To Get Married - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“I just helped him because he has trouble speaking. Is it really necessary?” Mu Chensan picked up the fallen stool and touched the broken corner of the table. He couldn’t help but mutter softly: “If he breaks the table, won’t it still be deducted from his own salary?”

With that, he sat down and continued shelling walnuts with an innocent expression.

Manzhu didn’t say anything, but Lu Yudong couldn’t bear it.

Lu Yudong: “Uncle Mu!”

Mu Chensan: “What?”

Lu Yudong said seriously: “You should go and comfort Master Shi.”

Mu Chensan asked: “Is he a woman? Does he need to be coaxed just for throwing a tantrum?”

Lu Yudong was momentarily choked and looked up at Manzhu.

Manzhu slowly said: “Do you want me to beat you up now and then see if you need someone to comfort you?”

“Sigh.” Mu Chensan dropped the unfinished walnut, pulled out a wet wipe, and wiped his hands. “You guys keep shelling. I should indeed go check on Zhaomu. We’re opening soon, and I can’t have him sulking at the customers.”

With that, he scurried towards the bar counter.

However, the result of the consolation didn’t seem very good. After opening for business, Yan Zhaomu didn’t show any anger towards the customers, but he ignored Mu Chensan for the entire evening, not saying a single word.

In contrast, Xiaozhi and Huanxi, who disliked durian, finally reached a consensus of mutual respect with the durian-loving Gou Hongjie.

Gou Hongjie considered himself an honest dog. Considering it wasn’t easy for Manzhu to earn money and support the household, and since he had indeed eaten nearly two durians, he made a decision that was generous yet slightly stingy: he would pay for half of it!

“Sister Manzhu, since I’m the one who ate all the durian, I should…”

“It’s 320 total, thank you,” Manzhu interrupted Gou Hongjie before he could finish, extending her right hand, ready to collect the money.

Gou Hongjie quickly explained: “What I meant was, although Sister Manzhu bought it to treat us, I feel I should pay for half of it, I…” He stopped mid-sentence when he saw a vague, knowing smile surface in Manzhu’s eyes.

Manzhu turned to Gou Hongjie and smiled faintly: “Oh? But I bought it for Yudong to eat.”

The implication was clear beyond doubt.

To put it less pleasantly, it was: Oh, I bought it for Yudong to eat. She didn’t even have two bites, and you, this stinky dog, ate it all up. Shouldn’t you reimburse me?

In that instant, Gou Hongjie’s survival instinct exploded: “I’ve thought about it. I think it’s really not easy for Sister Manzhu to raise Little Sister Yudong alone. I’ll pay for the whole thing!”

The food in a bar wasn’t easy to sell, and how much salary could a bar cook possibly have?

When Gou Hongjie thought about how he had just eaten 320 yuan worth of durian, and even proactively offered to pay the person who intended to treat him, he wished he could slap himself twice.

The moment he transferred the money via his bank card, his heart ached.

320 yuan! That was enough for him to have roast chicken several times. Instead, he exchanged it for one meal of fruit. What a huge loss!

Manzhu, however, patted his shoulder, handed him a large basin of shelled walnut kernels, and smiled charmingly: “Hard work. You can keep some of the honey walnuts for yourself after you make them. My treat.”

Gou Hongjie tried hard to look happy: “Thank you, Sister Manzhu!”

Manzhu was very satisfied. She turned and lifted her skirt hem, walking out of the back kitchen lounge.

Considering Lu Yudong only came home once a week and had to return to school after lunch on Sunday afternoon, Manzhu didn’t want the child to wait for her at the bar until 2 a.m., nor did she want to be unable to send the child back to school. Therefore, she discussed changing her working hours for Saturday night and Sunday afternoon with Mu Chensan.

Of course, it was called a discussion, but it was essentially a notification.

Manzhu, this gugu (aunt/mistress), was inherently strong-willed. Having been domineering in this world for nearly three thousand years, even though her temper had mellowed considerably, her nature was hard to change.

However, Mu Chensan had no objections. To him, these were trivial matters.

As a person, one shouldn’t be too demanding of others. All Manzhu asked for was to be late and leave early twice a week, making more time to spend with her little girl. It was reasonable and should be agreed upon.

That night, before 10:30 p.m., Manzhu took two jars of honey walnut kernels and quickly brought Lu Yudong home.

Once home, Manzhu placed both jars of walnut kernels on the coffee table.

Lu Yudong, craving them, squatted beside the coffee table after changing her slippers and started secretly eating from one of the jars while Manzhu was in the kitchen heating milk.

Manzhu came out of the kitchen with the milk and saw Lu Yudong squatting beside the low coffee table secretly eating walnuts. When discovered, the girl quickly closed the lid and stood up awkwardly.

This little glutton’s two right-hand fingers were sticky, and she didn’t know where to put them.

Manzhu couldn’t help but laugh, shaking her head: “They were made for you to eat anyway. Why are you so sneaky?”

Lu Yudong realized this, curved her eyebrows, giggled twice, and reopened the lid. She skipped over to Manzhu in a few steps, picked up a walnut kernel, and fed it to Manzhu’s mouth.

Manzhu was momentarily stunned. After recovering, she slightly opened her mouth and took the walnut kernel in.

Soft lips gently brushed her fingertip. Lu Yudong looked up at Manzhu and asked: “Is it delicious?”

“Not bad,” Manzhu replied.

“Then let’s keep some at home!” Lu Yudong said.

Manzhu smiled and nodded: “Okay. When we finish these, we’ll buy some more and have your Uncle Gou make them for us again.”

“Mhm!” Lu Yudong ate a few more, then screwed the lid back on and returned the jar to its place.

When her mother was still around, she would occasionally buy some walnuts home. Every time she bought them, she would shell them and tell her: “Eating more walnuts helps the brain. A good brain makes a person smart, and memorizing texts becomes much easier.”

However, she had never liked the taste since she was small. It was a bit astringent and bitter, so she was always reluctant to eat them.

She had eaten one or two while shelling them today, but the taste felt no different from her memory, so she didn’t eat more.

But with these walnuts being fried into honey walnuts, it felt very new to her.

The inherent slight bitterness of the walnut was gone, leaving only sweetness and crispness. After one bite, she couldn’t help but want more.

She wanted to take them to school to share with Zhang Ziyun, but she also wanted to save half for Manzhu, so she dared not eat anymore now, afraid she would keep eating and run out before she even returned to school.

Thinking this, Lu Yudong subconsciously licked her fingers. She looked up and saw Manzhu still looking at her, and quickly ran into the bathroom with a red face, lathered soap, and washed her hands.

“Don’t brush your teeth yet. Drink the milk,” Manzhu reminded gently from outside.

“Mhm!” Lu Yudong responded. After washing her hands, she immediately went to the sofa, took the warm milk that was no longer scalding from Manzhu’s hand, and gulped it down.

After drinking the milk, the two went to the bathroom one after the other to wash up, and then turned off the lights and went to sleep early.

The glass window was open, with only the mosquito screen closed. The floor wasn’t high, and there was the chirping of insects outside the window.

The large fan at the foot of the bed was pointed at the wall, blowing forcefully, sweeping away some of the heat of the scorching summer.

The two on the bed were each covered with a thin towel blanket.

It was not yet 11:30 p.m. Usually, at this time, Lu Yudong would either be waiting for Manzhu to get off work at Not a Stranger or lying alone in bed at home, trying to fall asleep.

Today, however, Manzhu was lying quietly beside her.

Lu Yudong closed her eyes but couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.

She turned to her side and opened her eyes to look at Manzhu. Manzhu, as if sensing her gaze, also opened her eyes and turned to face her.

“Can’t sleep?” Manzhu asked softly.

“I’m actually tired,” Lu Yudong murmured. “I’ve been going to bed quite early at school.”

“Then why are your eyes open?” Manzhu reached out and pinched Lu Yudong’s dark little face a few times. There wasn’t much flesh on her face, but it was soft and very comfortable.

Lu Yudong let Manzhu pinch her for a long time. Finally, just as Manzhu was about to withdraw her hand, she wrapped her arms around Manzhu’s arm.

“Hmm?”

“The puppy is at school. I don’t have anything to hug, so I can’t really sleep,” Lu Yudong said seriously. Her clear, big eyes were particularly bright in the dark night.

Manzhu momentarily chuckled. After a moment of silence, she said gently: “Then you can hug me. I’ve talked to your Uncle Mu. Every Saturday from now on, I can leave work earlier, and on Sundays, I can start work later. That way, I can spend more time with you.”

“Mhm!” Lu Yudong giggled, revealing teeth that were several shades whiter than her dark face, making her look a little goofy.

But soon, she fell asleep.

Closing her eyes and hugging Manzhu’s slender arm, she slept soundly.

During the day on Sunday, Lu Yudong woke up early and finished the weekly journal assigned by her homeroom teacher.

She packed the things she needed to take to school into her backpack in advance, then sat next to the sofa and watched TV with Manzhu.

Manzhu really liked watching TV. After all, having lived deep in the mountains for so long, whether the show was good or bad, it was all very new to her.

If it was a modern drama, Manzhu would watch quietly, as it was something she didn’t know much about and couldn’t comment on easily.

However, if it was an ancient drama or a fantasy/Xianxia drama, Manzhu couldn’t help but complain.

“Even I, a spirit who rarely leaves the mountains, know that if a selection candidate dared to talk back to the imperial relatives and nobility like that back then, nine heads wouldn’t be enough to lose.”

“Who said cats have nine lives, and each life can be used to save people? If such a good thing existed, why wouldn’t they bring Huanxi along?”

“Why is this thousand-year-old Scorpion Spirit running all over the mountains, being struck by the Thunder God and Mother of Lightning? Immortals can’t easily interfere in human affairs. Thunder tribulations are sent by the Heavenly Dao and have nothing to do with the Thunder God and Mother of Lightning. That couple only manages thunder and rain.”

Every time Lu Yudong watched an ancient drama with Manzhu, especially the Xianxia and fantasy genres, she felt as if she knew nothing about this world.

It turned out that the demons, monsters, and even the gods and Buddhas on TV were all quite different from those in the real world.

This made Lu Yudong yearn more for the world she was unfamiliar with.

However, the shows on TV were difficult to follow. Every time they watched for a while, many commercials would pop up, and if they missed that time slot, they would skip a segment of the plot.

Every time they missed a segment, Manzhu could only go to the bar to borrow someone’s phone or laptop and ask them to search for that episode to watch.

Lu Yudong sometimes wished she had money.

If she had money, she would definitely buy Manzhu a computer and connect the internet at home so that Manzhu wouldn’t have to wait for two episodes at a time every day.

However, Lu Yudong didn’t know how else she could earn money at her age besides distributing flyers.

The cost of one computer was simply too much for her.

That afternoon, Manzhu watched the TV drama with great interest, completely unaware that Lu Yudong was lost in thought beside her.

Around 3:30 p.m., Manzhu got up, went into the kitchen to wash the rice and start cooking. Then, she put on a light, wide-sleeved shirt, changed into her embroidered shoes for going out, and stood by the door, turning back to ask Lu Yudong if she wanted to go out and buy groceries with her.

The refrigerator was completely empty of groceries lately.

Since Lu Yudong was away for a week, Manzhu had eaten instant noodles for a week.

Manzhu’s stomach was different from a human’s, and she didn’t care about nutrition or health. Instant noodles were cheap, simple, and tasted good to her. Buying a few different flavors to switch between was perfectly fine.

However, no matter how much she preferred convenience, she couldn’t let Lu Yudong, a child who still needed to grow, eat instant noodles with her.

Groceries had to be bought, and in the past, they always bought them together.

But at this time, if they didn’t go soon, it would be too late to make dinner. If they left now, the current episode of the TV show wouldn’t be finished. Manzhu felt it was necessary to ask Lu Yudong if she actually wanted to move right now.

Lu Yudong had already been watching TV distractedly. Hearing Manzhu say they were going out to buy groceries, she quickly ran to the bed to close the curtains, changed out of her nightgown, and ran excitedly to Manzhu’s side, holding Manzhu’s hand and giggling twice.

On the way to buy groceries, Lu Yudong hummed and sang.

It was a song the instructor taught them during military training. She remembered saying she would sing it for Manzhu but had forgotten as soon as she returned.

She skipped along behind Manzhu, singing from “Green Flower in the Military” to “Unity is Strength“, followed by “Song of the Guerrillas” and “The 1234 Song.”

The little girl’s voice was still changing, sounding a bit hoarse. Singing while walking made her voice shake a lot, and the pitch of every song was slightly off, yet it was undeniably adorable.

However, Manzhu was a little confused by the lyrics of those songs.

Lu Yudong saw Manzhu’s puzzled look and realized that Manzhu hadn’t watched any anti-Japanese war dramas in recent years. Manzhu had simply leaped from ancient times straight into this modern society.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. It doesn’t sound very good anyway,” Lu Yudong smiled nonchalantly.

Manzhu thought for a moment and said: “Didn’t you also say you’d fold your military blanket for me to see when you got back?”

“Oh, right! I’ll fold it for you when we get back!” Lu Yudong said, unconsciously quickening her pace.

But when they returned home, Lu Yudong realized that they only had two towel blankets at home. All the thicker blankets were stored in the cabinet under the bed frame, which would be very troublesome to take out.

Lu Yudong stared blankly at the two thin towel blankets, which were impossible to fold into the tofu block shape, for a long time. Finally, a sudden idea struck her. She spun around and hopped over to the coffee table, pulling up a small stool and sitting down happily.

The sound of the kitchen range hood had been running for a long time and finally quieted down.

Manzhu took off her apron, came out of the kitchen with the just-fried dishes, and as she was placing the plates on the coffee table, she saw two small, square items on the table.

They were ultra-miniature military blankets that Lu Yudong had folded from tissues, truly sharp and angular like tofu blocks.

“The blankets were too thin to fold, so I could only show you this way,” Lu Yudong giggled, her eyes full of pride.

Manzhu chuckled, picked up the tissue-folded little blanket, and asked softly: “So cute, is it for me? I’ll save it.”

Lu Yudong tilted her head: “It will probably fall apart quickly, right?”

Manzhu said: “I won’t let it fall apart.”

Her tone was a little childish, yet gentle and firm.