Switched Marriage: The Coddled Little Wife-Chapter 335: Mind Your Own Business

Cooking for two people made the process much faster; the meat was stewed, fish soup was made, and finally two green vegetables were stir-fried.

Lin Chuxia asked Qin Yang to set the table, while she took a bowl of braised pork to the neighbors.

After knocking on the door, it was quickly opened by a girl in her teens, not very tall and bearing a resemblance to Sister-in-law Fu.

"Who are you looking for?"

Before Lin Chuxia could reply, Sister-in-law Fu came out from inside the house.

"Yaping, this is Qin’s family who just moved in next door. You can call her auntie or aunty," after she finished speaking, Sister-in-law Fu invited Lin Chuxia to sit inside.

"I won’t sit down," Lin Chuxia replied politely, handing the meat to Sister-in-law Fu, "Thanks for looking after us these days since we’ve just moved in. We just started cooking today, and I stewed some meat. My cooking isn’t great, so please don’t mind it."

"Oh wow, look at this meat! If you hadn’t said you made it yourself, I would have thought you bought it from the State-Owned Restaurant. It smells delicious."

Sister-in-law Fu smiled and took the bowl, "Come sit inside for a bit; I’ll get you a bowl."

"I should get back home; we’re waiting to have dinner. I’ll come over for a chat when I have time."

With just a wall separating them, Sister-in-law Fu already knew the situation next door and didn’t insist on keeping Lin Chuxia any longer, quickly clearing a bowl and repeatedly reminding her to come over and sit awhile when she had time.

Upon returning home, the dinner was already laid out.

Qin Yang and Li Wei were drinking, while Lin Chuxia and Jiang Hong went straight to eating.

After the two finished eating, Jiang Hong, not minding the men who were drinking, pulled Lin Chuxia to have a look around their new home.

The furniture and appliances were in place, but there were still many parts of the house that hadn’t been tidied.

It just so happened that Qin Yang had time off, so they took care of the large items first and planned to slowly sort out the smaller ones.

Since Jiang Hong was there, Lin Chuxia consulted her, "You arrived here earlier than me. Do you know where to find a tailor? I want to make two sets of bed sheets and duvet covers, and also some new curtains."

Their curtains were leftovers from the previous occupants, light blue with blue bamboo designs (as shown in the picture).

Not only were the patterns outdated, but they also didn’t block out the light.

Last night, when Qin Yang playfully pulled her to the window, she was almost scared out of her wits, always feeling a lack of security.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Hong let out a sigh.

"If you don’t mind, I can make them for you. I have nothing much to do at home anyway, and I have a sewing machine."

"That’s great," Lin Chuxia obviously didn’t mind, "Are you free tomorrow? I’ll go buy some fabric."

"Yes, I’m so bored staying at home all day; it’d be great to go out for a walk with you."

Meanwhile, in the neighboring Hu Family’s home.

The family gathered around the dinner table.

Hu Xingwei, Hu Qing’an’s youngest son, saw the braised pork on the table and immediately started to wail with excitement.

"Mom, why do we have meat today? Is this from the State-Owned Restaurant? What’s the occasion today?"

Hu Qing’an also turned his attention to his wife.

Fu Changying placed the steamed buns on the table and said to Hu Qing’an, "The Qin’s family next door just sent these over. I heard quite a commotion in their yard; it seems like that new colleague from your unit, Li Wei, is helping Mr. Qin adjust the TV and they even invited him to stay for dinner."

Hu Qing’an nodded, picked up his chopsticks and began to eat, "Li Wei and Qin Yang were transferred from the same unit. They were part of the same group in their old unit, so they naturally have a closer relationship."

Fu Changying sounded a bit worried, "They’re both in your department, right? Mr. Qin’s position is about on par with yours, and now both of them have been transferred to your department..."

Before his wife could finish, Hu Qing’an interrupted her discontentedly, "Why bring this up? No matter where we are, we work to earn a living, and according to your logic since I’ve been at the unit for over a decade and I know many people, shouldn’t I have an even greater advantage? Work is based on merit, not on forming cliques and counting heads."

Fu Changying smiled faintly, "I didn’t mean it that way. I just feel that the leadership values Mr. Qin a lot. It’s good for colleagues in the same department to interact with each other. You could even give him a pole for a TV antenna, to help adjust the TV, isn’t that just lending a hand?"

Hu Qing’an glanced at her indifferently, "Giving him a pole, that’s because we had one and he needed it; it was just a small favor. But giving him something and then also helping him adjust the TV, that’s going a bit too far."

He glanced at the braised pork in front of him, insinuating something, "Things are fine as they are now, reciprocation is good enough. Don’t make things more complicated than they are. You’ve lived in this compound with me for so many years, you should know better by now."

"I’m just worried because they say the new Mr. Qin is young and accomplished, and the leaders care about him a lot. You’re at a certain age already, and he’s already at the same level as you upon arrival—that’s what worries me."

"There’s nothing to worry about. Just do your own job well. If you and Qin’s family maintain a good neighborhood relationship, that’s perfect."

Fu Changying nodded and brought the topic back to Qin Yang’s family, her enthusiasm renewed.

"I don’t know what their background is, but I heard they’re from the county below. They don’t look it, though. That dress she was wearing, I’ve seen it at the Department Store. It wasn’t cheap. I wouldn’t dare spend that much. And today, they’ve been busy all day—from furniture in the morning to appliances in the afternoon—everything brought home by the truckload. How much money must that be?"

"Mom, when I came home from school this afternoon, I saw the big new TV next door. It’s a color TV, a Japanese Toshiba, an imported TV," Hu Xingwei said with excitement.

Hu Yaping gave him a disparaging look, "What’s so good about an imported TV? If you ask me, I wouldn’t take Japanese stuff even if it was free."

Hu Qing’an didn’t want his family discussing others and cut off the conversation, "Eat your meal properly and don’t worry about other people’s business."

Hu Xingwei picked up the last piece of meat from his bowl and negotiated with his mother, "Can I go watch TV at Mr. Qin’s after I finish my homework?"

"Don’t we have a TV at home? Why go to someone else’s place to watch?"

"Our TV is black and white, I want to see a color one. You see, Sun Wukong looks so good in color in the foreign movies. I want to see what a color ’Journey to the West’ looks like."

Fu Changying glanced at her husband, but seeing no reaction from him, she then said to her son, "They’ve just moved in, we’re not familiar with them. It’s not appropriate for you to go watch TV at their house."

...

Qin Yang had taken a day off just because of Lin Chuxia’s arrival and had to go back to work the next day.

Early in the morning, before 7 o’clock, Lin Chuxia woke up to find the bed next to her empty and heard some noise from the courtyard.

She pulled back the curtains and saw a man doing push-ups in the yard. Lin Chuxia raised an eyebrow.

No wonder he could maintain a good physique despite sitting in the office all day.

Suddenly feeling inspired, she changed into her sports gear and tied her hair up into a bun while heading to the yard.

Seeing her like this, Qin Yang smiled slightly, "Together?"

"Sure."

She began with some warm-ups, stretching her limbs.

Just as Qin Yang thought she was only stretching her limbs for some light exercise, he saw the little lady grab his mat, place her hands on it, and start doing push-ups.

Qin Yang: "..."

His invitation to join him was just to exercise together, not necessarily to do that.