However, she had only learned halfway back then. After so many years, she had probably forgotten everything.
By evening, Tang Chen returned home carrying a hoe.
Under his white jacket, he was wearing an apron.
No—
It was the very apron Su Yu had brought out last time.
The little white flowers embroidered on it were perfectly visible from the outside.
“Tang Chen, what are you wearing under there? Why does it look like a woman’s skirt?”
The speaker was named Wang Erdan.
He was dark-skinned and rather short, but because he was hardworking, the villagers generally liked him.
That morning, he had already noticed a faint white flower peeking out from beneath Tang Chen’s jacket.
He thought he had seen wrong.
But now Tang Chen had openly left his jacket unbuttoned.
“Oh, sorry, brother. I saw it wrong. It’s an apron.”
Wang Erdan stared at him.
“Why are you wearing an apron here? Did your wife make you do it?”
He could understand it.
After all, Tang Chen was very popular with the girls in the village.
Wang Erdan was honestly a little envious and jealous.
“Your wife isn’t bad-looking, but she’s a little lazy. Look at you. To show that you listen to her at home, she even made you wear an apron. Tsk, tsk. I wouldn’t marry such a tigress.”
Wang Erdan felt his reasoning was very sound.
If he were to marry, he would marry a gentle, generous woman who knew how to manage the household.
After all, he was so hardworking.
Surely some woman would take a liking to him.
No rush.
Fate couldn’t be forced.
Tang Chen’s expression darkened.
He stopped walking.
Wang Erdan, who was following behind him, didn’t react in time.
His nose slammed directly into the hoe, instantly leaving a red mark.
“What are you doing? Why did you stop?”
The two of them were walking along a narrow path, with farmland on both sides, so they had to be especially careful.
Wang Erdan rubbed his nose.
“Seriously. If my face gets ruined, no young lady will like me.”
“I wore it because I wanted to.”
Tang Chen’s voice was calm.
“I think the apron my wife made is beautiful, so I wore it out.”
The apron had been made by Su Yu according to a modern style.
It was stitched together from many square scraps of cloth.
There was even a small pocket on the left side, with a few candies tucked inside.
Hearing Tang Chen’s words, Wang Erdan was extremely shocked.
A grown man willingly wearing an apron?
No one in the village had ever done such a thing.
“Did I hear you right, brother?”
His face was filled with disbelief.
In the eyes of outsiders, Tang Chen was practically a godlike existence.
He was smart and handsome.
Yet instead of marrying one of the female educated youths, he had married a mountain village girl.
That alone had shocked the entire village back then.
Everyone had thought their marriage must be unhappy.
But seeing Tang Chen now, Wang Erdan suddenly felt that he might become the next village chief—
Another man completely controlled by his wife.
“You think that way because you don’t have a wife.”
Tang Chen suddenly felt that arguing with a wife-less Wang Erdan was meaningless.
He simply carried his hoe and walked away.
Watching his retreating figure, Wang Erdan suddenly found himself speechless.
He felt a little hurt.
“Just you wait! I’ll go ask the matchmaker to introduce me to a wife right now!”
When Tang Chen arrived home carrying his hoe, he saw a woman standing near the entrance, holding a pair of shoes and looking around anxiously.
His expression immediately darkened.
At the same time, the woman also saw him.
Her previously dejected face instantly brightened with a radiant smile.
“Brother Tang Chen, you’re back!”
Inside the yard, Su Yu had been racking her brain over how to make shoes.
Hearing the shout, she instinctively stood up to open the door.
But the moment she remembered that woman was still outside, she sat back down.
She wanted to see how Tang Chen would handle this.
“Do you know? I waited for you for a very long time. I originally planned to go to the production team, but I thought you must be too busy and didn’t want to trouble you, so I waited at the gate.”
Her voice was full of grievance.
That delicate, sweet tone made Su Yu feel a chill.
The woman tugged at Tang Chen’s wide jacket while he still carried the hoe.
“If you have something to say, let go of me first.”
His voice was extremely cold.
He did not even spare her a glance.
The woman immediately looked wronged.
“Brother Tang Chen, you weren’t like this before. Before you married Sister Su Yu, didn’t I always come to see you? Now that you’re married, why have you become so distant?”
Su Yu was listening from inside the gate.
From what the woman said, it seemed the two of them had known each other before.
Her fists tightened, and her expression grew more serious.
Tang Chen said nothing.
He directly pulled his sleeve free from the woman’s hand.
“Chunxing, I have always been like this. I have a wife. I don’t need your shoes. Leave quickly.”
…
Inside the yard, Su Yu’s lips curled slightly.
Why did those words sound so strangely satisfying?
Chunxing pursed her lips.
Carefully, she held the cloth shoes out to Tang Chen.
“Then I’ll leave. But can you at least accept the shoes?”
Looking at the dark cloth shoes in front of him, Tang Chen felt nothing but irritation.
He had warned Chunxing many times, but she never listened.
If she weren’t a woman, Tang Chen might have already used a simpler and rougher method to solve the problem.
“No need.”
His tone was blunt.
“I don’t want to waste words with you.”
After saying this, Tang Chen pushed the gate open and entered.
At that exact moment, Su Yu was bent over, preparing to sneak away.
“A-Yu, were you waiting for me?”
Looking at the bright smile on Tang Chen’s face, Chunxing became overwhelmed with jealousy.
Her fingers turned white from gripping the cloth shoes so tightly.
Su Yu coughed awkwardly.
She smoothed the wrinkles on her clothes and nodded at Tang Chen.
Then she naturally took the hoe from his hand.
“Yes. I was waiting for you.”
After saying that, she even linked her arm through Tang Chen’s.
Chunxing’s fingertips turned even paler.
Her face no longer showed weakness.
Only jealousy remained.
Once they returned inside, Su Yu immediately let go of Tang Chen’s arm.
Outside, Chunxing was still unwilling to leave, her expression full of grievance.
“What exactly is going on with that woman outside? Did you know her before?”
Su Yu searched her memory hard, but she simply couldn’t recall Chunxing’s face.
Tang Chen looked at her and suddenly smiled teasingly.
“A-Yu, I’m not close with her. I’ve only met her a few times and helped her once.”
Helped her how?
Su Yu tilted her head and looked at Tang Chen.
She now wanted to know the whole story.
But first, the woman at the door had to be dealt with.
So Su Yu decided to handle it herself.
Although the Su Yu of this life had become more mature, she still couldn’t tolerate someone knowingly trying to become the third party in her marriage.
Watching Su Yu walk toward her step by step, Chunxing’s eyes reddened.
“Sister Su Yu, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault for making you angry. I only wanted to give these cloth shoes to Brother Tang Chen. His shoes really are badly worn.”