Chapter 4 – Let Him Get His Way

Han Guobin had no idea what his wife was thinking, but the water from that small creek was very clean, so there was no need to fuss over it too much.

He didn’t dwell on it and came over to eat after drinking some water.

The cornmeal rice was topped with cucumbers and salted pork. The moment he took a bite, the taste was simply too fragrant and satisfying.

He glanced at his wife’s bowl and, seeing that she also had a good amount of meat, finally felt at ease to enjoy his meal.

Of course, Chen Rou wasn’t going to let him eat it all. The portions were equal. She never mistreated herself when it came to food, especially since half of that meat was brought out by her.

“I just saw Big Sister-in-law carrying a water bucket, and there was an eel inside,” Chen Rou said.

“That must be Tiedan’s doing,” Han Guobin replied.

Tiedan was his nephew, the eldest son of his eldest brother and sister-in-law. His brother had married much earlier than him. Tiedan was already six years old this year and had a younger brother named Ludan.

“That eel looks pretty good. When you have time, you should go and see if you can catch some. I’ll cook something delicious for you,” Chen Rou said.

That’s how life in the countryside was—whether it was eels, loaches, small shrimp, or tiny fish, as long as it was edible, it could be eaten.

“Wife, didn’t you say you couldn’t stand that muddy fishy smell?” Han Guobin was stunned for a moment and looked at his wife in surprise.

He used to catch quite a few in the past, but his wife had always despised them and refused to touch them, so he stopped catching them altogether.

But now was just the right season—eels were plump and juicy.

“I was just being childish and picky before. Now I’ve thought it through. If you have time, go catch some. I’ll cook them for you,” Chen Rou said.

Eels and loaches—weren’t they both good things? All were edible.

Han Guobin felt very happy inside but remained composed on the surface as he responded, “Then after work this evening, I’ll go and take a look.”

Chen Rou continued to direct him, “We’re out of water at home.”

“I’ll go fetch some after I finish eating,” Han Guobin nodded.

There wasn’t much else to say. After finishing her meal and washing the bowls, Chen Rou went back to the room.

Han Guobin went to fetch water, only returning after he had filled the water jar to the brim.

When he returned to the room, Chen Rou was already sleeping—or rather, she wasn’t actually sleeping but was checking the supplies in her storage space.

There were quite a lot of food and daily necessities. Some could be used gradually, while others could be exchanged for different supplies and brought home.

Looking at his clean and tidy wife, Han Guobin couldn’t help but feel a bit of longing, even though it was still broad daylight.

Counting the days, it had been a while since he had been intimate with his wife.

But given that it was still daytime, and after a whole day of work, he was tired too, so he simply lay down to rest.

When noon passed and they woke up, the couple went out together—one to work, the other to gather pigweed.

The entire day was a repetition of the same tasks, but Chen Rou didn’t mind. Life like this was the safest kind of life.

As long as one worked diligently, there was no need to worry about not having food to eat. At least there was stability, unlike the constant fear of having nothing the next day. If this wasn’t considered a good life, then what was?

Today, she had earned three work points. The group of older village women, who thought she was all talk, were genuinely surprised.

“Guobin’s wife has really come around?”

“Looks like that bump on her head wasn’t in vain. She’s talking less and working more. I saw Guobin today, and he looked full of energy.”

“My old man came home saying Guobin is really strong and hardworking.”

“……”

For a man to be so vigorous and energetic while working outside, wouldn’t that mean his wife was taking good care of him at home?

Otherwise, if things were a mess at home, even thinking about work would be dreadful, let alone actually doing it.

Given Chen Rou’s performance over these past two days, it really did seem like she had a change of heart.

Of course, there were still some who were dismissive, saying things like, “A dog can’t stop eating shit.” A person’s nature wasn’t something that could be changed so easily.

Chen Rou didn’t care about the villagers’ opinions at all. Seeing that it was still early when she got home, she decided to wash her hair while there was time.

Next door, Ma’s wife saw her using soap and couldn’t help but roll her eyes around slyly as she said, “Second Sister-in-law Han, this soap of yours smells really nice. This is the first time I’ve seen such a thing. Where did you buy it?”

It took Chen Rou a moment to realize that “Second Sister-in-law Han” was referring to her. She glanced at Ma’s wife and replied, “From the city.”

“That must be expensive,” Ma’s wife said as she came in.

“It’s not cheap,” Chen Rou saw through her little schemes but didn’t mind and continued washing her hair.

“My scalp’s been feeling itchy too,” Ma’s wife remarked.

“This soap cost me thirty cents,” Chen Rou said. “A few days ago, I even bumped my head because of thirty cents.”

Ma’s wife, Zhou Zhen, said awkwardly, “You’re willing to spend thirty cents on a bar of soap?” If it were her, she wouldn’t. She was the type who wished she could stretch every penny into two.

“What was the commotion at your house today?” Chen Rou asked.

Zhou Zhen’s attention was immediately diverted, and she began complaining about her mother-in-law favoring her younger brother-in-law. The Ma family only had two brothers. Zhou Zhen’s husband was the elder, with three older sisters between them. The younger brother-in-law was born later and was now of marrying age.

Today’s quarrel started because the younger brother-in-law had taken a liking to a girl from the neighboring village and sent her two taels of pork as a token.

In short, it was yet another pile of family drama.

Of course, in the countryside, such things were the most common.

Comparing her own family to the Ma family next door, Chen Rou felt much better. At least the Han family had already split households, while the entire Ma family still lived together under one roof, constantly bickering—it was maddening.

Chen Rou enjoyed a nice, comfortable hair wash and didn’t let Zhou Zhen take advantage of her in any way.

Though a bar of soap wasn’t a big deal, Chen Rou and Zhou Zhen weren’t close, so she wasn’t about to offer her a freebie.

But perhaps because their conversation went fairly well today, Zhou Zhen couldn’t help but come over from time to time afterward to gossip about this and that.

Chen Rou usually just listened quietly, rarely interrupting.

As the days passed like this, in the blink of an eye, it was already mid-September.

That morning, Chen Rou got up early and pulled out the peanuts from the family’s small private plot in the backyard. There really weren’t that many. She used a sieve to dry the freshly pulled peanuts.

She didn’t have to work today. The team had enough pig feed stored up, so there was no need to collect more for the next couple of days.

Of course, not going to work meant no work points. Chen Rou had considered going to do heavier labor instead, but Han Guobin stopped her.

The autumn harvest was starting in just a few days. It was better to rest up for now, there’d be no shortage of work later.

Chen Rou was thinking about how the peanuts from their private plot needed to be dried and stored properly. After that, she also wanted to plant a batch of cabbages and radishes, to be harvested before the first frost. So simply put, she decided not to go out today.

By the time Han Guobin got up, it was already almost six-thirty.

Chen Rou had already steamed the buns and stir-fried some baby bok choy with crispy pork bits. The aroma was mouthwatering.

“Wife, you should eat more.” Han Guobin said, picking up a soft, greasy piece of pork crackling and placing it into her bowl.

Chen Rou glanced at him. People in peaceful times often said men think with their lower half — that saying really wasn’t wrong.

Last night, she hadn’t been able to resist, so he’d gotten his way. After all, they were both adults, sharing the same kang bed. It was only natural.

But looking at the man today, he was practically overflowing with tenderness.

Chen Rou didn’t feel like she’d lost out. On the contrary, her man had quite the physique. She was very satisfied. Still, she was a bit worried.

She didn’t want to have a child too early. Otherwise, there’d be a lot of work she wouldn’t be able to do.

As she ate, Chen Rou’s mind wandered, but before long, her attention returned to the backyard’s private plot.

After Han Guobin left for work, she went to the backyard to dry the peanuts while also tilling the soil, letting the land air out for a couple of days before planting the radish and cabbage seeds.

Then she wondered if she should make a trip into town.

Lately, she had gotten somewhat familiar with Zhou Zhen, so she casually brought it up with her.

“It’ll get busy soon. When that happens, there won’t be time to go to town. Should we go now and see if there’s anything we need to buy?” Chen Rou asked.

“Not now. Let’s wait until we’re done with the busy period. We can go then,” Zhou Zhen replied.

She also had a few things she wanted to buy.

Hearing this, Chen Rou didn’t press further. She didn’t feel like going alone, after all, it was quite a long walk.

With nothing urgent to do, Chen Rou thought it over and decided to go to the backyard to pick a few cucumbers, a few tomatoes, and two dried tilapia fish.

These fish were caught by Han Guobin. A few days ago, he’d brought back several. She had cooked two right away, and since the weather had been good, she split and salted the rest to dry them into fish jerky.

Carrying these things, she headed over to the neighboring village.

Her maiden family’s home was very close, only separated from her husband’s village by one other. It took just half an hour to walk there.

The Chen family’s household relations were quite complicated.

Chen Rou’s father and mother were the second branch of the family. Above them was the first branch, and below them was the third. Not to mention the distant relatives, even this second branch was prolific.

They had three sons and two daughters in total.

The first three were older brothers, and then came the two daughters. Chen Rou was the youngest in the family.

In the past, she had relied on her status as the youngest to be spoiled, often lazing around and eating well at her maiden home, to the point where none of her three sisters-in-law had a good impression of her.

But Chen Rou’s father and mother were very good to her.

Because of this, Chen Rou never felt like visiting her parents would make her unwelcome.

Today, her mother didn’t go to work. She was getting on in years and would often stay home. Seeing her youngest daughter come by, she was a little surprised and asked, “What brings you here today?”

Chen Rou smiled. “I’ve got some free time these couple of days, so I thought I’d come home for a visit.”

“It’s fine that you came, but why bring things with you?” Mother Chen glanced at the basket of goods. Though they weren’t worth much, it was her daughter’s token of affection, and it made her happy.

Chen Rou said, “Did Father and the others all go to work?”

“They’ve all gone,” Mother Chen nodded, poured her a glass of water, and even added a bit of white sugar.

Chen Rou accepted without hesitation, taking a sip. Mother Chen looked her daughter up and down and whispered, “No good news yet?”

Chen Rou inwardly thought she was actually a little afraid of there being such news. She decided that in the future, if Han Guobin ever got any ideas, he’d have to take care of it himself.

“There’s no rush for that, Mother. Besides coming to see you, I also wanted to ask — is there any way for Uncle to get his hands on some cotton cloth and raw cotton?” As she spoke, Chen Rou deliberately lowered her voice.

By “Uncle,” she was referring to Mother Chen’s brother, who had some discreet channels for this kind of thing, though it was all done privately and never out in the open.

Back in the days when the Chen family was too poor to even feed its children, the original Chen Rou had almost died. It was this very uncle who had given them two jin of rice and flour, helping them pull through that difficult time.

Of course, it was also because Mother Chen had the best relationship with her brother. Otherwise, in those hard years, who would have been willing to spare even a grain of food?

Mother Chen immediately looked around warily, then led her daughter back into the house.