Back To The 80s-Chapter 609 - 602: Visiting the Park_1
Fang Jing entered the kitchen and kept her head down helping Gu Xiaobei with the food preparation.
Gu Xiaobei chatted with Fang Jing about some random topics.
"Is your factory doing well now?"
Fang Jing shook her head: "Not good, sometimes salaries are only paid every two or three months."
"Fang Jing, you should think about a back-up plan." Gu Xiaobei knew that these state-owned enterprises were about to be reformed soon.
Fang Jing sighed: "I thought about opening a store in Capital City, where I would also have time to look after Yueyue. But as it seems now, if I open a shop, it would be equivalent to opening it for my two wolf-like brothers."
"Have you ever considered remarriage with AiGuo? Listen to me, AiGuo is now successful in his career, affluent, and quite good-looking, definitely a catch for many maidens. As the proverb goes, having a stepmother means having a stepfather. When AiGuo starts his own family and has children of his own, do you think his new wife would take care of Yueyue? And have you ever thought, if you remarry, no matter how good the man is, once you have children, can you guarantee equal affection? In this situation, Yueyue would lose both her birth parents, could you bear that? Ok, let’s put it this way, if you say you don’t want to remarry and want to spend the rest of your life with Yueyue, but Yueyue will eventually grow up. When she sees you living alone, she will definitely feel guilty and upset, because she feels like she is standing in the way of your happiness. Do you think Yueyue will be happy?"
The reason Gu Xiaobei went out of her way to talk about children and trap Fang Jing emotionally was because she had considered the possibility of Fang Jing wanting to remarry Aiguo. But she wanted to give Fang Jing a way out of her predicament. Sometimes people are contradictory, because of what they have said before, they now dare not make a decision to go back on their word.
This time, Fang Jing did not shed any tears, she just kept her head down and continued to remove the seeds from the beans. She knew that what Wen Xiuqing and Gu Xiaobei were saying was correct, but she needed some time. Facing AiGuo was still a little awkward.
Seeing that Fang Jing did not say anything, Gu Xiaobei knew that Fang Jing had accepted the idea of remarriage with AiGuo, and changed the subject: "You guys have never been to the provincial city during this season, right? The city has changed a lot now, mainly because people have more money. The park by the Yellow River is holding a chrysanthemum exhibition this year. We can go take a look tomorrow, pity we don’t have a camera."
"I brought a camera. I also bought five rolls of film. You guys can take as many photos as you want tomorrow." AiGuo leaned against the kitchen door, his eyes fixed on Fang Jing.
Lowering her head, Fang Jing didn’t know why, but when she decided to start over again with Aiguo, her heart couldn’t help but thump. It was as if they were back in their dating days. She felt her face turning red as if it was on fire.
Gu Xiaobei saw that Fang Jing’s ears were also red and threw Lu Aiguo a look, signaling him to help.
Lu Aiguo immediately turned into a boyish man, stumbling towards Fang Jing with a careful smile, saying, "Fang Jing, let me help you shell the beans." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Fang Jing responded with a hum without raising her head.
Lu Aiguo happily pulled over a small stool, sat beside Fang Jing and started shelling beans.
Gu Xiaobei, while chopping vegetables, couldn’t help but smile. No matter how many twists and turns they had taken, no matter how much time they had missed, when they turned around, they were still there for each other. Having gone through so much, they would definitely cherish each other’s company even more from now on.
By dinnertime, the atmosphere was cheerful. Yueyue sat in between her parents, glancing at her dad, then her mom, grinning from cheek to cheek.
The next day, Lu Zhanguo took a day off to accompany Gu Xiaobei and the kids for a walk in the park.
Ji Xiangdong took a day off and joined the whole family.
The happiest of all were Lu AiGuo and YueYue. Lu AiGuo carried YueYue on his shoulders and ran wildly around the park.
Xiaopang also wanted her dad to carry her and run like that. Lu Zhanguo lifted Xiaopang onto his shoulders, following Gu Xiaobei at a slower pace.
Ji Xiangdong was holding Doudou, Bai Xiaolan was holding Tiantian and they were trailing behind.
Wen Xiuqing and Lu Songyuan were slowly walking at the end of the procession.
Looking at her three sons in the front, Wen Xiuqing sighed and said, "Lu, can we try finding Ruixue?"
Lu Songyuan immediately felt a pang in his heart, and retorted defiantly, "No, haven’t AiGuo and Xiangdong tried to find her too? If she doesn’t want us to find her, then she should never come back."
Wen Xiuqing knew that Lu Songyuan was speaking out of anger, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been tossing and turning all night on Ruixue’s birthday.
"I just hope she’s living well, it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t acknowledge us." Looking at how her three sons all had happy families, her only daughter had become her only worry.
Lu Songyuan huffed and puffed, "We, as their parents, are too cheap. Everyday we worry if they have had enough to eat or if they are dressed warmly. Do they ever worry about us?"
Lu AiGuo, with YueYue on his shoulders, ran to the front of the chrysanthemum flower bed. He took out the camera, had YueYue pose, and started snapping pictures.
He also called over Lu Zhanguo’s family and Ji Xiangdong’s family urging them to come over for group photos.
After everyone had had their photos taken, Lu AiGuo handed the camera to Ji Xiangdong: "Big Brother, please take a picture of us too."
After he finished speaking, he gave Yueyue a sign. Yueyue ran over to Fang Jing, sweet-talking her, "Mom, let’s take a photo together."
Fang Jing was a bit embarrassed. Gu Xiaobei gave her a hard push from behind, and pushed her straight into Lu AiGuo’s arms.
Yueyue sneakily gave a thumbs up to Gu Xiaobei, and smilingly ran to stand in front of Lu AiGuo and Fang Jing.
Fang Jing wanted to put some distance between her and AiGuo, but AiGuo was firmly holding her shoulder and refused to let go. Considering that she had already agreed to remarry, there was no point in being coy. She relaxed and smiled at the camera.
In the end, they also had a passer-by with a camera take several group photos.
Xiaopang had gone from being excited at the beginning to being impatient. She was continuously asked to smile at the camera until her cheeks hurt. Pouting, she said, "Dad, Dad, I’m thirsty. There is a shop selling soda at the entrance, let’s go buy some soda."
Gu Xiaobei thought that it’s not every day they get to go out and have fun, how could she refuse such a small request from her child. So, the whole family headed towards the park entrance to get some soda.
There were many vendors selling soda from push carts at the entrance of the park. The carts were covered with a big cotton blanket, hiding the bottles of cold soda underneath.
Although the weather at the end of September was quite cool, it was still refreshing for people who had been walking around and sweating. They enjoyed the refreshing cold soda which gave them a thoroughly chilled sensation, which was quite satisfying.
Gu Xiaobei looked around and surprisingly saw Ding Guihua and Xiangmin selling soda behind a row of push carts, with four-year-old Guo Xinxin standing beside them.
Gu Xiaobei was a bit surprised to see the two getting along well.
Ding Guihua also saw Gu Xiaobei and waved at her, smiling, "Xiaobei, come over and drink some soda!"
Since they had already taken the initiative to greet her, Gu Xiaobei didn’t feel it was polite to refuse. She told Lu Songyuan and the others to wait at the entrance, and she and Lu Zhanguo took the kids over.
