Chapter 22: Who Would Dare Marry Someone as Feisty as You?

After Jiang Jingtao took his leave, Leng Yongkang probed Leng Hui, "What is your relationship with that Jiang kid?"

Leng Hui knew that at this moment, whether it was Old Lady Leng lying in bed pretending to be sick, Sun Xiaojuan wolfing down leftovers from her bowl, or the low-profile Leng Mei, everyone had their ears pricked, waiting for the answer.

"What relationship? We're just high school classmates."

Leng Yongkang clearly didn't believe this answer. "Classmates come to visit the house after your mother is discharged from the hospital? You have dozens of people in your class. Do I need to take a day off tomorrow just to host your classmates?"

Leng Hui had a bit of a temper. "Believe it or not, it's up to you."

There was no need to bring her private affairs into the open.

"You—" Leng Yongkang truly felt that his daughter had grown up to be too difficult to discipline. He turned to complain to Tang Lin, "You don't manage her at all. I'm just worried about her, and she gets impatient just because I ask a few extra questions."

It made him feel like an outsider; did he look like someone who would harm her?

Tang Lin rolled her eyes at him. "They really are just classmates. It's your own mind that's filthy."

"My mind is filthy? You—" Leng Yongkang was left speechless.

"Alright, alright, they are just ordinary classmates. Don't overthink it." Tang Lin was tired and had Leng Hui support her as she went to lie down in the inner compartment.

Leng Mei curled her lip secretly, staring blankly at the swaying door curtain as the mother and daughter entered.

In her previous life, her focus hadn't been on Jiang Jingtao. In this life, since Leng Hui had no feelings for him, could she try to get closer to him?

Becoming his friend would be beneficial to her, regardless of what kind of relationship they developed later.

Leng Hui supported Tang Lin into the innermost compartment. As soon as she lifted the curtain and entered, she smelled a foul odor.

The mother and daughter were all too familiar with this smell. In the past, when they went on missions for many days without washing, their teammates would have this kind of stench, which became even stronger once they took off their shoes.

However, having only been in this world for ten days, the two of them found it hard to bear smelling it again.

"As they say, it's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality."

Tang Lin had Leng Hui help her retreat out of the room.

As they emerged, they saw Leng Yongkang huddled in a chair, looking half-asleep, his brow slightly furrowed. "Don't sleep, I'm asking you something."

Leng Yongkang opened his eyes and saw Tang Lin coming back out. "What do you want to ask?"

"Have you not washed your feet before going to bed these past few days?"

Leng Yongkang's eyes flickered. "Well, there were a few nights where I was too tired, so I didn't wash them."

Before he could finish, he met Tang Lin's look of disgust, and the sensitive nerves in his brain were triggered.

His tone changed instantly. "What's with that look? From the day we got married, you've required me to wash my face, rinse my mouth, and wash my feet every single day before getting into bed. I haven't dared to slack off for all these years. I've been home for a few days while you were away; what's wrong with a little laziness? It's not going to kill you!"

Tang Lin rubbed her forehead, too lazy to argue with him. "It's close enough to killing me. Get up immediately and take the sheets and duvet covers off the bed. While the sun is still high, carry the bedding to the ropes outside to air out. Wash the sheets and covers quickly. If that stench isn't aired out today, nobody is sleeping tonight."

Having issued the ultimatum, Leng Yongkang lost his nerve and didn't dare disobey.

The sheets and duvet covers were stripped and soaked in basins.

The bedding was carried upstairs to be aired out.

After settling Tang Lin into her small bed, Leng Hui rolled up her sleeves to help wash the sheets.

Leng Yongkang, squatting in the washroom clumsily scrubbing a pillowcase, felt greatly comforted. "My daughter is the only one who knows how to care for people. You say your mother makes a grown man like me wash sheets? That's against the natural order! What man does such things?"

Leng Hui glanced at Leng Yongkang, whose face was covered in soap bubbles. "You're just lucky you married my mother. Otherwise, you'd be a bachelor. Who would wash your clothes and cook for you? Do you expect a grown man in his dozens of years to have his mother serve him, washing his clothes, bedding, and underwear?"

Leng Yongkang froze; he had never thought about this. "...If I hadn't married your mother, I would have married another woman. I couldn't stay a bachelor forever. If I happened to marry a virtuous woman who viewed me as her world, I might not have to do anything at all at home."

Leng Hui stopped her movements and studied him seriously.

Leng Yongkang raised a hand to touch his face; the bubbles were making it itchy. He raised his arm and wiped his face on his sleeve, looking puzzled. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something dirty on my face?"

"Hmph! I see you think you're quite something, acting like someone would treat you like their world." Leng Hui retorted bluntly. "If I treated you like your world, would you be the Lord of Heaven? If the Lord of Heaven wants something, he gets it? Why don't you say, what if you marry a woman without a job who is also a slob, like Old Man Wang from the front street? Old Man Wang is your cautionary tale!"

Old Man Wang from the front street had poor family circumstances. He was an ordinary worker who married a woman with no job and a sluggish way of doing things, and they had a bunch of children.

Now, the parents couldn't support them, and the children couldn't manage. The whole family was living in dire straits. If it weren't for their urban household registration providing a grain quota, they truly wouldn't be able to feed the children.

With nothing in the house and chaos every day, Leng Yongkang probably wouldn't have lasted three days in such a life.

Thinking of that life, Leng Yongkang shuddered and shook his head. "You're a sharp-tongued child. With such a fierce temper, who would dare marry you in the future!"

"Haven't you heard that there's always someone better? The world is huge, and there are millions of men. There will definitely be one that suits me. And if I don't find a suitable one, I'll live just fine without a man."

Men understand men. It wasn't that Leng Yongkang didn't know; any normal man would definitely have a headache seeing a Leng Hui like this.

Why did he say this about his own daughter? Because he had a headache too.

Leng Hui scrubbed the sheets clean, placed them in a basin to the side, and said earnestly, "Comrade Leng Yongkang, finding my mother in this lifetime is a blessing from your eight generations of ancestors. Just be content. Don't be ungrateful and fail to cherish what you have, only to regret it once it's gone."

"Hey, since when did you start lecturing me? You must be bored. Starting tomorrow, you're going to help me glue cardboard boxes." Leng Yongkang had his pride; it would be strange if he wasn't annoyed by being lectured by a junior.

Leng Hui clicked her tongue and went back to scrubbing the pillowcase seriously.

By the time she finished the pillowcase, Comrade Leng Yongkang was still scrubbing those two pillowcases.

"I say, why are you so slow at doing things?"

Leng Hui snatched the pillowcase from his hands and told him to help rinse the sheets and duvet covers.

Although there were no washing machines in this era, rinsing sheets under a tap was quite fast.

After a few rinses, the water became clear.

The father and daughter worked together to wring out the sheets and covers and hung them on the clothesline in the courtyard; they would be dry in less than three hours.

"Alright, come collect them when the sun goes down this afternoon. I have to go to work now. Take good care of your mother at home."

Leng Yongkang checked the time and left first, pushing his bicycle.

Leng Hui poured out the water from the basin and carried it upstairs. On the second floor, she ran into Leng Mei, who was leaning on a cane, preparing to go to the toilet.

Leng Hui stepped aside to let her pass.

However, Leng Mei stopped as she passed her. "Sister, it's a bit inconvenient to use the toilet with a cane. Can you help me to the bathroom?"

"Your mother is right there. I'm exhausted from taking care of her too."

Leng Hui gestured toward the room. Just then, Sun Xiaojuan, worried about Leng Mei, happened to walk out of the room.

Seeing Leng Hui ignore Leng Mei and head straight home, Sun Xiaojuan said dissatisfiedly, "Xiaomei wants to go to the bathroom. As her sister, why aren't you lending a hand?"

Leng Hui lifted the large washbasin in her hand. "Take care of your own daughter. I'm very tired too."

She had been busy ever since returning from the hospital. She wasn't Iron Man; she got tired too.