As the New Year approached, the Department Store was bustling with people coming and going, and the clothing section on the second floor was especially lively.
Although Lin Wanjun had lowered her voice when she said, “I heard Lu Huaiyuan is impotent,” she could not hide the malice and mockery in her words.
Lin Wanjun had expected this country girl from some remote village to become utterly humiliated upon hearing such a thing, perhaps even panic and lose all composure or burst into tears right there.
However, in the very next second, Shen Zhixia did not cry at all. Instead, she abruptly took a large step backward, putting considerable distance between herself and Lin Wanjun.
Then Shen Zhixia raised her voice and asked in an incredulous tone, “What is wrong with you, Comrade? You’re dressed so decently, so how can your thoughts be so vulgar?!”
Her righteous, clear voice immediately carried across half the floor, like a thunderclap out of nowhere.
The customers who had been looking at fabrics and clothes stopped what they were doing and turned toward them in unison.
The smug expression on Lin Wanjun’s face instantly froze. She glanced around in panic. “You… What are you shouting about?”
Shen Zhixia stared at her with innocent eyes, as though she had been deeply shocked, and continued speaking loudly, “My husband and I are newlyweds, and my man is perfectly healthy! You came here in broad daylight and started spreading rumors that someone else’s husband is ‘incapable.’ If that isn’t acting like a hooligan, then what is?”
Shen Zhixia deliberately paused, looking Lin Wanjun up and down before throwing out the ultimate question.
“Besides, how do you know whether my man is capable or not? Have you tried him yourself?”
The moment those words came out, the surrounding crowd erupted.
Everyone’s expressions toward Lin Wanjun immediately changed, and whispers and pointed discussions spread without the slightest attempt at concealment.
“My goodness, she looks like such a refined young woman. How can she even bring up what happens in someone else’s bedroom and talk nonsense about it? What shamelessness!”
“Exactly! She even came to say it to someone’s new wife. What kind of intentions does she have?”
“Could there really be something wrong with her conduct?”
“You… You’re slandering me! You shameless country bumpkin!” Lin Wanjun’s pretty face flushed bright red as she pointed furiously at Shen Zhixia, her voice rising into a shrill pitch.
“You’re the shameless one!” Su Ya, who had been standing nearby, finally spoke with a cold expression.
Shen Zhixia had not expected her usually gentle and easygoing mother in law to be so imposing when she truly lost her temper. The sheer authority in her voice instantly suppressed the entire scene.
Su Ya stepped forward and shielded Shen Zhixia behind her, fixing Lin Wanjun with a sharp gaze.
“You were the one who nitpicked everything back then and insisted on breaking off your engagement with Huaiyuan. What? Now that my son has married a wife he’s happy with, you’ve come here to spread rumors and cause trouble?”
Shen Zhixia was even more surprised.
She had originally thought Lin Wanjun was simply some woman who had been rejected or perhaps an ex-girlfriend who could not let go. She had never expected them to have been engaged.
Su Ya continued calmly, without the slightest hurry.
“I heard you recently went through all sorts of choices and finally found yourself a college student boyfriend. What’s wrong? Is your boyfriend too busy with his studies to satisfy you, leaving you with nothing better to do than come here and envy your former fiancé over what goes on in his bedroom?”
Wow! As expected of an experienced veteran, one person could take on two!
Shen Zhixia was applauding her mother in law wildly in her heart, her eyes practically sparkling with admiration.
Several young married women nearby even burst out laughing.
“Tsk, tsk. She already has a boyfriend, yet she’s still thinking about her former fiancé. There’s definitely something wrong with her conduct!”
Lin Wanjun had been pampered by everyone since childhood. When had she ever endured such public humiliation? The gazes surrounding her felt like needles piercing her skin.
“You… You people are simply impossible to reason with!”
With red rimmed eyes, Lin Wanjun stamped her foot angrily, covered her face, pushed through the crowd, and fled in humiliation.
Watching her disheveled retreat, Su Ya snorted coldly. When she turned to Shen Zhixia, the frost on her face instantly melted into a warm smile.
“Zhixia, don’t pay attention to that lunatic. This outfit really suits you, so don’t change it. Just wear it. Mom will go pay for it.”
Shen Zhixia’s eyes curved into a sweet smile as she obediently nodded. “Thank you, Mom.”
Su Ya had initially worried that Lin Wanjun’s words might make Shen Zhixia overthink things, and she had even been considering how to comfort her. Seeing her obedient and composed appearance now, however, she immediately felt relieved.
After this incident, the relationship between the mother in law and daughter in law became even closer.
Su Ya’s fiercely protective nature allowed Shen Zhixia, in this unfamiliar era, to genuinely experience a little of the warmth of having a family.
Shen Zhixia had no idea whether Lin Wanjun could swallow the humiliation she had suffered.
However, her appearance did not cause any trouble for Shen Zhixia or the Lu family for the time being.
The days of the twelfth lunar month always seemed to pass quickly, and before they knew it, it was already the twenty ninth day of the twelfth lunar month.
This was Shen Zhixia’s first New Year’s Eve in this era.
Lu Huaiyuan, who had been coming and going mysteriously for more than a month, also got up early that morning, but he did not go anywhere. Instead, he stayed home and busied himself with one task after another.
Fresh red Spring Festival couplets had been pasted onto the doors of the Lu family’s old residence, red paper window decorations that Su Ya had cut herself adorned the glass windows, and small red lanterns hung from the trees in the courtyard.
Su Ya and Shen Zhixia had spent the entire day preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner, and the feast was incredibly abundant.
The cured meat and sausages smoked with cypress branches filled the house with the unmistakable aroma of the New Year. An entire fish, symbolizing abundance year after year, occupied nearly half the table, while rich free range chicken soup filled the house with its fragrance all the way from the kitchen to the dining room.
Lu Zhenbang rarely set aside his stern demeanor as a factory director and cheerfully opened a bottle of good liquor. He even gave Shen Zhixia and Lu Huaiyuan each a thick red envelope for the New Year.
Su Ya, meanwhile, lovingly kept putting food into Shen Zhixia’s bowl while nagging affectionately, “Eat more. Our Zhixia is too thin. By next year, we have to fatten you up until you’re fair and plump.”
Listening to the constant bursts of firecrackers outside and looking at the happy family gathered before her, Shen Zhixia lowered her head and took a bite of the soft, sticky rice cake, her eyes growing slightly warm.
In her previous life, she had never known what it felt like for an entire family to sit together and share a New Year’s Eve dinner. In the original Shen Zhixia’s memories, New Year’s Eve had always consisted of endless chores and Zhao Meiyun’s cold, contemptuous looks.
But at this moment, her heart, which had always felt as though it were drifting aimlessly, finally settled firmly.
At last, she truly understood the sentiment she had seen countless people cherish in her previous life: The warmth of ordinary life is what soothes the hearts of ordinary people most.
After dinner, the young couple stayed with the older couple to observe the passing of the year for a while before returning to their room on the second floor.
A thin layer of frost had formed on the windows from the cold outside, while the room itself was warm and cozy.
Lu Huaiyuan had just finished washing up and entered the room with the fresh dampness of water clinging to him.
He was in an especially good mood today. As he dried his hair, he looked at Shen Zhixia sitting cross legged on the bed, his long, narrow eyes filled with laughter.
“Wifey, what wish do you have for the New Year? Tell me.”
Shen Zhixia played with the red envelope in her hands and looked up, a hint of his smile reflected in her own eyes.
“If I tell you, can you make it come true?”
“Of course. Your man is quite capable, you know!”
Shen Zhixia’s cheeks reddened at his words, your man.
Still, she quickly composed herself and put on a serious expression.
“Sit down. I’ll tell you slowly.”