Chapter 8 Eight, divorced cousin

19 men live around me, 18 of them are fools, The one that was left wasn't much better. — Bessie Smith Both my parents called, and they finally surrendered to me. Chinese parents are easy to submit to a relationship between their children. Their tone on the phone tried to be gentle and principled, they asked me how I was, if I was in any trouble, and my mother even offered to come and help when I heard that no one was doing housework.I advised them, "Pay more attention to yourselves and go out to play more. When Dad's school is on holiday, you can go to other places to see the scenery and relax." The most wonderful time in life may be after middle age, when you can see your feet clearly way out.It can also understand a lot of truths. I hope they can become heartless and stop worrying about me like that.In this way, you can have a lot of your own happiness.

On the phone, my mother also told me that my cousin Zhu Sha just got divorced and moved out of her original residence. She couldn’t find a suitable place to live at the moment, so she lived in my house, and my bed was also vacant.In addition, she is not very happy in the company, so she is not in a good mood recently. If I am free, I will accompany her and chat with her. I was slightly surprised.Zhu Sha divorced? Zhu Sha is a dignified lady, 4 years older than me. After graduating from the School of Foreign Languages, majoring in German, she married a male classmate in the same class and worked in a German firm. She has always disliked being called a "white-collar beauty". This word calls her, and her non-kitsch in some places is quite to my appetite. Although we have different temperaments and different ambitions, this does not prevent us from liking each other.

I remember that my parents always encouraged me to learn from Zhusha when I was young. She had already made a name for herself at a young age, with three stripes on her arms, and she was the first in the school in exams. She was good at singing, dancing, and reading aloud. The photo of the innocent smile is also pasted on the glass window of the Shanghai photo studio on Nanjing Road every day, attracting many acquaintances, friends and classmates to see it.At that time, I was very jealous of my cousin. Once I secretly dripped blue ink from a pen on her white georgette skirt during the Children's Day, and she performed "Five Little Flowers" on the stage of the school auditorium. "When she made a fool of herself, she cried angrily when she stepped off the stage.No one knew that it was me who did it. At first I wanted to laugh when I saw her sad, but then I also felt a little sad.In fact, she is usually very kind to me, teaching me to do arithmetic, giving me lollipops, and always holding my hand when crossing the road.

Gradually, we all grew up and saw each other less and less.I still remember when she got married, I was still studying in Fudan University.It was a sunny day, but when the couple was taking a video on the grass in the Lilac Garden, it rained suddenly, and the appearance of Zhu Sha in her wet wedding dress was deeply in my memory. Her smiling face, her wet black curly hair, and her white gauze skirt with a trace of decadence stuck to it by the rain, all seemed to have a strange, fragile, indescribable beauty. Her husband Li Mingwei is her classmate and the president of the student union in the department.Tall and fair, with silver-rimmed spectacles, he worked for a while as a translator at the German consulate, and by the time they married he was working as an editor for a financial bulletin at a German chamber of commerce.He is not good at words, but he is polite, and there is always a quiet and cold smile line on the corner of his mouth.I used to think that although a man with that expression was not suitable for a lover, he was very suitable for a husband.

Unexpectedly, she divorced so suddenly, which added a decimal point to the high divorce rate in this city. I made a phone call with my cousin Zhu Sha, and her voice was obviously gloomy, and the effect of the phone was not very good, it sounded like cold rain rustling under the ground.I asked her where she was now, and she said she was in a taxi and would be in Windsor soon.It is a women's fitness center that is very popular with white-collar women. "Are you coming?" she asked me. "We can do gymnastics together." I thought about it, "No, I don't do gymnastics, but I can talk to you."

Across a hallway, in a room, a group of elderly women in tights dance amateur ballet as "cygnets" under the direction of a Russian instructor.In another room, among the piles of equipment, I saw my cousin running sweatily. She had always been in good shape, but now she was a little on the thinner side.Hi, she waved her hand. "Do you come here every day?" I asked. "Yes, especially lately," she said as she ran. "Beware of excessive bodybuilding and hard body, this is worse than divorce." I joked. She didn't speak, she ran very fast, her face was covered with sweat.

"Stop and rest, don't dangle around, I feel dizzy just looking at it," I said. She handed me a bottle of water and opened one herself.We sat on one side of the steps, and she gave me a good look, "You are getting more and more beautiful, and girls who were not good-looking when they were young will look good when they grow up." She tried to make a wisecrack. "Girls who are in love are pretty." I said, "What's the matter with you and Li Mingwei? I heard that he abused you afterwards." She was silent, as if she no longer wanted to mention the past.Then she slowly and simply explained what had happened.

Life after marriage for a long time seems to be harmonious and perfect.The couple participated in other similar social circles of white-collar couples, often holding salons or parties, traveling, vacationing, chatting, having dinner, watching theaters, and exchanging information.She and her husband both enjoy tennis, fitness activities such as swimming, and also enjoy the same operas and the same books.This kind of life is calm without wind and waves, free but not boring, rich but not so much that it scares people to death. Although Yuppie's life is not exciting enough, it is a reflection of a stable and elegant life.

Under the smooth and pleasant appearance of life, there are still hidden diseases.She and her husband have had little sex since she screamed in pain during their first experience on their wedding night.She and her husband were both pure virgins before marriage. They were the first and last love object in each other's life respectively, so their marriage was inevitably a little dull. They don't pay much attention to sex, and gradually sleep in separate rooms.Every morning, my husband knocked on her door with a ready breakfast. He kissed her and called her his "princess". Every time she coughed, he prepared syrup for her. Even he would sweat nervously, he accompanied her to see an old Chinese doctor, and walked around department stores with her, she wore a black Chanel dress, he wore a Gucci suit, and he listened to her when she spoke.All in all, a typical modern white-collar couple, sex aside.

At that time, there was a movie "Titanic" that was all the rage, and they watched it hand in hand.I don't know what touched Zhu Sha, maybe it was the heroine's final choice that moved her. She would rather not have a stable, considerate and boring fiancé, and choose a passionate man for an unforgettable love.She cried and used up a pack of tissues, and suddenly realized that she had never been in love.And it is sad that a woman who is almost 30 years old has not loved. And that night her husband wanted to stay in her room, and he asked her if she wanted a baby.She shook her head, her heart was in a mess, and many thoughts needed to be sorted out slowly.Marriage without love and one child sucks.The husband was very angry, and she was also very angry, saying that she didn't want the child, but she just didn't want it.

A nameless rift appeared.Her husband began to suspect that she was having an affair.One night, I asked her why the stockings on her legs were adjusted from side to side.He had noticed in the morning that the sock with a little red nail polish was on the left side, and now it was on her right leg.Another time, a friend called late at night. When she answered the phone, she heard the microphone in the other room pick up, with a "crack". The warm and hearty breakfast delivered to the door has long since disappeared, and what seems like a rogue is that when she forgot to bring the key, he would not open the door after she knocked for an hour. "It's really scary to think about it, as if the world has completely changed. It turns out that a man you thought you knew well treats you in this way. After all, you have lived for 5 years. From the sky to the ground, you suddenly become a stranger. Strangers are scary, he understands you, he will torture you in the most unbearable way... This is a man." Zhu Sha said lightly, her eyes were red, and the memories made her feel lingering. "Terrible." I nodded. It is indeed terrifying that a gentle, gentle and considerate man suddenly turns into an evil master of tormenting women. "Why do men always think that if a woman wants to leave him, it must be because of having an affair? Can't women make choices just because of their true feelings? Think women can't leave them for a moment?" Zhu Sha asked me seriously. "Because they're just a bunch of self-absorbed low-IQ guys!" I said with certainty, as if I were the president of the city's women's rights association.