Chapter 34 – How Could It Be This Perky?

Zhao Yuzhu was completely dumbfounded!

What?

Did she hear that right? He actually wanted her to learn from that spendthrift cousin of hers?!

Zhao Yuzhu couldn’t hold back anymore and directly questioned him: “What do you mean by that?”

“What else could I mean?” Li Wenchuan frowned at her. “I’m just telling you to go buy some clothes. Is that wrong?”

If he had just told her from the beginning to go buy a couple of new outfits, Zhao Yuzhu wouldn’t have gotten angry at all. In fact, she would’ve felt incredibly happy and touched.

But instead, he told her to dress up like her cousin!

That had a completely different implication!

It clearly meant that he found her dirty, that she wasn’t as good as Su Luyun!

Zhao Yuzhu was furious and fired back at Li Wenchuan on the spot. “You think I don’t know I should buy some new clothes? You think I like spending all day circling around you, the kid, and the kitchen?”

“If I could, I’d want to eat good food, drink good wine, go out to restaurants and watch movies every day, stroll around the mall and buy beautiful new clothes too—but how much is your monthly salary?”

“Before we moved out, you only made thirty yuan a month!”

“Now that you’ve taken on a construction site project and started making money, sure, you’ve got more, but how much of that do you even give me?”

“You give me only twenty-five yuan a month for groceries. It seems like a lot, but every month I have to send your parents two yuan, and then there are all the social obligations. If I give too little, you say it’s embarrassing and get upset. If I give too much, how much do I even have left for actual food?”

“And then there’s the child getting sick sometimes—who pays for all of that?”

“You think I don’t want to buy clothes? It’s that I don’t have the money to buy them!”

“You think everyone gets to marry a good man like my cousin Su Luyun did, someone like Zhou Changdong?”

“The moment she married in, he handed all the money over to her and didn’t care how she spent it!”

“You give me twenty-five yuan, not two hundred and fifty!”

“……”

Zhao Yuzhu’s temper completely exploded. She couldn’t hold it back anymore!

Say anything else about her, fine—but don’t you dare say she’s not as good as Su Luyun!

Especially not coming from Li Wenchuan!

What right did he have to criticize her? She had never even looked down on him!

Back when they were still living at the ancestral house, she had done everything—cooking, cleaning, washing clothes—she practically worked like a servant for the whole family!

She managed everything—meals, chores, even taking care of people’s needs like a housemaid!

But whenever she had a conflict with her mother-in-law or her sisters-in-law, he always told her to endure, endure, endure. “You live under their roof, you have to bow your head”—so she did.

But who ever cared about how bitter she felt inside?

Did he ever try to understand her? Never!

Just look at the kind of life she had lived after marrying him, compared to the heavenly life her cousin lived after marrying Zhou Changdong.

She had never once said a bad word about him, and yet now he had the audacity to turn around and call her an old hag?

He didn’t say the words outright—but that’s exactly what he meant!

Otherwise, why would he tell her to learn how to dress up like her cousin?

Li Wenchuan was completely stunned by her outburst!

Ever since Zhao Yuzhu married him, she had never yelled at him like this. At most, when she felt wronged, she would hide under the blanket and cry quietly.

When had she ever been this hysterical?

Once he snapped out of it, he didn’t even care about their son, who had been frightened into wailing—his first reaction was to close the window and draw the curtains!

There were already nosy neighbors outside listening to the gossip.

That was just how it was living in a tube-shaped apartment building—if someone let out a fart, the whole floor could hear it, let alone Zhao Yuzhu shouting like that. The glint of gossip sparkled in everyone’s eyes.

Even with the windows shut and the curtains drawn, it didn’t matter. Once an argument started, people could still hear it loud and clear.

But in the end, the argument didn’t continue.

—

Su Luyun, meanwhile, had no idea that couple had even gotten into a fight.

She was currently facing a rather difficult situation—Zhou Changdong had finally gone to the bathroom.

Though Su Luyun had mentally prepared herself for this, she had still been worried. After all, it had been days since they returned, and he still hadn’t had a proper bowel movement.

She was genuinely concerned that in his current condition, he might not be able to go at all.

If that happened, she would have to manually remove it—which was not easy. Really, truly not easy.

At the very least, Su Luyun had to muster up a huge amount of mental strength to even think about doing it.

So now that Zhou Changdong was finally able to go on his own, it was honestly a big relief for Su Luyun.

At least she didn’t have to physically extract it. But—here came the new problem.

Now she had to clean up the mess, and Su Luyun really needed a lot of courage to deal with it!

Even though she had mentally prepared herself, it still sent chills down her spine!

Help!!!

Su Luyun screamed inwardly.

But when she looked at Zhou Changdong, who was staring blankly at the chat box in a daze, her heart softened again.

So she tied a wet towel around her mouth and nose, then began cleaning up after him.

As she cleaned, she spoke in a casual tone, as if she didn’t mind at all. “Changdong, that old doctor Qin is really amazing, huh? Just one acupuncture session and you’re already going to the bathroom. That really puts my heart at ease—I’d been worrying about this for days!”

“Now everything’s fine. If you can eat and poop, your body will definitely recover!”

“He really is a miracle-working old doctor!”

“I’ve decided—once you’re better, I’m definitely going to make a banner and personally deliver it to him!”

“……”

No matter how overwhelmed Su Luyun felt inside, her tone didn’t give anything away.

Whether it was really the acupuncture from Doctor Qin that worked, or if it was just time for his body to naturally respond—it didn’t matter much now.

What mattered most was easing this man’s injured pride.

Before, his mood was just gloomy. This time it had turned completely dark—clearly he had been suffering immensely.

But her words clearly had some effect. Zhou Changdong’s emotional state shifted from pitch black to a dull grey.

Still very dejected, but no longer in total despair.

Su Luyun didn’t dwell on it. After the first round of cleaning, she quickly replaced the water and continued.

She cleaned three rounds in total before everything—Zhou Changdong and the bed—was spotless, without even the faintest trace of odor!

Seeing that his mood was still dark grey, Su Luyun patted his butt while helping him put on pants and commented playfully: “How could it be this perky?”

Zhou Changdong finally reacted: 【Wife.】o（╥﹏╥）o

Su Luyun understood his emo.

To be reduced to this state—of course he’d feel this way. It was completely normal.

Her job was to comfort him. And for tonight, that was enough. The rest… he would have to learn to accept on his own.

She went outside, washed the soiled pads and pants, hung them up to dry, then came back inside to give him a massage. She didn’t say anything more during the process.

Only when it was time to sleep did she lean over, kiss him on the lips, and hold his hand tightly, intertwining her fingers with his. She said softly: “I must have owed you in my past life to end up with a stubborn man like you in this one.”

Not long after she whispered those words, she fell asleep.

Zhou Changdong could feel how tired she was. Even though he knew she didn’t look down on him, he still felt guilty and helpless.

He didn’t want to be like this, but right now, there was simply nothing he could do.

Maybe his emotions were too turbulent—while holding hands with Su Luyun, one of his fingers actually twitched slightly.

But Su Luyun had already fallen fast asleep and knew nothing of it.