Ordinary World: Starting with a divorce from Tian Runye

After dawdling until the afternoon, Xiao Zhao finally took Li Xiangqian to the business office to do a simple registration. The person in charge of registration was an older woman surnamed Sun.

When Sister Sun learned that Li Xiangqian's file was still at the transportation department and that his previous job was driving a truck, she couldn't help but mutter, "A truck driver can come to the cultural center? The threshold for this county cultural center is getting lower and lower."

Hearing this, Xiao Zhao, fearing that Li Xiangqian would be displeased, quickly explained, "Comrade Xiangqian is someone that Director Du personally asked Director Li for; he is truly talented."

"Director Li?" Sister Sun asked, puzzled.

"Yes, Director Li Dengyun, Comrade Xiangqian is Director Li's son."

Upon hearing this, Sister Sun's eyes lit up, and her face immediately broke into a wide smile.

"That must be real talent and skill. In the past, we called on educated youth to learn from farmers. Comrade Xiang Qian was a truck driver and a technical talent. We should learn from Comrade Xiang Qian even more."

After completing the work registration, Sister Sun kindly instructed Li Xiangqian to expedite the work transfer process.

Li Xiangqian gave a weak laugh and nodded.

The food served at the cultural center's cafeteria at noon was practically a carb bomb. Li Xiangqian ate two plain steamed buns, and even now he still feels a tightness in his throat.

After leaving the business office, Xiao Zhao took Li Xiangqian to the reading room, as if showing him around the work.

The reading room of the cultural center is a cave dwelling facing south, where the light is best. There are two pots of euphorbia on the windowsill, which are lush and green.

"Spider plants need a lot of water, so they're not easy to care for," Li Xiangqian said, pointing to the spider plant on the windowsill.

"It wasn't there before; Lili raised it."

"Wow, he really has a lot of energy."

Li Xiangqian secretly complained.

"Teacher Zhao, you go ahead and get busy. I can familiarize myself with it by myself."

"Okay, feel free to take a look. If you don't understand anything, just ask me."

After saying that, Xiao Zhao returned to his studio with a smile.

The reading room had three rows of wooden bookshelves against the wall, sparsely filled with magazines and old books. The selection wasn't large, but it was already the largest library in Yuanxi County.

Li Xiangqian sent Xiao Zhao away, intending to find a quiet place to take a nap.

Just as he turned into the corner of the third row of bookshelves and was about to lean against the wall and close his eyes, Li Xiangqian suddenly heard the sound of turning pages coming from the other side of the bookshelf.

Someone was squatting on the ground.

Li Xiangqian peeked out.

A girl of about sixteen or seventeen, with two braids and wearing a blue cotton shirt, was squatting on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf, flipping through magazines.

The girl seemed to sense the gaze and looked up.

"Brother-in-law?"

The girl stood up, still clutching an old magazine in her hand.

What are you doing here?

"Tian...Tian Xiaoxia?"

Li Xiangqian was quite surprised to see a living person standing in front of him. Although he was somewhat prepared, he was still quite taken aback.

"I work here," Li Xiangqian said, composing himself.

"work?"

Tian Xiaoxia's eyebrows almost flew up to her forehead.

She knew Li Xiangqian. Last year during the Spring Festival, Li Xiangqian came back with Sister Runye for a visit, and she had seen him once at home. However, she didn't have a good impression of him. In her memory, this brother-in-law was a quiet and reserved driver who didn't talk much and just stared at Sister Runye the whole time.

"You're not driving? Coming to the cultural center?"

"Just transferred here."

Tian Xiaoxia looked him up and down, her mind filled with the same questions as Sister Sun's, but she swallowed her words.

"You've come to borrow a book?" Li Xiangqian asked.

"Yeah, it's summer vacation, and there are no books to read at school."

Tian Xiaoxia squatted down against the wall opposite Li Xiangqian and placed the magazine on her lap.

"Brother-in-law, how is Sister Runye doing lately?"

"I'm fine."

I heard...

Tian Xiaoxia hesitated for a moment.

"What did you hear?"

"I think I heard someone say that Sister Runye is pregnant?"

Li Xiangqian's face instantly fell.

"Where did you hear that from?"

"It's coming from Shuangshui Village. My uncle's family is talking about it."

Li Xiangqian covered his face with his hands and groaned softly.

That son of a bitch, Wang Manyin.

"No. I'm not pregnant. It's just that I made a pot of chicken soup and bought some red dates and goji berries, and some people thought you, Sister Runye, were pregnant."

Tian Xiaoxia paused for two seconds, then burst out laughing.

"Just because of the chicken soup?"

"Your sister said that in Yuanxi County, there are only two possibilities for a man to stew chicken soup: either it's Chinese New Year, or his wife is in postpartum confinement or pregnant. Since it's June and Chinese New Year isn't celebrated there, so..."

"So I got pregnant."

Tian Xiaoxia laughed so hard she almost fell over, her braids swinging all the way up to her shoulders.

"You're a grown man, why are you thinking of making chicken soup?"

"I just had a craving. I had some chicken soup from a restaurant when I was driving a car before, and I thought it was delicious, so I tried to make it myself. Who knew it would cause such a big commotion?"

"That's quite special."

Tian Xiaoxia wiped away the tears that came out of her laughter.

"The men in our Shuangshui Village, let alone stewing chicken soup, hardly ever even touch the stove."

"What will we eat if we don't touch the stove? Will it fall from the sky?"

"Let the wife do it."

"That won't do. Men hold up half the sky."

Tian Xiaoxia laughed again, "Men can hold up half the sky, yes, that's right."

"Brother-in-law, you're right. Sometimes I feel that the men here push everything onto their wives and then feel perfectly at ease with themselves."

"Then you'll have to find someone who can cook in the future."

"I want to be a journalist when I grow up."

Tian Xiaoxia suddenly sat up straight, her eyes shining with an alarming intensity.

"I feel there are so many things in this world that need to be seen, written about, and spoken about."

Li Xiangqian looked at her and nodded, feeling a pang of emotion. Years ago, when he read the passage about Tian Xiaoxia's death, he had been moved to tears. Now, Tian Xiaoxia was standing right in front of him, and she was his wife's cousin.

"Good ambition. But while being a journalist, you also need to take good care of yourself. You must learn to love yourself before you can love others. Safety first."

Tian Xiaoxia didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"Journalists are meant to go to the front lines and provide the latest information to everyone. There always needs to be people in this society who are at the forefront and dedicate themselves."

As Pavel Korchagin said, "A person's life should be lived in such a way that when he looks back on the past, he will not regret wasting his years, nor be ashamed of having accomplished nothing, and when he is about to die, he can say..."

"Hehehe, I've heard that before, and I even took the test," Li Xiangqian quickly interrupted.

"It's good to give back, but giving back doesn't mean you have to give up on yourself. If everyone takes care of themselves first, society will naturally be better."

Li Xiangqian continued.

Tian Xiaoxia tilted her head and thought for a while, but did not refute.

She didn't completely agree with the statement, but she couldn't say it was entirely wrong either. She was still young, the world was just beginning to unfold before her, and she could accommodate different voices.

"By the way, do you participate in any clubs at school?"

Li Xiangqian changed the subject.

"No! I feel that the school's clubs have a bureaucratic atmosphere and are lifeless. I want to join the Huangyuan Poetry Society."

Tian Xiaoxia's eyes lit up again.

"Do you know Qi Wenyuan? He's from the Huangyuan Poetry Society, and he's really talented. He's published several poems in Huangyuan Literature and Art, and one of them was in Yanhe. A lot of students at our school are passing his poems around."

She opened the magazine in her hand, searched for a while, and pointed to one of the pages.

"Listen to this: 'The earth is a silent plowshare, turning over the breast of night to sow the blood and bones of dawn.'"

After reading it aloud, Tian Xiaoxia's face was full of anticipation.

After listening, Li Xiangqian sighed inwardly.

Literary workers in this era are truly fortunate; they can garner a huge following simply by writing a few lines filled with imagery. In later times, this level of writing wouldn't even make a ripple in the comments section online.

"Hmm, that's quite a lively piece of writing."

Li Xiangqian gave a lukewarm evaluation.

Tian Xiaoxia was a little disappointed: "That's it?"

"I don't know much about poetry. If you want to join the poetry club, you can find Lili. She's in the next office. I heard from other colleagues that she's a member of the poetry club."

"Really? Then I'll go see her another day."

Tian Xiaoxia closed the magazine, stood up, and patted the dust off her skirt.

"Brother-in-law, there are far too few books in your reading room."

"You should mention it to Director Du. It's my first day on the job, so I can't handle this."

Li Xiangqian got up, rummaged through the bookshelf, and pulled out a book with a yellowed cover and a dusty surface.

"You can take a look at this one."

Tian Xiaoxia took it and looked at it.

"float".

Margaret Mitchell.

"I've heard my classmates mention this book. It was even relegated to the dustbin of history a few years ago. How come the cultural center has it?"

"Yeah, it's a garbage dump, otherwise why would there be so much dust?"

Li Xiangqian leaned against the bookshelf and tapped the book cover with his finger.

Tian Xiaoxia flipped through it, somewhat curious.

"I heard from my classmate that this book is about a selfish woman?"

"It was precisely because of her selfishness that she survived when everyone else collapsed and even managed to support her family."

"Have you seen it?" Tian Xiaoxia asked.

"I've seen a little bit."

"Okay, I'll take a good look at it. I'll borrow it now."

Tian Xiaoxia held the book in her arms.

Li Xiangqian took Tian Xiaoxia to the counter to register, and then saw her out of the reading room.

"By the way, Xiaoxia."

Li Xiangqian called out to Tian Xiaoxia.

"Um?"

"Don't just study all the time, it's so dull. Students should have more hobbies, like learning to swim in your spare time."

Tian Xiaoxia, "..."