AYLS – Chapter 80

Sister Wang and Sister Zhang were both very happy about Su Weizhen joining in. Su Weizhen had legitimately tested into a work unit — she was someone with real knowledge and ability. For her to come back and voluntarily help everyone with literacy was a great benefit to the whole compound.

Sister Zhang adjusted the shifts for Lin Qiao and Su Weizhen so their teaching days were staggered — one day for literacy classes, one day for learning technical skills.

That very day, the literacy class started up in the activity room, and even more people came to listen than when Lin Qiao taught.

They’d never had the chance to learn before. Back home, when literacy campaigns ran, life was even busier than now. Serving the old and the young left no time.

But now things were better — not much to do in the evenings, so they could come to class and learn a few characters.

Although Lin Qiao didn’t have to teach, she still came over to help maintain order and even dragged Li Ermei along.

Maybe because Su Weizhen didn’t usually interact much with everyone, the crowd in her class behaved much more properly — no rowdiness like in Lin Qiao’s lessons. The class went smoothly.

Lin Qiao listened with great interest, resting her chin in her hands as she looked around, feeling genuinely happy.

This year had started off so well. Everything felt like it was developing in a particularly good direction. Just a few more days of saving up eggs, and she could start hatching chicks.

“Take a look at your progress bar — you’re still happy?” Fat Cat, wearing sunglasses, poured cold water on her from inside the space, the chill snapping Lin Qiao back to reality.

Fat Cat sneered, “Are you planning to live here for the rest of your life?”

“…” Lin Qiao’s heart instantly went cold. It was true — lately she’d almost forgotten she needed to hurry up and finish her mission and go home.

She quickly opened the progress screen and was shocked to see it had actually increased a bit. “It went up? Oh my god. I haven’t shown off any affection recently, haven’t even gone on dates with Gu Huayuan to build intimacy, haven’t tried to align our thinking — and it still went up.”

Lin Qiao’s mood lifted again.

“…” Fat Cat, exasperated, yanked off its sunglasses and tossed them aside, laughing bitterly. “It only went up that tiny bit. What’s there to be happy about? At this rate you won’t finish the task even in a hundred years. ‘Born of worry, die in comfort’ — are you planning to grow old and die inside this game world?”

Struck again, Lin Qiao pouted. “You’re getting more and more excessive.”

Next to her, Li Ermei noticed she’d suddenly grown unhappy and tugged at her, whispering, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. Just a little sleepy.”

“I’m sleepy too. I always want to sleep in class.” Li Ermei yawned.

Even so, the two of them still stayed until Su Weizhen finished teaching before getting up to leave.

Su Weizhen said, “You don’t need to come. I’m fine here; I can handle it. Since you don’t have to lecture, take tomorrow off.”

Lin Qiao nodded. She really did need to think about how to complete her mission.

She was a little afraid — afraid she’d get so used to life here she’d forget about going back altogether.

When she got home, Gu Huayuan was studying.

He’d also attended military school, so every day he read books on combat. He’d even analyze different battles.

Seeing Lin Qiao return looking a bit down, he set his book aside. “What’s wrong? Why so unhappy?”

Lin Qiao looked up at him, studying him a little. “Gu Huayuan, let me ask you something.”

Gu Huayuan nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Do you really love me?”

Gu Huayuan: “…”

They were already an old married couple — why was she still asking things like this?

“Why are you suddenly asking that? Who’s been putting things in your head?”

“Don’t dodge the question. Just answer me. Do you really love me?”

Gu Huayuan pressed his lips together and answered seriously, “Of course I do. We’re married. How could I lie about something like that?”

“How can anyone be sure?” Lin Qiao pouted, enough to hang an oil pot from her lip. The progress bar was crawling so slowly she was now reviewing and weighing every aspect.

She had been busy with work lately, and indeed hadn’t been showing much affection. Aligning Gu Huayuan’s thinking with hers hadn’t shown much effect either. And as for their love, it felt like they hadn’t even talked about it recently.

Ah, the more she thought about it, the more it felt like the road home was still far away.

Lin Qiao sat on the edge of the bed, unhappy. She thought the increase in progress might be because she and Gu Huayuan were married and, over time, his feelings for her had deepened. She herself had probably been influencing him invisibly too. But it clearly wasn’t enough love — otherwise the progress wouldn’t have crept up only that tiny bit.

Gu Huayuan came over to hug her, but she twisted away. “Why do I sometimes feel like you don’t love me enough?”

Gu Huayuan rubbed his forehead. What exactly is going on in a woman’s mind?

“Tell me. What exactly do you want to do?”

Lin Qiao finally smiled. “When there aren’t any classes, after dinner, we’re going to walk arm in arm around the courtyard.”

She had decided to show off their love every day from now on. She’d complete a little task whenever she could; for the rest, the details could be figured out gradually.

“…” Gu Huayuan’s eyes widened. “Does it really have to be like that?”

Lin Qiao said, “You can choose not to.”

Gu Huayuan was speechless. “Walking is fine, but holding hands isn’t necessary. It might set a bad example for the kids in the courtyard.”

That actually made sense. Lin Qiao thought for a moment and agreed. “Then just stand close. Let people see that you love me.”

“…” Gu Huayuan felt a wave of heat wash over him. Having such a clingy wife… well, fine, he’d just have to deal with it. He should’ve known before marriage that Comrade Lin Qiao was a sticky little thing.

“Alright.”

The next day, it was Gu Huayuan’s turn to go vent to Xu Yuanzheng.

“What exactly does your wife say to my wife every day?”

Xu Yuanzheng said, “What could my wife possibly say?”

Gu Huayuan said, “My wife wants me to walk with her after every meal. Can you imagine how embarrassing that is? You’ve been married for years, and your wife doesn’t make you do this, right?”

“…” Xu Yuanzheng adjusted his hat and sneered at him, “You’re just being dramatic.”

“What’s so dramatic about it? I really am embarrassed. Never mind, you wouldn’t understand my feelings anyway.”

Xu Yuanzheng: “…”

That evening, Lin Qiao had class, so naturally, they couldn’t walk together. But Gu Huayuan still accompanied her to the activity room.

On the way, they ran into some other military spouses coming for class, who teased, “Comrade Gu, what are you doing here?”

“Here to study too?”

Lin Qiao pursed her lips, leaning slightly toward Gu Huayuan. “I told him not to come, but he insisted on bringing me. Can you imagine? He wouldn’t listen no matter what I said.”

The military spouses, who had initially wanted to tease the newlyweds, ended up embarrassed themselves after Lin Qiao subtly showed off their closeness.

Several of them blushed and laughed. “Comrade Lin Qiao is lucky.”

“Comrade Gu really cares for you.”

Lin Qiao said, “Oh, stop praising him. I feel embarrassed. He’s only average with me anyway.”

Gu Huayuan: “…”

While Lin Qiao attended class, Gu Huayuan stood by the window, watching her. Seeing her so focused and serious, he couldn’t help but smile, feeling a little proud.

No matter how serious Comrade Lin Qiao was at work, in front of him, she still looked like a little girl who hadn’t fully grown up.

He realized that yesterday’s little scene had probably happened because he had been neglecting her lately. He had assumed that as long as he silently supported her, it would be enough. But in reality, she still needed to be pampered.

Gu Huayuan couldn’t help smiling to himself, wanting her to grow while also wanting her to keep this side of her personality.

Over the next few days, whenever he had the time, Gu Huayuan would accompany Lin Qiao for walks in the courtyard after meals.

Originally, he had wanted to walk several more rounds, but Lin Qiao refused, saying she didn’t want to disturb his rest.

But it was obvious that Lin Qiao’s mood was improving day by day.

Of course her mood was better—showing off their love clearly made her happier than not showing it.

It proved that she was on the right track. She decided this good habit had to be preserved. As for dating to nurture feelings… well, they were too busy for that.

For now, they’d focus on getting the chicks hatched first. Once that was done, they could worry about everything else.

After a period of preparation, Lin Qiao finally began hatching the chicks. This time, she chose to hatch twenty fertilized eggs, using the hens that had laid the first eggs.

She had now delegated all other work with the chicken flock to Li Ermei, focusing entirely on this batch of eggs.

She carefully checked the eggs according to what she had learned, making sure none were unfertilized and monitoring their incubation progress.

After all, this was the first time she was hatching chicks on her own. Buying eggs previously or exchanging them with Su Weizhen didn’t count.

Li Ermei thought she was too tense. “You’ve done this once before. What’s there to be nervous about? It’ll turn out fine.”

“…This time is important.” Lin Qiao touched her chest, feeling that one really couldn’t cheat. No matter the situation, relying on oneself was best.

What one gives out in life must be returned in due course.

Because Lin Qiao was so focused on hatching chicks, she wasn’t clinging to Gu Huayuan as much as before. Their walks became daily inspections of the hens incubating the eggs.

Gu Huayuan enjoyed it for a few days, but then it was gone, leaving him somewhat disappointed.

This sudden cold and hot treatment left him a bit unsettled.

He wanted to go to the county town to buy something for Lin Qiao but thought there wasn’t much worth buying there.

So he called the capital, hoping someone could send over something nice by mail.

After several transfers, he finally reached Zhang Tuo’s workplace.

It turned out Zhang Tuo had taken leave. When asked why, he didn’t say.

Calling Zhang Tuo’s home, Gu Huayuan hadn’t even asked anything yet, when Zhang Tuo’s mother said, “Shitou, I was just about to ask you, how’s everything at your unit?”

Gu Huayuan smiled. “Everything’s fine. Everyone is working hard.”

“I see…” Zhang Tuo’s mother said something incomplete and then seemed distracted. “Your father said you plan to stay there for a while?”

Gu Huayuan had his own plans but couldn’t speak openly. “I’ll follow the organization’s arrangements.”

Zhang Tuo’s mother said, “Shitou, I won’t hide it from you. Zhang Tuo’s situation is a bit unstable now. In the future, we may need to trouble you to take care of him.”

Hearing this, Gu Huayuan immediately realized the seriousness of the matter. “Aunt, what’s wrong with Liangzi?”

“It’s hard to say over the phone. Let Liangzi tell him himself later… ah, it’s all fate’s burden.”

That was a private matter. Gu Huayuan wasn’t so worried anymore.

In his view, private matters weren’t really a big deal.

Still, he wrote a letter to Zhang Tuo.

That evening, after Lin Qiao had finished washing her feet, she saw him still lying there writing and asked, “What are you writing?”

“A letter to Zhang Tuo.”

“Oh, Comrade Zhang Tuo… then can you have him bring me some Snow Cream? Zhenzhen said the Snow Cream I use is better than the one from the provincial city. I want to stock up, summer’s coming, need to protect my skin.”

Gu Huayuan chuckled. “Got it.” He muttered under his breath, “You women are really troublesome… all the same, yet so picky.”

“Gu Huayuan, do you not love me anymore?” Lin Qiao sat cross-legged on the bed, puffing her cheeks and glaring.

“You’ll know soon enough whether I love you or not.” Gu Huayuan shook his head. Lately, she really had been spoiled.