After hearing Su Shuoci’s words, Gu Jiaojiao felt too embarrassed to look back again.

“Let’s hurry home and see how well the buns sold today.”

“Alright.”

The two returned to the compound. Although it wasn’t yet time to get off work, there were still many people rushing about on the road.

Some people left work early to go home and cook.

Whether they were familiar with them or not upon seeing Gu Jiaojiao and her husband, they automatically moved to the side of the road, looking enviously at Su Shuoci, who was carrying a full load of fish and pork.

Especially since there were also two cloth bags of rice and flour piled on the wheelchair. No one said anything to their faces.

But after they passed, the gossip erupted wildly, mostly about how marrying a cripple wasn’t so bad after all, at least they wouldn’t have to worry about food and drink.

Particularly Su’s mother’s former colleagues, “That old woman from the countryside has no skills and still gets paid for nothing.”

“Didn’t she resign?”

“Hmph, she should have resigned long ago. Her son is so capable, yet she still clings to the factory for free meals.”

“It’s normal for the organization to arrange a job for her since her son was injured,” said someone not from their factory.

“Have you heard? The youngest daughter of the Dong family is coming back,” a woman said mysteriously.

“What does her return have to do with us?”

“Although it’s none of our business, there’s going to be some excitement. Before Su Shuoci was injured, the youngest daughter of the Dong family openly pursued him.”

A woman’s eyes rolled around, her voice rising and falling dramatically.

“Let me tell you, I live next to the Dong family. Dong Yuanyuan once declared she would marry no one but Su Shuoci. But after Su Shuoci was injured,

she cried and sought out her father and two brothers, trying to find famous doctors everywhere to cure his legs.

Later, when Divine Doctor Jiang said that not only were Su Shuoci’s legs crippled, but he also had no sensation below the waist,

Dong Yuanyuan went to the south to perform and has been gone for half a year. I heard she’s coming back in a couple of days.”

“Are you saying Dong Yuanyuan went away to perform because she didn’t want to marry him?” a young daughter-in-law asked curiously.

“They weren’t engaged, so if she didn’t want to marry, she didn’t have to. There was no need to run away. Since she didn’t want to marry before, coming back won’t change anything.”

Another older woman said indifferently.

“Before Su Shuoci was crippled, many girls wanted to marry him. Even your youngest daughter wanted to marry him.”

“Ah, if I had known that he would be so capable even as a cripple, my daughter should have married him.”

The woman who was being teased not only showed no embarrassment but also sighed regretfully.

Since she dared to bring it up, it proved that her daughter really wanted to marry Su Shuoci.

It’s just that Su Shuoci, before he was crippled, was very hard to chase, and after he was crippled, they didn’t want to marry him.

But none of them knew that the chicken, duck, fish, and meat Su Shuoci carried every day were all bought by Gu Jiaojiao.

Both Gu Jiaojiao and Su Shuoci had excellent hearing. Although they had walked far away, they could still hear clearly.

“Hearing them talk like that, tsk tsk, Su Shuoci, you have quite a few confidantes.”

Su Shuoci looked back at his wife, “I never talked about marriage with anyone before, nor did I have a fiancée.”

“Do you feel regretful?”

Su Shuoci stopped the wheelchair, looked at Gu Jiaojiao seriously, and said, word by word,

“Jiaojiao, what they liked wasn’t me, but the promising future I had back then.

If there’s a shortcut in life, who would want to trudge through the muddy road?

After I was crippled, they naturally chose to keep their distance, so why should I feel regretful?”

Gu Jiaojiao: …

So clear-headed!

Back then, Song Zijin liked Gu Jiaojiao so much, but after the real daughter of the Sheng family returned, didn’t he cruelly dump the original host!

“Su Shuoci, Mrs. Su, you went out and bought so much meat again?” The neighbor next door greeted them warmly.

“My father-in-law and the others are visiting, so we specially went to buy some meat. You just got off work?” Su Shuoci replied.

“If your father-in-law is coming, then you should definitely buy more meat, haha. Alright, I’ll be off then.” The neighbor quickly got on his bicycle and rode away.

As he left, he thought to himself—Su Shuoci getting married really changed him. His friendly demeanor was almost shocking.

In the past, every time he greeted Su Shuoci, Su Shuoci would completely ignore him. Because of that, even after walking quite a distance, the neighbor still turned back to glance at Gu Jiaojiao and the others.

Gu Jiaojiao was stunned by his reaction. “Did he actually get off his bike just to greet you?”

“Mm.”

When Gu Jiaojiao and Su Shuoci got home, Su’s father and the others hadn’t returned from setting up the stall. The three members of the Gu family were still diligently shelling peanuts.

“Oh my~ Grandpa, big brother, mom, you’ve shelled so many peanuts this morning?”

“It’s not that much, hehe, Jiaojiao, you’re back,” Big Brother Gu said with a smile.

“Please rest for a while, I’ll go wash some apples for you to eat,” Su Shuoci said with a smile.

Jiaojiao’s grandfather and big brother were very honest. They had shelled a large basin of peanuts in just one morning.

“You even bought apples?” Grandpa Gu was very surprised.

“Mm, Jiaojiao said your bodies need to eat more fruit, so we also bought a watermelon.”

Su Shuoci went to the yard to pump water to wash the apples, and the watermelon was also chilled in the well water.

The watermelon was bought by them, and the big, red Fuji apples were from Gu Jiaojiao’s space, which were hard to come by in this era.

Su Shuoci also thoughtfully fetched water for the three members of the Gu family to wash their hands, giving each an apple, and he and Gu Jiaojiao also had one.

“Crunch…” Gu Jiaojiao happily ate the apple.

Grandpa Gu also took a bite and widened his eyes looking at Su Shuoci, “These apples are so sweet and crisp, where did you buy them?”

“We bought it on the black market. We also bought a few ginseng roots today. Jiaojiao said she would make chicken soup for everyone.”

Su Shuoci leaned close to Grandpa Gu’s ear and said mysteriously, though Big Brother Gu and Mother Gu could also hear.

Hearing this, the three members of the Gu family ate the apples without any burden.

They also told the two that the buns sold very well in the morning.

Second Brother Gu even clamored to make a hundred more buns to sell tomorrow, which made Gu Jiaojiao laugh.

Father Gu also went to sell cold skin noodles, so Mother Gu spoke a bit louder because their family also contributed two laborers.

“Mom, you, Grandpa, and Big Brother should just settle in and focus on recovering. Shuoci is rich—we don’t have to worry about food.”

“Alright, alright. Jiaojiao, once I get better, I’ll go set up a stall too,” Big Brother Gu said cheerfully.

Gu Jiaojiao couldn’t help but internally comment on his lack of ambition, but she patiently guided him.

“Big Brother, don’t you have a job? Once you recover, you should go back to your old unit in the army.”

“My body is still fit enough to return to the army?”

“Of course you can. If Shuoci can return, why not you? So don’t have any burdens, just focus on recovering.

Don’t keep shelling peanuts until your thumbs are red and swollen. My original intention was just to give you something to do.”

“Hehe, it doesn’t hurt at all,” Mother Gu said awkwardly.

They were just afraid that if they shelled too little, they would feel embarrassed facing their son-in-law and the Su family.