Chapter 74
When Ye Manzhi woke up, the midday sun streamed in through the glass window, casting a golden halo on the wedding photo on the chest of drawers.
She stared at the wedding photo, and recalled the dream she had just had.
She dreamed that when the reveille sounded this morning, she hugged Wu Zhengrong like an octopus and prevented him from getting up.
Not long after, the call for exercise seemed to sound.
The two bugle calls at six o'clock and half past six disturbed her sweet dreams every day. In order to block her ears and sleep a little longer, she habitually pulled the quilt over her head, and kindly covered Wu Zhengrong who was hugging her as well.
Then she dreamed that she was squeezed in and did morning exercises with him.
Ye Manzhi stared at the smiling man in the photo in a daze. From last night till now, the soreness and swelling seemed to have not eased much, which made her unsure whether it was a dream or a real thing.
When Wu Zhengrong entered, he noticed her unfocused eyes, clearly in a daze. He couldn't help but touch her forehead, which was slightly sweaty from sleep, and said, "Want to get up and have lunch?"
When Ye Manzhi heard his voice, she subconsciously covered her chest with her arms and quickly scanned the bed, looking for the whereabouts of the towel blanket.
"Where's my towel blanket?"
"I washed it."
"Where are the sheets?" Ye Manzhi had to settle for the next best thing.
"We washed together."
Ye Manzhi turned her head and glanced out the window, and sure enough, she saw her light pink towel blanket and a large peony bed sheet hanging in the yard.
Her face immediately flushed and she complained, "Why are you washing the sheets and quilt today?"
Does this show that you are diligent?
Seeing how hard she was trying to cover herself with her hands, Wu Zhengrong kissed her forehead and handed her the underwear on the chair. "Don't you want to cover yourself with a blanket? If I don't wash it, what are you going to cover yourself with tonight?"
Wu Zhengrong never covers himself with a quilt in the summer. This kind of towel blanket is of no use to him, so he has never bought it.
He rummaged through the cupboard in the morning, but found no other quilts except a few newly made Soviet-style XX quilts.
Ye Lai Ya only brought this towel blanket, but it was covered with everything and couldn't be used tonight unless it was washed.
"I can find something else to cover myself with!" Ye Manzhi didn't even bother to put on her clothes. She knelt up from the bed, shielding herself with one hand and pushing him with the other, saying, "Hurry up and bring in the sheets and quilt and hang them in the room!"
They just had their wedding yesterday, and they washed the sheets and quilts this morning. Isn't this clearly telling others that they did that, and they did it very badly?
"Everyone in the neighborhood knows we're married. It's normal for us to have sex. What's there to be ashamed of?"
Wu Zhengrong felt that his Director Xiao Ye was sometimes so enthusiastic that it was hard to resist, and sometimes so shameless that he was ridiculously thin-skinned.
It was she who bewitched him with that Soviet-style bra, and it was also she who turned red from head to toe because of just a bed sheet.
Ye Manzhi felt uncomfortable being stared at by the well-dressed military representative. After quickly putting on her underwear, she finally had the confidence to speak.
"If they know it's their business, you can't hang sheets out to dry in the yard!" She thought for a moment and added, "At least not for a few days!"
Wu Zhengrong didn't understand why his newlywed wife was shy, but he was willing to respect her, so he pulled down the bed sheet as she said and moved into the house.
"Is this okay now? Go wash up and eat."
Ye Manzhi patted his face with a mouthful of toothpaste foam with satisfaction, and praised him: "Comrade Military Representative, you are so hardworking. You have done so much work in just one morning!"
Wu Zhengrong raised his hand to wipe the toothpaste off his face, thinking that what his father-in-law said at the dinner table yesterday was indeed the truth spoken after drinking.
Old Ye said, "My little Ye has always been sweet-talking and good at tricking people into believing he's a good person. Just wait and see how you enjoy life in the future."
"By the way, when I went to the cafeteria to get food, I met my dad. He asked us to go back sometime."
Ye Manzhi sat down at the table to eat lunch. She felt uncomfortable when she sat down, so she only rested her head on the edge of the chair. "What can't you say when I get home?"
"It's said it's for the betrothal gift." Wu Zhengrong placed a thick cushion on her chair and continued, "If you want to go back, I'll go with you."
"Let my parents keep the gift money first! We must not go back these few days!" Ye Manzhi said to him very experiencedly, "There are still a lot of leftovers from yesterday's banquet. They must have packed them all up and taken them home. The leftovers from this kind of banquet will take at least two or three days to finish! I don't want to go back and eat leftovers!"
It’s not that Ye Manzhi can’t eat leftovers. She is never picky about her family’s leftovers.
But there were too many people at the wedding, and everyone's chopsticks were messing with the plates. Even if all that was left was fish and meat, she wouldn't be able to eat it.
Because of this, she was often criticized by her father for being pretentious.
Thinking of his biological father, Ye Manzhi quickly asked: "When you were at my house yesterday, what did you say to my dad when you hid in the house?"
"I didn't say anything, I just gave him some advice."
"How did you persuade him?"
She thought that Lao Ye would cry from beginning to end and send her out with tears streaming down his face, but she didn't expect that he would stop at the last moment.
"How else can I persuade you? Dad can't bear to leave you, so I promise to let you go back to your parents' home for dinner every day in the future, and I will accompany you back as long as I am free."
"How dare you make such a promise!" Ye Manzhi asked with wide eyes, "What if I'm not free?"
"Don't you go home for lunch every day? How come you don't have time?"
They are both very busy at work, and they had agreed before they got married that they would not cook on weekdays, but could cook for themselves or eat out on weekends.
After getting married, Director Xiao Ye can still go back to her parents' home to have lunch and take a nap.
In fact, it is not much different from before.
Wu Zhengrong glanced into the drawer of the chest of drawers. "Our family's passbooks, cash, and receipts are all there. Take a look at how much we should pay for food every month. We're getting married and bringing a child back home, so we'll have to pay more for food."
Ye Manzhi had long forgotten about lunch. Thinking that she would be able to go home and see her mother every day in the future, she immediately became excited and said with a smile, "Let's talk about the food expenses later. Anyway, we can't go back for the next three days of our wedding leave, and I don't want to eat leftovers."
It was a rare opportunity for them to have three full days off.
Ye Manzhi had already decided that she would stay with Wu Zhengrong for the next three days to get used to married life.
She had just arrived at her new home and suddenly had to take a vacation. She didn't know what to do for a moment, so she followed Wu Zhengrong around and watched him make benches with the leftover wood from making the bed.
Wu Zhengrong originally wanted to give her some time to recuperate, so he found an excuse to go to the yard to do handicrafts.
But Ye Lai Ya kept following him around, which made him feel restless and irritable, and he really began to admire Liu Xia Hui.
He put down the half-cut wood, patted her on the butt and said, "Go change your clothes, let's go for a walk."
If we let her continue, it will be difficult for her to avoid having sex in broad daylight.
Ye Manzhi asked, "Are you going to visit grandpa and grandma today?"
After all, she is a new daughter-in-law, and according to the rules, she should go and see him.
"Today is Monday, Dean Wu has to go to work, and grandma has to attend a reading club." Wu Zhengrong glanced at his watch and said, "Don't you want to see a play? We can watch a play first and then go over there for dinner in the evening."
Ye Manzhi went back to the house, changed into a beautiful dress, and happily went out on a date with Wu Zhengrong.
The drama troupe is currently performing two plays, one is "Between Sisters-in-Law" and the other is Chekhov's "The Proposal".
Neither of them was interested in the affairs between sisters-in-law, so they bought tickets to watch "The Proposal".
"Don't you think the actor's lines are a bit corny?" Ye Manzhi asked in a low voice, holding his hand.
"What's corny about it?"
"It's just a name."
Wu Zhengrong tilted his head and looked at her with a smile, "Did you mean 'darling', 'my beautiful one', and 'my good baby'?"
Ye Manzhi's face felt strangely hot, and she felt like laughing. She secretly punched him on the arm and said, "I'm talking to you seriously!"
"I'm serious," Wu Zhengrong whispered. "Foreign scripts are like this. Many novels use even more explicit shouting than this."
When Ye Manzhi first watched "The Proposal," she thought the actors' lines were a bit corny. "I thought this kind of play would never be performed again, but I didn't expect it to be staged several times this year."
"Although the names are corny, these conversations basically take place between Chubukov and Lomov, the relationship between a father-in-law and a future son-in-law. The scenes between the male and female protagonists are more normal. As long as they don't happen between a man and a woman, the play can run for a long time."
Ye Manzhi looked at him with her chin on her hand. Perhaps because they were married, she thought the military representative in his new shirt was very handsome. She couldn't help but imitate Chubukov's tone and said, "Gelubyska!"
"What?" Wu Zhengrong asked with raised eyebrows.
Ye Manzhi turned his gaze back to the stage and said, "I won't tell you."
*
When the couple came out of the drama troupe, it was already dark.
As the two men were heading to the bus stop, they happened upon a large group of workers marching with colorful flags and banners.
Judging from the content on the banner, it seems to be celebrating the collectivization of the entire handicraft industry.
Leading the parade were two youth commando teams.
Ye Manzhi had previously run a pilot program for converting cooperatives into factories in the district, and was aware of the work of collectivization across the industry.
I didn't expect that they would complete the task so successfully so quickly.
Ye Manzhi asked the nearest worker, "Comrade, why are you marching in the evening? This is such a big event, we really need to publicize it."
"We went to the Municipal People's Committee this morning to announce the good news, and we're going to celebrate in People's Park with fireworks tonight. The parade will be going to People's Park!"
Ye Manzhi asked in surprise, "Why is there such a big fuss?"
They even want to set off fireworks!
The city only sets off fireworks during the Spring Festival and National Day; she has never seen them at other times.
She quickly turned her head to look at the man beside her.
Wu Zhengrong saw her eyes sparkling, all of which said "I want to see fireworks." He whispered jokingly, "The date our mother picked is really good. We just entered the bridal chamber last night, and today we have fireworks to celebrate."
"Don't be so conceited. We're celebrating the collectivization of the entire industry," Ye Manzhi said happily. "But we're really lucky!"
She took two small colorful flags from the marching workers and gave one to Wu Zhengrong. The two of them waved the flags and marched with the team.
Slowly walk towards People's Park.
There are many citizens like them who join the parade just to watch the fireworks.
The scale of the entire parade was particularly spectacular.
There were too many people around, and Wu Zhengrong was worried that she would be lost in the crowd. He ignored the strange looks from people around him and kept holding her hand tightly.
When the team was less than two hundred meters away from People's Park, he looked out at the dense crowd ahead and said decisively, "Come on, there are too many people. Why don't we just go into the park and join in the fun? It's the same if we look at it from outside."
It was a rare opportunity to appreciate the fireworks up close, and Ye Manzhi wanted to join in the fun, but she felt uneasy being squeezed by the crowd. After hesitating for a moment, she nodded. Wu Zhengrong hugged her in front of him, put his arm around her shoulders, and squeezed out of the endless parade.
There was a public-private joint venture cold drink shop opposite the park. Wu Zhengrong bought her two scoops of ice cream and asked her to eat while waiting. He then borrowed the phone from the state-owned restaurant next door and dialed the number of the nearby police station.
Such large-scale gatherings are prone to chaos. Today's parade seemed to be organized on the spur of the moment. There were so many citizens participating, but few police officers were seen.
This doesn't make sense.
Ye Manzhi heard that he had called the police station and asked nervously, "Is there anything wrong?"
"No, just in case. They sent police to maintain order. The parade was so large, I saw that the park gate was almost bursting with people."
As soon as Wu Zhengrong finished speaking, he heard a loud commotion at the entrance of the park across the street.
There was a woman holding a child, covering the child's bleeding forehead and shouting something.
There was a sprinkler truck parked on the side of the road. The driver jumped out, took the woman and child into the car, and quickly drove towards the People's Hospital.
After the incident, other citizens continued to flock to People's Park.
Ye Manzhi suddenly lost interest in watching the fireworks and pulled Wu Zhengrong over to say, "It's too late. Let's go see grandpa and grandma first."
Wu Zhengrong saw that she was frightened and took her away from the marching crowd.
The fireworks display was a grand affair, and many people living in the city center witnessed the dazzling fireworks.
When Ye Manzhi heard everyone's discussion in the cafeteria the next morning, she still felt a little regretful. But when she heard in the evening that a stampede had occurred in People's Park and there were casualties, she was left with only fear and was uneasy the whole night.
In order to comfort her, Wu Zhengrong said a lot of comforting words and even took her out for exercise.
Ye Manzhi bit her lips hard, and the sound in her throat was shattered.
I finally fell into a deep sleep due to fatigue, but suddenly woke up in the middle of the night.
She reached out and gently woke the man behind her.
Wu Zhengrong opened his eyes alertly and asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "What's wrong?"
He thought she was feeling unwell or wanted to go to the bathroom.
However, Ye Manzhi turned around, put her arm around his waist, and asked, "Do you think the stampede in People's Park will affect the mayor's schedule for the class on Guangming Street? After all, they're both large-scale gatherings! And the two events are held so close together! If the mayor doesn't come to give the class, then wouldn't all our previous work be in vain?"
Wu Zhengrong: “…”
Ye Manzhi worried to herself, "No, many residents don't know the mayor's coming to give a lecture yet. I have to spread the word tomorrow and make it clear to everyone on the street that the mayor is coming! Even if the mayor wants to cancel the event, he should consider the public's feelings, right? Do you think this will work?"
Wu Zhengrong: “…”
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