My name is Liang Zhiqin, and I was 20 years old in 1992.
At that time, after graduating from the Normal College, I returned to a township primary school under the county to which I belonged and became a people's teacher.
In the process of studying, there are two classmates who are familiar with me and in the same county, one of whom is a female classmate named Ye Lixin.
The other is a male classmate named Li Huicheng.
Even after graduation, the three of us still met each other often.
Because when we were studying, we were thousands of miles away from home, going to the provincial capital city to study, and there were not many secondary school students in the same county, our three classmates, or the same class and class, naturally became quite good friends, inseparable, go home together, and then after the holiday, three people made an appointment together, and took the bus back to school.
Although the assignment after graduation was not as we wished, they were not far apart.
Li Huicheng and I are both in the primary schools in the township, and the two primary schools are in different towns, which is half an hour's drive by car.
Ye Lixin got a better distribution arrangement than us, she was assigned to the county primary school, and soon became a class teacher.
Whenever it was a holiday, Li Huicheng would come to me, and Ye Lixin would also take a car from the county, and the three of us would go out to eat and taste the food together.
Sometimes, I also go to Li Huicheng's side, and I have also been with Li Huicheng to find Ye Lixin.
In my heart, Li Huicheng is a righteous gentleman, he is eager to learn and progressive, and his grades are very good, I only think that he has many aspects that are worth learning from me, so I regard him as a mentor and friend, similar to my own brother. And he also regarded me as his best friend, and I could talk to him about everything.
As for Ye Lixin, I've actually been secretly in love with her.
It's just that when I was in school, I really didn't dare to show it, let alone pursue her blatantly.
Although she can't reach the level of the school flower, the class flower is estimated to be counted, with big eyes and white skin, coupled with her tall figure, she has become a particularly eye-catching scenery in the crowd.
Ye Lixin and I are actually quite familiar with each other after three years of classmate life, but I really don't know how much weight I have in her heart.
She usually laughs and plays with me, and always makes each other very happy, but I always think that maybe she just treats me as a good brother, and I am a year older than her, although the level of maturity of the two people is actually about the same.
I even think that she should like Li Huicheng more.
Although it can be seen in the eyes of all my classmates, Li Huicheng's appearance and height are actually inferior to me.
However, Li Hui has a good adult character, is quite motivated in learning, and has some witty and resolute qualities, as well as the talent of writing well with a brush, this series of conditional elements add up, so I only feel that I am inferior to Li Huicheng.
Does Ye Lixin like Li Huicheng more, or do she like me more?
This question has been in place since we knew each other in the same class and became good friends, and it has lasted for three years.
After everyone graduated and became a people's teacher, I still couldn't figure it out and couldn't figure it out because of this question.
I thought to myself, since I can't guess no matter what, maybe I have to ask Ye Lixin to really know.
It is even possible that if I really asked Ye Lixin, she refused to give me an answer on the one hand, and on the other hand, maybe in her heart, there was no real answer.
In the next three years, the three of us maintained such a state of good friends, Li Huicheng did not pursue Ye Lixin, and I did not chase either.
Maybe it's because Li Huicheng and I are both shy and introverted boys, this is the case when we were studying in school, and when we leave the junior college and come out to teach, we are still like this.
Ye Lixin has never been in love, this is clear to me and Li Huicheng, because if Ye Lixin falls in love, she will definitely tell us two good friends and will not hide it.
Our relationship has reached the point where everything is discussed, as long as one of them encounters any difficulties and troubles in life or work, they will pour out, and they will also share each other's joy and achievements in work, so as to encourage and encourage each other, help each other and love each other.
At that time, I thought, I really hope that the relationship between the three of us will continue like this, and if the three of us don't get married, maybe this relationship can last forever.
However, we all know that this is not possible.
In the blink of an eye, we are already twenty-three years old, and when we reach the age of talking about marriage, our parents and relatives are urging us to complete this marriage as soon as possible, no matter what, we are looking for a partner to marry.
The conditions in my family are average, my parents are farmers, and they want me to find a daughter-in-law who is diligent and thrifty, preferably a relatively large woman, who seems to be very capable of manual work, so that our family will have an extra productivity, and my parents will not have to be so tired to do farm work.
If according to my parents' request to find me a daughter-in-law, Ye Lixin is absolutely not in order, as a female intellectual, a people's teacher, how can she be the kind of rural woman with a tiger's back?
And then, there was a situation that surprised me and Li Huicheng.
The county education bureau had a lesbian who retired from illness and needed to find someone to replace her as soon as possible, so they were looking for someone in the teaching team, and Ye Lixin was selected to become a member of the county education bureau because of her excellent performance in the past few years.
Li Huicheng and I never expected that our best female classmate would become a female cadre of the county education bureau at such a young age, so that everyone knows that Ye Lixin's future can be said to be limitless.
On the night of the transfer, Ye Lixin invited Li Huicheng and I to go out for a good meal.
At that time, Li Huicheng and I were both extremely happy and kept congratulating Ye Lixin, but we only felt that there was a distance between us and Ye Lixin, because she is now a female cadre in the county education bureau, and Li Huicheng and I are just primary school teachers.
But Ye Lixin told the two of us that she would not cherish the friendship between the three of us because she was transferred to the county education bureau, no matter what kind of person she becomes in the future and what position she gets, she will never forget the bits and pieces of mutual help and love when the three of them study together.
Li Huicheng and I both had a sparkle in our eyes at that time, and we only felt that this friendship was indeed worth cherishing for a lifetime.
But both of us seemed to have a sigh in our hearts, because in the past, when Ye Lixin was just a teacher, we could still have a dream, dreaming about whether we could develop a relationship with Ye Lixin, or even finally get married.
And Ye Lixin is now receiving such a transfer, Li Huicheng and I don't dare to have such a dream, we just feel that Ye Lixin is unattainable for us.
Another year has passed.
The three of us have all entered the age of 24 and will soon reach the age of 25, which is already considered to be an old age and unmarried in the countryside, and if we do not get the marriage done as soon as possible, it seems that we will be laughed at by the villagers.
I once talked to Li Huicheng about this in private, and both of them laughed it off.
He has never been in love, and he takes marriage very lightly, because he is really enthusiastic about teaching, and like me, he forgets to sleep for this job, and he has no heart to think about developing a relationship between men and women, nor has he met the woman he likes.
He also told me that as far as he knew, Ye Lixin was in the county, although she had such a good job and was in such an important position, but she was twenty-four years old, she also had no partner, and she had never been in love, and her parents at home were already very anxious and urged her, which made her herself a headache, because she was also busy with work.
After saying this, Li Huicheng shook his head helplessly, as if he felt sorry for Ye Lixin, and was also worried that Ye Lixin would continue like this and become a too good old leftover girl.
At that time, I couldn't help but secretly test it, and asked Li Hui what he had become, so I didn't want to think about it, pursue Ye Lixin, and see if Ye Lixin accepted his pursuit.
Li Huicheng said that he asked himself if the conditions were not enough, because his family background was also very bad, and he was now a primary school teacher, and his salary was not high, so he was not worthy of Ye Lixin.
I told him that I could feel that Ye Lixin admired his character and talent, and even praised him in front of me, so he should have confidence in this regard.
Li Huicheng shook his head, he still hoped that Ye Lixin would marry a man who was really excellent and worthy of her, not him.
He asked himself if he couldn't let Ye Lixin get a happy marriage and family.
I could feel at that moment that Li Huicheng, like me, had been secretly in love with Ye Lixin for many years, but he buried such a feeling in his heart.
I know in my heart that neither Li Huicheng nor I want to see Ye Lixin marry a man we don't know, because this may be an adventure for Ye Lixin.
In other words, if Ye Lixin chooses me or Li Huicheng in the end, as her life partner, Li Huicheng and I will rest assured, and we both feel that Ye Lixin has a guarantee in the second half of her life, at least he and I are really good in character, and will take care of Ye Lixin for the rest of her life.
But we also know that Ye Lixin chooses one of the two of us to be her husband, which is not very likely, because Ye Lixin works in the county, she is in such a high position, and the conditions for choosing a mate are so good, the range of choices she can choose is actually quite large.
However, one day after that, something happened that I didn't expect and didn't know how to deal with it.
Ye Lixin was on vacation that day, she came to my village on a bicycle alone, and found the front door of my house, so that I was shocked when I learned about it.
At that time, my parents were drying beans in the grain field, and I was helping my family in the field, so I didn't have to go to elementary school to work, so I would do farm work at home to help my parents.
My parents were facing Ye Lixin's appearance, knowing that she was my old classmate and quite good, and maintained the friendliness and respect that Ye Lixin deserved, but they did not greet Ye Lixin and continued to go to the grain field to dry beans.
Ye Lixin proposed that she should go to help so that the two elders could rest.
My brother went to the vegetable field to inform me that there was a beautiful eldest sister who looked like a female cadre, and I didn't think that it would be Ye Lixin, and when I learned that my parents brought this eldest sister to the grain field, I also rushed to the grain field.
Seeing that it was Ye Lixin, she was immediately dumbfounded.
After all, Ye Lixin is working in our higher-level department, but my parents want her to do farm work for our family, what kind of system is this?
And at this moment, my parents are resting next to the grain field, letting Ye Lixin do things alone, which I find unacceptable.
I immediately stepped forward and told Ye Lixin to stop, I wanted to take her home to entertain her well, I couldn't let her do such farm work, but she smiled and said that she came this time to help my parents and let my parents know her.
I'll freeze.
When I turned my head and looked at my parents, I found that my parents really liked Ye Lixin's appearance, as if they regarded Ye Lixin as their future daughter-in-law, after all, I am also quite old, and they really hope that a woman can appear in front of them.
But I hinted to my parents with my eyes that this excellent woman could not be their future daughter-in-law.
However, in the next half day, Ye Lixin cleaned my house and helped my parents cook, as if she wanted my parents to accept her, recognize her, and like her, so as to let her pass the door.
Of course, my parents left Ye Lixin to eat at home, and had a hearty conversation, when they knew that Ye Lixin actually worked in the county department, they were all dumbfounded, just thinking, is it possible for Ye Lixin to marry into a farm like ours and become my daughter-in-law?
That night, I sent Ye Lixin away and helped her push her bicycle until she reached the village gate.
She was silent at first, but then finally told me that her family urged her to find a partner to marry as soon as possible, and she took great pains to do so.
At this point, she didn't say any more, looking up at the stars in the black sky, as if she was sighing about her marriage.
When I turned my head to look at her, she lowered her head, showing a hint of shyness, and her face flushed.
At that moment, I was silent, not knowing what to say, and she didn't say any more, as if waiting for my statement, because she had already made the hint obvious, and it could not be further obvious, otherwise it would be a gaffe and a loss of the reserve that women need.
When I went to bed that night, my heart was pounding and excited.
I couldn't help but ask myself, isn't this what I've been expecting to happen? And this is also what countless men dream of, after all, such a beautiful and excellent girl, despite the initiative of decency, wants to show love to me, hinting that she wants to be good with me, so as to become a hundred years of good marriage, how lucky is this?
But I only thought that there was too much distance between me and Ye Lixin, not only because she worked in the county and her rank was far above me, but also because of my own conditions, my family's conditions, there were too many inconsistencies.
I also have to think about how Li Huicheng would feel if he knew that Ye Lixin showed love to me and hinted that he wanted to marry me?
On the contrary, I think that Ye Lixin may be happier when she marries him, a 100% good man whose morals are close to perfect, because I don't know if I can be a perfect husband in my marriage in the future.
Possibly, Li Huicheng can be a good husband better than me.
My mood and thoughts were extremely complicated this night, and I thought about it all night, but I couldn't make up my mind to accept Ye Lixin's love, so as to start a real relationship with her, and then talk about marriage.
The next day, to my surprise, my parents asked me early in the morning if Ye Lixin was on good terms with me, and both of them had a very good impression of Ye Lixin, although they wanted to find a rural person to be their daughter-in-law, but a good girl like Ye Lixin, they felt that it seemed better.
I reluctantly told them that Ye Lixin and I were just good old classmates, and we didn't have the kind of relationship between falling in love and talking about marriage at all.
After hearing my statement, my parents didn't ask any more questions.
In the next few days, I went to work and did my best to teach and teach students.
But the person I have always thought about in my heart is Ye Lixin.
Her face kept appearing in my mind, but I didn't make up my mind to really establish that relationship with her.
Because I know it's going to be a lifetime for her, and it's going to be for me.
What I always think about is, as a poor primary school teacher with such a low salary, and my family is such a farm environment, what kind of happy future can I give Ye Lixin, and what kind of marriage and family can I give her?
If I were to marry her, I would even drag her down to a great extent, and put her in the county education bureau, and I had to tell her colleagues that her husband was just an elementary school teacher in a town below, and that he used to go to the teacher college with her.
But in the past few days, one day, the vice principal of my elementary school, a fifty-year-old woman, when she was eating in the cafeteria, walked up to the place where I was sitting, chatted with me, and asked me, Xiaoliang, are you not a partner yet?
When I heard this, I wondered how she knew.
She told me that she wanted to introduce me to a person named Zhou Zhen, a staff member who worked in the agricultural lecture center, and the environmental conditions of her home were good, and the distance between her village and my village was very close.
I was struggling at the time, and I really didn't know whether to go on this blind date.
Yet I went anyway after some mental struggle.
I had a blind date with this Zhou Zhen, and I just felt that her appearance really met what my parents said before, the type of physical work that can help the family, and she is more powerful.
And since she was born in the countryside, she has inevitably done all kinds of farm work since she was a child, even if she is now working in the agricultural lecture center, she can still work in the field.
Zhou Zhen seemed to fall in love with me at first sight, she asked me some basic information, she was extremely shy, it seemed that I could say at any time that I wanted to fall in love with her, or even talk about marriage, she would agree.
When I got back, I thought about it all night.
At that time, I was only thinking that when it comes to marriage, I really can't think about who I love the most, but who is most suitable for me.
Although I love Ye Lixin the most in my heart, I also know that Ye Lixin loves me.
But this distance, as well as the mismatch and inconsistency of various conditions, make me only feel that I may only be able to bury the love for Ye Lixin in my heart.
In the end, I decided to give up talking to Ye Lixin, and I wanted to match Ye Lixin and Li Huicheng.
Choosing Zhou Zhen as my wife was a rational decision I made.
On the evening of the second day, I asked Zhou Zhen out, and after talking to her for a while, I established a relationship with her, which made her feel quite surprised.
I fell in love with Zhou Zhen for a few days, and I took her to see Li Huicheng one day, and agreed to go to the county on the following Sunday, come out with Ye Lixin, and have a meal.
At that time, the three of us, after going to the county seat, sat and waited in a restaurant until Ye Lixin appeared.
Ye Lixin saw Zhou Zhen sitting next to me, and she knew what was going on.
And I generously introduced that this is the object of my blind date, I only hope that Ye Lixin and Li Huicheng will also take me as an example and fall in love and get married as soon as possible, and I think the two of them can be negotiated.
Although Ye Lixin laughed, her eyes were shining, and I felt the unbearable grief in her heart.
Three days later, Li Huicheng told me that he and Ye Lixin fell in love and finally established a relationship.
After I learned the news, I was actually devastated, but I smiled and blessed him, I only felt that the combination of him and Ye Lixin was what I wanted to see, and I also thought that he was the most suitable person to become Ye Lixin's husband.
The four of us, in the following time, often went out to eat and party together.
In the end, Zhou Zhen and I registered three months later and became a couple. And Li Huicheng and Ye Lixin, half a month after we got married, also went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register their marriage and officially went through the marriage procedures.
Our weddings are all for each other to be the best man and bridesmaid.
A year after I got married, Zhou Zhen gave birth to a son for me.
However, I slowly only felt that Zhou Zhen was not the ideal wife I expected, or should I say that some of the personality traits she hid before marriage were completely invisible to me, and she hid them too well.
She was a very strong-tempered woman, and I had to put up with her unconditionally, and she was very jealous, and it was because of her jealousy that I lost my job as a teacher, which happened a few years later.
I don't know how Li Huicheng and Ye Lixin got along after they got married, but I can feel that Ye Lixin has a happy smile on her face, so I estimate that her marriage with Li Huicheng is a happy one.
And Li Huicheng was later transferred to the county's primary school, where he could live with Ye Lixin, go to work, and ride a motorcycle to work together.
However, they have not had children, and I don't know whose problem it is.
And my son makes Li Huicheng very loved, and I often take my son to find them and his wife.
Li Huicheng is very good at playing chess, he became my son's chess teacher, and he also recognized my son as a righteous son.
Zhou Zhen and I really had problems in our marriage in the sixth year after marriage.
Suddenly, one day, she ran into the dormitory building of my elementary school and got into an argument with a female teacher.
She was very suspicious and thought that this female teacher had something wrong with me, but in fact, there was no such thing at all.
As a result, Zhou Zhen kept making trouble, even if I dissuaded it, it was to no avail, this matter was very big, and the adverse impact on my elementary school was quite huge.
The school leaders reported the matter, and the superiors finally made a decision to cancel my teaching qualification and never hire me.
I lost my beloved job as a teacher like this, and it was entirely because of Zhou Zhen, a woman, I didn't see her clearly before I got married, and after all these years, I finally paid a heavy price, which can be said to be completely unacceptable to me.
Because I really love education, I just want to be a teacher for the rest of my life and train countless students, but because of such a woman, my lifelong ideal has been ruined.
After I lost my job as a teacher, Zhou Zhen disliked me even more, and finally one day, she told me that she had met a male boss outside and wanted to divorce me and get custody of her son.
I was heartbroken at that moment, and finally I said to her that divorce is okay, but my son must be raised by me, I can't let my son be taken away by her, and I have to recognize a stepfather.
Zhou Zhen just said, see you in the court.
I didn't have a job at that time, so I couldn't fight for the custody of my son at all, so I could only watch Zhou Zhen take her son and follow another man.
It was the most painful, unbearable and devastating moment of my life.
But in the end, I survived and decided to look for a job in the coastal area.
I never let the outside world know about my divorce and the loss of custody of my son, let alone Li Huicheng and Ye Lixin, but only told them that my son asked one of my overseas Chinese relatives to go to a certain city for education, and I did not teach at the original school, but I was a boss friend in the coastal area who could provide me with a higher-paying job.
But in reality, I don't know if I can get a job in the coastal areas.
In the end, I was over there, and I did a lot of hard and tiring jobs, construction workers, security guards, motorcycle runners, and all kinds of jobs that made ends meet.
One day, I received a call from Ye Lixin, who cried and told me that her beloved husband Li Huicheng had unfortunately passed away from liver cancer.
I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't accept it for a while, thinking that Li Huicheng was my best friend, he was a good person, but he was tricked by fate, and Ye Lixin lost his husband since then?
I finally rushed back, but I couldn't see Li Huicheng for the last time before his death, so I could only attend Li Huicheng's funeral.
Ye Lixin handed me a box of chess made of rosewood, saying that it was a gift for my son that Li Huicheng had instructed her when he was dying.
I tried my best to comfort Ye Lixin and make her mourn and change, and I didn't return to work in the coastal area for several days, and stayed with her for fear that she wouldn't be able to think about it.
Eventually, she came out of her grief and I was ready to leave, but she wouldn't let me go.
She told me that she already knew about me and my ex-wife, and she also knew that I had been dismissed from my original elementary school, so she would try her best to help me appeal, so as to help me regain my original teaching qualifications, so that I could become a teacher again and continue to teach on the podium.
I was pleasantly surprised, but I just thought, can Ye Lixin really help me become a teacher again and engage in my beloved teaching work?
Eventually, with Ye Lixin's continuous efforts, I received a call from the principal of the former primary school one day, who told me that I was dragged down by my wife, so I was innocent and I could go back to school and continue to be a teacher.
At that moment, I shed heavy tears and cried with joy, because being a teacher is my lifelong hobby, and I will always be old until I can't teach at all.
My ex-wife, Zhou Zhen, came to me one day with her son, saying that she was now abandoned by the boss's husband and divorced again, and just wanted to remarry me.
I was so upset that I didn't want to say anything more to her, so I directly rejected her request for remarriage.
She gave me her son to raise because she couldn't afford it anymore.
I didn't hesitate to say yes.
Although I know very well that she is doing this, in fact, I can't remarry again, because I have a son, and I don't think any woman can look down on me.
I was going to live in the school dormitory with my son, commute to and from work every day, be single until I was old, and I didn't want to find a marriage partner anymore.
But one day, Ye Lixin appeared in front of me and my son, she gently stroked the hair on my son's forehead, and then said, my son needs a mother, I also need a wife, she is willing to be.
Another time in my life I cried with joy was when I heard Ye Lixin's words.
In the end, Ye Lixin, who I once loved deeply in my heart, both entered the second marriage and went to get a marriage certificate.
She and my son, a family of three, only get together on Saturdays and Sundays, but we get along quite well and quite happily.
－END－
Note: The real name of the narrator in this article will be kept secret, and some episodes will be processed on the basis of truth. The pictures come from the Internet, and the content and opinions are original.
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