Chapter 31

In the evening at dinner, Shi Tingyu recounted the encounter with Aunt Lu earlier that day.

Lu Weiguo paused as he was picking up some food, put down his chopsticks and said, “It’s okay, just refuse immediately if you run into something like that again.”

Shi Tingyu smiled, “I did refuse.”

Lu Weiguo thought for a moment, deciding it was best to give his wife some advice since some old ladies could be very troublesome.

His wife was thin-skinned and if she couldn’t refuse directly, it would be problematic.

“If you run into someone who won’t take no for an answer next time, just tell them to come to me. Just say you can’t make decisions and push it onto me.”

This piqued Shi Tingyu’s interest.

“You can handle those women?”

“Of course I can,” Lu Weiguo’s voice dropped slightly.

“If Aunt Lu comes to you, how would you deal with her?”

For a moment, Lu Weiguo’s expression was odd. He said, “Actually… Aunt Lu already came to see me.”

Shi Tingyu raised an eyebrow, surprised that the old lady had actually approached Lu Weiguo, “She’s not afraid of you?”

“Probably… a little,” Lu Weiguo thought of how the old lady had been somewhat timid at the time, and he wasn’t entirely sure.

Shi Tingyu’s interest grew, “Tell me exactly what happened.”

Lu Weiguo took a while to organize his thoughts and said, “I refused her.”

Shi Tingyu moved her chair closer to him, “Give me the details.”

Feeling a bit uneasy, Lu Weiguo tightened his grip on his chopsticks and recounted the encounter with Aunt Lu.

When Shi Tingyu heard that Aunt Lu had suggested her daughter could help with the food and save money, she couldn’t help but laugh.

Lu Weiguo looked at her, puzzled, “What’s so funny? Wasn’t that okay to say?”

“No, no,” Shi Tingyu fully endorsed his way of dealing with Aunt Lu, “You did great. People don’t understand pain unless the knife cuts their own flesh. Only when it happens to them do they realize how hard it is.”

Looking at her crescent-moon-like eyes as she laughed, Lu Weiguo felt a rush of emotion in his chest.

Indeed, when the knife cuts into your own flesh, it hurts.

When he heard Aunt Lu’s suggestion, it made him uncomfortable, as if the knife had cut into him.

Shi Tingyu picked a piece of food and placed it in his bowl, “Here’s a reward for you.”

Lu Weiguo was slightly stunned, staring at the extra food in his bowl.

Usually, Shi Tingyu rarely served him food. He had clearly noticed that the few times she did, it was either before she started eating or with serving chopsticks.

This was the first time she used her own chopsticks to serve him food.

Suddenly, it felt like the invisible barrier between them had lessened a bit.

“Why aren’t you eating?” Seeing him sit there for a while without moving, Shi Tingyu asked, puzzled.

“Oh, I’ll eat it now.” Lu Weiguo quickly ate the food she had served.

Shi Tingyu didn’t realize the significance of her action.

At her parents’ house, she wasn’t one to use serving chopsticks unless there were guests.

Even though she and Lu Weiguo were married, they hadn’t known each other for long, and they hadn’t consummated their marriage, not even a kiss. So, she subconsciously used serving chopsticks when serving food.

But this time, she acted naturally without thinking much about it, so she didn’t notice any difference.

Lu Weiguo, however, did notice. In his family, few people used serving chopsticks. At first, he thought his wife was just particular.

But then he recalled the times they ate with her family, and his wife didn’t use serving chopsticks when serving food to her own family members.

So he was quite concerned.

Now, suddenly receiving the same treatment as Shi’s family made him feel an unmistakable joy.

Seeing him eat the food, Shi Tingyu picked another piece for him and asked curiously, “I didn’t go earn those two dollars, you really don’t mind?”

Lu Weiguo looked at her, his sharp brows lowered, “What are you thinking? If you don’t like doing something, you naturally don’t have to do it.”

“Not just two dollars, even two hundred wouldn’t be okay.”

He said the last sentence softly, but Shi Tingyu still heard it.

She smiled and said, “If she really gave me two hundred, then I would actually do it.”

Lu Weiguo looked at her, seeing her rare money-minded expression, and said gently, “No need, I hand over my salary to you.”

Feeling slightly flustered by his gaze, Shi Tingyu touched her earlobe and cleared her throat, “Alright, let’s hurry up and eat.”

Lu Weiguo nodded and started eating quickly.

As they were sitting quite close to each other, Shi Tingyu’s hand holding the chopsticks would often brush against Lu Weiguo’s arm, but the man just looked at her without any intention of moving away.

Only when they finished eating did Shi Tingyu realize how close they had been sitting.

She pretended to be calm as she took the bowls and chopsticks to the well, giving herself an excuse for her slowness.

Indeed, gossip is the best weapon to bring people closer.

See, just chatting brought them closer together.

Lu Weiguo followed behind Shi Tingyu to the well to start their daily dishwashing routine.

Shi Tingyu didn’t go back to the house either, instead watching the sky full of evening glow, occasionally pumping some water for Lu Weiguo to wash the dishes with.

As she pumped the water, her thoughts drifted.

She said, “Weiguo, it’s almost summer now and it gets dark late. When winter comes, shouldn’t we string up a light in the yard? Otherwise, we won’t be able to see while washing dishes.”

Lu Weiguo, washing dishes efficiently, replied, “Alright, I’ll take care of it when the time comes.”

They say that a man and woman working together makes the work easier, and indeed, the two of them quickly finished washing the dishes.

After washing the dishes, Lu Weiguo heated some water for Shi Tingyu to take a bath.

Although there was a public bathhouse in their camp, the hot weather meant frequent baths, and no one wanted to wait in line, so they usually bathed at home.

In winter, the bathhouse would be crowded.

To allow Shi Tingyu to bathe at home, Lu Weiguo had ordered a bathtub and a shower cover for her.

The shower cover here is spread open like a mosquito net over the bathtub, making it less cold to bathe.

Shi Tingyu couldn’t remember when the shower cover was invented, but it was either in the late seventies or early eighties.

Lu Weiguo tried to buy one as Shi Tingyu had described, but after searching many places without success, he finally had someone custom-make one based on her description.

However, this was usually used in cold weather, and now it was summer, so it wasn’t needed yet.

Sitting in the bathtub, Shi Tingyu washed awkwardly, hoping for the early arrival of the economic reforms so that various goods would start to appear and she could improve her living conditions.

In fact, she could bathe in her space.

Even if she didn’t bathe in the spiritual spring pool, she could take the bathtub into the space and fill it with the spring water.

The spring water was naturally warm, and the temperature in the space was just right.

But she didn’t dare to.

At present, most people took baths by filling a large basin of water in the summer and leaving it in the sun to heat up, then bathing at noon or in the late afternoon.

But that wouldn’t work for her.

In this hot weather, even if she bathed in the late afternoon, she would be sweaty again after cooking dinner.

She couldn’t go to bed without bathing at night.

Shi Tingyu’s bathing place was in another room of the house.

She bathed frequently and quickly, but just as she was about to come out, the light in the room flickered once, and two seconds later, the room plunged into darkness.