Chapter 14

The old women in the village begged Jiang Chunzao for a while, but she still kept her cold and indifferent expression. After a moment, one of the smarter women spoke up: Shitou’s Morher, look, we’ll help you carry your things home as an apology, how about it?”

“That’s right, Shitou’s mother, look at all these things you bought—grains, cotton, cloth. You can’t carry all this by yourself, and you’ll have to wait for Brother Lu Lin to come pick you up. Why don’t we help you carry it home instead?”

The other women quickly agreed with her.

Hmm? Help her carry the things home?

That sounds like a good idea.

Jiang Chunzao glanced at the pile of items on the roadside, with a raised eyebrow. If it weren’t for these women trying to take her things earlier, she wouldn’t have gotten so upset. After scolding them earlier, she thought it was over.

Who would have thought these women would willingly help her carry the items home? Well, since that’s the case, she might as well thank them.

Jiang Chunzao nodded and gladly agreed to the suggestion, but still asked with some concern, “But everyone else bought things from the county too. If you’re helping me carry my things, what about the things you bought?”

Lu Changshan’s wife, upon hearing this, volunteered: “It’s fine, I’m here. I’ll watch everyone else’s things for you!”

Jiang Chunzao sweetly thanked Lu Changshan’s wife.

When the women saw Jiang Chunzao nodding, they knew she had decided to let them off the hook. They all secretly breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to help her carry the things home.

The woman with the long, thin face was still wailing by the side. Lu Changshan’s wife nudged her with her elbow and casually said: “Gousheng’s wife, what are you still doing here? Hurry up and help our Sister Chunzao carry her things home. Otherwise, if Sister Chunzao goes to the village chief later and mentions what happened today, you’ll really regret it. Think about it carefully.”

The thin-faced woman’s husband was named Lu Gousheng, and people in the village called her “Gousheng’s wife.”

In the past, she liked to take advantage of others in the village. Whenever anyone had something good, she’d shamelessly try to get a piece for herself. In times like these, when everyone was struggling, no one would give anything away to someone like her.

What a joke!

This Lu Gousheng’s wife couldn’t get any benefits from other people’s families in the village, so she would sulk and hang around in front of people’s doors. People who didn’t know her thought she must have been wronged, but those familiar with her saw right through her, and they all found her incredibly annoying.

After Jiang Chunzao had punched her earlier, Lu Gousheng’s wife still had a burning pain on her face. Hearing what Lu Changshan’s wife said, she got even angrier, scrunched up her nose and spoke up: “What? Lu Changshan’s wife, did I hear you right? Jiang Chunzao just punched me, and my face still feels like it’s on fire. I’m not going to find her and settle the score, and now you want me to help her? What am I, some kind of doormat? Why should I help? No way!”

Lu Changshan’s wife had long suspected that Lu Gousheng’s wife wouldn’t willingly help carry things. She glanced over at Jiang Chunzao, who was directing the women to help carry things home, and thought to herself that since Jiang Chunzao and her husband had helped her earlier, now it was her turn to help out by handling Lu Gousheng’s wife.

Determined, Lu Changshan’s wife spat on the ground and began to shout at her: “Bah! You really have the nerve to say that! You want to settle the score with Chunzao? How thick-skinned can you be? Don’t you know why Chunzao hit you? If you hadn’t tried to steal her things earlier, would she have hit you?”

“Fine! If you don’t want to help, then let’s go to the village chief right now and talk about this. Let’s see how the village chief handles you!”

As soon as Lu Gousheng’s wife heard that they were going to the village chief, she immediately chickened out. Was it really worth making such a fuss over something so small? The village chief wasn’t someone you wanted to mess with.

She had heard that the higher-ups were promoting law-abiding behavior and peaceful neighborhood relations. If the village chief found out she was causing trouble at such a time, she’d probably get publicly scolded.

With that thought, the sweat started pouring down her forehead. She quickly smiled and tried to appease Lu Changshan’s wife: “Ah, Big Sister Changshan, I was just joking earlier. Of course I’ll help, I’ll help! I’ll go right now and help Chunzao carry the things.”

After saying this, Lu Gousheng’s wife hurriedly ran over to help Jiang Chunzao carry the things. By the time she got there, Jiang Chunzao was almost done and was about to pack up the remaining bags to head home.

As she turned around, she saw the thin-faced woman, who had been punched earlier, hurriedly running over to offer her help.

Jiang Chunzao wasn’t about to be polite. She immediately handed the heavy bag she was carrying to the thin-faced woman. The bag contained about twenty pounds of cotton and ten pounds of flour—extremely heavy. When it landed in Lu Gousheng’s wife’s hands, she almost dropped it.

She staggered under the weight, cursing the Jiang family ancestors in her mind.

~

By now, it was almost dark. The village men had just finished their work, while the women and children had already started cooking dinner. The young wives and grandmothers, having prepared the meal, sat outside their homes on stools, stitching the soles of shoes, waiting for their husbands to come home and eat.

The smoke from cooking fires curled up into the sky in Lujiacun, and the fragrance of dinner wafted from every household. As the men returned from work, they all inhaled the delicious smells drifting through the village, their stomachs growling in response.

Lu Gousheng, carrying a hoe, walked home with the other villagers. As he walked, he saw a group of women up ahead, each carrying large and small bundles. He grinned at the old man beside him, Deng Laotou, and said:

“Uncle Deng, look at those foolish women up ahead. What are they doing?”

Deng Laotou followed his gaze and grinned, showing his toothless mouth:

“Don’t ask me, old man. Isn’t your wife in that group?”

Lu Gousheng’s grin froze on his face.

Sure enough, the woman with the swaying, figure up ahead was none other than his wife.

~

Jiang Chunzao led the group of women on their way home. The village was bustling with people, and many young wives had gathered in groups of three or five outside their homes, stitching shoe soles while chatting.

As they watched the group of women carrying things through the village, they couldn’t help but laugh and whisper to one another: “Hey, what’s going on here?”

“Who knows? I see Lu Gousheng’s wife among them. With her around, nothing good will come of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that.”

The young wives whispered in hushed tones, but the gossip reached the ears of the group of older women, making their faces flush with embarrassment.

They shot angry glances at the thin-faced woman. If it weren’t for her, they wouldn’t have had to endure such humiliation.

Lu Gousheng’s wife, feeling the weight of the stares, lowered her head and walked at the back, too scared to even lift it.

Jiang Chunzao, however, paid no attention to the villagers’ curious looks. Her mind was on her family, and she walked briskly, eager to return home.

After walking for a while, they happened to meet Lu Lin, who was on his way to pick up his wife.

Lu Lin had already returned home and settled the children, then had been thinking about his wife. He was walking towards the village entrance when, to his surprise, he met his wife leading the group of women, each carrying heavy bundles, on their way home.

Lu Lin, completely puzzled, approached with a look of confusion in his dark eyes. “What’s going on here?”

Jiang Chunzao followed his gaze and slowly said, “Oh, it’s nothing. We bought a lot of things in the city today, and these sisters are just being kind, helping us carry the things back home.”

She then turned to the group of women, smiling brightly. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, Chunzao sister is right, we’re just helping out,” one woman said.

“Yes, yes, helping, helping,” another quickly added.

A group of women, all blushing with embarrassment, nodded awkwardly.

Lu Lin: … 

~

With the “helpful” women carrying the things home, Jiang Chunzao and Lu Lin both found it much easier.

The thin-faced woman, who wasn’t at all willing to help in the first place, saw Lu Lin arrive and murmured to the other women around her, “Since Lu Lin’s here, let him carry the things home. He’s a big man, after all. We can’t let all of us women do the work, right? Jiang Chunzao might care for her husband, but there’s a limit, don’t you think?”

The other women secretly agreed with her. Lu Lin had wanted to help, but before he could, Jiang Chunzao was already on edge. She grabbed his arm and glared at the women.

“What’s wrong? I do care about my husband! If you have a problem with that, we can go straight to the village chief and talk it over!”

The women immediately fell silent, pretending not to hear her. Of course, they were only helping Jiang Chunzao to keep her from telling the village chief about today’s events!

When Jiang Chunzao saw them quiet down, she let out a huff and released her grip on Lu Lin’s arm. However, as soon as she did, his large hand gripped hers again, and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t pull it away.

Confused, Jiang Chunzao looked up, only to meet Lu Lin’s intense gaze. His eyes were full of affection, and she could almost feel the warmth radiating from him.

Heh, she had just openly admitted that she cared for him!

~

That night, after hearing those few words from his wife, Lu Lin looked at Jiang Chunzao with nothing but tenderness and adoration all evening.

Even Jiang Chunzao’s mother, noticed the “romantic” atmosphere between the couple.

She felt like she couldn’t stay in the room much longer.

After dinner, she quickly bathed her two little grandchildren, and when the water was ready, she took Shitou and Moli to her own room to sleep.

That night, after a long day of not having a private time with his wife, Captain Lu finally got his chance to enjoy his wife’s company.

The two were sweet together until late into the night, unwilling to part even as they fell asleep, and exhausted.