The courtyard: the atmosphere of human life

Zhong Yunxing had been pedaling his bike sullenly behind Zhong's father's car. He had not expected that Darong would have such a big reaction to the marriage.

"Mom and Dad, you guys go back first, I have something else to do."

Halfway through the ride, Zhong Yunxing suddenly shouted to Mr. and Mrs. Zhong and turned the bike around.

"Where are you going?" Mr. Zhong turned his head and shouted, and the car shook.

"Hey, just ride well. What else can he do? He must have gone back to find Darong." Mother Zhong hit Father Zhong on the back in annoyance.

The conversation between Darong and Darong's mother was not harmonious. After they said a few words, they each went about their own business and no one spoke anymore.

"Aunt." Zhong Yunxing greeted Darong's mother as soon as he entered the room.

"Hey? Why is Xiao Zhong back again?" Darong's mother asked Zhong Yunxing who had returned.

"Aunt, I want to go out for a walk with Darong." After Zhong Yunxing said this, he looked at Darong.

Darong kept her head down and didn't say anything. She was still angry with Zhong Yunxing and didn't want to go out with him at the moment.

"Oh, sure. I'll go out and buy some groceries. You guys finish packing and close the door before you leave."

Darong's mother saw that Darong was still in a bad mood, so in order to give the two a chance to talk, she had to take the basket and go out first.

"Da Rong... I'm sorry..." Zhong Yunxing held it in for a long time before finally saying these three words.

In fact, from the time Darong's father was discharged from the hospital until now, Zhong Yunxing had several opportunities to discuss things with Darong in advance, but no one knew what he was thinking in his heart, and he was always conflicted with himself.

He really liked Darong, but he was not very confident that Darong felt the same way as he did. In addition, what happened when Pei Bin came to their house last time made Zhong Yunxing even more uneasy.

Darong still had no intention of speaking, although she knew that for someone with Zhong Yunxing's personality, it actually took a lot of courage to say "I'm sorry".

"I was wrong about this. I shouldn't have come to your house without discussing it with you, but... you and Pei Bin... Da Rong, I really like you and want to marry you and live with you."

Zhong Yunxing hesitated, wanting to ask but not daring to, and swallowed his mouth halfway.

"Pei Bin and I were dating before, but my mom broke us up. But since we broke up, his visit that day was the only time we met again."

Darong is also a very frank person. She doesn't think that being coy and reluctant is a clever tactic. Although her emotions still fluctuate when she sees Pei Bin, people are not plants. After all, they were once in love. How could they not have feelings?

"Then... do you still have him in your heart?"

Zhong Yunxing regretted what he said as soon as he said it. He was afraid that Darong would give an answer that would completely break up the relationship between them.

Darong was silent for a long time. The two of them just sat facing each other. The air was so quiet that they could clearly hear the rhythm of each other's heartbeats.

"If I'm still thinking about him, how can I accept you?"

Darong's words made Zhong Yunxing breathe a sigh of relief, but at the same time he was also annoyed at his own narrow-mindedness. With Darong's proud and arrogant personality, how could she put herself in such an embarrassing emotional entanglement!

"Da Rong, I'm sorry. I know I was petty. Can you please stop being angry?"

Although Zhong Yunxing was begging for forgiveness humbly at this moment, his two deep dimples could not hide his inner joy, his her was still there.

People in that era were simple and pure. Once they spoke their minds, their hearts would be untied.

Although Zhong Yunxing is not the type of person who would apologize or admit his mistakes with flowery words, Darong is not one who would be pretentious or hypocritical.

On the contrary, because of this incident, Darong understood more clearly how much Zhong Yunxing cared about her.

"Oh, my dear in-laws, you are too polite. Look at how you brought so many things. How can you be so embarrassed?"

On Thursday morning, Darong's parents and Darong came to Zhong Yunxing's home together. It was the first time that the two families sat together and formally looked at each other's families.

In the southern suburbs, before getting married, the elders of both parties will usually meet to discuss the wedding date and related wedding etiquette. The elders call this kind of meeting "meeting the families", and it is also through this way that they get to know the atmosphere of both families for the first time.

"Sister-in-law, we can discuss the betrothal gifts and dowry, but where will the two children live after they get married?"

Although Darong's mother had heard Darong say before that Zhong Yunxing's family only had three adobe houses, she was still disappointed when she actually arrived at the house.

It is said that there are three adobe houses, but excluding the kitchen in the main room (the main room refers to the main hall), actually only the east and west rooms are habitable.

Although the place in the manor is big enough and the yard is spacious enough to live in, there are six people in Zhong Yunxing's family after all, and after Darong gets married, there will be seven people in the family. No matter how big the yard is, it cannot block the wind and rain and is not suitable for people to live in.

"The company said that once we get our marriage certificate, we can get in line for a house. We can get married in the west room first, and then move in when we get a house."

Mother Zhong did not lie. At that time, the housing system was indeed allocated by the work unit. As the number of young people of marriageable age increased, the work units would give priority to allocating housing to married employees, so there was a system of queuing up for housing allocation after obtaining a marriage certificate.

But anything that is done by people is bound to be mixed with some personal relationships. For young people of the same age who are queuing up, whether they can get a first place in line and when they can get a first place in line all depends on personal relationships.

When Mrs. Zhong made the promise to Mrs. Darong, they actually did not expect that it would create a rift between them in the future.

Although the marriage between Darong and Zhong Yunxing was not hasty, it was decided in a muddled way.

Nanjiao is a very strange place. Once a man and a woman confirm their relationship, they will get engaged and married right away, as if the marriage can be canceled if they date for one more day.

This seemingly flash marriage style has continued to many children born in the 80s, who still inherited their parents' flash love and marriage process.

However, the post-80s generation is far less devout towards marriage than Darong and her generation. In addition to falling in love and getting married, there is also divorce.

When Darong's father was driving Darong's mother home, he suddenly couldn't pedal anymore. He parked the bike on the side of the road and walked towards the river alone in silence.

"What's wrong with my dad?" Darong also got out of the car, walked up to Darong's mother and asked, not knowing what was going on.

"You must have drunk too much." Darong's mother looked at Darong's father's back and sighed slightly.

"Let me go and help my dad. It's better not to be exposed to the cold wind after drinking too much."

The 19-year-old Darong could not understand the sadness in her old father's heart at this moment. His beloved daughter was finally being stolen by someone.