Ordinary World: Starting with a divorce from Tian Runye

at night.

In the corridor of the Ministry of Transport's residential compound, Old Hou climbed the stairs.

He hadn't planned to come today, but he received a notice from the cultural center this afternoon that Li Xiangqian's file would be officially transferred there, which made him restless.

At first, Lao Hou thought it was a wrong number. The cultural center and the transportation department had absolutely nothing to do with each other, so when did they have any business dealings? He confirmed it three times before he believed it.

Li Xiangqian is going to the cultural center? Isn't that like forcing a rooster to lay an egg? It's completely irrelevant.

Old Hou felt a pang of regret. This apprentice was someone he had personally trained; he was quick to learn and had a deep affection for the truck. Before each trip, while everyone else ate, Li Xiangqian would walk around the truck three times, polishing every screw until it gleamed. His colleagues in the transportation department all said that Li Xiangqian loved his truck like his own life and was a natural-born driver.

As a result, the best materials were taken by the cultural center.

Old Hou felt increasingly uneasy, so he strolled over after dinner.

Just as I reached the entrance to the third-floor hallway, I heard a sound coming from inside the room.

"Ouch, be gentle!"

"Be careful, you're hurting me."

"Like this, slowly, don't use too much force!"

"Ouch...it hurts!"

Old Hou stopped in his tracks, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

The door was ajar.

He hesitated for a moment before pushing open the door and entering the living room.

In the living room, Runye was squatting next to a chair, holding a cotton ball soaked in alcohol, wiping Li Xiangqian's arm.

Li Xiangqian sat in a chair, his sleeve rolled up to his shoulder. A patch of skin was scraped off his left arm, leaving a red, bleeding wound. Li Xiangqian's face was contorted as he blew air into the wound.

"Old Hou?"

Li Xiangqian first saw Old Hou at the door.

Runye turned around and saw Old Hou standing at the door with a complicated expression, his face slightly red, and a hint of anger on his face.

"You dare to yell!"

Runye lowered her voice and said angrily, then took a cotton ball and poked the wound hard.

Li Xiangqian jumped up from his chair, letting out a bloodcurdling scream.

Old Hou stood in the middle of the living room, looked at Li Xiangqian, then at Runye, and opened his mouth as if to speak.

"How...how did you get injured?"

"Work-related injury."

Li Xiangqian grimaced and sat down again.

"Is working at a cultural center really this dangerous?"

"Second only to driving a large truck." Li Xiangqian looked at the wound on his arm and felt a pang of heartache.

Runye didn't say anything, but gathered up the alcohol and cotton balls and went straight into the inner room.

Old Hou watched Runye's retreating figure, smacked his lips, and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Xiangqian, you're really something, quitting your job at the transportation department just like that. The brothers really miss you."

Old Hou sat down at the table, and Li Xiangqian poured him a glass of water.

"I received a call from the cultural center this afternoon asking to retrieve your file. I checked it three times over, thinking they had dialed the wrong number!"

"Hey, Lao Hou, driving really isn't for me."

Li Xiangqian raised his arm to show his wound.

"The cultural center doesn't seem to suit me very well."

"Nonsense!"

Old Hou said somewhat anxiously.

"No one is more suited to driving than you. Before each trip, you don't even eat; you walk around the car three times. You polish every single screw on the car until it shines. The people in the transportation department all say you love your car like your own life."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangqian waved his hands repeatedly.

"Forget it, forget it, life is more precious than a chariot."

"Are you really not coming back?"

Li Xiangqian shook his head.

"I'm not going back. I'll recommend a young man to you later, he's a good guy. My brother-in-law's name is Tian Runsheng, he's a reliable worker, you can mentor him."

Old Hou didn't respond to that. He always felt that Li Xiangqian had some kind of trouble, so he secretly gestured towards the inner room and asked in a low voice.

"Is it because of her?"

Li Xiangqian glanced at the curtain at the inner room and nodded.

"Going to the cultural center was most likely her doing."

Old Hou listened with a sigh, patted Li Xiangqian on the shoulder, and shook his head.

"Women, once they've been on the bed, are like sweet potato vines in the field; they become clingy and once they're entangled, you can't peel them off."

The inner room.

Runye sat at her desk with her ears perked up, then suddenly stiffened.

Can't Li Xiangqian offer an explanation?

Runye took the pen and stabbed it hard into the workbook.

"You're really not going to drive? Just for a woman?" Old Hou was still unwilling to give up.

Li Xiangqian blew air into the wound without looking up.

"For my legs."

Old Hou was puzzled, but he felt that Li Xiangqian had lost interest, so he shook his head helplessly.

Old Hou shook his head, stood up, glanced at the room, and walked towards the door.

"Sigh, I knew I shouldn't have taught you how to discipline your wife."

Old Hou muttered something as he left the house. Just as he reached the entrance of the building, he heard Li Xiangqian calling from inside the house.

"I'll buy a chicken tomorrow!"

Old Hou scoffed, "Still saying it's not for a woman?"

The footsteps in the hallway gradually faded away.

Li Xiangqian looked at the wound on his arm; the stinging sensation from the alcohol hadn't completely subsided.

"I'm not buying it. If you want to buy it, go buy it yourself."

Runye's voice came from the inner room, muffled.

"What are you saying? I'm a disabled person. A whole chicken will do; the meat processing plant should have those."

"If we don't celebrate holidays or festivals, people will talk about us."

"It's not for me. I'll make a pot of chicken soup tomorrow and send it to your second uncle."

After a moment of silence in the inner room, Runye's voice rang out again.

"My second uncle?"

"Secretary Miao came to inspect today, but your second uncle didn't attend. I heard he wasn't feeling well."

There was a few more seconds of silence.

"Does it have to be chicken?"

"Sick people need chicken soup the most. If you don't buy it, then never mind."

There was no sound from the inner room.

Li Xiangqian didn't urge him any further. He leaned back in his chair and carefully blew on the wound on his left arm with his right hand.

……

The next day. A day off.

Li Xiangqian had just finished washing up when he heard the door open.

Runye entered the door carrying a brown paper package, her face flushed and sullen.

She placed the paper package on the table, and the kraft paper unfolded, revealing a cleaned white-feathered chicken.

Li Xiangqian picked it up and examined it. The chicken wasn't big, but it was cleaned thoroughly, its internal organs removed neatly, and its skin still had a layer of pale yellow fat on it. Although it couldn't compare to a free-range chicken that was slaughtered on the spot, it was far superior to the frozen chickens of later generations that had been stored for who knows how many years.

"What's wrong? Are you worried about me?"

Li Xiangqian looked at Runye's puffed-up face and asked.

Runye didn't say anything and plopped down on the rattan chair.

She didn't want to talk.

As Runye left the residential compound, Aunt Liu was downstairs emptying the kitchen waste. Seeing her carrying a basket, she asked with a smile, "Runye, going to buy groceries again?" At the meat processing plant counter, while queuing, an older woman in front of her recognized her and nudged the person next to her: "Hey, isn't that Li Dengyun's daughter-in-law? I heard she's pregnant, buying chicken to nourish herself."

When Runye was walking back after buying the chicken, she ran into Aunt Zhao and Sister Zhang at the entrance of the residential compound. The two of them looked at the brown paper package in her hand and nodded and smiled at each other.

Runye held her forehead, not wanting to make a sound.

"You're so stingy buying a chicken. Your second uncle isn't an outsider."

Li Xiangqian casually remarked something and then got to work.

Chop the chicken into pieces, blanch it in cold water, and rinse off the scum. Find the earthenware pot, put in the chicken pieces, ginger slices, red dates, and goji berries, fill it with water, bring it to a boil over high heat, skim off the foam, and then turn to low heat.

Runye helped from the side.

She didn't really help; it was mostly Li Xiangqian giving orders and her running errands.

"Bring the ginger over here."

"Where's the knife?"

"The red dates are on the second shelf of the cupboard."

"That enamel bowl won't do, it's too small. Get a bigger one."

Runye felt a surge of resentment in her heart.

Even Hu Defu in the county doesn't pay this much attention to the details when preparing pork knuckles for the leaders.

However, when the aroma of chicken soup began to waft out from the cracks in the lid of the earthenware pot, Runye stopped complaining.

She leaned closer to the jar and sniffed.

fresh.

It still tasted the same. She still remembered the aroma of the chicken soup from last time—rich yet clear, completely different from the cloudy white broth that people in northern Shaanxi make.

Two hours later, the chicken soup in the earthenware pot had turned golden yellow, the red dates were plump, and the goji berries were bright red.

Li Xiangqian lifted the lid of the jar and poured himself a bowl first.

He squatted by the stove with a bowl in his hand, slurping the wine down with an expression of great enjoyment.

Runye stood to the side, looking down at him.

"Wasn't this meant for your second uncle? I think you're just being greedy."

"I am also disabled, and I need to replenish my energy too."

Li Xiangqian shook the bandage wrapped around his left arm, looking completely self-righteous.

"Drink one last bowl."

As he spoke, he reached out and picked up the spoon again.

Before the spoon could even be put into the jar, Runye had already snatched it away.

"mean."

Li Xiangqian watched as Runye carefully poured the chicken soup into a covered enamel pot, wrapped the pot in a blue checkered cloth, and placed it in a bamboo basket.

Are you going or not?

Runye picked up the basket and asked a question at the door.

"What am I supposed to do there? Go see another patient?"

"Too."

Runye thought about it and felt that taking Li Xiangqian to her second uncle's house was indeed inappropriate. Her second aunt, Xu Aiyun, was also a gossip; who knew what rumors would spread?

"You should stay home and rest."

"Hmm. My arm hurts, I'll lie down for a while."

Runye carried the basket and went out the door.