Chapter 282 - 280: Office Gossip

Chapter 282: Chapter 280: Office Gossip

After breakfast, the two of them cuddled in bed all morning. It wasn’t until Sister Fang came to call them, saying the children were all back and it was time for lunch in the dining room, that they finally snapped out of it and realized it was already noon.

After the meal, those who had school left. Li Xiu drove Zhou Lian to the university. As he walked her to her office, he said gently, "Bao’er, I took a look, and you have two long lectures this afternoon. I have to run an errand. If by any chance I’m late coming back, could you wait for me in your office, okay?"

Knowing his personality, Zhou Lian knew he would never agree if she told him not to pick her up, so she smiled and nodded. "Okay, don’t worry. I’ll stay right here in my office and won’t go anywhere. Go take care of your business and don’t worry!"

After greeting Zhou Lian’s officemates, Li Xiu hurried away. Setting aside the matter with Ping’an, Li Xiu knew he had to bring Liu Shengnan back safely from the Northwest to the Capital City, simply because of her relationship with Zhou Lian.

"Xiao Zhou, you two have been married for so many years, and you’re still so lovey-dovey!" a colleague in the office said, teasing her. Zhou Lian was a fast learner and highly competent. She had once been her student, attending her very lectures, and now they were colleagues. Yet, this former student turned colleague remained as innocent and kind as ever.

"Ms. Zhang, does that have anything to do with how long you’ve been married?" Zhou Lian asked, looking at her former teacher with confusion. ’Does how affectionate a couple is really depend on the length of their marriage? I remember in my past life, both my daughter and my son were just like this with their spouses, weren’t they?’

Seeing that Zhou Lian was genuinely confused, the other two teachers in the office couldn’t help but burst out laughing. There were four people in Zhou Lian’s office, and the other three were all her former teachers. They were all exceptionally protective of their former student.

"Xiao Zhou, when a couple has been together for a long time, it’s inevitable that their flaws get exposed. The passion you have at the beginning fades with time and slowly turns into a more familial affection. Life is full of so many trivial matters that even the most beautiful romance will eventually become mundane. A rational, intelligent person will manage to transform that romance into familial affection, and they can still have a good life. But for those who are less rational, their relationship is bound to fracture, leaving their life a complete mess!" the only male teacher in the office, Mr. Xie, explained gently to Zhou Lian.

"Does it really happen like that? But if a couple is together, as long as they aren’t just living together without any feelings, how could their love be worn away by external things that don’t even involve their feelings for each other? Shouldn’t your bond grow deeper the longer you’re together?" Zhou Lian said, looking at them in confusion. ’In my last life, it was a slap from Li Xiu that made me break up with him completely. For a couple without fights, arguments, or infidelity, how could two people who were once in love just stop loving each other?’

Smiling at Zhou Lian, the other female teacher, Teacher Fan, who was in her fifties, asked with a smile, "Is that what you think, or is that what your husband thinks?"

"It’s not just me, I just feel like that’s how it should be. But my husband did say once that life is already hard enough. A husband and wife are the closest people to each other in the world, so how could one bear to hurt the other, unless they were never in love in the first place? To love and support each other through a lifetime is what makes all the suffering in this world worthwhile," Zhou Lian said, slowly recalling Li Xiu’s words as she looked at her three former teachers in a daze.

Ms. Zhang smiled as she looked at the thirty-year-old Zhou Lian. She was thirty, but it was as if she lived in an ivory tower; her innocent smile made her look like a young woman who had just come of age. Looking at her gently, Ms. Zhang said, "It’s wonderful that you’re like this. When you first came to the university, you were beautiful and a good student, and many of us teachers were worried about you back then. But Old Xie, Old Fan, and I talked about it. Leaving aside the fact that your husband picks you up and drops you off every single day, rain or shine—it was your eyes. They were so clear. Times are tough. Many people, not just those in their twenties but even teenagers, have eyes that are far too shrewd. We just never expected that after almost ten years, you’d still be exactly the same!"

Hearing Ms. Zhang’s words, the other two teachers smiled without saying anything. Back then, when the policies had just been relaxed, Zhou Lian was part of the third batch of university students admitted. As teachers, they had witnessed the world’s filthiest and most despicable people and events. When Zhou Lian arrived in the Capital City with her husband and child, many people secretly watched the young couple from the countryside, wondering how long it would take for them to become enemies and part ways.

No one could have ever expected that during Zhou Lian’s sophomore year, she would take a year-long leave of absence because she was pregnant. It caused a massive uproar at the university. Because of it, the university even changed its policy to only admit unmarried students from then on.

As her teachers, they simply watched. They watched as Zhou Lian, after her one-year leave, passed the university exams to enter her junior year directly. They watched as she was accepted as a personal protégé by the renowned Professor Xiao of the Chinese Department. They watched as she went straight from her undergraduate degree into a master’s program, then spent another three years earning her doctorate. At the time, many teachers were amazed. How on earth did Zhou Lian, a married woman with two children, manage to juggle her academics, family, and children so successfully? It wasn’t until they saw her husband picking her up and dropping her off for all those years, without fail, that they finally understood.

"Xiao Zhou, how many years have you been married? Have you and your husband ever had a fight?" Mr. Xie asked curiously. His wife at home argued with him constantly—a small quarrel every three days, a big one every five. He had always chalked it up to them being married for over a decade, but looking at Zhou Lian’s marriage, that didn’t seem to be the case.

"We’ve been married for ten years. We got married in ’78. Arguments? I don’t think so. I can’t remember us ever fighting," Zhou Lian said slowly after thinking carefully.

The three people in the office stared with wide, shocked eyes. Married for ten years without a single fight? Teacher Fan quickly turned to Zhou Lian and asked, "Then you’ve never had a disagreement?"

"We have, but we just explain to each other why we think a certain way, and then we go with whoever makes more sense! What’s there to argue about? Between my husband and me, we rarely have disagreements, except maybe over my personal habits," Zhou Lian said, looking at them in confusion. ’Isn’t that how a couple should be? Although I watched a lot of TV dramas and such in my past life, I always felt that a couple should either have a great relationship and be deeply in love, or they should break up completely, like Li Xiu and I did. Can you even call it a home if it’s full of constant bickering and chaos?’

"Really? What about when it comes to your parents or the children? You’ve never had disagreements about them?"

Looking up at Mr. Xie, Zhou Lian said calmly, "Not really. We treat both sets of parents equally. As for the children, no, not really. I just play games with them and things like that. Their upbringing is handled by my husband and my teacher. For daily life, their grandparents pick them up from school and so on. I just spend time with the children in their free time!"

"Xiao Zhou, what is it that you actually do at home?" Ms. Zhang asked gently, waving at the other two to stop.