When the water in the bathroom was almost boiled, Li Chu turned down the heat, then ran to the living room and picked up the girl, saying, "My princess, the water is ready. It's time for you to bathe and change."
Ding Qiunan put her arms around his neck and said, "Let's get ready, Xiao Chuzi!" She couldn't help but giggle as she finished speaking.
More than two hours passed before the bath was finally over. Little Ding was sore and weak from his ministrations that she couldn't even stand up. She didn't want to move a finger in Li Chu's arms and let him wipe her body.
For a moment, neither of them spoke; only the soft sound of their breathing could be heard from the bathroom.
Li Chu dried her off, then carried her upstairs to bed, pulled the blanket over her, and touched the girl's face: "You lie down first, I'll go tidy up the bathroom."
The girl nodded, lying in her warm bed: "Go ahead, hurry up and come up, I'll wait for you!"
Little Ding had recovered somewhat by now. After seeing Li Chu leave, she happily rolled around on the bed, humming some tune.
Li Chu ran downstairs quickly, first tidying up the bathroom, then sealing the stove in the living room and filling a kettle with water. She didn't forget to get some food and water for the puppy.
It took quite a bit of tidying up before I finally finished. I turned off the lights and went upstairs.
Upstairs, Miss Ding was still half asleep in bed when Li Chu crawled in. She immediately snapped awake, rolled over, and landed on his stomach.
The girl lay on top of Li Chu, looked up at him and said, "Li Chu, you can't spoil me like this anymore. I have to do the housework."
Li Chu leaned against the headboard, his arms around the girl, his hands stroking her back. Hearing what the girl said, he stopped and asked, "Why?"
The young woman, Xiao Ding, was enjoying his caresses when she sensed him stop. She shifted her body unhappily and said, "Last year, a classmate of mine got married. She told me that after she married into the family, she not only had to cook and do laundry, but also had to wash her husband's feet at night. Hmm... it seems like that's how it is in other families; the women basically do all the housework."
She paused for a moment and then continued, "You've done all the housework these past few days. You've cooked all the meals and cleaned the house. If this keeps up, I'll really become a lazy wife."
As she spoke, the girl's face fell.
Li Chu found it somewhat amusing: "You said it yourself, it's our family. Our family is different from other families, don't overthink it."
The girl squirmed in his arms, protesting, "No, starting tomorrow, I'll be cooking."
"Hiss, don't move." Ding Qiunan's wriggling on top of him immediately aroused Li Chu's desire again, and his body responded accordingly.
Ding Qiunan also sensed the change in Li Chu's body. She quickly rolled off him, pulled the blanket over half her face, leaving only her big eyes showing. She glanced at Li Chu, then quickly closed her eyes and pretended to yawn: "Ah... I'm so sleepy. I need to go to sleep. I have to go to work tomorrow." After saying that, she pretended to fall asleep.
This movement amused Li Chu, who reached out and patted her bottom from under the covers.
Ding Qiunan opened her big eyes and looked at him innocently: "Li Chu, go to sleep, it's late!"
Li Chu didn't want to bother the girl anymore. He turned off the light, lay down, put his head on the pillow, and pulled the girl into his arms: "Sleep, my wife."
Ding Qiunan rested her head on his arm, snuggled into his arms, her big eyes blinking in the darkness with a hint of a smile. She leaned in and kissed Li Chu's cheek before closing her eyes and going to sleep.
When Li Chu opened his eyes in the morning, Little Ding was still asleep, with one leg draped over his stomach.
Li Chu carefully removed her leg, then pulled his arm out and shook it; it was numb from being pressed down all night.
He went downstairs and turned on the living room light. Little Black was already circling around at his feet. The dog had almost recovered in just two days, but it was still very thin.
I opened the door and dragged Xiao Hei outside as well; both of us were going outside to detox.
After washing up, Ding Qiunan turned on the stove in the living room to cook some porridge, and then heated up the leftover steamed dumplings from last night for breakfast. She ate lunch at the factory canteen.
After getting everything ready and feeding Xiao Hei, he went upstairs to wake his wife. The two lingered in bed for a while before finally getting down, and it was Li Chu who carried her down. Why? Because her slippers were next to the sofa; she'd been carried up there last night and hadn't worn them at all.
After washing up, Ding Qiunan sat down at the table and happily ate the breakfast prepared by her husband, her eyes crinkling into crescent shapes with joy.
When Li Chu left for work today, he didn't let the girl ride her bike by herself. He was at home today, and he planned to drop her off in the morning and pick her up in the afternoon.
Everyone in the compound walks to work or takes the bus. By the time the two of them left, everyone else had already gone. They strode away, basking in the envious glances of others. In those days, a bicycle was like a supercar; owning one, new or old, made you the coolest kid on the block.
From afar, you could see the steel mill's towering chimneys, billowing out plumes of black smoke. The closer you got to the steel mill, the more people there were on the road, like a deep blue torrent surging towards the mill.
Li Chu had never been to the steel mill before. As he approached the gate, he saw two guard posts on either side of the gate, with soldiers in military uniforms standing inside, holding guns in their hands.
Seeing this, Li Chu felt that this made sense. As a key national enterprise, how could there not be soldiers standing guard at the entrance?
When Li Chu watched the edited video in his previous life, he felt something was wrong. Such a large, state-owned enterprise had no soldiers guarding its entrance; anyone could come and go as they pleased. What a joke! This was Beijing, and even in the 1990s, many companies still had armed police guarding their gates.
Li Chu got off his bicycle and walked away with the crowd. He looked around at the workers walking into the factory, each with a warm smile on their face.
Although they were walking in with a large group of people, Li Chu and Ding Qiunan were still stopped by the security personnel standing inside the gate and made to move aside for inspection.
Ding Qiunan took out her newly issued work pass from when she came to the factory to complete the procedures that day and was allowed to enter, but Li Chu was not allowed to enter. Helpless, he could only say goodbye to Ding Qiunan and tell her that he would wait for her at the main gate in the afternoon.
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