Back To The 80s-Chapter 196: Daughter-in-law (Additional updates with 120 monthly tickets)_1
Xiaobei sat for a while, thinking that his own stove should be lit by now. He got up and prepared to go back to cook. Lu Zhanguo hadn’t come over, probably he was held up with work in the office again.
Xiaobei just got home and poured the boiling water from the stove into the thermos flask. As soon as he finished, the door was violently pushed open.
Qin Ximei burst in angrily saying, "Xiaobei, Zhanguo said you were out, but you’ve been gone all day. How many times have I been here?"
"Aunt Yuan has something to do?" Xiaobei asked, raising his eyebrows and placing the kettle on the ground.
"Can’t I come if I don’t have anything to do? Besides, didn’t I ask Zhanguo to arrange a meeting for me with Yuan Ye and others? It’s fine if he doesn’t agree, but he disappears the whole day, is he trying to avoid me?" Qin Ximei said, pressing forward ferociously.
Xiaobei was speechless. This was really driving him mad. He mildly said, "I heard from Zhanguo that Uncle Yuan will arrive the day after tomorrow."
Qin Ximei suddenly deflated like a punctured ball, sulking in silence and sitting on the small bed. She didn’t say anything.
Xiaobei couldn’t be bothered to engage with her. It was already dark, he quickly put on an apron, kneaded dough, washed vegetables and started cooking.
When Qin Ximei saw that Jiujiu was not in the house, she couldn’t help but say, "Where’s the little girl you’re raising? Don’t raise a thankless wretch at home."
Upon hearing this, Xiaobei felt indignant and his face fell. "Aunt Yuan, she’s just a child. Don’t say such things. Furthermore, I didn’t have any expectations when I decided to raise Jiujiu."
"I thought you couldn’t have children, so you were trying to make up for it by raising a little girl," said Qin Ximei. Seeing that Xiaobei was angry, she became more gleeful.
Xiaobei snorted coldly in his heart. She is just trying to make things unpleasant for him. But instead of being angry, he laughed and said, "Whether I can have children or not, as long as Zhanguo is okay with it, that’s all that matters. But Aunt Yuan, shouldn’t you be more concerned about Yuan Ye now?"
Upon hearing this, Qin Ximei stared resentfully at Xiaobei and fell silent.
When Lu Zhanguo came back, he saw that Xiaobei was silently cooking and Qin Ximei was sulking on the small bed. He felt a bit of a headache.
Out of fear that cooking inside would generate too much oil smoke, Xiaobei came to the hallway to cook. He boiled a pot of water on the stove inside the house and put in some leaves for a soup. The dough he had kneaded was a bit too soft and couldn’t be rolled out properly.
Lu Zhanguo greeted Qin Ximei and then asked Xiaobei, "Where is Jiujiu?"
"She’s playing with Xiaodong. Fengmei is making cabbage and vermicelli buns today and asked Jiujiu to eat over at their place," Xiaobei said, stirring the dough in the pot.
Qin Ximei couldn’t help but ask Lu Zhanguo again, "Zhanguo, can’t I really make Yuan Ye and her sister come?" As she spoke, tears started to stream down her face.
Lu Zhanguo shook his head, "No, you can’t. Aunt Yuan, the mistake Yuan Ye and her sister made is not a small one. You have to understand."
Wiping away her tears, Qin Ximei knew this, but she just wanted to stir up trouble to see if she could get her way.
"When is Uncle Yuan arriving?" Qin Ximei asked after wiping her tears.
"The day after tomorrow morning, I will arrange for someone to pick him up." Lu Zhanguo said, went over to help Xiaobei carry the pot down and placed it on a small iron rack nearby.
After dinner, Lu Zhanguo sent Qin Ximei back to the guest house. On the way, Qin Ximei couldn’t help but nag continuously.
While Xiaobei was clearing the table, he could hear a loud scolding voice coming from Xiangmin’s house next door, "What’s wrong with putting the water jar there? The place in front of my house is mine. Who am I inconveniencing?"
"Mom, this corridor is for public use, not ours. Let’s move it inside the house tomorrow," Guo Huaqiang said in frustration.
"Alright, enough. I’ve just arrived and you’ve been nagging me so many times. Xiangmin, don’t just lie in bed all the time, why are you so delicate? You wouldn’t be able to give birth when the time comes, be careful, the doctor will cut open your belly..."
Upon hearing Ding Guizhi, her mother-in-law, say this, Xiangmin, who was lying in the inner room, felt so angry that she pulled the blanket over her head.
Xiaobei couldn’t hear what Guo Huaqiang had said, but she heard every single word Ding Guihua had said very clearly. She thought to herself that she should avoid this old woman as much as possible to stay out of trouble.
When Lu Zhanguo returned after sending Qin Ximei off, Xiaobei was attaching a sleeve to the sweater. Li Fengmei had already attached the other sleeve for her.
"Great, once the sleeves are done, you can try it on. This is my first knitting project," Xiaobei said proudly.
Upon hearing the word "first", Lu Zhanguo felt slightly awkward. He failed to understand why knitting a sweater was referred to as a "first project".
Xiaobei cut off the last thread while keeping her head down, shook the sweater, and laughed contently.
"Go on, try it on." Xiaobei helped Lu Zhanguo put it on and smoothed it out. Her previously proud face fell.
The sweater was knitted according to the needle count given by Ge Chunling, but Xiaobei’s stitches varied in tightness, resulting in a sweater that was somewhat large with a few bumps in some places. This was completely different from what Xiaobei had anticipated.
"I’m sorry, I didn’t do very well this time. Next time, I will knit another one for you." Xiaobei felt somewhat embarrassed. Other wives were extremely skillful with their hands, but she was quite clumsy. If this news spread out, it would be embarrassing.
Lu Zhanguo saw the disappointment on Xiaobei’s face and looked down at the sweater he was wearing: "It’s good. It’s no problem even if it’s a bit large. When it gets cold, you can still wear a flannel shirt inside."
Xiaobei was surprised: "Are you comforting me?"
Lu Zhanguo nodded. He was puzzled. He did not say anything wrong. Inside the large sweater, a flannel shirt could indeed be added during cold days.
"Your way of comforting people is really special," Xiaobei pouted and murmured. She looked up at Lu Zhanguo’s confused face and expressed with a sigh, "You should say this, ’This sweater is knit by my wife with love. When I wear it, it warms my heart.’"
Lu Zhanguo fell silent. Such warm words were indeed a bit difficult for him to say. He just lowered his head and looked at Xiaobei, his gaze as soft as water.
Xiaobei pursed her lips, understanding that asking this man, who was not good with words, to speak romantically was quite difficult.
"Okay, I’ll go call Jiujiu to come back and wash up before bed," Xiaobei said as she tiptoed to give Lu Zhanguo a peck on the cheek.
Before Xiaobei could call for Jiujiu, Li Fengmei had already brought her back, followed by Xiaodong with a snivelling nose.
"What happened?" Xiaobei was confused. Did Jiujiu hit Xiaodong?
Li Fengmei shook her head, laughing and crying at the same time, "Xiaodong didn’t want Jiujiu to come back. He insisted on playing with her for a while longer. He even said he wanted Jiujiu to stay over at our house tonight. I told him no, then he said he wanted to marry Jiujiu so they could live together."
Upon hearing this, Xiaobei laughed: "He’s so young and already knows about marrying a wife. Alright, it’s time to go to bed. You have to go to school tomorrow. Don’t you play together every day at school?"
Xiaodong sniffled, "At school, I don’t play with Jiujiu. Boys who play with girls will be laughed at."
Li Fengmei shook her head and laughed, "And you still want to marry a wife? Hurry up and come home with me to sleep."
With a resentful face, Xiaodong returned home with Li Fengmei while mumbling, "When I grow up, I will definitely marry Jiujiu as my wife."
Xiaobei overheard this and laughed, then turned to Lu Zhanguo and said, "See, even at such a young age, he already knows about marrying a wife." She said while raising her eyebrows with a teasing look in her eyes.
