Chapter 139 But (Two in One) (2/5)

Li Zhuangsheng has always felt that his conditions are only above average, and neither his family background nor his education or income are particularly outstanding.

Apart from families that can barely be called "middle class in the county town", it is hard to say how capable their second-tier education is at work, even though it is dispensable.

Although writing online articles may give you the title of "writer", your income is not stable and you don't have any guarantees, such as social insurance and housing fund. To outsiders, it is far less attractive than his job in the local chronicles office, which pays more than 3,000 yuan.

Before he landed, no girl had ever taken the initiative to show her affection to him. Writing online articles, is it those big guys who can be adapted into movies and animations? No? Isn't that just being a jobless person... a freelance job?

However, after he got ashore, many girls who had never talked to him before took the initiative to greet him on WeChat, and one of them even told Li Zhuangsheng clearly that she was a slow warmer.

Li Zhuangsheng certainly understood what was going on. A small piece of fig leaf could make a slow-moving girl less slow to warm up.

The key to blind dating is the word "相", which means mutuality. While women are rating men, men are also selecting women. However, based on Li Zhuangsheng's experience of being taken to blind dates by Chen Lanying every now and then, most girls who participate in blind dates do not realize the essence of blind dates.

Especially for young girls, they are generally very self-centered and think that blind dating is a one-sided talent show, giving men a chance to show themselves and waiting for them to turn around. It seems that there is no plot that they are not favored by others. As long as they favor him, he will excitedly grab their hands...

Of course, this situation only applies to ordinary men like Li Zhuangsheng. If they are handsome guys or rich second-generations, they will naturally receive unprecedented initiative from women... But such guys generally won't fall into the trap of blind dates.

Li Zhuangsheng always feels strange when he receives proactive messages from girls. Do they think they have brains while boys don't? Do they think boys can't see through their snobbishness behind their pretense of reserve?

Or do they think that men will be willing to accept women when they know that they didn't like them before and why they are here now? Do men have no self-esteem?
Besides, the way they take the initiative is really awkward... They clearly want to take the initiative, but they are too shy to say it out loud, and actively signal the men to take the initiative... This proactive yet reserved look is really a strange and uncomfortable phenomenon.

Li Zhuangsheng just has low emotional intelligence, but not low IQ.

But in order to avoid embarrassing the girls and to save their face, Li Zhuangsheng would politely reply to these messages and treat them as ordinary friends. When he encountered suggestive words, he would pretend to be dumb and not understand. The girls would only take the initiative to greet him two or three times and then stop contacting him. Perhaps in their eyes, Li Zhuangsheng's value was limited to this.

After Li Zhuangsheng finished replying, he sometimes thought that there were too many men like him in society, which led to many women not recognizing the reality. They mistakenly took these daily courtesy and care as proof that they could choose at will.

This kind of unilateral preferential treatment for women is not good for both men and women, but there is no way around it because we have been educated like this since childhood.

At that time, Li Zhuangsheng had already confirmed his relationship with Hu Mengdie, but they had not made it public, so this situation happened.

Li Zhuangsheng did not officially announce his relationship on WeChat Moments at the beginning, because he seldom posted on WeChat Moments. With his pitifully narrow social circle, he had very few friends on WeChat. Apart from some people he met in college, he only had relatives, colleagues, married classmates, and various blind date partners.

But the fundamental reason is that Li Zhuangsheng wanted to wait for Hu Mengdie to make the official announcement first.

Li Zhuangsheng didn't know what Hu Mengdie thought about dating him. Did she really approve of him? Did she think his appearance was not good enough? Was she willing to let others know about him? Would his one-sided love make her feel embarrassed?

He has always been like this, unwilling to cause trouble to others.

If Hu Mengdie didn't say anything, he wouldn't say anything either.

She probably doesn't look down on me, she just doesn't like to post on WeChat Moments, Li Zhuangsheng thought. After all, Hu Mengdie rarely posts on WeChat Moments, only one or two posts a year on average, and she would also introduce her real-life friends to Li Zhuangsheng.

The first time Hu Mengdie really made Li Zhuangsheng public on WeChat Moments was on his birthday after dating for more than half a year. After her "official announcement", Li Zhuangsheng finally felt relieved to post a message.

He always heard that his father-in-law was a strict man at home, but he was extremely kind and amiable to Li Zhuangsheng, almost to the point of "spoiling" him. The only time he saw his father-in-law get angry in front of him was after Zhang Xu's family made a scene in the delivery room. He was so embarrassed that he said he no longer recognized Hu Mengke as his daughter.

After learning that Li Zhuangsheng had paid for Hu Mengke, he also transferred the money to Li Zhuangsheng, but Li Zhuangsheng confiscated it.

Li Zhuangsheng always felt that the reason why his father-in-law was so close to him, an average person, was because of the comparison between him and Zhang Xu and Qi Haoyu.

Although I don’t know how Qi Haoyu is doing, it shouldn’t be too good, otherwise Zhang Qixiang wouldn’t have ignored him for many years before he and Hu Mengdie officially announced their relationship. As for Zhang Xu, he is even more of a heavyweight…

How to make a line segment appear long?

Just draw two short lines next to it.

Therefore, it would be very embarrassing to meet Hu Mengdie's parents now. First of all, it would be difficult to explain the result of the marriage... Secondly, Li Zhuangsheng felt that his father-in-law might not look down on him now.

"I remember you came to my house once and said you could cook. But when you were frying, your hands shook and you dropped the salt bag into the pot." Hu Mengdie said with a chuckle.

"I was so nervous at that time, luckily not much salt leaked out." Li Zhuangsheng recalled the past, his brows gradually relaxed, and he found it fun.

It was his second visit, and he wanted to show off in front of the other party's parents, so he volunteered to cook. Hu Mengdie said she came in to help, just washing vegetables and chatting.

Because he was too nervous, Li Zhuangsheng didn't hold the salt firmly, which almost caused an accident. Fortunately, the salt didn't spill much, and he barely saved it by adding some sugar. But in a panic, his hand was burned by the edge of the pot again.

Fortunately, only Hu Mengdie saw his embarrassment, but when the other party asked him to wash, Li Zhuangsheng pretended to be calm and said that it was okay and he could continue cooking. However, the other party ignored this, forcibly turned off the stove, held his hand tightly, and "forced him" to wash under the faucet.

Hu Mengdie held Li Zhuangsheng's hand throughout the whole process, and the three of them rushed together for twenty minutes.

She was not very strong, and Li Zhuangsheng thought he could break free with a little effort. But at that time, facing Hu Mengdie's gentle "control", he was like a snake being held by the seven inches, unable to move.

He thought quietly that it would be nice to be controlled by her for the rest of his life.

Although I got a blister on my hand later, every time I thought about it, a warm smile would unconsciously appear on my face.

At this moment, I revisit the old place.

Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but recall this incident again. The two of them were quietly running water in the kitchen and could hear each other's breathing. It was such a boring twenty minutes, but it passed in a flash.

Li Zhuangsheng knew that Hu Mengdie might have mentioned this incident on purpose to impress him. But it was really beautiful at the time, and he kept shouting in his heart: I must marry her, I must marry her!

Thinking about it this way, am I being too cruel now? Hu Mengdie obviously did nothing wrong, and I am being so unkind to her... No, no, I almost fell into her trap!
Isn't this exactly her purpose?
She is very good, but being very good does not mean that they are suitable for each other. I feel sorry for her, but I can't compensate Hu Mengdie for what she wants. If we think rationally, it is biased to argue that they are suitable for marriage based on this incident alone.

Li Xiuyu was much nicer to him, especially when he was being beaten, she would throw herself on him to stop Li Minghua. How come he never felt romantic?
Although he was beaten many times, it was because Li Xiuyu complained about it.

An unpopular otaku like me is just too much of a bootlicker. If a girl is a little bit coy to him, he would be eager to give her his heart and body.

Li Zhuangsheng lowered his eyes while cutting vegetables. No matter how he tried to convince himself, he still felt a little depressed. He could not forget the gentle and concerned look in his eyes.

After preparing lunch quietly, Li Zhuangsheng called Hu Mengke to come over for dinner. Hu Mengke was pleasantly surprised by Li Zhuangsheng's cooking skills and even ate two large bowls of rice.

"Brother-in-law, you are so talented, so amazing, it tastes better than what my mom cooks!"

Hu Mengke was full, and touching his stomach, he could not help but praise Li Zhuangsheng repeatedly. Li Zhuangsheng smiled, this was the best compliment for a chef.

"Next time there's a chance, I'll make you cola chicken wings. Do you like cola chicken wings?"

"I want it, I want it!" Hu Mengke nodded vigorously.

Li Zhuangsheng nodded and smiled. Children really like to eat this. It’s so satisfying.

Hu Mengdie took out a few pieces of paper and handed them to Hu Mengke, reminding him: "Wipe your mouth first. Look at what you look like. You don't care about your eating manners. If your father were here, he would scold you again."

"He's not here!" Hu Mengke muttered and wiped his mouth, "Brother-in-law, do you care?" "It's okay, he's cute..."

Hu Mengke raised his nose and snorted at Hu Mengdie triumphantly.

She has already seen that her sister listens to her brother-in-law in everything. As long as she pleases her brother-in-law, she might have the opportunity to take advantage of her sister in the future!
Sister, you don’t want me to say bad things about you to my brother-in-law, right?

After dinner, Hu Mengdie was washing dishes in the kitchen while Li Zhuangsheng was marking Hu Mengke's composition.

"You've made some progress, but you can still revise it again according to my instructions..." Li Zhuangsheng commented on Hu Mengke's composition and smiled, "A good article is made through revision, and after you finish writing, you can spend some time thinking about the revised structure and sentence grammar, and absorb it into your own."

"Brother-in-law, do you also revise your writing many times?"

"Of course, novels also need to be deleted and revised many times." Li Zhuangsheng thought to himself that the backspace key is the one I use most often when writing online articles.

Li Zhuangsheng watched Hu Mengke correcting the composition and glanced at his phone with boredom. The text message from Li Xiuyu was so threatening that it could not be described as such.

I have already cooked. Will Hu Mengdie help as agreed?

"Ha~"

Li Zhuangsheng yawned and Hu Mengdie pushed open the door.

"are you sleepy?"

Li Zhuangsheng nodded: "A little, but it's okay."

After a month of intensive study at school, I finally got a month off but didn't get enough sleep. I feel a little tired.

"If you feel sleepy, brother-in-law, just take a nap." Hu Mengke suggested considerately.

"It's okay, just write your composition..." Li Zhuangsheng shook his head.

Hu Mengdie raised her head and put her hand on Li Zhuangsheng's shoulder: "Go to my room and take a nap. Don't be too tired."

Li Zhuangsheng shook his head: "Really, no need, I'm fine."

Hu Mengdie laughed: "I know what you are worried about. I promise that I will not touch you when you are asleep."

Li Zhuangsheng showed hesitation on his face.

Hu Mengdie frowned slightly: "If you don't go to rest, I won't help you to plead with your sister!"

"Then I'll sleep on the sofa outside." Li Zhuangsheng agreed reluctantly.

"Sorry, there's water on the sofa."

"When did you get it?"

"In one minute."

Hu Mengke immediately replied with a smile: "If brother-in-law doesn't want to sleep in my bed, then sleep here with me!"

Hu Mengdie smiled and said, "What do you think? Do you want to sleep in your sister-in-law's soft and fragrant bed?"

Li Zhuangsheng was speechless: "...You promise not to touch me while I'm sleeping?"

Hu Mengdie immediately raised her hand: "I swear, I won't touch you when you are asleep!"

Li Zhuangsheng patted Hu Mengke on the back and said, "Write your composition first. Call me when you're done."

After saying that, he stood up and walked into Hu Mengdie's bedroom, where the furnishings remained the same.

The clean and simple bedroom, with a faint fragrance, is no different from the first time I came here.

Li Zhuangsheng sat on the edge of the bed, gently stroking the sheets beneath him. He was no longer as reserved as he had been when he first came.

I remember the first time I sat beside Hu Mengdie's bed, I was a little sleepy and leaned sideways without realizing it. When I woke up, he was already lying on the bed, covered with a thin quilt.

He felt inexplicably sad, and the unfamiliar environment intensified his unprecedented loneliness, as if he had experienced the end of the world and he was the only one left in the world.

At this moment, a familiar chuckle sounded in my ears:

"woke up?"

He looked up and saw a very beautiful girl sitting beside the bed, smiling at him.

The setting sun gently embraced her from the window, and her eyes were like amber gems. It was an elegant and dreamy beauty, as if an angel had come to save a lost lamb. No matter how good a photographer was, he could not capture such a beautiful smile.

Li Zhuangsheng stood up and hugged her, as if the whole world had returned to him at this moment.

"What's the matter? Go to sleep." Hu Mengdie pushed gently.

Li Zhuangsheng hesitated for a moment, took off his shoes and prepared to go to bed.

"Oh, by the way, here are some snacks..."

Hu Mengdie opened the bedside table.

"Wait a moment!"

Li Zhuangsheng grabbed Hu Mengdie's hand and slowly took out a brand new box of Durex from the bedside table.

He confirmed twice over and over again that it was not a paper towel or a disposable glove...and the production date was quite new.

"What do you want to do!"

Li Zhuangsheng, who was originally a little sleepy, woke up instantly and subconsciously grabbed his pants.

"What are you doing?" Hu Mengdie tilted her head.

"You, why do you put this thing here? I knew you were not honest!"

"What I was thinking is that we might need it in the future. Why would we need it today? Meng Ke is still at home!"

(End of this chapter)