Chapter 29
Yan Lei brought several lunchboxes to the Battalion Headquarters. He had notified the Cafeteria in advance, and when he went to pick them up in the evening, they were already packed. After paying with money and meal tickets, he carried them home, full.
Upon returning home, he looked Qiao Wei over: “Are you alright?”
Some women were in so much pain during their periods that they couldn’t even get out of bed. Qiao Wei was doing alright, though; she didn’t seem to have that issue. However, she wouldn’t tell him when she was on her period. Back when they hadn’t started sleeping in separate rooms, he only knew because he would see her lay out her small mattress. The couple had never discussed this matter before.
Qiao Wei also realized that, in this day and age, there was definitely a stigma surrounding menstruation. She guessed that even married couples rarely talked about this topic, especially since their relationship wasn’t good.
Qiao Wei still had some standards for the man she was going to live with.
Qiao Weiwei had already performed basic modifications on him, greatly improving his hygiene habits. Now that Qiao Wei had taken over, she needed to further refine and polish him.
“The flow is really heavy on the second day. Every time I stand up, it’s like a floodgate opening; it just pours out,” Qiao Wei sighed. “And there’s no comfortable place to sit. I’m afraid of leaking if I lie on the bed.”
Yan Lei placed the lunchboxes on the table: “There aren’t any furniture shops in our town. There’s a big market in town this Sunday, so we can take a look then; there should be something. If not, I’ll go to Qingshan Town to buy one for you. There are furniture shops over there.”
“And I can’t touch cold water either,” Qiao Wei said, looking at him expectantly.
It wasn’t that Qiao Wei was being delicate; it was because the hand-pump well was different from tap water. The hand-pump drew groundwater, which was ice-cold. Qiao Wei really didn’t dare touch it during her period.
Yan Lei was already unbuttoning his uniform. Hearing this, he glanced at her with a knowing look: “Got it. You don’t need to wash the dishes.”
See that! A man who is this understanding and thoughtful is the only kind worthy of being a male lead!
Qiao Wei was happy: “Tha~nk~ you~.”
Acting so strange. They were an old married couple; why say thank you? Yan Lei snorted and went into the room.
Qiao Wei could feel that, compared to a few days ago, after experiencing the intimacy of last night, Yan Lei was no longer so tense.
He was in a relaxed state.
When a person is in their own home, facing their closest loved ones, this is how they should be. She hoped he wouldn’t be “icy” or “stern” ever again.
Sure enough, she didn’t have to wash the dishes after eating. However, just as he was washing the dishes, Sister Yang, the wife of Regimental Commander Zhao, came over.
After Yan Lei returned home, Qiao Wei had bolted the courtyard gate. She hadn’t originally had the habit of bolting the gate, but during the day, when Lin Xixi stood at the door listening to her tell stories to Yan Xiang, it had made her vigilant.
Fortunately, she had been cautious at the time and hadn’t told the story of “Calabash Brothers.” Otherwise, Lin Xixi would have realized that she wasn’t the original Qiao Weiwei.
Now, Lin Xixi assumed that the fact that Yan Lei’s wife was still alive was a butterfly effect caused by her own rebirth. That was fine just as it was.
Yan Lei was washing the dishes, and Yan Xiang was too short to reach the door bolt. Qiao Wei had no choice but to get up. As soon as she did, she felt a “whoosh” down below; that feeling was indescribable.
Without sanitary pads with wings, there was zero sense of security!
Opening the door, she saw Sister Yang outside. Qiao Wei smiled and invited her in: “Sister-in-law, what brings you here?”
Sister Yang walked in while saying: “I have something to ask you… Hey, why is Little Yan washing the dishes?”
Yan Lei also called out “Sister-in-law,” paused, and then said: “It’s the same no matter who washes them.”
It didn’t matter what happened in his own home, but it was still a bit embarrassing to be seen by others. After all, the general environment of the era was that women toiled in the house while men smoked and put their feet up. No one could escape the reality of the times.
Qiao Wei affectionately took Sister Yang’s arm, blocking her view: “What do you need me for? Come on, let’s go inside to talk.”
She pulled her toward the room to save Yan Lei from embarrassment. In this era, a man who could lower his dignity to do housework had to be carefully protected; she couldn’t let him be influenced by the gazes of others.
Sure enough, Sister Yang’s lips moved as if she still wanted to say something, but being dragged along by Qiao Wei, she remembered she had come to ask for a favor, so she didn’t say anything and followed her into the room.
“I wanted to borrow something from you,” she said. “Regimental Commander Zhao and I want to arrange a blind date for our Xixi. Xixi doesn’t have any decent clothes; all her clothes were brought from the countryside. I was thinking you have many skirts, so I was wondering if you could lend her one to wear.”
Borrowing items for blind dates was very common at that time.
When Qiao Wei was a child, she had heard her grandmother tell a story about when her grandmother went to her grandfather’s house for a blind date. She saw a quilt drying in the courtyard and a flour vat in the kitchen, so she felt that although they were poor, it wasn’t completely impossible to live.
It turned out that after she married him, she realized the quilt and flour vat she saw on the day of the blind date had been borrowed just for the occasion.
Qiao Wei smiled and said: “No need to borrow.”
“I’ve been tidying up my wardrobe for the past two days, and there are a few skirts I can’t fit into anymore. I was just wondering who to give them to. You know, I don’t have any younger sisters or nieces here. These skirts are still in good condition, so I can’t just throw them away. Since you’re here, just take them for Little Lin to wear.”
Qiao Wei actually couldn’t quite understand the practice of belittling the items one was about to give away. But this was what her mother had taught her. Her mother said it was what her grandmother had taught her.
That era was just like that. If you saw that someone was poor and didn’t have a quilt to cover themselves and felt sorry for them, you couldn’t just bluntly give them a quilt. You had to burn a hole in it with a cigarette first, then say to the person, “Oh, look, I burned a hole in this quilt and I don’t want it anymore; you take it.” Then, after a little back-and-forth, the other party would gladly accept it.
Perhaps it was to let the other party accept it without a psychological burden? So they wouldn’t feel like the other side was bestowing a favor?
Regardless, Qiao Wei had remembered what her grandmother and mother used to nag about. She hadn’t expected that one day she would live in this era and be able to put it to use.
Sure enough, after saying this, Sister Yang’s expression relaxed, though she still politely declined: “Why can’t you fit into them? I don’t see that you’ve gained any weight.”
Qiao Wei smiled and opened the wardrobe, pulling out a few dresses to show Sister Yang: “Here, take a look.”
“Are these all doudou cloth?” Sister Yang was stunned when she saw them. “And they’re so new…”
She had assumed the skirts Qiao Wei wanted to give away would be very old, but she didn’t expect them to be semi-new, and doudou cloth at that.
Qiao Wei had just wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of those chemical fiber skirts. She said: “They aren’t new. The main thing is that I can’t fit into them anymore. Take a look and see if they’re suitable for Little Lin to wear.”
Lin Xixi was going on a blind date, and she was going to give her full support.
The two of them—one a transmigrator, one a reborn person—would be best off staying out of each other’s way, so they wouldn’t end up fighting over the same male lead.
The male lead had the male lead’s halo, and if the female lead also had a female lead’s halo, it would be troublesome for Qiao Wei. Qiao Wei sincerely and wholeheartedly hoped that Lin Xixi wouldn’t just fixate on Yan Lei.
“How could they not be suitable?” Sister Yang said. “You really don’t want them anymore?”
In reality, although they were about the same height, Lin Xixi was sturdy and full-figured because she had been farming at home for years, whereas Qiao Wei was more slender and delicate.
But Sister Yang wasn’t worried that Lin Xixi wouldn’t fit into them. Her eyes were sharp; the so-called “can’t fit” was just an excuse—everyone understood that.
See, everyone was actually in on the unspoken understanding. It was just that doudou cloth was more expensive than other materials, so Sister Yang needed to confirm it again to feel at ease.
Qiao Wei said: “Of course. Do you think Little Lin can wear them?”
“More than that,” Sister Yang said happily. “Not just Xixi; if they’re taken care of well, Yingzi will be able to wear them in a couple of years.”
Clothes were always passed down from older sister to younger sister; that’s how every family did it. Qiao Wei’s subjective intention was to give them to Lin Xixi, but once they were in Sister Yang’s hands, it was out of her control.
Sigh, let them be.
When Sister Yang came out of the room with a smile, Yan Lei was wiping his hands with a towel and greeted her: “Sister-in-law, are you leaving?”
“Yes, I’m leaving, I’m leaving. You go ahead and get busy.” Sister Yang left with a smile.
When you take something from someone, you feel obligated to them. Before entering the room, she had wanted to voice a couple of opinions about Yan Lei washing the dishes, but now, holding several doudou cloth skirts given to her by them, she pretended not to see it.
Watching Sister Yang’s expression, Yan Lei knew that no matter what she and Qiao Wei had talked about in the room, it was clear that she was leaving satisfied.
After Qiao Wei saw Sister Yang off, bolted the gate, and turned back, Yan Lei asked: “What did she take with her?”
Sister Yang had come empty-handed and left carrying things, so Yan Lei was curious.
“She wanted to introduce a blind date for Little Lin and wanted to borrow a skirt from me,” Qiao Wei said.
Yan Lei had clearly seen Sister Yang leaving with the skirts just a moment ago, but he still subconsciously said: “So she borrowed them, huh?”
This was mainly because Qiao Weiwei didn’t often have this kind of interaction with other military dependents. She was often cold and aloof, and other dependents knew she looked down on people, so they wouldn’t come to ask her for such things.
Unexpectedly, because of this incident, she had begun to associate and interact with Regimental Commander Zhao’s wife by chance.
“She didn’t borrow them. I gave them to her directly,” Qiao Wei said. “It just so happens that I didn’t want those skirts anymore anyway.”
The two of them talked as they returned to the room. The wardrobe was still open, and Yan Lei took a look, slightly surprised: “You gave them all to her?”
It was actually half-empty. Yan Lei was observant and noticed that what she had given Sister Yang were exactly those doudou cloth dresses.
He asked: “Why don’t you like them anymore?”
What girl wouldn’t like doudou cloth dresses? When Qiao Weiwei used to wear them while walking in town, young girls would look at her with envious eyes.
Qiao Wei said: “I just don’t like them anymore.”
She simply didn’t like chemical fibers, but she hadn’t expected Yan Lei to completely misunderstand this statement.
Because after this incident, Qiao Wei had changed so much—she had even said things like “The old me is already dead.” Now that she had given away all those doudou cloth skirts, in Yan Lei’s eyes, it was clearly a sign that she was undergoing a spiritual rebirth and turning over a new leaf.
Yan Lei was very happy: “You haven’t bought any new skirts this year, right? Next time we go to the city, we’ll buy some more—buy a few more.”
Qiao Wei: “?”
She didn’t know why he was so happy for no reason.
“Help me boil a pot of water,” she said. “I can’t touch cold water, so I’ll use warm water to wipe myself down; I’m all sweaty.”
Yan Lei was even happier; his eyes brightened as he went out to boil the water.
This time, Qiao Wei did know why he was happy. When she woke up this morning, there were several marks on her chest and neck.
However… Qiao Wei still thought that this man was really easy to coax.
Sister Yang returned to her own house, first poking her head in to see that Lin Xixi was not in the courtyard. There was movement in the kitchen, so she must be in there cleaning up.
This niece was indeed well-behaved and diligent; since she had arrived, Sister Yang had been able to catch her breath.
Taking advantage of the gap while Lin Xixi was not in the courtyard, Sister Yang quickly ran back into the room holding the few skirts.
Yingzi was puzzled: “What is Mom holding as she ran into the room?”
Gangzi: “I don’t know.”
Huazi: “Like a thief.”
Regimental Commander Zhao strolled back into the bedroom: “What are you doing? Acting all sneaky. Didn’t you manage to borrow them?”
He thought that Sister Yang had been rejected by Qiao Wei and was embarrassed, which was why she was acting so furtive.
Sister Yang, however, was beaming and chided him: “Of course I borrowed them—no, pfft, they weren’t borrowed. Come take a look.”
Regimental Commander Zhao walked over and frowned: “Why borrow so many? One is enough.”
“I told you, they weren’t borrowed,” Sister Yang said triumphantly. “Little Qiao gave them to me.”
Regimental Commander Zhao was stunned: “Why give them to you?”
“Pfft,” Sister Yang said. “Of course it’s to thank me for helping her take care of Yan Xiang for several days.”
There is a phenomenon in psychology: when someone does you a favor, you don’t necessarily feel close to that person, and you might even secretly want to distance yourself from them.
But conversely, when you do someone a favor, you feel a sense of condescending intimacy toward that person.
Sister Yang was like that now; she had originally only had an ordinary relationship with Qiao Wei. Since helping Qiao Wei take care of Yan Xiang, she felt closer to Qiao Wei.
“I’m joking,” she said with a laugh. “Little Qiao couldn’t fit into them, so she gave them all to me.”
Regimental Commander Zhao reached out and felt the material, discovering that they were all doudou cloth, and muttered: “She doesn’t want so many? What a wasteful woman.”
Sister Yang gave him an elbow: “What are you saying? Little Qiao is still so young; what’s wrong with dressing up? It’s not like she can’t afford it. She doesn’t have as many children to raise as we do.”
Nor was it like her husband’s family, with so many relatives, especially the elder sister-in-law who was always so shameless about asking for money. After all, Regimental Commander Zhao’s mother had died early, and his elder sister had raised him, so she was like half a mother to him.
She gossiped: “You wouldn’t believe it. When I went over just now, guess who was washing the dishes? It was Little Yan!”
Regimental Commander Zhao: “Huh?”
In the past, Sister Yang would have probably had the same expression, and then she would have said, “That woman Qiao Wei is really lazy, how is Yan Lei such a henpecked husband?”
But now, having taken several doudou cloth skirts from them—each worth seven or eight, maybe eight or nine yuan—Sister Yang said with the utmost smoothness: “Little Yan really loves his wife.”
She then marveled: “This woman Qiao Wei, she sure is lucky!”
