Chapter 6

Granny Dabao was stunned.

She hadn’t expected that the longest sentence Lu Cheng had ever spoken in front of her in all these years… would be that.

Even more unexpected—her own nephew, flesh and blood, had chosen to side with that newlywed wife who had just stepped through the door. What a fool!

Just then, Lu Zhuang and Lin Yufen, husband and wife, rushed back from the fields, followed by a small crowd of onlookers.

The moment Granny Dabao saw her son and daughter-in-law, she hurriedly demanded they back her up and properly put that sharp-tongued new wife in her place. But ever since Lu Cheng had grown up, neither of them dared stir up trouble in front of him.

Even when they bullied Lu Yao, it was always behind his back, never when he was home.

And now, in front of his wife? All the more impossible.

So they tried to smooth things over instead: “Mom, forget it, don’t say any more.”

“What do you mean forget it? Are you even my son? Dabao’s egg got thrown into the pigsty and we’re just going to let it go? How am I supposed to show my face after this?”

“Correction.” Gu Yueqian’s voice cut in. “Your grandson tried to snatch food from our house. That’s why I fed the egg to the pigs—better they eat it than him. Did you understand that clearly?”

“You—you dare waste an egg like that!” Granny Dabao knew she was in the wrong, but she still puffed herself up with false bravado.

“Enough, Mom, stop.” Lin Yufen was terrified that if this dragged on, Dabao’s other misdeeds would slip out and spread through the village gossip mill. She rushed to shut her mother-in-law up, then plastered on a conciliatory smile.

“Little sister-in-law, don’t take offense. Eggs are precious, the old lady just couldn’t bear the waste, that’s all. Let’s just drop it. Our family won’t pursue it.”

“You won’t pursue it?” Gu Yueqian actually laughed. “You’ve got the gall to talk about pursuing?”

Then she raised her hand and pointed to the corner, straight at Lu Dabao. “Tell him to apologize to Lu Yao.”

“What did you say?” Lin Yufen’s eyes bulged, outrage flaring instantly.

“Right now. Immediately.” Gu Yueqian’s expression was cold and implacable.

Lin Yufen’s face twisted. This was outrageous. A new daughter-in-law, fresh through the door, daring to order her around? She was the elder sister-in-law, practically a mother figure in this household.

Hadn’t people always said the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother? When Lu Cheng and his little sister had fled back from the city all those years ago, it was she who had fed and clothed them, raising them to this day. And now she was being told to make her son apologize?

She turned her gaze on Lu Cheng, expecting him to back her up.

“Lu Cheng, your wife is too arrogant! I’m her elder. What kind of reason is there for elders to apologize to juniors?”

Lu Cheng gave a cold snort, his eyes cutting toward her with a chill so sharp it made Lin Yufen’s chest tighten. She instinctively stumbled back two steps.

That look in his eyes… terrifying.

But when his gaze swept across Gu Yueqian’s steady face, a faint softness flickered there, even a trace of reluctant admiration. By the time he turned back, his eyes were ice once more.

“Apologize.”

Just two words, clipped and merciless.

Lin Yufen could hardly believe it.

Already shielding her? She’d only been married in for a handful of days! What would this household look like in the future?

“Xiao Cheng, maybe—” Lin Yufen tried again.

“Apologize. Now.” Lu Cheng’s voice dropped lower, colder, brooking no argument.

The sound made Lin Yufen shudder.

If she pushed back any harder, she truly feared Lu Cheng might lose his temper and beat the whole family. It wouldn’t be the first time…

Seething with humiliation, but knowing she couldn’t defy him, Lin Yufen yanked Lu Dabao forward, shoving him in front of Lu Yao.

She barked, her voice dripping venom: “Well? Apologize! You greedy little fool, always stuffing your face like a dumb mule. One of these days, you’ll eat yourself to death!”

So, with curses ringing in his ears and his mother’s hand on his back, Lu Dabao gave a half-hearted apology. By the end of it he was sulking, beaten down, and slunk into the house to hide for the rest of the afternoon.

Since most had to get back to the fields, the crowd soon dispersed.

The matter was settled, more or less. It wouldn’t escalate further.

Lu Cheng headed back to the fields once it was over.

Only after everyone had gone did Gu Yueqian fetch a small jar from the wardrobe. Inside was rice and a few eggs.

For Lu Cheng, who had stood up for her, and for Lu Yao, that sensible, sweet girl—she decided she’d cook a special meal tonight.

She hadn’t brought meat, but she had carried eggs, lard, three tins of mackerel in tomato sauce, and some rock sugar. Tonight, she’d make lard noodles with egg and fish.

Breakfast had been plain soy-sauce noodles, bland as boiled water. With her picky palate, she could hardly bear it. Tonight’s meal would be different.

With Lu Dabao out of the way, the afternoon passed in blessed peace.

The work was simple—feeding pigs, washing clothes—but Lu Yao wouldn’t let Gu Yueqian touch any of it. And after her sister-in-law had helped her put Dabao in his place, she was even more eager to protect her, refusing to let her lift a hand.

Gu Yueqian could only sigh. She’d have to slowly change the girl’s thinking.

Yes, she looked delicate, but she wasn’t the sort to sit idle at home while a twelve-year-old girl carried the whole household on her back.

Watching Lu Yao heft a sloshing bucket of pig slop nearly half her size, balancing on a stool to pour it into the trough—Gu Yueqian realized again how deeply the times had etched themselves into people’s lives. To laze about here would be nothing short of betrayal.

By late afternoon, the women began returning early to prepare supper.

Gu Yueqian was sitting in the room, lost in thought, when she overheard Lin Yufen outside, gossiping with someone in a cutting, singsong tone:

“City folks really are something else. Eggs can just be tossed to the pigs. Even the outhouse isn’t good enough—they complain and complain. And after one single day, Lu Cheng’s already building her a new toilet! Keep pampering her like this, and soon we’ll all be waiting on a little ancestor.

“I’m the one who raised that boy and his sister, but he turned his back on me without a second thought.”

A neighbor, Tie Zhu’s mother, gasped. “So that’s why he was hauling bricks this morning? To build a toilet? What a waste of money. Utter nonsense.”

Lin Yufen rolled her eyes. “Well, she’s a city miss, isn’t she? A capitalist’s granddaughter. Of course she can’t use a country privy. I hear their toilets are gilded, even smell like perfume!”

Tie Zhu’s mother clucked her tongue, brows knitting. “Didn’t I always tell you my daughter would’ve been a better match? She works hard, never puts on airs, would’ve treated you like her own elder. But your Lu Cheng—how did he end up with that useless thing? She looks like a lazy good-for-nothing to me.”

“Exactly! Slept in till the sun was high, then got up just to eat an egg. Even a sow isn’t that wasteful.”

At the thought of this morning’s humiliation over the egg, Lin Yufen’s voice grew even more bitter, pouring all her resentment into her tale.

The two women eventually parted ways. Lin Yufen stepped into the yard, dumped some vegetables into a basket, and bellowed for Lu Dabao to come help. Then she deliberately clattered noisily about the communal stove, making sure Gu Yueqian could hear every bang and clang.

Resting her chin in her palm, Gu Yueqian murmured, “So I was right this morning—Lu Cheng really is building a new toilet.”

Who would’ve thought this quiet, stone-faced man had such a thoughtful side? Not nearly as heartless as the book had made him seem.

In the novel, Lu Cheng was nothing more than a cold, unyielding stone. Always wearing that frosty, untouchable expression, and in the entire year the original heroine spent in the village, he hadn’t spoken more than ten sentences to her.

As she was musing, Lu Cheng returned.

He carried tools in his hands, two young men trailing behind with bricks slung over their shoulders.

Gu Yueqian opened the door and asked, “You’re really building a new toilet?”

He strode past in long, firm steps, his hard, austere face set in a forbidding mask. At her question, he merely glanced at her once, expressionless, and brushed by without a word, as if it wasn’t worth the effort to reply.

Gu Yueqian: “…”

Men like this were better off alone for life!