“Oh, yes, Uncle. My name is Shu An. What’s the matter?”
“Oh, then that’s right. I haven’t been here for several months, so I was worried I might have remembered the wrong person. You have a letter. Please sign for it.”
“Huh? A letter for me?” Shu An immediately handed what she was carrying to the two children, wiped the water from her hands, and accepted the letter the mailman pulled out.
She looked at the sender’s name and saw that it was Jiang He. She signed for it and took the letter.
When she returned home and opened it, there were only two lines:
“I’ve asked someone to buy the bicycle. It will be sent back when the time comes. Take good care of yourself at home. I’m counting on you to look after the family. —Jiang He. If there’s anything, send a telegram.”
After reading the entire message, Shu An couldn’t help muttering, “This man. He talks like he’s issuing orders. Why didn’t he talk like this when he was at home?”
She read the telegram over and over twice, her fingers gently brushing over the words “take good care of yourself.” The corners of Shu An’s lips unconsciously curled upward, but she quickly pressed them back down.
Come to think of it, her marriage to Jiang He really had been a shotgun marriage.
That day, the original owner had passed out from a high fever. When she woke up again, she was already in the hospital, with her mother, Chen Yuzhen, loudly talking beside her.
Jiang He stood to the side, ramrod straight, looking like a student who had made a mistake.
When he saw her wake up, he nervously glanced at her, opened his mouth, and didn’t dare say a single word.
At the time, she hadn’t even had a chance to figure out what was going on when her mother rattled off the entire story. Combined with the original owner’s memories, Shu An finally understood what had happened.
She basically had no say in what happened afterward. By the time she had recovered enough to process everything, it had all been arranged, and she was going to marry Jiang He.
And that blockhead had been incredibly awkward at the time too. He had stood there staring at her for ages before finally managing to squeeze out one sentence:
“Hello. My name is Jiang He.”
At that moment, Shu An had only one thought:
“Oh no. Why does he have to be such a blockhead?”
But at least this blockhead was a handsome one. Dressed in an olive-green military uniform, he looked especially sharp and spirited. His appearance wasn’t the delicate, refined type that modern people favored. Instead, he had the youthful vigor and ruggedness unique to that era.
Especially his face beneath the brim of his cap—it had distinct, well-defined features, a high straight nose, and a pair of bright, expressive eyes. Perhaps because he had spent years serving in the military, exposed to the wind and sun, his skin was a healthy wheat color.
Whenever he stood there with his back ramrod straight, he looked just like a young poplar tree.
A young poplar tree that would get shy whenever he looked at her.
She had only discovered that after spending a few days with him. Although the two of them had no real emotional foundation, there was no denying it.
So far, he had actually done a pretty decent job as a husband. He didn’t know how to sweet-talk her. He always handled practical matters first, taking care of everything before saying anything.
Whenever he was home and saw clothes soaking in a basin, he would silently carry them away and wash them. But when it came to his sister-in-law’s clothes, he would carefully take them out first. He had a very clear sense of boundaries.
As long as he was home, he would keep the entire house neat and tidy. It was obvious that he was trying hard to grow closer to her, but he simply didn’t know what to say.
Sometimes, when their eyes met, he would immediately look away. If she stared at him for too long, his face would turn red—right down to his neck.
After a long while, he would finally manage to ask, “Are you thirsty? Are you hungry?”
At those moments, Shu An couldn’t help wondering whether he saw her as some kind of food bucket or water tank.
She even wondered whether the man had served in the military for so long that he had forgotten how to talk, even with his wife.
But later, she discovered that he really wasn’t bad. Although he wasn’t good with words, whenever they went out together, if she liked something and looked at it a couple of extra times, he would buy it for her.
He might have been a little dense, but at least he was a reliable blockhead.
And that blockhead had a really good physique.
Thinking of this, Shu An couldn’t help blushing.
“Auntie! Auntie! What are you smiling about?”
Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei had watched their aunt open the telegram from their uncle and start grinning foolishly, so they quickly nudged her.
“Oh, oh, nothing. Nothing.” Shu An instinctively wiped the silly smile from her face. Then she began directing the two little ones to get to work, telling them to separate the little fish from the crabs and clean up whatever needed to be cleaned. They could leave the rest for their sister-in-law to handle when she came home.
After work, Chen Hong saw the crabs and fish at home. After hearing what Shu An had said, she nodded.
“All right. Don’t throw away those little fish either. Let’s clean them all. I’ll fry them for you. Coat them with chili peppers and fry them until they’re fragrant, then add a little liquor. I’ll make them into a side dish for you. You can put it in a jar and take it with you to eat with your lunch at work.”
The moment Chen Hong said this, Shu An’s eyes lit up. She immediately nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes, yes, yes! That sounds great! Thank you, Sister-in-law!”
“What’s there to thank me for?”
Feng Aidi, however, heard that her daughter-in-law was once again going to make those oil-guzzling fried fish and fried crabs, and her heart immediately ached.
But she knew that her daughter-in-law had given her money and that the money was now in her hands. So she forced herself to look away, repeatedly telling herself:
“Don’t look. Don’t look. She paid for it. This was paid for.”
She could tell herself not to look, but Jiang Erzhu couldn’t hold himself back. When he heard that they were going to fry fish and crabs, he immediately jumped up.
“You, wife of the second son, you…”
Before he could finish, Jiang Tian came over, covered his mouth, and dragged him away.
As it turned out, the moment Jiang Erzhu had walked in, Chen Hong had spotted him. She immediately signaled to her husband and raised the spatula.
Jiang Tian looked at his father, then at his wife. After thinking about it, he figured they rarely got to make this kind of food, so there was no point ruining the mood. He simply dragged his father away.
“Hey, eldest son, eldest son! What are you doing? What, you’re on their side too now?”
Jiang Erzhu was unhappy.
Seeing his father like this, Jiang Tian said, “Dad, stop it. Mom is in charge of this family now. If you keep talking, you might end up with nothing to eat.”
“They wouldn’t dare! I have a share of the family’s grain rations. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to eat?”
“Exactly. Mom works too, so she has a share as well. Dad, if you keep going, Mom really might not give you any food.”
The moment Jiang Erzhu heard that, he remembered how his wife had become increasingly stingy with him lately, emboldened by her support of their second son’s wife. He angrily shut his mouth.
But as he watched them frying all that food, he felt as though they were draining his very blood. He couldn’t stop muttering:
“Oil, oil… What kind of spendthrift women waste oil like this? That much oil would be enough for another family to eat for two months!”
At the same time, he was calculating in his mind which family he should go to buy or trade for some more oil after all this was used up.
And he still couldn’t resist grumbling and cursing under his breath:
“A bunch of spendthrift women! Spendthrift women!”