Chapter 46: First Installment

Lin Xuexia lifted her gaze and instantly locked eyes with Fu Wei, whose gaze was filled with possessiveness. He pronounced the four words "obtaining our marriage certificate" with resolute force, without a single shred of hesitation.

Undoubtedly, had it not been for the three chapters of the covenant she had set with him beforehand—agreeing to date and get to know each other for a month before considering marriage—this fellow would have eagerly grabbed her by the neck and dragged her back to his wolf den on the spot.

That night when they went shopping for clothes, this guy had acted purely innocent to an extreme degree. Yet Lin Xuexia knew that if she truly gave him the chance, he would not hold back at all and would undoubtedly devour her whole.

The only reason he was patient and capable of self-restraint right now was because he had previously promised her that he was only allowed to touch her after they were married. Otherwise, this hungry wolf would probably have been unable to wait any longer.

For now, Fu Wei limited himself to kisses and embraces. Even when he became physically aroused, he restrained himself, step by step, simmering the frog in warm water as he slowly pulled her into his "wolf den."

And Lin Xuexia was no longer that innocent and naive girl who understood nothing, leaving him to completely dominate their relationship while she could only hide in overwhelmed retreat.

Lin Xuexia subconsciously touched her lower abdomen, a slight flash of light crossing her eyes. *Let this hungry wolf think he's about to catch the rabbit,* she thought. *Wait another half month, and this pathetic hungry wolf will realize he still needs to keep exercising self-restraint.*

"Fu Wei, the weather is turning cool, and the water is so freezing when washing clothes in the morning. Let's buy a larger washing machine later on." Lin Xuexia secretly mocked him in her heart.

Fu Wei looked surprised. "Why are you also washing clothes in the morning?"

"I accidentally got some oil on them when I got up in the morning, so I just washed them on the spot," Lin Xuexia feigned confusion and curiosity, asking, "What kind of clothes are you washing in the morning?"

"Ahem—" Recalling those alluringly vivid dreams, Fu Wei didn't even dare meet Lin Xuexia's eyes. The woman beside him was like a lighter, the flames she ignited scorching through his entire body over and over again. His Adam's apple bobbed as he vaguely muttered, "Nothing, forgot to wash them last night."

Lin Xuexia pressed on: "Didn't you say men wash clothes really quickly, and that you just wash them right after taking a shower?"

"I occasionally forget." It would have been fine if Lin Xuexia hadn't brought it up, but the moment she mentioned it, Fu Wei couldn't help recalling the red dress from that day, the soft moans lingering in his ears, and what he had accidentally seen at the shop that day... All these images uncontrollably flooded back into his dreams.

Lin Xuexia asked airily, "Did you wash the clothes I bought you?"

Fu Wei choked on his own saliva once more, looking extremely awkward. "I washed them."

"Once we're married and living together in the future, I suppose I'll find out what kind of clothes you're washing early in the morning." Lin Xuexia tried hard to suppress her laughter. "After all, for someone to wash clothes bright and early in the morning is just too strange."

As she spoke, Lin Xuexia couldn't help laughing out loud. She suddenly realized she didn't have much talent for teasing people; what she said seemed a bit too deliberate. *Whatever, if my cover is blown, so be it.*

Recalling Fu Wei's guilty conscience just moments ago, she grabbed his arm, her shoulders shaking as she laughed.

Fu Wei gazed darkly at the woman's swaying shoulders. At this point, how could he still not understand? This woman had done it entirely on purpose!!

He pulled the woman before him into his arms and ground his teeth. "Wife, we have a long way to go."

"We've dated, got the certificate, tied the knot, and our bridal home is fully renovated..." Fu Wei's pitch-black pupils grew increasingly deep, the contour of his Adam's apple pronounced. His voice was low and sexy, faintly carrying a sense of danger: "Then you'll never be able to escape."

Lin Xuexia smiled sweetly, entirely unafraid of being stared at by those greenish eyes—she had long since grown used to it. "People should live in the present moment. For now, certain people need to exercise some good self-control."

Don't think she hadn't noticed; she was frequently poked by a certain weapon-like stiffness.

Fu Wei lowered his head, his high-bridged nose gently rubbing against the soft flesh of Lin Xuexia's neck. He opened his mouth and gave a light nibble. "Holding such a piece of juicy meat every day and only being allowed to lick it like this—do you have any idea how hard I'm holding back?"

Lin Xuexia patted his head and encouraged him, "Keep up the good work."

"You're deliberately teasing me just because you're banking on the fact that I don't dare touch you right now." Fu Wei's voice was exceptionally hoarse.

"That's right, I have nothing to fear." Lin Xuexia bounced around happily. In the past, she never knew she possessed such "evil tendencies"—she loved teasing Fu Wei until he couldn't stand it, only to watch him remain utterly helpless against her.

When her period came later on, she would tease him just like this.

Anyway, they were already like an old married couple; playing a little bit wild didn't matter.

Fu Wei scooped her up by the waist, carried her into the bedroom, and murmured in a low voice, "Let me take a look."

Lin Xuexia asked, "Look at what?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to wear it for me to see? Let me see what you're wearing today?" Fu Wei's fierce, wolf-like eyes stared unblinkingly at her, sweeping her up and down from head to toe.

Lin Xuexia's cheeks flushed slightly: "..."

When it came to being shameless, this man remained utterly shameless.

Fu Wei promised, "I'll just look, I won't do anything else."

*I'll believe your ghost stories,* Lin Xuexia thought. The moment she tried to cover her chest, she was pulled straight into the man's embrace. First came the standard trio of holding hands, embracing, and kissing, followed by kisses traveling from her chin down to her chest, leaving several tooth marks in other sensitive spots.

By the time Liu Yangqun came over in the evening to do her homework, Lin Xuexia was sitting beside her, working through math problems together. Seeing Fu Wei appear, her hand involuntarily rose to block her chest.

Feeling flustered and irritated, she casually tore a piece of paper from her scratchpad, rapidly balled it into a paper pellet, and hurled it at the back of Fu Wei's head.

Fu Wei gave her a deep look, said nothing, and walked into the bathroom. The windows of the narrow bathroom were wide open, and the night wind rushed in howling; the musky scent from moments ago seemed not to have dissipated entirely.

He closed his eyes, thinking to himself: *Inflicting eight hundred casualties on the enemy while suffering a thousand of my own.*

*Why was I so impulsive? Looking was worse than not looking; now I won't even be able to forget it.*

*I'd better honestly get up and wash those clothes tomorrow morning.*

"Elder Sister Xuexia, can you help me check if this calculation is wrong?" Liu Yangqun asked, pointing to a math problem.

Meeting Liu Yangqun's innocent eyes, Lin Xuexia's cheeks flushed. She regretted her actions—forget it, whatever, back to math problems it was. She picked up paper and pen. "Alright, let me calculate it."

The spot where she had been bitten still felt faintly warm, making it stand out even more conspicuously in front of an outsider, as if her skin were burning.

"I still need to recite two poems for Chinese class later. Sister, can you help me sign the word 'Recited' on the assignment? No..." Liu Yangqun seemed to recall something and hesitated. "Or better yet, let uncle help me sign it."

Lin Xuexia widened her eyes in shock: "Why?!"

Liu Yangqun explained, "The last time sister helped me sign it, the teacher thought I signed it myself..."

Speaking of this, Liu Yangqun looked quite aggrieved. Her parents' handwriting was crooked and scrawled, whereas Sister Xuexia's handwriting was far too neat, proper, and obedient—it didn't look like an adult's signature at all.

Lin Xuexia: "!!!!!!!!!"

With a guilty conscience, Fu Wei sprayed some floral water in the bathroom to completely cover up any traces. The moment he stepped out, he heard Liu Yangqun's words, and he could no longer hold back the smile at the corners of his lips.

"Don't call me uncle. Call me brother-in-law, and I'll sign it for you."

Lin Xuexia shot him an impatient glare. "Go away. Yangqun, sister will help you sign it."

Liu Yangqun added, "Sister, I also need to do a dictation test for new characters."

Being able to complete her Chinese homework at Lin Xuexia's place felt to Liu Yangqun like meeting a great savior; she was practically eager to finish the entire set. The words dictated by her biological mother were completely unintelligible to her, and she would just end up getting scolded.

"Alright, let's continue. Some people had better not disturb our studies." Lin Xuexia waved her hand to chase Fu Wei away.

Fu Wei chuckled, folding up his sleeves to reveal his sturdy, well-defined arm muscles, and dutifully went to clean up the mess in the kitchen. In particular, the kitchen exhaust fan tended to accumulate grease and needed regular cleaning. Once the weather turned cold, the grease would solidify and become immovable.

Liu Yangqun stammered through the recitation of a poem. Once she finished, Lin Xuexia had Liu Yangqun teach her how to read and recite it, asking how the teacher had taught it in class. After retelling the lesson, Liu Yangqun even coached Lin Xuexia in memorizing it.

Originally, Liu Yangqun hadn't been able to recite it smoothly on her own, but after teaching it through once like this, the impression deepened. She recited it fluently this time and exclaimed excitedly, "Sister Xuexia, you memorize books so fast!"

"Is that so? I think I memorize things pretty fast too!" Lin Xuexia smiled brightly, feeling in high spirits. Compared to a child, at just twenty years of age, her bodily functions were at their absolute peak. Just by glancing through something a few times, she could memorize a poem, which gave her an immense boost in confidence.

"Hold the book, I'll recite all three of them to you." Lin Xuexia handed the book back to Liu Yangqun and smoothly recited three elementary school classical poems in one go.

Fu Wei leaned against the windowsill with his legs crossed, looking tenderly at Lin Xuexia reciting poems ahead of him, as well as Liu Yangqun holding the textbook opposite her with utmost seriousness. Although the scene was quite unusual, he couldn't help drifting into fantasies about the future when he and Lin Xuexia would have children...

She would undoubtedly be a wonderful mother.

***

Over the next week, the chopped pepper and garlic paste as well as the chopped pepper radish paste that Lin Xuexia had prepared were fully fermented and ready. They were sealed and stored in glass jars in the refrigerator; whenever someone buying lunch boxes requested the chopped pepper sauce, a spoonful would simply be added on top.

"Xuexia, this chopped pepper sauce you made is so fragrant! Just relying on this to eat rice, I could eat three bowls!" Gao Chunyan gave exceptionally high praise to Lin Xuexia's homemade chili sauce. It was wildly fragrant, both spicy and savory, especially with that punch of garlic flavor—fresh, fragrant, and tangy enough to make someone want to swallow their own tongue.

Lin Xuexia was also generous with the oil, and the vibrant red oily juices seeped into the rice grains. Gao Chunyan took a single spoonful of the chopped pepper sauce, polished off half a bowl of rice, and still felt it wasn't enough.

Zhao Huiru, who usually couldn't handle spicy food, was now using the chopped pepper sauce with her meals as well, eating with relish.

"Fragrant, this flavor is just fragrant!"

Calculating that the batch of chopped pepper sauce she had made would be enough to last for a while, Lin Xuexia stopped focusing her energy on it. She was preparing to make a trip back to her hometown. The round trip would take five or six days, and she needed to prepare the meat supplies in advance for those days.

The portions she prepared could last for at most a day or two, and for the rest, she would have to pass the heavy burden onto Xue Lingjun.

Xue Lingjun had already mastered making cold dishes; braised meat was passable, but her barbecued pork (*char siu*) still fell short.

Cooking was like that: even when using the exact same recipe, different people would produce different flavors, unless it was eventually standardized through precise machine operations to maintain absolute consistency in taste.

Just like in her past life, Zheng Yuangkong and Zhang Huiping had managed to acquire her braised food recipes, yet they had ultimately lost to her.

Recipes were dead, but people were alive. Every year brought new varieties of ingredients, weather patterns differed annually, and the flavors of various ingredients underwent subtle shifts—not to mention that people's market tastes and preferences constantly changed... All of these required human adjustments.

"Lingjun, you've become very capable. You should be able to hold down the fort for the few days I'm away." At worst, they simply wouldn't sell char siu for a few days; the braised meat alone could carry them through.

Xue Lingjun nodded hesitatingly, the look she directed at Lin Xuexia filled with boundless admiration.

She felt Lin Xuexia was simply too formidable!

When she first met Lin Xuexia, Xue Lingjun only thought she was exceptionally pretty and gorgeous. But after following Lin Xuexia to study, she learned just how much knowledge Lin Xuexia actually possessed—the sheer know-how involved in selecting ingredients alone was enough to keep her studying diligently for a very long time.

Not to mention all the hidden intricacies involved in making braised meat.

Making braised meat wasn't difficult, but wanting to make it delicious every single time required painstaking effort.

The braised meat and char siu that Xue Lingjun produced weren't bad—an ordinary person tasting them would find them delicious. But if someone first tasted what Lin Xuexia made and then tried Xue Lingjun's version, they would furrow their brows in disappointment; the gap between them was vast.

"Niece Xue, don't get discouraged either. You've already mastered thirty percent of the technique!" Zhao Huiru came over to pick up some braised meat and, seeing the scene, offered Xue Lingjun a few words of encouragement.

Watching Xue Lingjun learn how to make cold dishes and braised meat from Lin Xuexia over the past few days, Zhao Huiru had originally wanted to pay close attention and secretly learn a trick or two. But after tasting the meat made by Xue Lingjun and comparing it to Lin Xuexia's, she had grown deeply disheartened.

Previously, if her palate hadn't been spoiled, she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. But after getting used to Lin Xuexia's cooking, eating Xue Lingjun's made her frown.

Consequently, Zhao Huiru gave up on the idea of stealing techniques. Setting aside the spice formula itself, even using the exact same spices didn't guarantee producing the exact same flavor.

Sneaking a lesson wouldn't yield any real results anyway.

Before leaving, Lin Xuexia handed out red envelopes to all three of them as bonuses for their hard work during this period.

Zhao Huiru accepted her bonus and grinned from ear to ear, becoming even more fiercely loyal to Lin Xuexia.

She knew Lin Xuexia wasn't a petty or stingy person; following her meant she would never suffer a loss.

After arranging the matters of the stall clearly, Lin Xuexia currently had over two thousand yuan on hand. She went to the bank to exchange her small change for large-denomination bills. At this time, the bank's mainstream currency consisted of the new paper notes issued in 1987—crisp hundred-yuan bills.

Lin Xuexia was quite fond of the 1987 currency series. The one-jiao, two-jiao, and five-jiao notes had vibrant colors and exquisitely detailed portrait designs, making them feel warm and familiar. This would be the mainstream currency for the next several years.

Lin Xuexia first made a phone call to the village, having the village cadres inform Lin Yongfu and his wife that she would soon be returning home for a visit.