Chapter 493: Chapter 493: No Girl Would Marry Him
"Hey, are you all waiting for me? Gu Jinghua, you’re not going again? Your parents are way too strict with you!"
The young man who caught up from behind spoke sympathetically, clicking his tongue nonstop.
"Little Zhangzi, you weren’t here just now. Mr. Gu just said he’s going to the movies."
"Really? The sun still rose in the east today, it didn’t come out from the west."
"Hah, listen to you. We make over fifty yuan a month. The most expensive movie ticket is only sixteen cents."
"Hehe, it’s just that for the past few months, every time we’ve invited Eldest Brother Gu to the movies, he’s refused."
"Eldest Brother Gu, are you going to eat with us at the state-run restaurant, or are you going to eat at the canteen?"
"I’ll eat at the canteen and then head over. What time are you buying tickets for? I’ll wait for you at the theater entrance."
Eldest Brother Gu clutched the fifty cents in his hand. At that moment, he felt an overwhelming sense of shame, more humiliating than when he was raising pigs in the countryside.
"We’ll go for a few drinks together, so probably the nine-thirty show. We can come back and sleep right after the movie, since we have tomorrow off anyway."
"It’s only six-thirty now. Why don’t you go ahead and watch the eight o’clock show? It’ll be pretty cold waiting for us outside," one of his colleagues kindly suggested.
"In that case, forget it. I don’t think I’ll go after all," Eldest Brother Gu said awkwardly.
"Don’t do that! The movie tonight is ’Heroes Come from Youth.’ I hear it’s super good."
"Mr. Gu, why don’t you come eat with us? It’s my treat tonight."
"Thanks, but I’ll eat at the canteen. I’ll go see the eight o’clock show later." After saying that, Eldest Brother Gu headed toward the canteen.
"He’s a grown man and still controlled by his parents. Any woman who marries him will have to suffer right along with him. What a miserable fate!"
"Hah! Stop worrying for nothing. A guy like him, you think any girl would marry him?"
"Hehe, that’s true. If my little sister took a liking to a guy like that, I’d break her legs."
"Who says no girl would marry him? I’ve seen it myself. Every month on payday, there’s a pretty girl waiting for him at the gate."
"No way. There’s actually a girl that desperate?"
"How is it being desperate? Eldest Brother Gu is handsome! He’s a treat for the eyes, you know."
"Tsk tsk, everyone’s envious of the Imperial City, but how could they know how pitiful Beijing people are!"
Even after walking a good distance, Eldest Brother Gu could still hear his colleagues’ unrestrained gossip. He clenched his fists but was powerless to refute them.
He had heard things much nastier than this when they were raising pigs, but right now, he couldn’t stand it.
Ever since they were reunited with their biological sister, Jiaojiao, everything had been looking up.
His family had returned to the Imperial City and even bought back the old family home that his second uncle had occupied for over a decade.
Wherever he went with his grandfather and parents, he was an honored guest. It had been a long time since he’d been looked down on and ridiculed like this.
This was the first time Eldest Brother Gu had suffered such a Waterloo since leaving the pig farm. Life truly is unpredictable!
He missed his family so much, and especially his own dear sister, Jiaojiao. She only ever gave to him, never asking for a single cent in return.
When he went to get his food at the canteen, the auntie serving the meal gave him a few extra spoonfuls of meat.
She said with a pitying look, "You’re not from around here, are you, young man? It’s payday, so everyone’s gone out to eat. Auntie will give you some extra meat."
"Thank you, Auntie, but I don’t actually like meat that much." Eldest Brother Gu was telling the honest truth.
He was too embarrassed to say that the canteen’s meat was terrible. He thought it tasted strange and not good at all.
Especially today. Maybe it was because there was so much meat, but it felt like chewing on a piece of wood—it was completely tasteless.
The meat his sister made was tender, savory, fragrant, and not greasy at all. It was absolutely delicious!
The auntie thought he was just being shy and laughed cheerfully. "Such a handsome young man. From now on, Auntie will always give you a few extra slices of meat."
Being stared at by the auntie, Eldest Brother Gu felt a bit awkward. He scratched his head and explained, "Auntie, you’ve misunderstood. I actually really like vegetables."
The auntie froze for a second, then asked in confusion, "You like vegetables? Where are you from?"
"I’m from Qing City." Eldest Brother Gu was too ashamed to say he was from Beijing; he was afraid of bringing disgrace to the people of Beijing!
He quickly finished his meal and hurried to the movie theater. It wasn’t that he particularly wanted to see a movie.
It was because he knew his colleagues would definitely talk about the movie tomorrow, and he would have no idea what it was about.
The movie theater was in the northwest corner of the square. There was only one main entrance, which faced the street.
To buy tickets and enter, people had to pass by many small stalls selling snacks like sunflower seeds, popcorn, and so on.
And so, just before entering the theater, Eldest Brother Gu thought he saw a familiar figure.
He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. He rubbed them and looked again—it really was his adopted sister.
Sheng Yueyue, all smiles, was pulling Second Brother Sheng along to buy sunflower seeds. Eldest Brother Gu stood in the crowd, quietly watching the pair.
She was treating Second Brother Sheng to a movie. She had taken money from him today but hadn’t even invited him. ’A blood brother is a blood brother, after all.’
And don’t ask how Eldest Brother Gu knew Sheng Yueyue was treating. He saw her hand money to the vendor for two paper bags of sunflower seeds.
What Eldest Brother Gu didn’t know was that Second Brother Sheng, just like him, gave every last cent of his monthly salary to Sheng Yueyue.
The siblings’ living expenses didn’t come out of their own pockets. Mr. Sheng sent money to Old Sir Sheng on time every month.
The old sir would then give it to the nanny. Even their clothes for the changing seasons were prepared for them.
Sheng Yueyue had only heard from Eldest Brother Gu today that he was going to treat his colleagues to a movie, and she was inwardly unhappy about it.
’Eldest Brother Gu is wasting money treating his colleagues to a movie but didn’t even think to invite me. But, for the sake of the monthly salary I get from him, I won’t hold it against him.’
Her husband, Song Zijin, had recently been getting hot and heavy with a young widow from their residential compound and was in no mood to go on dates with her.
Sheng Yueyue had been living quite comfortably lately, dressing in bright, stylish clothes, so she didn’t mind whether Song Zijin asked her out or not.
’My ideal husband won’t be back at the compound for another two years, and I can afford to wait. But I also know that if you want a horse to run, you have to feed it well.’
’My biggest supporters right now are that simpleton and Eldest Brother Gu. They’re the ones who let me live so freely.’
So, she decided to treat the simpleton to a movie to make him happy so he’d keep working hard.
And that’s how Eldest Brother Gu ended up seeing the two siblings at the movies together, buying two bags of sunflower seeds.
The truth was, Sheng Yueyue was never frugal with herself. A movie was about an hour long.
She could finish two bags of sunflower seeds by herself. The reason she bought two was, naturally, to curry favor with Second Brother Sheng.
’Anyway, I know the simpleton won’t eat them, so they’ll all be for me in the end,’ Sheng Yueyue thought.
But Eldest Brother Gu didn’t know any of this. Spitefully, he clutched his fifty cents and went to buy a paper bag of sunflower seeds himself.
When it was time to pay, it was twenty cents—actually more expensive than a movie ticket! But as a grown man, he was too embarrassed to back out, so he grit his teeth and bought it.
