"I think this is a good idea. Since that girl can handle Lu Xiufen and Cui Fengzhen, she can definitely handle the others."

"Forget it, I'd rather not go and embarrass myself!" The village woman, who had been complaining just moments before, suddenly turned and ran away in fear.

The remaining people continued their discussion, the topic still revolving around Qiao Qiqi—

"When we first heard that the Qiao family girl was marrying Qin Huai, most of the villagers were not optimistic about it. But look at them now! Qin Huai and Qiao Qiqi are not only living a good life, but they have also bought all the necessary things for their home. Their old bicycle is parked in the yard. Apart from our team leader's family, it's the only one of its kind in the village."

"That's right! I heard she even bought Lin Chunying a sewing machine. Qin Huai personally delivered it to her in Zhang Qing's donkey cart. At the time, many people in the village said Wang Guihua wouldn't be happy about it. But now, so many days have passed, and Wang Guihua hasn't said a single bad word about her daughter-in-law. If anyone dares to say a bad word about their daughter-in-law in front of her, she's more protective of her offspring than a mother hen."

"Some people used to say that Wang Guihua was putting on a brave face, but look at her now! She's proven them wrong!"

The sound gradually faded into the distance.

Qiao Qiqi, holding two persimmons, stood up from the garden, looked at the heads receding into the distance outside the yard, and expressionlessly bent down to continue searching for persimmons.

I've been eating these vegetables from the yard every day for so long, I'm tired of them all.

Qiao Qiqi originally wanted to learn from the Su family, but she ended up making braised pork belly with green beans, which was completely unoriginal.

I haven't been to town for two days, and we've run out of meat at home.

Not knowing what to eat, Qiao Qiqi planned to pick two green persimmons to stir-fry with potato slices, pick two eggplants, and make some garlic eggplant with the extra eggplants Qin Huai picked at noon, to eat with corn porridge.

Just then, a few villagers passed by the courtyard and whispered among themselves, "Qin Huai's door is open. Qiao Qiqi should be home, right?"

"Even if she's at home, why would you go to her house as a guest? This Qiao Qiqi is a formidable character. Even a shrew like Cui Fengzhen can suffer at her hands. We should stay away from her."

“I don’t think Qiao Qiqi is someone who can’t distinguish right from wrong. I saw Qiao Qiqi cooking in the kitchen when I passed by Qin Baojun’s house before. She got along very well with Wang Guihua, so she must have a reason for targeting Cui Fengzhen and Lu Xiufen.”

“You’re right. Wang Guihua isn’t someone to be trifled with.”

Suddenly, a figure quickly walked up from behind. After hearing the two's conversation, the figure sneered, "You women are all about gossiping. What does it have to do with your family affairs? Whether Qiao Qiqi is good or bad, it has nothing to do with us. As long as Qin Huai is happy, that's all that matters."

"That's right. It's not us who'll be living with her. As long as Qin Huai is happy, that's all that matters. So tell me, does Qin Huai like her or not?"

The topic suddenly veered off course.

Immediately, a woman said with a grin, "Is that even a question? With Qiao Qiqi's face and figure, let alone Qin Huai, even I, a woman, would like her. What's more, I've heard that Qiao Qiqi is an excellent cook. The leaders from Beijing have been eating Qiao Qiqi's cooking these past few days, and they've been praising her culinary skills."

"I've heard about it too. It was Zhang Hongyan who cut her hand. Captain Su knows that Qiao Qiqi is a good cook, so he specially arranged for her to cook for the leaders from Beijing every day."

"If that's the case, Qiao Qiqi is pretty good too. She can cook, she cares about men, and most importantly, she stands up for her parents and in-laws. Her courage is commendable."

“I agree. Before, everyone in the village said that Qiao Qiqi and Qin Huai were not a good match, but I always thought they were a perfect match!”

The voices faded into the distance again.

Qiao Qiqi carried the picked eggplants and persimmons in her clothes and went into the kitchen to start cooking dinner.

After Chenchen was able to move around, she started helping with the fire and doing other things she could.

Qiao Qiqi didn't stop her and, while the other dishes were cooking, she also prepared the garlic eggplant.

Qin Huai returned home as the aroma of the dishes wafted out. Seeing Qiao Qiqi lifting the lid of the pot to scoop out the scrambled eggs, he immediately stepped forward and took the spoon from her hand, saying, "Let me do it. It's hot in the kitchen, go outside for some fresh air."

Qiao Qiqi glanced at his hands and, seeing that they were clean, carried the dishes into the house.

Qin Huai carried the cooked cornmeal to the yard, then took a bucket to pump water. Today's cornmeal was made from wild corn. Because of the hot weather, he rinsed it several times with cold water so that it would taste better when it was cool.

However, Qin Huai dared not rinse it too cold, fearing it would cause a stomachache, so he rinsed it to room temperature and brought it inside.

The family began to eat.

Xin Xin really likes corn-flavored cornmeal; the little girl ate a whole bowl by herself.

Qiao Qiqi ate one and a half bowls, Chenchen also ate one and a half bowls, and Qin Huai finished the last bit himself, eating a total of three large bowls.

After the meal, Qin Huai was about to wash the bowl when Qiao Qiqi took it from him, saying, "Go wash the mud off your legs. Take a break, I'll wash them."

Just as Qin Huai was about to refuse, Chenchen nimbly jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed) and took all the bowls and chopsticks from their hands. "I'll wash them. Sister worked hard cooking, and brother worked hard all day in the fields. From now on, I'll take care of washing the dishes."

Actually, Chenchen would rather go to work in the fields, but Qiao Qiqi said that his injury was only superficially healed, and the tissues under his skin still needed time to heal. He would have to wait at least half a month before he could go.

Although Chenchen was anxious, she dared not disobey Qiao Qiqi, so she could only endure it.

Qiao Qiqi knew what Chenchen was thinking, so she didn't argue with him.

It's stuffy inside; it's not as cool as outside.

She then took Xin Xin to the yard and fanned herself for a while.

Qin Huai was taking a shower by the courtyard wall. Because there were children around, he didn't take off his pants. He just wiped his upper body and then stepped into the basin to wash the mud off his legs. Anyway, he would have to wash before going to bed that night, so he just wanted to wash off the mud simply first.

Qiao Qiqi glanced over, her eyes narrowing slightly as she looked at the man's strong forearm lines and the faintly visible abdominal muscles.

Suddenly I felt my mouth was a little dry.

"Chenchen, fetch me a glass of water." She called out to the kitchen.

Chenchen readily agreed, then quickly returned to the house, took Qiao Qiqi's water glass to the kitchen, and scooped a glass of water for her.

Qiao Qiqi gulped down two big mouthfuls, then gave Xin Xin two more mouthfuls before placing the cup on the windowsill behind her.

When I squinted at the wall again, Qin Huai had already finished washing and was walking back with an empty basin.

Qiao Qiqi glanced at the man's upper body and saw that all the scenery was blocked by his vest, and her eyes couldn't help but show some disappointment.