Chapter 17: No, I Covered the Wrong Thing

　　　　

Jiang Ning went to the backyard to wash up. After washing, she lay in bed but couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.

In an era without nightlife, every household would turn off the lights and go to sleep at a certain time.

Even if she couldn’t sleep, she had to try. Jiang Ning forced herself to sleep.

Because she went to bed too early, she woke up as soon as it was dawn, and there was even the sound of roosters crowing outside.

The first thing to do every morning was to go to the toilet for a bowel movement. The washroom and toilet were both in the backyard.

Waking up too early, Jiang Ning walked to the backyard in a daze. When she reached the washroom door, she pushed it open without thinking.

“Who?”

At the moment the door was pushed open, the man’s alert gaze fell on the doorway.

Hearing the voice, Jiang Ning became a little more awake. She saw a man standing in the washroom. He was completely naked and holding a water ladle in his hand.

Jiang Ning’s gaze followed the position of the ladle.

Perfect!

This man’s body was absolutely perfect. After looking at the upper part, her gaze moved downwards.

Wow~

Really nice!

Just as she took a glance, it was blocked, and it was blocked by the water ladle.

Shen Mo had woken up early in the morning, feeling an unshakable sense of urgency in his heart. He decided to take a cold shower to cool off.

But halfway through, he didn’t expect Jiang Ning to suddenly push the door open and see him showering. This girl seemed to have no sense of shyness, which made him feel embarrassed and shy instead.

Noticing that the area she was observing was blocked, Jiang Ning instinctively looked up, and their eyes met at that moment.

“Ah!”

She quickly raised her hand to cover her chest.

They were still looking at each other.

Startled, Jiang Ning realized what had happened and was fully awake now.

Wait, she had covered the wrong place!

Her hand moved from her chest to her face, covering her eyes as she backed away, saying, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, why are you taking a shower so early in the morning!”

Shen Mo, of course, couldn’t say that he had woken up early to take a shower because of her.

He quickly dried his body with a towel, put on his clothes, and walked out the door.

Seeing Jiang Ning still outside, Shen Mo felt a bit apologetic. He had forgotten to lock the door while showering, which allowed her to walk in.

Recalling what she had just seen, Jiang Ning’s face turned red, and she felt so embarrassed that she wished she could dig a hole in the ground and hide in it.

Before, the naked bodies she had seen were those of cadavers used for medical study, and she hadn’t felt awkward while focusing on her medical research. But Shen Mo was a living person.

“I’m sorry,” Shen Mo apologized as soon as he stepped out.

He was the one who had been intruded upon, yet he was the one apologizing to her.

Jiang Ning forced herself to say, “I… I didn’t mean to.”

Shen Mo noticed her embarrassment and couldn’t help but smile.

Actually, he had noticed earlier that his wife seemed quite interested in his body.

Shen Mo said, “I’m done washing up. I’ll make breakfast. You can go inside now.”

Jiang Ning nodded and quickly passed him to enter the washroom. By the time she came out, Shen Mo had already cooked two bowls of noodles with great efficiency.

Watching Shen Mo busy at the stove, Jiang Ning thought back to her first impression of him. She had initially thought he was a cold, tough man, but after these few days of interaction, his actions were quite the opposite of that tough image.

He took care of her, tried his best to give her what she wanted, and even took the initiative to cook and wash dishes.

Hmm, he really was a nice man.

After breakfast, Shen Mo left the house. At that time, Jiang Ning was changing out of her pajamas, and Shen Mo mentioned that he was going out for a bit.

Jiang Ning wasn’t idle either. The house was already very clean, but there were two empty plots outside that Shen Mo hadn’t touched.

He didn’t know what Jiang Ning planned to do with it.

Jiang Ning looked at the wild grass growing on the barren soil in the yard, rolled up her sleeves, and squatted down to start pulling out the weeds.

As soon as she saw this yard, she had a plan in mind. The empty space under the big tree would be perfect for planting some melons, fruits, and vegetables. On the right side, Shen Mo had already dug a pit to create a water feature for fish. Next to the water feature, it would be nice to plant some flowers and set up a few racks for growing grapes.

When the grapes matured, they could be eaten or used to make wine.

The imagination was beautiful, and the more she thought about it, the more motivated she became.

After pulling out some of the grass, Jiang Ning noticed the hoe nearby and, annoyed at her oversight, walked over to pick it up and started digging.

After digging for a while, Jiang Ning wiped the sweat from her chin and marveled at how good her physical condition was, likely from doing farm work regularly.

When Shen Mo walked into the courtyard with steady steps, he saw that Jiang Ning had almost dug up the entire area under the big tree.

Jiang Ning had pulled out a lot of weeds and, after clearing this area, she took a short break, planning to deal with the rest of the weeds after resting.

When Shen Mo returned, she had just finished her break and was about to handle the remaining weeds. As she bent down, a large hand grabbed her wrist.

Jiang Ning instinctively looked up, and Shen Mo had returned.

He was holding some things in his hands.

Seeing the fresh pork belly in Shen Mo’s hand, Jiang Ning’s eyes lit up. In the many days since she had come here, she hadn’t had a single delicious meal.

Jiang Ning was a foodie and often ordered takeout when she was lazy, but those pre-made dishes were just edible, not delicious.

To satisfy her taste buds, she had learned to cook by watching cooking shows.

“Let me handle this,” Shen Mo said, looking at her fingers that had a hint of pink.

It was true that men could do this kind of work more efficiently, so Jiang Ning nodded and then pointed to the things in his hand, saying, “Then give these to me, and I’ll put them in the kitchen.”

Shen Mo had bought quite a lot of things, and they were quite heavy, so he hesitated a bit.

Jiang Ning wasn’t being delicate and directly took the things from him, then headed to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Jiang Ning put the pork belly in a bamboo basket and then opened one of the bags. Inside were various seasonings like soy sauce, vinegar, white sugar, cooking oil, green onions, garlic, Sichuan pepper, flour, and other things.

Jiang Ning was impressed by his thoughtfulness. After all, even the most skilled cook can’t make a good meal without the right ingredients. With these things, the dishes would surely be delicious.

This bag contained basic seasonings, and when Jiang Ning opened another bag, she found two cans of malted milk and a large bag of fruit candies, along with some cookies and other snacks.

Was Shen Mo treating her like a child by buying so many snacks?

In this era, snacks were considered luxury items, and the price of these snacks was probably several times higher than the bag of seasonings.

Jiang Ning took the bag of snacks into the house, and as she came out, she heard someone knocking.

“Young Shen, Young Shen.”

Shen Mo went to open the door, and a woman in her forties or fifties was standing there. Seeing the person at the door, he said, “Sister-in-law, what brings you here?”

Sister Li pushed a bunch of bok choy and a bag of things into Shen Mo’s hands. “I came to give you some homegrown bok choy and pickled mustard greens. You left pretty quickly earlier, didn’t you?”

Shen Mo had returned the noodles he had borrowed yesterday.

Sister Li was the wife of Commander Li, Shen Mo’s superior, and lived in the neighboring yard. Shen Mo had always been alone in the military, and during festivals, Commander Li would invite him to join their family for meals and celebrations.