Colonel Lin went looking for Lu Xingzhi after getting wind of the rumors. With Lu Xingzhi’s obsession with Jiang Yao, it was reasonable to believe that the rumor was real.
He found the man at the platoon’s grocery kiosk. He was stuck in an exchange with the elderly lady manning the kiosk.
“I’m here for white vinegar,” Lu Xingzhi said casually.
“Didn’t you just buy a bottle of black vinegar? You’re back for more?” The lady raised her head abruptly, seemingly puzzled at Lu Xingzhi’s actions. Anyway, she handed him the bottle of white vinegar.
“My wife wanted the white vinegar, not the black vinegar,” He said as he made the payment.
“Do you need anything else? I’ve seen you coming here a few times in the past hour, why don’t you just think about the things you need and buy them all in one go,” asked the lady.
“It’s fine, it’s not that far anyway,” Lu Xingzhi replied.
“I know, but don’t you live on the higher floors, Captain Lu? It’s pretty exhausting to climb the stairs repeatedly,” muttered the lady.
Lu Xingzhi ignored her. He took the bottle of vinegar, turned around, and saw Colonel Lin looking at him. “What’s up?” Lu Xingzhi asked.
“Nothing much.” Colonel Lin smiled. Lu Xingzhi was fine after all, his mannerisms were still the same.
Colonel Lin patted him on the shoulder and explained the purpose he came.
“I heard that you are going crazy because your wife is leaving tomorrow. Just came to check you out. You look fine. Although, I’m curious why you are constantly out on trips to the dumpster and the grocery kiosk? Did something happen instead?”
“I’m in a good mood, that’s it.” Lu Xingzhi retorted and shook the bottle of vinegar in his hands. He thought about Jiang Yao, who was coming up with ways to torment him.
The first thing Jiang Yao did every time he returned home was to observe his facial expressions., perhaps to find out if he was irritated and angry.
After seeing that he was alright, she would put on a smile and take out something new for him to take to the dumpster again.
She then came up with the idea of him doing grocery runs after running out of trash in the house.
At first, she told him that they ran out of salt. Afraid that he would not believe her, she dragged him into the kitchen and showed him before ushering him out of the house.
He did not want to expose her little theatrics. She had not been cooking for the past few days, how would she know if there was no more salt.
In reality, he bought two bags of salt just a few days ago. Kudos to Jiang Yao though, as she had to hide the other bag that was not opened.
As he stepped into the house with the bag of salt in hand, she would look at him with a vexed expression and said that she forgot to add soy sauce to the list.
And then the same thing happened again, but this time with vinegar.