BT70sTMUMP Chapter 35

Badmouthing Him

This eldest sister ate heartily, showing no restraint. It was evident that her life hadn’t been easy—she looked truly hungry.

Su Su, on the other hand, only ate a little to fill her stomach. Despite not having eaten anything since morning, she didn’t feel hungry at all.

Besides, Lin Chuan’s mother hadn’t served much of each dish. The main items were two meat dishes: one was chicken and rabbit stewed with potatoes, and the other was old cucumber stir-fried with slices of pork. The meat had been purchased with Su Su’s money, so Lin Chuan’s mother assumed she craved it and served her a generous portion. There were also two vegetable dishes.

Having already eaten rabbit yesterday, Su Su didn’t want more. Moreover, seeing how vigorously the eldest sister ate, she felt hesitant to reach for her chopsticks. While she didn’t want to come across as pretentious or overly refined, she genuinely couldn’t bring herself to compete for food.

When Lin Chuan came in, he immediately understood that his wife wouldn’t fare well when it came to earning communal work points. With her personality, she’d probably miss out on food entirely, even the soup.

But he couldn’t criticize his elder sister. He knew her family conditions weren’t great, and she likely hadn’t eaten breakfast before walking all the way here, so she was understandably hungry.

“Is something the matter?” Su Su asked.

“Have you finished eating? It’s time to offer toasts.”

“I’m done.” Su Su put down her chopsticks, got off the heated brick bed, and walked outside with Lin Chuan. As soon as they stepped out, two small wine cups were handed to them, and they were led to the front yard.

The toasts began with the male guests. They went from table to table, and Lin Chuan generally drank a cup with each table.

With over ten tables, Su Su grew a bit concerned and gently tugged at his sleeve, whispering, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“I didn’t expect you to handle your alcohol so well.”

In the novel, it never mentioned that the male supporting character could drink this much.

Lin “self-preservation” Chuan immediately clarified, “I have a low tolerance. These are just small cups.”

Indeed, the cups were small. But if Su Su were drinking, even these would have been enough to get her drunk three or four times over.

Still, since he claimed to have a low tolerance, she took his word for it. At least the cups were smaller than the large bowls used at the tables.

At this time, the men drinking were all heavy drinkers, using bowls, mugs, or ladles—cups were rare. Relatively speaking, Lin Chuan’s small cups were still manageable. Hopefully, he wouldn’t end up drunk and disorderly.

After Su Su’s apparent “disapproval” of Lin Chuan’s drinking, he modestly reduced his intake to half a cup at each table, claiming he was getting a bit drunk.

However, his comrade mercilessly exposed him: “Drunk? Back in the army, we drank all night and you—” He was abruptly silenced by a sharp kick to the leg.

It hurt.

The old comrade immediately fell silent, now fully aware that Lin Chuan was afraid of his wife. Just married, and he was already so obedient. Someone had once said that northern men losing control to their wives could no longer call themselves “real men.”

Clearly, Lin Chuan no longer fit that description.

He kept quiet, planning to tease Lin Chuan later when he had the chance.

Still, looking at Lin Chuan’s bride—delicate, adorable, with fair skin, and even holding a government ration book—his envy grew. If she joined Lin Chuan at the army base, wouldn’t everyone else be green with jealousy?

It was said that soldiers had a hard time finding wives, but Lin Chuan had gone home and brought back such a wonderful one. Truly impressive.

While feeling envious, as the best man, he also helped Lin Chuan block a few drinks. After all, the groom still had to consummate the marriage tonight—he couldn’t let his brother be too drunk to enjoy his wedding night.

Once they finished toasting the male guests, the female guests were much simpler to manage.

After the toasts, Lin Chuan sent Su Su back to the room to rest, ensuring she wouldn’t get jostled in the crowd, as there was still much to do.

Sitting alone in the room, Su Su picked up a book to read. It was the English version of ‘The Red and the Black’, one of the world’s great novels. Back in university, her English wasn’t very good, so she forced herself to read novels in English. She hadn’t finished this one and had brought it with her, so she decided to use the downtime to continue.

However, when she picked it up, she noticed the cover had changed. It no longer looked like the original but had a retro design, lacking the texture of the new cover.

Still, the content inside hadn’t changed.

She wasn’t particularly eager to read the book—it was just a way to distract herself. She was nervous. This was her first time getting married, and just sitting in the room thinking about what lay ahead made her heart race. Even standing next to Lin Chuan made her palms sweat.

What was this feeling? It was strange and a little scary.

While she was lost in thought, the door suddenly opened. The young man from Aunt’s family walked in. Seeing Su Su alone in the room, he closed the door behind him and smiled, “Oh, you’re reading? What book are you reading? I’m a high school graduate; I’ve read quite a few books.”

Su Su didn’t think much of it. Back in university, it was common to study with male classmates. She held up her book and said, “The Red and the Black.”

“A classic! I haven’t read that one. Maybe we could exchange books sometime?” he suggested.

“Sure, I didn’t bring many books with me,” Su Su replied.

In this era, with no television or internet, life was indeed dull. Having books to exchange would be a good idea.

“By the way, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Kang Jianguo.”

“Hello, I’m Su Su. You probably already know that.”

The name felt strangely familiar. Oh, right—this Kang Jianguo was mentioned in the original story. After Lin Chuan’s father passed away, Kang Jianguo had come to the Lin family to claim their inheritance, accusing the Lin brothers of being unfilial and declaring that he would care for Second Aunt in her old age.

It was Kang Jianguo who had angered Lin Chuan’s mother to death.

Thinking of this, Su Su lost all enthusiasm for welcoming him, and her gaze grew colder. But Kang Jianguo didn’t seem to notice and moved closer. Su Su immediately shifted away, but he scooted even closer, saying, “You’ve read so much already. I love reading classics too. What’s different about this one? Let me take a look.”

His actions were overly familiar, as if they had known each other for years.

This was a bit much.

Kang Jianguo picked up her book and looked at it, his face darkening almost immediately.

Su Su quickly noticed—he didn’t seem to understand English!

Having studied English since kindergarten, Su Su never expected a high school graduate to react so strongly to a book in its original language. Suddenly inspired, she smiled and asked, “How is it? Isn’t it a great book?” completely ignoring his awkwardness.

“Yes, it’s great. I just remembered something outside. I’ll head out now,” he said hastily, turning and leaving without looking back. Inside, however, he felt a grudge against the young woman. Clearly, she had known he couldn’t read English but still talked about exchanging books—it felt like she had deliberately embarrassed him.

Author’s Note: Su Su wasn’t actually trying to embarrass him on purpose.