The Female Lead is Back
As a result, perhaps because the nourishment was too strong, Su Su’s period came especially fiercely this month.
She could not even teach her class anymore. She lay on the kang, groaning softly as she slept.
After Lin Chuan sent the students away, he looked at her and felt that when women had their monthly affairs, they seemed to lose no less blood than he had from his injury. And it happened once every month. No wonder women’s bodies were delicate. In the future, he had to cherish her more and not let her suffer.
When Su Su felt uncomfortable, she sensed something cool on her head, as if someone were gently combing through her scalp. At first, she had felt very unwell, but after being soothed like this, she felt her consciousness gradually drifting away and actually fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Lin Chuan heated the kang himself and made Su Su a meal of braised pork belly. Then he threw in a piece of pig liver left over from New Year. This was definitely good for replenishing blood.
Just as he finished cooking, the sound of a donkey cart seemed to come from outside. He opened the door and saw Lin Hai and the three younger brothers returning. However, there was also an unwelcome guest sitting on the cart: Qin Yueyue. It looked like she had hitched a ride there.
She called out a little awkwardly, “Brother Chuanzi.”
“Educated youth Qin, please call me by my full name,” Lin Chuan said sternly.
“Then, Comrade Lin.”
Qin Yueyue put her backpack on her shoulder and said, “I only rode the cart here. I’m going back to the educated youth station now. I heard you were injured, Comrade Lin. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” Lin Chuan did not want to say much to her, so he said to Lin Hai, “Go inside. Take some food to the front courtyard.”
“There’s good food? Did Sister-in-law make it?”
“I made it.” Lin Chuan glared at his younger brother. Why was this brat so excited? Did his wife often cook good food for them? He himself had not even eaten her cooking many times. He could not help feeling deeply jealous.
“Comrade Lin, if you have any difficulties, you can come to the educated youth station and find me. I’m free anyway, so I can help you cook, boil water, and so on.”
She actually meant well. She thought that since Lin Chuan was injured and still had to cook for himself, it must be because Su Su did not know how to cook.
Who would have thought that after hearing this, Lin Chuan would say sternly, “I have a wife to cook for me, so there’s no need to trouble you educated youths. She’s just unwell today and resting for the day.” After saying this, he ignored her and led Lin Hai inside. Not long after, he came out carrying a large bowl of pork belly and went with his younger brothers to the main house for dinner.
Suddenly, Qin Yueyue understood. So this was why the Lin family had married Su Su without hesitation. It turned out they were after her money. Their family had four sons, and only Lin Chuan earned money. Their family had always lived poorly and had not even been able to produce much betrothal gift for Lin Chuan’s marriage. So now, whether it was eating meat or wearing new clothes, it was all supported by Su Su.
She looked at Lin Chuan’s tall figure and felt some disdain for him.
Then she turned and went to the educated youth station. She kept hiding inside and did not come out, because she was afraid of running into Lin Donghe.
Lin Chuan knew nothing about this. After returning to the room, he woke his wife up to eat and specially picked out lean meat for her. Originally, he had thought she was reluctant to eat it, but now he knew she really could not eat fatty meat. If she ate it, she would feel like throwing up.
No wonder she could not gain weight. Other people craved fatty meat. Since they could only eat it a few times a year, of course fatty meat was fragrant to them. But she only picked lean meat, and even then she did not seem to like eating much. After a few bites, she said she was tired of it.
At this rate, she would probably never gain weight.
Having a bit more flesh was good. It helped withstand the cold and made one more resilient. She was too thin; when he thought about doing that, he did not even dare use much strength.
As he thought about it, his body suddenly felt hot. He picked up the enamel mug beside him and drank more than half of it in one go. Fortunately, it was warm water, though there were still things inside. Looking at it made his head ache.
After eating, Su Su felt a little better and insisted on getting down to clean the table.
Lin Chuan hurriedly pressed her back down. “You should rest. My injury is almost healed now. Cleaning the table is no problem.”
“But you can’t squat down.” What if his wound split open again?
“Why can’t I squat? Right now, I just can’t press down on my leg. I can do everything else.”
“Lin Chuan, if you dare force yourself, I’ll get angry with you.” Su Su was in a bad mood, and hearing him say this made her want to scold him. After all, they were husband and wife now. She was always afraid he might be left with some lingering problem.
After being yelled at, Lin Chuan became obedient. He scratched his head and said, “Then I’ll call Lin Hai over to clean up and heat the kang. Is that all right?”
“Mm, that’s fine.” Su Su knew her mood was bad during her period, but losing her temper at someone who cared about her was also not quite right. She could only lie shyly on the kang and pretend to be dead. Before long, Lin Hai was called over by Lin Chuan to tidy everything up. Then he said, “Big Brother, that pork belly at your place was really fragrant. After eating it, I feel full of strength.”
“If you have strength, go work in the brigade and earn work points. By the way, have you sold all the shoes?”
“They’re all sold, except for two pairs that really have some flaws.”
Su Su heard this from inside and said, “If they really have flaws, keep them for our own family to wear. Don’t sell them. Or give them to relatives.” The only relatives the Lin family had in this village were his eldest uncle’s family.
Lin Hai said, “All right, I’ll ask Mother how to divide them.” After saying this, he ran back to the front courtyard and discussed it with his mother. Then he took the two pairs of shoes to their eldest uncle’s house. Whoever could wear them could have them. At least it counted as a bit of affection between relatives.
In truth, what Lin Donghe had done before was really not decent. But later, when Lin Chuan was injured, he had also gone to care for him for several days, so this favour had to be returned.
Lin Hai took the shoes and went over. But when he passed the woods behind his eldest uncle’s house, he saw two people pulling at each other. Although they were far away, they looked like a man and a woman.
Being a young boy, he was quite sensitive to these matters, so he quietly walked over to take a look. Then he saw that the two people were his cousin Lin Donghe and his former sister-in-law—pah, his former prospective sister-in-law—Qin Yueyue.
She seemed to be crying, while his cousin held her and said, “Fine. If you want to wait until after you go to university before getting married, I’ll wait. I know you’re stubborn and don’t want to admit defeat. But I’m not young anymore either, and my family is also arranging marriage matters for me. So I’ll only wait until you get into university, then I’ll go to your family to propose marriage.”
“They won’t agree. I heard that after I broke off the engagement with Lin Chuan, they started thinking about selling me for a good price, so…”
“I won’t let them sell you. No matter how much betrothal money they want, I can save it. If that really doesn’t work, I can borrow it. As long as they agree to our marriage.”
“They want three hundred. Otherwise, they’ll marry me off to a worker who’s almost retired. I…” Qin Yueyue covered her face and began to cry.
“Don’t cry. I’ll gather that money, and then we’ll get married.”
“If I get married while I’m at university, people will look at me differently.” Qin Yueyue cried even more bitterly.
Lin Donghe suddenly froze, then smiled bitterly. “I suddenly understand Second Uncle, Second Aunt, and Lin Chuan’s situation now.” They had given everything they should have given, yet still could not obtain what they wanted.
He loved her, but he had no confidence in her.
If he took out three hundred yuan but still could not get married, then after three years, once she graduated from university, she would have a formal job. There would be young men with urban household registration pursuing her. Then what would he count as?
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