Chapter 16 Cream Cake, what a wasteful thing you are! ...

The task was finished, but the work still had to continue. Qin Xiangxiang glanced at the watch hanging on her clothes; the shift handover was at four o'clock.

Thinking of her deadbeat husband, Qin Xiangxiang felt quite flustered, but then she thought that she had never wronged him since they got married, and that she had even given birth to his child, so she felt justified.

My goodness... this thing is so tall, so big, and so scary!!!

She had even fantasized about slapping him twice and yelling "You bastard, you dog! I want a divorce!"... But now she was a little afraid.

How did I muster the courage to argue with such a tall, big guy in my dream?

How should I tell him about the divorce?

Qin Xiangxiang covered her face, feeling extremely annoyed. How could she have chosen such a man in the first place?

Standing outside the workshop, listening to the roar of the machines inside, Li Jianzhi felt his mind was in turmoil.

When he met his "wife," she was indeed as beautiful as in the photos. However, he also realized that the two were from completely different worlds. This wife, named Qin Xiangxiang, was a pretty factory worker who probably hadn't read many books. The two had nothing in common and what could they talk about?

If this were in the old days, and someone said to Li Jianzhi, "I'll introduce you to a pretty girl who only has a high school education...", that person would probably be too embarrassed to even ask, and Li Jianzhi would simply ignore them and refuse.

Qin Xiangxiang most likely doesn't have a high school education, got married and had children at eighteen... Her only advantage is that she's young and pretty. Can I get along with her?

However, this wife is his responsibility at the moment, and even if they don't have anything in common, he still has to get along with her.

Li Jianzhi sighed. This was probably what the older generation used to call "living together."

What should I talk to her about when she comes out of the workshop?

Li Jianzhi felt a headache coming on. How was he supposed to get along with a partner he had absolutely no common ground with? Should he just treat her as a pretty vase to admire?

"Li Jianzhi! Let's go buy a cream cake later!" Qin Xiangxiang had only bought a one-yuan cream cake once, so she dared to dream of a five-yuan big cream cake, the highest quality one!

Although she was reluctant to buy a cake, this deadbeat man still had money! She didn't feel bad at all spending his money.

That damned man only sends her half of his salary each month. Qin Xiang guesses that even if he has to send money home, he should still have a few hundred yuan in savings.

The thought of getting money from men made Qin Xiangxiang's tone become much sweeter.

They'd rather swindle as much as they could, as long as the man paid.

"Cream cake? Are there still cream cakes?" Li Jian didn't know that cream cakes still existed in this era. He thought they didn't, and that other Western-style desserts wouldn't be available until the economy opened up.

They even have cream cakes?

Is it that kind of old-fashioned cake with a red plastic bowl, stiff artificial vegetable cream, big pink flowers, and red sugar syrup that says "Happy Holidays"?

Some cakes even have a toothpick paper umbrella stuck on them. Li Jianzhi, born in 1988, has seen this kind of cake before. Many children like to collect the paper umbrellas on the cakes as toys.

"Yes, they start serving cream cakes at 3 p.m. every day. If I get there soon, they'll definitely still be sold out."

"Didn't you say you were going to buy lots of delicious food for me and the kids? Why are you empty-handed?" Qin Xiangxiang asked him with a smile. She had a beautiful oval face and a pair of round almond-shaped eyes. Even though she was looking at the man in front of her with the eyes of someone looking at a "piglet," there was no trace of scheming on her face. Instead, she appeared round and charming.

"I just spoke with my mother-in-law and had the car take the things home ahead of time. I'll wait here for you to go back together." Li Jianzhi touched his nose; his cheeks were slightly burning. His wife spoke sweetly and loved to laugh; her voice was so delicate that it was a little... irresistible.

"Really? You were waiting for me? How thoughtful of you." Qin Xiangxiang, the lazy bum, was preoccupied with how to make the most of the man in front of her. "Let's buy a cream cake later, and then have a couple of coffees..."

As she spoke, Qin Xiangxiang took the man's hand and led him to the bicycle parking shed. She pulled out a towel from under the seat and instructed, "This is my bicycle. It's a bit dirty. Can you help me clean it?"

Li Jianzhi: "...?"

He had been in several relationships, but no woman had ever directed him to do things so directly. Of course, this was mainly because most of his previous relationships were online, and they were more like virtual pets to each other, rarely chatting face-to-face, let alone directing each other to do things.

Li Jianzhi honestly took the towel and wiped the bicycle for his beautiful wife. He guessed that this was a normal thing in this era.

Doing chores for your wife... that should be normal, right?

But isn't this woman being a little too formal?

Li Jianzhi, she's your wife, why is she being so distant with you?

...

Qin Xiangxiang watched him work with a blank expression, thinking to herself that he had cleaned it a little too thoroughly. She usually cut corners when she did chores, and she would skip cleaning bicycles if she could, and there was no need to clean many corners.

But this man not only cleaned the crossbeam and the back seat, but he also cleaned every single axle on the tires. Qin Xiangxiang suspected that his next step was to use a brush to clean the tires.

And that's exactly what happened. Li Jianzhi simply washed her bicycle with water, making it look brand new.

"It's clean." Li Jianzhi was quite satisfied, thinking that this was the first time his wife in this era had asked him to do something, so he did it properly, just like a prospective son-in-law visiting his wife's home.

For women, this could be a test.

Qin Xiangxiang's face darkened. She checked her watch several times, growing increasingly irritable. She kicked Li Jianzhi in the leg, saying, "Did you do that on purpose?"

Li Jianzhi asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"You're deliberately stalling for time! I already said I was going to buy a cake! I want a cream cake! It's already five o'clock!" Could he be deliberately stalling for time to avoid buying her a cream cake?

Li Jianzhi: "..." Women are truly unreasonable.

She was the one who said she wanted to clean the bicycle, and she was also the one who said she deliberately dragged it out after it was done. It's true that women and petty people are hard to deal with.

The two got on a bicycle, with Li Jianzhi in front and Qin Xiangxiang behind. Qin Xiangxiang urged, "Ride faster!"

"I don't know the way, give me directions." Li Jianzhi was annoyed. Maybe he should get a divorce. He didn't want this wife anymore. His ideal wife should be beautiful, knowledgeable, and reasonable, not a beautiful but illiterate fussy woman.

Even if they were to live together, they couldn't make it work.

"Go straight ahead, keep going straight ahead, the store is over there... Can you smell the sweet aroma? This is the candy factory behind us, they make candy here, the air is sweet, so sweet."

"Can you smell it? It should smell like milk candy!"

Li Jianzhi: "It looks like fruit candy?"

"This definitely tastes milky! It tastes milky! The chef is stirring the cream right here!"

Li Jianzhi: "..."

He used to spend most of his time on warships, rarely hearing women's voices throughout the year. But after just a short bike ride, he felt like his ears were being taken over by ducks.

Why does this woman talk so much?

"I used to dream of working in a candy factory." Qin Xiangxiang took a deep breath.

Li Jianzhi: "Have you never thought about studying hard now and trying to get a worker-peasant-soldier college student spot in the factory?"

With seven years until the resumption of the college entrance examination, university places can only be obtained through selection and recommendation. Li Jianzhi hopes that his wife will at least be a university student.

Qin Xiangxiang: "...?"

She's just a lazy bum, what kind of book is she reading?

"If you'd like, I can give you lessons." Li Jianzhi was a top student back then. He loved doing problems. In fact, he really enjoyed the structured and intense study life he had in his senior year of high school.

This high level of discipline made him feel very organized and comfortable.

He chose to join the army instead of studying abroad because he felt that military school life was structured and fulfilling. At that time, many people advocated freedom and happy education abroad, saying that if you go abroad early, your children will not have to suffer the pain of the college entrance examination in the future. But he felt that his senior year of high school was very comfortable. How could this be called suffering?

He enjoys a high-intensity, highly disciplined life; so-called freedom feels more like an empty waste to him.

"We've arrived at the store, let's buy a cake!" Xianyu automatically filtered out the things she didn't want to hear. As long as the other party bought her a cake, she would say anything now.

She thought with some distress that her dead husband had a mother's scent about him. Perhaps she chose him not because he was tall and handsome, but because he resembled her mother, Zhou Aodong.

"Okay, let's buy a cake." Li Jianzhi noticed that the cream cake at this time was indeed a very ordinary decorated cake, with red flowers and green leaves and the words "Happy Holidays" on it. The combination of red and green was not very fashionable, but the baker's skills were good, the decorations were beautiful, and it smelled very good.

He bought a round cake that was barely bigger than his palm for five yuan. The baker put it in a cake box, tied it with a ribbon, and Li Jianzhi paid the money and paid with his food coupons before handing the cake to his wife.

"Cake..." Qin Xiangxiang hugged the cake, completely satisfied. She had eaten five yuan's worth of the man's money today. Excellent Xiangxiang!

"When we get home, you can spank the child, and I'll hide the cake and eat it tonight."

Li Jianzhi: "...Hmm." This was completely different from the married life he had imagined.

Even if it's just about living together, it shouldn't be like this.

"Didn't we say we wanted to buy coffee? Where is it?"

"Let's buy it tomorrow, let's eat cake today." Qin Xiangxiang hugged the cake, thinking to herself that this was a five-yuan cream cake, something she might not even have the chance to eat during holidays, a five-yuan cake was a huge sum of money.

Qin Xiangxiang hugged the cake and grinned foolishly.

"Is this cake meant for the whole family, or for you to eat by yourself?"

Seeing the woman's delighted expression at the cake, Li Jianzhi suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for her. This little cake was made with vegetable cream, and in the future, everyone would only eat animal cream. Even his mother would spend several hundred dollars on a simple dessert when she went out.

It's pitiful that my wife is so happy eating a five-yuan cake; it makes my heart ache.

Times have changed. She hadn't received much formal education and worked as a factory worker in a textile workshop... but you can't blame her for that.

Li Jianzhi felt a pang of pity for the woman before him.

Qin Xiangxiang glanced at him, and said strangely, "I want to eat half of it by myself!"

Is this a small cake? It's obviously quite big!

Is half of this enough for you?

Qin Xiangxiang looked up at the man in front of her in disbelief. Was he being sarcastic? She had been told she was spoiled and demanding since she was a child. Wasn't eating half of the cream cake by herself enough of a demanding act?

Li Jianzhi asked her, "Do you want to buy another one?"

Qin Xiangxiang: "?"

ah? !

What a spendthrift you are!