The Kindhearted Girl Gets a Wife 41

Chapter 41

The community closed at six in the afternoon. The work was not much, and could even be described as leisurely. Most people would go to the staff cafeteria at five-thirty for dinner, and after half an hour, they would go back, not wasting a single minute, and not staying at their posts for a single minute longer.

Pei Yunle used to do the same, but now her dining place was no longer the cafeteria. She had to sit at her desk until 6 o’clock. Although the boring time was prolonged, this was the time she looked forward to the most every day.

She would use this half hour to think about what Chen Qingtang would make for dinner today.

There were still very few meat dishes on the table, not even a few times a week. Occasionally, when Chen Qingtang’s store was busy and she came back late, she would just make a stir-fry with the leftovers from the last time. If there were none, she would just fry a pot of egg fried rice.

There were a few scattered vegetable vendors around the Tongkang Community. Pei Yunle would sometimes buy some vegetables at noon and then go there to add a meal at night.

She spent her own money and cooked it herself, so Chen Qingtang would not say anything.

Pei Yunle stood up from her chair, quickly put on her windbreaker, turned off her computer, and went out. The whole process took no more than a minute.

Zhuang Yumian bit her pen cap and glanced at the clock on the wall.

Huo, it was 6 o’clock sharp again, not a second more, not a second less.

She suspected that Pei Yunle had some kind of system installed on her. Every time she pushed open the door, it was 6 o’clock.

Zhuang Yumian pursed her lips, closed her file, and prepared to go to dinner.

It had been raining in the morning for some time, and the apricot haze and flowing jade were always slowly swallowing the entire small town.

Pei Yunle carried the rice cake, rode her small electric bike, and rushed into the town against the cold wind that was like a knife.

At this time, it was just dinner time. Every time she passed a house, she could smell the aroma of food.

Pei Yunle was so enticed by the smell that she couldn’t help but speed up, arriving at the Liu family’s house ten minutes earlier than usual.

She went in and walked around. There was no one in the house. It was cold and deserted, with the dampness of the rain.

She threw the rice cake into the kitchen. The cylindrical white rice cake rolled into the sink.

Pei Yunle wanted to make a soup with this thing today, with some ham and cabbage. If she felt that the taste was bland, she could also make a bowl of fermented black bean and chili dipping sauce.

The rice cake stood alone on the cutting board. Pei Yunle held the kitchen knife, not knowing how to cut it for a moment. She could only chop it like she was chopping firewood. The cutting board made a loud, dissatisfied sound, and even she herself was startled.

“How do you cut this into strips? Like this? Or like this?” Pei Yunle muttered to herself. She never cooked at home. If no one cooked, she wouldn’t eat. Anyway, she wouldn’t starve to death. If she couldn’t hold on, she could just order takeout.

She chopped the poor ingredient again. The rice cake, with half of its body cut off, finally couldn’t hold on and fell to the ground.

Pei Yunle silently recited the three-second rule in her mind and immediately turned around and bent down to pick it up. What came into view before the thing was Chen Qingtang’s white shoes.

She raised her head and, from bottom to top, saw Chen Qingtang’s excellent facial features.

“When did you get back? Why don’t you make any sound when you walk?” Pei Yunle held the knife and smiled sheepishly.

The kitchen was so noisy. When Chen Qingtang just came back, she thought something was going to explode.

She glanced at the mess on the cutting board and then heard Pei Yunle’s voice, “I wanted to make soup today.”

Then she looked back and saw Pei Yunle’s pursed lips, her voice buzzing, like a mischievous child who had been caught before she could succeed.

“Can I?” Pei Yunle was a little guilty.

Chen Qingtang thought for a moment. Then it would be better to just cook a large pot. The rice cake was also made of rice, so it could fill their stomachs.

She didn’t move, just took out the cabbage from the bag on the ground, and then took two pieces of ham that had been made at the Wu family’s house this year from the refrigerator.

Seeing Chen Qingtang like this, she took it as a silent agreement. Pei Yunle’s heart was filled with a little sweetness, and the rice cake in her hand seemed not so hot anymore. She held the knife and walked to the cutting board, but she didn’t know how to cut it again.

She had wanted to put down the kitchen knife and let Chen Qingtang cut it, but then she thought of something. She picked up the kitchen knife she was about to let go of, and then looked at Chen Qingtang with a pair of pitiful eyes.

“Can you teach me how to cut it? I don’t know how to cut it into strips.”

Chen Qingtang sighed inwardly. This person’s ability to take care of herself was really negative. It was a miracle that she had lived so long.

She lifted her eyelids and looked at Pei Yunle. She didn’t know if it was because the room was damp, or if Pei Yunle still had the coolness from outside. Even the corners of her eyes were a little moist, and even the tip of her nose was red.

Chen Qingtang took a few steps closer to her, and her other hand came out from the side of her leg.

Pei Yunle held the knife and didn’t let go. “Come over and take it. If you don’t hold it steady and it falls, both of our feet will be ruined.”

Chen Qingtang didn’t understand. The kitchen knife was still a hundred and eight thousand miles away from the edge of the cutting board.

But seeing Pei Yunle so scared, she still did as she was told. Three fingers climbed onto the handle of the knife one by one. There was no warmth on the iron, it was very cold, which meant that Pei Yunle’s palm was cold.

From this distance, she smelled a scent of green leaves and flowers on Pei Yunle’s body, like the sour and astringent green grass being crushed into juice and sprayed out. Plus the cold outside, it added a bit of the clean smell of earth after the rain.

The whole person was cool and detached. This was the first piece of information that came to Chen Qingtang’s mind. The second piece of information that followed was that Pei Yunle was afraid of rain and cold.

Just as she was about to take the kitchen knife completely, Chen Qingtang’s fingers tentatively brushed against Pei Yunle’s. The cold and warmth collided in this very short moment, producing an extreme reaction.

Is she touching me? This was Pei Yunle’s first reaction. Her arm was already hanging naturally by her side, but the place that had been brushed felt like a spark had been ignited, burning outwards from the center, so much so that even her earlobes were flushed with heat.

She unconsciously scratched with her fingers, touching the place that Chen Qingtang had just bestowed on her. Finally, she pinched and rubbed the skin that had been given the gift. The itchiness slowly faded, and what replaced it was her own coolness.

Pei Yunle’s whole body trembled.

She couldn’t tell if it was a physical cold, or the satisfaction of having succeeded psychologically.

Chen Qingtang was already preparing to demonstrate her knife skills to Pei Yunle. Seeing her absent-minded, and afraid that she would starve to death on her own, she simply slapped the cutting board with her knife to make her learn seriously.

Pei Yunle had bought two rice cakes in total. Chen Qingtang demonstrated one, and she cut one herself. Although the thickness was uneven, it was still barely presentable.

Chen Qingtang continued to cut the two pieces of ham. Pei Yunle had to go and wash the cabbage in the sink. The water in early spring still had the coldness of winter, so much so that she couldn’t even stretch out her ten fingers. She had to half-curl them to tear the vegetable leaves and rinse them twice hastily.

This meal had no technical content, just cutting and boiling, so it didn’t take much time. It could be served after simple seasoning and cooking.

Pei Yunle scooped a bowl for everyone. The dining table was very quiet. She could only hold her chopsticks and eat slowly.

She was a little childish. Seeing the oil droplets floating on the surface of the soup, she used the tip of her chopsticks to poke into the oil droplets, and then slowly pushed them apart, left and right. Until the tip of her chopsticks touched a small black insect.

Pei Yunle: !

She subconsciously looked up at the two people next to her. Seeing their normal expressions, she looked back at the pot. Sure enough, there were a few small black insects floating on the surface of the soup. The vegetables must not have been washed clean.

Pei Yunle bit her lower lip, hesitating whether to say it or not. It was normal for there to be insects in vegetables. Lin Zilan used to cook soup for her like this. Although it was okay to eat, it was still very disgusting to see.

“Um, I don’t think I washed the vegetable leaves clean. There are still insects in the soup…” Her voice grew smaller and smaller, and the last word was almost inaudible.

“It’s okay, just pick them out.” With that, Grandma Liu took her chopsticks and tapped them on the edge of the table twice.

Chen Qingtang turned her head and glanced at Pei Yunle, but in the end, she didn’t say anything.

This meal was uncomfortable. Pei Yunle didn’t know why she always made a mess when she was cooking. The kitchen was like her natural enemy.

After finishing the meal, it was time to wash the dishes. Since Pei Yunle was already treated as a guest, Chen Qingtang would naturally not let her wash the dishes.

She boiled a pot of hot water and poured it into the sink. Then she stirred it with a cloth, and a large amount of white foam immediately appeared.

She couldn’t leave the store, so the dishes could only be washed once a day. Fortunately, there were not many dishes accumulated from the three meals. Chen Qingtang wore yellow rubber gloves and wiped the dishes one by one.

A hand suddenly slipped under her elbow and then randomly took out a bowl from the dense foam.

“Let me wash with you.” Pei Yunle stood next to her, immediately blocking most of the light.

Seeing that Chen Qingtang wanted to refuse her, Pei Yunle took the lead and started washing. “It’s normal to wash what you eat.”

There was only one dishcloth here. Chen Qingtang was using it, so Pei Yunle could only rub with her fingertips. If she encountered a hard object, she might even cut her skin.

In the slightly dim light, she saw Pei Yunle’s lips pursed, her eyes fixed on the work in her hands, looking very serious. It reminded her of when Pei Yunle was teaching her how to use the camera.

Memory and reality overlapped. Her facial features had not changed at all, except that there was the smell of dish soap around. The back of her fair and delicate hands was stained with foam, covered with a layer of moist pearlescence.

Chen Qingtang suddenly didn’t dare to look and turned her eyes away.

Pei Yunle was observing whether the bowl in her hand was not washed clean. A soft object suddenly fell on the back of her hand. She looked closely and saw that it was the glove Chen Qingtang had taken off.

“You don’t need it?”

Chen Qingtang shook her head and took a bowl from the sink.

The whole kitchen was filled with the clatter of bowls and chopsticks. The atmosphere was about to freeze again.

Pei Yunle picked up a wobbly ball of foam with her fingertip, rubbed it on Chen Qingtang’s small arm, and then it slid down.

Chen Qingtang scratched it, and two red marks immediately appeared on it.

Pei Yunle looked at her furrowed brows. At this time, Chen Qingtang would always unconsciously pout a little.

“How about we have a competition?”

Chen Qingtang didn’t think it was a good idea. What kind of competition was washing dishes? If she didn’t wash them clean, she would have to wash them again the next day.

Seeing that she didn’t agree, Pei Yunle flicked a little water foam on her face, getting it on her face and eyelids.

Chen Qingtang put down the bowl and stepped on her foot. Pei Yunle was not angry, but just took out the bowls from the sink and divided them into two piles.

“Come on, come on. We have to wash them anyway. Why not add a little fun?”

Chen Qingtang put down the dishcloth, her face still a little unhappy.

“Let’s see who finishes their own pile of bowls first. It’s that simple. If we finish quickly, I can leave quickly, right?”

“The winner can make a request to the other person. How about it?”

Chen Qingtang bit her lip and agreed.

Without a dishcloth, Pei Yunle used her gloves. The two of them were afraid that the other would win, so they washed their own bowls at top speed.

The two piles of bowls on the sink were almost gone at the same time.

This competition ended in less than three minutes.

Pei Yunle took off her gloves. “It’s a draw.” Seeing that Chen Qingtang was about to leave, she pulled her back. “Then let’s change it. Both sides can make a request.”

Chen Qingtang paused. It wasn’t a big loss to think about it this way. She went back and rinsed her hands, wiped them on her apron, and then took out her phone.

Pei Yunle looked at Chen Qingtang with anticipation as she lowered her head and typed seriously, like an elementary school student solving a difficult problem.

After a long time, only one sentence appeared on it—Can you stop taking the initiative?

In an instant, all the romantic little thoughts were shattered along with the white foam.

Pei Yunle felt that the foam was not poured into the sewer, but down her esophagus into her stomach. It was bitter and astringent. She couldn’t spit it out and couldn’t swallow it.

Don’t take the initiative to come to me, don’t take the initiative to talk to me, don’t take the initiative to create opportunities to be alone.

Chen Qingtang felt a little tired. Pei Yunle shouldn’t be here. So she could only say, don’t do this.

“But, if I stop taking the initiative, we’ll stop contacting each other, which means there will be no more possibilities.” Pei Yunle’s voice came out of her lungs, muffled and sticky.

“I don’t think you can do this. You won’t say anything, so I can only guess and piece things together.”

Pei Yunle still didn’t understand the purpose of Lin Zilan’s meeting with Chen Qingtang that time. She didn’t understand why she had shown her a video of her coming-of-age ceremony, and so many things about herself.

If not a single word had been spoken, how was the consensus reached?

If Lin Zilan had said, “I’ll give you five million, leave my daughter,” a clichéd and ridiculous plot from a TV drama, maybe Pei Yunle would have changed her direction. She would have tried her best to earn ten million, five million to get Chen Qingtang back, and the other five million as a dowry for Chen Qingtang.

But there was nothing, nothing at all, only a few worthless and inexplicable videos.

Pei Yunle didn’t understand, but Chen Qingtang wouldn’t tell her. She only knew that Chen Qingtang had broken up with her very readily.

“I also have one. Can you not push me away?”

Chen Qingtang put her phone back. The only response was silence.

Pei Yunle rubbed her eyes. “It’s a good thing. They cancel each other out. We’ve reached a consensus.”

“I won’t come to eat anymore. I’ve eaten your food for a total of twelve days. I’ll transfer the money for the food to you later. Add me as a friend.”

Chen Qingtang was about to refuse when she heard Pei Yunle say, “This way we won’t owe each other anything, not a single cent.”

Seeing the QR code Pei Yunle took out, Chen Qingtang scanned it.

“Then I won’t come to eat tomorrow. I won’t buy groceries either. I won’t be hovering around you, and I won’t be looking at the stars and washing dishes with you.”

Pei Yunle mumbled, put her phone back, and then put the gloves on the rack. She turned and walked out the door.

The moon was bright and the stars were few. Chen Qingtang saw the watery moonlight draped over her. Her tall figure seemed to have a few cracks in it, and a sense of sadness and loneliness overflowed from within.

Pei Yunle sat on her small electric bike and accepted the other person’s friend request.

Although Chen Qingtang always made her secretly sad, this time she secretly forgave her again.