The unit newly seconded a young young man Xiao Liu, twenty-eight or nine years old, graduated from college, handsome, smiling, is the father of a three-year-old daughter. Because he had just come to our new unit, his wife, who was a teacher, was still working in the original town. The town is twenty kilometers away from the county seat, and every night, after the boy leaves work, he catches the last shuttle home.
For a few days, because a friend was getting married, Xiao Liu went to his friend every day after work to help, and did not go home for almost five days. After the last day of work for a while, several of our big sister-level colleagues chatted with Xiao Liu.
We asked with some concern, "In order to help my friends, I haven't been home for four or five days, and my daughter-in-law agrees?"
"I didn't tell him what he was doing, I said there was something." Xiao Liu said simply.
"The child is so small, the daughter-in-law takes care of it alone, and the daughter-in-law is not angry if she does not go back?"
"Don't get angry!" The young man said confidently, "My daughter-in-law is so coaxed." After saying that, he suddenly rolled his eyes and said to us, "Do your sisters believe my words?" I'll give you a testimony, now call my daughter-in-law and tease her, you see. ”
Before we could express our position, Xiao Liu pressed the mobile phone speakerphone, the phone called the other party, and the name displayed on the mobile phone was "wife rabbit".
"Hey, who are you?" Xiao Liu deliberately used non-standard Mandarin, yin and yang asked strangely. "Well, I'm Liu-Fu-Man!" the other person responded with the same "quality" mandarin, which had already made the people in our office smack their mouths and almost laugh out loud.
But their conversation had only just begun. Then, Xiao Liu changed a serious tone, and the tone of the two men's speech was "formal".
"Wife, do you know what I haven't been home for a few days?"
"I don't know, what's going on?"
"I bought a lottery ticket five days ago and won half a million, and I came to Shijiazhuang today to collect the prize!"
"Really? Husband, is this true? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I want to surprise you." Calling you today is to ask you, this half a million, I am ready to buy you more than 200,000 in the provincial capital to buy a car, I can buy you a car has always been my wish. ”
"Thank you, husband! Is there really such a good thing? You're amazing!"
"I want to ask you, I am optimistic about a Medium White Sartre. High-end, 250,000. I want to ask you if you prefer red, or gray, or black? Choose well, tomorrow I will drive you back directly. ”
"Really? I think about it. You wait a while, I will ask Teacher Wang next door, she has been driving for many years, I asked for her opinion. I'll call you in a moment, you wait for me. ”
The dense dialogue between the two of them was carried out word by word, and the people around us were dumbfounded. Isn't that an international joke? Is there such a joke with your wife? Such a big joke, how can it end? Also go to consult neighbors and colleagues, maybe the whole unit knows, and finally knows that it is a scam, how faceless.
In the process of their phone call, we waved our hands vigorously and signaled Xiao Liu to stop. But he was confident and his eyes showed us peace of mind.
"Xiao Liu, this joke is big, it is not a joke, the bigger it is, the worse it will affect the relationship between your husband and wife." As soon as the phone hung up, we quickly interjected.
"That is, Xiao Liu, it is okay for husband and wife to tell a joke between husband and wife, but like you, it is not okay, the nature has changed."
"Speaking of this, how do you end it?" To so many of us, and your daughter-in-law's colleagues know. ”
The people in the office are tongue-in-cheek. In the words of our "people who came over" said Xiao Liu in a long way, we were good at talking about evil and threatening and frightening, and Xiao Liu promised to tell her the truth when her daughter-in-law called again.
In less than ten minutes, the phone of Xiao Liu's daughter-in-law came. Xiao Liu was still pressing the speakerphone, and we obviously heard the breathless sound of the other party, probably running and running back. Before Xiao Liu could open his mouth, the other party said quickly, "Husband, I have decided, I want a red car, you can drive back."
Wife, I'm teasing you. I didn't win the lottery. I pressed my phone hands-free, and my colleagues in the office listened to our conversation. Xiao Liu came to a bamboo tube to pour beans, and did not give the other party a room for adaptation and buffering.
There was no foreshadowing, no explanation, no apology, and no embarrassment in the tone, Xiao Liu calmly told the truth to his daughter-in-law in his usual tone and usual speed.
Our hearts were hanging up, and we felt our hair hanging up. Just when we pinched a handful of sweat for Xiao Liu and imagined the storm from the earpiece, almost suffocating, what we heard was a gentle smile, followed by soft, slightly childish words.
"You really are, let your colleagues laugh at us and lie to me like this." No anger, no yelling, no complaining, a little shyness.
Xiao Liu wanted to explain, but heard the other party say: "Don't explain, I know you are amusing me." Of course, I am happy that I won half a million, but if I don't win, you don't have to be sad, we don't have the life of making a fortune. We'll admit it. "It was the words of encouragement in reverse, and it really stunned the circle of women around us who had been married for more than twenty years!"
"I'm going to give students a late study trip, and you'll be back today, right?" Wait for you, hang up. And just like that, the long speakerphone ended.
Xiao Liu also said as if nothing had happened: "Take the shuttle bus home."
■ Text/Excerpt from "Unconscious Beauty", the original title is "Marriage after the 80s" (Wu Suqin, published by Hebei People's Publishing House)
■The pictures are illustrated except for the book cover
■ Editor / Xu Shanshan
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