Cheng Su left the restaurant and suddenly felt she had nowhere to go. She considered visiting the fast-food eatery near the train station, but the thought of running into Elder Sister there, who would probably bombard her with a myriad of persuasive words, made her feel sick to her stomach. So she decided against it; right now, she didn’t really want to see anyone from the Qi family.
Glancing at her watch, she knew going home would mean enduring another silent confrontation with Qi Taiguo, which would be even more unbearable. Cheng Su sighed and boarded the shuttle bus to the factory.
Fine rain began to fall from the sky. Sitting on the bus and looking out, she saw the fields passing by. Spring had arrived, and the farmers were already tilling the land. Despite the drizzle, some took shelter under trees, while others continued to toil.
Cheng Su’s thoughts were somewhat ethereal. The people here toiled for their daily meals, and even if they argued with their spouses or had an unspeakable mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, they probably wouldn’t complain about divorce as sentimentally as she did, would they?
Inside the shuttle bus, it was noisy and bustling, with women carrying children on their backs, letting the children cry out without comforting them, engrossed in their conversations instead.
Some men simply smoked cigarettes inside the bus, some chatted loudly, and others set baskets at their feet, discussing the day’s business with the person next to them.
The scene was full and vivid. Cheng Su hooked her lips in a faint smile and looked out the window.
She had integrated herself into this era, yet she also hadn’t; her thoughts were still stuck in the values of her previous life, which is why she felt her rights had been greatly violated when she learned what her mother-in-law had done, and why she contemplated whether to divorce just because of disrespect?
The bus came to a stop; some people got off, and others got on, one sitting down next to her.
"Big sister, may I sit here?"
Cheng Su turned her head and saw a woman in patch-covered clothes with a child who had a runny nose carried on her back. She nodded to indicate it was okay.
The child, barely seven or eight months old, with big black eyes sucking on its thumb, looked curiously at her. The child stared wide-eyed and flashed her a naive smile.
Cheng Su’s eyes suddenly became warm, and her nose tingled as she turned her head away.
If it weren’t for what had happened, she too might have had such an innocent child, right?
The bus journey continued for a while and soon approached the factory’s nearby stop. Cheng Su almost stumbled off the bus, breathing heavily, as tears rolled down her face.
She thought she had moved on, but the sight of another person’s child and the thought of herself still brought her pain.
She walked quickly through the rain to the factory. Seeing Cheng Su, Ying Xiaoya and the others, who were talking, were all taken aback.
"What are you doing here? Oh my, you’re soaked from the rain!" Ying Xiaoya jumped up.
Cheng Su dashed into the office.
"Yanmei, go make some Ginger Tea." Ying Xiaoya took down her own towel from the wall to help Cheng Su dry her hair while saying, "You’re still not well, why did you come here? There’s nothing urgent at the company. You got yourself wet in the rain; you’re joking with your health."
"It’s fine, the rain wasn’t heavy, just caught me in these few steps." Cheng Su waved her hand and took the towel from her, rubbing her hair roughly.
"It’s not even April yet; this rain is cold, and you’ve also just... why are you so stubborn!" Ying Xiaoya was scolding her like an older sister at that moment.
"All right, Xiao Ya, stop lecturing, I really just got caught a little. I came on the bus, and it wasn’t raining then. It started only midway. Look, my clothes aren’t that wet either!" Cheng Su pleaded.
Ying Xiaoya huffed, and Mai Yanmei came with the Ginger Tea. She handed it over, watched Cheng Su drink it down, then continued the conversation, "Why didn’t you rest at home and came here instead?"
"It was stuffy at home, no one to talk to, so I just came over," Cheng Su pursed her lips.
Seeing Cheng Su’s face clouded with unresolved worries and the red-rimmed eyes, Ying Xiaoya frowned and couldn’t help asking, "What happened?"