He draped the raincoat over himself, wandering aimlessly in the rainy field.
The sky didn’t look promising early this morning, so he decided against setting up his stall. Without the stall to tend to, he also didn’t want to stay at “that” home.
Recently, he’d often reminisce about his wedding. Whenever he heard people mention Qin’s Buns Shop, her silhouette would emerge in his mind.
He knew he shouldn’t dwell on it, but he couldn’t help himself. Sometimes, he even wondered if there hadn’t been the switch in marriage partners, and Lin Chuxia was his wife, would things have turned out like his sister said—no Qin’s Buns Shop, only Li’s Steamed Bun Shop?
Once this thought took root, it grew rapidly like a seed, thriving into a towering tree.
It wasn’t until the look in Lin Chuxia’s eyes just now that Li Guangyuan deeply realized he might have truly been mistaken.
There wouldn’t be a Li’s Steamed Bun Shop, just like his wife said, Lin Chuxia never had any interest in him from the very start.
Lin Chuxia scorned his poverty and looked down on him.
“Hey, Guangyuan, why have you come out in this heavy rain? What’s happened to you, getting all wet even with a raincoat? Come on, come in quick, dry yourself off, be careful or you’ll catch a cold…”
Li Guangyuan snapped back to reality and realized that he had unknowingly made his way to Tian Cuixia’s home.
Tian Cuixia was pulling him by the arm towards the house.
He managed a smile, “Cuihua, sorry about this, I was out handling some matters, didn’t expect it to rain, so I came to seek refuge at your place.”
“Nonsense, why be so polite with me? At the vegetable market, I’ve always been the one under your care. Here, take this towel; look how wet your clothes are! Take them off and change…”
Tian Cuixia reached out to help Li Guangyuan undo the buttons on his clothes, but he instinctively stepped back, looking utterly bewildered.
Tian Cuixia chuckled at his reaction, “Alright, you can do it. I’m busy making dumplings in the kitchen; this rain won’t stop anytime soon, so you might as well stay here and eat with me. I always say, you really have a hard lot in life. Why wander outside on a rainy day?”
Li Guangyuan kept his head down, wiping the rainwater off, not affirming or denying Tian Cuixia’s words.
His younger sister had returned to her maternal home again. As long as she was back, there wouldn’t be a moment’s peace in “that” home.
It was wrong for Li Hongmei to bother her sister-in-law with trifling matters at her maternal home, but if Lin Jiayi hadn’t intervened to arrange her marriage, she probably wouldn’t be bothering them every now and then.
Stuck between his wife on the one side and his own sister on the other, Li Guangyuan felt distressed, finding it more tolerable to wander outside than to stay at home.
“Here you go, these are my man’s clothes. Try them on and see if they fit; just make do for now.”
Tian Cuixia held up a sleeveless shirt in front of Li Guangyuan, her eyes shimmering playfully with a smile.
He felt a bit dazed; Li Jiayi also used to look at him with such eyes when they first got married, full of admiration and joy.
But he didn’t know when those eyes began to only show resentment and dissatisfaction.
Li Guangyuan looked down and took the clothes. Just as he was about to change, he realized something and saw Tian Cuixia still smiling at him.
Before he could say anything, Tian Cuixia teased him, “What’s the matter, you’re a grown man scared of being seen? You really think I’m dying to look at you? There’s plenty of topless men around on the streets when it’s hot, I’ve seen it all before.”
Li Guangyuan thought about it and realized it was true. When it was hot, the working men, including himself, were used to baring their chests, and even in their village, women would bare their chests to work during the dog days of summer.
Being bashful now would indeed seem overly sensitive.
Lifting his garment, he took off his soaking clothes and put on the clean ones.
Tian Cuixia laughed and said, “You know, you do look a bit like my unlucky husband in those clothes. Wait for it, the dumplings are almost ready, and I happen to have half a bottle of liquor left. We can have dumplings with liquor for lunch. Let’s have a drink.”
When Lin Chuxia arrived at Xiyang Food Factory, there were two large trucks parked in the factory yard, covered with thick tarpaulins.
Su Wensong, wearing a raincoat, was checking for leaks when he saw Lin Chuxia coming in from outside the yard; he hurried over to greet her.
“Mr. Lin, why have you come at this time? It’s pouring rain.”
While saying so, he started to take off his raincoat to give to Lin Chuxia.
Lin Chuxia waved her hand dismissively and walked quickly to the shelter under the eaves.
“When did the equipment arrive? Where is the person in charge?”
The sound of the rain was quite loud, especially under the eaves, Lin Chuxia had to speak almost by shouting.
“They are already in the office.”
This batch of equipment was arranged by Xu Changping, the deputy director of the machinery factory. However, the specific details were unclear, so they needed to come and inspect it in person.
Lin Chuxia nodded and asked Su Wensong to find her a new set of staff uniform.
Su Wensong quickly got his subordinates to take care of it.
After changing into clean clothes, Lin Chuxia felt much more comfortable.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Su Wensong, but rather, she understood from a lifetime of experience that even a small deviation in these production machines could affect the entire production line.
Nowadays, the quality of machinery on the market varies greatly, and she tried her best to clearly convey her requirements to Xu Changping’s side, just in case.
It was still raining outside, and it was time for lunch. Lin Chuxia and Su Wensong, along with the person in charge and the drivers, went to have lunch first.
The rain gradually stopped after lunch—just in time to inspect the machinery.
Pulling off the tarp, Lin Chuxia climbed onto the Jiefang truck and carefully checked the machinery against the manual. She was quite satisfied. Indeed, as Xu Changping said, this set of machinery seemed to be one of the more advanced on the market.
The machinery was bulky, and moving it into the factory building was troublesome. Cranes were hard to find in a small county town; it had to be moved by manpower.
Lin Chuxia went directly to Village Chief Qin. Qin Shusen, without saying another word, went to the village committee’s loudspeakers and broadcasted a call for the strong and young villagers to help move the machinery at Xiyang Food Factory.
Su Wensong, seeing that Village Chief Qin had only broadcasted through the loudspeakers, was somewhat concerned.
He asked Lin Chuxia in a very low voice, “Will this work? What if the villagers don’t want to come? Otherwise, if we stop the factory’s production line for half a day and get our own employees to do it together, that should be nearly enough.”
Su Wensong was a genuine city kid. Even if he had gone to the countryside as a youth, he only lived at the youth point and didn’t experience much of the villagers’ sense of solidarity.
Lin Chuxia just smiled slightly, “No need, you’ll see in a bit.”
When building Xiyang Food Factory and Qin Family Village chicken farm, she had personally witnessed the influence Village Chief Qin Shusen held in the village.
It wasn’t about him overpowering others with his authority, but rather he genuinely did practical things for the common people and sought benefits for the villagers. Everyone in the village held great respect for him.
Sure enough, in less than a moment, villagers began to approach from all directions, some in groups.
Knowing it was to move heavy machinery for the factory, they brought with them thick wooden sticks, coarse ropes, and other handy household items.