You could count on one hand the number of times her family ate meat, especially after her brother became disabled.
Her mother had traded all the family's meat ration tickets with their neighbors for egg tickets to help her brother build up his strength.
It had been a long time since any aroma wafted from the kitchen, let alone the smell of eggs mixed with the tartness of tomatoes. It was so fragrant it made your mouth water.
Gu Jiaojiao looked up to see the Su family's youngest daughter staring wide-eyed, though whether it was from shock or anger, she couldn't tell.
"Aren't eggs for eating?"
"Those are to help my brother regain his strength. We're not allowed to eat them," the Su family's youngest sister said stubbornly, swallowing hard.
"I never said they were for you. I made this for Mom, Dad, and your brother."
"You... you... How can you be so cruel?" Su Qinchun was so angry she stammered.
Seeing Su Qinchun so protective of the food made Gu Jiaojiao's heart ache. It was an era of rationing, where you needed authorization slips to go out, coupons for meals, and even sugar and oil were in limited supply.
'I don't know what I'm going to do from now on. If only my dimensional space were here!'
"Jiaojiao, go ahead and eat. Don't mind Chun Ni. We still have eggs. Meat is a bit hard to come by, but we can manage to have eggs."
Su's mother, afraid her tactless daughter would scare away her new daughter-in-law, quickly made a promise.
"Mom, let's eat the noodles together." Gu Jiaojiao's eyes instantly welled up.
'All alone in this strange new world, I'm lucky to have such a good mother-in-law.'
Su's mother carried the bowls of noodles to the living room. The Su family didn't have a separate dining room; they always ate in the living room.
Su Shuochi had also emerged in his wheelchair, dressed in a white shirt and green military-style pants.
Mr. Su helped push his wheelchair to the dining table. Wheelchairs from this era weren't as maneuverable as modern ones and couldn't turn easily.
"Chi, this is the tomato and egg noodles your wife made. Eat up."
"Mm," Su Shuochi grunted noncommittally.
Staring at the steaming bowl of tomato and egg noodles, Su Shuochi felt a wave of complicated emotions.
'I've been married for three days, but I never once considered trying to get along with my wife.'
'Especially on our wedding day, when my new wife publicly called me a crippled country bumpkin and said I was a toad lusting after a swan.'
'Was I the one lusting after a swan?'
'I didn't even want a wife when I was able-bodied, let alone now that I'm paralyzed!'
'It was my direct superior, Mr. Sheng, who came to speak with me personally. He told me with great sorrow that his adopted daughter had been weak and sickly since childhood and was unable to have children.'
'And after the scandal she had caused with me, she would be scorned no matter who she married.'
'Marrying a paraplegic like me, he argued, was her best possible fate. As I listened to my superior...'
'...I realized it was the two Sheng Family brothers who had set me up.'
'I refused even more firmly, stating that my paralysis made me unfit for marriage.'
'But my superior tried to persuade me, appealing to both my emotions and my sense of reason.'
'He said that as a man, I had a duty to my parents, and marrying a sweet, obedient wife would put their minds at ease.'
'I'm not one to compromise easily, but I have a secret buried deep inside, so I gave in.'
'I've lived in this compound for years, but I'm not familiar with most of the people here.'
'Uncle Sheng had described his adopted daughter as sweet and sensible, but on our wedding day, she nearly tore our house apart.'
'Her language was so foul... She was even worse than any shrew I'd ever seen growing up in the countryside.'
'Her behavior completely shattered my worldview, but I forced myself to endure my revulsion.'
'I handed her the stone pendant that held all my hopes, but she just threw it on the ground and sneered.'
"You crippled country bumpkin, trying to disgust me with a worthless rock? Even if you tore out your heart for me, I wouldn't be moved an inch."
'Then she just kept screaming insults until she fainted. Doctor Sun said she had simply worked herself into such a rage that her body shut down, and that she was subconsciously refusing to wake up.'
'He said there was nothing seriously wrong, but that she needed to rest and must not be agitated again.'
'For the past two days, I've been waiting for her to wake up and start screaming at me again.'
'Divorce is out of the question. We may despise each other, but since she's clearly not a good person... '
'...I'll just drag her down with me. We can torture each other until we die.'
But when she woke up, she had changed. Right now, she was eating her noodles in small, delicate bites.
She ate as if it were some rare delicacy. 'This must be the sweet girl Uncle Sheng was talking about.' Suddenly, he couldn't bear the thought of ruining her life anymore.
'Should I offer her a divorce?'
'But...'
"Chi? Chi? What is it? Does it not taste good?" Su's mother called out anxiously.
Seeing her son staring blankly at his bowl, Su's mother worried he was displeased with Jiaojiao.
'A daughter-in-law this good is a rare find!'
Pulled from his thoughts by his mother's voice, Su Shuochi replied, "It's nothing, Mom. It's delicious."
"Good, good. I saw your wife busy in the kitchen earlier. She went to all this trouble to make these delicious noodles for us."
Su Shuochi didn't answer. He picked up a strand of noodles with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. An incredible flavor instantly flooded his senses.
'Is she really the same woman from three days ago?'
Su Shuochi raised his eyes again to look at the petite woman across from him, who was focused entirely on her meal.
She ate as if it weren't just plain noodles, but some kind of gourmet feast.
Gu Jiaojiao was oblivious to the world, focused solely on conquering the bowl of noodles in front of her.
Even Su Qinchun had been won over by Gu Jiaojiao's noodles. She kept her head down and ate with gusto. It was just too delicious.
"Chun Ni, after dinner, take your sister-in-law out and see if there's anything she needs to buy."
"Okay. Gu... Sister-in-law, do you want to go out for a bit?" Su Qinchun was suddenly eager to go out herself.
'I've been stuck cleaning the house for two days,' she thought. 'Besides, Gu Jiaojiao looks so pretty today. We should go out and show off to all those gossips.'
"Let's go take a look then." Seeing Su Qinchun's improved attitude, Gu Jiaojiao was willing to give her a chance.
The two sisters-in-law had barely stepped out of the yard when they heard a group of women gossiping. They didn't even stop when they saw the very subject of their rumors.
"Su Shuochi is such a good man. If he hadn't been injured and paralyzed, how could he have been tricked by that sickly beauty?"
"Is that true? Did Gu Jiaojiao really set him up? Poor Captain Su."
"I know, right? It was bad enough he married a fake heiress, but then Gu Jiaojiao had to throw a fit at the wedding and pass out from her own rage."
"I think the Su Family is just too nice. A woman like that is asking for a beating. A few smacks and she'd straighten up."
"Exactly! A wife is like dough—you have to beat her to make her behave. They should give her a good thrashing."
"That frail thing Gu Jiaojiao looks like a gust of wind could knock her over. How could she possibly take a slap from Su Shuochi?"
"You don't think Su Shuochi beat her unconscious, do you?" one woman asked, covering her mouth in feigned shock.
"Who knows? They say she was fine before they went into the bridal chamber. She only passed out afterward."
"Are you serious? How do you know so many details?"
"I live right next door. I can see everything clearly from my second-floor window..."
"Who are you all talking about?" Gu Jiaojiao asked in a soft voice.