Ning Ge carried the new fan into the guest room, and his heart bloomed with joy. He had long been eyeing the only fan in Cheng Su’s room, never expecting that Cheng Su would actually buy a new one.
"Hold on, where are you taking that?" Cheng Su stopped him.
"Isn’t it for my room?" Ning Ge glared.
Look at this guy, he’s been here for only a few days and he’s already talking about using it for his room. How shameless can he be?
"I bought that for the living room, to use while we eat," Cheng Su glared back.
Ning Ge’s face darkened. "That’s not what you said to that person just now."
Cheng Su, without a trace of embarrassment, said, "What I said was also true, for the future, that is."
Ning Ge curled his lip, set up the fan, and plugged it in. He sat on the sofa and enjoyed the breeze, deciding that if it came down to it, he would just sleep in the living room at night.
When Qi Taiguo came back, Cheng Su told him about buying two fans, one for the store and one for home, and Qi Taiguo had no objections.
"Having a fan is good, the weather is hot, and it makes eating more comfortable," Qi Taiguo said.
Cheng Su agreed wholeheartedly, glanced over, and intercepted a piece of soy sauce pork ribs that Ning Ge was about to grab, giving it to Qi Taiguo instead. The two of them totally ignored Ning Ge, exchanging affectionate looks.
While the atmosphere was harmonious here, a quarrel broke out in Hualing’s room.
"You said you would buy me a fan, and summer is almost over. Are you still going to buy it or not? Others have already bought two fans. Chen Shouwang, you don’t care about me at all," Hualing pouted, her eyes reddening.
"The allowance hasn’t come through yet," Platoon Leader Chen said with a conciliatory smile. "How about I buy you a big winter melon tomorrow, and you can hug it while sleeping? That’s even cooler than a fan."
In summer, ordinary families who couldn’t afford a fan would buy a couple of winter melons to put on the bed, hugging or leaning against them as a way to keep cool.
"Winter melon?" Hualing shrieked. "What do you think I am? Hugging a winter melon to sleep, what will people think if word gets out? Chen Shouwang, I am a nurse, a ’white angel’!"
In Hualing’s eyes, keeping a winter melon on the bed during hot summer days was something only destitute families did. She had married a man who, while not extremely wealthy, was at least a platoon leader. And she was a nurse who worked in a hospital. Yet, was she expected to find solace in the embrace of a winter melon?
As a university-educated woman, was she to be deemed less than a villager from the countryside?
Hualing broke down completely and started crying.
"The betrothal gift your family gave to my parents wasn’t even five hundred yuan, and I didn’t disparage your family’s poverty when I married you. Now, it’s just a fan, and you won’t buy it for me. You’re just deceiving me, *sob*, what did you promise my father initially? You liar, I’m going to tell my parents," she lamented.
Platoon Leader Chen watched her crying and fussing and felt a headache larger than ever. He reached out to comfort her, saying, "My dear madam, I wouldn’t dare deceive you. I just haven’t had the time to buy it, that’s all."
Hualing shoved his hand away, saying, "Hmph! Chen Shouwang, you’re nothing but a liar. You promised when we got married to listen to me, to give me whatever I wanted, your words were sweeter than a song, and now that you have me, you no longer care about my feelings. *sob* I can’t live like this, I won’t, let’s get a divorce, let’s divorce!"
When he heard the words ’let’s get a divorce’, Platoon Leader Chen grew anxious. He clenched his teeth and said, "Who said I’m not buying? I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it tomorrow, okay?"
Hualing’s crying paused. "Really?"
Platoon Leader Chen nodded, and only then did Hualing break into a smile, throwing herself into his arms and saying, "I want the best one."
Platoon Leader Chen managed a strained smile, but his heart was bitter. Where would he find the money to buy a fan?