At this point in his previous life, he had already been demobilized to the city. When he returned home, although Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi were attending the village elementary school, both children ranked among the top students in their class. They were also obedient and sensible, and they were extremely affectionate toward him whenever they saw him.
Unlike now, when both children ranked at the very bottom of their entire class and had become withdrawn and cold.
Zhao Jun desperately wanted to find a woman, even if she had been married before, even if she had children—anything was fine. He needed a woman to help get his family back on the right track.
As a result, Zhao Jun’s schedule this year was frighteningly packed. Almost every day, the first thing he did after getting off work was jog all the way to meet the woman he was being introduced to.
The matchmaker was still Fang, the same matchmaker he had used before. The people at the factory no longer wanted to act as matchmakers for him.
For one thing, Zhao Jun had previously been too picky about several women and had turned them down, which had embarrassed the factory leaders. For another, everyone now knew that Zhao Jun’s children were troublemakers. The older Ms. Ma from the logistics department, who had previously introduced a woman to Zhao Jun, had been harassed by Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi after they ruined the match. The two children had thrown plenty of stones at the windows of her home.
They only stopped after Zhao Jun gave them a good beating.
Even though everyone felt sorry for Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi for having lost their mother, nobody wanted to get involved with them.
Zhao Jun could only entrust everything to a professional matchmaker.
Fang was the typical kind of matchmaker who did her job properly after being paid. She arranged quite a few women for Zhao Jun. Knowing how picky he was, she practically emptied out all the connections she had.
Since Zhao Jun had finally said that a woman with children was acceptable, Fang had recently introduced him to quite a few women who already had children.
But the results…
On the first day, Zhao Jun went on a blind date with a widowed woman who had a son. Zhao Jun was dissatisfied because the woman was tall, broad, and sturdy, and her voice was as loud as thunder. Even Wang Lingling, whom he had looked down on the most in this life, was at least delicate and pretty. Zhao Jun simply couldn’t accept someone like this.
On the second day, Zhao Jun went on a blind date with a widow who had a daughter. Zhao Jun was still dissatisfied. His reason was that because the woman had married so young, her daughter was already twelve years old. Bringing a daughter that old into the household would create problems no matter how they arranged the living situation. And when the girl got married and moved out in a few years, was he supposed to provide a dowry for his stepdaughter?
On the third day, Zhao Jun met a woman who seemed suitable in every respect. She had a son who was only three years old. She herself was cheerful and straightforward, with dignified features. Both of her parents had jobs, and she even had two rooms that had been allocated to her.
But…
“I won’t hide this from you. I divorced my ex-husband.”
“He was a grown man, yet he dragged his feet over everything. He even had the nerve to tell me how hard his mother had it and ask me to give in to her. I put up with it for several years, but eventually I really couldn’t take it anymore. So we got our divorce certificate.”
“I came to meet you for only one reason: because your mother is dead.”
“I’ll make my position clear right here. After we marry, I guarantee I’ll treat the children well. I’ll treat all three of them equally—you, me, and the three children, all together. But you also have to help with the housework. I have a job too. I’m not the kind of person who spends all day revolving around the children. We both earn money, so naturally there’s no reason for me to handle all the household chores by myself. Don’t you agree?”
Zhao Jun didn’t want to say anything at all.
Fairly speaking, he knew that this woman was the most suitable candidate he had encountered throughout all his blind dates.
But the fact that she had so bluntly laid out her bottom line and insisted that the housework be shared still made Zhao Jun feel rather unhappy.
He simply had no concept of doing housework.
In his previous life, when he was living alone in the city, Wang Ying would go into the city every so often to clean up for him. Later, when Wang Ying brought the children to the city, he had even less reason to worry about housework.
Every day, meals were prepared and waiting on the table, his clothes were washed spotlessly clean, and the children were obedient and well-behaved. Wasn’t that what a woman was responsible for?
He had a career to pursue, after all.
Besides, wasn’t the man working outside while the woman took care of the household the best way to maintain a balance? His hard work and striving were ultimately for the entire family—for her and the children. Why did they have to haggle over these trivial matters of daily life?
Zhao Jun remained silent.
The woman curled her lips slightly, as though she had already seen through what Zhao Jun was thinking.
But she didn’t care. If this man wasn’t willing to accept her terms, there would always be another man who was. And even if she truly couldn’t find one, she could still live perfectly well on her own with her child, a house, and a job.
She wasn’t someone without a family to rely on. Her family might not be rich or powerful, but if her parents could support her in getting divorced, they could naturally support her in choosing the life she wanted.
She was currently a Grade-Three fitter at the sugar factory, after all. Her monthly salary might not even be lower than this man’s.
Besides, she hadn’t even looked down on the fact that this man had two children, yet he had the nerve to criticize her for asking to share the housework?
Where did he get that kind of audacity?
The woman left, abandoning Zhao Jun where he sat.
The matchmaker slapped her thigh. “Deputy Team Leader Zhao, tell me, what exactly were you dissatisfied with this time?”
“This woman was practically top-notch in every respect, wasn’t she? Let me put it bluntly: she wouldn’t even be marrying beneath herself by choosing you. She has a proper job, she has a house, and her child is only three years old. Why didn’t you agree?”
Zhao Jun remained silent. After a long while, he wiped his face.
“I was wrong just now. Could you please ask her again? I agree to the conditions she proposed.”
He couldn’t delay any longer. If he kept dragging things out, he might not be able to find someone with such good conditions again.
He couldn’t possibly let Wang Ying’s life keep getting better and better while he couldn’t even find himself a wife, could he?
Fang stamped her foot. “You should’ve said that earlier!”
What was wrong with this man? He said nothing while the woman was there, but once she had left, he suddenly made up his mind.
Fang hurried off to find the woman, but she came back in less than half an hour.
Her face was full of frustration.
“She’s not interested anymore!”
She looked at Zhao Jun with an expression of exasperation.
“That woman has a stubborn streak. She said she’s thought it through. Instead of finding a city woman who already has a child, she’d rather find a strong young man from the countryside.”
Zhao Jun: “…”
He barely managed to find his voice again.
“It’s my fault. I may have given her the wrong impression just now. How about you take me to see her? I’ll apologize to her personally.”
It would be such a shame to let such good conditions slip away.
Fang shook her head. “Forget it. She slammed the door shut just now, picked up her child, and went straight back to her parents’ home. You won’t be able to find her even if you go.”
In reality, Matchmaker Fang was unwilling to take Zhao Jun around to bother people anymore. The divorced woman with a child had just told her that she had thought it through. Rather than being picked over by people in the city, she would rather find a man from a rural commune, preferably one from a fairly well-off family, someone honest and reliable. She was willing to find him a temporary job, and the two of them could simply make a life together. After all, her ex-husband had long since been out of the picture, and he was such a coward that he wouldn’t dare cause trouble. So she felt that finding a man to live with was perfectly fine. Once her older child started school, if the child was willing, she would be willing to have another child as well.
Matchmaker Fang felt that compared with someone as absurdly picky as Zhao Jun, the woman just now might look like she wasn’t someone to mess with, but her requirements really weren’t unreasonable.
She had a job and a salary of her own. All she wanted was to find some honest, down-to-earth man from the countryside who was a little good-looking. How difficult could that be?
She could find someone suitable in minutes.
Compared with the matchmaker’s fee from Zhao Jun—a payment floating somewhere in the air with no idea when she would ever receive it—the divorced woman’s money would be much easier to earn.
Zhao Jun returned home dejectedly. Compared with the liveliness of the other households, his own cold stove and empty kitchen made the place look even more desolate.
Zhao Dong and Zhao Xi were crouched in a corner of the room, reading picture books. When they saw Zhao Jun come back, they merely raised their eyes.
Zhao Jun was in an irritable mood. He picked up a basin and some soap and went to the bathhouse to take a shower.
Behind him, Zhao Xi quietly asked her older brother, “What’s wrong with him?”
“What else could it be? His blind date didn’t work out.”
Zhao Dong wasn’t stupid anymore. He had seen through the situation long ago.
Even if he didn’t cause trouble, given his father’s abilities, there was no way he could find them a stepmother anyway.
There was no point in him making trouble.
Zhao Xi held a piece of candy in her mouth, looking confused. “We don’t have to follow him?”
Before, whenever their father went on a blind date, her brother would always take her along to follow him.
Zhao Dong turned another page of his picture book.
“Follow his ass! He’ll never find a wife!”