Chapter 25 Lotus Root

Liu Yinyin almost had a nosebleed from the sight.

She took a sharp breath and blinked rapidly. “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?!”

Dear lord, how could a man’s physique be this perfect?!

“I’m at home. Why should I wear one?” Gu Cheng replied nonchalantly.

He casually rubbed his short hair with a towel. The weather was hot, and sweating was inevitable. It was much more comfortable going shirtless.

Liu Yinyin shot him a glare, but she didn’t argue further. Grabbing her clothes, she quickly stepped outside.

By the time she returned from her bath, the man was already lying on the bed, fast asleep.

Gu Cheng had been on the train for several days and had worked the entire afternoon after returning. He was probably exhausted—he had fallen into a deep sleep the moment he lay down.

Liu Yinyin had been holding in a lot of words, but now she had no one to say them to. She sighed, blew out the kerosene lamp, and carefully lifted the mosquito net before crawling into bed.

The bed was small. With two adults sleeping in it, there wasn’t even a bit of extra space. It was difficult for Liu Yinyin to turn over.

She turned her head slightly to glance at Gu Cheng. In the darkness, she could only make out the vague outline of his figure…

The man was sleeping in a proper posture—not a single sound of snoring.

Sigh!

He really was a troublesome man. But he was, after all, the father of the child in her belly. Gu Cheng hadn’t done anything wrong, so she couldn’t just take away his rights as a father.

Still… accepting him was difficult. It was frustrating.

Liu Yinyin had thought she would have trouble sleeping that night.

Unexpectedly, she slept soundly until the sun was high in the sky.

Half-awake, she vaguely heard voices outside.

The space beside her was already empty—she had no idea when Gu Cheng had woken up.

It seemed she had overslept. Rubbing her eyes, Liu Yinyin sat up in bed. Just as she was about to leave the room, Gu Cheng walked in.

“You’re awake,” he said. “Breakfast is ready and kept warm in the pot. I’m heading to work now. Also…”

Gu Cheng hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Your mother came by earlier. She said from now on, we should cook our own meals and eat here.”

Jiang Cuihua had done this deliberately to help them bond. Apart from working, mealtimes and bedtime were the only opportunities for the young couple to be alone together.

So, she decided they should start eating separately from the main family. After all, Liu Yinyin no longer had to go to work in the fields—she had time to cook.

Liu Yinyin was stunned. “…Got it.”

She thought to herself—her mother was really going all out for this.

“You’re not in a condition to do heavy work right now. Leave it for me to handle when I get back.”

After leaving those words, Gu Cheng headed out the door.

In this scorching weather, not having to go to work was quite a relief. Liu Yinyin happily freshened up before stepping into the kitchen.

Sure enough, breakfast was still warm in the pot—millet porridge, cornbread, and scrambled eggs with cucumber.

She had no idea how early Gu Cheng had woken up. When she had stepped into the yard earlier, she noticed that the clothes he had changed out of last night were already washed and hanging on the bamboo pole to dry.

Whatever else could be said, Gu Cheng was actually a decent man. He wasn’t overly dominant or rigidly traditional.

In this era, most men still clung to old-fashioned ideas, especially in the countryside. From the original owner’s memories, she had never once seen her father or older brothers cook or do laundry.

In their household, even the women who were pregnant had to cook, clean, and work in the fields to earn labor points—nothing was ever excused.

After Breakfast

After eating, Liu Yinyin took a few eggs to the Liu family home.

There were only two hens left that laid eggs at the Liu household. The newer ones they had bought were still too young to lay.

With the hot weather, the hens weren’t laying much either—sometimes, they’d only get one egg a day. With so many people in the family, one or two eggs weren’t nearly enough.

The Liu family had a large vegetable garden, filled with various crops. Liu Yinyin picked two loofahs, a few eggplants, a handful of chili peppers, and some chives.

She was beginning to worry. With more people to feed, the vegetables in her garden wouldn’t last long.

Then there was the grain supply.

That morning, she had carefully checked the kitchen. There were only about fifteen or sixteen pounds of cornmeal left, a little over ten pounds of coarse corn grits, and less than five pounds of black flour and millet combined.

When she was alone, Liu Yinyin would often take things from the system to supplement her supplies, which was how she had managed to save up this much grain.

Now that Gu Cheng was living with her, she had to be more cautious. If she did anything too obviously suspicious, he might start asking questions.

So… judging by Gu Cheng’s appetite, and considering that the village wouldn’t distribute grain for at least another month—

It was clear that the remaining grain wouldn’t be enough to last both of them until then!

Sigh!

What would she do when they ran out of food? She couldn’t just bring Gu Cheng to her mother’s house and rely on them for meals, could she?

As she left the Liu family home, Liu Yinyin happened to run into the village chief’s wife, Li Chunfang, who was carrying a basket on her way home.

“Yinyin,” Li Chunfang called out with a smile.

Liu Yinyin returned the smile. “Auntie.”

Li Chunfang had taken half a day off to visit her maternal family. Her home village had many ponds but little farmland, so the villagers there made money by farming fish and growing lotus roots in the water.

Over the past couple of years, they had been making a decent income from selling fish and lotus roots from their communal ponds.

Of course, since the ponds were collectively owned, all the earnings went to the village, but at the end of the year, every household received a small share of the profits.

Right now, since the autumn harvest was exhausting work, the village had decided to reward the villagers by distributing a portion of the fish and lotus roots to improve their meals.

Li Chunfang’s family had given her some to bring back home.

She had also heard about Gu Cheng’s return. He was young and promising—perhaps not someone she needed to curry favor with, but definitely someone worth maintaining a good relationship with.

After all, in the countryside, neighbors often helped each other out.

Seeing Liu Yinyin now, Li Chunfang smiled and said, “What a coincidence! My family just gave me two fish and some lotus roots. Here, take some home to eat.”

Without waiting for a reply, she started placing two sections of lotus root into Liu Yinyin’s vegetable basket. She was about to add a fish too—

Liu Yinyin was tempted, but she knew she couldn’t just accept it for free. Both fish and lotus roots were valuable.

She quickly stopped her. “Auntie, how could I take your food? These things aren’t cheap. You should keep them for yourself.”

“Oh, come on!” Li Chunfang waved her hand dismissively. “My family gave them to me—we didn’t have to spend money on them.”

Liu Yinyin hesitated. “Even so, I can’t just take them for nothing. Auntie… how about I trade something with you?”

No matter what, she wasn’t comfortable accepting Li Chunfang’s things for free.

Li Chunfang sighed in exasperation. “You’re such a stubborn girl. Fine, take whatever you want in exchange—eggs, vegetables, anything is fine.”

But Liu Yinyin didn’t have any extra eggs to spare.

So she said, “Auntie, how about… I pay you for them instead?”

She was essentially proposing to buy them but wanted to phrase it in a way that wouldn’t sound too direct.

Li Chunfang’s eyes immediately lit up. She thought to herself—Gu Cheng had a salary, so Liu Yinyin probably wasn’t short on money either.

For people in the countryside, grain was never an issue, but money was always in short supply.

Li Chunfang couldn’t resist the offer. Trying to play it cool, she said hesitantly, “Well… if you have money, I suppose that wouldn’t be a problem.”