Rebirth Counterattack with Space

Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Wives Are to Be Cherished

Chapter 39 -39: Wives Are to Be Cherished

It was already half-past nine by the time they finished breakfast.

Xia Yuan bustled about preparing to make dumplings, as well as boiling water and slaughtering a chicken.

The dough was already made. Shitou hijacked the task of slaughtering the chicken, so Xia Yuan had no choice but to deal with the cabbage and meat. She was about to chop the dumpling filling when Lu Aiguo called out loudly, “Wife, you go boil the water. Leave the meat chopping to me, it’s strenuous. You just cut the cabbage and get ready to make dumplings.”

“Chopping meat filling is a trivial task, how could it exhaust me?” Xia Yuan couldn’t help but laugh, intending to push Lu Aiguo aside and chop the filling herself, “You go boil the water; I got this.”

“Be good, listen to me, you don’t have enough strength to chop the meat. It won’t be chopped finely and won’t taste good.”

Lu Aiguo insisted. He simply didn’t want his wife doing dirty or strenuous work, and in fact, if possible, he wouldn’t want her to work at all. His wife should be pampered, allowed to sleep in as long as she wanted every morning, just focusing on looking pretty, how nice would it be if she didn’t have to do anything else?

Thinking back to when his wife had first come to their village, she was so tender and fresh that one pinch could wring water out of her, her fingers were thin and soft without any calluses. Her skin was also fair and delicate, obviously brought up in a pampered household. How many years had passed since then? Her hands had become rough, her face darker and coarser, making his heart ache at the thought.

Previously, there had been no choice, but from now on, he would do his best to make sure his wife lived the best life possible.

“So you see me as an invalid, huh? In the future, I won’t do anything and let you fuss over me,” Xia Yuan complained to Lu Aiguo, causing Shitou and Lu Yun to snicker silently to themselves.

“It would be great if you truly did nothing at all, I’m even willing to take on all the housework. Isn’t a wife supposed to be cherished?” Lu Aiguo said, unfazed.

“If that were really the case, I’m afraid you might despise me later on.” Xia Yuan was genuinely worried; she feared that right now Lu Aiguo was still excited by novelty, but as time went on, he might start to scorn her.

“In the future, aside from Shitou’s share, all the money we earn will be yours. Holding the financial power, what would you have to fear? If anyone should be afraid, it should be me,” Lu Aiguo cozied up and asked in a coquettish tone, “Wife, would you despise me in the future?”

The soft, mellow tone was unbearable when paired with his scarred, fierce face, creating a dissonance so intense it was hard to look directly at him. Lu Yun immediately thought of Beauty and the Beast.

The involved parties, however, noticed nothing amiss. Xia Yuan was coaxed into radiant happiness, her demeanor shy and girlish, as she looked tenderly at Lu Aiguo, even lightly patting his cheek, “As long as you never despise me, I won’t despise you. If you dare change your heart in the future, I’ll marry off with your assets, leaving you no place to cry.”

Lu Aiguo was intoxicated with her words at first, but his face changed when he heard the latter half, jumping up, “Wife, don’t even think about it.”

Xia Yuan gave him a defiant look, proud as a queen. Her expression said, You think I wouldn’t dare! Lu Aiguo immediately deflated.

The change in the atmosphere was too swift; it was almost unwatchable.

Lu Yun covered her eyes.

Shitou’s mouth twitched, pretending not to hear as he devoted himself to kneading the dough at hand.

After a busy morning, by a little past eleven, the steaming-hot dumplings and chicken soup were finally ready.

The dumplings were plentiful, and Xia Yuan loaded two large bowls, brimming with them, into two baskets using a thick porcelain bowl usually reserved for soup. She covered them with a clean gauze cloth and asked Lu Aiguo to deliver them to Uncle Lu and Second Uncle Lu.

The homes of Uncle Lu and Second Uncle Lu were not far from theirs, and Lu Aiguo returned quickly. The baskets he brought back were not empty—Auntie Lu had filled one with tender water spinach, and Second Auntie Lu had sent over a large winter melon and a big jar of pickled white radish strips.

“Second Uncle hasn’t come back yet. Second Auntie has invited us over for dinner tomorrow night, and Shitou should come too. She said Big Sister and Second Sister’s families will all be coming back, and that you and Xiaoyun should go and familiarize yourselves with them,” Lu Aiguo said as he sat down at the dining table, grabbing dumplings and dipping them in sauce.

“Okay,” Xia Yuan nodded, ladling a bowl of chicken soup for Lu Aiguo. “Why don’t you go over to Second Uncle’s place tonight to check on how the household registration is coming along? And take some meat, vegetables, rice, and flour with you—oh, and bring a can of oil too. Big Sister and Second Sister are bringing their whole families back tomorrow, and I’m afraid we’ll go through a lot of food.”

“Alright,” Lu Aiguo said after devouring several dumplings. “The filling is seasoned perfectly, my wife is truly capable.”

“Not just capable, but also very thorough,” Lu Aiguo added.

“You’re always so slick with your words—are you like this with other young girls and daughters-in-law when you’re out?” Xia Yuan’s initial delight turned to suspicion as she eyed Lu Aiguo warily.

“I swear to you, my conscience is clear, wife,” Lu Aiguo choked on his chicken soup from fright, coughing several times before he could speak again. “I only ever sweet-talk with you, I haven’t even taken a proper look at any other woman. Ask Shitou if you don’t believe me.”

“Shitou, you better tell your sister-in-law the truth,” Lu Aiguo urged, looking desperately at Shitou as Xia Yuan still appeared unconvinced. “Speak up.”

“It’s true,” Shitou affirmed, after swallowing his mouthful of food, then nodded at Xia Yuan before lowering his head to continue eating dumplings.

“See, wife, Shitou never tells lies,” Lu Aiguo boasted to Xia Yuan with an air of vindication. “My eyes see only you and no other woman.”

Lu Yun laughed quietly to herself, a bittersweet feeling in her heart.

The words of her father were indeed the truth—in her previous life, it wasn’t as though no one had tried to set him up with potential partners, especially after he bought a house in Haicheng on his own merit. There was a girl from the neighborhood who also worked in Haicheng and had taken a fancy to him, openly confessing her feelings. Even back in their hometown, her great-uncle and second uncle had tried to persuade him, but her father stubbornly refused to discuss marriage.

“If there isn’t, then there isn’t. Why yell so loudly?” Xia Yuan’s expression finally relaxed, and she playfully chided Lu Aiguo with feigned shyness.

“Eat more dumplings if they’re good. I roughly counted, and the few of us wrapped over three hundred in total. We’ll fry the leftovers in oil later, have some in the evening, and the rest will go straight into Xiaoyun’s ‘big warehouse’ for another time,” Xia Yuan said while picking up her chopsticks and starting to eat herself. Then she remembered something and asked Lu Yun, “What else is in your ‘big warehouse’? Take some out for your dad to bring to your grand-uncle’s house.”

“Yeah, the dumplings will probably taste even better fried,” Lu Aiguo lifted his bowl and took a cautious sip of chicken soup; discovering it wasn’t too hot and decidedly delicious, he took a large gulp.

He laughed when he heard Xia Yuan’s question to Lu Yun, “What could the kid recognize? She’d probably mix up salt and sugar. Asking her is pointless.”