Shen Yuchu curled her lip and said to Lin Xuan, "Did you see that? For the past three years, this is the life I’ve been living in your house every single day! This is exactly how that old hag in your family treats me!"
Lin Xuan knitted his brows. "That’s enough, keep it down," he retorted.
What was this talk about an "old hag"? What kind of language was that?
"Tch!" Shen Yuchu huffed in annoyance, turned around, and walked away.
But after entering the bedroom, she turned back, glared at him, rolled her eyes, and added, "Mama's boy!"
Hearing this, Lin Xuan’s eyelid twitched. He set down the food he was carrying and followed her into the bedroom.
This room had once been his nightmare.
On their wedding night, even though he had been drinking and didn't want to consummate the marriage, Shen Yuchu had shamelessly approached him, saying, "We’re married now, let me help you take your clothes off!"
Those weren't the words of a decent woman. Disgusted and using his drunkenness as an excuse, he had bolted from the room.
He had been afraid…
But now, as he entered, he intended to say something to her, only to see her sitting at the vanity, pen in hand, scribbling on paper. He couldn't tell what she was doing.
"What are you doing?"
Shen Yuchu rolled her eyes and didn't answer him, continuing to write.
Lin Xuan glanced over. What was this? Macroeconomics, microeconomics, international finance, currency and capital?
And those diagrams she was drawing—he couldn't make heads or tails of them.
What was she doing? Why was she worrying about the national economy?
What did this have to do with her? Besides, shouldn't someone like her be worrying about what to eat tomorrow? Why was she doing the work of an expert?
"You..." Lin Xuan started, but he watched as Shen Yuchu made a quick mark on a branch of a microeconomics chart, her delicate brows slightly furrowed, as if she were contemplating something of great importance.
Seeing her look so serious, he decided not to disturb her and went out to wash up.
When he returned, he found Shen Yuchu still at the vanity, writing and drawing incessantly.
Was she no longer clinging to him? And worse, was she actually ignoring him?
Lin Xuan paced the small bedroom. Eventually, he climbed into bed. To prepare for any of her usual hysterics, he had even slept in his shirt and trousers, and he stayed at the foot of the bed rather than the head. That way, with his soldier’s instincts, he would be able to react immediately the moment she climbed in.
However, the night deepened.
The light in the room remained on. Lin Xuan had drifted into a light sleep, but when the brightness hit his eyes, he woke up again.
Turning his head, he saw that Shen Yuchu had fallen asleep slumped over the vanity.
She hadn't come to bed? And she was wearing such thin clothing.
Lin Xuan frowned. He sat up, pulled a quilt from the bed, and slowly walked over to drape it over her.
She had written several pages—a thick stack—and the tip of her pen was dangerously close to her face. As he took it from her, the weight of the quilt caused her to stir and frown, waking up.
"Hmm?"
Lin Xuan hurriedly let go of the quilt. "That... you should go to bed. If you sleep sitting up like this, you’ll catch a cold."
"No need, you go ahead," she replied, her voice thick with congestion. She had clearly already caught a cold.
"Why are you being so stubborn? If nothing else, I’ll just wrap myself in a blanket and sit up!"
Shen Yuchu stood up. "Don't bother. This is your house, and what you say goes. The fact that I managed to sit here all night is already a testament to my gratitude for the Lin family taking me in."
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Lin Xuan said. "We’re married. We’re husband and wife..."
"Stop! Say no more!" Shen Yuchu frowned in discomfort, her voice stuffy. She grabbed some paper, blew her nose, pulled on her cap, and walked out.
Left holding the quilt, Lin Xuan felt a strange, unpleasant sensation in his chest.
For the first time, he looked at her with genuine attention. "Where are you going?"
"To the bathroom!"
Lin Xuan looked at the papers on the table. Was she going to take all those economic and financial notes with her to the bathroom?
He wrapped himself in the quilt and sat on the bed like a young bride.
Fifteen minutes later, he shifted his position, leaning against the headboard.
Half an hour later, finding the waiting boring, he picked up the notes and charts Shen Yuchu had left behind and studied them carefully.
The delicate, elegant handwriting was nothing like that of an illiterate person. How did she suddenly understand all of this?
His fingers traced the lines of text again and again. In his mind, he replayed the Shen Yuchu of the last three years against the one he saw now. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't reconcile the two different people.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" A rooster crowed outside.
Lin Xuan realized the sky was beginning to pale. He checked his watch out of habit: 4:30 AM.
What kind of bathroom trip took two and a half hours? Her legs must be numb! In their village, the bathrooms were just thatched shacks with pit latrines. How could she spend two hours in there in this cold?
Thinking this, he grabbed his military coat and headed out with a flashlight, walking toward the shed where the car was parked.
"Shen Yuchu!"
"Shen Yuchu!"
He called out into the darkness twice before saying, "I'm coming in!"
The light in the bathroom wasn't on; it was clearly empty. His father had wired the shack for electricity so they wouldn't accidentally step into the pit, but as he pulled the string, the room was indeed empty.
Where was she?
Deciding he might as well take the opportunity since he was already out there, he finished his business, turned off the light, and started back. As he passed the car, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Lin Xuan walked up to the car and found Shen Yuchu curled up in the back seat, covered by his spare military coat.
Heh. She really was... getting smarter.
She hadn't gone back to the room. She knew how to drive, and she knew how to use the keys to open the car.
Was she sleeping in the car? Did she plan on driving away tomorrow morning?
With that thought, Lin Xuan got into the car, sat in the driver's seat, and wrapped himself tightly in his military coat as well.