Knife
Su Su subconsciously swallowed. Her man’s physique was truly good. His whole body radiated strength. Especially that waist—how could it be so slim and yet so powerful?
She suddenly thought of a popular phrase: *Older brother’s waist isn’t a waist, it’s the deadly curved blade of a fierce warrior!*
Thinking about the suffering she had endured before, it really did feel a little like that.
Lin Chuan followed his wife’s gaze downward and felt that the time was right. So he reached for his trousers.
“Wait, don’t take them off.” What was he doing? It wasn’t even dark yet…
She turned back and realised it was already dark.
Then, when she looked at Lin Chuan again, she saw what she wanted to see.
Her face instantly turned red, because ever since they had married, this was the first time she had seen it so directly.
Even if she had seen it before, it had always been somewhat blurry. This time, she felt she was actually quite impressive. Her ability to endure was really strong.
While her mind wandered for a moment, Lin Chuan had already picked her up.
When he wasn’t holding her, he could still remain rather calm. But once she was in his arms, he couldn’t stay calm anymore.
In the end, Su Su did nothing else that night. She kept making soft sounds until nearly dawn. Finally, just as she fell asleep in a daze, she felt Lin Chuan getting up.
She mumbled, “Where are you going?”
“The car will be here soon. I have to return to the army. I’ll come see you on Sunday.” After saying that, Lin Chuan kissed her face and hurriedly left.
Su Su couldn’t get up to see him off. She slept for over two more hours before remembering that she had to report to the school. So she hurriedly climbed out of bed and tidied herself up.
However, being able to use the bathroom today really put her in an especially good mood. Also, Lin Chuan had cooked quite a lot of rice, so she could simply make soup porridge from it and have breakfast.
She took a document bag out of her backpack, placed her files inside, then locked the door and walked to the school.
When she passed by Old Wang’s gatehouse, he smiled and greeted her. “Teacher Su, are you going to the school?”
“Yes.”
“So your man is a soldier. He’s a pretty good young fellow.”
“Ah, you know?”
“I know. Yesterday he came to borrow tools from me to tidy up your room. You have good taste.”
“Thank you, Uncle Wang.” Su Su felt happy when she heard others praise Lin Chuan. But very quickly, she felt something was off, because many people she met in the residential compound already knew she was married and that her husband was a soldier. Some even knew Lin Chuan’s name. Not only that, their impression of him was quite good.
She really didn’t know how Lin Chuan had managed to get to know almost half the people in the residential area in such a short time. It was as though he had deliberately marked out his territory. She herself hadn’t been that high-profile, okay? Since when had this man become so sociable?
Or perhaps it wasn’t sociability?
Maybe he had simply used the shortest possible time to understand everyone here?
In any case, Su Su felt he definitely hadn’t wandered around meaninglessly. He must have done it deliberately. Especially her two neighbours—he understood them even more clearly and had gone to their doors using all kinds of excuses.
By the time Su Su still didn’t know who they were, they already felt that she and her husband, a teacher matched with a soldier, were a powerful combination of intellectual and people’s hero, worthy of becoming close to.
In short, Su Su had become famous.
Almost everyone took the initiative to greet her. By the time she reached the school, she felt as though everyone was already very familiar with her.
Comrade Lin Chuan, just what exactly did you do?!
However, the residential area really was close to the school. Previously, she had only passed by without looking carefully. Now, she finally saw what X East University looked like.
It wasn’t a famous university, but it was still the only university in X City. She believed that in a few years, it would definitely become more renowned.
As for now, it was merely a very large courtyard surrounded by three rows of ordinary low buildings. There were also two newly built teaching buildings, each only three storeys high.
There was also an independent two-storey building that looked a little old. That was the teachers’ office building.
She first went to the principal’s office. She knocked on the door before pushing it open. Then she discovered that many teachers were already seated. Today was probably a meeting day.
Principal Guan was already seated in the main position. He nodded at Su Su, meaning for her to find a seat first.
Su Su sat down without any stage fright. This kind of meeting format didn’t trouble her. Modern society held meetings at the slightest thing, so she had long since become used to it.
Then Principal Guan said, “In a few days, the students will start arriving one after another to report in. This year, there are over one hundred students from various regions who were admitted through the general public examinations, along with over two hundred students admitted from high schools. This will be a great challenge for us as receiving teachers. Of course, in order to deal with the increase in students this year, we have also transferred in several outstanding teachers from various places.”
Then he began introducing the new teachers.
There were two older teachers. It was said that they had both previously been at professor level, but because of certain matters, they had been sent down. Only recently had they resumed work and been transferred here.
Then there were three younger teachers, though they also had two or three years of teaching experience.
Finally, when he introduced Su Su, Principal Guan said in a very excited voice, “Teacher Su has the highest educational qualifications among all the teachers in our school. I spent a great deal of effort applying to bring her here. Everyone, please warmly welcome her. However, because we truly weren’t able to invite a foreign English teacher, Teacher Su may have to work a little harder and be responsible for the English courses for all the students.”
“This is what I should do.” So she had come here to teach English. She needed to ask where exactly she should start teaching from. After all, in the previous years of this era, people had mainly prioritised learning Russian and hadn’t attached much importance to English. But in recent years, because foreign diplomacy had increased, English was gradually being valued.
After Su Su finished speaking, she said very humbly, “As for university education, I am still a beginner. I hope everyone can give me guidance and advice. Thank you all.”
It was said that humble people were likeable, especially when she was also the person with the highest educational qualifications among them. The moment she arrived, she was a state-employed teacher, and her salary and benefits were also the highest. It could be said that, apart from the principal, there was no one in this school whose treatment was higher than hers.
This era had already begun to place importance on intellectuals. For someone like Su Su, who was young and had graduated from a specialised higher institution, even those who wanted to be unconvinced couldn’t really be unconvinced. After all, her starting point was different.
Besides, this young girl was very polite, liked to smile, and most importantly, was good-looking. Those who knew some inside information also knew that her husband was a soldier, so if they could avoid provoking her, they wouldn’t provoke her.
Just like that, Su Su felt that her first day of work was quite relaxed.
However, after that, it was no longer relaxed. She needed to arrange the curriculum herself and improve things like credits on her own. In this era, universities—especially English majors—were truly rather weak. She had to go to the Education Bureau to seek guidance. In short, even though school hadn’t officially started yet, she was as busy as a spinning ball.
After solving matters related to the curriculum, she also had to discuss with Principal Guan how the classrooms and classes should be arranged. In the blink of an eye, Sunday arrived.
Lin Chuan came excitedly to see his wife. When the door opened, he discovered that the one receiving him was a national treasure panda.
The moment Su Su saw Lin Chuan, she subconsciously acted spoiled. She immediately hung herself on him and said, “This is too hard for me.”
Lin Chuan saw that there was no one around and immediately carried her into the room. Then he looked at the various lesson plans, documents, and other things spread across the table. They looked very complicated. The house also hadn’t been tidied much. One glance was enough to tell that she had been too busy.
“Are you very tired?”
“You have no idea. The English facilities and foundation at this time… no, at this school are far too poor. If not for the English textbooks and various dictionaries I brought with me, I feel like I might not have been able to hold on.” The things she had brought in her backpack were far too useful. Basically, all of them had been used.
“I’m so thirsty. No, I need to drink some water.” In the end, she discovered that there was no water in the kettle and became dejected.
Lin Chuan said nothing. He patted her head, then tidied the room, boiled water, and poured her a cup. “What do you want to eat?”
“I don’t want to eat anything. I feel like my brain is empty.”
“…” So pitiful. It turned out being a teacher was this difficult.
Lin Chuan immediately picked up a vegetable basket and went out, preparing to buy his wife some good food to nourish her body.
On the road, he ran into Principal Guan’s wife, Song Aiying. Lin Chuan had a very good memory and immediately said, “Hello, Director Song. Are you going to buy vegetables?”
“Yes, yes. You’re Xiao Su’s husband, right?”
Song Aiying looked him up and down. The last time she saw him, it had been night, so she hadn’t seen clearly. Now that she looked at him, he really was quite a handsome young fellow. She had originally thought Su Su was nice and had planned to introduce someone to her, but now it seemed there was truly no need.
Lin Chuan nodded, then walked out with her.
“You’re going to buy vegetables too? Where’s Xiao Su?”
What grown man went out to buy vegetables? And a soldier at that.
“Su Su hasn’t slept for several days because of the school’s work. I saw that she was exhausted and wanted to buy some good dishes to help her recover.” Lin Chuan spoke very seriously, making it easy for others to believe him.
But in reality, Su Su merely didn’t sleep during the day. At night, she still slept as usual. Her dark circles were only the result of staring at books for too long and becoming tired. It wasn’t as serious as he made it sound.
But Song Aiying believed him and felt guilty. The school’s situation was indeed not very good. The other teachers were quite relaxed, while only this newly arrived English teacher was a little busy. But they had worked this young girl so hard that she needed nourishing food. It seemed she had to mention this to her husband.
Before long, the two entered the vegetable market and bought their own groceries separately.
Lin Chuan bought his wife a chicken. Every time he boiled eggs for her, she was unhappy, so he could only buy the mother of the eggs instead. It was said that egg-laying hens were very nourishing. Then he bought a palm-sized piece of pork, planning to make pork stewed with noodles.
These two dishes could probably last for two days, at least until school started.
Of course, he also bought her some potatoes, a household staple. If there was really nothing else, boiling potatoes and dipping them in sauce could still count as a meal.
Sigh. Why was his wife so capable? What should he do if he wanted to help her with everything?
When he returned, he saw that Su Su was still busy. Without saying a word, he put the things inside the house and went outside.
Su Su didn’t understand what he was doing, so she opened the door and asked, “What are you doing—ah…”
The other party was killing the chicken. His booted foot was stepping on the chicken, and in his hand was a bright, gleaming knife with blood dripping from it.
He wiped the knife twice against the sole of his boot, and it became clean and shiny again. Then he directly inserted it into his boot and said, “Why did you come out?”
The scene was bloody. For Su Su, a city child who hadn’t seen much of the world, it was rather shocking. She covered her mouth and dry-heaved, then slammed the door shut.
“…” It was over. He had frightened his wife. What should he do?
Lin Chuan nervously scratched his head, then carefully opened the door. He saw his wife sitting on a chair, gasping, her face flushed red.
“Wife, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Don’t talk. Let me recover.”
Then Lin Chuan truly didn’t say anything. He stood there ramrod straight and let her recover.
“Tell me, couldn’t you at least pour me a cup of water?”
“Ah, right away.” Lin Chuan quickly took a cup and poured her some water. He even poured it back and forth into another cup and took a sip. “It’s not hot anymore.”
Su Su listened to him, picked it up, and took a sip. Then she hissed from the heat, frowning. “It nearly burned me to death.”
“It’s not hot?” Lin Chuan picked it up and took another big gulp. He felt it wasn’t hot.
“I don’t have thick skin and tough flesh like you, okay?” Su Su rolled her eyes at him, then turned her gaze back to her work. There was only a little left before she finished.
Lin Chuan didn’t dare disturb her. He silently went to stew the chicken, then stewed the meat.
Afterwards, he wiped the small table and said, “Wife, time to eat.”
Su Su closed the book and turned back to look at him somewhat blankly. Then she said, “Oh, time to eat. I’ll go wash my hands.” Her work was finally complete, and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Unexpectedly, because she stood up a little too quickly, she nearly fell. Lin Chuan took one large step forward and caught her, then held her against his chest nervously. “Wife, what’s wrong?”
Su Su said dully, “A little dizzy. It’s fine. I’m better now. I’m probably hungry. I haven’t really eaten properly for two days.”
“…” Lin Chuan immediately carried her to the table and placed her down. Then he raised the rice and chopsticks in front of her.
The two of them ate, and Su Su even drank a bowl of chicken soup.
It had to be said that Lin Chuan’s cooking skills were no worse than Mother Lin’s. In any case, they were much better than her own.
Su Su ate quite a lot, praising Lin Chuan as she ate.
Lin Chuan’s heart felt heavy. He wanted to bring his wife to his side and pamper her, but the paperwork for her to accompany the army still hadn’t been approved. He was not happy.
After the two finished eating, Lin Chuan and Su Su tidied the table together. Before long, someone knocked on the door. When Su Su opened it, she saw Song Aiying, who actually said Su Su had been working very hard and had brought over more than ten apples.
Apples weren’t very common in these times, so Su Su happily accepted them.
She also said somewhat strangely, “Why did Director Song suddenly bring me apples?”
Lin Chuan knew the reason, but he didn’t say it. He only said, “She must have seen that you were working too hard.”
“Yes, I really have been working so hard. Pity me a little and get me some hot water. I want to take a bath.”
“Mm.” Lin Chuan boiled hot water for her, then placed the large tub they had bought in the bathroom. He personally stripped his wife clean, pressed her into it, and scrubbed and washed her for a long while. In the end, though he endured with difficulty, he didn’t touch her and simply held her to sleep.
This situation felt a little wrong. Something behind her was clearly firm, yet he wasn’t moving. What was going on?
Actually, she was quite afraid. But thinking that this man had held himself back for a whole week and had finally managed to come over, wasn’t it a little unfair for her to just lie there doing nothing?
She was a little tired, but she still had to coax her man.
Especially since they were newlyweds. In truth, Su Su herself was also a little eager to try.
She whispered, “Lin Chuan, help scratch my back. It’s a little itchy.”
“Mm.” Lin Chuan didn’t suspect anything and obediently scratched her back.
“A little further forward,” Su Su said.
Lin Chuan moved a little forward. Then a little further. Then another little bit further…
If he moved any further, it would become indescribable. How could a hot-blooded man like Lin Chuan withstand being teased like this? His hands immediately began to behave improperly.
Then his body also became improper.
In the end, he still couldn’t hold back.
However, he did only do it once. Lin Chuan still felt sorry for his wife after all.
Because they were young, the next day, both of them got up as if nothing had happened. Su Su, probably because her stress had been relieved, felt much more relaxed. After seeing Lin Chuan off, she also prepared for the start-of-school activities.
Although she wasn’t responsible for receiving new students, she was responsible for organising the new students’ files.
Everyone was quite busy. After she arrived, she directly went to the archives room with four or five other teachers. Whenever a student reported in, they sealed that student’s file and placed it in the archive box.
Today was the last day of receiving new students. The files that had accumulated before were quickly processed. Then batches of new student files from today were carried over as well. Coincidentally, she saw the female lead Qin Yueyue’s file.
As expected of the female lead, even the photo was taken beautifully. Su Su treated it the same as the other students’ files, stamping it with the steel seal, then organising it and placing it to the side.
But she was thinking that the female lead had actually written “unmarried” in the marital status column. Was she planning not to acknowledge the male lead?
Although they had only held a wedding banquet, in the countryside, that was already recognised. Just like her and Lin Chuan—even if they had children, as long as the two of them acknowledged the marriage relationship, the children could be registered.
When Su Su filled in her own registration details, she had written “married.” So even if Lin Chuan came to stay overnight at her place every Sunday, no one would say anything. But if the female lead wrote this, then if the male lead came to see her, it might lead to misunderstandings, right?
But that was someone else’s business.
For some reason, becoming the female lead’s teacher gave her a particularly smug feeling. The moment she thought of the female lead’s appearance when she had passed the university entrance exam in the village, she felt especially satisfied. Sure enough, she was still a petty person.
Because school would begin tomorrow, the student file work was basically finished by noon. At midday, Su Su wanted to buy vegetables and go home to cook. In the end, perhaps guided by the plot, the moment she left the school gate, she ran into a scene.
The male lead had probably wanted to take the female lead out for lunch at noon. But the female lead had already built quite good relationships with several classmates. As soon as she came out, a female classmate asked who the male lead was. The female lead immediately said, “This is my elder brother.”
“…” What kind of nonsense elder brother was that?
Whose elder brother would get his younger sister pregnant, let her have an abortion, then live together every day doing intimate things?
She rolled her eyes at the sky. When Qin Yueyue enjoyed it, she enjoyed it. When she didn’t, she called him elder brother.
Haha. Scumbag woman.
But the male lead wasn’t much better either. Su Su suspected he was a masochist. Even after being treated like this, he still smiled and greeted those female classmates. Then he and the female lead left the school gate one after another.
She originally thought they would separate like that and not meet again. Unexpectedly, she ran into them together at the market.
Su Su was buying tofu. She planned to stew the tofu with yesterday’s chicken for lunch, and that would be a rich meal.
Unexpectedly, in order to save money, the male and female leads didn’t go to a restaurant. Instead, they ran to the vegetable market and bought two buns each to make do.
Then they unexpectedly bumped into each other.
Su Su, wearing a wool coat with a fashionable long sweater inside, tight little fleece trousers hugging her delicate, rounded legs, and a pair of straight, expensive-looking leather boots that were especially eye-catching, stood before the somewhat dishevelled man and woman. Her hair was casually tied in a ponytail, and she looked exquisite and beautiful from head to toe.
At almost the same time, both of them felt something like the pressure of poverty versus wealth pressing down on them, making it a little hard to breathe.
But Lin Donghe had already somewhat grown used to Su Su like this. From his initial resistance to slowly getting closer later, he felt that she was actually still a decent person.
So he stood up and said, “Comrade Su, why are you here?”
“Oh, I came here to work,” Su Su said.
“So you came here to work. I remember there’s a primary school not far from here. Then we’ll be close from now on. I’ll be studying at the university up ahead,” Qin Yueyue stood up and wrapped her bun in newspaper before placing it aside.
“You’re eating, right? Then I won’t disturb you. I still have to go back and prepare lessons.” She definitely wasn’t inviting them to her house for a meal.
But the male lead called out to stop her. “Comrade Su, Yueyue is alone in this city and quite lonely. If you have time, could you help look after her?”
“I think when she came out just now, she had so many friends. How is she lonely? Besides, doesn’t she still have you, this elder brother?” Su Su said with a smile.
But this sentence made Qin Yueyue’s heart tremble. “You… how did you know?” Those were words they had said at the school gate. Why had Su Su heard them? Or had someone passed them on to her? Who was that person?
No one wanted someone around them spreading their private matters, especially since she wanted to hide the fact that she was married.
But unexpectedly, just after hiding it, someone had exposed it.
Before Su Su could explain, someone at the side said, “Teacher Su, are you buying vegetables?”
“Yes, Director Song. Are you buying vegetables too? Are you planning to make soup today?” Su Su saw that she had bought spinach, so she asked this.
“Yes. It’s rare to be able to buy greens at this time. If you want to eat some, go to the big greenhouse around the corner. Their family has all kinds of vegetables, but sometimes the supply can’t keep up.” Song Aiying was very willing to tell these young people how to live around the school. After all, they would be working together in the future, so there was no harm in taking care of them. Especially a high-level intellectual like Su Su, who was worthy of respect.
“Hello, Director Song.” When Qin Yueyue saw Director Song look at her, she hurriedly nodded and greeted her. After entering the school, she had gone to the dormitory first, so of course she knew Director Song was in charge of the school’s logistics. She had also heard others say that Director Song was the principal’s wife, so of course she had to build a good relationship.
But Song Aiying had received so many students in a day that she had long since forgotten the female lead. She thought Qin Yueyue was some relative of Su Su’s, so she nodded and said, “By the way, next weekend, bring your husband to my house for dinner.”
“I know, Director Song. Take care.” After Su Su parted from Song Aiying, she was about to leave. But at this moment, the female lead Qin Yueyue suddenly said, “You were assigned to X East University, weren’t you?”
“Yes. I only found out after I came. Alright, I need to go back and cook. I’ll leave first. Goodbye.” Aiyo, look at the female lead’s face. It really looked like a colour palette. Truly beautiful to watch.
On the surface, Su Su showed nothing. But after turning around, she laughed into a ball.
How could Qin Yueyue not see that infuriating expression of hers? After Su Su left, she angrily said, “She did it on purpose. She definitely did it on purpose.”
Lin Donghe was somewhat helpless. He had also seen Su Su’s expression and couldn’t help smiling. “She just has a childlike personality. Don’t…”
“You’re still laughing? She played me like this, and you can still laugh?” Qin Yueyue was furious, and her tone became a little heavier.
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