A widower's entertainment

Chapter 342 [Love] (Please Subscribe)
Xinghua Hutong, Beijing.

In the main bedroom, Lin Youcheng's arm was under Xie Shuhua's body, and Xie Shuhua seemed to be lying in Lin Youcheng's arms. Although they did not have a special reading of the text beforehand like in the novel "The Reader", it was clear that Lin Youcheng and Xie Shuhua had also gone through a kind of bedtime learning. Everything was so natural.

When Lin Youcheng woke up, he saw Xie Shuhua with her hair slightly disheveled beside him. He quietly withdrew his hand, still able to feel the other person's body temperature and scent.

Lin Youcheng's movements woke Xie Shuhua. Perhaps only for a moment; Xie Shuhua, still groggy, stared at Lin Youcheng with sleepy eyes. Lin Youcheng looked at Xie Shuhua's face, then kissed her again. Before Xie Shuhua could say anything, they began another round of "learning in bed"...

After a long while, it was still dark outside the window, and the sky was not yet bright. Only the pomegranate tree in the yard was growing silently in the dark night, welcoming spring with great vigor.

"Don't I need to get up earlier to prepare breakfast for the kids?"

Xie Shuhua naturally knew that she was not only Lin Youcheng's wife, but also the mother of those children. Naturally, she began to try to take on the role of a mother, thinking about getting up early to prepare breakfast for the children before they went to school.

Lin Youcheng smiled and said, "No need, Aunt Song will make the preparations."

Upon hearing Lin Youcheng's words, Xie Shuhua did not insist on getting up early to start cooking, but instead said, "My parents plan to go back today; they don't plan to stay in Beijing."

Lin Youcheng knew about this beforehand. Although Lin Youcheng had a house in Beijing, Xie Zelin and Zhang Aiqin did not plan to stay in Beijing but wanted to return to Tianjin. Firstly, they had not yet retired and did not intend to rely on their daughter and son-in-law for support. Secondly, they preferred to live in Tianjin.

"It depends on what my parents think. Whether they stay in Beijing or Tianjin, it's up to them."

Now that he had married someone else's daughter, Lin Youcheng naturally changed his address and called Xie Zelin and Zhang Aiqin "Mom and Dad".

Xie Shuhua nodded. She knew that Lin Youcheng and her parents had both said that living in a courtyard house in the hutongs of Beijing or a house in the Asian Games Village was fine, but her parents did not plan to stay in Beijing.

Lin Youcheng added, "It's not far from Beijing to Tianjin, so we can go see them anytime."

Xie Shuhua understood this as well, nodded, and then asked, "Will my elder brother and the others stay in the capital?"

“I’ve already spoken to my older brother, and it’s not happening right now. We should wait until this summer, after Zhaoping and Zhaoan finish this semester, before they come to Beijing. His factory is really not doing well right now.”

"I'll buy my brother a shop so he and his wife can do some business in the capital."

Xie Shuhua listened to Lin Youcheng's words and naturally followed his lead. She knew that Lin Youcheng had a lot of money and was not short of funds. She didn't care about buying shops for her brother, because she had married Lin Youcheng not because of the exorbitant copyright fees, but because of Lin Youcheng himself.

"I was originally planning to take my second sister to have some fun in Beijing, but I didn't expect her to be in such a hurry. She already went back to Jiangsu Province yesterday."

Lin Youfeng has now been promoted to deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper in her unit. Because of her busy work schedule, she only managed to find time to come to Beijing to attend Lin Youcheng's wedding. After the wedding, she did not stay long and went straight back to her unit by train.

Upon hearing this, Lin Youcheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "We can go to Jiangsu Province together sometime to see Second Sister."

Xie Shuhua nodded and said, "Okay, I haven't been to Jiangsu Province yet."

As they chatted, the conversation naturally turned to Decheng. Xie Shuhua mentioned Zhao Gensheng's family in Decheng, a relative of Lin Youcheng's ex-wife's mother. Because he was his ex-wife's nephew, Zhao Gensheng didn't attend the wedding, not wanting Xie Shuhua to have any reservations. Xie Shuhua was clearly aware of this and said, "Gensheng and his family didn't attend the wedding. I'll have my older brother bring them a gift back with them."

Lin Youcheng naturally understood Xie Shuhua's meaning and said with a smile, "I'll listen to you."

"They should have come to the wedding too."

Xie Shuhua naturally knew Zhao Gensheng's identity, but after all, he was a relative of the person mentioned earlier, and also a cousin of Lin Zhaoxi and her siblings. This relationship would naturally not be severed. Moreover, Lin Youcheng had also told her why Zhao Gensheng's family was in Decheng, and there were some things about Zhao Gensheng before.

Lin Youcheng knew what Xie Shuhua was thinking, and simply said, "It's alright, we'll have them come to Beijing to celebrate our wedding later."

"Then why didn't you take me back to Decheng?"

"If you want to go back to Decheng, I can take you there later."

Lin Youcheng said with a smile, "I've traveled across most of China to sleep with you."

Xie Shuhua was surprised to hear Lin Youcheng say such a thing, and felt embarrassed. She couldn't help but punch Lin Youcheng in the chest.

Lin Youcheng quickly apologized, laughing and saying, "Okay, okay, I misspoke. It means I came across most of China to love you."

Lin Youcheng suddenly thought of the love poem "Crossing Half of China to Sleep with You," finding it quite interesting and seemingly fitting for this moment. In truth, sleeping with you and being slept with by you are almost the same; it's simply the force of two bodies colliding, the flower that blooms from that force, and the virtual spring that makes us mistakenly believe that life has been reopened…

Across much of the country, everything is happening: volcanoes are erupting, rivers are drying up, and there are uncared-for upright criminals and those who have gone astray. There are also deer and red-crowned cranes fighting for passage. I am going through a hail of bullets to sleep with you; I am pressing countless nights into a single dawn to sleep with you; I am countless versions of myself running together to sleep with you. Of course, I will also be led astray by some butterflies, mistaking praise for spring, and a village similar to Hengdian for my hometown…

And these are all essential reasons why I need to sleep with you!

Xie Shuhua was unaware that Lin Youcheng had thought of a poem, while she herself had thought of something else. She couldn't help but say, "I feel like we've crossed time and space to fall in love. I especially love that passage you wrote in your novel 'The Time Traveler's Wife'—" "The probability of two people with similarities meeting is one in two hundred thousand, the probability of getting to know someone is one in two million, the probability of growing closer is one in twenty million, the probability of becoming friends is one in two hundred million, the probability of becoming best friends is one in two billion, and the probability of meeting a soulmate is—one in six billion!"

Xie Shuhua really remembered these words very clearly; they were etched in her mind, and she could recite them very smoothly.

When she first saw those vivid words, her heart was filled with emotion. The moving and awe-inspiring scenes from the novel kept replaying in her mind, one after another. She also repeatedly memorized those words that were full of science fiction and miracles. At that moment, her heart was pounding because she longed to experience such love and to meet her own time traveler.

Xie Shuhua loves Lin Youcheng, and she also hopes to encounter love and a miracle that is one in six billion, full of science fiction, in the long river of her own time.

Lin Youcheng listened to Xie Shuhua's words and said with a smile, "What you said really makes me think that when you talk about 'The Reader,' you are Jiang Xia and I am Yang Ju."

Hearing Lin Youcheng's words, Xie Shuhua felt a moment of embarrassment, as if they were reading aloud after studying in bed. However, she remembered the foreshadowing Lin Youcheng had kept from her in the novel "The Reader," and couldn't help but ask, "Then I want to know, what kind of story is the novel 'Love,' which you planted in 'The Reader'?"

"Why is it a story that might not be written? Why is it that the male protagonist kills the female protagonist?"

Clearly, Xie Shuhua still remembers this story.

At that time, she had not yet married Lin Youcheng, so she did not inquire about Lin Youcheng's story. But now Xie Shuhua has begun to ask about the foreshadowing story buried in the novel "The Reader" that has piqued her curiosity.

Lin Youcheng was surprised that Xie Shuhua would suddenly ask this question. Before, Xie Shuhua had only asked whether the male protagonist killed the female protagonist because of love. He couldn't help but say, "Isn't it inappropriate to discuss this on such a joyous day?"

It's about the male lead killing the female lead again. Talking about this at a wedding just doesn't feel right.

"Comrade Youcheng, this is feudal superstition. I really want to know what kind of 'love' it is, and why you might not be able to write this story."

When Lin Youcheng heard Xie Shuhua criticize him for being feudal and superstitious, he couldn't help but smile and then told Xie Shuhua the story "Love".

As Xie Shuhua listened to Lin Youcheng's story, she gradually became immersed in it and understood why Lin Youcheng said it was a story about marriage and love. She was deeply moved. A cultured music teacher, when she was over eighty years old, suddenly suffered a stroke and became paralyzed on one side, and then chose to commit suicide. She couldn't help but think that it was about dignity. Obviously, the elderly couple were both retired and educated. In the end, the woman did not want to continue to suffer from illness and the torment of her self-esteem, so the husband smothered her with a pillow to fulfill his wife's wish.

Xie Shuhua leaned on Lin Youcheng's shoulder, deeply moved. She knew very well that the story Lin Youcheng told was the same as what she had said to him before. She believed that no matter what happened in a marriage, it was all because of love. Even if a husband killed his wife with his own hands, it must have been because of love.

Now it seems she was right, but this love truly moved her.

Hsieh Shu-hua also genuinely admired Lin You-cheng. He was truly amazing to come up with such an astonishing love story, a story so real it seemed like something that could actually happen.

Of course, Xie Shuhua also understood why Lin Youcheng hesitated to write this story. Perhaps it was because, like Jiang Xia and Yang Ju in "The Reader," even if they overcame worldly prejudices and bravely got together and entered into marriage, encountering such a thing might ultimately not be as good as the choices made in "Love."

"Youcheng, I think this kind of love story is also great. They loved each other until the very end."

“I think you can write this story down. Although it is cruel, it is also very moving.”

Although the husband ultimately killed his wife with his own hands, Xie Shuhua knew very well that this story was terrifyingly real, and that was precisely what made it so moving. Marriage and love are both forms of companionship; mutual support is the bottom line, and also the ultimate goal. Stable marriages come in many forms; mutual love and understanding are not rare, and may not even be important. What is most precious is mutual support. Even when faced with the realities of aging, illness, and death, this couple put their love to the ultimate test, ultimately making a morally and ethically questioning choice for each other.

The more Xie Shuhua thought about it, the more astonished and shocked she felt by the story. She couldn't calm down and even said, "I think your story would be very suitable to be written into a screenplay and made into a movie."

Upon hearing Xie Shuhua's words, Lin Youcheng quickly followed suit and started talking about the movie adaptation. He didn't want to keep talking about the sad story of the male lead killing the female lead at this time, so he couldn't help but say, "I just don't know who can play these two roles well. The actors for these two roles are the most crucial."

Hearing Lin Youcheng's words, Xie Shuhua nodded in agreement. The two then naturally started talking about some potential actors, such as Lan Tianye being suitable to play the husband...

Of course, the conversation will eventually turn to the story of "Love".

The courtyard was quiet. Inside the room, only the two of them were talking. They didn't go from poetry and songs to philosophy of life, but instead talked about the story of "Love" and then about Jiang Xia and Yang Ju from "The Reader," and about their bold and direct learning in bed.

"It's not even dawn yet, how about we—?"

"Teacher Lin, you—"

Xie Shuhua instantly understood what Lin Youcheng meant. She felt a little embarrassed and annoyed and couldn't help but call Lin Youcheng "Teacher Lin". Before she could say anything, Lin Youcheng had already kissed her on the lips.

Love is a noun, but it can also be a verb.

The key point is that this seemingly simple verb can sometimes be extremely crazy and fierce.

Clearly, these two lovers, who have begun their passionate journey together, are now paying less attention to their appearances and manners. Only the most moving moments of love and literature are raging within them, surging like a primordial torrent and colliding forcefully.

The moonlight is beautiful tonight. Two branches of the pomegranate tree in the yard are intertwined, shining like a cascading Milky Way under the moonlight. Under the hazy night, the spring scenery is infinitely beautiful.

(End of this chapter)