After a bit of fussing, Shen Yitang wrapped her arms around Gu Huaizheng's neck and asked, "Did you really mean it when you said you don't want kids, or were you just saying that to placate me?"
"Of course I meant it. Do you think I actually want kids? Kids just cry and wail—so annoying. Taking care of you alone is already exhausting enough. If we added another child to the mix, would I even have a life left?"
"Besides, I've only just started being able to eat meat to my heart's content. If you got pregnant, I'd have to go vegetarian again—that would just about kill me."
This man really had a way of talking—nothing good ever came out of his mouth.
Shen Yitang said, "What if we never have children? I've heard childbirth is very dangerous—it's easy to lose your life. I'm scared."
"Then we won't have any. As long as you keep treating me this well, why would we need kids?"
"Don't you care about carrying on the family line?"
"That's my brother's job. Anyway, I look exactly like him, so his kids are no different from mine."
Mentioning that made Shen Yitang angry. "You have the nerve to bring that up! You're nothing like Big Brother. I was fooled by your posturing back then!"
Gu Huaizheng said sourly, "Hmph, you shallow woman—you only like my brother's type, that pale-skinned pretty boy. Let me tell you, my brother and sister-in-law are doing just fine together. Don't you go getting any ideas."
Shen Yitang punched him. "You're the one getting ideas! How dare you talk to me like that—you're such a jerk!"
Gu Huaizheng laughed heartily, took her hand, and pressed it against his chest. "Here, hit me right here."
Shen Yitang: …
She couldn't be bothered with him—it only hurt her own hand anyway.
Last night, Gu Huaizheng had behaved himself, simply holding her under the covers and sleeping. Shen Yitang had rested well.
Naturally, she woke up earlier than usual today.
Shen Yitang sat by the window overlooking the sea and read for a while, then suddenly felt she ought to do something.
Since Gu Huaizheng had agreed even to not having children, she should treat him better in return—repaying kindness with kindness.
How did ordinary women treat their men well?
By washing and cooking for them?
That made sense. He trained so hard during the day, yet still worried about her three meals, and when he came home, he even had to wash his own clothes.
Never mind what others thought—even she herself had to admit it was a bit much.
Besides, sooner or later, she would have to learn to do these household chores anyway.
In her previous life, Shen Yitang had made a fuss about hiring a housekeeper.
Gu Huaizheng said that when he lived in the countryside with his grandfather, he was looked after by a distant auntie named Li Jinping.
Li Jinping had led a hard life—her husband and child had both died of illness, leaving only a daughter who had married away. Now she lived alone in the countryside, lonely and destitute.
Gu Huaizheng's idea was to bring Auntie over. On the one hand, she could help with household chores; on the other, it would be a way to provide for her in her old age.
That was how things were done in those days—people rarely hired outright "housekeepers." When they needed help with cooking or childcare, they brought in relatives from the countryside.
Gu Huaizheng had thought that once Auntie arrived, he could finally breathe easier. Little did he know, that was only the beginning of the nightmare.
Li Jinping was indeed capable of hard work, but her hygiene habits simply did not meet Miss Shen's standards.
She always forgot to flush the toilet after using it. Even when her body reeked of sourness, she insisted she wasn't dirty and only bathed once every few days.
She would come back from outside and start cooking without washing her hands, and she'd use the dirty rag meant for wiping the stove to dry the dishes instead.
For these matters, Shen Yitang had more than a few arguments with Gu Huaizheng.
She asked Gu Huaizheng to talk to Li Jinping and have her correct these bad habits. At first, Gu Huaizheng did go and speak with her.
But as it happened more and more often, Gu Huaizheng began to feel that she was being overly fastidious—plenty of people lived their whole lives that way without any problems.
Finally, one time before a meal, when Shen Yitang was rinsing a bowl that had been wiped with a dirty rag, Li Jinping burst into tears right in front of Gu Huaizheng.
Crying and saying she couldn't stay in this household anymore, that she wanted to go back to her hometown.
Shen Yitang had reached her limit as well, and she erupted into the most intense argument she and Gu Huaizheng had ever had.
The two of them were so busy arguing that they failed to notice Li Jinping had run out to the yard, where she sat on the ground, slapping her thighs and wailing loudly.
She drew a large crowd of onlookers.
The more people gathered, the harder Li Jinping cried, loudly lamenting how Shen Yitang's spoiled capitalist daughter airs were used to bully a working woman like herself.
She was probably falling back on her old habit from the countryside—trying to use public opinion to force Shen Yitang into submission.
What she failed to notice was that many of the onlookers' expressions had shifted.
In the end, the farce concluded with Gu Huaizheng conceding and sending his aunt back to her hometown.
But no one could have anticipated that someone would report the matter to the higher-ups.
The accusation was that Gu Huaizheng and Shen Yitang had hired a maid at home, exploiting the working class, and had even abused her.
Fortunately, Gu Huaizheng's superior thought highly of him and overrode all objections to suppress the matter.
But there was no denying that Gu Huaizheng's prospects had indeed been affected as a result.
The most obvious consequence was that he lost a very important opportunity for promotion.
Had he actually been promoted, he wouldn't have had to participate in the operation that later cost him his life.
This matter had long since become a knot in Shen Yitang's heart—she always felt that it was her willfulness and love of comfort that had harmed Gu Huaizheng.
So in this life, she would not let Gu Huaizheng bring Li Jinping over again, and of course she wouldn't let any of those subsequent events happen again.
Therefore, many things, she would simply have to learn to do herself.
Once, Shen Yitang had believed that without someone to take care of her daily needs, she wouldn't be able to survive.
But in truth, after Gu Huaizheng passed away in her previous life, hadn't she managed to live on her own just fine?
Though cooking was something she truly couldn't do.
In her previous life, after Gu Huaizheng died, the organization arranged for her to work as a middle school teacher to look after her.
The workplace had a cafeteria, and she always ate there.
After more than a decade of that, she was thoroughly sick of it.
So she decided that in this life, she would learn to be a good wife, starting with learning to cook.
Shen Yitang walked into the kitchen, completely at a loss for where to begin.
Maybe she should go ask someone for advice?
The people living nearby were all military family members, and almost every household cooked their own meals.
Any one of them would be an experienced cook.
But Shen Yitang couldn't bring herself to swallow her pride.
When she first arrived on the island, her excessively aloof attitude and all sorts of fussy behavior had made her the target of public ridicule.
She held grudges, and from then on refused to have anything to do with those gossiping women she looked down upon.
Suddenly having to humble herself and go ask them for guidance—she truly couldn't do it.
Shen Yitang steeled her resolve—why did she need someone else to teach her? Couldn't she just learn on her own?
A woman as clever as she was—who had mastered the piano, painting, and three languages with effortless fluency—surely she could learn to cook, of all things?
Now then, what was the first step?
Oh, right—you can't make bricks without straw. The kitchen was completely bare, so she needed to go shopping for groceries first.
The military district had a service co-op that stocked everything one might need, from food to daily necessities.
Since the household never cooked, they lacked everything: pots, pans, bowls, utensils, grains, seasonings—all of it.
The one thing they had in abundance was firewood, because they boiled water for baths every day. Gu Huaizheng had bought a large supply from the nearby villagers, and it was all stacked in the woodshed beside the kitchen.
Drawing on her faint, limited impressions of what a kitchen required, Shen Yitang mentally tallied up what she needed to buy, then picked up a basket and headed out.
She noticed that the courtyard next door had its gate flung wide open, with people hauling things inside.
Peeking in, she saw the yard cluttered with all sorts of odds and ends.
So—new neighbors had moved in.