However, Shen Yuchu hadn't driven even a few kilometers when she heard Lin Xuan, sitting in the passenger seat, constantly barking instructions: "Right, right!"
"Turn the wheel half a circle—did you turn it too much? You're about to hit the stone bridge pier."
Shen Yuchu ignored him and kept driving.
A few seconds later, Lin Xuan spoke again: "Left, turn a full circle to the left."
Shen Yuchu's face darkened slightly. She drove straight ahead, and the car gave a jolt.
Lin Xuan in the passenger seat: "Straighten the steering wheel!"
Shen Yuchu narrowed her eyes.
Lin Xuan frowned as he looked ahead: "Shen Yuchu, turn the steering wheel half a circle to the left."
Shen Yuchu was ready to explode with anger.
"Right, turn it half a circle to the right, you're off course! Shen Yuchu, how are you looking at the road? Didn't you see that?"
Shen Yuchu gripped the steering wheel tightly, biting her lip over and over again as the car bumped once more.
"Shen Yuchu, straighten the wheel! Straighten it!"
"Shen Yuchu, Second Aunt's dog has better road sense than you. Turn the steering wheel 15 degrees to the left."
"Too much..."
"Screech!" Shen Yuchu slammed on the brakes.
She shifted directly into neutral, cut the engine, straightened the steering wheel, and with wide, furious eyes, raised her hand and smacked Lin Xuan.
"Turn left, turn right!"
"Turn left, turn right!"
"Turn, turn, turn!!!"
Lin Xuan raised his arm to block his face, but his forehead still took a few blows.
With his handsome double-lidded eyes wide, Lin Xuan stared at Shen Yuchu.
Furious, Shen Yuchu unbuckled her seatbelt: "I know how to drive myself, I don't need you bossing me around!"
Frowning from the blows, Lin Xuan retorted, "I was just telling you how to operate the vehicle, why are you hitting me? Look at the way you turned that steering wheel just now—didn't you almost run over the stone bridge pier? Driving like that is dangerous."
"I told you to turn 15 degrees to the left, and you veered way off. That move you just pulled was closer to 45 degrees."
"Shen Yuchu, you couldn't even drive in a straight line just now. Luckily this is a country road, if we were in the city..."
Shen Yuchu got straight out of the car, walked around the front, and opened the passenger door. "You drive!"
Lin Xuan got out of the car, and seeing Shen Yuchu's puffed-up, angry expression, he swallowed back whatever he had wanted to say.
Then, after he climbed into the driver's seat and before the car had even started, Shen Yuchu began mimicking his tone: "Turn left, turn a full circle to the left."
Lin Xuan: "Huh?"
Shen Yuchu's eyes twitched, and she continued: "Right, turn 15 degrees to the right."
"Lin Xuan, are you blind? Second Aunt's dog has better road sense than you."
Lin Xuan: "Uh... what?"
Shen Yuchu rolled her eyes at him dramatically. "Drive! What are you looking at me for?"
Without a word, Lin Xuan restarted the car. The moment it started moving, Shen Yuchu began in on him: "Are you blind? We're off course, can't you see? Where are you driving? There's a river on the left!"
Lin Xuan: "...?" He was driving perfectly fine, why was she suddenly saying this?
Besides... he wasn't driving toward the river at all?!
"Do you even know how to drive? Are your eyes growing out of your ass? Can you tell east from west?"
Lin Xuan: "..."
His face turned ashen, and heavy puffs of air blew from his nose as he completely ignored Shen Yuchu in the passenger seat.
The car bumped along the dirt road ahead.
"There's a ditch over there, didn't you see it? You're even worse than Second Aunt's dog, where are your eyes growing?"
Suppression building inside him, Lin Xuan's handsome face grew darker and darker.
"Trying to get us killed? There's a lump of dirt right there and you just drove right over it! Do you know how to drive or not? What pathetic skills!"
"What are you showing off for? Look at the road, not me!"
"..."
Finally, in sheer exasperation, Lin Xuan pulled over to the side of the road and stopped.
He closed his eyes and took a long moment to calm himself down before turning his head to look at Shen Yuchu. "Shen Yuchu, I'm sorry! I apologize for the way I barked instructions right in your ear while you were driving earlier."
Shen Yuchu looked at his expression. The suppressed fury was making his chest heave violently, yet he was still managing to apologize to her.
She lowered her head and picked at her fingernails. "Well, there's still hope for you."
Lin Xuan looked at her. "From now on, please don't give any directions, okay? I know how to drive, I have my own feel for the car and the road. Please don't use your perspective and your vantage point to boss me around, okay?"
Shen Yuchu picked at her final fingernail and slowly raised her gaze. "Yes, and dear Mr. Lin Xuan, those exact words are what I have to return to you."
Lin Xuan: "..."
Shen Chunfen, Lin Hui, and Madam Wu sat silently in the back row.
Lin Xuan looked at Shen Yuchu for a moment, then buckled his seatbelt again and started the car, driving forward.
This time, Shen Yuchu was finally quiet.
When they drove into Dalüzhuang Village, Lü Chunhuan was sitting on a pile of bricks at the village entrance, basking in the setting sun. She was still wearing thick padded winter trousers—light blue long underwear stuffed with raw cotton on the inside.
Chomping on peanuts and dried sweet potatoes, she was loudly proclaiming at the top of her lungs: "Whoever marries my son is going to have a blessed life!
Look at my son—he's got the looks, he's got the height. The young man is the most handsome fellow for miles around.
You couldn't find a fine young man as good-looking as my son anywhere in Dagua Town."
Yingzi's mother glanced at Lü Chunhuan. "If your son is so great, how come he's 24 and still doesn't have a partner?"
In the countryside, 24 made someone an older unmarried youth; other people's kids were already learning to walk.
Shen Yuchu's younger brother, Shen Yulong, had graduated from junior high and spent all day at home playing video games, whether it was Super Mario, Naruto, or The Legend of Kage.
When asked to get a job, he complained it was too tiring. A few days ago he got a job as a waiter at a restaurant, but after serving customers for just a little while, he quit and came right back.
Yet Lü Chunhuan still sat at the village entrance every day showing off and gossiping.
Just then, a military jeep drove over, heading straight to the entrance of Dalüzhuang Village.
Because Lü Chunhuan lived in the very first house at the entrance of the village, it was very easy to park right there.
"Oh! That's a nice car, it's green!" shouted a woman in the village.
Seeing people get out of the car, Lü Chunhuan spotted Shen Yuchu, Lin Xuan, Shen Chunfen, Lin Hui, and Madam Wu, with Lin Hui carrying a baby.
She immediately jumped to her feet and shouted to the villagers, "That's my family, that's my family! Oh my, who did I think it was? Isn't that my military officer son-in-law coming back?"
As she spoke, Lü Chunhuan grabbed a handful of peanuts and hurried over to Lin Xuan, a flattering smile plastered across her face. "Come, come, have some peanuts, have some peanuts! How do you have time to come back today?"
Her son-in-law was a capable man, after all—he had a government salary! With this, her son's marriage prospects were practically guaranteed.
As long as her son-in-law gave her another five hundred yuan, she'd be able to build a brand new house right here in the village.