So, You’re the Henpecked One? 28

Chapter 28

Lin Zhao chopped up the dish Chu Xihuan had made and mixed it into the porridge to make a savory meat porridge. Although it still had a slight burnt taste, it was at least not as hard to swallow as before.

Next, Lin Zhao made the vegetables according to the recipe Chu Xihuan read to her. Since the meat had already been cooked by Chu Xihuan, and thinking that Xihuan couldn’t just eat vegetables, Lin Zhao took out some eggs and asked Xihuan to look through the cookbook for any egg recipes.

Chu Xihuan actually found one, and in the end, they made a steamed egg custard. With that, their lunch was finally ready.

Chu Xihuan looked at the bowl of vegetable porridge in front of her. It didn’t contain her previous failure; Lin Zhao had specially set it aside for her. The porridge with the burnt taste was what Lin Zhao was drinking herself.

Chu Xihuan felt a slight stinging in her nose and an inexplicable softness in her heart.

Lin Zhao was really trying her best to give her the best of everything.

“Silly girl, I told you not to eat it,” Chu Xihuan said softly.

“Why not? The one Xihuan made is perfect with porridge. It’s much richer than the savory porridge I used to eat!” Lin Zhao disagreed and even protectively guarded her bowl as if she were afraid she would snatch it away and throw it out. She buried her head and ate the porridge with gusto, as if it were the most delicious thing in the world.

Hearing her words, Chu Xihuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This person, to be able to come up with such an excuse, must have wracked her brains.

After finishing their rather eventful lunch, Chu Xihuan had already made up her mind. Tonight, she would definitely make something edible!

Having eaten her own cooking, Chu Xihuan now felt a little less resentful of Lin Zhao’s cooking.

At least she was better than her…

After Lin Zhao finished eating and washed the dishes, seeing that there was still some time, and perhaps stimulated by Chu Xihuan’s words about being able to earn money by copying books, she didn’t need any further urging. She very consciously ran to the study, took out the paper and brush Chu Xihuan had bought for her, and started to work.

Seeing her so proactive, Chu Xihuan was gratified. She slowly walked over to Lin Zhao’s side and saw her struggling with the ink stick.

Chu Xihuan was speechless. My mistake.

There was no other way. Chu Xihuan had to first teach Lin Zhao how to grind the ink to the right consistency. After the ink was ready, Lin Zhao started to write seriously.

Chu Xihuan watched from the side without saying a word, just wanting to see how many of the characters she had written yesterday Lin Zhao still remembered.

Although Lin Zhao was writing very seriously, stroke by stroke, the characters she wrote still looked a little distorted and uneven in thickness. In some places, the ink even smudged together.

Chu Xihuan was silent, telling herself over and over that she was still a beginner, and it was normal for her to write like this. In fact, from the order of her strokes, Chu Xihuan could see that she did remember roughly how the characters were written, although she would occasionally miss a stroke.

But when she saw her writing her own name, Chu Xihuan fell completely silent.

Not just her, but even Lin Zhao, after writing the character “Chu,” bit the end of her brush and hesitated when it came to the character “Xi.” She struggled to think for a long time, and finally, she looked at Chu Xihuan with a slightly innocent and pitiful expression.

“Xihuan~ I still haven’t remembered your ‘Xi’ character…”

It really wasn’t her fault! Xihuan’s name was so hard to write! Lin Zhao was about to cry from trying to remember it.

Chu Xihuan was still silent. It seemed this person hadn’t noticed that not only had she not remembered the character “Xi,” but even the character “Chu,” was she missing the hook in the middle? It had become a horizontal stroke.

She found it a little amusing, but also gratifying. In just half a day yesterday, she had still managed to completely remember a few characters.

“If Xihuan’s ‘Xi’ was the ‘xi’ from ‘dongxi’ (east-west), it would be great.” Seeing that Chu Xihuan wasn’t speaking, Lin Zhao muttered to herself. She still knew the character for “xi” (west). Her teacher had taught her the four characters for east, west, north, and south when she was a child, but now she only remembered the characters for north and west.

Hmm, it seems I didn’t remember ‘dong’ (east) back then either.

Although her voice was very quiet, Chu Xihuan still heard her muttering.

Chu Xihuan was speechless.

She cleared her throat and, as if changing the subject, picked up a brush. “I’ll write it for you again. Remember it well.”

Chu Xihuan wouldn’t tell Lin Zhao that when she was a child, just learning to write her own name, she had also wished that her “Xi” was the “xi” from “dongxi.”

Seeing that she wasn’t blaming her and was still patiently teaching her, Lin Zhao was so moved she was on the verge of tears. She nodded vigorously, indicating that she would definitely try her best to remember.

After Chu Xihuan finished writing her name, she pointed to the characters Lin Zhao had written, first affirming the parts she had gotten right, then pointing out her mistakes and telling her the correct way to write them to reinforce her memory.

Lin Zhao was a little dejected to see that she had made so many mistakes, especially that not only had she not remembered how to write Xihuan’s “Xi,” but she had even written her surname wrong.

“It’s already very good,” Chu Xihuan praised her with affirmation. “To be able to write to this extent in such a short time is already impressive.”

Hearing her praise, Lin Zhao’s eyes lit up as she looked at her, as if asking, really?

Chu Xihuan nodded. “So now you write it again, and I’ll see if you’ve remembered it.”

Lin Zhao was even more moved. She felt that today’s Xihuan was so gentle and patient. Not only had she not called her stupid, but she had even praised her!

Lin Zhao showed no signs of being tired from her morning’s work, but was full of energy.

She wrote Chu Xihuan’s name very seriously. After writing it a few more times, she took out another piece of paper and started to write it from memory, without looking at Chu Xihuan’s writing. Then, with a face full of expectation for praise, she called Chu Xihuan over. “Xihuan, look, did I write it right this time?”

Chu Xihuan came over and carefully examined the characters she had written. She nodded. “Not bad. Apart from the character ‘Xi,’ everything else is correct.”

Lin Zhao, who had been expecting praise, her face immediately fell. She quickly took the paper with Chu Xihuan’s writing and compared it stroke by stroke. Finally, she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and stood there sullenly without saying a word.

She didn’t know whether to blame herself for being stupid and not being able to remember Xihuan’s name, or to blame Xihuan’s name for being too difficult to remember.

“It’s already very good. Go and practice the strokes first,” Chu Xihuan said without any surprise. After all, she knew her own name well, and it took some time to remember it clearly.

“Oh.” Lin Zhao’s mood was still a little down, but even though Chu Xihuan heard it, she didn’t say anything. She just went about her own business, while also thinking about how to tell Lin Zhao about her future arrangements.

This Lin Zhao… was obedient, but sometimes she was afraid that if she didn’t communicate well, she would misunderstand and think she was looking down on her, which would not be good.

Lin Zhao practiced her writing seriously for a while. Seeing that it was about time, she put down her brush and said, “Xihuan, I have to go to work, so I’ll be leaving now, okay?”

Chu Xihuan looked up and saw Lin Zhao hesitating. Finally, she sighed softly in her heart and nodded. “Alright, go ahead. If you can, come back early after you’re done.”

Hearing her say she wanted her to come back early, Lin Zhao’s lips curved into a smile, and she nodded vigorously. “Mm! I’ll be back early!”

Chu Xihuan watched her leave, then looked down at her own pile of things, remembering what she had discussed with her second sister this morning.

The arrangements had been made. It was just a matter of whether Lin Zhao was willing to do it and whether she was suitable for it.

Perhaps because of what Chu Xihuan had said before she left, Lin Zhao’s steps were quick and light all afternoon as she worked.

After finishing work and getting her wages, although Lin Zhao wanted to rush home, she remembered that they had used up most of the fresh vegetables at noon, so she had to go to the market to buy some more. On her way home, she saw a stall selling sugar paintings, and her eyes lit up.

She remembered when she was a child, her mother would often buy her little snacks like sugar paintings or candied haws to coax her when she came home from work. Every time she received them, she would be especially happy.

“I want this one,” Lin Zhao said to the stall owner, pointing to a sugar painting in the shape of a small tiger.

“Alright, six wen. Here you go,” the stall owner quickly took the item down and handed it to Lin Zhao.

Lin Zhao looked at the sugar painting in front of her. She could smell the sweet fragrance and couldn’t help but swallow. She hadn’t had one in a long, long time.

Holding the sugar painting, Lin Zhao walked home quickly in the setting sun, her shadow stretching long behind her, but without any sense of loneliness. Even her shadow seemed to be skipping with joy.

“Xihuan!”

As soon as Lin Zhao entered the door, she couldn’t wait to call out Chu Xihuan’s name.

The person in the courtyard heard her and looked over.

When Lin Zhao saw that Chu Xihuan was not the only one at home, her face stiffened slightly. She met Mao Xiaoyun’s dazed eyes and felt a little embarrassed. She cleared her throat and regained her “boss” aura. “Xiaoyun, what are you doing here?”

Hearing her words, and ignoring Lin Zhao’s previous un-boss-like behavior, she looked at her with a resentful expression. “The boss doesn’t play with me anymore!”

If they were busy with the homecoming visit yesterday, then she hadn’t seen Lin Zhao today either! Sure enough, a boss who had a wife wouldn’t play with her anymore!

“Huh?” Lin Zhao was also confused. “I went to work, not to play. Why would I look for you?”

Chu Xihuan silently watched the two of them start to argue back and forth. Finally, she shook her head helplessly and went to take the vegetables from Lin Zhao’s hand, sighing softly in her heart.

Listening to the two of them talk, who would believe that they were already of marriageable age? They were like two young children, their mouths full of childish talk about playing and not playing with each other.

After arguing about why she hadn’t looked for Mao Xiaoyun to play, Lin Zhao ignored her for a moment and quickly ran to Chu Xihuan with the sugar painting in her hand, handing it to her. “Xihuan, this is for you.”

Chu Xihuan: “???”

Chu Xihuan looked at the thing in front of her with a slightly silent expression, inexplicably feeling as if she had been pulled back to the same age as Lin Zhao.

Seeing that she didn’t take it, Lin Zhao was apprehensive. “Doesn’t Xihuan like it?”

Lin Zhao couldn’t understand. Who wouldn’t like a sugar painting? It was fun and sweet and delicious.

Mao Xiaoyun immediately came over and looked at it eagerly. “You don’t like it? Then if you don’t like it, can I have it?”

She had seen the sugar painting in the boss’s hand for a long time!

Chu Xihuan was speechless.

Chu Xihuan took the sugar painting from Lin Zhao’s hand and said lightly, “If you want to eat it, go and buy it.” With that, she gestured for Lin Zhao to go and buy two more.

“Oh…”

Lin Zhao really didn’t want to go out again, but seeing Mao Xiaoyun’s expectant gaze, she still went out to buy sugar paintings.

Only then could Chu Xihuan carefully examine the sugar painting Lin Zhao had bought for her. However, the more she looked at it, the more her expression became strange.

Why is it in the shape of a tiger?

Is Lin Zhao trying to imply something about me?

**

Author’s Note:

Xixi: [Angry][Angry] It seems her skin is itching for a beating.