Reborn in the 1970s — Married a Proud Rough Man

Especially since his father had also vaguely hinted that he would inherit the factory director position.

’The house the mechanical factory had assigned to his father, on top of taking over as factory director—it was too tempting. He couldn’t refuse. Forget the north house; he wouldn’t care even if it were the entire courtyard.’

It had to be said that Mr. Xie knew this son of his very well. He knew exactly what his son wanted most, and he gave it to him.

Lin Yaru’s whole body went rigid. That single word, ”status,” felt like a sharp blade plunging deep into her chest. Overcome with emotion, she clenched her fists and beat them against Jie Jingwei. ”Jie Jingwei, you’ve ruined me.”

Jie Jingwei grabbed her wrists, his voice low as he reminded her, ”Lin Yaru, don’t forget. You’re the one who drugged me, not the other way around.”

Tears streamed from Lin Yaru’s eyes as she sobbed. ”No, no, no! You weren’t my target! Why was it you? Why did it have to be you? You’ve ruined me!”

”I ruined you?” Jie Jingwei scoffed, his own anger flaring. ”If it weren’t for you, would I have divorced Chunyan? Lin Yaru, you’re the real culprit here! You’re the homewrecker who destroyed my happy family!”

”It wasn’t me! I’m not the villain, I’m not the culprit, I’m not! It was Xu Chunyan! Yes, Xu Chunyan! She planned everything. She gave me the drug. Heh heh... The heavens are just. Evil is repaid with evil. We’re all villains. Xu Chunyan was the mastermind, and you divorced her. I’m a villain too, and my punishment is being pregnant with your child and being forced to marry you,” Lin Yaru said, her voice bordering on hysteria.

They were out in the open, and Jie Jingwei worried the neighbors would see them. Seeing Lin Yaru slipping into a crazed state, he pulled her into a tight embrace and clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her from spouting nonsense.

”Lin Yaru, you better remember this,” Jie Jingwei warned. ”You are now Jing Si’s second sister-in-law. I don’t care what inappropriate ideas you had about him before, but now I have to care.”

”Mmph!” Lin Yaru struggled, but a man’s strength is naturally greater than a woman’s. Unable to break free, she grabbed the large hand covering her mouth and bit down hard.

”HISS!” Jie Jingwei cried out in pain. Showing no tenderness and completely disregarding her pregnancy, he shoved her away.

”Ah!” Lin Yaru lost her footing and collapsed onto the ground.

Jie Jingwei froze for a second before snapping back to reality. He crouched down, trying to help her up. ”Yaru, are you okay? Did you get hurt? Does your stomach feel alright?”

”Don’t touch me. You’re disgusting,” Lin Yaru spat, slapping his hand away.

Jie Jingwei’s expression darkened. The hand that had been reaching out to help her instead shot out and grabbed her braid. ”Disgusting? Hmph! Find me disgusting all you want, I’m still your lawful husband.”

A sharp pain shot through her scalp. Lin Yaru reflexively grabbed the hand yanking her braid, forced to tilt her head up. She glared at him furiously but couldn’t refute his words. ’They had the certificate; they were a legal couple. It was normal for a husband to hit his wife over a simple disagreement.’

Jie Jingwei patted her cheek. ’Her skin is so soft and smooth. Youth really is something else. Much better than Xu Chunyan’s skin.’ He thought about them being together, and how good it felt. He hadn’t had a sex life since his divorce. After marrying Lin Yaru, he’d held back because of the pregnancy, and she hadn’t been willing to let him touch her anyway.

’If she won’t move to the factory housing, then I’ll just move into the Lin Family’s home. Tonight, I’m going to taste that incredible feeling again.’

Jie Jingwei’s large hand slid down from her cheek, coming to a stop on her chest.

A wave of nausea washed over Lin Yaru, and she tried to push Jie Jingwei away. But the more she resisted, the more it fueled his possessiveness. His hands grew bolder, and he completely forgot they were out in public.

”BLECH.” Lin Yaru threw up all over Jie Jingwei.

Staring at the mess Lin Yaru had spewed, and the acrid, sour stench, Jie Jingwei’s own stomach churned. And so it was that Lin Yaru was retching on one side, and Jie Jingwei was squatting and retching on the other.

Beneath a tree, Qin Mei and Jie Jingchen watched the scene unfold. ’Is this a case of mutual loathing?’

”If they’re this disgusted by each other, why get married at all?” Qin Mei couldn’t understand it. The two had been forced together by the Lin family’s parents. ’Can a marriage like that ever be happy?’

’It all seemed so bizarre to Qin Mei. But times were different, people’s education was different, so of course, their ways of thinking were different too.’

”That’s morning sickness,” Jie Jingchen said, looking at Qin Mei with a faint smile. He had noticed the couple the moment they arrived, but Qin Mei had only spotted them when their argument started.

”Morning sickness?” Qin Mei raised an eyebrow. ”You know about morning sickness?”

Jie Jingchen fell silent. ’I shouldn’t have said that,’ he thought. ’It’s not like my wife is pregnant. What’s another woman’s morning sickness got to do with me? I talk too much.’

Granny Guo, out for an evening stroll, spotted Lin Yaru and Jie Jingwei. She was about to go over and say hello when she saw them vomiting. Granny Guo had a weak stomach for that sort of thing. She covered her nose with her cattail-leaf fan, leaned against the wall, and started to vomit herself.

”BLECH...” She had just finished dinner and had eaten a bit too much. Her stomach had been uncomfortably bloated, which was why she’d come out for a walk to aid her digestion. Well, this certainly did the trick; everything in her stomach came right up.

”BLECH...” It wasn’t just Granny Guo. Even a young man who was sitting on the wall sketching couldn’t help but dry heave. He hadn’t eaten dinner yet, so with nothing in his stomach, all he could do was retch.

Jie Jingwei and Lin Yaru were some distance away, but Granny Guo and the young artist on the wall were close by. Qin Mei couldn’t stand it anymore. She shoved Jie Jingchen away and started heaving herself. ”BLECH...”

It set off a chain reaction. Neighbors passing by saw the scene and joined in the vomiting. Hearing the sounds, even neighbors who hadn’t left their own courtyards fell victim.

Jie Jingchen’s face darkened as he fought to suppress the churning in his own stomach. Qin Mei was leaning against a tree, dry heaving. She had already thrown up everything in her stomach but couldn’t stop retching. Jie Jingchen hoisted her over his shoulder and ran for home.

Being carried by Jie Jingchen, with her stomach pressed against his shoulder and her head hanging down, Qin Mei felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

The moment Jie Jingchen entered their courtyard, he kicked the gate shut behind him.

”Jie Jingsi, put me down!” Qin Mei felt awful.

Jie Jingchen carefully set her down. Clutching her mouth, Qin Mei bolted for the house, her stomach still churning.

Jie Jinghun, having just finished washing the dishes, was coming out of the kitchen when he happened to see this. His eyes lit up. He strode over to Jie Jingchen and nudged him with his elbow. ”Is she pregnant?”

Jie Jingchen shot him a glare and tried to walk away, but Jie Jinghun grabbed him. ”Fourth Brother, I’m an expert on this! When your third sister-in-law was first pregnant, her morning sickness was terrible. From the looks of the Fourth Wife of Jing, her reaction is pretty severe too. Want me to share some of my wisdom with you?”

Jie Jingchen glanced at Jie Jinghun’s self-satisfied, ’I’m-an-expert’ expression and said flatly, ”She’s not pregnant.”

Jie Jinghun didn’t believe him. ”Oh! Keeping it a secret, are we? No need for that. The Fourth Wife of Jing being pregnant is a good thing.”

”Go take a look outside. You’ll get ’morning sickness’ too,” Jie Jingchen said, shrugging off Jie Jinghun’s arm and heading for the house.

”I’m a man,” Jie Jinghun grumbled at Jie Jingchen’s retreating back. But his curiosity was piqued, and he knew it would bug him if he didn’t find out what was going on. He strode to the courtyard gate, opened it, and actually went out to investigate.

A moment later, Jie Jinghun returned, his face contorted, a hand clamped over his mouth as he shut the gate.

’That little trickster. He even got me.’

”What’s going on outside?” Mr. Xie asked, standing in the doorway of the main room.

”I don’t know. Everyone outside is throwing up. Maybe it’s food poisoning,” Jie Jinghun said, then added, ”Oh, right, Dad, I saw Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law were among them, too.”

”Did they get food poisoning too?” Mr. Xie asked with concern.

”I’m not sure,” Jie Jinghun said, shaking his head. ”Food poisoning is just my guess. That usually involves vomiting and diarrhea, but right now I only see people vomiting. No one’s running to the toilet.”

With Lin Yaru pregnant, Mr. Xie couldn’t afford to be complacent. He asked, ”What about your Aunt Qiao? Is she back yet?”

Jie Jinghun frowned slightly. He looked at Mr. Xie and retorted, ”Wouldn’t you know if Aunt Qiao is back?”

Apparently not. Judging by Jie Jinghun’s reaction, she probably wasn’t outside either. Mr. Xie glanced toward his fourth son’s room. ”And what about the Fourth Wife of Jing?”