Gu Zhengnan couldn’t sleep either—after all, it was his first time lying next to a member of the opposite sex.
Every time he closed his eyes, his mind was flooded with the tantalizing image of Jiang Shutang in that shirt from earlier.
The shirt had barely reached the top of her thighs. It was a perfectly modest garment, but on Jiang Shutang, it instantly became the stuff of temptation.
When she’d climbed into bed, he’d even caught sight of water droplets clinging to her long, slender legs.
Gu Zhengnan had lost that portion of his memory and had long since forgotten how he and Jiang Shutang had once been intimate, but his mind couldn’t help filling in the blanks.
Jiang Shutang couldn’t sleep either, but she didn’t dare move, just lay there silently staring at the ceiling.
In the next room, Gu Hongwei and Li Wenxiu were also still awake, ears practically pressed to the wall listening for any sound.
The old man’s view was that none of the other granddaughters-in-law measured up—only Jiang Shutang had a constitution conducive to pregnancy and brought prosperity to their family.
So when it came to adding new members to the household, they had high expectations for the couple.
“Not a single sound from those two?”
Li Wenxiu had been listening for a while without hearing anything and was a bit puzzled.
Gu Hongwei frowned. “You’re supposed to be an elder. Show a little dignity. Who eavesdrops on something like this? What would people say if word got out?”
Li Wenxiu shot her husband a glare.
“What the hell do you know? If she can pop out a few more boys, won’t all your father’s assets eventually pass down to us?”
She then curled her lip. “Anyway, I’m not too impressed with this daughter-in-law of ours. This is about all she’s good for. No education, a mediocre job—just a factory worker on the assembly line. Her family background is nothing to write home about either. The only thing she’s got going for her is that face. If she can’t even give us grandchildren, then what did our son marry her for?”
Gu Hongwei thought his wife’s words were a bit harsh, but honestly, marrying this kind of daughter-in-law had already made them the laughingstock of the compound.
But since the marriage certificate was already signed, they were legally husband and wife. Whether they were satisfied or not didn’t change anything—they couldn’t just divorce right after getting married.
“Then there’s no need for you to rush. It’s not like getting pregnant is something you can speed up by worrying.”
The two went back and forth, their words dripping with contempt for Jiang Shutang.
Also struggling to sleep were Gu Zhengbei and his wife.
Seeing how much the old man doted on those three children, Gu Zhengbei felt a twinge of anxiety.
That’s just how it was in life—wherever the heart leaned, the money followed.
Though he and Gu Zhengbei were brothers, even brothers compared themselves to each other. He didn’t want to come up short against Gu Zhengbei.
As for Wang Na, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep, her mind stuck on that six hundred yuan.
“Zhengbei, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. Why should marrying some worn-out shoe like her warrant six hundred? I got so much less back then. I think your parents should make up the difference to me. Since when does a son’s bride price differ from one daughter-in-law to another?”
Wang Na thought of Jiang Shutang’s fox-like face, then of that generous bride price, and the more she thought, the more indignant she became.
“What can I do about it? It’s Mom and Dad’s decision. The money’s in their hands—we can’t control that. But don’t worry. If Mom and Dad value her, it’s only because of those three kids. When it comes to status in the Gu family, she’ll never surpass you.”
Gu Zhengbei saw things pretty clearly. Jiang Shutang would never have any standing in this household. With no family backing her, no real skills of her own, a tarnished reputation, and Gu Zhengnan feeling nothing much for her, he probably wouldn’t go out of his way to protect her either.
Wang Na thought it over—it did make sense.
Sure, she was just an ordinary cashier, but both her parents had iron rice bowls—stable government jobs. That made her middle class.
This newcomer trying to shake her position? Not a chance.
The two conspired for a good long while before finally turning in.
By then, Jiang Shutang and Gu Zhengnan had already fallen asleep.
They’d both been too embarrassed at first, but after a busy day and a bit of alcohol in their systems, drowsiness had quickly set in.
Once asleep, Jiang Shutang stopped caring about propriety. She rolled over and draped her arm across Gu Zhengnan’s waist.
Gu Zhengnan was a light sleeper and woke almost instantly.
Seeing Jiang Shutang face-to-face with him, her arm wrapped around his waist, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
Just as he reached out to put her arm back, the woman went even further—she swung one of her thighs up over him, as if he were a human-sized body pillow.
Jiang Shutang let out a contented hum and hugged him even tighter.
Gu Zhengnan’s face turned green. He was, after all, a normal man. Having a face that beautiful pressed right up against his, full-on close contact—it was hard not to have a reaction.
Clenching his teeth, he pried Jiang Shutang’s arm and leg off him and pressed himself against the wall, finally escaping her clutches.
But the next morning, the moment Gu Zhengnan woke up, he found himself being held tightly. Jiang Shutang was like an octopus, squeezing him so hard he could barely breathe.
Because he’d been afraid she’d toss and turn in her sleep, Gu Zhengnan had ended up pressed flat against the wall by the end of the night—but Jiang Shutang still hadn’t let him off the hook. She’d simply wrapped her arms around him from behind.
Just as Gu Zhengnan was considering getting up, Jiang Shutang woke too.
She’d drunk quite a bit of water before bed last night, and right now she really needed to pee.
But when she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the back of a man’s head.
She was startled at first, but quickly realized her situation.
She had almost forgotten that she was already a married woman.
Her gaze moved downward, and she saw that she was tightly hugging Gu Zhengnan, while her own shirt had ridden up to her waist, directly exposing her underwear underneath. Her face flushed bright red in an instant.
She slowly withdrew her arms, straightened her clothes, and then tiptoed off the bed.
Seeing this, Gu Zhengnan could only pretend to be asleep for now—otherwise, it would be too awkward.
Jiang Shutang changed into her own clothes and went straight to the bathroom.
Gu Zhengnan also hurriedly got up, opened the wardrobe, and took out clothes to change into.
Just as he had taken off his sleep pants and was pulling on the new ones, Jiang Shutang pushed the door open and walked in.
Gu Zhengnan was startled, his hand trembled, and his pants fell straight to the floor.
Jiang Shutang quickly shut her eyes as well—good heavens, she seemed to have seen something she shouldn’t have.
“Oh, right, Mom told us to go downstairs for breakfast. You should hurry up and get ready.”
Gu Zhengnan picked up his pants from the floor and gave a low grunt in response.
Staying there was too awkward for Jiang Shutang, so she simply went downstairs first.
When she got down, she found that the food was already prepared. That was how it was in the north—in the morning, people loved to eat tofu pudding and drink millet porridge, then add a few staple foods to round it out.
The Gu family was well-off, so breakfast included not only steamed buns but also fried dough sticks—just looking at them made one’s appetite stir.
After Jiang Shutang sat down, the Gu family members tacitly stopped their conversation, as if afraid she might overhear what they were saying.
Gu Manman turned her head to the side and rolled her eyes at her third brother, clearly not liking Jiang Shutang either.
Li Wenxiu, however, had no intention of isolating her daughter-in-law. She smiled and chatted with Jiang Shutang for a few moments.
Before long, Gu Zhengnan also came downstairs and sat down beside Jiang Shutang.
“Everyone’s here now. Let’s eat.”
With Gu Hongwei’s word, everyone picked up their chopsticks.