Ch 5: The Scumbag’s Daily Wife-Doting Life [QT]

After giving away the gift, Xie Li was in an extremely good mood.

But the moment he returned to the educated youth dormitory, he saw a crowd waiting in the courtyard. As soon as they spotted him, they all shot him reproachful looks.

“Where’d you go? Did you forget it was your turn to cook today? We’re starving to death over here.”

Hu Dezheng grumbled in an exaggeratedly fake tone, striking first before the others could complain. He shoved Xie Li straight toward the kitchen.

“Hurry up and cook.”

Before Xie Li could even react, he had already been pushed inside. Looking around, he found cooking utensils laid out everywhere in front of him.

His expression stiffened in disbelief.

He actually had to cook too?

“No idea where you went, but next time come back earlier. Everyone’s a bit unhappy.” Hu Dezheng sighed in relief once inside the kitchen, waved a hand, and said, “I’m going to wash up first. Hurry and finish cooking. I’m genuinely hungry.”

After saying that, he turned around and left with complete confidence.

Xie Li stared at his retreating back, then at the prepared grain and vegetables sitting before him, before rubbing his forehead with a bitter smile.

He really trusts me.

There was no helping it. Even though he had never cooked before in his life and was inwardly panicking like crazy, dinner still had to be made.

Facing such a high-level household task for the first time, Xie Li felt rather uncertain. Following the original host’s memories, he clumsily cooked a pot of sweet potato rice and prepared two simple dishes.

One dish used napa cabbage harvested the previous winter and stored in the cellar. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. After washing it clean, he heated a tiny bit of oil in the wok, chopped the cabbage into chunks, stir-fried it to remove the raw bitterness, sprinkled in some salt, then took it off the heat.

The second dish was purslane dug up and dried during the previous autumn. He boiled it briefly, removed it, then mixed it cold with salt and minced garlic.

After finishing, Xie Li secretly tasted a bite and discovered it was actually not bad?

Still, staring at the sweet potato rice and imagining its overly filling texture, he remained unsatisfied.

Focusing his thoughts into the space, he took out eight eggplants.

These eggplants had been picked earlier on the way back. The crops inside the space grew far too quickly. Two hours outside equaled nearly a full day inside, meaning he had to harvest eggplants at least every half day. Otherwise, they would grow too old and tough, ruining both the taste and the selling price.

Xie Li chopped garlic into pieces and sizzled it in oil until fragrant. Then he washed the eggplants thoroughly, cut them into chunks, and stir-fried them in the wok. During the cooking process, he first added salt, then a cornstarch slurry. Before long, the unique fragrance of eggplant mixed with garlic spread throughout the air.

“Dinner’s ready.”

Very satisfied with his results, Xie Li called out for the others to come carry the dishes outside and line up for rice.

“Huh? Where did the eggplants come from?” The educated youths looked surprised.

Eight people cooked together, and all the grain and vegetables were pooled together from everyone’s contributions. This year’s eggplants had not even been distributed yet, so logically there should not have been any eggplant dish at all.

Keeping a perfectly calm expression, Xie Li picked up a bite and casually replied:

“I went to the county city today and saw some villagers selling eggplants, so I bought a few for an extra dish.”

Farmers were allowed to sell small amounts of their own vegetables, grain, chickens, and ducks. If educated youths received money from home, they would also buy a little extra food from villagers to supplement their rations. Only large-scale buying and selling was forbidden. Getting reported for that would be disastrous.

The reason Xie Li chose to deal with the black market was precisely because his quantities were too large and he wanted convenience.

“Xie Li’s awesome!”

Hearing his explanation, the educated youths immediately brightened up. Nobody complained anymore about dinner being late. Chopsticks flew rapidly toward the dishes.

They were already sick of eating cabbage and wild vegetables every day. Fresh eggplants were far more delicious. The dish was savory and flavorful, soft and tender, perfectly paired with steaming sweet potato rice. At long last, the stomachs that had starved through an entire day of labor received some comfort.

“This eggplant’s amazing. The salt’s perfect, and the cooking’s spot on.”

“Exactly. I don’t know how Xie Li made it, but it tastes fantastic. Way better than the rest of us.”

“Not just the eggplant. The other two dishes are good too. Hurry up and try them.”

Several people were stunned.

“Wow, with cooking skills like this, wouldn’t it be amazing if Xie Li cooked every day…”

Xie Li silently picked up a couple bites of food. Watching the young faces around him, still smiling despite their difficult circumstances, something stirred faintly inside his heart.

Quickly finishing the rice in his bowl, he set down his chopsticks.

“You guys eat slowly. I’m going to bathe.”

Once he left, the others exchanged glances.

“Did he get upset?”

“Why would he suddenly be upset?”

“Didn’t you just say it’d be great if he cooked every day?”

“What are you talking about? I was obviously joking.”

“You can joke around with other people, but why joke about that with Xie Li? It’s not like you don’t know he’s the stingiest person here.”

The original host’s reputation had been far too deeply ingrained. Even though Xie Li had remained calm and pleasant these past few days without losing his temper, his image had not improved much in the short term.

Hu Dezheng did vaguely feel that Xie Li had changed, but after thinking about it, he still could not say for certain, so he kept quiet.

Thus, Xie Li never realized that he had only wanted to enter the space while everyone else was distracted eating, yet others had interpreted his departure as him being petty.

…

The educated youth dormitory had no drinking water supply, but behind it near the mountain flowed a small river suitable for bathing. To save firewood, the men bathed directly in the river during every season except winter. The female educated youths had it harder, needing to haul water back themselves for bathing.

Xie Li arrived at the riverside, dove straight into the water, then entered the space beneath the surface and began another round of harvesting.

Only around four hours had passed since his last visit, yet the eggplants inside the space were already hanging heavy with fruit again. After picking them all, he estimated the total weight at roughly two hundred jin.

The long beans and pumpkins had also begun ripening one after another, but the quantities were still too small. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Too lazy to harvest them yet, Xie Li decided to let them continue growing naturally and planned to collect them once more had matured the next day.

At the same time, he calculated today’s profits.

Eighty-two jin of eggplants sold at seven fen per jin had earned him five yuan and seven mao four fen in total. After spending three yuan on snow cream and another five fen at the supply cooperative for a packet of cabbage seeds, he still had a little over two yuan left.

Seeds did not require ration coupons. The single packet he bought contained around two thousand seeds. If planted in batches at calculated intervals, he could guarantee one harvest every seven days, perfect for selling steadily to the black market.

Still, the profits from growing vegetables were simply too low.

For ordinary villagers, earning five yuan a day was already miraculous. One month would mean one hundred fifty yuan. Two months could buy an entire bicycle. Yet Xie Li still found it unsatisfying, which was why he had started planting cabbage too.

But cabbage did not seem especially profitable either…

Xie Li fell into deep thought, trying to figure out whether there was some crop with truly high returns.

Since he could not disappear for too long, he quickly exited the space and resurfaced from the river. While thinking, he washed himself before returning to the educated youth dormitory.

The educated youths were all busy with different tasks. Two female educated youths were cleaning bowls and chopsticks, while two others had gone into the village to fetch water. Aside from Hu Dezheng sitting in the courtyard reading by moonlight, two more had already gone to bed early.

“You’re back?”

Seeing Xie Li return, Hu Dezheng smiled at him.

“You should sleep early. Resting more will help your body recover.”

After drinking the spiritual spring water, Xie Li’s injuries had long since healed. But for appearances’ sake, he continued changing the bandage on his forehead every day, so everyone still believed he was injured and remained very concerned for him.

Xie Li paused before replying:

“I’ve been sleeping too much these past few days. It’s too early, so I’m not sleepy yet.”

Then he entered the room, grabbed one of the original host’s books, and sat down in the courtyard beside Hu Dezheng to read.

“You finally figured things out.” Hu Dezheng looked deeply gratified.

He had always wanted to apply for a worker-peasant-soldier university position and only needed one more year before qualifying, so he studied very diligently. He had once encouraged the original host to study with him, but the original host’s health had been too poor. Just one day of labor left him dizzy with exhaustion, making it impossible to support the energy required for studying.

Now that Xie Li had arrived, and knowing the national college entrance exams would resume in just over a year, of course he intended to study in advance and prepare early.

Ever since drinking the spiritual spring water, Xie Li’s body felt light and healthy. Every night he entered deep sleep that relieved all exhaustion completely. There was no need for him to sleep especially early anymore. Even if he studied with Hu Dezheng until midnight, he would still have enough energy for labor the next day.

Hu Dezheng could not manage that. After reading for about an hour and remembering he still had work tomorrow, he said goodnight and went inside.

The other educated youths gradually returned to their rooms to sleep as well.

In the end, only Xie Li remained alone in the courtyard reading.

And it was precisely under those circumstances that Li Tiantian appeared at the educated youth dormitory.

“Xie Li.”

Hearing someone call him, Xie Li turned around.

Under the moonlight, he saw the girl standing outside the fence, her eyes slightly red.

Frowning, he walked over and asked softly:

“What’s wrong?”

When Li Tiantian failed to speak, Xie Li thought briefly before asking sharply:

“Did your family discover the snow cream?”

“How did you know?” Li Tiantian looked startled before lowering her head dejectedly. “My dad doesn’t like you.”

Xie Li gently patted the little girl’s head.

“Did he say why he dislikes me?”

“It’s just… he thinks you’re poor and don’t have a house. He said if we got married in the future, we wouldn’t even have a place to live.”

Xie Li found it rather amusing.

So even in this era, owning a house was already a necessary condition for getting married? No wonder housing prices became so terrifying in later generations.

“It’s alright. Don’t worry about it,” he said. “And don’t argue with him after you go back either. I’ll rely on my own abilities to make him look at me differently.”

His tone was sincere and trustworthy, and Li Tiantian believed him wholeheartedly. A trace of expectation appeared in her eyes.

“How are you going to do that?”

“Isn’t he looking down on me because I can’t give you a home?” Xie Li curled his lips slightly, his tone relaxed as he gazed at her gently. “Once my house is built, I’ll go ask your father for your hand in marriage.”

Li Tiantian froze.

Unable to withstand the charm in his eyes, she looked away evasively.

“I’ll wait for you,” she whispered.

Xie Li had not expected her to accept him so openly this quickly, and he felt somewhat surprised.

Especially considering his current state of utter poverty. If anyone else heard him talking about building a house, they would probably laugh at him. Yet Li Tiantian looked as though she would believe anything he said…

A trace of emotion stirred in Xie Li’s heart.

“Tiantian, wait for me three months. I’ll definitely marry you properly.”

Whenever Xie Li made a promise, he never disappointed people.

After escorting Li Tiantian home, he stood at a distance and glanced once toward the Li family courtyard before turning back toward the educated youth dormitory and entering the space once more.

╰───♡───╯

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