Chapter 131: Achoo—First They Curse, Then They Think, Then They Miss You

Not far away, Chu Yue was chatting with Chen Fengying and the others when she suddenly sneezed.

“Achoo—!”

Chen Fengying immediately reacted nervously, “Chu-girl, there’s a saying: ‘First they curse, then they think of you, and finally they miss you.’ If you suddenly sneeze like that, someone must be cursing you! Quick, spit three times! I’ll help you curse them back!”

Another sister-in-law chimed in, “Yes, yes, yes! We’ll all help you curse them back!”

Everyone saying this wasn’t just for fun—they all clearly knew exactly who the one doing the cursing was. Without needing to say it, they had all silently taken Chu Yue’s side.

They all knew that after what happened yesterday, Li Jinhua could no longer stay in the compound. Chu Yue had rid them of a constant troublemaker, and they were secretly thrilled.

Faced with such obvious cursing, Chu Yue seemed completely unfazed. She shook her head and smiled with calm ease.

“Just a few curses—who cares? I can’t hear them, and I don’t take them to heart. It’s not like I’m losing a piece of flesh. The one doing the cursing is the one wasting all that effort, upsetting herself, and shortening her own life. She’s the one who won’t live long.”

At first, Chen Fengying was stunned by Chu Yue’s words. She hadn’t expected Chu Yue to be so broad-minded, so completely indifferent. If it had been her, she would’ve probably stormed over to fight with that old hag.

But after calming down and thinking it through, she realized that Chu Yue was absolutely right.

To live long, you need peace of mind. That old woman Li is nearly sixty—if she keeps living all riled up like this every day, she probably doesn’t have many years left.

“Chu-girl, you… you’re so young, how do you already see things so clearly? If I could live as open-minded and peaceful as you, that’d be enough.”

Chen Fengying looked at Chu Yue with undisguised admiration.

Chu Yue answered inwardly: That’s because she had already “died” once. Naturally, she now saw many things with a detached perspective. The only people she truly cared about anymore were Lu Zhanlin and Lu Xiaobao—her beloved and her family.

Seeing that Chu Yue was so at ease, the sisters-in-law didn’t say anything more. They had only come over because they heard Li Jinhua cursing and were worried Chu Yue might feel upset.

With Li Jinhua out of the picture, the women moved on to more interesting topics.

---

“Chu-girl, did the commander come back? Is he inside?”
Chen Fengying asked, and the other two sisters-in-law immediately perked up their ears, covering their mouths and giggling. Newlyweds and bedroom gossip—who didn’t love that?

Chu Yue glanced toward the lit room. Through the open door, they could faintly see a tall figure inside.

She looked and couldn’t help the small smile that lifted the corners of her mouth. “Mhm. He came back early yesterday. We had dinner, and now he’s washing the dishes.”

“What?!” ×3

Three gasps rang out in unison.

Chen Fengying and the other two stared at Chu Yue with wide, round eyes as if they’d just heard the most unbelievable thing in the world—their jaws nearly hit the floor.

“You… what did you say?”

“Commander Lu… he’s washing the dishes?”

That Commander Lu? The cold, stern one? The one who was so intimidating that regular people didn’t even dare talk to him?

Chu Yue didn’t find it odd at all. She cooked, and he did the dishes. Dividing household chores between husband and wife was normal—how else could a family stay harmonious?

Besides, Lu Zhanlin didn’t just wash dishes. He washed clothes. He even washed the bedsheets.

But just the idea of him washing dishes had already shocked them like this. If she mentioned the rest, they’d probably think they were hallucinating.

Also… Lu Zhanlin cared about his reputation outside.

So Chu Yue changed her tune slightly, saying,
“It was Xiaobao who wanted to learn to wash dishes. I stepped out, and Zhanlin was just supervising, helping him a little—just making sure the kid didn’t break anything. After all, dishes cost money.”

“So that’s how it is…”

The sisters-in-law all nodded and murmured with understanding.

After that, they didn’t talk much longer. Once it got dark, they said goodbye to Chu Yue and went home.

On the way back, Chen Fengying and the other two started chatting excitedly.

“Do you think it’s true? That it’s really Commander Lu who washes the dishes at Chu Yue’s house?”

“I think it’s true! Chu Yue doesn’t seem like someone who would lie. Did you see how confident she was when she said it?”

“I agree! Did you notice Chu Yue’s hands? So soft and fair, not rough at all like ours—obviously not the hands of someone who does hard labor.”

“But isn’t Chu Yue from the countryside? Girls from the countryside usually have to work in the fields, right? How could she have avoided it?”

“What’s wrong with being from the countryside? Do you have something against country folk? Just because she’s from the village doesn’t mean she can’t be a refined young woman! Chu Yue doesn’t have a trace of rusticity on her, and she’s even educated. Our rural girls can make something of themselves too!”

Chen Fengying patted her chest proudly, feeling that Chu Yue had brought honor to them, the military wives who also came from rural backgrounds.

The three of them kept chatting, and the conversation went in circles before ending in a mix of envy and resentment:

“Commander Lu washes the dishes at home, but my lazy husband won’t even get his own foot-washing water! Makes me so mad!”

---

This little episode happened three days before Li Jinhua was forced to leave the military compound.

Zhou Zhijian gave her three days, and in that time, Li Jinhua took every single item she could possibly carry from the house—big and small.
Wang Chunling didn’t say a word about it.

After all, Chu Yue had already reminded her:

“There’s no need to argue with someone who’s leaving.
The more greedy Li Jinhua acts, the clearer her true colors will become to Zhou Zhijian.”

So Wang Chunling remained silent the entire time, focused only on caring for her baby.

---

Three days later, early in the morning—

Outside Wang Chunling’s house, bags and packages were piled like a mountain.
Li Jinhua clearly couldn’t carry it all alone but insisted on bringing everything with her.

“Old woman, are you moving out alone or relocating your whole family?
We don’t have as much stuff as you do, and we’re still living here!
No wonder you could send so much money to your younger son—you had plenty left to spend on yourself!
No wonder Chunling stayed so skinny while she was pregnant—you must’ve sucked her dry!”

The last thing Li Jinhua could bear to hear was the words “younger son.”
If that secret hadn’t been exposed, Zhou Zhijian wouldn’t have turned against her and forced her out.

Enraged, she was about to argue back—but then Zhou Zhijian’s voice rang out, pulling her back.

“Mom! Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?!
Do you want me to never be able to show my face in this compound again?!
Go! Leave now!”

Zhou Zhijian had taken a day off just to personally escort Li Jinhua to the bus station.
Without another glance, he marched up, grabbed all her bags, and strode away.

“Son… son… Zhijian… don’t walk so fast, wait for your mom!”

Li Jinhua had no time to argue with others—she rushed to chase after Zhou Zhijian, and the two of them quickly left the compound.

---

As fate would have it—

That very morning, Song Hongmei had asked Chu Yue to meet her at the compound gate for something important.

So Chu Yue was standing near the guard post at the entrance, holding Lu Yuanbao, just as Zhou Zhijian and Li Jinhua came out.

And just like that—they ran right into each other.

As the saying goes:

“When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with fury.”