Li Wenxiu raised her hand and covered his lips with her palm. “Hubby, how is your body feeling now?”
Gu Shiye brushed his lips against her palm and said, “I haven’t even kissed you properly yet, how could I feel anything?”
Li Wenxiu blinked. “I just gave you a Strength Pill.”
Gu Shiye suddenly opened his eyes wide, delight flashing in them. “Wife, the sign-in shop can even produce Strength Pills?!”
But very quickly, he reacted and frowned in frustration. “You silly girl, something this good should’ve been eaten by you first. I can wait. You still have to give birth in the future, you’ll need strength more than me.”
Li Wenxiu felt a warm sweetness in her heart. Before transmigration, when they were husband and wife, their relationship had been pure love and joy. Now that they had come to this era of scarce resources and continued being husband and wife, she had come to understand a different kind of affection between them, this man’s endless indulgence and care for her.
Gu Shiye even regretfully tried to stick his finger down his throat to make himself vomit it out.
Li Wenxiu tapped his forehead. “You’re the silly one. Did you forget? Every time we open blind boxes, we almost always get duplicates.”
Gu Shiye’s eyes lit up again. He quickly checked his body, clenched his fist, and immediately felt a surge of power in his arm. His biceps were noticeably stronger. He felt like he could smash a cow with one punch right now.
“Wife, this Strength Pill is really good, and it has no side effects. Hurry up and take yours too.”
Li Wenxiu took out the other pill and popped it into her mouth. It tasted just like an ordinary sugar pill. After chewing twice, she swallowed it.
In that instant, she felt a surge of powerful energy erupt inside her body.
She clenched her fist as well, and sure enough, everything was different now.
Gu Shiye finally admitted, “Wife, it seems heaven really is favoring us.”
They had spatial storage for farming, spiritual spring water that strengthened the body and nourished health, and now this cheat-like bonus. From now on, he would never complain again about being suddenly pulled into this era without their consent.
Suddenly, a knock came from outside the courtyard.
Gu Shiye said, “Wife, you eat the fish while it’s hot. I’ll go open the door.”
Li Wenxiu took a deep breath of the fragrance from the bowl of boiled fish on the small table. Although she was tempted, she did not want to eat alone, so she went to serve rice first.
Gu Shiye opened the gate. The moment he saw the person outside, his face darkened and he immediately reached to close the door again.
Gu Shiyu quickly stuck her hand in. “Third Brother, for the sake of us being siblings, please be kind and let me have a meal!”
She was not here empty-handed. She had already smelled the aroma from far away and confirmed it was coming from her third brother’s house, so she had decided to come and mooch a meal.
Gu Shiye rolled his eyes. “You’re dreaming.”
Gu Shiyu was stunned. She did not expect him to speak so harshly. Was this still her third brother, who had always been timid and honest since childhood?
Seeing that he was about to close the door again without hesitation, she quickly blocked it with force and threatened him, “Third Brother, don’t be ungrateful. You’ve separated from Third Sister-in-law now, but so what? If you secretly eat meat behind closed doors and refuse to honor Father and Mother, I’ll spread it all over the village. Everyone will spit on your spine!”
She shot him a smug, provocative look.
Unexpectedly, Gu Shiye suddenly loosened his grip and stepped aside.
In the next second, with a loud thud, Gu Shiyu fell straight into the muddy ground, landing face-first.
Gu Shiye casually brushed away the dust that had been kicked up. At the same time, the two guard geese in the courtyard rushed over.
“Quack—quack—quack—”
Gu Shiyu had been pecked by geese when she was young, so she did not dare fight them head-on like Mother Gu had last time. She scrambled up and ran.
Even so, the geese still pecked her butt twice. The pain made her cry out.
With a ripping sound, a piece of fabric was torn off the back of her pants. She hurriedly grabbed her trousers to keep them from being completely pulled down.
The two large white geese chased her for over a mile before finally waddling back.
They flapped their wings and flew back into the courtyard without needing anyone to open the door.
Inside the kitchen, Li Wenxiu and Gu Shiye had already eaten more than half the fish.
Li Wenxiu, now full, wiped her mouth and said thoughtfully, “Why is Gu Shiyu here? I remember in the story she’s supposed to be dating a sent-down youth from the commune. Did she already make a move ahead of time and hook him?”
Lin Baozhu, who also had insight into the novel’s plot, felt the same unease.
Gu Shiyu cried all the way back to the Gu family’s old residence.
She immediately complained, “Father, Mother! I smelled Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law secretly eating fish and meat. I even smelled it from the sent-down youth compound when I passed by! I thought you two hadn’t had meat in a long time, so I kindly went to remind Third Brother not to forget to honor you. But he not only refused to share, he even let his geese attack me. Those geese are just like what Mother said, they’re practically spirit beasts!”
Inside the room, Lin Baozhu immediately noticed the brief pause in her words.
Her mind instantly connected it to the plotline involving her younger sister-in-law and the male sent-down youth.
There was a male sent-down youth at the commune compound who came from a provincial high-ranking cadre family. Although he later turned out to be a scumbag in the novel who abandoned Gu Shiyu and nearly ruined her life, in the original story, it was this lucky reborn wife who helped her turn the tables and eventually secured a military husband as a backup option.
But now, if the timeline had shifted earlier, that high-ranking cadre youth might still be sincere toward Gu Shiyu. Gu Shiyu herself probably had some skills, otherwise she would not have hooked him so quickly.
With that thought, Lin Baozhu’s mind began spinning rapidly.
If she could push her sister-in-law to marry him sooner, then the in-laws would have extra money in their hands to lend them later.
Just as her calculations were clicking into place, a sudden scream came from outside.
It turned out Wang Lihua had just come out carrying a basin of foot-washing water and accidentally splashed it all over Gu Shiyu.
The courtyard instantly erupted into chaos.
Mother Gu’s sharp, protective voice rang out first. “Eldest daughter-in-law! What are you doing? Are you blind or have your eyes fallen out? How dare you bully my daughter! I’m not done with you!”
Wang Lihua was completely unafraid now that even Gu Shizhu had been trained into obedience by her.
She stood with hands on her hips and said leisurely, “Mother, you’re really being unfair. I just couldn’t see clearly in the dark and accidentally spilled your eldest son’s foot-washing water onto your precious daughter. And you’re already putting such a huge label on me? If you dislike us that much, then go live with your daughter instead.”