QTIMP -Chapter 60 Character Persona – Lazy (Part 8)

Because of yesterday’s fatigue and the intense exercise in the morning, Si Qiu felt completely drained, so her replies were lazy and sluggish.

“Oh! I couldn’t find any pants that matched.”

Si Lai didn’t pay much attention to her answer and quickly asked again. “There’s still 100 yuan in my package. They said it’s for buying something for the child, as a little extra. Do you have it there? If not, don’t blame mother-in-law—I am, after all, pregnant!”

“I don’t know! Lu Hongjun put everything away. There’s no way he’d give me that much money.”

For some reason, just this one sentence delighted her. Si Lai couldn’t keep a straight face; after a few concerned words of advice, she continued: “I’ve had some morning sickness these past few days, so I got up late and didn’t make breakfast. My elder brother won’t be mad, right?”

As she spoke, she even touched her round, bulging belly.

“I don’t know! You should ask him yourself. Whether he’s mad or not, he won’t tell me!”

Si Lai’s once radiant face instantly fell. She gazed at Si Qiu with a lingering look, then sighed: “Qiuqiu, it’s not that I, as your elder sister, want to scold you, but men are already very busy and tired outside. The matters of a woman’s household are small things—they don’t need to know everything. It affects their work and wears them down mentally.”

She finished speaking, her eyes still fixed intently on Si Qiu.

Si Qiu hurriedly shook her head. “That won’t work. You know me, I’m lazy. Our household matters are handled by Lu Hongjun. If I deal with them without telling him, what if I get the short end of the stick?”

Si Lai was speechless for a long moment, then without saying anything, abruptly turned and left.

Si Qiu muttered to herself, “So much energy… even with a belly, she can turn so fast and walk away like that. I just woke up and can’t even keep up with that speed.”

Next to her, Zhang Meijuan, who had been pretending to be a quail, twitched at the corner of her mouth and finally jerked her head sharply to the other side.

Silently in her heart, she reminded herself, “Can’t look, can’t think… or she’ll get beaten to death by that guy. She really can’t control her mouth, and that guy… hits hard.”

Thinking of this, she licked her slightly restless teeth with her tongue.

The disturbance had completely wiped away Si Qiu’s drowsiness. She took from her bag a book that Lu Hongjun had slipped in that morning.

It wasn’t a book she usually liked, but it would pass the time. The more dimensions one traversed and the longer one lived, the stronger the soul became.

As a result, her memory and thinking abilities had improved. With extended life experience, the five senses gradually sharpened, though slowly.

In one afternoon, she had received two customers. When she grew tired of reading, she closed her eyes to organize her system space.

In this life, the system’s basic supplies no longer focused on raw ingredients or cloths and other semi-finished goods. Most were ready-made meals, clothes, shoes, and socks.

The proportion of gold, silver, and jewelry was slightly increased.

Although semi-finished products were less frequent, the focus was on making things effortless for her. Occasionally, the items would include things for men and children—very considerate indeed.

After work in the evening, Lu Hongjun came to pick her up. He casually took her crossbody bag in his hand, and the two of them walked slowly side by side, chatting about the events of the day.

You have to admit, both of them had quite an eventful day. Not even counting the conflict between Si Qiu and Zhang Meijuan, or Si Lai’s probing visit.

Even on Lu Hongjun’s side, after finishing his report, he had taken the excuse of exercising to spar in a friendly match with his twin brother.

Seeing his brother’s confused expression at the end, he pulled him aside and explained everything.

Then he summarized, “Hongqi! Back then, when I wanted someone to cook for Qiu Qiu, it was your Si Lai who volunteered. She even patted her chest and promised me she would take good care of her. For that, I specifically gave her 20 yuan as a token of her effort. Nowadays, a temporary factory worker makes only 14–18 yuan a month. My assignment lasted only 18 days, and she just handled two meals and helped tidy up the house a little. If she said she was uncomfortable because she was pregnant, I had already planned to ask Mrs. Zhao downstairs for help—I wouldn’t let my wife go hungry while at work.”

He patted Lu Hongqi on the shoulder again. “Second brother, I’m not even talking about the fact that you’re blood brothers, or about that 20 yuan. Just think about it this way: if you want to move up in the future, your wife can’t be so short-sighted. Think carefully about that!”

Hearing Lu Hongjun say all this, Si Qiu looked up at him and asked, “So today, will the two of them fight?”

“No. After all, that woman is still pregnant! My goal wasn’t to have them fight—I just wanted my second brother to be a little cautious. Otherwise, that woman could easily take advantage of him.”

After returning home, Lu Hongjun cooked, and Si Qiu leaned against the kitchen doorframe to chat with him. Normally, no matter how busy or tiring work was, she would come home and immediately look for a place to lie down.

She called it “running out of power” and needing to rest.

Lu Hongjun understood her habit, so even if he was working and Si Qiu was just standing there chatting, he felt extremely content. It even gave him energy while doing chores.

Si Qiu was very satisfied with his performance, thinking that the emotional support she provided was incredibly valuable.

That night, she washed up first and then got into bed, waiting for Lu Hongjun. He showered quickly, but he had to wash both their worn clothes, so it took a bit longer.

Bored, Si Qiu picked up his book to read. Ever since they married, she had noticed he always read this particular book. Now, taking it up, she saw he had read less than a third of it.

She glanced at it and realized it was a book in Russian about weapons—no wonder he read so slowly. Some words were annotated in Chinese, likely from a dictionary, but the phrasing wasn’t very natural. Once connected in context, some sentences were awkward.

She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and fully translated the parts that didn’t make sense. Then she explained her choices and why she translated it that way.

Lu Hongjun had read the book carefully, so there weren’t many errors. Si Qiu finished the annotations quickly.

Just as she heard the balcony door click from hanging the laundry, she set the book down and waited for her capable husband, ready to engage in their little playful “scene.”

Meanwhile, the couple across the way did end up arguing. But as Lu Hongjun said, it wasn’t Lu Hongqi who brought it up—it was Si Lai who did, originally intending just to inform her man in advance. She even tried to placate him a bit, like Si Qiu, and the matter passed peacefully.