Chapter 15: Chapter 15: A Bottle of Medicinal Wine, a Cucumber, and the New Bride Lands Half a Household Empty-Handed!

Sister in law Wang had run off, and the eavesdropping noises in the courtyard disappeared.

Inside the room, only the faint clinking of bowls and the sounds of chewing could be heard.

Lin Wan Yi was completely unaffected, slowly sipping her porridge and then picking up a piece of cured meat and putting it into her mouth, savoring it.

The man across from her, however, started to eat noticeably faster.

In just a few bites, he finished the white porridge in his bowl, then picked up the plate on the table with only a few cucumber strips and garlic sauce left, and without hesitation, tilted it to pour all the sauce into his empty bowl.

He raised the bowl to his lips, gulping down the sauce with its garlic and cucumber fragrance until it was all gone.

With a clatter, the empty bowl was placed heavily back onto the table.

After doing all this, he finally looked up, his gaze landing on Lin Wan Yi’s smiling face.

Lin Wan Yi also put down her chopsticks.

Here it comes.

She had already prepared an entire script in her mind about a certain “relative” of hers far in the south, how they had gone through great lengths to bring her this small token of her hometown.

She met his gaze, waiting for him to start asking questions.

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

Gu Yanshen just looked at her, his chiseled jawline taut, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly.

After a long while, he finally spoke, his voice deep and hoarse.

“Stay away from Sister in law Wang from now on.”

Lin Wan Yi’s hand with the chopsticks halted mid-air, and the piece of cured meat in her bowl was forgotten.

The script she had prepared was completely unused.

The man seemed to feel his expression hadn’t been clear enough. His tightly pressed lips moved, and he squeezed out an additional sentence through his teeth, his voice even lower, carrying an awkward stiffness:

“Just now… you did well.”

As the words fell, the redness that had just faded returned with greater speed, spreading swiftly from the base of his ears and burning up to his neck beneath his military shirt.

He seemed scalded by his own words and abruptly stood up.

“I’ll clean up.”

He grabbed the bowls and chopsticks from the table and turned to leave, his tall figure exuding a sense of hurried chaos, as if wild beasts were chasing him.

Lin Wan Yi watched him stride quickly to the corner of the water tank, almost tossing the utensils into the basin, then started scrubbing vigorously, water splashing everywhere.

She was stunned for a second, then a light laugh spilled from her lips.

This man.

She didn’t just sit there but stood up, barefoot, stepping on the cold yet clean floor, silently following him.

With his back to her, Gu Yanshen was bent over, battling the enamel bowl in his hands, scrubbing with enough force to scrape a layer of paint off it.

Lin Wan Yi leaned casually against the door frame leading to the inner room, arms crossed, watching his tense, smoothly contoured back.

She spoke slowly, her voice not loud but clearly reaching the man’s ears:

“Mr. Gu, when you compliment someone…”

She deliberately dragged out the last word, and when the man’s back stiffened, completed the sentence:

“…you’re quite endearing.”

“Clang!”

The bowl in the man’s hand slipped, clattering heavily against the rim of the basin, making a loud noise.

His back stiffened like a stone, and even his scrubbing stopped.

Lin Wan Yi chuckled more joyously.

Gu Yanshen swiftly finished washing the dishes, dumped the water from the basin outside, and without a backward glance, said, “I’ll go check on the morning exercises at the camp.”

With that, he took long strides, almost tripping over his own feet as he rushed out the door, his hurried silhouette vanishing beyond the courtyard gate.

As soon as he left, the playful smile on Lin Wan Yi’s face vanished.

She walked to the table, opened the cloth bag Gu Yanshen had given her, and poured out all the money and various coupons inside.

A few dozen yuan, along with a stack of cloth coupons, food stamps, industrial coupons… quite a sum during these times, but still far from her goal of turning this dilapidated house into a cozy home.

Buying lumber would cost money, buying fabric for partitions and curtains would require cloth coupons, and buying nails and wires needed industrial coupons.

Lin Wan Yi’s fingers tapped lightly on those coupons, her mind racing.

Doing nothing wasn’t her style.

She stood up, pacing the room, her gaze sweeping over every inch of space: the clay walls, the rickety wooden windows, and the narrow bed that could barely fit one and a half people.

She walked to the stove, picked up a half-burned, blackened piece of firewood, and squatted down to draw on the bare earth floor.

She sketched a simple floor plan.

Using wooden boards to make a simple partition between the bed and the outer room, ensuring privacy while the partition could also have a few storage compartments built into it.

We need to nail a few rows of wooden boards on the wall as shelves so all the jars and pots can be placed on them.

The most important thing is the bed, it needs to be remade, at least one meter and eighty centimeters wide. Otherwise, the man who is one meter and ninety centimeters tall will end up sleeping like a log and fall off sooner or later.

The blueprint is ready, but what’s missing is materials and labor.

The labor is at hand – that man who fled in a hurry.

Materials…

“Knock, knock, knock.”

Right at that moment, a very faint knocking sound came from the door, carrying a hint of hesitation and probing.

Lin Wan Yi stood up, patted the ash off her hands, and walked over to open the door.

Standing at the door was a young military wife about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with two braided pigtails, a delicate appearance, and a face that showed some signs of nervousness.

Lin Wan Yi recognized her as Sister in law Li, who lived diagonally opposite. She had also been among the onlookers in the morning but didn’t have that blatant jealousy in her eyes like Sister in law Wang, instead showing more curiosity and envy.

Sister in law Li was carefully holding two eggs in her hands.

“Lin… I’m Li Xiujuan, living diagonally opposite.” Sister in law Li blushed upon seeing Lin Wan Yi. “I heard from the morning that your house smells really good… These are fresh eggs from my chicken, for you to taste.”

Lin Wan Yi glanced at the two eggs and smiled.

“Sister in law Li, please come in and sit down, you’re too kind.”

She warmly invited her inside.

As soon as Li Xiujuan entered, she was captivated by the clean and tidy floor and table. Yesterday, when she passed by, this house was still in complete disarray.

“You’re really capable, you managed to tidy up everything in just one night.”

“Just tinkering.” Lin Wan Yi poured her a glass of plain water. “Did you come just to give me eggs?”

Li Xiujuan blushed even more, rubbing her garment, and awkwardly opened her mouth, “I actually came to ask… How did you make that porridge and dish this morning? My boy is a picky eater, he doesn’t even look at the coarse grain cakes.”

She sighed again, “And his father, he twisted his back during training recently, already applied the medicine from the team, but it still hurts a lot at night. Sigh.”

Back injury?

Lin Wan Yi’s ears twitched a little.

She looked at the genuine distress on Li Xiujuan’s face and immediately had a plan.

“Sister in law, cooking skills come second, the main thing is the ingredients.” Lin Wan Yi said while taking a small glass bottle filled with clear liquid from her suitcase, “This is medicinal wine that I brought from my hometown, specifically for treating injuries, it promotes blood circulation and reduces swelling. My dad used it a lot, and it’s really effective. Take it back and let Brother Li apply some. Use a hot towel to compress it before applying every night, it’ll surely work.”

Of course, this wasn’t medicinal wine, but spiritual spring water diluted several times.

Li Xiujuan stared at that clear “medicinal wine” bottle, her eyes widened. In these times, private remedies like this, which are not ordinary, are more precious than gold.

“How could I! It’s too precious!” She waved her hands repeatedly.

Lin Wan Yi unceremoniously stuffed the bottle into her hands, then turned around and, like performing a magic trick, took out a bright green cucumber with flowers and thorns.

“Take this as a snack for your child. Kids can’t always eat coarse grains.”

The appearance of the cucumber was like a heavy hammer that completely stunned Li Xiujuan.

Her gaze was glued to that cucumber, straighter and longer than her arm, her mouth starting to water uncontrollably.

“Lin! You’ve saved us in a critical moment! How much does it cost? I’ll pay you!” She said, reaching for her pocket.

“Sister in law, if you pay me, it means you don’t regard me highly.” Lin Wan Yi stopped her hand and shifted her tone, “But, there is something I would like to ask for your help with.”

“Say it! As long as I can do it!” Li Xiujuan patted her chest.

Lin Wan Yi pointed at the blueprint on the ground and said with some “distress”, “You see, I want to renovate this house, but I don’t have any tickets, nor can I buy materials. I heard that many families in the countryside have unused old beams, old wooden boards, I wonder if your family…”

“Yes! Yes! Of course we have!” Li Xiujuan’s eyes lit up when she heard this, “We have a pile in the backyard! It’s leftover from when we built the kitchen, thick and sturdy, my husband always complains about it taking up space and talks about chopping it up for firewood every day! How much do you need? I’ll have him move it all over to you! And we also have bricks!”

It’s like pie falling from the sky!

This was exactly the response Lin Wan Yi wanted.

“Thank you so much, sister in law! You’ve done me a huge favor!”

Li Xiujuan, holding the “immortal medicinal wine” and “expensive cucumber,” left cheerfully, thanking profusely.

Not long after, Gu Yanshen came back from “inspecting morning exercises,” bearing a chill.

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, he saw a scene that he couldn’t understand—

Li Yingzhang, from diagonally across, a man as sturdy as a bear, was carrying a pile of thick wooden boards and delivering them to his courtyard, with dozens of blue bricks piled nearby.

Gu Yanshen was frozen in place, the furrow under his military cap knitted into a tight knot.

Just then, the door opened.

Lin Wan Yi came out, only wearing a cloth as an apron, her face and hands smudged with ash like a kitten that has just gotten itself dirty.

She saw the wooden boards and bricks in the yard, then noticed the man standing at the door with a bewildered look, patted the ash off her hands and gave him an impossibly bright smile.

“Mr. Gu, welcome to inspect the work.”

Her voice was crisp and loud, carrying a touch of sly triumph.

“Our home renovation team is just missing a main force like you as heavy labor.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep