”They weren’t bad to me.” Gu Zhao wiped the dates in his hand, handed them to his wife, suppressed the tea smell, and told Zhou Zhou the truth, “I grew up in an old house. My grandma and grandpa were the best to me among my cousins. After my mother passed away, I could eat a few more bites of sugar-coated eggs.”

　　Sugar-water eggs are rare. The elders at home usually cook them to feed children or women who are in confinement after childbirth. Children cannot eat a whole egg, so most of them are shared and eaten with a little sweetness.

　　The original person was a sweet-talker who acted obediently and pitifully, and he was pretty, so he got a lot of benefits.

　　”Before I was thirteen, I didn’t do much farm work in the old house. My three aunts and sisters cut grass for the pigs, fed the chickens and ducks, washed clothes and cooked. I went to study with the teacher in the morning and read in the afternoon. Grandma wouldn’t let anyone disturb me. Later, the family split up, and it was not convenient to build a yard at home, so I found an excuse to stay in the old house for almost a year.”

　　The original person was so cunning. The courtyard of the branch house was built, and there was work to do everywhere in the new house. There was also my uncle’s family in the old house, so I didn’t have to do any eating, drinking, or washing. But it was delayed for almost a year.

　　”After I got back, even though my stepmother said something unpleasant, she did what she was supposed to do. If she dared to shout, I would have demanded to go back to the old house to find my grandma.”

　　Therefore, I never suffered any harsh treatment from my stepmother when I was at home.

　　Li Zhouzhou didn’t understand, “Why did my husband do this today——”

　　”Did your stepmother and my father get so angry today?” Gu Zhao answered, smiling on his face but without any smile in his eyes, and said, “She wants you to work.”

　　Li Zhouzhou thought it was a big deal. After eating the sweet dates, he held the pit in his mouth to taste the flavor. He said vaguely, “I just do the laundry and cooking. It’s not tiring. I’m used to doing it every day. She’s an elder and she’s never been mean to you. It’s nothing.”

　　He knew that his husband loved him, and that was enough.

　　”Be careful not to swallow the core.” Gu Zhao reminded him. Seeing Zhou Zhou spit it out, he said, “You don’t know what kind of person my stepmother is. That’s because I was not someone who was easy to bully before, so she didn’t bully you. If I didn’t stand by you today and block you, you would not be able to get any good things in the Gu family if you were obedient in doing the laundry and cooking today. People would even say you are stupid behind your back.”

　　This is what happened in my last life.

　　The original self was as concerned about face as Gu’s father. He accepted the marriage into the Li family in order to get the Li family to support him in the imperial examination. However, he could not let outsiders mention it, as it would hit a sore spot. So he tried to save face by bullying and scolding Li Zhouzhou in public.

　　What this means is that even though I have married into the Li family, the Li family and Li Zhouzhou still listen to me as their husband.

　　After returning to his parents’ home, Li Guihua gave birth in the twelfth lunar month, when the weather was freezing cold, and there was no one from her parents’ home to take care of her during the confinement period. So she turned to Li Zhouzhou, saying that the two villages were close, and asked Li Zhouzhou to come and take care of her before dawn and go back at night.

　　She didn’t even give Li Zhouzhou a bite of food to eat.

　　It was snowing and icy in winter, and Li Zhouzhou was washing clothes and cooking at Gu’s house. His ten fingers were frozen red and cracked. Not to mention that he didn’t get any benefits at all, and Li Guihua also disliked him for his clumsy hands and feet.

　　Gu Zhao felt heartbroken when he thought of this, and he hated that his original body was not human.

　　Fortunately, he wore it and occupied the original body, otherwise these things would have happened again.

　　”Zhou Zhou, if you feel wronged and don’t want to do something in the future, tell me.” Gu Zhao held Zhou Zhou’s hand, interlaced their fingers, and slowly and lovingly stroked Zhou Zhou’s fingertips, which were covered with layers of calluses.

　　Li Zhouzhou felt itchy when being touched, but he didn’t move and let his husband touch him obediently.

　　He felt sweet inside, sweeter than the dates he had just eaten. He never thought that his husband would make his father angry because of such a small matter as not letting him work. He wanted to say that it was okay to do some work, but after thinking about it, he didn’t say it, because this was because his husband loved him. If he said that again, he would be considering others and hurt his husband’s feelings for him.

　　”I understand, husband.” Li Zhouzhou said seriously.

　　The couple walked back slowly, sharing the dates, one each, very sweetly. When they reached Xiping Village, it took them half an hour to walk.

　　”Didn’t Zhou Zhou go back to visit his parents? Why is he back so early?” Aunt Wang asked outside the yard.

　　Li Zhouzhou hummed and said, “After lunch, my father-in-law and mother-in-law have something else to do, so they won’t keep us here any longer.”

　　Aunt Wang: …

　　Didn’t you realize that Li Zhouzhou went back with her husband and dared to call Gu Zhao’s parents Gu’s family? Gu Zhao didn’t say anything, how could he tolerate this?