Marrying My Bestie's Ferocious Brother - He Calls Me His Baby!-Chapter 140 - 139: My Husband Is All-Rounded—You Came to Make Fun of Me?
At the canteen entrance, the afternoon sun was just right.
Gu Yanshen held Lin Wan Yi with one hand, and effortlessly carried a stack of heavy foreign-language books with his other arm.
The two walked neither fast nor slow, their shadows stretching long on the shaded path.
A male classmate who had just come out of the library, carrying his books, hurriedly walked but slowed his pace as he looked up at this scene.
He saw how that tall man used his broad shoulders to shield the woman beside him from most of the sunlight.
He also saw him holding her hand, fingers tightly intertwined, walking so calmly.
The male classmate blushed slightly, lowered his head, and quickened his pace.
Rounding a corner near the teaching building, Chen Zhiyuan was leaning against the wall in distress.
He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and gingerly pressed it against his bleeding palm, his face showing a mix of pain and anger.
Gu Yanshen’s steps did not falter.
His indifferent gaze swept past Chen Zhiyuan, without any pause, as if he was looking at a bothersome rock on the roadside.
That glance, though devoid of warmth, carried an invisible pressure.
Chen Zhiyuan’s body stiffened suddenly, and his hand, which was holding the handkerchief, stopped in mid-air.
He felt as though an invisible hand was strangling his throat, making it difficult to breathe.
By the time he came to his senses, that dazzlingly compatible pair had already walked far away.
Before reaching the small building’s entrance, they heard a short, sharp scream from Gu Lan coming from the courtyard.
"Oh no!"
Lin Wan Yi’s heart tightened, and she quickened her pace.
Gu Yanshen pushed open the courtyard gate.
Chaos lay before them.
A large puddle of water covered the ground in front of the kitchen door, almost reaching the eaves.
"Sis-in-law! Big brother! You’re finally back!"
Gu Lan, soaking wet, was holding a towel, futilely trying to block an old water pipe in the kitchen that was spraying relentlessly.
The water pressure was high, making the towel ineffective and splashing water everywhere, making her look like a drenched rat.
Wang Guihua was anxiously stamping her feet beside her, her face full of worry.
"The pipe joint suddenly burst! I was going to find someone from the school logistics, but the neighbor said that Master Wang, who’s responsible for this area, took a leave today due to personal matters. There’s only a young apprentice, and we’re not sure when he might come!"
"If this water keeps flowing, our small building’s first floor will surely be flooded!"
Gu Yanshen placed the books in his hand steadily on the stone table in the yard.
He said only two words to the flustered Gu Lan and Wang Guihua.
"Move aside."
His voice was not loud, yet it carried an instant calming authority.
Gu Lan instinctively let go and jumped to the side.
Gu Yanshen said nothing more and walked straight to the corner of the yard where the main water valve was located.
He extended his hand, grasped the rusty valve, and his arm muscles slightly bulged.
"Squeak—"
After a piercing friction sound, the valve was tightly turned shut by him.
The arrogant jetting water in the kitchen ceased abruptly.
The entire courtyard suddenly quieted down.
Gu Yanshen rolled up his shirt sleeves, already half-soaked, revealing two distinct muscular forearms.
He walked into the kitchen and crouched down in front of the pipe that was still dripping water.
With just one glance, he pointed at the burst joint.
"The gasket is worn out."
His judgment was succinct and accurate.
Wang Guihua sighed, even more worried.
"Oh, if the gasket is broken, it needs replacing with a new one. But this thing can only be bought at Dongfeng Hardware Store several miles away, and if we go now, we won’t be back until after dark."
Just then.
At the courtyard’s entrance, a sharp and sarcastic voice echoed, filled with undisguised schadenfreude.
"Oh dear, what’s happened here? From afar, I heard the commotion and thought someone was setting off firecrackers for a celebration. Turns out it’s a flood here!"
Liu Meiqin, pulling along Li Li and followed by a few girls eager to watch the commotion, swaggered in.
Their eyes flitted over the wet ground and Gu Lan’s disheveled appearance, full of amusement.
Li Li immediately put on an act, covering her mouth.
"What should we do? I heard Master Wang from maintenance is not around today, so there might be no one to fix it."
Liu Meiqin folded her arms, her eyes slanted as she looked at Gu Yanshen squatting in the kitchen, raising her voice further.
"Classmate Lin is really blessed, marrying a military officer husband. But, though this officer looks impressive, after all, he’s used to handling guns; surely he wouldn’t be able to handle such coarse work like fixing pipes, right?"
The girl next to her laughed along.
"Exactly, for repair work like this, you need a professional master. Seems like Classmate Lin will have to spend a day without water today."
Gu Lan was so angry her face turned pale, just about to retort. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
But Gu Yanshen seemed to not hear their ridicule at all.
He stood up, walked to the stone table, and opened the military-green canvas satchel he brought back from the army.
Liu Meiqin’s mouth corner curved up further as she whispered to the person beside her.
"What is he doing? Is he going to pull out a grenade from his bag and blow up this broken pipe?"
A few girls giggled quietly.
Under their gaze, Gu Yanshen took out a small package wrapped squarely in kraft paper from his bag.
He opened the kraft paper wrap.
Inside, there were more than a dozen neatly arranged brand new black rubber gaskets of varying sizes.
All sounds in the courtyard ceased.
The smiles of Liu Meiqin and the girls she brought instantly froze on their faces.
Gu Yanshen didn’t glance at anyone.
He just picked out a perfectly sized gasket and turned back to the kitchen.
Squatting down, he wiped the pipe’s thread clean with a cloth, fitted the new gasket, and picked up the wrench.
Tightened.
The whole process was smooth as silk, so fast it made people’s eyes dazzled.
He stood up and spoke to Wang Guihua, who was still dazed.
"Nanny Wang, open the main valve."
"Oh... oh! Okay!"
Wang Guihua awoke as if from a dream and quickly ran to open the main water valve.
In the kitchen, the new fitting connected seamlessly in the dim light.
No leaks, not even a drop of condensation.
"Done."
Gu Yanshen picked up the nearby towel and wiped the non-existent dust off his hands.
Gu Lan was the first to react. She looked at her brother with admiration, her eyes filled with little stars.
Then, she suddenly turned around, hands on her hips, like a proud little rooster facing Liu Meiqin’s group.
She cleared her throat and deliberately mimicked Liu Meiqin’s earlier tone.
"Oh dear, classmates, I’m so sorry for making you come all this way for nothing to watch the spectacle!"
"My brother, you know, can carry a gun to defend the nation and fix pipes to set up a home, he’s quite something!"
She then returned to her clear and crisp voice, firing like a machine gun.
"Unlike some people who only move their lips, gossip everywhere, and run faster than anyone else when they see others have a bit of trouble, hoping to see a joke! And yet, no joke was seen, they became the joke themselves!"
At this point, a woman from the neighboring yard, who was hanging clothes, also popped her head out to loudly agree.
"Indeed! Wanyi’s partner, Mr. Gu, at first glance, is a capable and steady good man! This is what living life should look like! Unlike some young girls who gossip all day long!"
Liu Meiqin’s face turned red and then white, white and then blue, like a color palette.
"You... you guys..."
She couldn’t say another word, stomped her feet hard amidst the suppressed laughter around, pulled Li Li, and fled without looking back.
Night deepened.
The courtyard lay silent, occasionally disturbed by the sounds of autumn insects.
The children slept sweetly in their cradles, their little mouths slightly open, breathing evenly.
In the bedroom, that dim small oil lamp radiated warmth.
Lin Wan Yi was bowed over the desk, fully engrossed.
Her pen tip moved rapidly on the manuscript paper, leaving clear handwriting.
She’s drafting a preliminary idea on the biological control of bollworm, a concept she has contemplated for a long time.
Gu Yanshen finished washing up but didn’t go to bed to disturb her.
He quietly moved a small stool and sat silently at the other corner of her desk.
He fished a small yet sharp folding military knife out of his pocket.
Then picked a few unsharpened pencils from the pen holder on the desk.
He laid out an old newspaper on his lap and lowered his eyes, focused intently on sharpening the pencils.
His hands were steady, fingers long and strong.
The military knife, in his hands, seemed alive.
Its blade cutting the wood produced a subtle and rhythmic rustling sound.
Wood shavings curled into beautiful spirals, one after another, lightly falling onto the newspaper.
Only two sounds filled the room.
The rustling of Lin Wan Yi writing, and the rustling of him sharpening pencils.
The two sounds intertwined, forming a perfectly harmonious and tranquil nocturne.
Soon, a pencil was sharpened.
The tip was sharp and long, exposed graphite shining darkly, the wooden part crafted smooth and even, like an exquisite piece of art.
He placed the sharpened pencil softly, without a sound, beside Lin Wan Yi’s hand.
Then picked up the second, the third...
When Lin Wan Yi finished a page, paused for a moment in thought, she found that beside her hand, at some unknown time, a neat row of sharpened pencils had been placed.
Each pencil was of a consistent length, with perfect tips, like soldiers waiting for inspection.
