Marrying My Bestie's Ferocious Brother - He Calls Me His Baby!-Chapter 22: Coughs Fill the Courtyard, Mr. Gu’s Home Overflowing with the Aroma of Meat!
His steps faltered, nearly causing him to fall on the spot.
Turning around, he met Lin Wanyi’s clear eyes, devoid of any timidity, filled only with blatant mockery.
His face, which had flushed with pride, instantly lost all color, turning shades of green and white, even more vivid than a palette.
The army wives around them first fell into a deathly silence, then erupted into a suppressed murmur.
"Oh my, she really dares!"
"She’s not some delicate miss from the city, she’s clearly the living Yama’s wife, with a temper that matches the Captain’s!"
"Mr. Li’s face, today it’s completely lost..."
The comments felt like countless tiny needles, prickling Mr. Li all over, leaving him numb.
He trembled his lips, wanting to say something to save face, but not a single word came out. In the end, he left almost in disgrace amid the laughter.
Lin Wanyi didn’t give him another glance, clapped her hands, and turned to go inside.
As she looked up, she collided with a wall.
A wall made of muscles and anger, hard and searing.
Gu Yanshen stood inside the door, at a height of 1.9 meters, his shadow completely enveloping her.
The training vest he wore was soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to his heaving chest, every muscle taut with extreme anger.
Without a word, he brushed past her, intending to leave.
The aura of rage intent on tearing someone apart caused the few remaining army wives in the courtyard to retreat in fear.
"Stop."
Lin Wanyi spoke up, her voice not loud but clear. She didn’t reach out to pull him, just moved a step to the side, perfectly blocking Gu Yanshen’s path.
Gu Yanshen halted, looking down at her, his jawline as taut as iron. He squeezed out three words through clenched teeth: "Move aside."
"Where to? To find Mr. Li?" Lin Wanyi asked calmly, looking up at him.
"He’s courting death."
"You could beat him up, it might vent some anger." Lin Wanyi didn’t retreat but advanced, taking a step closer, her clear eyes fixed on him. "But then what? A Captain, hitting a logistics officer over some supplies. If word gets out, it’s you, Mr. Gu, abusing power, bullying others."
Watching the anger boiling in the man’s eyes, she continued, "His cousin got dealt with by you for not following rules. He’s just waiting for you to make a mistake, to seize on something against you. A punch now would only fulfill his wish."
Gu Yanshen’s clenched fist made faint cracking sounds. He understood the logic but couldn’t swallow his anger.
Lin Wanyi gently poked his hard chest muscle with her finger. "Rules are dead, but people are alive. Dealing with such a person, fists are a low tactic. I have a better way to make him pay double for today."
With that, she turned and closed the door, shutting out all prying eyes from the courtyard.
The tension in the room remained. Gu Yanshen paced like a beast trapped in a cage, but ultimately didn’t rush out.
Lin Wanyi, however, appeared unfazed, walked to the bed, and lifted the quilt. She took a new set of bedding from a wooden chest at the foot of the bed, quickly spreading it out.
"This is..." Gu Yanshen’s words got stuck in his throat at what she pulled out.
A brand new quilt, its cover a subdued moonwhite, the fabric smooth and soft. With a light shake from Lin Wanyi, the entire quilt fluffed up like a cloud, light and fluffy, far better than the thick, heavy ones from the army.
"My mom prepared this as part of my dowry, left at the bottom of the chest; I almost forgot about it." Lin Wanyi made up a casual excuse, neatly spreading the new quilt and patting it, "See, his junk is trampled outside the door, while we sleep on this inside. So, who really got the short end?"
She turned around, winking at the still stern-looking man, cheekily smiling: "Mr. Construction Manager, want to try it tonight? Sleeping on clouds." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Looking at the soft quilt and the brilliantly smiling woman in front of him, Gu Yanshen felt the flames of anger that could devour everything slowly doused. He didn’t say a word, but the red on his ears quietly spread.
Having dealt with the quilt, Lin Wanyi moved over to the bag of poor-quality coal.
She wasn’t repulsed; instead, she squatted down, opened the bag, and examined it closely. She pinched a bit of coal dust, rubbed it between her fingers.
Watching her actions, Gu Yanshen asked in confusion, "Throw it away, I’ll find someone to replace it."
"Replace it? Is the replacement necessarily better?" Lin Wanyi stood, dusting off her hands, "No need, this stuff will soon be a treasure."
She entered the small kitchen, dragging out a half-sized clay basin from a corner. She poured some black coal cinders into the basin, then mysteriously took two small paper packets out of her cloth bag, pouring the yellow and white powders inside into the basin.
Finally, she scooped some water from the water jar and carefully poured it into the basin, picking up a stick and stirring vigorously.
Standing behind her, Gu Yanshen watched as she mixed the substances into a sticky black paste, unable to fathom what she was doing.
"What are you doing?"
Without turning, Lin Wanyi kept manipulating, packing the black paste into a perforated wooden mold bit by bit. She raised her face, covered with black paste, and grinned at him, flashing white teeth like a mischievous fox.
"Just wait, Mr. Gu. Soon, people will be crying and begging to trade ration tickets for our coal."
The night deepened, the north wind howling through the military compound.
Chimneys from every household puffed smoke, but it wasn’t cooking smoke, rather choking, pungent black smoke.
"Cough cough! What kind of lousy coal is this! It’s choking us to death!"
"Quick, open the window! We can’t stay here!"
"In this weather, opening a window will freeze us to death!"
The complaints, coughing, and children’s cries resounded one after another. The entire family compound was shrouded in a thick, sulfur-scented smoke, making people’s eyes water.
Mr. Li’s home was no exception.
Sister in law Wang held a damp towel over her nose and mouth with one hand while pounding her husband’s back hard, "Cough cough...look at what you’ve done! Hurting others, hurting us! Cough...I’m going to be choked to death by this smoke!"
Mr. Li, his eyes reddened by the smoke, pushed her away irritably and yelled, "Shut up! I’m doing this for the family too!"
Just then, a rich, enticing aroma of meat cut through the dense smoke, tendrils of scent slipping into his nose.
It was the smell of stewed meat! Mixed with the aroma of spices, making his mouth water.
Mr. Li suddenly stood up, rushing to the window.
Next door, the light from Gu Yanshen’s house shone warmly and brightly. No trace of smoke, quiet and harmonious. The tantalizing scent of meat drifted over precisely from his house.
Amidst it all, he seemed to hear the light laughter of a woman.
Mr. Li clenched his fists, nails digging deeply into his flesh.
He had racked his brains to make their family shiver in the cold wind, suffering greatly.
But in the end, the entire courtyard was in a smoky tribulation, yet only their home was warm as spring, filled with the scent of meat!
"Bang!"
He pounded his fist hard on the window frame, causing the glass to resonate with a hum.
