Wealthy Beauty in the 60s-Chapter 130 - 129: Exposing Shortcomings

He Hongjun chuckled softly, "You yourself feel inferior to Zheng Xianghong, so what exactly are you dissatisfied with? Old Lady Gao fancied you, wanted you to be her daughter-in-law, so you should have just let Old Lady Gao have you marry into the Gao family. Gao Guoqiang met Zheng Xianghong in the army; that’s a revolutionary bond. What business is it of a country girl like you? Yet you, unaware of your own insignificance, thought highly of yourself because Old Lady Gao complimented you a few times?"

"You may have been young and ignorant in the past, which is understandable, but you’ve lived for so many years, how come you haven’t grown any wiser? I’m afraid what Gao Guoqiang is most relieved about now is that he didn’t listen to Old Lady Gao back then and marry you. Otherwise, bringing home a troublemaker like you, who knows what kind of chaos you would’ve caused. Do you think you could really get along well with Old Lady Gao and Lin Xuebi after marrying into their family? It’s only because my family has nobody left—my parents are gone, and I have no siblings—otherwise, who knows what sort of mess you would’ve made."

"He Hongjun, you’re being too much. You weren’t like this before. If it wasn’t for you begging to marry me, do you think I would have married you? Now that I’ve aged and lost my charm, you despise me, finding fault in everything I do."

Li Shengmei was bringing up the past grievances, reminiscing about when she was the flower of the village, sought after by so many. If it hadn’t been for He Hongjun asking for her hand in marriage, how could she have been married off?

He Hongjun said, "Back then, didn’t you just fancy my status for being higher than Gao Guoqiang’s? You were pretty, but still just a village girl. Apart from the men in the village, who else would fancy you? Among the young men of that time, apart from me, there were only the sons of the Gao family. If you had been willing to marry any other man in the village, you wouldn’t have chosen me." Moreover, if he hadn’t been disabled, he might not have taken an interest in Li Shengmei.

"You—" Li Shengmei blushed, then turned pale, as if He Hongjun had struck a nerve, and some of her anger was mixed with embarrassment, "You never loved me. You’ve always deceived me, you’ve always cajoled me."

Love? He Hongjun fell silent. Of course, there had been love before—Li Shengmei was beautiful and somewhat proud, and He Hongjun liked her beauty and that confidence. But he didn’t know when it had started, his love for Li Shengmei faded away, replaced by turning a blind eye, even going as far as ignoring her.

When had it happened? He Hongjun pondered—was it the time he was disappointed in Li Shengmei when his mother died, or when he found out that Li Shengmei had always been thinking about Gao Guoqiang? Anyway, now He Hongjun really had no feelings for Li Shengmei. In the past, for the sake of the children, he had put up with it, but as Li Shengmei was behaving more and more disgracefully, even damaging the reputation of the He family, this was something He Hongjun did not want to see.

Of course, there was a reason for this transformation. Now the production brigade had a newcomer with a background—Li Zhenchuan, and the production brigade was no longer something He Hongjun could control in secret. Thanks to having once saved Gao Guoqiang’s life, even though Gao Guoqiang had become the team leader, he showed great respect to He Hongjun, and thus the He family enjoyed a special status within the production brigade. This was also why Li Shengmei could act so wildly.

But with Li Zhenchuan’s arrival, who was a newly assigned secretary parachuted in from above, without even discussing it with He Hongjun or informing the production brigade, He Hongjun naturally felt uncomfortable. His disability made him turn down the position of secretary of the production brigade, also because he didn’t want to attend frequent meetings in the county and face his former comrades and even subordinates, which would exacerbate his feelings of loss.

He Hongjun had never thought of tripping up Li Zhenchuan—that would be a fool’s errand. He also knew that Li Zhenchuan wouldn’t stay in the production brigade for long and would leave sooner or later. As for Li Zhenchuan, who had a background and connections, He Hongjun was trying to understand and even hoped to befriend him.

But he had not expected Li Shengmei to brazenly make a fool of herself in front of Li Zhenchuan. If it were just Gao Guoqiang, He Hongjun wouldn’t care so much, as he was ultimately one of their own. But Li Zhenchuan was an outsider, so He Hongjun could not tolerate Li Shengmei acting like a buffoon in front of him, losing not just his own face but that of the entire He family.

"I’ve said it before, if you don’t want to stay in the He family, you can leave." He Hongjun paused after saying this, then looking at Li Shengmei, he continued, "I had never thought about separating from you before. We’ve already spent more than half our lives together, and the next ten to twenty years, or even more, won’t make much of a difference. I also don’t want to affect our son’s future. But I’m finding that you’re becoming less and less clear-headed, and if this continues, you will only bring disaster upon our household."

Li Shengmei cried, her heart extremely hurt, unable to bear seeing the disappointment in He Hongjun’s eyes. At this moment, she would rather have He Hongjun hit her or scold her than to speak such cold-hearted words so calmly.

"If Secretary Li isn’t interested in Educated Youth Xia, I plan to let Bingzi pursue her," He Hongjun said.

Li Shengmei immediately stopped crying, wide-eyed, and looked at He Hongjun incredulously, asking, "Why are you doing this? You know full well that I hate Xia Xiao."

"In the entire production team, only Educated Youth Xia is suitable for Bingzi." He Hongjun greatly admired the courageous Xia Xiao. He had a mental tally of all the young women in the production team but firmly believed that Xia Xiao was the best match for his son.

That’s why He Hongjun was informing Li Shengmei at this moment, indicating that Xia Xiao was the daughter-in-law he had his eye on and that if Secretary Li wasn’t intending anything, He Hongjun hoped that Xia Xiao would marry into the He family.

"But I have my sights set on Dong Meihua," Li Shengmei said.

He Hongjun frowned and said, "Bingzi isn’t interested in Dong Meihua."

Li Shengmei was furious inside, cursing Xia Xiao, that vixen. She was sure Xia Xiao had seduced her son, prompting him to speak favorably about her in front of He Hongjun. Otherwise, why would He Hongjun think so highly of Xia Xiao?

Li Shengmei didn’t say anything more but her thoughts were racing. She wasn’t willing to give in just yet.

At that time, He Xuebing was fighting with Gao Jiaxing in the hills behind the production team. Eventually, both of them lay side by side on the ground, looking up at the sky.

Gao Jiaxing said, "Bingzi, don’t take this lightly, your mom is clearly sick."

"Your mom’s the one who’s sick," He Xuebing retorted. A son doesn’t dislike his mother, and no matter how flawed Li Shengmei was, He Xuebing wasn’t willing to say she was sick.

"I mean, something’s wrong with your mom mentally. Don’t you think she’s acting really strange?" Gao Jiaxing said.

He Xuebing said, "She just feels resentful, that’s all. My mom never looked up to my dad. She feels she lost out by marrying him, and we all know that when she was young, she had a thing for your mom and was even the bride chosen by your grandma. Parental dictation and matchmakers’ words, marriage used to be decided by the elders after all. Although young people were free to love, they still needed the elders’ approval."

Getting to this point, He Xuebing then said to Gao Jiaxing, "Honestly speaking, my mom was supposed to be your dad’s fiancée. But they couldn’t marry because they shared the same surname, so my mom went back to using the Li name, and the villagers treated her like your dad’s little wife. When your dad married someone from the military, naturally my mom couldn’t accept it, and she’s held a grudge for so many years."

Upon hearing this, Gao Jiaxing immediately disagreed.

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