You don’t need to cover every base, don’t need to tend to every tiny detail, don’t need to think three steps ahead for every single step you take.
You can show your most tender and vulnerable side, he is her husband, her man.
All those words in the letters from before are nowhere near as real as today, after running around with her for half a day, he knows how hard she has it.
“Wife, actually my salary is enough to support you, even if it’s not, I can work harder. Anyway, you don’t have to work so hard.”
Lin Chuxia finished half of a sweet potato, then grasped his hand and started peeling the sweet potato for him, speaking casually.
“Qin Yang, I enjoy doing these things. People live their lives chasing many things, it’s meaningful only if you leave something behind. Even though I can’t contribute to the people like you do, I still want to live my life my way.”
She raised her eyes to look into his.
“Qin Yang, you just focus on doing a good job. In my heart, what you do is something I can never compare to, you are my pride.”
Qin Yang, looking at her admiring gaze, knew his wife wasn’t deceiving him.
He chuckled softly, kissing her tender, red lips.
Lin Chuxia stuttered in resistance, “Don’t kiss, I still want to eat my sweet potato.”
“I want to taste if it’s sweet or not, this sweet potato must be smeared with honey, otherwise how could it be so sweet-talking.”
Lin Chuxia: “…”
Who’s sweet-talking you!
Yet she heard a gentle sigh next to her ear, “Lin Chuxia, you are my pride as well!”
…
On the pathway of the county hospital, a man and a woman walked by.
Lin Jiayi held her waist, pushing out the still inconspicuous belly.
Li Guangyuan, standing beside her, was still fretting over the medical costs they had just spent. Hearing Lin Jiayi wanting to go to the city for a stroll, he cautiously advised, “If you’re not feeling well, we should go back early. Once home, you can take a good rest.”
“Forget it, with your mom and sister at home, how can I rest well?”
Lin Jiayi, having cohabited with Li Guangyuan for so long, also noticed how stingy this man could be. She figured he must be worrying about the money spent right now.
However, she doesn’t see it as a big issue, knowing well that the richer people are, the more frugal they tend to be. Li Guangyuan had been wealthy in his previous life, and his frugality might well have something to do with it.
But right now, they hardly had much money, and it wasn’t okay for him to be stingy with her.
“Li Guangyuan, you don’t need to fret over the medical expenses. If your sister hadn’t upset me, would I have become so agitated that it affected the baby? Later on, you’ll accompany me to the shops to buy some things I like, maybe I’ll feel better once my anger subsides.”
Li Guangyuan felt exposed and couldn’t quite save his face, “It’s not that I care about the money, I just worry about you.”
“Worry about me?” Lin Jiayi let out a cold laugh, “If you truly care for me, then do as I say. Get Li Hongmei’s wedding sorted out before the New Year, marry her off early, and the house would be more peaceful. Not to say anything about your siblings, but Li Guangyuan, just look at other families. Don’t little sisters at least help with cooking or feeding the chickens if they’re not working in the fields? Your family is raising two young ladies, I’d believe it if you said you’re not your mother’s biological child.”
Li Guangyuan found it hard to argue against that. Since he was little, he had been the only man in the family and was used to working in the fields, never expecting his sisters to help out.
But as Lin Jiayi kept pointing it out, he too began to notice how his mother did indeed favor his two sisters.
“Mother seems to want to wait a bit longer.”
“What are you looking at? Don’t they trust me, you don’t either? That’s a really good household; you’ve seen it yourself last time. Let alone being a millionaire, just having so many pigs at home means they’re living much better than average folks. I’m telling you, if it weren’t for the matchmaker being on good terms with us, with you all hesitating back and forth, they would’ve moved on to meet other prospects. Miss this opportunity, and there won’t be another shop like it.”
“Hongmei always wanted to marry someone from the city.”
“Someone from the city?” Lin Jiayi laughed as if she heard the biggest joke, “Let me tell you, Li Guangyuan, your sister must be dreaming even during the day, and you aren’t being foolish too, right? What status does she have? She has no job, no education, lazy and gluttonous—who from the city would want her?”
She hasn’t married someone from the city, why should they enjoy that luxury?
She’s no Lin Chuxia, Li Hongmei still thinking about marrying someone from the city? Maybe in her next life.
Li Guangyuan was left speechless and dumbfounded; he too thought his sister’s ideas were wildly unrealistic.
“I’ll talk to mom about it when we get back.”
“You tell your mom, marrying Ma Dazhuang, not only will they provide a dowry for Hongmei, but we can also give some betrothal gifts; all of this will be Hongmei’s backbone. If she marries someone from the city, we won’t be able to give even a penny of dowry, nor can we afford a decent betrothal gift. Marrying over there, she’d just have to live at the mercy of others. Let your mom think it over, which life would be better. I think she’ll understand this reasoning.”
Li Guangyuan felt his wife’s words made sense and nodded repeatedly, “Alright, I’ll talk to mom when I get back.”
Upon hearing the satisfactory response, Lin Jiayi finally smiled, “Guang Yuan, your son said he’s hungry, and he wants meat buns, specifically from Qin’s. Take me there, will you?”
Last time those two shameless people stole their money to come to the city, buying clothes and eating meat buns; heard they got them from Qin’s Steamed Bun.
The few meat buns they brought back were divided up and eaten by that mother and daughters; not a single one was left for her, she only got the smell of them.
This time she’s going to eat several more and bring some back to let them smell it.
The two arrived at Qin’s Bun Shop and saw a long queue at the entrance, with people constantly coming and going inside. Lin Jiayi said to Li Guangyuan, “No wonder everyone says if you want meat buns, go to Qin’s. Look at all these people; they must be delicious. Guang Yuan, buy a few extra when it’s our turn.”
Li Guangyuan hadn’t expected so many people; his thoughts differed from Lin Jiayi’s.
Lin Jiayi had been urging him to find a business, and he did concentrate on that for a while, but being unfamiliar with everything, he gave up on the idea.
Now seeing the bustling hall, his first thought was how much money they must be making.
“Jiayi, do you think we could make money selling meat buns?”
Lin Jiayi’s eyes also lit up, “Right, with so many people, think about how many buns they sell and how much money they make in a day. We should open our own bun shop too, make a fortune.”
Li Guangyuan shook his head when he heard her, “We’re just dreaming; you can’t even cook, who would buy meat buns made by you?”
A bucket of cold water poured down, but Lin Jiayi didn’t give up, “If I can’t cook, can’t you learn?”
Li Guangyuan thought to himself, isn’t cooking a woman’s job?
Yet he chose not to argue with her at that moment, “Let’s eat first.”
“Right, let’s taste it first. Maybe it’s not that hard to make.”
When Li Guangyuan brought over the purchased meat buns, Lin Jiayi stopped talking.
These buns were just too well-made, each shaped like a flower; she nearly couldn’t bear to eat them.
She hadn’t even taken a bite and could already smell the rich meat scent. Taking a bite, the savory and juicy taste was completely different from any meat bun she’d tried before.
“Speaking of which, my sister Chuxia makes pretty tasty meat buns too, but they don’t have this flavor, I have no idea how they make them.”
Lin Chuxia’s cooking skills were indeed quite good.