Chapter 18

So Wen Yan figured Lin Yufen must have gotten it wrong—building the toilet was just a coincidence.

Liu Jilan said, “Brown sugar is really precious. I was planning to bring some, but my mom couldn’t even bear to part with it. Yet Lu Cheng actually made his wife brown sugar eggs for breakfast—he’s really generous.”

Lin Yufen gave a cold snort. “Generous? That’s putting it lightly! Last night, most likely because his wife made a fuss at home, Lu Cheng went knocking on doors in the dead of night to buy brown sugar, and he even came back with a whole basket of eggs! All just to satisfy that lazy wife of his.”

Hearing this, Liu Jilan’s eyes widened. She thought Lu Cheng spoiled his wife far too much—going out at midnight for brown sugar and then, first thing in the morning, making her brown sugar eggs so that when she woke up she could eat right away. Any woman married to such a man would surely feel blessed.

Then she thought of Lu Cheng’s handsome face and tall, broad figure. Liu Jilan felt that if she could ever meet such a man in her life, it would all be worth it.

But Wen Yan furrowed her brows. “If they keep eating like this, no matter how deep their family savings, they’ll soon run dry.”

“Exactly! That’s what I mean!” Finally, someone echoed her, and Lin Yufen instantly perked up, grabbing Wen Yan’s hand as she went on, “Us country folk live frugally—we simply can’t afford this kind of extravagance. Men work hard in the fields for every single work point. Even if a wife doesn’t help him earn more, at the very least she shouldn’t drag him down!”

“Girl, you look so well-educated and proper. I like your bearing. Your name’s Wen Yan, right? I don’t know how you and Liu Zhiqing are planning to handle meals later, but if you don’t mind, you could join our household. There are already five of us eating every day—adding you two is no trouble, and it would make things much easier for you too.”

Lin Yufen smoothly slipped in her proposal. That way, she could collect the rations of the two educated youths. After all, young girls didn’t eat much. Whatever the household cooked, they’d just have to eat without complaint.

Besides, educated youths received more fine grains than farmers, and during festivals they got extra rations too. True, it wasn’t as much as what Lu Cheng earned in work points, but still, something was better than nothing.

But Liu Jilan didn’t want to join, and Wen Yan was even more unwilling.

She had already decided—she wanted to join meals with Lu Cheng’s household. Only then would she have the chance to get close to him early.

As for his wife, Wen Yan never even considered her a threat. The woman had only just come to the countryside and hadn’t shown her true colors yet. Wen Yan believed that in time, she would despise Lu Cheng for being poor and go off to seduce one of the better-off male educated youths.

So Wen Yan didn’t need to lift a finger—just standing by was enough for her to win.

“Sister-in-law, we haven’t decided yet,” Wen Yan said, pulling back her hand.

Liu Jilan quickly changed the subject: “Come on, let’s wash up. Yesterday the brigade leader said they’d assign us work today.”

The two of them hurried out after washing.

Lin Yufen pursed her lips. “Everyone’s so sharp—don’t want to join with my family. What, planning to join Lu Cheng’s instead? Let’s see if he even wants you.”

Outside.

Gu Yueqian wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, and Lu Yao, in a smaller one, carried a basket on her back with a sickle in hand. The two walked one after the other along the ridges.

Under the blazing sun, the light shone down on Gu Yueqian, making her skin look like white porcelain—so pale it almost glowed.

From a distance, her fair arms reflected the sun so brightly it made people’s eyes ache.

“Goodness, Lu Cheng’s little wife is so fair. I’ve never seen a girl so white-skinned. No wonder he dotes on her so much—brown sugar, eggs… If it were me, I’d spoil her too,” one village woman craned her neck to say.

There was never a lack of gossip in the village. Though the news of Gu Yueqian’s pregnancy hadn’t spread, the story of Lu Cheng going out in the middle of the night to get brown sugar had. By morning, the whole village knew Lu Cheng’s wife was so greedy that he had to fetch brown sugar for her in the dead of night.

“Save your breath. With the burden your family carries, if she married into your household, she’d be worked so hard she’d shed a layer of skin. In less than two years, she’d be worn down to a haggard old wife. But Lu Cheng? He works like two men—that’s why he can afford to keep her pampered and delicate,” another woman said.

The first didn’t take offense. “Just imagine how much he must dote on her at night—”

“Ah! Your mouth!” The other woman gave her a playful thump. They were both old married women, not shy about bawdy jokes, but this one was too much. “Don’t say that—here they come. The young miss will blush.”

Sure enough, Lu Yao and Gu Yueqian came along the ridge. The women leaned in closer for a better look and were stunned again at Gu Yueqian’s beauty.

Her figure was perfect—soft where it should be, slender where it shouldn’t. No wonder Lu Cheng had begged her from the city three times over. Such a beauty, even if she married into their own homes, would be treated like a goddess.

Just looking at her was pleasing to the eye.

“Lu Yao, bringing your sister-in-law to cut pig grass, eh?” an old woman up ahead greeted them.

Gu Yueqian looked closer—it was the same group she’d gone foraging for firewood with a few days back. So it was these women who both gathered firewood and cut pig grass for the village.

“Yes, Auntie Zhang,” Lu Yao answered. Because of her generation, she addressed all the older women as aunties.

Cutting pig grass turned out to be much harder than Gu Yueqian had expected. At this time of year, with so many families raising pigs, sweet potato vines weren’t nearly enough. They had to go out to faraway gullies to cut wild grasses to supplement the feed.

So after cutting in one place, they had to move to the next. The pig-grass crew was made up of old ladies, young girls, and kids. Each one carried a basket on her back, filling it to the brim, then tying on an extra huge bundle of grass with a cloth strip until it stuck out in a tall peak.

A woman only five feet tall could carry a load nearly five foot seven high. To lift it, they’d rest the basket on the ridge, then someone from behind would heave it onto her back.

Everyone carried loads that tall, their bodies bent into arcs by the weight, walking in single file along the narrow ridges, laughing and chatting as they went.

Their sun-reddened cheeks and yellowed complexions looked just like old rustic paintings. Perhaps the painters of old had indeed captured life’s realism.

You might think they lived bitter lives, yet they laughed with such vitality.

“Sister-in-law, don’t bother lifting—I can carry it fine,” Lu Yao turned back to assure Gu Yueqian. “We’re only raising one pig. Today’s load is lighter than usual—it’s easy.”

So Gu Yueqian didn’t insist, not wanting to be a burden or cause anyone to fall into the fields.

When they got home, Lu Yao set down the grass and got to chopping and feeding the pig.

Gu Yueqian couldn’t help much with that, but she remembered the blueberries she had picked yesterday and stored in her space. By now, they should have gathered spiritual energy and ripened into the most exquisite fruit. She quickly slipped into the house, pretending to fetch the berries, and also took out some yellow rock sugar.

There was a small communal stove in the house, mainly for heating in winter, but in daily life it was used for making small things. Easier to control than the big stove.

Gu Yueqian decided to use it to make jam. Once it was ready, she would bring some to the brigade leader’s family and a few friendly old ladies. Once she opened that door, everything else would become much easier.