Groggy, she didn’t wake up until three in the afternoon. Once out of bed, Sheng Ning looked around the empty house with a guilty conscience. The Living Yama was out on a task, and she hadn’t returned even once.
There was nothing to eat in the kitchen, and not a single feminine item to be found in the house. Luckily, the cleaners had been diligent recently, but that wouldn’t do going forward.
"Sister-in-law, are you ho?" Liu Chun’s voice rang out from the door, "The Captain asked to bring you so things."
"Yes, yes!" Sheng Ning quickly donned her cotton-padded coat to open the door for Liu Chun.
"Happy New Year, Sister-in-law!" Liu Chun stood at the doorway without stepping in, head bowed in shyness, unable to lift it.
"Happy New Year! What did the Captain have you bring ?"
"A lot!" Liu Chun stepped aside to reveal a pile of boxes and bags, lifting them all into the house. "Sister-in-law, you go ahead with your things, I’m off!" Then, he hurriedly ran downstairs.
Now that she was married, it was inappropriate to invite people in when her husband was not ho. Sheng Ning didn’t insist and after closing the door, she looked at the piles of food supplies and ingredients on the floor, finally revealing a satisfied smile.
At least the Living Yama had so conscience to send soone to buy things.
She bent down to tidy up and suddenly discovered a familiar suitcase among them.
Wasn’t this her suitcase? Sheng Ning opened it to find it filled with her clothes. Her cheeks involuntarily flushed. He actually sent soone to gather her clothes from the dorm?
Wouldn’t her roommates tease her to death if they found out?
Sheng Ning suddenly didn’t want to go back to the General Union at all, certain she would be mocked. Last night, she left so quietly; she wondered if Yang Wenying would be angry.
As she worried, Liu Chun returned again.
"Sister-in-law, the Captain asked to tell you that he has already arranged for soone to ask for three days off for you, so don’t worry." After speaking, he again left swiftly, as if chased by a big wolf dog.
Sheng Ning was very satisfied with Xu Qigang’s arrangents. After freshening up and changing into howear, she cleaned the entire house inside and out. With all the groceries Liu Chun brought, she decided to make dumplings tonight, on the first evening of the Lunar New Year.
By the ti she busied herself until almost dark, that’s when Xu Qigang returned, his breath tinged with alcohol. As soon as he ca in, he leaned against the door and seed to lose strength.
Startled, Sheng Ning quickly set down the dishes in her hands and went to support him.
"You couldn’t have been drinking continuously until now, could you?"
Xu Qigang, with his eyes closed and a faint blush on his handso face, didn’t speak.
Fine! He really did drink too much.
"How much did you drink exactly?" Holding onto his arm, Sheng Ning reached up and rubbed his face, which prompted Xu Qigang to barely open his bleary eyes.
"Xiao Ning?" He opened his eyes and upon seeing her, exclaid joyfully, "You’re here?"
"Where else could I be if not?" Sheng Ning, annoyed, punched him.
Xu Qigang closed his eyes again, and Sheng Ning helped him from the living room to the bed. Nearly one ter ninety in height, he was so heavy she couldn’t straighten her back.
"You sleep for a while; I’ll go make dinner." After helping him out of his clothes and shoes and tucking him in, she left the room. The one feigning unconsciousness from his drunken stupor slowly opened his eyes, their depths clear and bright, showing no sign of the previous haziness.
Xu Qigang breathed in gently, the air filled with her unique scent. To him, that was the sll of ho, the sll of happiness.
Sheng Ning prepared several types of dumpling fillings, including traditional pork with cabbage, shiitake mushroom, and an improvised mixed vegetable filling made with the limited ingredients at hand. She was quick at making dumplings, their shape the small delicate kind commonly seen in Southern China, entirely different from the larger Northern-style dumplings. Thinking that the Living Yama had dinner at Chen Baoshan’s house next door, she brought over fifty dumplings as it was getting dark.
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