Chapter 147 - 144: Best Friend’s Doomed Romance
Arriving at Zhou Lian’s home, Mrs. Zhang and the two sisters-in-law from the Zhang Family were amazed by the layout and decor. It looked like an ordinary small courtyard house, but the inside was a different world entirely. The eastern wing had three rooms. One was partitioned off as a bedroom with a heated brick bed. When they saw the row of cabinets on the bed and the rectangular eight-person dining table on the floor, they were stunned. If their eyes weren’t deceiving them, it was all solid rosewood. The other two rooms had been converted into a large kitchen. The winter kitchen was lush and green, with all sorts of vegetables growing vigorously. It turned out the vegetables Zhou Lian brought over were grown right here.
The five rooms of the main house had been renovated with an excellent layout. The two easternmost rooms formed the master bedroom, containing a large canopy bed, a row of large wardrobes, an exquisite vanity, and a large desk against the south wall. The central room was the living room, furnished with a neat and clean round table and chairs, as well as a row of cabinets against the wall. The two western rooms had been converted into three smaller rooms: the east and west sections were bedrooms, while the small central section was a study. The study had large bookshelves lining three walls, filled with books, and two desks, one on the left and one on the right. All the furniture was solid rosewood.
After the tour, the three of them—the mother-in-law and her two daughters-in-law—sat on the heated brick bed, sipping the chrysanthemum tea Sister Fang had prepared for them. Listening to Zhang Hongying showing off, they all shared a knowing smile. ’What’s she bragging about? This is Zhou Lian’s house, not hers!’
"Xiao Zhou, you’ve really done a nice job with this place. And the furniture is wonderful!" Mrs. Zhang said with a smile, giving a thumbs-up as she drank the sweet chrysanthemum tea with rock sugar. ’This couple is no simple pair. They’re definitely not ordinary country folk. A full set of rosewood furniture is a rare treasure that money can’t easily buy.’
Zhou Lian smiled and said, "When my child’s father and I got engaged, our family was struggling financially. He didn’t want me to have to settle for less, so he went to the scrap collection station in the county town and hunted for some old, broken-down furniture. He brought it back, found a carpenter, and had the furniture made according to his own drawings. I couldn’t bear to leave it behind in our old home, so I brought it all here."
"The scrap collection station?" Mrs. Zhang asked, looking at Zhou Lian in astonishment. ’To find something like this at a scrap collection station... what incredible luck that must have been!’
"Yes. A few years ago, you could find all sorts of things at the scrap station. We country folk aren’t picky about these things; as long as it works, it’s fine," Zhou Lian said with a beaming smile. ’As long as it works, my foot. My husband’s eye for things is second to none. I doubt another Li Xiu will come out of their county for decades to come.’
Reading between the lines, Mrs. Zhang understood the hidden meaning in Zhou Lian’s words and didn’t press the topic further. She simply turned to teasing the chubby little girl, Nuonuo. Nuonuo was just over a year old now. Although she couldn’t walk more than a few steps, each one she took was steady.
Seeing that it was getting late, Mrs. Zhang left Zhang Hongying behind and went home with her two daughters-in-law. After seeing them out the main gate, Zhou Lian returned to the house and sat on the heated brick bed. It was only then that Zhang Hongying asked, "You don’t like Wang Song, do you?"
Zhou Lian’s eyes tensed for a moment before she instantly relaxed and said with a smile, "He’s your fiancé. What would be the point of me liking him?"
"No, that’s not the ’like’ I’m talking about!" Seeing Zhou Lian’s teasing smile, Zhang Hongying said in frustration, "You know what I mean. Why?"
"He’s not right for you. But since you like him, all I can do as a friend is give him a hard time. I can’t make you follow my way of thinking," Zhou Lian said bluntly. ’This girl is innocent, but she’s also smart. Other people might not have noticed because they don’t know her, but in the short time they’d known each other, they had come to understand one another deeply. Zhou Lian hadn’t planned on hiding it from her anyway.’
"Not right for me? But he’s a good person!" Zhang Hongying said, confused. She wasn’t suspicious, just genuinely didn’t understand why Zhou Lian would say she and Wang Song weren’t a good match.
"Yingzi, I’m only going to say this to you once. You can talk to your mom about this, but don’t tell anyone else, understand?"
Seeing Zhou Lian’s serious expression, Zhang Hongying nodded nervously. ’Did Zhou Lian find out something wrong with Wang Song? Is she saying he’s not suitable because she’s afraid of hurting my feelings?’
"Wang Song is a soldier, so his character should have been tested and proven. But have you ever thought about what your life will be like after you marry him? I remember you said Wang Song is working hard to earn merits and get promoted, so that you can join him at the base, right?"
Seeing her nod, Zhou Lian looked at her calmly and said, "And what about you? What will you do after you move to the base? What *can* you do? Bury all that talent of yours under the mundane chores of daily life!"
"No, the military can arrange a job. He..."
"Yingzi, would you like those jobs?" Zhou Lian interrupted, asking her softly.
’Of course I wouldn’t like them. The things I enjoy seem like they can only be left behind at university. So what about Wang Song?’
Looking at the conflicted Zhang Hongying, Zhou Lian gave a barely perceptible smile and said calmly, "Why must you move to the base? If you don’t, you can visit him when you have time, and he can visit you when he has time. Wouldn’t that be nice?"
"It’s not that it wouldn’t be nice, it’s just..."
"Yingzi, he’s a good man, but by the same token, he’s also very domineering. He’s suited for a clinging, dependent type of woman, and you are not that," Zhou Lian said softly.
"Why is it like this?" Zhang Hongying asked, looking at Zhou Lian blankly. ’No wonder I always felt so unsettled whenever we talked about marriage. Is this heading toward a breakup?’
Looking at Zhang Hongying’s dazed expression, Zhou Lian sighed and said, "Yingzi, your love for each other isn’t deep enough. Or rather, *his* love for you isn’t deep enough. He sees you as his woman, but he doesn’t give you the same respect in return. He needs a woman who is dependent on him, who makes him the center of her world. You, on the other hand, need a man who can accept you and cherish you for who you are, not a hero who would sacrifice his own family for the greater good!"
"I’m not saying Wang Song is a bad person. On the contrary, he’s too good. There’s a saying that describes his profession: ’There’s no such thing as a life of peace and quiet, only people who carry the burdens for you.’ They are the most admirable people, they are heroes. But Yingzi, you have to understand, heroes are meant to be worshiped, to be revered."
Seeing Zhang Hongying deep in thought, Zhou Lian continued, "I admire them, and I admire the military wives behind them. They are all heroes whose sacrifices are deeply moving. Yingzi, you’re too pure. I think not just me, but even your own family wouldn’t bear to see that purity shattered. A marriage isn’t sustained just by two people liking each other; it’s about the meshing of two families. Yingzi, can you handle the relationship with a mother-in-law? Don’t think about your own mother and your sisters-in-law. You need to think about Wang Song’s mother. Can you get along with *her*?"
’I’m not trying to break up Zhang Hongying and Wang Song, just getting Yingzi to consider their relationship from another angle. A girl as pure and wonderful as Yingzi deserves to enjoy the love and marriage that’s rightfully hers, not be forced to leave her home and live a lonely life like she did in her last life.’
’Wang Song didn’t have a good life either, but I have no sympathy to spare for him. In their last life, the greater his achievements, the more it proved how worthless Yingzi’s sacrifice was. On what grounds?! Why was he allowed to attain high office and great wealth, a beautiful wife in his arms, while Yingzi had to go far away, all alone, to live a lonely and bitter life!’