Fang Fang’s proposal was expected by his father and I. He had been thinking about bringing that person to his bed even before he and Li Sheng were even settled on a word about his relationship. But to our surprise——Li Sheng actually agreed?!
I asked Li Sheng out privately and asked him if he was joking with Fang Fang.
He blushed when I asked, but in the end, he firmly told me that he was also serious and that he was willing to marry Fang Fang.
I reminded him: “This is a lifelong matter. Do you really not want to think about it anymore? Maybe you will regret it after a while.”
“I won’t regret it, Ms. Jiang,” he said, “I can’t refuse Fang Xiānsheng.”
I was very happy to hear him say that, but I still had to express my position: “Li Sheng, I hope you won’t be offended by what I say next.” I stared into his eyes tightly and told him: “Fang Fang has liked you for a long time before you knew it. I can guarantee that he will not change his heart in the future. So if you marry Fang Fang, no matter what happens in the future, as long as his father and I are alive, we will never allow you to divorce him then.”
“No, Ms. Jiang,” he looked at me with a shy smile on his face and said, “We Catholics do not allow divorce.”
“I swear in the name of God, I will never leave Fang Xiānsheng unless he takes the initiative.”
I looked into his pupils, which were clear and pure, without any shadow or hesitation. Under such circumstances, what else could I say besides giving my blessing and gratitude?
Although same-sex marriage had started large-scale trials worldwide, there was still stubborn resistance on the mainland side. After discussing with Fang Fang’s father and Li Sheng’s parents, we decided that there was no need to go abroad specifically to obtain that certificate. We could simply hold the wedding ceremony at the church in G city.
The smile on Fang Fang’s face had not disappeared since the proposal was successful. I suspected that the muscles on his face had become stiff from laughter. One time when he opened the door, he accidentally caught his finger in the crack of the door. He smiled and said to me, “Mom, my finger seems to be pinched and swollen.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. While giving him Yunnan Baiyao,1Yunnan Baiyao is a proprietary traditional Chinese medicine marketed and used as a hemostatic product in both human and veterinary alternative medicine. I complained to him: “I don’t think its your finger that is pinched and swollen, but your brain that is pinched and swollen.”
Preparations for the wedding were in full swing. Finally, the night before the wedding, Fang Fang’s father and I finally realized a very serious problem that couldn’t be ignored – did Fang Fang know what he would do at night after the wedding?
“Sleep in the same bed with Xiao Xiao,” Fang Fang said with a smile, “You don’t have to sleep on the floor.”
“…”
I patted Fang Fang’s father with a heavy face and said, “You can handle it as you see. I can’t help with this
Fang Fang’s father looked constipated and said, “…I’ll give it a try.”
“By the way, don’t show him pornographic films!” I warned him, “It would be terrible if Fang Fang learned any bad things.”
Fang Fang’s father was a little helpless and said, “Wife, aren’t you making things difficult for me? How can he learn if he didn’t watch that?”
“I don’t care, if you dare to show Fang Fang that kind of thing, then you will sleep on the floor,” I said indignantly. “There are many books teaching physiological and health knowledge in the bookstore. Can’t you use them?”
“Okay, it’s all up to you.” Fang Fang’s father finally gave in.
Later, it turned out that things like bed skills… ahem, it seemed that just reading books was not enough.
On the third day of the wedding, Fang Fang called me crying and said that he had hurt his wife.
My face felt hot after hearing this, and it took me a long time to comfort him: “Fang Fang, you can’t rush this matter. You have to take your time and practice it a few more times.”
“Also, from now on, you can’t tell your mother and not even your father about this kind of thing. You can talk things out Li Sheng, you know?”
“But he ignored me and went to work.”
“It’s okay. If Li Sheng still ignores you at night, just call me and your mother will apologize on your behalf.” I said.
Fang Fang didn’t call in the evening, so I knew that he had reconciled with Li Sheng. I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. This old face was finally saved, otherwise, I really didn’t know how to mention this to Li Sheng.
After more than half a year, Fang Fang came home and I asked him how he and Li Sheng were doing recently, he said fine. I pretended to ask casually: “Then do you still hurt him at night?”
Fang Fang frowned, looking like he was about to cry, and said, “My wife won’t let me in.”
“Why?” I asked in surprise.
“I don’t know,” Fang Fang said, pointing his fingers: “I must have hurt him the first time. It’s all my fault.”
I thought to myself that it must not be the case, otherwise, Li Sheng would not have gone to work on the third day. Was it because of that incident? I thought about it and felt a little worried, so I called Li Sheng out for a meeting in private.
I didn’t dare to ask him about that directly, for fear that he would know that I was investigating him, so I cautiously asked if Fang Fang was too rude in bed.
“It’s nothing, Mom, Fang Fang is very gentle,” he said, his face a little red, “It’s my own fault.”
“Is it physical?” I said.
He shook his head and said, “Some bad things happened before, it’s a bit shadow.”
“What is it? Is it serious?” I asked worriedly, “Do you want to see a psychiatrist?”
“I’ve seen it. The doctor asked me to go to do cognitive therapy every two weeks.” He said, slowly stirring the drink in his hand, and said, “It’s much better now.”
I nodded and hesitated, but after a while, I said: “Li Sheng, if you need to go to the hospital next time, tell me and I will go with you.”
“No need, Mom, I can do it myself.” He looked at me and smiled comfortingly, with two small dimples hanging on his cheeks, “It’s not a big deal, the doctor also said that I’m recovering well.”
I looked at him, feeling very distressed, and insisted on accompanying him for psychological treatment. He couldn’t resist me, so he had to agree.
I could hide the fact that I accompanied Li Sheng to the hospital from Fang Fang, but I couldn’t hide it from Fang Fang’s father. I had no choice but to briefly tell him about Li Sheng.
Fang Fang’s father frowned when he heard this, and said that although such a thing did not constitute a crime of rape at the time, that person could still be charged with molesting a minor or assaulting a minor, how could such a person be allowed to get away with it. I sighed and said, “Li Sheng didn’t dare to tell his parents about that. Didn’t his family have an accident later? That Luo Bin gave his family a large sum of money, which can be considered a conscience.”
“It can’t be calculated like this, my wife. This is a different matter. Money can’t solve everything. You can see that Li Sheng is still in the shadow of that incident. He must have suffered a lot at that time. These injuries can never be cured with money.” Fang Fang’s father said seriously.
“You’re right,” I patted Fang Fang’s father on the shoulder, and said, “The main thing is that the situation is a bit complicated. Li Sheng actually liked that Luo Bin back then, so in the end, he didn’t say anything about it. After all, according to what you said, it’s already a crime.”
“Oh, why did Li Sheng have such a bad eye to even this kind of person!” Fang Fang’s father sighed.
“I mean, Fang Fang’s father, don’t blame Li Sheng so much. If he had a better eye, Fang Fang would have been out of the picture long ago.”
Fang Fang’s father was so blocked by me that he couldn’t say a word and looked at me dispersedly. I squeezed his face in a funny way, and said, “Okay, old man, don’t think too much. After all, this is Li Sheng’s private matter, so let’s just eat salted radishes and worry less.2[xián chī luó bo dàn cāo xīn]: “Eat the salted radish and worry less” is Northern slang. The words that are used as “Salty” and “light (less)” are a pair of antonyms, so in this saying here are representatives of two people with different living habits. “Salty” represents a person who loves salty food, and eating salty radishes is a kind of enjoyment for him. “Light” is a person with the opposite life habit to him, who can’t understand the deliciousness of eating salty radish, but worries about food being “salty” there. Therefore, such a common saying vividly shows that nosy people often don’t understand the truth of the facts, but just worry about it, which is not helpful. “
“Okay,” Fang Fang’s father thought for a while and then asked, “Did you hide this from Fang Fang?”
“I didn’t dare to tell him. It’s not like you don’t know Fang Fang’s brain circuitry. He can imagine a big drama with just one sentence. If I told him that Li Sheng was harassed by that Luo Bin, he might do something stupid.” I said.
“That’s right. Let’s hide it from him first. But I think if the time is right, we still have to tell Fang Fang everything.” Fang Fang’s father said.
“Let’s talk about it later,” I responded casually. I thought to myself that the doctor said that Li Sheng was recovering very well and that he would probably be fine in two or three months. Why bother telling Fang Fang about it and making him sad?
Later, I regretted this rash decision countless times.
