Classmate Li Zhuangsheng doesn’t want to be reborn

A cool breeze made Li Zhuangsheng shiver slightly, and he reached out to pull on the zipper of his clothes.

"It must be cold. I told you to bring your gloves with you when you rode your electric scooter out."

Li Xiuyu sat in the back seat and hugged Li Zhuangsheng from behind.

Fallen leaves swirled in the gray sky, and the chilly wind seemed to have no end in sight.

Li Zhuangsheng was craving spicy snacks.

After buying groceries and returning home, Li Zhuangsheng went into his study to write a novel, while Li Xiuyu lay on the bed in the study.

Li Zhuangsheng silently typed on the keyboard, suddenly feeling very irritable again.

"Can I really write two thousand words in an hour?" Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but ask.

"correct."

"I typed it according to the book, and I still couldn't do it this fast!"

"You can touch type, you just can't right now."

How should I practice?

"No need to practice, just typing more will develop muscle memory, and you'll know which letter is where."

Li Zhuangsheng nodded irritably and continued typing irritably on the keyboard.

Li Xiuyu played on her phone for a while, then looked up at Li Zhuangsheng and said, "If you don't want a divorce, you can just not go get the divorce certificate later."

"It's not that I don't want a divorce—"

"what is that?"

"I don't know either, it's just..." Li Zhuangsheng bit his lip, trying to find a reasonable reason for his current frustration, "I don't know what to do!"

Just like the bell ringing to signal the end of the last monthly exam, he silently waited for the papers to be collected, then quietly packed up his stationery and left the exam room.

Then they felt lost and didn't know what to do next.

The monthly exams are over, and he should be able to relax a bit. But the monthly exams are over, not the college entrance exam; his life goes on.

Before this, he always thought about getting a divorce, as if it was his main mission. But now that the main mission is complete, what will be the next mission?

Should I learn to be an adult?

A person who has been disciplined by school and parents for more than ten years is suddenly told one day, without warning or preparation, that he will have to walk his own path from now on.

“I want to go to work,” Li Zhuangsheng said.

“Okay.” Li Xiuyu nodded.

Li Zhuangsheng was silent for a moment. He was a little surprised by Li Xiuyu's decisive agreement, but did he really have to go to work?

“But if I go to work now… it won’t be easy to take a long leave later,” Li Zhuangsheng said hesitantly.

If you can use the excuse of being sick to not go to work, what excuse can you use after you go to work?
"more or less."

"Well... let's forget about it." Li Zhuangsheng shrank back.

Li Xiuyu smiled at him and said, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Li Zhuangsheng nodded silently, seemingly feeling a little more at ease.

In the bedroom, Hu Mengdie lay silently on the bed. She held up her phone, looked at the number on it, and then turned off the screen.

She suddenly felt empty, as if something was missing there and could never be filled.

She turned to look at the equally empty thumbtack board, which used to be covered with photos, but now it was all gone.

She opened the drawer, took out her solo photos, and silently pinned them back together.

……

"Did you really go and get your certificates?"

That evening, Xie Jiangqing went into the study, her bitter smile replaced by a helpless sigh.

“It’s not about getting the certificate…it will take another thirty days to get the certificate,” Li Zhuangsheng corrected. “We just went to register today.”

"Is that the point... You two are both so crazy!" Xie Jiangqing couldn't help but lightly tap Li Zhuangsheng's head. "If you don't want a divorce, why do you insist on getting one?"

"Who doesn't want a divorce?"

Li Zhuangsheng wondered what Xie Jiangqing was saying. He couldn't understand a word she was saying.

"You're so stubborn. I've already said, is it possible that Hu Mengdie doesn't want a divorce?"

Li Zhuangsheng thought for a moment. Hu Mengdie's expression had been a bit sour these past two days... She probably didn't want a divorce, but it was unlikely that she didn't want a divorce.

Do you think I'm stupid? Can't I tell if she likes me or not?

"Alright, alright, we're already divorced." Li Zhuangsheng waved his hand helplessly. "Go find Hu Mengdie to play with... I'm writing a novel right now. My driving instructor will be here soon to take me to my driving lesson."

"You two really are..."

Xie Jiangqing frowned and pinched Li Zhuangsheng's ear. She turned to leave, but as she reached the door, she suddenly remembered something: "Hey, did you tell Hu Mengke about your divorce?"

Li Zhuangsheng lowered his eyes: "I already told her."

"What did she say? Did she tell you to get a divorce?"

"She didn't say anything, just that she understood."

Xie Jiangqing raised an eyebrow, closed the door, and left. She went into Hu Mengdie's room, where Hu was staring blankly at a TV series on her phone.

"Mengdie," she called softly.

……

For the next three days, Li Zhuangsheng and Hu Mengdie continued to keep to themselves and rarely met except for meals.

Li Zhuangsheng stayed at home writing novels, but he wasn't always cooped up. He would often go out, sometimes even pushing a stroller to take his baby out for a walk.

After writing for so many days, he had accumulated quite a few words for his novel. He announced in the group that he planned to resume updating in a few days. The readers were overjoyed and then urged him to quickly hand over his sister's WeChat.

Li Zhuangsheng quit QQ, but with so many readers waiting for his updates, he gained some motivation.

Then he got beaten up. He was walking his child in the neighborhood when a menacing old woman suddenly came over, punched him, and pounced on him, tearing at him.

They hit him while cursing him for stealing someone else's wife.

Li Zhuangsheng was completely baffled, but since the other party was an older woman, he couldn't fight back. Xuanxuan was right there, so he couldn't just run away either.

After being hit a few times, Li Zhuangsheng had no choice but to play a game of chasing each other like the King of Qin circling the pillar. He would run away and she would chase... but the old lady could never catch up with him.

It wasn't until Hu Mengke arrived and rescued Li Zhuangsheng that he started arguing with the old lady.

The old woman berated Hu Mengke for having an affair, even with her own brother-in-law, which humiliated Li Zhuangsheng so much that he lowered his head and remained silent. But Hu Mengke was even more aggressive, cursing her son for being impotent and unable to have sex, and forbidding her from finding other men for pleasure. This enraged the old woman, who turned red-faced and was about to fight Hu Mengke.

Fortunately, Li Zhuangsheng reacted quickly and stepped in front of Hu Mengke, pulling the old lady away. Hu Mengke then took the opportunity to kick the old lady several times.

The older woman was already no match for the younger Hu Mengke, and now that Li Zhuangsheng had taken sides, she was overcome with grief and sat on the ground crying uncontrollably. She publicly accused Hu Mengke of having an affair with her sister's husband, which attracted many residents from the same community to watch, and some even took out their phones to record videos.

Li Zhuangsheng was completely at a loss. He had roughly figured out the old woman's identity during their argument. His face turned bright red, and he didn't know what to do. He looked at Hu Mengke, whose cheeks were flushed with anger, and she immediately called the police.

While waiting for the police, Hu Mengke recounted her ordeal to those around her. She claimed that she had been subjected to constant domestic violence while in a relationship with her ex-husband, even after becoming pregnant. Her daughter was born prematurely and ended up in the hospital. Her ex-husband's family, unwilling to spend tens of thousands of yuan on her medical expenses, spread rumors that she had cheated on him and abandoned her. Now that they see she's doing well and her daughter is healthy, they want to trick her into returning to her life of hard labor.

She spoke with tears streaming down her face, saying that she was currently living at her sister and brother-in-law's house, and she never expected to be slandered by this vicious aunt... Now, not only the onlookers, but even Li Zhuangsheng felt great sympathy for her and began to condemn the old woman.

He only knew that Hu Mengke had encountered a scumbag, which was just a brief mention from Li Xiuyu, and he didn't know there were so many details.

But then Li Zhuangsheng suddenly thought that he and Hu Mengke did have that kind of relationship... but Hu Mengke was pretending to be innocent and pure at the moment, saying that the two of them were completely innocent. So how much truth and lies were in her words just now?
Forget it, regardless of whether it's true or not, Hu Mengke did indeed encounter a scumbag and this vicious mother-in-law... Since Hu Mengke covered up his lie, he remained silent on the side, only managing a couple of bitter laughs when faced with others' comforting words.

A dozen minutes later, the police arrived at the scene. The elderly woman excitedly stepped forward, grabbed the police officer's clothes, and accused Li Zhuangsheng and Hu Mengke, the "cheating couple," of "beating" her.

The police were somewhat helpless and impatient. After learning a little about the situation, they took all three people to the police station for mediation.

"Hey, isn't this Zhuang Sheng... What's going on here?"

As soon as he entered the police station, Chief Yan walked towards him. He looked at Li Zhuangsheng, then quickly stepped forward and asked the police officer beside him, "What's going on here?"

“Uncle Yan…” Li Zhuangsheng smiled awkwardly, and upon seeing a familiar face, he couldn’t help but scratch the ground with his toes.

"What happened to your face? Did someone hit you?" Director Yan coughed heavily as he looked at the scratches on Li Zhuangsheng's face.

"Well, I wouldn't say that..."

Li Zhuangsheng stammered, thinking to himself that the old lady's actions could hardly be considered hitting someone.

Meanwhile, the police officers from the local police station briefly explained the whole story.

Director Yan glanced at the elderly woman, then patted the police officer on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Then you can handle it. I know him; he's the son of Director Li from the XX Bureau. I don't think he's the kind of person who would cause trouble. You must make sure you get to the bottom of things. If there's any misunderstanding, you need to clear his name, otherwise it will have a very bad impact!"

"Okay!" the police officer nodded.

Director Yan then looked at Li Zhuangsheng and smiled gently: "I have a meeting to attend now. I'll come back to see what it is later!"

"Oh, okay... Hey Uncle Yan!" Li Zhuangsheng nodded first, then quickly called out to Director Yan.

"Anything else?"

Li Zhuangsheng blushed and lowered his head: "Um, um... could you... could you please not tell my dad yet..."

Director Yan smiled and nodded: "If it's nothing serious, then there's definitely no need to tell him."

Li Zhuangsheng felt a little relieved. At this moment, Hu Mengke shook his hand and gave Director Yan a sweet smile: "Goodbye, Uncle Yan."

Director Yan smiled and nodded slightly.

As soon as the group entered the office, the old lady's face turned ashen as Li Zhuangsheng greeted Director Yan. She remained silent once inside the office.

"Here, have a cup of hot water." The police officers brought hot tea to Li Zhuangsheng and Hu Mengke.

"Thank you..." Li Zhuangsheng chuckled dryly.

"Officer, please listen to me!"

Hu Mengke cleared her throat and gave an embellished account of what had happened that day, then recounted her past experiences at the scumbag's house.

This time, Li Zhuangsheng finally learned that the scumbag's name was Zhang Xu.

Listening to Hu Mengke's emotional sobs, Li Zhuangsheng wondered if this Zhang Xu was even worse than the previous version... However, he had amnesia and didn't know the specifics. Even if he knew Hu Mengke was exaggerating, he couldn't point it out.

During the conversation, Zhang Xu's mother tried to argue with Hu Mengke, but Hu Mengke quickly shut her down.

"So that's what happened..." The police officer understood, and he sternly criticized Zhang's mother, "This is where you went wrong. Your family was in the wrong to begin with, and now how dare you harass others and even hit an innocent outsider? Do you know that this can be considered disorderly conduct and can lead to imprisonment?"

Mrs. Zhang trembled, completely terrified, and kept apologizing, "I'm so sorry, officer, I... I didn't know. I'm so old, over fifty, I didn't understand the law before... I really didn't mean to..."

"You shouldn't apologize to me, you should apologize to the people you harassed... see if they forgive you!"

Zhang's mother quickly apologized to Hu Mengke.

Hu Mengke glanced sideways at Zhang's mother, then looked at Li Zhuangsheng beside her, clearly seeking his opinion.

"Uh... well, that's settled then." Li Zhuangsheng blinked, feeling a pang of pity for the other woman, and thinking that she was, after all, Xuanxuan's grandmother, he coughed, "Just don't bother Mengke anymore!"

Mother Zhang nodded and pounded garlic.

"Okay, have your son come over again!" The police officer thought for a moment, glanced at Li Zhuangsheng, and added.

“My son… well, that’s not necessary. I… I’ve already apologized…”

“Your son was also involved in this matter. If it weren’t for your son, would this have happened today? Of course he should come over and receive criticism and education!”

The police officer had a stern face.

Hu Mengke pursed her lips and looked at Li Zhuangsheng, who remained silent. He had just heard Hu Mengke's tearful account and thought that Zhang Xu, that scumbag, should be arrested; giving him a scolding from the police was too lenient!

A short while later, a man walked into the police station looking flustered. Li Zhuangsheng looked at the man; he was roguishly handsome and even resembled Hu Ge somewhat.

"You must be Zhang Xu?" The police officer gestured for him to sit down.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..."

Zhang Xu immediately apologized upon arrival, but was still severely criticized and educated by the police. Zhang Xu did not argue, but nodded obsequiously throughout, and finally apologized to Li Zhuangsheng and Hu Mengke with a sincere expression.

Li Zhuangsheng felt guilty and remained silent. Hu Mengke also remained silent, simply watching his performance coldly.

The last few people signed a settlement agreement and were escorted out by the police. Perhaps out of consideration for the baby Xuanxuan, the police offered to drive Li Zhuangsheng and Hu Mengke home, which Li Zhuangsheng gladly accepted, thanking them repeatedly.

While Li Zhuangsheng and the other police officers were driving, Zhang Xu looked at Xuanxuan in the stroller: "This is... mine..." (End of this chapter)