Beautiful Fools Were Born to be Spoiled by Their Husbands - Chapter 4

“Shut up,” Zhou Gangxun muttered, his voice dark and cold, the words practically forced through his clenched teeth.

He reached over and turned off the main water valve for the heater, pulled on his clothes, and opened the bathroom door. He didn’t even glance at Ruan Zhijuan, who had pointedly placed his underwear right on top of the pile of laundry in his arms. Instead, he headed straight for the front door.

Ruan Zhijuan watched him leave, confused. “Zhou Gangxun? Where are you going, my clothes haven’t been washed yet!”

Bang! The liver-colored front door slammed shut, once again cutting Ruan Zhijuan off mid-sentence.

Ruan Zhijuan hurried into the bathroom and stuffed his clothes into the pile Zhou Gangxun had left soaking in detergent. He figured that if they were wet, Zhou Gangxun wouldn’t be able to just throw them out.

Then, he remembered the bug bite.

Standing in front of the mirror, Ruan Zhijuan lifted his shirt to take a look. “Why is it so red?”

He leaned down, cupping the cold water running from the tap and gently dabbing it onto the swollen, red patch on his chest. He didn’t miss the chance to grumble about Zhou Gangxun. “Hmph, Zhou Gangxun is so poor he won’t even take me to a hospital.”

In truth, Ruan Zhijuan was terrified of hospitals. They always made things sound life-threatening just to charge a fortune, and right now, they had no money. He figured a little ointment should do the trick.

He gave the spot a little squeeze, feeling a mix of itching and stinging. “I wonder if it’s poisonous, what if it’s ruined?”

He wondered if Zhou Gangxun’s slap had actually broken something. If the man had caused the damage, he’d have to pay up.

Just then, thump! The door swung open again.

Zhou Gangxun returned carrying a brand-new shower head and hose. Ruan Zhijuan, caught red-handed badmouthing the man in his head, jumped in surprise. “You… why are you back?” he stammered.

Zhou Gangxun’s gaze first landed on Ruan Zhijuan’s guilt-stricken little face, then drifted down to the conspicuous patch of pale skin. Seeing the way Ruan Zhijuan was cupping his own chest, he let out a low, mocking snort. “Are you trying to nurse?”

To an outsider, it would look like Ruan Zhijuan had secretly borne him a child and was now trying to stimulate milk for it.

Nursing?

Hearing that word, Ruan Zhijuan immediately thought of the time his family sent him to work at a pig farm to earn money, and the way the sows would grunt while nursing their piglets.

Does he think I’m like a sow?

“What… what are you talking about!” Ruan Zhijuan’s face turned beet red with rage. He frantically pulled his shirt down and glared at Zhou Gangxun. “It’s all your fault anyway!”

“My fault?” Zhou Gangxun repeated with an amused lilt, his dark eyes drifting back to Ruan Zhijuan’s chest. “Did I bite you? Was I the one clinging to your chest and refusing to let go?”

Ruan Zhijuan was momentarily stunned by the logic of the question. He blinked, staring at Zhou Gangxun. It certainly hadn’t been Zhou Gangxun biting him, the man was far too large to be hanging off his chest like that, but… it was still his fault!

Ruan Zhijuan put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest, acting righteous. “If you weren’t so poor and making me live in this dump, I wouldn’t have been bitten in the first place!”

Still, he knew this place was actually better than where he had lived in his previous life. It had a water heater, a clean flushing toilet, and a TV that could at least show static.

In his past life, his living situation hadn’t been so bad at the start. It wasn’t a mansion, but it was a normal house that kept the rain out. But then his parents had another son, and his room was given to the little brother.

Space was limited, one room for the parents, one for the brother, and the rest for the chickens and ducks. Ruan Zhijuan had been relegated to a dilapidated storage shed.

The shed was packed with junk, leaving no room for a proper bed. Even if there had been space, his parents wouldn’t have spent money on such a luxury. He had slept on a makeshift cot made of wooden planks, he couldn’t even turn over too quickly or the whole thing would collapse.

The bed was manageable, even the leaks during rainstorms and the freezing winter wind were survivable, but the shed was infested with bugs hiding in every crack and corner.

Ruan Zhijuan’s biggest fear was insects.

Sometimes he’d wake up to find a mantis or a centipede on his pillow, or he’d tuck himself in only to see a large spider scuttling across the blanket. Every time, he’d scream in terror.

But if his parents heard him, he’d just get scolded for waking his brother. The boy had been born when his parents were in their forties, so they treated him like a precious treasure.

Thinking about it made Ruan Zhijuan feel even more aggrieved. He reached out and slapped Zhou Gangxun’s arm. “And you! You hit me there earlier. Do you have any idea how heavy your hands are? You’ve broken it!”

Zhou Gangxun saw Ruan Zhijuan’s eyes suddenly well up with tears that looked ready to fall at any second. After a moment’s thought, he reached out and pinched the boy’s cheek. “Shh, you’re too loud.”

Ruan Zhijuan froze, staring at him in disbelief. How could this man be like this? Usually, when someone cries, you’re supposed to comfort them.

He decided he still needed to cry, otherwise it would look fake, but he kept his voice down, letting out tiny, muffled whimpers.

“Good boy.” Zhou Gangxun watched the easily bullied Ruan Zhijuan, a flicker of playfulness passing through his eyes before he let go to grab some ointment from the other room.

Working at construction sites and moving freight meant Zhou Gangxun often got injured, so he kept things like safflower oil, iodine, and antiseptic cream at home.

When he returned, he had an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. He leaned lazily against the bathroom doorframe and handed the medicine to Ruan Zhijuan. “Stick your butt out and put it on in front of the mirror.”

Ruan Zhijuan, still sobbing, instinctively obeyed and stuck his backside out. He blinked, realizing something was wrong. He had been bitten on the chest, not his butt.

With a stuffed-up, post-cry voice and red eyes, he looked at Zhou Gangxun. “Why do I have to stick my butt out?”

“It promotes blood circulation,” Zhou Gangxun said, looking like he was up to no good. “Didn’t you know that?”

“Of course I knew that!”

Because Zhou Gangxun sounded so matter-of-fact, Ruan Zhijuan just huffed, stuck his backside out even further, and lifted his shirt to apply the cream. He even kept checking with “Teacher Zhou” like a diligent student. “Is… is this right? Is this enough circulation? It… it actually doesn’t hurt as much now.”

Truly an idiot, Zhou Gangxun thought as he watched Ruan Zhijuan twisting and posing. His gaze fell on the inflamed, red skin, and he suddenly felt that it looked quite good on him. It would be best if it stayed swollen and ruined.

He even felt a sudden impulse to reach out and tear the flesh away. After all, he wouldn’t want anyone else to have a taste.

He gave a soft snort, his eyes landing on a tiny sliver of mint green in the washbasin, Ruan Zhijuan’s dirty underwear. “I’ll wash the clothes when I get back tonight.”

Support Beautiful Fools Were Born to be Spoiled by Their Husbands