Chapter 1475: Decisions in 1975
Jiang Xinyu looked at the slumped Lv Beiguang. "If Jing Chu were just an ordinary girl, there would be lots of ways to arrange things for her. But wherever she goes, she’ll attract attention."
"Besides, she’s still an educated youth in Li Family Village. Where can she go? Otherwise just let her stay on in the Capital."
"Beiguang, I think maybe we just drag this out for two years, see how the two of them turn out later?"
"Jing Chu has only just gotten pregnant, it’s still unstable. This kind of long trip back and forth is not good for her."
"So we’ll just stall like this, let her live in the Capital. If it really doesn’t work, let Old Yang and the others go over, so she has people around her and we can set our minds at ease."
"Then I’ll go over once. With Old Han there, we don’t need Old Yang to go. But we should find someone from home to go take care of her."
Jiang Xinyu gave a bitter smile. They could find someone, but it would still be better to find someone in the Capital.
"Since Old Han is there, just leave everything to him."
Lv Beiguang picked up the phone again.
Jing Chu was doing the accounts; she picked up the phone and once more heard Dad’s voice.
"Dad. I’m fine. I’m at work now."
"Jing Chu, don’t come back. I’ll come over today."
"Dad, isn’t Aunt Yang about to give birth? You already missed my little brother and sister being born, and besides I’m fine here, Uncle Han is handling everything. Don’t worry."
"Jing Chu, it’s fine, your Aunt Yang can understand." Lv Beiguang also knew this was letting Yang Xiuqin down, but he just couldn’t feel at ease about his daughter.
"Dad, wait until my brother and sister are one month old, then come over."
Jiang Xinyu grabbed the receiver from Lv Beiguang’s hand.
"Jing Chu, listen to what I think."
"Aunt Jiang, I’ll do whatever you say."
"Jing Chu, let’s leave this matter as it is for now. If you don’t want to give Chaoyang a chance, we’re all fine with that. But think about it: if you divorce, everyone over here will know."
"We’re not afraid of them, but gossip is terrifying. It’s bad for you and bad for the child."
"If you don’t want to stay in Li Family Village anymore, we can go somewhere else, that’s possible too. But you know, we wouldn’t feel at ease letting you go off on your own."
"That would be even less safe. So let’s do this first; after the child is born, you can decide then what you want to do."
"In a few years we’ll come over too. Do you think this can work?"
"Aunt Jiang, I’ll listen to you."
"Good, then just stay there for now. I’ll come over after the autumn harvest."
Jiang Xinyu actually wanted to go over now, but Wei Kaiyun wasn’t willing. The few of them couldn’t get away, and the distillery was quite busy. Sometimes you simply can’t just drop everything. She would go after the harvest; by then, when Jing Chu gave birth, she could be by her side.
"Okay, I’ll wait here for you."
"Be good, and ask Old Han to find someone to take care of you."
"No need. I eat at the cafeteria here, and it’s safe. Besides, having a bit of work to do means I’m not bored."
"All right, Jing Chu, after a while you’ll find this really isn’t that big a deal."
Jiang Xinyu knew they were wronging Jing Chu. But this was the reality. If she were ordinary, she could take the child and live on her own.
"All right then, take good care of yourself. Nothing is more important than you."
After hanging up, Jiang Xinyu called Han Xiangjun.
"Xiao Jiang?"
"Old Han, look after Jing Chu a bit. Lv Beiguang will go over next month. I’ll come after the autumn harvest to take care of her."
"Don’t worry." Han Xiangjun sighed. "Jing Chu’s pregnancy can’t be kept secret anyway; everyone in the factory already knows about it."
"There’s no need to hide it from Chaoyang either. We all know what kind of person he is. As for the people in the factory, Jing Chu can face them."
This girl was so calm; she wasn’t that fragile. That was how it should be. She’d grown up.
After Jiang Xinyu finished speaking, she passed the phone to Wei Kaiyun. The two of them talked about how things were progressing; that Cao Family hadn’t just harmed Chaoyang, they even had improper thoughts about Jing Chu.
Jiang Xinyu sat beside Lv Beiguang. "What are you planning to do?"
"When I get back I’ll go find Li Yungui. They have to know about this. I know Chaoyang was set up, but it’s still a fact."
"All right, let them know."
The three of them went back to Li Family Village and went straight to Li Yungui’s house.
Qu Xiaoli was quite puzzled, but still went to fetch the head of the household back.
The Li couple heard the news, and Qu Xiaoli burst into loud sobs. What kind of fate was this.
Li Yungui lowered his head, feeling miserable too. "In-laws, this whole thing is Chaoyang’s fault. But now there’s a child."
"Whatever Jing Chu wants to do about this, I’ll agree."
Lv Beiguang knew the Li Family’s character. But he would definitely not let his daughter be wronged.
"In-laws, in-laws, let me go take care of Jing Chu. Poor child."
Lv Beiguang shook his head. He didn’t want it that way; it would just make his daughter feel worse.
"No need. None of you needs to go. She can manage on her own. Let’s not get involved on either side."
"In-laws, don’t worry, I’d only go to take care of Jing Chu, I wouldn’t say anything."
Lv Beiguang still shook his head. "That would make Jing Chu feel awkward. Let her have some peace for a while. After my wife gives birth, I’ll go take a look."
Deep furrows creased Lv Beiguang’s brow, and wouldn’t smooth out.
"In-laws, how about letting Guodong’s whole family go over?"
Lv Beiguang had thought about that too, but he knew his daughter’s temperament, and still shook his head. "We’ll talk about it when I get there. For now, let Jing Chu’s belly stay calm. I’ll head back first."
"Teacher Jiang, Xiao Wei, wait a moment." Qu Xiaoli grabbed Jiang Xinyu’s hand, her face full of pleading.
Lv Beiguang left alone.
"Teacher Jiang, is there really no way to persuade Jing Chu? You know what kind of person Chaoyang is, and you know how he treats Jing Chu. And right now we don’t even know how things will turn out." As Qu Xiaoli spoke, her tears wouldn’t stop flowing.
"Sister-in-law, let Jing Chu calm down first. She wanted to come back and divorce him, but I want to give them a chance, so I talked her out of it. Give it some time."
"Sister-in-law, Village Chief Li, I hope that as elders we don’t get involved. Let them decide for themselves."
"Sister-in-law, we’re both women. If this happened to us? As for me, I wouldn’t give him a single chance, no matter the reason."
"But when it comes to Jing Chu, I hope she can calm down and handle this."
Qu Xiaoli didn’t know what to say.
Li Yungui and Wei Kaiyun just sat off to the side listening. In his heart, Wei Kaiyun felt deeply fortunate that he had never had anything like this happen.
After Wei Kaiyun and his wife left, Qu Xiaoli sat on the kang crying, and Li Yungui sat beside her smoking.
"All right, stop crying. It’s already happened; we don’t know what will happen later yet."
"Mm. How could our Chaoyang end up with this kind of fate? He cares so much about Jing Chu."
Li Yungui sighed too. All they could do now was hope that for the child’s sake, Jing Chu would forgive Chaoyang. Then their son’s later life would be easier, and the child would have a happy family.