Chapter 46: Beautiful Women Don’t Know How to Live

Qian Xiaolan was calm despite her anger. She pulled Gu Yanqing, who looked embarrassed, behind her and said with a slight smile, “Sister-in-law, what you said is so funny. According to you, beautiful women can’t manage a household?”

Zhang Xiaoqin glared at her, “That’s how it is.”

Qian Xiaolan scanned her face, then swept her gaze across everyone present, her voice tinged with surprise, “But all the aunties and sisters-in-law here are prettier than you. Do you mean they’re not as good at managing a household as you? No way, no way. Could it be that you’re better than all of them?”

Zhang Xiaoqin, being particularly sensitive due to her appearance, didn’t think much when she heard Qian Xiaolan say she wasn’t pretty. She immediately exploded, “What do you mean? Are you blind?”

It was one thing to say she wasn’t as good as the younger wives, but there were also a few women in their fifties present.

Qian Xiaolan glanced at everyone’s expressions, a slight smile playing on her lips, “It’s a literal meaning. Some people are really interesting these days. They know they’re inferior to others in every way, yet they still find ways to praise themselves.”

Zhang Xiaoqin’s face turned red. She pointed at Qian Xiaolan for a while, unable to speak. Then, she turned to Gu Yanqing and said, “Xiao Gu, you should control your wife. She’s just arrived and doesn’t respect us who came earlier.”

Gu Yanqing’s face turned cold. If it weren’t for Qian Xiaolan stopping him, he would have already retorted. Now that Zhang Xiaoqin dared to come to him again, he wouldn’t hold back.

Gu Yanqing stepped out from behind Qian Xiaolan, about to speak, but someone else beat him to it.

“Gao Yingchang’s wife, what do you mean? Are you deliberately trying to cause trouble? How is Xiao Qian disrespectful? She just greeted us politely. It’s not like some people who came here with a stinky face.”

“That’s right, that’s right. Captain Gu just didn’t want to meet with some people’s sisters. Why do you have to come here and cause trouble for the young wife?”

“Hey, some people have such big faces. Do they not know how ugly they look? They dare to introduce their sisters to the young and promising Captain Gu. I spit!”…

The sisters-in-law and aunties all chimed in, directly scolding Zhang Xiaoqin until she ran away in shame.

Gu Yanqing didn’t even get a chance to speak. After they moved all the things into the house and Xiao Huang left, his face was still very unpleasant.

Qian Xiaolan suppressed her laughter, stood on tiptoe, and patted his head. “Alright, alright. Next time that woman comes, I’ll let you retort to her, okay?”

Gu Yanqing’s dejected mood instantly improved. He lowered his head and kissed Qian Xiaolan’s face, then wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder, “You don’t know how angry I was just now. If it weren’t for this skin on my body, I would have ripped her mouth off! Really, who am I? How dare some random cat or dog think about me?”

Qian Xiaolan suppressed her laughter and coaxed him, “Yes, yes, you’re the head of the Gu family, full of pride. How could you allow some random cat or dog to think about you?”

Gu Yanqing sighed softly, “That’s all in the past. Actually, I quite like life in the army. The vigorous training, fighting against the enemy. The camaraderie with my comrades, people I can trust with my back on the battlefield. There’s no petty squabbling. It’s not like before, where there were conspiracies everywhere, no bloodshed but constant vigilance. If you weren’t careful, you could be destroyed.”

Moreover, before, she was someone he couldn’t have. Now, she was his dearest wife.

Qian Xiaolan understood his feelings. She gently hugged him for a moment, then pushed him away. “Let’s quickly tidy up the house, otherwise, we won’t have a place to sleep tonight.”

The house was built with large stones. This type of house was rare on the coast. Most houses were boat-shaped mud brick houses and a few scattered brick and tile houses. Their house had three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a utility room. To Qian Xiaolan’s great satisfaction, there was a small courtyard outside. The courtyard was about twenty square meters. The left side had been cultivated by Xiao Huang and his men to be a vegetable garden. On the right side was a well and a stone table, making it very convenient to get water. When they drove into the village earlier, she had looked around. Their house was almost unique in the village. It seemed that her grandfather and father-in-law had put in a lot of effort to get this place.

Old Man Qian: It wasn’t difficult. I just used a favor.

Old Man Rong: It wasn’t difficult. I just spent some money.

The large furniture in the house, including the bed, wardrobe, tables, chairs, benches, and iron pots, had been prepared by Gu Yanqing in advance. The floor, furniture, and windows had also been wiped clean. Qian Xiaolan still asked Gu Yanqing to draw some water and wipe everything again. She herself began to unpack her luggage. She put her clothes in the wardrobe. She had brought two sets of bed sheets and duvet covers, so she put one set on the bed and put the other in the wardrobe. She put the rice, flour, oil, salt, pots, pans, bowls, and dishes in the kitchen and washed them by the well.

Gu Yanqing finished wiping the furniture and started cutting the meat with a knife. She washed the rice and put it in the pot to soak first, then she would cook later.

After finishing all this, she went back to the room, grabbed a handful of fruit candies and a few pieces of orange cake unique to An City, put them in a basket, and said to Gu Yanqing, “I’m going to find Sister Wang to take me to exchange some vegetables.”

Sister Wang, Wang Yufeng, was one of the sisters-in-law who had come to watch the commotion earlier. She was a cheerful, generous, and enthusiastic person. Before leaving, she had told Qian Xiaolan that if she needed any help, she could just ask her. Actually, several aunties and sisters-in-law had said the same thing, but Qian Xiaolan could tell that Wang Yufeng was the most sincere.

Qian Xiaolan went out with her basket. She had only taken a few steps when someone called out to her. She looked up and saw Wang Yufeng. She also had a basket in her hand.

“Xiaolan, you’re going out. Wait a bit. I have something to tell you.”

Qian Xiaolan saw the vegetables in her basket and smiled, “What a coincidence, I was just about to go to you, Sister-in-law.”

“I’ve just arrived and I’m missing everything. I was thinking of asking you to take me to exchange some vegetables in the village. I didn’t expect you to come.” Wang Yufeng laughed, “What a coincidence! I was thinking the same thing. You must be missing everything, so I brought some vegetables from my garden. It’s just that there aren’t many varieties of vegetables at this time of year, only cabbage, potatoes, celery, and scallions. But I also brought some dried cauliflower, dried string beans, dried seaweed, and dried salted fish that I sun-dried last year. It should be enough for you to eat for a while.”

Wang Yufeng said as she took out the things and put them on the table. Qian Xiaolan was amazed, watching her perform magic tricks, pulling out one item after another from her small basket.

“Sister-in-law, you’ve really saved me! These vegetables look so fresh, the dried vegetables are evenly dried, and the fish are salted and fragrant. Sister-in-law, you’re so amazing!”

“I really need these things, so I won’t be polite. Here, this is some candy and a local specialty I brought. Sister-in-law, have some to sweeten your mouth.” Qian Xiaolan said, putting the fruit candies and orange cakes in Wang Yufeng’s basket.

“Hey, hey, you can’t do that. It’s too precious. My things are all grown by me or picked up by the sea. They’re not worth much.” Wang Yufeng declined. Qian Xiaolan said, “Sister-in-law, if you don’t accept these things, I won’t take your vegetables.”

The two of them pushed back and forth for a while before Qian Xiaolan finally insisted, and Wang Yufeng finally accepted them.

Before leaving, she said to Qian Xiaolan, “We’re going to go catch seafood tomorrow morning. Do you want to come with us?”