“Ah, Yang Su came from a capitalist family background. Because she married Regiment Commander Zhou, she didn’t get sent down with her family. The Military Unit did arrange for her to participate in recruitment before, but people always talked about her background. She was thin-skinned and didn’t want to go out anymore, so she stayed at home every day and didn’t interact with others.”
Aunt Xu looked at Su Man. “Yang Su is quite aloof. I feel like her relationship with Regiment Commander Zhou is also cold and distant. She probably won’t be willing to come.”
Su Man felt that Yang Su was extremely suitable. The corners of her lips lifted. “Let’s try first.”
After seeing Aunt Xu and her family off, Su Man turned around and saw that Qi Xiaoyuan had already tidied up all the tables and chairs in the house and was changing the light bulb at the entrance.
She stood to the side, quietly appreciating the scene.
The man was tall and had stepped on a small stool. No one knew where he had found the light bulb, but after he replaced it, the courtyard became noticeably brighter.
“What are you looking at?” After Qi Xiaoyuan finished changing the bulb, he turned around and saw Su Man staring at him.
“I’m looking at how handsome you are.”
Qi Xiaoyuan staggered under his feet and almost tripped over the stool.
Su Man seemed completely unaware and continued very naturally: “Men who do housework are all very handsome.”
Qi Xiaoyuan felt annoyed for a moment. So it wasn’t that she thought he was handsome—whoever did work for her, she would praise them as handsome?
He wiped the footprints off the stool with a rag and put it back into the house. Just as Qi Xiaoyuan was about to leave, he suddenly heard Su Man ask.
“Why didn’t Xie Wei come today? Didn’t he also help yesterday?” It was only during casual conversation with Li Qingqing that Su Man learned Xie Wei had also helped.
Qi Xiaoyuan: “You know him?”
Su Man nodded. “I met him before. I remember him quite clearly.”
Qi Xiaoyuan: “He had something to do and couldn’t come.”
When he returned to the dormitory, Xie Wei immediately came over full of resentment. “Why didn’t you call me to eat? I also helped!”
Qi Xiaoyuan glanced at him indifferently. “You had something to do.”
Xie Wei was almost furious. “Then couldn’t you have told me in advance? It wasn’t anything important, I could’ve pushed it aside!”
He had already heard from Zhang Yong that Su Man’s cooking was very delicious.
Qi Xiaoyuan said calmly: “Oh, I forgot.”
Xie Wei dragged out his tone sarcastically. “Oh, guess whether I believe that.”
After deciding to look for Yang Su, Su Man quickly brought Aunt Xu and Li Qingqing to visit her.
Yang Su had a refined appearance and a scholarly air. When she opened the door and saw them, she was very surprised.
She knew Aunt Xu, and she had also met Aunt Xu’s daughter Li Qingqing, but she had never spoken much with them. At this moment, she was also puzzled as to why they had come to her house with someone else.
Yang Su smiled and invited them in, then poured tea and brought out melon seeds and peanuts to entertain them.
Aunt Xu had always thought she was quite good at socializing, but when facing Yang Su, she could barely find anything to say.
No matter what was said, Yang Su only smiled, nodded, and gave an “mm.” Before the initial small talk even finished, Aunt Xu had already awkwardly fallen silent.
Li Qingqing had a shy personality and had even less to say.
However, Su Man seemed completely unaffected by the awkward atmosphere. Even without responses, she continued chatting with Yang Su as if they were old friends. When she reached interesting parts, she even laughed out loud.
There were four people in the room, but only one person’s voice could be heard.
After an hour, Su Man felt her mouth getting dry. She stood up and said with a smile: “Yang Su, we’ll come find you to play again tomorrow.”
It was as if she had met a very compatible friend and had a pleasant conversation. After saying that, she didn’t care whether the other person responded and directly took Aunt Xu and Li Qingqing away.
Outside the door, Aunt Xu asked: “Xiao Man, why didn’t you mention the job today?”
Su Man said: “Yang Su is introverted. We should get familiar with her first before talking about that. I’ve already decided on her.”
Aunt Xu nodded and sighed. “You really are impressive. I couldn’t even keep talking in front of Yang Su, I couldn’t even sit still.”
Li Qingqing was very impressed. If it were her, she definitely couldn’t do what Su Man did, but she was also a little puzzled. “Are we still coming tomorrow? Yang Su didn’t seem to agree just now, right?”
Su Man said: “But she didn’t refuse either. That means she agreed by default.”
Li Qingqing suddenly understood. So it could be interpreted like that!
In the afternoon of the next day, Su Man again brought Aunt Xu and Li Qingqing to visit.
It was the same as yesterday. No matter how Yang Su reacted, Su Man continued speaking on her own, and Aunt Xu and Li Qingqing, inspired by yesterday, also joined in.
For a time, the previously quiet house became lively.
Although Yang Su still spoke very little today, her expression and eyes were noticeably closer to them than before.
Only when Regiment Commander Zhou returned from work did Su Man and the others leave, and unlike yesterday, she did not say: “We’ll come again tomorrow.”
On the way back, Li Qingqing eagerly asked Su Man: “Su Man, are we not coming tomorrow? You still haven’t talked about the Bakery matter.”
Su Man said: “Of course we’re coming.”
“Then why didn’t you say ‘we’ll come again tomorrow’ like yesterday?”
Su Man patted her head. “Ah, I forgot.”
Li Qingqing scratched her head and laughed foolishly. She had thought Su Man had done it on purpose for some deeper meaning.
Aunt Xu, however, saw through it but did not say anything, and just smiled along.
What they did not expect was that that night, Regiment Commander Zhou went to find Qi Xiaoyuan.
“Old Qi, can you tell Su Man to visit my family Yang Su more often and talk with her?”
Only after Regiment Commander Zhou said this did Qi Xiaoyuan realize that Su Man had been visiting Yang Su these past two days.
Regiment Commander Zhou knew that Su Man and Qi Xiaoyuan were not married yet, and their relationship was somewhat delicate. Asking this at night was a bit shameless on his part, so he even brought fruit preserves as a gift. But he couldn’t directly go to Su Man himself—that would be even more inappropriate.
“Yang Su is thin-skinned and embarrassed to say it, but I can tell she really likes Su Man. These past two days she seems much happier than before.”
“I’m a rough man and not good with words. At home I don’t even know what to say. Many people in the family compound have opinions about Yang Su’s background. Actually, they’re just afraid that if Yang Su gets a job, she’ll take their job slots.”
Qi Xiaoyuan thought to himself that Su Man was indeed very likable.
“Alright, I’ll tell Su Man tomorrow. But the decision is hers.”
Regiment Commander Zhou left satisfied.
Qi Xiaoyuan looked up at the moon. He didn’t have a watch, so he could only roughly estimate that there was still some time before lights-out was called.
He wondered if Su Man was already asleep.
At this time, Su Man would normally already be asleep, simply because there was no phone or television, and it was too boring.
But tonight the weather was good. She lay in bed unable to sleep, and seeing the stars through the window, she brought a reclining chair into the courtyard to enjoy the cool air.
There were two camphor trees in the courtyard that repelled mosquitoes. Su Man lay under them, slowly fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan.
This was a scene and leisure she never enjoyed when she used to work day and night in front of a computer.
Just as Su Man yawned several times and was about to get up and return to her room, she suddenly noticed a shadow flickering at the gate.
For a moment, she forgot she was in a 1970s Military Unit, and her mind was filled with all kinds of cases of single women being harmed in the 21st century.
“Who is it?”