Chapter 13: How Are Things Between You and Zhixu?

“When did those two get so close?” Grandma Su muttered as she sat back down.

Luo Yaqing changed the water in the basin and continued rinsing the clothes clean with fresh water.

Internally, she was surprised to hear that Ye Hongping was sick.

But thinking back to the scene at the health station that day, it wasn’t all that surprising.

“That nurse Ye kept running to your house for a while,” Grandma Su remarked.

Since someone had brought it up, Luo Yaqing couldn’t pretend not to know her—it would make her seem cold.

“Mm, I met her when I got sick and went to the health station. Later, when I injured my wrist, she was assigned to change my bandages, so she came by more often.”

“Huh, I saw her just yesterday when I went to the health station to get my bandage removed—she looked perfectly fine. How’d she get sick?”

Grandma Su replied, “It’s winter—lots of minor colds going around. It’s easy to catch something.”

“Right, it’s just seasonal illness,” Luo Yaqing added.

Grandma Su glanced toward the neighbor’s yard and started rambling about Ma Xiaolian bringing over dumplings.

Luo Yaqing busied herself with the laundry and just listened without engaging—she wasn’t all that interested.

Grandma Su stayed until noon, finally waiting long enough for Ma Xiaolian to return.

She called to her over the fence and asked about Nurse Ye’s illness.

“Overworked and caught a cold. Her body just gave out,” Ma Xiaolian replied indifferently, then turned around and went inside to scold her child.

Overworked?

Luo Yaqing thought Ye Hongping was probably heartbroken.

Her little schemes had failed. She must be devastated.

But… it wasn’t worth pitying.

“We’re off now~” Grandma Su said, holding her little grandson’s hand.

Luo Yaqing replied politely, “Grandma Su, bring Jianguo over to play anytime.”

“Mm-hmm, as long as you don’t mind the trouble.”

“Of course not.”

After seeing them off, Luo Yaqing turned back to tidy up the stools in the courtyard.

Too lazy to cook for herself, she toasted the leftover buns from breakfast on the stove, ate them with hot water, and called it a meal.

While tidying up clothes on the single bed, she noticed a frayed cuff on one of the shirts.

Her sewing skills weren’t great—she spent the entire afternoon stitching and redoing it repeatedly, finally managing to patch both cuffs decently.

It was the first time she’d ever mended clothes for a man.

She felt a little excited.

As dusk fell and the sun dipped westward, Luo Yaqing cooked rice, stir-fried cabbage, made spicy shredded potatoes, and finished with a bowl of pickled mustard egg-drop soup.

By the time she finished, the sun had completely set.

Standing under the eaves, she kept glancing toward the gate.

It was dark, and that familiar figure still hadn’t appeared.

Had something unexpected happened again?

She looked at the food on the table and frowned. “Great, all that work for nothing.”

If he wasn’t coming back, then so be it!

She’d eat alone.

She gloomily spooned a bowl of rice, ate her fill, sealed off the stove, washed up, and climbed into bed.

She didn’t know what time Han Zhixu came back.

Even after the bugle for lights out sounded twice at the army camp, she finally put down her Famous Biographies and turned off the lamp.

The next morning, when she got up early, she saw Han Zhixu folding the quilt outside.

He heard the noise and looked up at her. “I’ll go get breakfast.”

Luo Yaqing pouted, “There’s leftover rice from yesterday. Just boil some into porridge—no need to go to the canteen.”

Go get food? More like give me an explanation.

Where were you last night?

“The canteen is serving youtiao today. I’ll go get a portion,” Han Zhixu said, then turned and strode off.

Luo Yaqing opened her mouth, but by the time she reacted, his tall, upright figure had already disappeared.

She yelled at the air, “Hey! You—you come back here! Who wants your youtiao?!”

…

At the breakfast table, she ended up happily eating two sticks of youtiao.

And even had a small bowl of porridge.

Han Zhixu was already getting up with his jacket. “I won’t be home for lunch.”

Luo Yaqing froze, put down her chopsticks, and was just about to say something when he hurriedly left.

In the following days, Han Zhixu left early and returned late—he seemed unusually busy.

The chances of them seeing each other dwindled, and naturally, time together became pitifully rare.

Luo Yaqing grew melancholic.

Her mood was like the weather—gray and sunless.

She wasn’t stupid. She knew he was avoiding her.

She just didn’t understand—why?

With a long sigh, Luo Yaqing dragged a stool over and sat in front of a pile of napa cabbages by the window.

She picked out the firm, whole ones and removed the outer yellowed leaves.

In the afternoon, Zhang Guiqin was coming over to teach her how to make pickled cabbage, so she had to prep in advance.

“Jiejie, I’m leaving now!”

The sweet voice from the neighboring yard—Luo Yaqing didn’t even need to look to know who it was.

Ever since Ma Xiaolian went to the health station to deliver dumplings, Ye Hongping had become a regular visitor to her house. The two now acted like real sisters.

Just as Luo Yaqing finished sorting the cabbages and was about to clean the pickling jar, a woman’s voice called out from behind, “Yaqing.”

Luo Yaqing turned and saw a middle-aged woman in a wool coat, carrying a bag and smiling warmly at her.

The woman’s face gave her a sense of familiarity.

“You…”

After a moment of recollection—this was the original Luo Yaqing’s aunt, Qiu Shimin.

Qiu Shimin saw her surprised look and chuckled. “What? Not happy to see me?”

“No!” Luo Yaqing shook her head quickly.

Seeing a relative of the original host, she just didn’t know how to react at first.

“Aunt—Auntie,” she smiled brightly, stepping forward to take Qiu Shimin’s arm. “Why didn’t you send a telegram before coming? I could’ve met you at the station.”

Qiu Shimin laughed, “I wanted to surprise you two.”

Luo Yaqing took her luggage. “Come in and warm up—it’s freezing outside.”

“Alright.”

Aunt and niece entered the house one after another.

“Auntie, I’ll make you a bowl of noodles,” Luo Yaqing said as she carried the luggage inside.

In the outer room, Qiu Shimin scanned the place, her gaze eventually falling on the single bed by the wall.

“Auntie,” Luo Yaqing called as she returned from the inner room.

Qiu Shimin shifted her gaze to her niece’s face. “Yaqing, how are things between you and Zhixu?”

Luo Yaqing replied with a smile, “Great—we’re very much in love.”

“In love?” Qiu Shimin repeated.

“Yep,” Luo Yaqing nodded.

Qiu Shimin took a few quick steps to the single bed and pointed at it. “This is your idea of ‘in love’?”

“……”

“Explain this to me!”

“Auntie, I… he just refuses to sleep in the same bed with me…”

Facing Qiu Shimin’s fury, Luo Yaqing scratched her head and offered the most reasonable explanation she could manage.

It only made Qiu Shimin angrier. “You think I don’t know what you’re like?!”

“……”

“You never liked this marriage from the start—felt wronged? Then you shouldn’t have married him!”

“……”

“With your background, your family history—what right do you have to look down on others?!”

“I didn’t look down on him…”

Luo Yaqing silently endured the scolding that wasn’t meant for her, inwardly cursing the original host for all this mess.