Chapter 34 The Ultimate Female Supporting Character
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Ultimate Female Supporting Character
The next morning, she could faintly hear the bugle call to wake her up, but Li Yue was too tired and sleepy, so she curled up in the warm quilt and continued to sleep. Ling Jianwei held her, like holding a soft and sleepy cat.
No wonder they say that the gentle embrace of a woman is a hero's grave. He, who used to never linger in bed, now doesn't want to get out of bed at all.
However, he had too much work to do today, and after hugging for a while, he had to sit up quietly.
There is a small canteen in the family compound. Breakfast usually includes common items such as steamed buns, mantou, soy milk, and porridge. At noon, children from dual-income families usually eat in the canteen after school.
When Li Yue got up, Ling Jianwei had already bought breakfast.
When asked why she didn't sleep a little longer, Li Yue shook her head: "I need to decorate the house today, and I also need to go to the county to buy some pots and pans."
He replied, "I brought back some soy milk. I borrowed the bowl from the cafeteria, so I have to return it after I drink from it."
Li Yue squeezed out some toothpaste, added a little hot water to the cup, and went to brush her teeth in the open space by the door.
After brushing her teeth and entering the house, Ling Jianwei had already finished breakfast. After adding coal, she poured hot water for her to wash her face and placed it on the washbasin stand in the corner.
Seeing how considerate he was, Li Yue smiled and said, "Your service is so thoughtful."
Ling Jianwei raised an eyebrow: "How about I help you wash your face?"
"Need not."
However, the man had already grabbed her towel, put it in the basin, wrung it out, and sprayed it on her face.
Li Yue complained, "That's too rough, it's not like I'm scrubbing clothes."
"Oh, then I'll be gentler." She moved the towel away, but smiled smugly, "Your face is all red from rubbing, isn't that pretty?"
The skin, scalded by a hot towel, was fair and rosy, smooth and delicate like porcelain, with fine hairs still clearly visible...
The man's heart sank, and he couldn't resist leaning in to bite her cheek.
Li Yue: "..."
"You're a dog..."
Before she could even utter the word "ma," her lips were sealed shut.
After a smooth, deep kiss, the man's dark eyes shone as he smoothed her loose, untied hair. "I'm going to the camp now. There's a lot of work to do today. If you come back late tonight, you can eat at the canteen by yourself."
Li Yue: "I understand."
After getting dressed and munching on a triangular sugar bun steamed in the canteen, Xie Chunlan and Han Xiangxiang, the two sisters-in-law, arrived with a large group of people, including the sister-in-law who lived next door, and their respective children.
A woman in her forties looked her up and down and said in a loud voice, "Let me see you. You really look like someone from a magazine. No wonder Deputy Battalion Commander Ling can't sleep."
Next, everyone gathered around her, chatting away and marveling at how well Deputy Battalion Commander Ling knew how to pick people.
The room was bustling with activity. Li Yue took out the candies and fried dough twists she had brought and offered them to everyone. After asking around, she discovered that everyone had a job, and some were even on New Year's Day holiday and didn't have to go to work.
Xie Chunlan said, "You're not familiar with this place, so I'll show you around later and then accompany you to the county to buy some things."
It has to be said that these sisters-in-law are all very kind. When Li Yue returned to her room, she put the grain coupons, cloth coupons, and loose change that Ling Jianwei had hoarded into her handbag.
When she came out of the room, Xie Chunlan had already washed the two bowls for her and said, "Return them to the canteen on your way back."
Han Xiangxiang didn't have to go to work today. She went to the county town with her neighbor's sister-in-law, who needed to take care of her toddler, so she asked them to buy some fruit.
It takes an hour to walk from here to the center of the county town, which isn't far for someone who's used to walking. Xie Chunlan said as she walked, "There's been a lot going on in the camp lately. New recruits have joined, and a few more people have been transferred. My husband still needs to hand over his work to the deputy battalion commander. Otherwise, they could have taken us there."
After returning the two bowls, I was walking on the main road in the courtyard when a young woman on a bicycle rang her bell and shouted, "Make way, make way!"
The three of them moved to the side.
The girl glanced at Li Yue with a sharp look in her eyes, instantly making Li Yue feel as if she had offended her.
Xie Chunlan greeted the other person: "Xuelian, are you going to work today?"
"Not going to work, just taking a stroll." She said as she rode away on her bike, then glanced back at Li Yue, her lips pursed as if she were disdainful.
Xue Lian? Li Yue thought to herself, is that the childhood friend Zhong Xue Lian that her cousin's girlfriend mentioned?
She was quite pretty, with an oval face and big, double-eyelid eyes.
After she left, Xie Chunlan whispered in Li Yue's ear, "There's something I need to tell you beforehand."
"What's up?"
"After Xue Lian's parents passed away, she came to join the army with her brother, who was fifteen years older than her. Her brother was the battalion commander in another battalion. She also had a sister-in-law, and the whole family lived together."
Li Yue already knew this information, and nodded: "And then?"
"I don't know the specifics of what happened, but for a while there were rumors in the hospital that she and Deputy Battalion Commander Ling were going to get together."
"Huh?" Li Yue exclaimed. No wonder... Judging from Zhong Xuelian's gaze just now, was she treating her as a rival in love?
Han Xiangxiang chimed in, "I heard that Xue Lian took a liking to Deputy Battalion Commander Ling, but since she didn't know anything about his family background, she pursued him. Of course, he rejected her, which made things a bit awkward."
"Oh...?" Li Yue asked, "You really pursued him?"
Han Xiangxiang replied, "I don't know either. Anyway, Xue Lian is known in the hospital for being prickly. She has been introduced to many people, but she always finds fault with them."
"She's not that old, only 20, but she's quite good at causing trouble. In short, her sister-in-law gets a headache whenever she mentions her."
"Yes, last time I heard Lamei complaining again, saying that her sister-in-law didn't want to go back to her good job anymore, complaining that she was a temporary worker."
Li Yue: "Is Lamei Xue Lian's sister-in-law?"
"Yes, her surname is Xu, Xu Lamei."
Li Yue smiled, silently complaining to herself, "Isn't this a common trope in period dramas? A military wife meets a terrible sister-in-law, and the whole family lives happily ever after..."
However, as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Li Yue's smile vanished. Her dazed expression prompted her two sisters-in-law to nudge her: "Li Yue, what's wrong?"
Li Yue snapped out of her daze: "Huh? Nothing. Shall we walk to the city center later?"
My sister-in-law said, "Walking and waiting for the bus at the same time, it takes an hour to walk the whole way, which is quite tiring."
As she walked along the dusty cobblestone road, Li Yue sighed softly to herself. It turned out that the novel she had transmigrated into was a story about military personnel living in the indigenous era, depicting everyday family matters. The female protagonist was this military wife named Xu Lamei, while her aunt, Zhong Xuelian, was a truly awful supporting character.
Zhong Xuelian came here with her older brother and sister-in-law when she was ten years old. The female lead raised her single-handedly, acting as both her sister-in-law and mother. However, she was lazy and greedy from a young age. Relying on her good looks, she was good at ordering boys around in middle school. Later, she was arrogant and looked down on her suitors. She went on several blind dates but didn't find anyone suitable, and she changed jobs several times.
When Li Yue read this article, the novel was still being serialized. It happened to be about Zhong Xuelian's chance encounter with Deputy Battalion Commander Ling, which made her start to have infatuations with him. She asked someone to match them up, but soon Deputy Battalion Commander Ling returned to Beijing to visit his family... What's worse, Zhong Xuelian came up with a dirty trick. When he returned, she would actively cling to Deputy Battalion Commander Ling, leaving him with no way to explain himself and forcing him to marry her under pressure.
At the time, many readers thought she was too ruthless, and one reader in the comments section asked, "Is that deputy battalion commander the love interest of the 'Extreme Little Aunt'?"
The author replied, "No, she's not good enough for him."
When Li Yue saw this comment and reply, she thought that Deputy Battalion Commander Ling's family must be very powerful, and he would not be fooled.
If you calculate the time, he encountered her from the past as soon as he returned to the capital. Naturally, her schemes and tricks did not succeed.
...
After all that, it turns out to be a story set in this era. Ling Jianwei is indeed not the male lead; he's more of a peripheral character... Li Yue thought she had no connection to the book's world and had only transmigrated here because of a pure affinity with Ru porcelain.
After walking for a long time without seeing a bus, Li Yue asked her sister-in-law, "Is there a ceramics factory around here?"
"Yes, there are quite a few ceramic factories, but they are not very large. This used to be the ancient Ruzhou, and Ru porcelain was very famous, but it can no longer be produced. The ceramic factories now produce ceramics for civilian use."
"A few years ago, the state asked them to restore the ancient Ru porcelain firing. The county ceramics factory took the lead in firing Ru porcelain, passed the expert inspection, and received support, so it developed and became much larger in scale. The others are small factories, almost like family workshops. In addition, I heard that some villages still have their own kilns."
Li Yue wanted to buy a porcelain bowl, so she took a stroll around the largest farmers' market in the county. Sure enough, the porcelain shops were full of everyday ceramics. The clay here was very suitable for firing porcelain, and some of the pieces looked very exquisite at first glance.
Ask the shop manager: "Do you have any ancient Ru porcelain pieces that have been fired after production was resumed?"
The other party shook his head and said no, and laughed, "Who would buy that stuff? Nowadays, the ancient Ru porcelain that has been successfully fired is only for decoration. That stuff is not practical. People complain that it has cracks. They say that if it breaks while being used, who can they complain to?"
Li Yue was both amused and exasperated.
Yes, people nowadays value practicality.
Moreover, the fired pieces are quite different from genuine ancient Ru ware.
At noon, the three of them had lunch at a state-run restaurant in the county town. Li Yue then went to buy a lot of things, and they didn't return to the family compound until 4 p.m.
It gets dark early, and the three of them were lucky enough to catch a bus. After getting off the bus, they carried their bags and packages home with great effort.
Li Yue tidied up the house, boiled water, and washed her hair and took a bath.
When Ling Jianwei returned, it was already eight o'clock in the evening. Li Yue was sitting by the stove warming herself by the fire when the man leaned closer and smelled the fragrance of her hair.
Li Yue looked at him and smiled, "I just bought Bee & Flower shampoo today, it's an old brand."
He nodded: "It smells delicious."
He then went to the sideboard to get some water.
Li Yue continued, "By the way, I met several sisters-in-law today, and a girl named Zhong Xuelian."
The man drinking the water choked.
Li Yue suppressed a laugh: "So you two dated?"
Ling Jianwei's voice immediately turned cold: "Who's spreading rumors?"
"That's not true."
Seeing his nervous expression, Li Yue wanted to tease him even more: "Really? But they all said that your affair has been the talk of the town for a while."
She looked at him with a faint smile: "Ling Jianwei, so you also have your share of romantic affairs and scandals."
Ling Jianwei was incredibly perceptive. With just a glance, she knew that the woman wasn't jealous at all. On the contrary, she was talking about it with the attitude of enjoying the show. The man put down his water glass, walked over, and picked her up.
Want to see your partner's womanizing ways? I'll show you plenty in bed.
...
-----------------------
Author's Note: Second update tonight.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com