Bai Yuyan glanced at her daughter. It was rare to see the word “gossip” written all over her usually cold expression.
“An’an is a very good girl. Why wouldn’t your brother acknowledge her?”
Given the Gu family’s current situation, the fact that someone was still willing to marry into their family was already something to be grateful for. What more was there to be picky about?
Although Su Nian’an was a little too thin, she was pretty, delicate, and gentle-looking, and her personality was likable. Bai Yuyan’s first impression of Su Nian’an was quite good.
To be honest, even Bai Yuyan herself felt relieved that the Su family had not sent Su Nianxi to the countryside.
With Su Nianxi’s extremely spoiled and domineering personality, wouldn’t she turn the entire household upside down if she came down to the countryside?
Yet the bride candidate had been personally chosen by Grandpa Gu, so they couldn’t exactly do anything about her.
Given the Gu family’s current circumstances, they probably couldn’t bear having another pampered young lady to take care of.
“Whether she’s good or not, we’ll only know after we spend some time with her,” Gu Qingyuan replied.
Hearing this, Bai Yuyan immediately glared at Gu Qingyuan before saying, “I’m telling you, be polite to Nian’an. Don’t deliberately make things difficult for her.”
Gu Qingyuan immediately felt wronged.
Did she look like she had that much free time? Why would she bother targeting Su Nian’an?
“Mom, how could you think of me that way? When have I ever gone out of my way to provoke anyone?”
Gu Qingyuan simply wasn’t the type who liked sitting around with a whole group of women and chatting about gossip. On the contrary, perhaps because she had followed her grandfather to the military compound and trained alongside a group of men since she was little, Gu Qingyuan had always been somewhat out of place among the gossip-loving women in the compound.
“That’s true. It wasn’t easy for Nian’an to come all the way here from Beijing. From now on, we’ll just get along well with her,” Bai Yuyan said with a sigh.
“If she doesn’t cause trouble for no reason, naturally I won’t go looking for trouble with her either.”
…
Inside Gu Qingyu’s room, nothing ambiguous or romantic happened between the two of them.
Su Nian’an took out a change of clothes and asked Gu Qingyu, “I want to take a bath. How do I do that?”
She had spent such a long time on the train, even having to transfer twice before finally finding this place. Along the way, she had been in contact with so many people and so much dust. Su Nian’an really couldn’t stand not taking a bath.
However, taking a bath in the countryside at this time was probably a little difficult, right? Did she need to go to the well and fetch water?
Gu Qingyu was sitting on the bed at the moment. Seeing Su Nian’an naturally hanging up all her clothes, he couldn’t help asking, “You’re going to share a room with me from now on. You have no objections?”
Hearing this, Su Nian’an really couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Why should I have any objections? Besides, you’re a grown man. Why are you being so wishy-washy about taking a wife? You don’t want to marry me? That’s fine too. I, Su Nian’an, don’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want.”
Her words made Gu Qingyu’s expression turn unnatural, as though he were the woman and was the one being indecisive.
“I didn’t mean that,” Gu Qingyu could only say.
Grandpa Gu liked Su Nian’an very much. Just that alone was enough to make it impossible for Gu Qingyu to reject her.
It was just that, given the Gu family’s current situation, Gu Qingyu felt that he still didn’t want to get married at this stage.
How could someone like him give a woman happiness?
If Su Nian’an married him, she would only have to suffer alongside him.
“Then isn’t that settled? Besides, whoever you spend your life with, you’re still going to live it, right?”
As she spoke, Su Nian’an finished hanging up her clothes.
The wardrobe, which had originally been empty, suddenly looked much more lived-in with Su Nian’an’s clothes inside.
“You need to boil water to take a bath. I’ll go boil some for you.”
Gu Qingyu stood up and was about to leave.
“Is there water at home? Do we still have to fetch it from the well?”
If so, it was already quite late, and that would indeed be troublesome.
Su Nian’an didn’t mind waiting until tomorrow to bathe. If something was too troublesome, she wasn’t the type of person who liked becoming a burden to others.
“No need. Some time ago, every household here had water pipes installed. The only problem is that ours is in the backyard, so we need to get the water from there.”
“Then that’s fine. I’ll go boil the water with you.”
Su Nian’an put down what she was doing and followed Gu Qingyu.
Gu Qingyu didn’t object. He picked up the kerosene lamp from the table and led the way.
Their relationship was still rather complicated at this point.
They could be considered strangers, yet they had the status of husband and wife.
They were husband and wife, yet they weren’t familiar with each other.
But marriages in this era were basically like this. Many women were married off without even having met the man beforehand.
Su Nian’an’s situation was probably much the same.
Everyone else in the family had already gone back to their rooms to rest. There were hardly any entertainment activities in the countryside during this era anyway.
Gu Qingyu was considerate enough to tell Su Nian’an to sit in the kitchen and wait while he went to fetch water.
Naturally, Su Nian’an wasn’t going to actually sit around doing nothing just because Gu Qingyu told her to.
She found a wood-cutting knife and chopped the firewood into smaller pieces to use as kindling. Then she struck a match, lit one of the pieces of kindling, and placed it into the stove.
The fire naturally caught soon after.
By the time Gu Qingyu returned to the kitchen with a pot full of water, he saw that the fire was already burning steadily in the stove.
“You… you know how to start a fire?” Gu Qingyu couldn’t help asking.
To be honest, after the entire Gu family had been sent down to the countryside, they had all needed to spend some time learning how to start fires and cook.
Seeing Su Nian’an get the fire going so quickly naturally surprised Gu Qingyu.
It was mainly because of the way Su Nian’an had dressed and carried herself when she arrived that day. Although she wasn’t particularly flashy, her demeanor didn’t look like that of a girl who had grown up in the countryside.
The Su family’s letter had only briefly stated that they would honor the marriage agreement. They hadn’t introduced Su Nian’an’s background at all.
Moreover, Su Nian’an’s behavior today was even less like something a village girl would display. Since she hadn’t specifically explained her background either, Gu Qingyu assumed that she had also grown up in the city.
She simply didn’t seem as spoiled as Su Nianxi.
“If I didn’t even know how to start a fire, what else could I do?” Su Nian’an asked with a smile.
Every time Su Nian’an smiled, her smile was relaxed and radiant.
Such a genuine smile was almost too dazzling, causing Gu Qingyu to unconsciously avert his gaze from her.
“Mm.”
Before the Gu family had been sent down, Gu Qingyu had also been in the military.
He had been on the battlefield countless times, but things like starting fires and cooking had never been his responsibility.
“All right, put the pot on the stove. Once this firewood burns out, the water should be ready too,” Su Nian’an said.
Gu Qingyu placed the pot on the stove rack. He glanced at Su Nian’an and was about to sit down when she spoke.
“You should go back to your room and rest. I’ll wait until the water boils and then take a bath.”
Gu Qingyu didn’t leave. Instead, he sat down not far from Su Nian’an.
“Let’s talk?”
Those two words made Su Nian’an raise an eyebrow.
“Hmm? Sure. What do you want to talk about?”
The kitchen was actually a small adobe structure built behind the main adobe house.
So if the two of them closed the door and talked inside the kitchen, the people in the main house probably wouldn’t be able to hear them.
“Let’s talk about your background,” Gu Qingyu said very directly.
Naturally, he wasn’t going to let someone whose background was unclear marry into the Gu family and become his wife.
So he needed to get these things straight.