That night, many people had insomnia, but Zhou Chen did not have any psychological pressure and slept peacefully.
When Zhou Chen came back from get off work the next day, he found that after he entered the optical film, many people pointed at him, looked at him strangely, and whispered something.
Zhou Chen is used to being the center of attention. Ever since he went to work in a publishing house, he has become a figure in phototype films and is often discussed.
It's just that the situation is obviously different today. It doesn't look like envy, but more like a kind of schadenfreude and ridicule.
Zhou Chen thought for a while and thought of a possibility.
"Has the matter between me and Zheng Juan spread?"
This doubt was soon solved. When he was approaching home, he met Fa Xiaosun Qianchao and Xiao Guoqing.
"National Day, catching up, why are you here?"
Sun Ganchao said with a smile: "We came here specifically to find you. We heard that you got together with a girl from Taiping Hutong?"
Zhou Chen frowned and scolded: "Can you talk? What does it mean to be together? We are in a serious relationship and will get married in the future."
"It's actually true?"
Both Xiao Guoqing and Sun Qianchao looked shocked, and Sun Qianchao even asked urgently: "Kun'er, what is going on? Why haven't I heard you mention it before?"
Xiao Guoqing asked curiously: "Kun'er, aren't you and Qiao Chunyan very good? Why are you dating the girl from Taiping Hutong now?"
Zhou Chen immediately clarified: "Don't talk nonsense. I have nothing to do with Qiao Chunyan. We just grew up on the same street. Zheng Juan and I are true love. I think you like Chunyan very much, so I won't follow you."
Robbed."
Xiao Guoqing laughed: "Haha, Kun'er, you are right, Qianchao really misses Chunyan, but it's a pity that Chunyan doesn't like him."
Sun Qunchao was thinking about Qiao Chunyan, which was no longer a secret in their petty eyes.
"roll."
Sun Qianchao pushed Xiao Guoqing aside and was naturally unhappy about being teased. He did like Qiao Chunyan, but Qiao Chunyan didn't like him and liked Zhou Chen.
"Kun'er, your partner's name is Zheng Juan?"
"yes."
They were all little brothers, so they didn’t have any scruples about talking to each other. Sun Qianchao asked directly: "I heard that Zheng Juan’s family is in very poor condition, and she lives in Taiping Hutong. What do you think of your condition being so good?
Are you getting up to look for this Zheng Juan?"
Zhou Chen said calmly: "Looking for a wife is not about shopping. A good one may not be suitable for you. I just like Zheng Juan. It has nothing to do with her poor conditions."
"Kun'er, you're really not worried at all. You don't know what our optical film has become. Many people are laughing at you, saying that you are stupid for reading." Xiao Guoqing sighed.
Zhou Chen shrugged and said, "It's just what everyone else says. I don't care at all. I'm planning to get married to Zheng Juan next year, and I'll invite you to a wedding banquet then."
Sun Qianchao looked envious: "Kun'er, you are younger than us, and you got married earlier than us. But will your uncle and aunt really agree to marry that Zheng Juan?"
Xiao Guoqing interrupted: "This is Kun'er's own business. Don't worry about catching up."
Not only Li Suhua has noticed Zhou Chen's changes over the past year, but Xiao Guoqing and Sun Qunchao, who are often together, also feel Zhou Chen's changes.
When the three of them were together, Zhou Chen had gradually become the leader, but they were not dissatisfied at all.
After chatting with Xiao Guoqing and Sun Qianchao for a while, Zhou Chen went home.
When the incident between him and Zheng Juan was spread, he knew without thinking that it must be related to Qiao Chunyan, and it was absolutely impossible for Li Suhua to tell anyone about it.
Qiao Chunyan may not publicize it everywhere, but once her mother finds out, it will definitely spread, just like today.
Chunyan's mother and Li Suhua seem to have a very good relationship and are sisters, but they are just plastic sisters. In the TV series, the two often hurt each other.
The matter between Zhou Chen and Zheng Juan must have angered Chunyan's mother, and it is most likely that she deliberately publicized it.
But Zhou Chen really didn't care about this. Instead, he thought it would be better to spread the word, so that everyone would know that he had a partner, and no one would come to talk to him about marriage.
In the past year or so, many people have gone to Zhou's house to propose marriage, but they were all blocked by Li Suhua without Zhou Chen's intervention.
There is really too much gossip in the streets. The matter of Zhou Chen and Zheng Juan has lost much popularity after being circulated for a few days.
…………
Li Suhua stood at the door of her home. She saw the postman riding his bicycle from a distance and immediately shouted: "Xiao Zhang."
The postman stopped the car in front of Li Suhua very smoothly. Li Suhua asked eagerly: "Xiao Zhang, do you have a letter from our family?"
"Auntie, I have a letter from your family." Xiao Zhang replied.
Li Suhua suddenly beamed with joy: "Where did it come from?"
"From the mountain city."
Xiao Zhang took out a letter from his bag and handed it to Li Suhua.
Li Suhua was even more happy when she heard that it was a letter from Shancheng. She happily took the letter and held it in her hands like a treasure.
The most anxious thing about waiting is that since the letter arrived, Li Suhua has been eager to know the content of the letter.
It's a pity that she can't read, so she can only know the content of the letter when her youngest son comes back. If Zhou Chen doesn't come back, she can only wait patiently.
As soon as Zhou Chen got home from get off work, he saw Li Suhua rushing towards him, which startled him.
"Mom, what's wrong with you?"
Li Suhua said eagerly: "Your father has written a letter. Come and see what he wrote in his letter."
"That's it?"
Zhou Chen thought something big had happened, but to his surprise, he just received a letter, which made the old lady anxious.
Li Suhua said angrily: "That's it. Your father has written a letter. This is a big deal. If I hadn't been illiterate, what else would I need you to do? Come here and read it to me."
Zhou Chen guessed that Zhou Zhigang's letter must be about his and Zheng Juan's affairs. He had even guessed the outcome. With Zhou Zhigang's temper, he would most likely not agree.
Precisely because he had guessed the result, he was not in a hurry, walked into the back room slowly, and took the letter from Li Suhua's hand.
"Read it to me quickly. I see that your father has written a full piece of paper this time. He must have a lot of things to entrust."
Zhou Chen picked up the letter and looked at it. He had indeed written a lot. At a glance, he saw the key content.
As he expected, Zhou Zhigang made it clear in the letter that he disagreed with his marriage to Zheng Juan. He also said that as the youngest son, he should not get married before his elder brother Zhou Bingyi. The rest were some scolding words, saying that he was ignorant.
Don't look at people and wait.
Zhou Chen curled his lips. He was really a good and partial father. Even though he was thousands of miles away, he never forgot to reprimand him through letters.
"Read it quickly." Li Suhua urged.
"Read it, read it. Why are you in a hurry? I'm starting to read it. Just listen."
"Suhua, Bingkun: I have received your letter. I am very happy to receive your letter. When I saw what you mentioned in your letter, I already know about Bingkun and the girl. I want to say my
You have your opinion, I have no opinion, Bingkun has grown up and has his own ideas, we should..."
"etc."
Li Suhua suddenly interrupted Zhou Chen and looked at Zhou Chen doubtfully: "Bingkun, did you read it wrong? Your father really agrees with your relationship with Zheng Juan. Are you trying to fool your mother?"
"Mom, if you don't believe what you said, let someone else read it to you and see if it's the same as what I told you."
Zhou Chen's expression was very calm. It was wrong to lie to others, but he didn't feel any psychological pressure at all about this matter.
Li Suhua asked Zhou Chen to put the letter on the table and said to Zhou Chen: "Read it again."
Zhou Chen followed his words and read it again from the beginning. While he was reading the letter, Li Suhua was counting the words beside him.
She felt that although she didn't know the words, she still knew how many words they were. As long as Zhou Chen read the wrong number of words, he was lying to her.
But how could Zhou Chen make such a mistake? Although he was telling lies with open eyes, the number of words was correct from beginning to end, but the content changed into a different meaning when he said it.
It is not shameful to tell such a lie for the sake of one's life-long event.
Li Suhua stared at Zhou Chen suspiciously, but Zhou Chen's expression remained motionless and so natural that she couldn't find any flaws at all.
So she began to mutter in her heart, did the father really agree to the child? But based on her understanding of her man, he shouldn't have agreed so easily.
Zhou Chen continued to read the letter, and soon he finished the letter. Except for the things about him and Zheng Juan in the middle, the other contents were all greetings and concerns, so naturally he would not tamper with them.
After reading the letter, Zhou Chen said to Li Suhua with a smile: "Mom, you see my dad doesn't object to the matter between me and Zheng Juan. You will definitely not object anymore, right?"
Although Li Suhua was a little confused, she still simply believed in Zhou Chen, and she rolled her eyes at Zhou Chen.
"Seeing as I've made you happy, your father doesn't object anymore. Of course I won't have any objections anymore, but I have to tell you first. If you regret it in the future, there is no regret medicine."
Zhou Chen arrived: "Mom, you can rest assured that I will never regret it. Not only that, I will also ask Zheng Juan to be filial to you and let you know that my choice is correct."
In this regard, he is very confident in Zheng Juan.
After Li Suhua agreed, Zhou Chen and Zheng Juan no longer concealed themselves, and spent more time in contact. Zhou Chen often brought Zheng Juan to see photos.
At first when Zheng Juan came, people who were talking about the optical film were still talking about it. But as time went by, everyone became accustomed to it. Except for a few people who still talked about it, most people stopped talking about it.
Discuss further.
During this period, something happened that made Li Suhua very angry.
It was Qiao Chunyan's mother. After knowing that Li Suhua agreed to Zhou Chen and Zheng Juan's relationship, she found Li Suhua and had a big quarrel with Li Suhua.
At the beginning, Li Suhua felt guilty and did not dare to say anything, allowing Chunyan's mother to make a noise.
But who knows that Chunyan's mother is also ignorant. The more she talks, the more unpleasant her words become. She says that she is blind and is a sister to Li Suhua, and that Li Suhua is blind and has found a daughter-in-law from Taiping Hutong...
In short, in the end, Li Suhua couldn't bear it any longer and started to quarrel with Chunyan's mother. The two of them were scolding each other like shrews. If the neighbors hadn't found out, they might have started to take action.
Because of this incident, Li Suhua even got angry and fell ill.
While Zhou Chen was giving medicine to Li Suhua, he advised: "Mom, don't be angry. It's okay. You and Aunt Qiao have known each other for so many years. It's just a few words. It will be fine in a few days."
Li Suhua's eyes were slightly red, and she said in a very depressed tone: "I have known her for twenty years, and I have never blushed. Just because of this matter, she actually wants to do something to me. And, Kun'er, this is all your fault."
If it weren’t for you, would we have ended up like this?"
Zhou Chen said helplessly: "Mom, what you said doesn't make sense. I don't like Chunyan. Do I have to be good to her regardless of my conscience? If I really do that, it would be right.
Both of our families are irresponsible. If something happens in the future, it will only make things worse."
Li Suhua did not refute. In fact, she was not really angry with Zhou Chen. It was just that what Chunyan's mother said was so unpleasant that she angered Zhou Chen.
"Now that I think about it, it's not necessarily a bad thing if you don't get along with Chunyan. If you really get along, my mother-in-law won't know how to torment you in the future."
"Kun'er, don't worry about me. Go to work and don't always ask for leave."
Zhou Chen said: "Working is not as important as you. I will go when you are well."
"That won't work. You finally found a good job, but you can't mess around. Mom has already thought about it. It's okay. You go to work quickly. If you don't go to work, Mom will be even more anxious."
Zhou Chen is a doctor, so he can naturally see that there is nothing serious about Li Suhua, she is just angry, and she will be fine when her anger goes away.
"Well, I'll ask Zheng Juan to stay with you these two days and cook for you. I'll also ask you to check on her and see how she's doing with her housework."
Li Suhua asked hesitantly: "You are not married yet, so let Zheng Juan come to our house to help, okay?"
She was indeed a little tempted and wanted to observe Zheng Juan more. After all, Zhou Chen had made up his mind to be good to Zheng Juan. As a mother, she still had to look after her son.
"Of course it's no problem. When Zheng Juan heard that you were sick, she said she wanted to take care of you. It's not like I didn't dare to let her come over without your consent. If you don't have any objections, I'll let her come over to take care of you tomorrow.
.”
"Then, let the child come over, and Mom will help you take a look at her."
"Then it's settled, Mom, I'll ask her to come over tomorrow."
…………
In a blink of an eye, it was the Spring Festival of 1972. This year, the Zhou family still only had Zhou Chen and Li Suhua. However, when she was thirty, Zheng Juan also came over for a meal, and then Zhou Chen brought a bunch of gifts.
I sent her back to Taiping Hutong.
Li Suhua and Chunyan's mother, two old sisters, hadn't spoken to each other for several months since that incident.
But as time passed, the two of them slowly figured it out and resumed their previous friendship.
After getting along for a long time, Li Suhua and Zheng Juan have become much closer, and Li Suhua also looks at Zheng Juan with admiration.
Originally, she was not very satisfied with Zheng Juan because she felt that her son married Zheng Juan because Zheng Juan was too high-ranking and Zheng Juan was dragging Zhou Chen down.
But after such a long time, she discovered that Zheng Juan had too many shining points.
Zheng Juan is honest and diligent in her work. Even when faced with her deliberate attempts to make things difficult, Zheng Juan never complains and does what she wants.
This made her, who was kind-hearted, couldn't help but fall in love with Zheng Juan.
There were only two people at home, she and Zhou Chen, but sometimes when Zheng Juan came, the family would obviously become more lively.
On this day, Zhou Chen had a rest, but even though he was resting at home, he was not idle either.
Recently, the sales volume of "Golden Land" magazine has been rising steadily and it has become the best-selling department of the publishing house. He has contributed a lot to it.
Nowadays, in addition to occasionally writing poems, he writes more stories, current domestic situation topics, etc. Because he writes well, most of the current magazine content is written by him.
It is no exaggeration to say that Zhou Chen is now the number one figure in the publishing house, and with the support of his leadership, he also joined the Jiangliao Provincial Writers Association. Although he did not hold any important positions, he joined at the age of twenty.
The Writers Association also broke a small record.
However, Zhou Chen also understands his own situation. He will not write anything that involves sensitive topics, good or bad.
Zhou Chen never thought before that he would actually live by his pen one day. If he had known, he would have studied literature or something.
It was a bit strange today. Zhou Chen noticed that there was a lot of noise outside and didn't know what was going on.
Li Suhua opened the door and came in. Zhou Chen asked, "Mom, what happened outside? Why is it so noisy?"
Li Suhua arrived: "Didn't that boy from Lao Tu's family kill someone before and was arrested? He said he was going to be shot today. Many people ran over to watch the fun."
"Tu Ziqiang?"
"Yes, it's this young man. Tell me, he's a young man, he still has a formal job, but he doesn't work hard, but he insists on fooling around with those second-rate people, and even accidentally kills someone. Now it's better, even
My life will be lost."
If we say that in a few decades, such things as shooting will be impossible for ordinary people to see.
But in this day and age, executions are still common, basically every year.
Therefore, even housewives like Li Suhua are not too surprised by this kind of thing, let alone scared.
She just felt it was a pity that she had often seen the adults in Tu Ziqiang's family before, and she had often seen even Tu Ziqiang.
But in the blink of an eye, such a big living person is about to be shot, which makes everyone feel a little emotional.
Zhou Chen also lamented that because of him, Tu Ziqiang would naturally have no chance to get involved with Zheng Juan, and Zheng Juan would naturally not have the tragedy like in the TV series.
After coming to this world, he had met Tu Ziqiang many times. He felt that although Tu Ziqiang was a bit generous, he was definitely not a bad person.
He didn't know how Tu Ziqiang killed people, but it must have something to do with Shui Ziliu and Luo Shibin.
After living for so many years, he has never seen such public law enforcement as shooting.
"Mom, I'm going out for a while."
"Kun'er, do you want to go and see it? Mom advises you not to go. You are kind-hearted and don't want to see such a scene."
Li Suhua knew that Zhou Chen was going to see the execution, so she spoke to persuade him.
Zhou Chen said: "I'll just take a look from a distance. I can't see anything. Don't worry, I'll leave first."
"go Go."
Li Suhua also knew that he could not stop Zhou Chen, so he waved his hand to let him go.
Zhou Chen went out and rode his beloved Erba Dagang and headed straight for the execution ground. He had stayed in Jichun City for three years and had been to many places. Wherever the execution ground was, it was also Menqing.
Zhou Chen's speed was not slow, but when he arrived at the execution ground, he found that a large group of people had gathered around him.
Nowadays, shootings are carried out in public, and sometimes people are forced to watch, so there will naturally be many people.
Before the car stopped, Zhou Chen heard a familiar voice, turned his eyes and found Xiao Guoqing.
Xiao Guoqing and Sun Qunchao came over pushing bicycles.
"Kun'er, why are you here? Your publishing house also needs someone to come over?"
Zhou Chen said: "No, I have a day off today. I heard that Tu Ziqiang is going to be executed, so I came over to take a look."
Sun Qianchao said: "We are forced to come here, but we don't have to work today, so it's a good deal."
Zhou Chen asked: "You are working with Tu Ziqiang, do you know how he kills people and why?"
Sun Qianchao said: "I don't know the specifics. I just heard from people that Tu Ziqiang seemed to get into trouble when he was speculating, and then he got into a fight and accidentally killed someone."
Xiao Guoqing added: "This is what we heard from others. We don't know whether it is true or false."
When Zhou Chen heard this, he couldn't help but shook his head, he had done something wrong and he would not be able to live.
Nowadays, the law is strict and keeping a low profile is king, so he hides in the publishing house and never forces himself to come forward.
The three of them got together and chatted, and not long after, the execution began. They were close to the execution site, but they were still two or three hundred meters away. They only heard gunshots, and then the person fell to the ground. They could not see the details at all.
This shooting made Zhou Chen lament the fragility of life. As a human being, it is better to do good deeds.
…………
The weather is getting colder and colder, and the Spring Festival is only a few months away. Li Suhua is busy again, because both Zhou Zhigang and Zhou Bingyi have written letters saying that they may come back for the Spring Festival.
Since they left in 1969, they have not been back for three years, so when they learned that the man and his eldest son were coming back, Li Suhua woke up laughing from her dreams. She has been busy with New Year celebrations these days.
She had saved all the meat tickets Zhou Chen had given him before. She had gone to buy meat for several days in a row. After getting it back, she was going to freeze it and eat it during the New Year.
Ever since Zhou Chen joined the publishing house and made more and more money, Li Suhua felt that life at home was getting better and better. There was no shortage of food or meat. When he was at home, he could eat meat several times a month. This was not the case before.
Something that is unthinkable.
Under her watch, her younger son became more and more promising, and she felt that her husband would also be happy when he came back.
During dinner in the evening, Li Suhua said to Zhou Chen: "Kun'er, during the Spring Festival this year, your father and your eldest brother will come back. You put away all your books. When they come back, let them all read what you wrote.
Poems and stories, they will be proud of you."
Seeing the little old lady looking happy, Zhou Chen couldn't bear to hit her.
He knew very well that during the Spring Festival of 1973, neither Zhou Zhigang nor Zhou Bingyi would come back.
The cheap father Zhou Zhigang couldn't worry about his daughter, so he rushed to your province to find his daughter Zhou Rong, and spent the Spring Festival with Zhou Rong.
Zhou Bingyi actually had time to come back, but Hao Dongmei couldn't leave casually, so he would stay with Hao Dongmei.
It can be seen from Zhou Zhigang's behavior how serious his partiality is.
He only had the opportunity to go home once in more than three years, and he insisted on finding his daughter, who he regarded as fatherless and motherless. For the sake of his daughter, he even ignored his own home, wife and children and stayed with his daughter to celebrate the New Year.
Zhou Bingyi had nothing to say. Li Suhua often said that Zhou Chen had forgotten his mother when he had a daughter-in-law. In fact, this sentence is more appropriate when applied to Zhou Bingyi.
"Kun'er, in a few days you will accompany your mother to a public bath. Chunyan has asked me to go there several times to take a bath and have a pedicure, but I have never been there once. When you have a rest, we can go take a bath together.
By the way, call Zheng Juan too."
Li Suhua has completely accepted Zheng Juan, and even thought that during the Spring Festival, when her father comes back, she will bring up the marriage between Zhou Chen and Zheng Juan and let them get married as soon as possible. She also wants to have her grandson early.
Zhou Chen basically goes to public baths every once in a while, especially in autumn and winter, and is already very familiar with them.
"No problem. I'll have a rest the day after tomorrow. Then call Zheng Juan and we'll go there together."
