Chapter 39

“Would you let her buy things and use tickets freely?”

“A man earns money to spend on his wife.”

“If she argues with someone else, would you support her?”

“Only a fool wouldn’t support his own wife and would help others.”

“What if the argument is with your family?”

Yan Lei paused slightly but still said firmly, “Husband and wife need to be united to live a good life.”

Qiao Wei got the answer she wanted.

No wonder Yan Lei and Lin Xixi didn’t get along well, but they still appeared very sweet in the main text.

It’s because those behaviors that Lin Xixi finds sweet are actually basic requirements that Yan Lei believes a husband should fulfill.

There’s no need to feel ashamed when striving for one’s own interests.

Especially this time when Qiao Wei crossed over, taking over the identity of Yan Lei’s current wife, the legal wife. So even if Lin Xixi and Yan Lei had a sweet ending in the original text, Qiao Wei couldn’t just hand Yan Lei over to her.

She naturally had conflicting interests with Lin Xixi, who was reborn with the purpose of marrying Yan Lei, so she wouldn’t feel guilty about competing for interests.

But after spending these days with Yan Lei, she had developed some feelings.

When people don’t talk about interests but about feelings, feelings of unease and anxiety arise. She would also feel guilty about whether Yan Lei would have fallen in love with Lin Xixi but was hindered by her interference.

But now she understood.

It doesn’t matter if it’s Lin Xixi, Lin Duoduo, or Lin Chaochao; as long as the person actively wants to live a good life with Yan Lei, Yan Lei will have a sweet ending with that person.

Qiao Wei’s inner anxiety finally disappeared.

If anyone could do it for Yan Lei, as long as they live well together, then let her, the legal wife, do it.

Yan Lei glanced at Qiao Wei’s expression and felt like she had passed a test.

He shouted to the yard, “Yan Xiang! Stop eating!”

The couple hurried out, and indeed, Yan Xiang was still eating.

In addition to various practical utensils used daily, there were also agricultural and sideline products brought by various communes at the market. Among them, Qiao Wei especially liked various dried fruits and dried sweet potatoes.

Yan Xiang had already eaten a lot of good things with Qiao Wei at the market. Now, taking advantage of the time when the two adults were talking in the house, he opened his pocket and started eating dried fruits by the handful.

In this era, these were such good snacks, relieving cravings and satisfying. But it couldn’t go on endlessly, especially for such a young child.

Seeing both parents coming out, Yan Xiang quickly stuffed a handful into his mouth and then covered it with his hand.

Sure enough, the next moment, the pocket “flew” away from him and was taken away by his tall and mighty father.

Immediately, his mother flicked his forehead and scolded, “Still eating! You’ll get a stomachache later.”

Yan Xiang changed his hand from covering his mouth to covering his forehead.

“Delicious!” he said with his cheeks puffed out.

Of course, it was delicious, all-natural, sun-dried, and pure, without any pollution. Qiao Wei also fell in love with it at first taste and bought quite a lot.

She took the bag and shook it, asking Yan Lei, “When is the next big market?”

“In July, this is the last time,” Yan Lei said, “Once school is out, we’ll start the double rush.”

Qiao Wei didn’t have a clue about the definition of “double rush” in her mind and didn’t dare to ask. Luckily, Yan Lei followed up quickly, saying, “Rushing to harvest and plant; rushing to transplant early and late; harvesting rice.”

Oh, so that’s what it is.

“After the busy farming season, we’ll open the market again, probably in August.”

“Okay.”

Qiao Wei went to tidy up the various things she bought today.

Yan Lei also had things to tidy up for himself—he bought vegetable seeds.

Qiao Wei watched him finding bowls and basins, soaking his precious seeds. They were indeed precious and handled with care. The way he stared at the seeds in the water was like looking at a lover.

Tsk tsk~.

As long as he’s happy.

While tidying up, Qiao Wei discussed with him, “What should we use to fence the vegetable plot? Bricks or something. Also, from the main gate to here, I want to lay down a path. What do you think about using cobblestones? I saw plenty by the river. We can go pick them up and lay the path ourselves.”

Yan Lei asked, “How do you plan to lay it?”

Qiao Wei explained her thoughts, and Yan Lei chuckled, “You’re thinking too simplistically. You think laying them down directly will work?”

Qiao Wei looked dumbfounded. “Won’t it?”

After a moment’s thought, she said, “Don’t we need cement to fix them?”

Yan Lei shook his head with a smile.

Qiao Wei hummed, “You act like you know everything. Have you laid roads before?”

Little did she know, Yan Lei said, “Of course, I have. Laying roads, building bridges, constructing houses, raising pigs—we soldiers have done it all.”

He had actually laid roads before.

“Alright.” Faced with a practical person, Qiao Wei felt a bit embarrassed, “Then you tell me how to do it, I’ll listen to you.”

Yan Lei said, “If you want to use cobblestones, go ahead, I’ll take care of other materials.”

Great, that means she’s only responsible for the fun part.

Qiao Wei happily agreed.

Although she wanted to imitate those renovation videos she had watched before, she also knew that what was shown in just a few minutes of video might have taken the author several days of work, and it was the kind of work that left you with a sore back.

Of course, the author always showcased the most interesting parts for the audience to see, while skipping over the less interesting and dirty tasks.

Qiao Wei was just an armchair enthusiast; she only wanted to do the most fun and pastoral parts. Let Yan Lei handle the dirty and tiring ones. It’s great, isn’t it? This is what it means to be a united couple.

“First, take care of your vegetable plot. Does your soil still smell?” Qiao Wei craned her neck to look at the vegetable plot.

“Just a little! Just a little!” Yan Lei hurriedly said, “It’s almost odorless now. Another day of sun drying, and it will be completely odorless.”

Qiao Wei glanced at him with a half-smile, then took her beans, dried mushrooms, pickled radishes, and dried fruits to the kitchen.

Yan Lei arranged the bowls of soaking seeds on the windowsill one by one, wiped his hands, and quickly picked up an iron shovel to turn over the soil in the vegetable plot. The river mud had dried completely. After another turn and continued sun drying, it would indeed be completely odorless.

…that won’t make her feel disgusted.

This was still the reminder Captain Zhao gave him after he had a fight and went to drink at Captain Zhao’s place, scraping the vegetable plot.

“Why are you making compost? Do you think you’re still in the countryside?” Captain Zhao pointed at him, “Have you ever thought about the wife you married? A city wife! That’s not easy to handle.”

Captain Zhao reminded him that he could use river mud instead.

Actually, nothing beats homemade compost. And it’s not needed anymore; he’s already scrapped his vegetable plot, and he won’t be planting again.

At that time, he really thought he would never plant again, but he didn’t expect there would be another day to plant.

As Yan Lei turned over the soil, he couldn’t help but feel emotional. Indeed, people need to experience some things to grow, to progress.

She’s much more tolerant now than she used to be. With a broader mind, life suddenly became smoother.

While Qiao Wei and Yan Lei were in a sunny mood like today’s sunshine, Lin Xixi’s mood wasn’t so great.

First, she bumped into Yan Lei at the market again, reinforcing the feeling she had yesterday evening—this guy was quite annoying.

Ignoring all other external factors, just his words alone were starting to annoy Lin Xixi a bit.

Lin Xixi was already a middle-aged auntie who loved giving advice to young people, pointing fingers and meddling in their affairs. In Qiao Wei’s era, this was called “daddy vibes”.

Then she was a reborn person. The miraculous experiences gave this auntie, who was down and out in the 1990s, a strong sense of confidence. She felt like she was standing on the shoulders of the times, looking down on everyone in this era.

This sense of superiority made her confident and happy.

Little did she know that Yan Lei, this guy, was even more of a “daddy” than her. He directly extinguished her sense of happiness.

So… annoying.

Last night, she was thinking about his future and imagining a prosperous and splendid life, and she could bear it.

But what did she see today at the market? He was carrying a bamboo basket, buying what? Cloth, hand-woven cloth shoes, and even straw shoes.

He even bought straw shoes!

Suddenly, the illusion brought by the term “big official” collapsed, and it didn’t seem so bright anymore.

The fact that Yan Lei came from the same rural background as her became clear and strong.

Human nature is really hard to resist. Although Lin Xixi told herself that these things didn’t matter and that only becoming rich and prosperous in the future mattered, she realized at this moment that she was still the same as when she was young. What she truly yearned for was still the city.

She had spent half her life and still hadn’t truly become a city person.

Just last night, Yan Lei pointed out to her that she looked like a country bumpkin with a single glance, and he didn’t even know how much that comment pierced Lin Xixi’s heart.

Lin Xixi and Xiao Zhang wandered aimlessly through the crowded market, trying to strike up a conversation, asking about Qiao Wei’s trip to the provincial capital.

“Her relatives are nothing special, just an old lady, not very warm.” Xiao Zhang said, “This kind of relative is not worth visiting.”

Why is it an old lady? Shouldn’t it be an elopement?

But Lin Xixi found that she wasn’t very interested in this matter anymore.

At this moment, she looked at the many rural folks at the market, as well as some townsfolk who weren’t much better than the rural folks, and felt annoyed.

She even felt annoyed with Zhang Guoqiang—also from a rural background, he spoke with a heavy rural accent and often used colloquialisms.

At this moment, Lin Xixi once again faced her true feelings and realized that, for decades, she had still liked city people.

She truly, truly hated the countryside, hated the place where she was born. Even after more than twenty years of honing in the city, she hated it more than when she was young.

After wandering aimlessly and parting ways with Xiao Zhang, she went home.

No one was home; everyone was still at the market, and they had agreed to have lunch there. She didn’t feel like cooking either, so she lay down for the whole afternoon.

Sister Yang and Captain Zhao came back carrying Wu Nier and thought she was sick.

Lethargic, what’s wrong?

She didn’t even make dinner in the evening and just laid in bed. Sister Lin brought her meal to the room. “What’s wrong? Can you eat? If not, should we go to the clinic in town? If that doesn’t work, we’ll go to the county hospital.”

Being entrusted with half the responsibilities of a mother-in-law, Sister Lin didn’t dare to let her niece have any trouble under her watch.

Lin Xixi took the meal but had no appetite.

Sister Lin noticed something was wrong and sat beside her, “If you have something on your mind, just say it. Don’t keep it to yourself and make yourself sick. Your aunt is not a stranger. We’re all doing this for your own good. Tell me, did something go wrong with Xiao Zhang today?”