Back To The 80s-Chapter 183: Top Quality _1

Gu Xiaobei looked up and saw Qin Ximei wheezing and panting inside the room. Only then did he remember that he had forgotten these two.

However, he didn’t see Yuan Ye enter the room, so he couldn’t help asking curiously, "Where’s Yuan Ye?"

Qin Ximei sat down on a stool and said bravely, "Pour me a bucket of water first."

Gu Xiaobei was sitting on a small bed, knitting a sweater. He was completely oblivious to what she said.

With anger, Qin Ximei slammed the table: "Gu Xiaobei, I asked you to pour water, didn’t you hear me?"

Gu Xiaobei looked up, with a puzzled face: "Ah? Were you calling me, Auntie Yuan? I thought you asked Zhanguo to do it." He continued to unravel the threads after saying this.

Lu Zhanguo furrowed his brow slightly as he poured a bucket of water and gave it to Qin Ximei.

"Zhanguo, this is not good. You are a man. You cannot be doing this kind of work, such as pouring tea and water," Qin Ximei said to Lu Zhanguo earnestly.

Gu Xiaobei sneered internally, wondering who this person thought she was, coming here to act like a mother-in-law.

Lu Zhanguo didn’t respond, he simply asked, "Where is Yuan Ye?"

"She went back to the city. Your mother asked me to come and see how you are doing, so I decided to stay a few days before going back." Qin Ximei said self-importantly.

Gu Xiaobei was a bit exasperated, was this a representative of his mother-in-law?

Lu Zhanguo calmly said, "Auntie Yuan, you should go back tomorrow. I’m about to start training in the mountains, and I won’t be home."

Qin Ximei glared at him: "If you are not home, isn’t your wife is at home?"

"This is your first time meeting Xiaobei, you are not familiar with each other, and Xiaobei does not understand your habits. If she unknowingly offends you, it will make us look ignorant. Therefore, you should first go home, and we will visit you when we have the chance." Lu Zhanguo said politely but firmly.

Gu Xiaobei silently praised her husband in her heart.

Qin Ximei did not expect Lu Zhanguo to be so explicit about wanting her to leave. She thought he would, out of courtesy, let her stay no matter what. This would provide a good opportunity for her to test the water for her good friend Wen Xiuqing and examine this new daughter-in-law.

Of course, it was also to vent some of her own anger. She knew that Yuan Tan liked Lu Zhanguo and considered him to be a suitable husband for her daughter. However, she did not expect Gu Xiaobei to appear on the scene halfway. She had regretted it for a long time. If she had known earlier, she should have informed Wen Xiuqing beforehand.

There was another thing, she had three daughters and no son. She had been mistreated by her mother-in-law when she was young. She harbored some twisted feelings and also wanted to experience being a mother-in-law.

"Alright then, when I go back, I’m going to tell your mother the real situation," said Qin Ximei grumpily.

Gu Xiaobei sensed that her relationship with her mother-in-law was going to get a lot more interesting because of Qin Ximei.

Lu Zhanguo did not reply. He was not a talkative person, and he had even less interest in this kind of meaningless conversation.

The stove was now lit, so Lu Zhanguo got up to close the door and half of the window, then put a kettle onto the stove.

He had originally planned to go to the military camp, but seeing that Qin Ximei had come, he decided to stay at home instead.

Seeing that no one was paying any attention to her, Qin Ximei cleared her throat and asked Gu Xiaobei, "Xiao Bei, are you knitting a sweater for Zhanguo?" As she spoke, she leaned in closer.

Gu Xiaobei nodded, not looking up from her work. Her needlework rhythm did not falter.

"Hey, hey...this stitch is loose. No, this stitch is wrong," Qin Ximei couldn’t help but make comments, and even wanted to get hands-on.

Suppressing her disgust, Gu Xiaobei gathered the knitted work closer to her chest, looked up, and said with a smile, "Auntie Yuan, as long as Zhanguo doesn’t mind, it’s fine. Plus, I’m knitting this for Zhanguo, every stitch and every thread represent my intentions."

Qin Ximei clicked her tongue in response, but didn’t know what else to say. Gu Xiaobei put away her knitting, and asked Lu Zhanguo gently, "Zhanguo, what would you like for lunch?" Her voice was so soft it was dripping with tenderness.

Lu Zhanguo was taken aback, and seeing Gu Xiaobei’s impish smile, he couldn’t help but grin. "I’m good with anything."

"Then let’s have spicy hot noodles, you love that, don’t you?" Gu Xiaobei said sweetly and got up to cook. Now, she had come to realize that if she had conflicts with her mother-in-law, it would affect her relationship with her husband, but this was an internal conflict.

On the other hand, Qin Ximei was completely external. ’The home front must be peaceful before dealing with outside troubles.’ Therefore, she needed to find a way to prevent Qin Ximei from going to her mother-in-law to complain. As for future mother-in-law and daughter-in-law problems, those were internal conflicts which needed to be resolved internally.

Qin Ximei was a bit taken aback. Hadn’t Wen Xiuqing said that Gu Xiaobei didn’t think much of the older Lu Zhanguo? Yet now, Gu Xiaobei seemed like a proper obedient daughter-in-law.

Qin Ximei watched as Gu Xiaobei proficiently kneaded the dough and peeled onions and garlic. Gu Xiaobei would occasionally ask for Lu Zhanguo’s opinion, causing Qin Ximei to purse her lips in disapproval.

When Gu Xiaobei was pulling the noodles, Chen Gang brought Jiujiu home. Lu Zhanguo asked Chen Gang and Jiujiu to call Qin Ximei grandmother.

Qin Ximei reluctantly agreed, having heard that Gu Xiaobei was looking after two children. She’d met Jiujiu yesterday and made a casual comment, but was curtly rebuffed by Gu Xiaobei. Today, she wisely chose not to say anything further. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

But during the meal, seeing Gu Xiaobei serve Chen Gang a big bowl of noodles made her worry about the extra amount of flour they’d consume within a month. This wouldn’t do; once she went back, she’d have to alert Wen Xiuqing.

After finishing her meal, Qin Ximei left, thinking that since Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei didn’t like her, she could use Gu Xiaobei’s issue of raising two half-grown children to stir up discontent against Gu Xiaobei from Wen Xiuqing.

After sending off Qin Ximei, Lu Zhanguo headed straight back to his camp. He was about to be deployed for training, there would be long meetings for the next few days.

.........

At the Fuhai Company in T City, Jin Cheng was sitting in his office with his legs curled up on his desk, flipping through a newspaper casually, but he couldn’t calm his mind.

Gao Dailin had called him to his office earlier, handing him a file folder. As he quickly glanced around, he noticed that the cabinet which was supposed to be against the wall, was now standing thirty centimeters away from the wall. There were also shreds of paper between the wall and the cabinet.

It seemed intentional, but also seemed like an oversight. Jin Cheng was not curious about this and proceeded out with the file folder, acting as if he didn’t notice anything.

Now, he could confidently assert that there was something off about the office. However, this was also Gao Dailin testing him.

Jin Cheng gave a side glance at Ling Yun, who was currently bending over her desk, scribbling something, then suddenly stood up and leaned over to Ling Yun saying, "Sister Ling, I discovered there’s a secret room at the back? What treasure is hidden in there?"

Ling Yun startled, getting a headache from Jin Cheng’s unpredictable actions, she was at a loss for words: "What secret room?"

"I just saw it when I went to fetch my stuff. Shall we go and take a look? See if there are any treasures?" Jin Cheng said interestedly.

Ling Yun glared at him, "If you want to, you can go check. I don’t want to go."

"Forget it, if you don’t go, I won’t go either. I don’t want you to tell Gao Dailin later and blame me if anything is lost." Jin Cheng said casually.

Ling Yun kept silent, lowered her head, her face didn’t look too good.

Jin Cheng sat down and leaned back in his chair. A grim premonition washed over him.