After returning home, Cheng Baozhu felt gloomy and unhappy.
Xu Chuan was experimenting with a new dish. Recently, the white radishes in the garden had grown well, crisp, sweet, refreshing, and full of juice, so he had pulled some up to make pickled radish.
Cheng Baozhu could never understand why he seemed to have endless enthusiasm for everything except farm work.
In her view, shouldn’t laziness apply uniformly as a negative trait across all aspects of life?
“Clack clack clack—”
Under his swift knife, a plump peeled radish was sliced into evenly thin pieces.
Xu Chuan, wearing an apron around his waist, lifted his eyes to look at her. “It can’t be helped. Who told me I have you now?”
Buzz!
In an instant, Cheng Baozhu’s face flushed red. The color spread from her ears to her entire face as though it were on fire. She could not stand hearing such things the most.
Xu Chuan chuckled softly and instructed her, “Do you know which jar the pickled peppers are in? Go get some for me.”
Cheng Baozhu’s eyes were slightly moist. She clenched her small fist and lightly punched his shoulder, then pouted as she went to fetch a small bowl.
Xu Chuan watched her back, his smile widening.
She never hid her feelings. Whether she was happy or upset, it showed at a glance.
The pickled peppers were in a corner of the kitchen. The jar was sealed with water, and Cheng Baozhu carefully removed the inverted bowl, using chopsticks to pick out half a bowl of pickled peppers.
The aroma was pungent. Few households in the area made pickled peppers, but Cheng Baozhu loved dishes like stir-fried chicken and offal with pickled peppers. Xu Chuan noticed this and had prepared two jars at home.
She did not know how much Xu Chuan had learned from the system, but from the rocket-like improvement in his cooking skills, she could tell he must have been practicing in the system space even after falling asleep at night.
He added salt, sesame oil, and vinegar to the pickled peppers, mixed them into a sauce, and poured it over the sliced radish to marinate overnight.
After finishing, he sighed, somewhat troubled. “There’s a saying: eat radish in winter and ginger in summer. With so many radishes in our garden, we’ll have plenty to eat this winter.”
Fresh vegetables were scarce in winter. Aside from preserved pickles, they would likely have to alternate daily between radish and cabbage.
Cheng Baozhu had just been thinking about the clinic matter when his words immediately drew her attention.
“Then let’s make dried radish,” she said, frowning as she thought aloud. “My grandmother used to cut radish into strips and dry them. When it was time to eat, she’d stir-fry them with red wine lees. It smelled wonderful.”
She paused after speaking, but recalling that the original owner’s grandmother had also made dried radish, she relaxed again.
Xu Chuan did not notice her moment of oddity and nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, he picked up a slice of radish with his chopsticks and placed it into her mouth. “What happened at the clinic today? You don’t seem very happy.”
The sharp sour and spicy flavor overwhelmed her taste buds, almost crowding out her other senses.
She mumbled, “Just some small matter.”
Xu Chuan fed her another slice before she could continue speaking. Cheng Baozhu widened her eyes, clearly surprised.
“What small matter could keep you thinking about it after coming home?”
He spoke before she could respond.
After a pause, Cheng Baozhu admitted, “You might think I’m being a bit pretentious if I tell you, so before I figure out what to do, I don’t want to say.”
Xu Chuan thought that no matter how pretentious she was, he had already tolerated far more. What difference would one or two more things make?
Seeing through his thoughts, Cheng Baozhu snorted twice, turned her head away, and refused to speak further. She truly could not understand how Xu Chuan could be so perceptive.
After finishing the pickled radish, he covered the jar with a wooden lid and placed it in the cabinet above the sink before leading Cheng Baozhu to the room.
Dinner that night was cooked over the stove in the room. Xu Chuan had somehow obtained beef bones, added radish, and let them simmer into a bubbling hotpot base. In addition to the beef bones, there were two plates of sliced beef, fried meatballs, and a small basket of mushrooms and greens, clearly prepared for a hotpot meal.
Cheng Baozhu suddenly remembered how she had curled up in bed the previous night, complaining that she had not had a hotpot in a long time.
“Hotpot?” Xu Chuan asked.
Cheng Baozhu nodded eagerly, even mentioning she wanted beef.
It had only been a thought at the time, yet she never expected Xu Chuan to prepare it the very next day.
Cheng Baozhu asked in surprise, “Did you buy it from the system?”
Xu Chuan prepared the dipping sauce. “What are you thinking? It’s ridiculously expensive. I bought it secretly from the slaughterhouse. It was very fresh, the meat was still moving when I brought it back.”
That day, two cattle had arrived at the slaughterhouse, both injured from nearby communes. After hearing about it from Xu Jialiang, Xu Chuan rode his bicycle through the cold wind to get there.
He had already bought the bicycle the day before. Previously, Aunt Xu had been reluctant whenever he borrowed it, but yesterday when Xu Chuan returned the bicycle and said he no longer needed to borrow one, she immediately asked why.
His excuse was simple, he now had his own bicycle, and Xu Chuan directly said it was bought by Cheng Baozhu.
Within half a day, news spread throughout Laokeng Village that Cheng Baozhu had spent a large sum to buy a bicycle.
Cheng Baozhu’s reputation in the village rose again. She rarely interacted with villagers, only traveling between home and the clinic. Her previously unfavorable reputation as “Old Phoenix” was gradually cleared, replaced with, “a bit lazy, but seems well-behaved.”
She resembled someone who had done bad things for years and suddenly turned over a new leaf with a single good deed, earning praise for finally becoming sensible.
As for not working in the fields, Xu Chuan did not either. He ran around all day and spent time with his friends, so compared to him, Cheng Baozhu appeared even better.
Thus, under Xu Chuan’s contrast, her “three parts good” became “five parts,” then “ten parts” in others’ eyes.
However, buying a bicycle, seen as a luxury, immediately placed her back on the same level as Xu Chuan.
At that moment, Xu Chuan teased her, “The reputation you carefully built over more than a month is gone.”
Outside, she acted like a well-behaved young wife, listening to him in everything and letting him take charge. But once at home, she would pinch his waist. Xu Chuan felt he could no longer go shirtless outside.
Cheng Baozhu bristled like an angry cat. “I’m not the same as you!”
He was known across the region as a lazy man. She absolutely refused to be lumped together with him.
Xu Chuan laughed meaningfully. “Of course we’re not the same. After all, I handle all the household chores.”
This implied he was not lazy, just working in places others could not see.
She had no way to refute that. Cheng Baozhu could only huff in frustration and, in anger, scoop all the beef from the pot into her own bowl.
“Hey, hey, are you a pig? Leave some for me…” Xu Chuan hurriedly snatched a few pieces back.
This girl had no conscience at all.
That night, Cheng Baozhu ate while fighting for food. Through Xu Chuan’s playful interruptions, she completely forgot her earlier worries.
At night, the moon rose above the treetops.
The recent snow had almost melted. Xu Chuan estimated that in three or four days, they could begin building the toilet.
Thinking of something, he suddenly asked, “When we build the toilet, let’s ask your third brother to help.”
Cheng Baozhu, nearly asleep, immediately woke up. “Why call Cheng Sanming?”
Xu Chuan sighed inwardly. If you want to benefit from others, you must maintain relationships.
He had already realized that Cheng Baozhu did not value family ties much. To her, her biological third brother and his own brothers were all simply “brothers,” with no distinction.
She was highly self-centered, a term Xu Chuan had recently learned and found quite fitting.
She preferred people who made her comfortable. Whether or not there was blood relation did not matter. Xu Chuan often suspected she stayed with him simply because he made her life more comfortable.
Cheng Baozhu turned over to face him. “My third sister-in-law doesn’t seem too willing for my third brother to help. Would that cause conflict between them?”
Xu Chuan pinched her cheek. “You underestimate your third sister-in-law. She can argue with you before, and now she can smile and talk to you. In families, people believe that even broken bones remain connected by tendons. As a married younger sister-in-law, as long as they realize we don’t constantly trouble them and that our life is doing well, they will actually be more willing to maintain contact.”
Cheng Baozhu blinked. “I’ve argued with her many times before. I even made her cry once. Can she tolerate that?”
Xu Chuan looked surprised. “She probably doesn’t see it as something worth remembering.”
In families, conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law were inevitable. Arguments came easily, but reconciliation did too, as if grievances could be buried beneath the skin.
“Also,” Xu Chuan added jokingly, “compared to you, your third sister-in-law might dislike your other two sister-in-laws more.”
Cheng Baozhu blinked again. That seemed true.
Three days later, Xu Chuan invited Cheng Sanming to help build the toilet.
That day, Feng Meihua also came.
Cheng Baozhu felt no discomfort seeing her. Strangely, Feng Meihua also acted as if nothing had happened in the past, even pulling Cheng Baozhu aside to gossip about her eldest and second sister-in-laws.
She was talkative, but she genuinely came to work, and her efficiency was no worse than Cheng Sanming’s.
At lunch, Cheng Baozhu realized why she had come.
Feng Meihua had set her sights on their meals.
With many people that day, Xu Chuan prepared four dishes and one soup, each in large portions, including spicy pork knuckles, sour radish and water chestnut stewed duck, and five-spice smoked fish.
The aroma filled the room, stimulating everyone’s appetite.
“Wow, with this kind of food, I’d gladly help for a few more days,” she said, still as talkative as ever.
Cheng Baozhu admired her third brother even more and wondered how he managed to live in such a “noisy” environment.
On the first day of construction, only Cheng Sanming’s couple and Xu He’s family came to help. On the second day, other villagers who had free time joined in, carrying bricks and mixing mortar.
Thus, the courtyard remained lively for several days.
By the fifth day, the toilet was essentially completed, requiring only time to fully solidify.
When it was finally ready for use, Cheng Baozhu was so happy she buzzed around it like a diligent bee around a flower.
Well, that comparison might not be entirely appropriate.
But to her, this not-so-large, still rather simple toilet was like a precious treasure.
She would not accept any objections.
Cheng Baozhu repeatedly instructed Xu Chuan, “No, absolutely not. Without my permission, no outsiders are allowed to use our toilet.”
Many villagers were curious about it and wanted to try it, meaning to experience using the toilet.
Cheng Baozhu’s cheeks flushed with irritation.
After some thought, Xu Chuan agreed.
“Also, remember to clean the toilet every day when you bathe. Hygiene must be maintained.”
This was easy as well, and Xu Chuan nodded again.
Only then did Cheng Baozhu feel reassured.
Recently, temperatures had gradually risen again, as if nature was giving villagers favorable conditions. Just when it was time for fieldwork, the weather turned good.
After the toilet was completed, the time slowly approached the winter solstice.
The winter solstice fell on the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, while the birthday of Great-Uncle Cheng in Chengjia Village was on the twenty-eighth.
In Cheng Baozhu’s memory, this elderly man had treated the original owner very well. Therefore, using his birthday as an excuse to obtain gold bars made her feel slightly apologetic.
What gift should she bring? She pondered for a long time without an answer.
Finally, she remembered that Great-Uncle Cheng greatly admired a certain great leader, so she asked for leave and went with Xu Chuan to the county town to buy a badge.
They failed to find one at first.
Later, Xu Chuan said his transport team friend might be able to obtain one from another region, so Cheng Baozhu asked him to help purchase it.
Finally, on the day before Great-Uncle Cheng’s birthday, she obtained the badge.
That morning, the weather was clear.
Xu Chuan packed the prepared ingredients, rode his bicycle, and took Cheng Baozhu to Chengjia Village.