Gossipy villagers
"Why would I hate you?" Yu Chunsheng didn't understand why she asked that.
Xu Tangmian sat down by the hospital bed and slowly said, "I'm lazy, gluttonous, and have a bad temper. I don't care about food, I always argue with you, and now I've even taken over your house."
She stopped and waited quietly for Yu Chunsheng's rebuttal, but he didn't say anything for a long time.
Xu Tangmian thought he was asleep, but when she turned her head to look at him, his eyes were wide open. When he saw her turn her head to look at him, the corner of his mouth twitched, as if he was trying to suppress a laugh.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Xu Tangmian felt awkward and gave him a way out, hinting, "It's your turn to say something."
"You're quite self-aware," Yu Chunsheng teased her with a smile.
"You!" Xu Tangmian was furious when she heard this, but when she saw his arm still bandaged and remembered that he was injured to save her, she couldn't get angry.
She could only swallow her words and mutter, "Forget it, you're injured, I don't want to argue with you. Let's talk about it when you're healed."
“I…” Yu Chunsheng hesitated, unable to finish his sentence.
"What's wrong?" Xu Tangmian came over again and asked with concern, "Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
Yu Chunsheng shook his head, then, remembering something, asked her again, "What exactly are you planning to do today?"
Xu Tangmian blushed, and after a long while hesitantly said, "Please go back."
"What?" Yu Chunsheng couldn't believe his ears: "Are you serious?"
Judging from his tone, he seemed unwilling. Xu Tangmian's initial hesitation vanished, and she reverted to her usual sharp tongue, crossing her arms and saying, "Yes, seriously, we need someone to cook at home."
She deliberately looked him up and down, then said sarcastically, "But you're injured now and can't cook, so it doesn't matter whether you go back or not."
Yu Chunsheng smiled, as if he could see through her thoughts. He waved his right hand at her and said calmly, "My right hand is fine. You prepare the ingredients, and I can cook them without any problem."
Xu Tangmian rolled her eyes in disgust. "You sure know how to pick your tasks. I'll let you do the easiest ones. I might as well take care of everything myself and provide a one-stop service."
"Then you can take over the contract." Yu Chunsheng calmly got out of bed and walked to the window. Seeing that it was already dark outside, he turned back to her and said, "Hurry up and go home. Did you come by bike?"
These words were like a wake-up call. Xu Tangmian slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "Oh no! Teacher Li is still waiting for me at the supply and marketing cooperative!"
She rushed out, but before she could even get out, she heard Li Yutao's voice coming from outside the door: "I've been waiting for you until the flowers have withered."
Li Yutao entered the ward with a fruit basket, and after putting it down, she began to tease Yu Chunsheng: "I've heard that a great hero who speaks Russian has emerged in the supply and marketing cooperative. He leaped and saved a confused female comrade. He's truly both literate and brave."
Yu Chunsheng smiled and waved his hand, "You're exaggerating too much."
Li Yutao didn't waste any more words with him. She turned to Xu Tangmian and said, "Teacher Xu, you've worried me to death. I brought you here, so I have an obligation to take you back. I hailed a taxi and am waiting downstairs. Are you coming back with me now?"
Xu Tangmian immediately looked at Yu Chunsheng, "Together?"
——
With a ride from Teacher Li, Xu Tangmian and her husband returned home together. Because Yu Chunsheng wouldn't be going to work for at least a month, the company leaders arranged for two people to ride his bike back.
Apart from the colleague who stayed over, no one in the workplace knew that the two had been separated for several days, and Yu Chunsheng's quilt was still at that colleague's house.
Winter was approaching, and there weren't any extra blankets at home for the time being. Anyway, nothing had happened since the two of them had slept together before, so Xu Tangmian took it upon herself to find Yu Chunsheng's military overcoat, spread it out as a pillow, and placed it next to her pillow.
Facing Yu Chunsheng's complicated gaze, Xu Tangmian said bluntly, "I'm only doing this because you got hurt for me. If we didn't run out of blankets at home, you would still be sleeping on your old wooden bed."
Yu Chunsheng smiled but didn't say anything.
The two shared a blanket. Although Xu Tangmian was being very careful, it was inevitable that they would bump into each other sometimes. After tossing and turning a few times, Yu Chunsheng suddenly spoke up beside her:
"If you really don't want to go back tomorrow, I'll go back, but can you please make do tonight? Don't move, or I'll catch a cold if you keep doing this."
Xu Tangmian turned over to face him, "You're a grown man, and you just catch a cold like that? Are you that weak?"
Unable to see each other's expressions in the darkness, Yu Chunsheng said with a smirk, "I'm a patient, my resistance is weak, and all the cold air is getting in when you move around like this."
Xu Tangmian was too lazy to listen to his nonsense, so she simply lifted the blanket, sat up, took a look, and after making sure she wouldn't touch his left arm, lay back down, stretched her leg across his lap, covered herself with the blanket, and wrapped her arms around his chest.
Completed in one go.
"Are you satisfied?" Her voice resonated softly in Yu Chunsheng's chest. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
Yu Chunsheng gently shifted his legs to make sure she wouldn't step on anything, then reached out and ran his hand through her hair, sighing, "You really have no sense of romance."
Xu Tangmian looked up at him, and he looked back at her in the same way. Neither of them looked away.
Xu Tangmian's heart skipped a beat. She lowered her head and pressed her lips to his, then quickly pulled away, whispering against his lips, "So you don't like this?"
Suddenly, a force pressed down on her head and kissed her. Xu Tangmian did not refuse. She held his face and kissed him for a while until she could not breathe, then she stopped.
Not wanting to get entangled with him any longer, she only tried briefly before withdrawing her head, and Yu Chunsheng did not force her.
The darkness amplified all sensations, and in the cramped space, it seemed that only the two people's breathing and heartbeats could be heard.
Xu Tangmian pulled her legs back and lay down obediently beside him, chatting with him with her eyes closed: "You're a local, you should know the situation here very well. I need to get a letter of introduction, what kind of gift do you think should be given to the principal?"
"Don't send any gifts, just focus on your work," Yu Chunsheng replied seriously.
Xu Tangmian: "...Never mind, I knew you'd say that."
“I’m not stopping you from going out,” Yu Chunsheng explained patiently. “The principal has already said that your work attitude is not proper. Of course, you need to perform well to win his favor. Giving gifts is something only those with ulterior motives do.”
“My heart isn’t exactly upright, Teacher Kong,” Xu Tangmian replied impatiently.
"You!" Yu Chunsheng stood up in surprise. "How did you know...?" My surname is Kong...
"Confucius," Xu Tangmian said sarcastically, "who has a more upright set of values than you? You can't even give gifts, you just work hard all day long, and even if you're exhausted, you still have to be grateful to your superiors."
Yu Chunsheng then realized that she was being sarcastic, and the panic and doubt in his heart disappeared. He no longer cared about her sarcasm.
The next morning, it was the weekend, and Xu Tangmian went to the village shop and bought two bottles of wine and two packs of cigarettes. The shopkeeper asked her, "Are you giving these as gifts?"
Xu Tangmian smiled, said nothing, and left.
As soon as she left, the women sitting by the door began to whisper among themselves.
"Is this the teacher Junjun's mom was talking about? I heard she's from the city, and she looks beautiful."
"From the city? That's perfect, I can introduce him to Xiao Song. Isn't he from the city too?"
"How old is Xiao Song? Besides, he has a limp. He's not good enough for this girl at all."
The man curled his lip. "Little Song, a doctor, is more than a match for this teacher, okay? Besides, Little Song has been working here for so many years, and his character is impeccable. This female teacher is dressed so flamboyantly; she doesn't look like a decent person at all."
"You're right."
"What is it, ma'am?" A man in a white coat, reeking of alcohol, limped over.
“We were just talking about you!” One of them pulled him over. “Little Song, you don’t know yet, do you? A female teacher in her twenties came to our village. She’s from the city and she’s beautiful! We all say that woman is not good enough for you.”
Song Weidong hurriedly waved his hand, pleading as if he wanted to avoid the situation, "No, no, no, I wouldn't dare. You can chat as you like, but please don't criticize me."
"I'm being serious with you." The man looked at him with exasperation. "You're over thirty and still not married? My grandson is only sixteen and he's already brought a granddaughter-in-law home. She's already heavily pregnant and waiting for me to hold my great-grandson."
"Hey, Grandma Sibei, are you so sure your Sibei will give you a big, fat grandson?" the others joked.
The old woman's face changed instantly. "It must be a grandson! If it were a girl, I'd strangle her!"
Song Weidong was about to enter the store when he heard this, so he shook his head but didn't say anything.
The shop owner came out of the courtyard with a smile, "Dr. Song, here to buy candy?"
Song Weidong nodded. "Let's weigh two pounds of fruit candy. It's gotten colder recently, and there are a lot of kids with colds and coughs."
The shopkeeper chuckled and scooped up a few spoonfuls of sugar, fiddling with the weight on the scale. The plate bobbed up and down before finally settling steadily on a flat surface. She grabbed a paper bag from the side and poured all the fruit candies into it with a "whoosh," saying, "Exactly two pounds."
Song Weidong took the candy and left, but he ran into a tall, upright man who was a stranger and didn't seem to be a local.
He was a little curious and slowed his pace, watching the man's back with the other women.
The gossip group started chattering again, and one of the bolder ones even shouted out, "Young man, you're not from our village, are you?"
Yu Chunsheng took the ink and notebook that the boss had just handed him and said with a smile, "It wasn't like that before, but it is now."
"But what about finding a partner? This young man is handsome; let me introduce you to one."
Before Yu Chunsheng could refuse, the boss burst into laughter: "Oh, Aunt Liu, you've been a matchmaker your whole life and you're still not satisfied? This young man is already married."
Aunt Liu slapped her thigh in frustration, "Married? Oh my! You know what, the young man is so handsome, the girls must be spoiled for choice!"
Yu Chunsheng shook his head and said with a smile, "My wife is prettier than me."
Aunt Liu didn't reply again, but rushed over and grabbed Song Weidong's sleeve, refusing to let go. "Little Song, look how young he is and he's already married. Aren't you going to hurry up and get married?"
Song Weidong looked helpless: "I don't..."
"You don't like her? That female teacher is very beautiful. You'll definitely like her when you see her. She just left."
Yu Chunsheng sensed something was wrong. How many female teachers were there in this village? And they had to be pretty. He stopped, wanting to hear what else they had to say.
The shop owner came out and asked, "Which female teacher are you talking about?"
"They just left your shop, carrying cigarettes and alcohol."
Yu Chunsheng frowned. It must be Xu Tangmian! She really was going to deliver the gift.
"Oh, oh!" The boss laughed as soon as he heard that, winking wildly at them and gesturing for them to look at Yu Chunsheng. "That's Teacher Xu! He's already married!"
"Married?" Aunt Liu rolled her eyes. "I don't think so. Look at the way she walks; she's clearly never been with a man before."
"Oh dear!" The boss panicked and quickly came over as if to cover her mouth. "I told you not to talk nonsense! How can you say such things in public!"
Aunt Liu was unconvinced and broke free, saying, "Jun Jun's mom, don't be unconvinced. I've never misjudged anyone in this area. Are you trying to introduce someone to Xiao Song because you're afraid I'll beat you to it? Don't worry, we'll compete fairly."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Song Weidong stood up helplessly. "I'm not interested in marriage, so don't drag other innocent people into this."
After he finished speaking, he glanced at the tall man who had come in. Strangely, why did he feel that the man's gaze was somewhat malicious?
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