B5SB -Chapter 88 Climbing the Wall

Gu Yihan walked out of the guesthouse and hurried home.

After finally getting a day off, she had been so busy she didn’t even have time to eat—she was starving.

Once home, she went straight to the kitchen, craving braised pork, even though her cooking wasn’t very good.

But her craving was too strong. It wasn’t like she could compete with a chef at a state-run restaurant, but she still knew the basic home-style methods.

Pulling out some pork belly from her space, Gu Yihan muttered quietly, “First, cut it into pieces, blanch it, add oil, fry the pork until the fat renders, add water to stew it… maybe a few other seasonings and it should be fine.”

Squatting next to the coal stove, she could already smell the aroma of the meat. She was ecstatic—this should work.

At Deputy Battalion Commander Wang’s House, Lan Cao was in the yard, washing the whole family’s clothes. She sniffed hard and caught the scent of meat.

She put the clothes down and went to the wall, confirming that the smell was coming from Gu Yihan’s house. She muttered quietly, “That little girl is secretly eating meat at home.”

“What are you sneaking around for? Finished with the laundry?” the deputy commander’s mother shouted from inside.

Startled by her mother-in-law’s voice, Lan Cao turned to look at her. “Mother, I’m just worried about Captain Lu. The man isn’t home, and his wife is eating alone.”

The deputy commander’s mother despised this daughter-in-law the most. “Why do you care what she eats? What does it have to do with you?”

“And here you are worrying about her, why not worry about your own husband? Give him a big, strong boy! It’s been so long, and your belly hasn’t even delivered an egg.”

Lan Cao clenched her fists tightly, eyes full of rage as she stared at her mother-in-law. She’d had enough—three years of marriage, three years of scolding.

The mother-in-law looked at Lan Cao’s expression. “What kind of look is that? How dare you glare at me? Don’t you have any manners?”

Lan Cao completely lost control, trembling all over, and shouted at her mother-in-law, “Why are you treating me like this? Is it because I don’t want to have children?”

At that moment, Gu Yihan had just picked up a piece of braised pork, and Lan Cao’s angry roar startled her. The meat fell straight to the ground. She looked at it, heart aching.

Gu Yihan carefully served the braised pork into a bowl. One hand held the bowl, the other pinched the meat and brought it to her mouth. After all, she was home alone, and no one was watching.

Carrying the bowl, she walked out of the kitchen and stared straight at Aunt Chen, who was perched on top of the wall.

Impatiently, she said, “Aunt Chen, can you stop climbing over the wall?”

But Aunt Chen didn’t pick up the irritation in Gu Yihan’s tone. Smiling, she said, “Did your neighbors have a fight?”

“I don’t know.” Gu Yihan replied and carried her bowl into the living room.

Watching her back, Aunt Chen slowly realized that Captain Lu’s wife might be angry. She climbed down from the wall and went back inside.

Looking at her two children eating dried sweet potatoes, she muttered, “I don’t know why Captain Lu’s wife is upset.”

Aunt Chen had three children: her eldest daughter Zhou Hua, younger daughter Zhou Lian, and youngest son Zhou Yaozu. The eldest daughter had been sent to the countryside as a “sent-down youth.”

Zhou Lian paused her actions and looked at her mother silently. “Mom, at least my dad is still a political commissar.”

“When he’s supposed to be doing ideological work, he leaves you out.”

“You keep climbing over other people’s walls. Of course they get angry.”

Zhou Yaozu agreed, “Yeah, even though I’m little, if someone takes my stuff without asking, I wouldn’t be happy either.”

Hearing her children, Aunt Chen muttered, “But before Aunt Guan left, I used to chat over the wall every day. Why didn’t she get angry then?”

“Maybe Captain Lu’s wife is just too petty.” With that, she went straight out.

The Next Day, After breakfast, Gu Yihan locked the yard, rode her bicycle, and went to work. This was the kind of life she liked.

The office environment was harmonious, the personnel relationships uncomplicated, and people didn’t speak in twisted ways that left you guessing.

Gu Yihan parked her bike and almost bumped into Qiao Shuhui. She quickly stepped back, noticing the obvious dark circles under her eyes.

Qiao Shuhui lifted her chin, glancing at Gu Yihan with a haughty look. “Can you stop showing up in front of Lin Yifei?”

Gu Yihan was confused by the abrupt statement. “Are you sick or something?”

Seeing Qiao Shuhui step toward her, she kept retreating and shouted anxiously, “Stop! Are you trying to set me up?”

Gu Yihan had every reason to think this way—what if the child in her belly wasn’t well, and the other woman was deliberately trying to provoke her? If she fell during a fight, the blame would fall on her. In this era, without surveillance, there would be no way to prove it wasn’t her fault.

Qiao Shuhui was also stunned by Gu Yihan’s urgent shout.

While the other woman was frozen, Gu Yihan turned and ran. She couldn’t afford a confrontation now—but could she even hide from her?