Chapter 280 - 111: Leading Lady of the 60s Cultural Troupe (50)
Chapter 280: Chapter 111: Leading Lady of the 60s Cultural Troupe (50)
Huo Tianhao stifled a laugh and teased her, "At night, this is all there is to it between a husband and wife. Everyone’s used to it, so who’s going to laugh at whom?"
"You’ve never lived in a real tube-style apartment building. Sometimes, late at night, couples even compete over this kind of thing..."
Xia Zhaoyun’s jaw dropped as she listened. ’Are people really that open?’
Huo Tianhao patted her head and continued to tease, "You know the work unit has dormitories. So besides people on business trips, who do you think stays at the guesthouses?"
He didn’t wait for her answer. "Of course, it’s the certified, long-distance married couples. Absence makes the heart grow fonder..."
Xia Zhaoyun couldn’t help but cover her ears and glare at him. "They’re them, and we’re us! I’m not shameless like you."
"Alright, alright, my Yunyun is thin-skinned," Huo Tianhao chuckled. "I tested our big bed. It’s made of solid wood and is incredibly sturdy. I did push-ups and sit-ups on it, and it didn’t make a single sound."
"How about we give it a try next weekend? It definitely won’t affect my usual performance..."
The more he talked, the more impossible it was to listen. Xia Zhaoyun closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, but it wasn’t long before she was genuinely fast asleep, nestled against his chest.
Xia Zhaoyun was busy with work, and He Qingran was busy at the sewing machine and cooking. The two of them had neglected their vegetable patch quite a bit.
As soon as Huo Tianhao arrived, with nothing else to do, he grabbed some tools and went to tidy up the vegetable patch for them.
The four or five o’clock sun had lost some of its intensity, hanging at an angle in the sky as if struggling to stay open.
Xia Zhaoyun and the children, each wearing a straw hat, stood outside the patch acting as supervisors.
Weeding, fertilizing, watering, and fixing the trellises—Huo Tianhao worked so efficiently that one might suspect he came from a farming background.
When he finished, he was greeted by the adoring gazes of his wife and children, who thoughtfully handed him water and a towel.
He took them with a smile, wiped away his sweat, and GULP, downed the entire bottle of water in one go. "Back in the army, we’d help out the nearby communes during the busy farming season. Our unit had its own land too, and each regiment took turns working it."
"It’s not easy to have a vegetable patch in the city. Zhaoyang Clothing Factory is developing well right now. The factory buildings and family housing will keep expanding, and they’ll definitely end up using this land."
"I wonder if the factory will offer some kind of compensation then."
"But in the transportation team’s family compound, there are no vegetable patches. There are no farmers nearby either, so you have to buy vegetables at the market, and they’re not available every day."
"There are a lot of people in the city and supplies are limited. Every time you buy vegetables or meat, it’s basically a scramble."
"But, the benefits at our transportation team are good. As a technician, I can go along with the cafeteria’s procurement. If there’s something you want to eat, you just give the money and ration coupons to the cafeteria’s buyer, and you can basically get it the next day..."
Although Xia Zhaoyun and the two children wouldn’t be moving to the city for a few more months, Huo Tianhao had already started telling them about the transportation team, trying to make them feel a sense of belonging to their future home in the city.
The one adult and two little ones listened intently, nodding from time to time in response.
After washing his hands, Huo Tianhao playfully ruffled each of their heads in turn and said with a smile, "I’ll work hard to make money so we can buy our own little courtyard house." His gaze toward Xia Zhaoyun turned predatory. "At least it would be soundproof..."
That one word, "soundproof," made Xia Zhaoyun’s fair little face instantly turn beet red.
In the evening, Liu Mingkun and He Qingran arrived just in time for dinner.
The meat was something Huo Tianhao had gotten from the cafeteria that morning with money and ration tickets, and it had been kept cool by hanging it down the well. The vegetables were freshly picked from the garden.
There were sweet and sour ribs, crispy fried pork, stir-fried pork with shredded cucumber, scrambled eggs with tomato, savory eggplant, and simple stir-fried bitter melon, along with a thick corn porridge and glistening white rice.
Everyone ate with satisfaction, and after the meal, the men took the initiative to do the pots and dishes.
He Qingran pulled Xia Zhaoyun aside to talk about meeting the parents today.
She looked like she had thrown caution to the wind, while Liu Mingkun put on the airs of a high-and-mighty young master from the city. The tense dinner, however, went by without any major incidents.
"I think my stepmom assumed Brother Kun is some kind of playboy. He looks intimidating and seems well-off, but she figures a girl from a humble family like mine would definitely suffer a lot after marrying him."
"Plus, if my marriage to Brother Kun works out, they’ll be able to bask in some of the glory."
"As for Old He, all he cares about is that his future in-laws are well-off and that it’ll be good for his career. He doesn’t care what his future son-in-law’s character is like. He just pulled him aside to drink, already putting on airs as a father-in-law."
Xia Zhaoyun chuckled lightly. "When you get married, you should definitely ask for a bigger dowry from your Old He."
"Your stepmom is not the type to be content. She chose your family back then because she saw that Uncle He was well-off. In the future, when Uncle He needs to be cared for in his old age, she’ll probably count on you and your brother."