said, "Okay." This was the first time he felt life had deviated from his anticipated course.

Gu Xiaobei went to work the next day all geared up for a fight, she figured if Jin Cheng wanted to cause more problems, she was going to hit back hard.

But as it turned out, Jin Cheng acted like nothing had happened yesterday, he cheerfully greeted Gu Xiaobei.

Gu Xiaobei was taken aback. Something was amiss; Jin Cheng was probably up to something. She responded with a cautious nod and settled into her seat.

Jin Cheng pulled up a chair and sat next to her, saying, "Gu Xiaobei, I asked you out for a meal, we’re friends now, aren’t we?"

"Is there something you need?" Gu Xiaobei gave him a sidelong glance.

"Nothing, just asking." Jin Cheng said as he casually picked up a newspaper to read.

Gu Xiaobei said to Ling Yun, "Sister Ling, I’m planning to study accounting as a correspondence course at University, what do you think?"

"That’s great, but why not study at the night school? With the instructors right there to guide you, you’ll learn faster." Ling Yun was somewhat puzzled.

"I wouldn’t feel safe going home alone at night, plus the night school is quite a distance from where we live." Gu Xiaobei explained truthfully.

"I can give you a ride." Jin Cheng chimed in suddenly. Gu Xiaobei gave Jin Cheng a stern look, thinking: You’re more dangerous than a hoodlum.

Jin Cheng saw that Gu Xiaobei was ignoring him, he huffed and went back to his seat.

Ling Yun frowned at Jin Cheng’s reaction, and continued talking to Gu Xiaobei, "You’ll learn better with the correspondence course. If you have questions, you can ask me."

"Thanks, Sister Ling; I was planning to do just that." Gu Xiaobei replied matter-of-factly and with a smile.

"Has your husband returned to his military unit yet?" Ling Yun casually asked.

Gu Xiaobei was a little surprised: She had never mentioned Lu Zhanguo’s return. Squinting her eyes with a smile, she looked at Ling Yun and said, "Not yet; He hasn’t said when he would."

Ling Yun nodded, "I observed you’ve been in high spirits these last few days, so I guessed your husband must’ve come back." Ling Yun seemed to explain how she guessed Lu Zhanguo’s return.

Gu Xiaobei laughed till her eyes crinkled, "Wow, is it that obvious?"

Jin Cheng who was listening to the side, scoffed, "Look at you being so smug."

Gu Xiaobei pretended she didn’t hear him, she figured the best way to deal with Jin Cheng was to ignore him and leave him hanging.

Suddenly, a ruckus ensued at the entrance, a sharp female voice could be heard yelling, "Liu Cuicui, are you working here? Come out now!" The tone was rather haughty.

Ling Yun muttered, "Who’s here to find Liu Cuicui, so domineering?" She then stood up and left.

Gu Xiaobei followed her out, worried about Liu Cuicui who was pregnant, and with Li Hao’s unperturbed attitude. Jin Cheng appeared to be enjoying the show and tagged along at the rear. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

As they emerged, Liu Cuicui also came out of the kitchen with Li Hao trailing behind her. There was a young couple standing outside the company’s main gate.

The woman appeared several years older than Liu Cuicui, and they looked somewhat similar. However, the woman’s complexion was fairer, and her eyes were not as timid as Liu Cuicui’s, but conveyed a touch of arrogance.

The man was none other than Wang Chuanjiang, who Gu Xiaobei was all too familiar with. His hair was slicked back, and he was wearing golden framed glasses.

Gu Xiaobei noticed the couple had multiple bags with them, were they here to confront Liu Cuicui?

The woman spotted Liu Cuicui and shouted, "Liu Cuicui, our mother sent me to find you."

Liu Cuicui asked with an aggrieved expression, "Sister, what do you need from me?" Realizing she couldn’t be of much help to her sister while working as a cook here.

Seeing Gu Xiaobei, Wang Chuanjiang felt somewhat embarrassed. He hadn’t expected to run into her here, so he turned his face away and pretended not to recognize her.

Gu Xiaobei found it amusing to see him acting this way, she thought he was taking himself too seriously.

Meanwhile, Liu Ying had already made her way to Liu Cuicui and seemed to have noticed that Cuicui’s complexion had improved significantly since the last time she saw her, speculating that her life in the city must be better. Looking at Cuicui, Liu Ying stated straightaway, "We are also planning to find some work in the city, but as we are new here, we don’t have a place to stay, mom asked me to come and see you."

Liu Cuicui nodded and said, "I only work here as a cook and stay at the company’s dormitory, how can I accommodate you?" Hearing this, Li Hao felt increasingly angry - this elder sister-in-law had previously stirred the pot at his mother-in-law’s place.

If it hadn’t been for Liu Ying inciting Cuicui’s mother to cause a scene in Li Hao’s military unit, the truth about their situation might not have been exposed so quickly, and he wouldn’t have had to leave the army so soon.

"What to do then, we don’t know anyone in the city." Liu Ying said with an air of expectation, suggesting that it was their responsibility to accommodate her.

"You can stay in a hotel, our company isn’t our home, even if Cuicui and I said yes, it wouldn’t count." Li Hao retorted impatiently.

"But staying in a hotel costs money, and we don’t have any money." Liu Ying glared back at Li Hao.

"Sister, there’s nothing we can do, we’ve only been here for ten-odd days and haven’t received any salary yet, we don’t have any money either." Liu Cuicui replied helplessly.

"You deserve it. I told you before not to marry a poor soldier. But you didn’t listen, look at where it has landed you now. Unable to continue as a soldier, overshadowed by someone else, it’s so disgraceful." Liu Ying taunted bitterly.

Upon hearing these harsh words, Li Hao’s face turned from green to red. He was distressed and retorted without holding back, "Don’t point fingers at me. What about you? A young widow has run away to the city with a good-looking toy boy, I bet this is a flight to romance."

Liu Ying didn’t take kindly to this comment. She pounced angrily at Li Hao. Everyone was shocked at how swiftly she attacked.

Although Li Hao had been a soldier, he wasn’t able to avoid a scratch to his face. Liu Ying grabbed his collar with one hand while scratching his face with the other.

Li Hao tried to push her away by grabbing her arms, but Liu Ying, who had been engaged in farm work for many years, was quite strong. She resisted his attempts and attacked even more ferociously, all the while spewing swear words.

Ling Yun, upon seeing this, reprimanded angrily, "Stop it, both of you. Let go now! Look at how you are behaving!"

Wang Chuanjiang, who was rooted to the spot, had never seen Liu Ying behaving this way. He knew Liu Ying had a fiery temper, but he didn’t expect her to be a seasoned fighter yet!

Seeing the brawl, Liu Cuicui tried to separate them, and tearfully said, "Sister, don’t make a fuss. Let go already!"

As Liu Ying was a woman, her strength was not comparable to Li Hao’s. She didn’t fare well in the struggle, and when she saw her sister siding with Li Hao, she became even more enraged. She let go of Li Hao and shoved her sister hard.

Liu Cuicui, unprepared for this, staggered and fell to the ground.

It was only after hearing Liu Cuicui’s scream that everyone realized what had happened. Gu Xiaobei rushed over to aid Liu Cuicui, and seeing her looking pale, quickly said to Ling Yun, "Sister Ling, something is not right with Cuicui. We need to send her to the hospital immediately."

Seeing this, Liu Ying was taken aback for a moment. She knew Cuicui was pregnant and her push might have caused harm. But she defended herself saying, "You should have been more stable. Besides, you’re pregnant, what were you doing trying to stop the fight?"

Ling Yun checked on Liu Cuicui, who was now sitting on the ground, and yelled at Li Hao, "What are you standing there for? Quick, carry Cuicui to the hospital." Then she turned to Gu Xiaobei and said, "You go ahead and arrange the payment, I’ll reimburse you from their wages tomorrow."

Gu Xiaobei agreed, picked up her bag, and followed Li Hao who was carrying Liu Cuicui to the hospital. To her surprise, Jin Cheng also tagged along.