Chapter 63 : Strange Book

Before Guo Datong even returned to the family compound, he had already heard that his wife had gone to the deputy head’s house and caused a scene over two vegetable leaves. His head buzzed with frustration.  

Ignoring the sympathetic looks from others, he hurried home, only to find the stove cold and not a single meal prepared.  

He had been holding back his anger all day, but now it surged uncontrollably.  

Lu Haiyan, however, felt wronged when she heard him.  

“Guo Datong! Why are you getting angry at me? If you didn’t always have stomach ulcers, would I treat those lousy vegetables like treasures?”  

She was already feeling embarrassed about the mess she had made in the morning. She had hoped her husband would comfort her when he got back, but instead, he scolded her without understanding the situation.  

“Is your brain made of tofu? Your sister-in-law just arrived yesterday, and you think she cares about your two measly vegetable leaves?”  

What was she thinking? She had actually gone and offended the deputy head’s wife over something so trivial.  

Didn’t she see how much the deputy head cherished his wife?  

Those soldiers had just stolen a couple of glances at her, and he made them run five kilometers as punishment.  

And yet, his own wife had rushed headfirst into offending the third-in-command’s wife. Did she think his life was easy?  

Hearing him repeatedly call Su Ranran “sister-in-law” made Lu Haiyan uncomfortable, and she blurted out without thinking, “Sister-in-law this, sister-in-law that. Don’t you just think she’s beautiful? Who doesn’t know what you’re really thinking?”  

Guo Datong was so furious that he felt dizzy.  

“Lu Haiyan, do you even hear yourself?”  

His face darkened like the bottom of a pot.  

He trained hard all day and returned home exhausted, only to deal with her absurd accusations. He suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired.  

But in Lu Haiyan’s eyes, his reaction only confirmed her suspicions.  

“Did I hit the nail on the head? Feeling guilty, huh?”  

Thinking back to the previous afternoon when she saw him helping move furniture into Su Ranran’s house, she felt even more resentful.  

She admitted she may have been impulsive today, but wasn’t he in the wrong too?  

Hearing her nonsense, Guo Datong felt completely disheartened.  

“I can’t even be bothered to argue with you.”  

With that, he turned and headed for the door.  

At the entrance, two children a boy and a girl quickly ducked their heads and huddled in a corner, too scared to make a sound.  

Still fuming, Guo Datong ignored them and strode out the door.  

Seeing him leave like that, Lu Haiyan grew even angrier.  

She wasn’t sure if she was more upset with Guo Datong or if she hated the newcomer, Su Ranran, even more.  

Soon enough, news of their argument spread throughout the entire family compound. The compound wasn’t very large, and with little to no entertainment, gossip spread quickly.  

When people heard about the quarrel, their curiosity was piqued.  

“Could it be because of what happened this morning?” someone speculated.  

After all, who in the compound hadn’t heard about Lu Haiyan’s embarrassing stunt earlier?  

“Most likely,” another person agreed.  

It was humiliating enough to make a fuss over two vegetable leaves and end up being outdone by the deputy head’s wife, who casually pulled out a whole bundle of fresh greens in return.  

Putting aside how ridiculous her actions were, the sheer embarrassment of being so publicly humiliated was enough to keep people talking for a month.

“Guo Datong is so unlucky to have married a wife like that,” someone said with regret.  

“Who wouldn’t agree? Who else could do something so ridiculous?” another person chimed in.  

Lu Haiyan, whose reputation in the family compound was already questionable, found herself the target of ridicule once again.  

Meanwhile, Su Ranran paid no attention to the rumors circulating in the compound.  

In the afternoon, she scattered the grass seeds, covered them with a thin layer of sand, and watered them. These seeds were taken from her space, and she wasn’t sure if they could adapt to the island’s climate, but she figured it was worth a try.  

Having already mapped out the entire yard, Su Ranran spread the seeds exactly where she had planned. Now, all she had to do was wait a couple of days before bringing in the saplings she had cultivated in the space.  

After finishing the yard work, she didn’t sit idle. Instead, she returned to browsing the library within her space. She had already read most of the books on rice cultivation and was now just waiting for approval to experiment with growing salt-tolerant rice.  

The library shelves were still packed with books, neatly arranged.  

With some free time, Su Ranran decided to organize the library by creating classification labels, making it easier to find books in the future.  

She found a stack of antique wooden hanging signs in the warehouse and carefully wrote the names of each category using a brush.  

First, she labeled the Agricultural Science section and hung the sign.  

Next came Physics and Applied Sciences, followed by Traditional Chinese Medicine, then Material Science, Mathematics, and so on…  

Eventually, she ran out of labels.  

Just as she was about to search for more, her eyes landed on a book lying on the ground at the foot of the bookshelf.  

Curious, Su Ranran picked it up.  

The book looked quite worn, as if it had been flipped through countless times. She examined the cover with interest. Though the surface was heavily damaged, she could still make out the three large characters: “Body Tempering Technique.”  

Su Ranran: …  

At first glance, the title gave off the vibe of one of those scammy self-help books. However, since it was stored in the library of her space, it couldn’t possibly be a fake.  

Intrigued, she opened the book with high expectations, eager to see what it contained. But the moment she started reading, she was stumped.  

She knew every individual word on the page, yet when put together, they made no sense at all. Refusing to give up, she flipped through a few more pages, only to end up setting the book down, feeling completely baffled.  

For the first time in her life, Chinese characters felt like an unsolvable puzzle.  

Despite the confusion, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this book was special. Since she couldn’t make sense of it at the moment, she decided to set it aside for the time being.  

When Su Ranran came out of the space, it was already late afternoon.  

Checking the time, she realized Shen He would be home soon, so she started cooking rice.  

At noon, Shen He had already bought rice, flour, and other essentials.  

Although Pingzhou Town was on an island, it still had supply and marketing cooperatives, a health center, and a primary school.  

A small amount of rice and flour could be purchased from the cooperative, but the prices were significantly higher than on the mainland, and food coupons were required.  

Most islanders lived in poverty and couldn’t afford to spend money and ration tickets at the cooperative. Instead, they relied on catching fish to barter for supplies on the mainland.  

Shen He had only bought enough provisions to last two or three days, planning to head to the county in a couple of days to stock up properly.  

As Su Ranran fed the fire, her thoughts drifted back to the mysterious Body Tempering Technique book in her space.  

Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind—  

Maybe Shen He could understand it?