Chapter 53 Greasy

Chapter 53 Awkward

After buying the stamp album, Lu Yun got into stamp collecting. She started buying stamps—grabbing a few of every new issue that came out—and even bought a separate album for them.

With her good finances, Lu Yun had money to spare for stamps and bought quite a lot.

Coming out of the post office, Lu Yun ran into Chen Shu, who caught sight of the stamps in Lu Yun's hand.

Zhou Jun didn't buy stamps, period, so Chen Shu had to buy them herself, with no clue which ones were worth anything and which weren't. She had no idea Lu Yun was into stamps!

Chen Shu: "What are you doing here! Why are you buying stamps? Are you writing letters?"

Chen Shu figured Lu Yun was the letter-writing type. She refused to believe Lu Yun collected stamps—she'd rather it be letters.

Lu Yun tucked her stamps away and headed home. Chen Shu trailed after her, still pressing her on why she bought stamps, not even trying to hide what she was thinking, looking genuinely anxious.

Lu Yun: "Why buy stamps?"

Chen Shu: "Yes, why!"

Lu Yun: "And why would I tell you that?"

Chen Shu thought back to her past life. She hadn't known Lu Yun collected stamps then either. If stamp collecting was a habit of Lu Yun's, then wouldn't she have made money off it later too?

Chen Shu: "Cousin, were you into stamp collecting back then? Why didn't you tell me!"

At that, Chen Shu felt a pang of grievance. Lu Yun had no clue why Chen Shu was acting so hurt, and shot her a faintly mocking smile before turning to go.

Chen Shu: "I knew it. You've only ever been doling out charity—not treating me like a real cousin. One day I'll be living better than you. I'll be waiting for you to come crawling to me!"

This woman's clearly lost her marbles!

Chen Shu didn't manage to get anything out of the female lead, but she still firmly believed that with her rebirth and knowledge of the novel, she was the one who should be the female lead. She even figured she'd end up better off than the female lead. It didn't matter if the stamps she bought would turn a profit or not—she could just wait for the stock market to come around. She'd follow the female lead's moves and buy stocks—that would make money too!

Before all that, Chen Shu still had to clock in at the scrap yard. She needed cash—cash for stocks, cash for stamps!

Chen Shu headed back to the post office, then remembered something. She tried to pry out of the staff what stamps Lu Yun had bought, but the staff wouldn't spill, so she had to drop it, wondering if she should just tail Lu Yun for the next few days?

The scrap yard boss didn't mind Chen Shu taking time off. Lately, Chen Shu had been buttering up her boss with gifts to make it easier to take time off, but they were all cheap stuff—either bargain fruit or snacks that were going stale at home. Jiang Xiangqian had bought the snacks, so they didn't cost her a cent.

Back at the scrap yard, Chen Shu started working. The boss was pretty good to her, and Chen Shu figured he was a total pushover. So she just asked for more time off and headed home.

She wanted to be a nouveau riche wife. Just thinking about it set her teeth on edge again. She'd been reborn—why was she still grinding it out on her own? Where was her cheat code? Why couldn't she have it as easy as the female lead?

Lu Yun and Chen Qiao had plans to grab hotpot together, and they dug in with gusto.

Chen Qiao spotted that woman from their compound—the one who'd divorced and remarried into her relative's family. The guy with her was someone Lu Yun knew well too—Sun Zhi from their compound.

Chen Qiao: "Why are they eating together!"

They both slowed their chewing, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Sun Zhi: "Zhao Lan's using her pregnancy as an excuse to make me cook every day. You know why? Because in Lu Yun's house, the man does the cooking!"

Lu Yun had no idea. She'd figured Zhao Lan made Sun Zhi cook just because she didn't feel like doing it herself.

Sun Zhi had been drinking, looking like a wreck. "What about you? How's life after marriage?"

Li Ya: "Life's been pretty good since I got married. So what's this about—you didn't just drag me out here to vent about your wife, did you?"

Sun Zhi: "My mental issue still hasn't cleared up."

Li Ya urged: "If you've got a mental issue, then deal with it. What's the root of it, anyway?"

Sun Zhi: "The mental issue is—when Zhao Lan and I are getting intimate, she brings up Lu Yun. After that, I just... lose it."

Lu Yun settled the bill and walked out with Chen Qiao. Chen Qiao was laughing so hard she almost had to brace herself against the wall. She never would've guessed this had anything to do with Lu Yun too. Lu Yun's face gave nothing away—she just figured Sun Zhi and Zhao Lan were both out of their minds!

Chen Qiao: "Why would they bring you up in the middle of getting it on?"

Lu Yun: "How am I supposed to know!"

Chen Qiao laughed so hard her stomach started hurting.

Lu Yun: "Start forgetting everything you just heard, right now."

Lu Yun didn't want any more of the drama. She paid the bill and pulled Chen Qiao out of there—who knew what else Sun Zhi might blurt out.

The next morning, Lu Yun bumped into Sun Zhi in the alley on her way to work—he was heading to work too. She had no idea how she was supposed to act when Sun Zhi said hi to her.

Sun Zhi's first words were: "I never should've married Zhao Lan!"

Lu Yun: "That's between you and your wife—don't drag me into it. I've got to get to work!"

After work, Lu Yun ran into Zhao Lan back at the compound. Zhao Lan was covertly checking Lu Yun out. Honestly, sometimes Zhao Lan and Sun Zhi really were two peas in a pod!

When Sun Zhi got home from work and had to cook, Aunt Jiang stepped in to help again. Aunt Jiang figured that since she'd been cooking for Sun Zhi these past few days, Uncle Sun would get to eat her cooking too. Aunt Jiang didn't mind the work at all—she even wanted to put real effort into the cooking. She even thought about asking Lu's dad for pointers. But then she thought of Lu Yun and decided against it. She'd go get some tips from Lu's dad next time Lu Yun wasn't around.

The thought of Uncle Sun eating her cooking made Aunt Jiang blush a little.

Zhao Lan came out and asked: "Auntie, you're cooking for us again?"

Aunt Jiang: "Sun Zhi's a grown man—what does he know about cooking? I'm just giving him a hand here. When I was pregnant, I wasn't like you at all. How can you call yourself a wife acting like this!"

Aunt Jiang meant to say she'd cooked even while pregnant. The truth was, she never actually cooked—her mother-in-law looked after her, and so did her sister-in-law. Aunt Jiang had an easy pregnancy. The only woman in the whole compound who had it better during pregnancy was probably Lu Yun's mom. Aunt Jiang had been jealous of Lu's mom over this and had picked a fight with her husband about it, saying his job meant he couldn't be home every day to look after her. Her husband had given her extra money to make up for it.

That was also why Aunt Jiang didn't mind having his kids. They had a boy and a girl—otherwise she'd have stopped after the one son.

Zhao Lan: "Aunt Jiang, anyone hearing you talk would think you're my mother-in-law."

Aunt Jiang: "What are you talking about? What's all this mother-in-law nonsense?! Go on back inside—dinner'll be ready in a bit. Just have Sun Zhi come grab it!"

Zhao Lan was at a loss for words. She was trying to imitate Lu Yun and deliberately talk back to Aunt Jiang—so why was Aunt Jiang acting all coy instead?

Zhao Lan: "Sun Zhi, did I tell you to cook, or did I tell you to go get Aunt Jiang to cook?"

Sun Zhi bit his tongue, holding back. "Auntie, I've got it—I'll cook myself."

Aunt Jiang went home and started badmouthing Zhao Lan, cursing Zhao Lan out for a good while before she caught her husband staring at her. She felt a pang of guilt and went quiet.

Aunt Jiang: "Time to eat."

Uncle Li: "You've been cooking for the Suns all this time—what are we supposed to eat?"

Aunt Jiang: "What do you mean, what are we supposed to eat? Do I have to cook every single day? Can't we eat out? We're eating out!"

Aunt Jiang stormed out of the compound, face red with anger, Uncle Li trailing behind her.

Lu Yun sighed, "There are quite a few people hung up on love in our compound."

Her dad said, "That's true."

Lu Yun asked, "How did Aunt Jiang and Uncle Li get together?"

Her dad replied, "Those two? Aunt Jiang picked that man out herself. He's a country guy, and she got him a job. The Jiang family had two kids, one son and one daughter. The son had his own place, so the Jiang family gave this house to Aunt Jiang. The two of them have been living here ever since. Why did she choose him? Maybe she did it on purpose? Right after Uncle Sun got married, she went and got married herself."

Lu Yun asked, "And after they got married?"

Her dad said, "After they got married, if we hadn't caught wind of the gossip, I'd never have known she'd been thinking about Uncle Sun all along."

In the evening, her dad made noodles with a thick meat sauce. Lu Yun ate a bit more than she should have. After finishing, her dad needed to go buy soy sauce for the next morning. They were out of soy sauce, and there was some leftover rice she planned to make into soy sauce fried rice for breakfast.

On her way back with the soy sauce, Lu Yun ran into Aunt Jiang and Uncle Li, who were just coming back from dinner.

When they saw Lu Yun, Aunt Jiang shot her a dirty look. Uncle Li looked like he wanted to say something but didn't dare. Lu Yun took the soy sauce and went straight home.

Aunt Jiang cursed, "If she'd married Sun Zhi, the Sun family wouldn't be in this mess now!"

Uncle Li said, "I just remembered I've got some errands to run. I won't go back today. I'll come back tomorrow morning."

Lu Yun couldn't sleep, so she picked up the sweater Sister He had knitted, wanting to see if there was anything that could be improved. Hearing a commotion outside, Lu Yun cracked the door open and peeked out. Uncle Sun slipped out, and Aunt Jiang followed right behind.

Lu Yun called her dad, who hadn't gone to sleep yet, and the two of them went out together.

Aunt Jiang said, her voice full of concern, "You've worked so hard! I'll cook for you these next few days. Take it back and eat it yourself. I saw what Sun Zhi cooked today—he dumped way too much soy sauce in it. How's anyone supposed to eat that! And once he even mixed up salt for sugar."

Hearing Aunt Jiang say all this, Uncle Sun actually felt a bit wronged. "I've had such a hard time these days!"

Uncle Sun had been under so much pressure lately. Aunt Han bothered him every day, and so did Sun Zhi, not to mention his daughter-in-law who showed him no respect. If he had married Aunt Jiang back then, he wouldn't have liked her, but at least life would have been comfortable. Whatever he said, Aunt Jiang would have listened.

Aunt Jiang's softness had Uncle Sun gazing at her with something like affection.

Aunt Jiang was overjoyed, but looking at Uncle Sun's face, she felt this man was so greasy!

She had been longing for him her whole life, and now that he was treating her well, she actually found him greasy?

Uncle Sun grew even more pleased with himself and tried to embrace Aunt Jiang.

Aunt Jiang slapped him, stunning him.

Aunt Jiang said, "You're so greasy! I can't believe I ever had a thing for you!"

Lu Yun and her dad, who were enjoying the drama, were also stunned!

Author's note:

None