Marrying My Bestie's Ferocious Brother - He Calls Me His Baby!-Chapter 287 - 286: Honey, I Can’t Draw Anymore! He Kneels Down: Can’t Draw? I’ll Take Care of You!
The chief editor Sun’s car drove away.
Took away a cup of unfinished tea, leaving a colossal task.
Gu Lan excitedly paced back and forth in the room.
"Sister-in-law! ’Renminhua Magazine’! Now everyone in the courtyard will be so jealous of you!"
Lin Wan Yi didn’t speak.
She walked to the window and looked at the big locust tree outside the yard.
Under the shade, a few military wives were sewing shoe soles while chatting, occasional laughter echoing out.
The magazine’s honor is great.
But she knew very well, the root of the art lies within them.
"Lanlan, are there still any sunflower seeds at home?"
"Yes, do you want some, sister-in-law?"
"No."
Lin Wan Yi walked into the kitchen, poured a small bag of pumpkin seeds into a basin, and then quietly added some spiritual spring water.
After soaking for a while, she slowly dried them over a small flame in a pan.
A strange, rich fragrance wafted out from the kitchen.
Afternoon.
The sun tilted westward, dispersing much of the heat.
Carrying a plate of roasted seeds, along with a small notebook and pencil, Lin Wan Yi walked out of the courtyard gate.
She headed straight for the big locust tree.
It was the unspoken "news center" of the military district courtyard.
Seeing Lin Wan Yi approaching, the lively chatter quieted down.
A few military wives stopped what they were doing and looked at her in unison.
The leading sister in law Liu, the wife of Manager Liu from the logistics department, who usually had the loudest voice, now only managed a forced smile.
"Oh, isn’t this our courtyard’s future great painter? How come you have time to mingle with us common folk?"
Her words carried a hint of mockery.
The previous incident with Li Hongxia had blown up, and everyone knew Lin Wan Yi was now under the protection of the Gu Family and Mr. Chen, so no one dared to offend her openly.
But the gossip behind her back had never ceased.
Lin Wan Yi acted as if she didn’t hear the estrangement.
She boldly placed the enamel plate she had brought on the stone table in the middle.
"Sister-in-law Liu, please don’t make fun of me."
She first took a small stool and sat down, lowering her stance significantly.
"Chief Editor Sun asked me to draw military wives, but facing the paper, I couldn’t draw a single line."
She picked up a sunflower seed, shelling it as she talked.
"Chief Editor Sun said to draw a hero’s wife, selfless and dedicated."
"But I thought for ages and still couldn’t picture what a hero’s wife looks like."
She lifted her head, glancing around.
"I just remembered when I first arrived at the courtyard, I couldn’t even light the stove properly, filling the whole room with smoke, almost choking the child."
At her words, several younger military wives couldn’t help but laugh.
"At that time, I thought being a military wife was really tough."
Lin Wan Yi’s words were sincere without a hint of showing off, more like sharing her own embarrassing stories.
The wariness on Sister in law Liu’s face eased a little.
"Who says it isn’t? I remember when I just came over with the troops, I knew nothing."
"Everyone, don’t just watch, try some, these are the seeds I just roasted."
Lin Wan Yi pushed the plate to the center.
The military wives looked at each other.
A young military wife named Su Qing, whose husband was in the reconnaissance company and was often not home, hesitated for a moment, still reached out for a seed.
"Sister-in-law, you’re too polite..."
She popped a seed into her mouth, gently cracking it.
"Snap."
An indescribably rich fragrance exploded instantly on her taste buds.
Su Qing halted her movements.
So fragrant.
It was ten times more flavorful than the best seeds she’d ever tasted!
She couldn’t resist grabbing another one.
"Sister-in-law Liu, you should try too, sister-in-law’s skills are amazing!"
Sister-in-law Liu, half-believing, grabbed a seed as well.
Once it entered her mouth, she regretted it.
Regretting that she hadn’t eaten it sooner because of her pretentiousness.
The seeds were not only fragrant but as they went down, it felt like a warm stream slid down her throat, dissipating much of the day’s fatigue.
"Oh my, Wanyi, where did you buy these seeds? They’re so delicious!"
"Just something I roasted myself," Lin Wan Yi smiled, "if you like them, have more."
With the seeds as "icebreakers", the atmosphere immediately changed.
The conversation box was opened just like that.
"Difficult? It’s more than difficult!" Sister-in-law Liu said energetically as she shelled the seeds.
"My old Liu, such a broad-shouldered man, wears only two sets of military uniforms all year round. One New Year, he insisted on wearing a torn one back, saying it had sentimental value. I stayed up all night, patching it up, and the next day he wore it to the reunion! Wasn’t that embarrassing!"
"That’s nothing!" Su Qing chimed in with vigor.
"My husband, last month after an exercise, lost ten pounds! I was heartbroken and stewed a chicken for him, but as soon as he got a call, he left again! I drank that pot of chicken soup by myself for three days!"
"The scariest thing is when the child gets a fever in the middle of the night, and the man isn’t home, so you have to carry the child to the clinic yourself, and it’s so dark, it’s terrifying."
"And, the fabric we receive, we can’t bear to make ourselves new clothes, all turn into insoles for the men, just afraid their feet will get blisters during training..."
One after another, they spoke.
Talking about trivial matters.
All about daily necessities.
All complaints.
And all concerns.
Lin Wan Yi didn’t interject, just listened quietly.
The pencil in her hand moved swiftly on the small notebook.
She drew Sister in law Liu’s expression of both anger and pride when talking about patches.
She drew the trace of heartache on Su Qing’s face when mentioning that pot of chicken soup.
She drew another military wife instinctively hugging herself when talking about her sick child.
These were the most genuine and flesh-and-blood aspects under the "heroic wife" image.
It was late at night.
In the Gu Family Courtyard, only one room still had its light on.
Lin Wan Yi sat at the desk, chaos strewn all over the floor.
All were discarded drafts.
She drew Sister in law Liu, thinking it was too specific.
She drew Su Qing, thinking it was too one-sided.
She wanted to draw one person, yet wanted to draw everyone. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
She was tired, her shoulders sore to the point where she couldn’t lift them, but her mind was becoming clearer.
The door was gently pushed open.
Gu Yanshen walked in carrying a basin of hot water.
He didn’t speak, just placed the basin by her feet.
Then, he squatted down.
He took off her shoes and socks, placing her cold feet into the warm water.
His hands were large, rough, with the calluses of years of holding a gun.
Those hands held her slender ankles, massaging them neither too lightly nor too heavily.
The hot water covered the tops of her feet, warmth spreading slowly from the soles upwards throughout her body.
Lin Wan Yi leaned against the back of the chair, watching the man crouched before her.
He bowed his head, concentrated, as if polishing the most treasured weapon.
He asked nothing.
Yet he understood everything.
After a long time, he lifted his head, glancing at the floor littered with sheets of paper.
"Don’t rush."
His voice was low, with the huskiness unique to the night.
"If you can’t draw it, then don’t."
"I’ll support you."
Lin Wan Yi’s heart was scalded by these four words.
She shook her head.
"No."
She withdrew her feet, drying them with a towel.
She sat back at the desk, picking up a brand-new paintbrush.
"I want to draw."
She looked at him, word by word.
"For you, and for them."
In that moment, all the chaotic images in her mind settled down.
All the stories, all the emotions, gathered at the tip of her brush.
She stopped thinking about specific people, specific faces.
She only thought of an image.
A patch.
A patch clumsily yet warmly sewn, stitch by stitch, with a wife’s concern and love.
Under the dim yellow light, the brush made a rustling sound on the paper.
Gu Yanshen did not leave, he just stood quietly behind her, like a silent mountain.
No one knew how much time passed.
Lin Wan Yi finally put down the brush.
She let out a long breath, as if drained of all strength.
On the paper.
No complete portrait.
Just a close-up of a military uniform, a little faded from washing.
There was a hole in the shoulder of the uniform.
A woman’s hand holding a needle and thread, mending it.
That hand wasn’t slender and perfect; the knuckles even appeared a bit rough.
The most striking feature was the patch.
The stitches weren’t neat; some places were even crooked, showing the mender perhaps wasn’t skilled in needlework, but each stitch was effortful.
The whole picture, without a single word, was full of stories.
Full of life.
Lin Wan Yi held it up for the man behind her to see.
Gu Yanshen looked at it silently.
Looked for a long, long time.
He reached out, not to take the painting.
His fingertips, with a burning warmth, gently stroked that brand-new, somewhat clumsy patch on the painting.
His voice was very low, as if talking to himself.
"This is our life."
