Li Meiyu grumbled, "I only know that other wives have a good life, look at Tong Yao who doesn’t lift a finger at home, pampered by Doctor Si like a princess, I’m not worse than her, why should my life be inferior to hers?"
"What’s so good?" Liu Haisheng said in a low voice: "Look at Tong Yao now, she’s so tanned you can’t even recognize her, unlike you who manages dozens of students at school, with skin as white as jade."
"That’s true, apart from being a little prettier, what can she compare with me!" Li Meiyu, flattered by Liu Haisheng’s compliment, broke into a pleased smile.
Liu Haisheng shook his head and chuckled, "You are perfect, except for being too competitive."
Li Meiyu corrected, "This is not competition, it’s rivalry between women. Don’t think I’m the only one, every woman secretly compares themselves to others!"
"Alright, alright, what you say is right. Come and eat your food." Liu Haisheng opened the lunch box, glanced lasciviously at Li Meiyu’s waist, and joked, "Eat more to give me a fat baby boy in the future."
"Absurd!" Li Meiyu murmured, "You better get rid of that idea. I’m not planning to have a baby in the next couple of years."
She had once seen a colleague in her early twenties with an abdomen covered in densely packed stretch marks after childbirth, as terrifying as if a centipede had crawled across it. The thought alone was enough to make her shudder. The idea of having those marks on her own belly made her extremely uncomfortable.
Women are at their most beautiful in their early twenties. She has no intention of spending her days revolving around a child.
"Alright, no pressure to have a baby, let’s eat." The couple managed to see each other after considerable difficulty. Liu Haisheng didn’t want to argue. He just wanted to finish the meal quickly, take a bath, and spend some private time as a couple.
Getting soothed by Liu Haisheng cheered up Li Meiyu slightly. She picked up her chopsticks and had a few bites, but then felt dispirited. The rich smell from the kitchen made her meal taste like cabbage. She slammed her chopsticks on the table and announced, "I’m going to take a shower."
"I thought the delicious aroma was from your cooking, but it’s not actually coming from you!" Chen Yanmei rocked into the kitchen, cradling Baodan. She was disappointed to see Li Nuanchun cutting potato strips.
Yanmei had come, hoping to grab a few bites of meat, smelling the flavoursome aroma as the men worked.
Li Nuanchun lifted her head from her busy work and laughed, "The smell is coming from Dr. Si’s place. They’re cooking Spicy Chicken with an authentic farm chicken. Of course it’s tempting!"
"They have got expensive taste, always eating seafood or meat. They will probably stuff themselves to death with their earnings." Chen Yanmei made a caustic comment. She had guessed that Si Chen was cooking as soon as she realized that the smell wasn’t coming from Li Nuanchun’s kitchen.
Noticing the sourness in Yanmei’s words, Li Nuanchun quipped, "They’re earning their own money and have no children at home, should they not be the ones enjoying it?"
"What’s up with you lately?" Chen Yanmei eyeballed Li Nuanchun up and down, "I’ve noticed you keep taking their side. What are they offering you?"
"What you’re saying is nonsense! Who could offer me anything?" Li Nuanchun was slightly annoyed. Her smile vanished, "We are neighbours, living and working together. Gossiping about others does no good. Whether they spend their money on food is not our business. Anyone else would think you’re jealous."
A while back, when the deputy director of the hospital was being selected, Dai Liwen wasn’t chosen. Chen Yanmei and her husband were upset, yet she had still lectured her. Since then, Li Nuanchun had developed a dislike for her, but kept her feelings to herself.
Over the years, Chen Yanmei had used her husband’s status as deputy director to undermine her. Li Nuanchun was, of course, aware of this but had refrained from retorting due to his position. However, a time would come when her bottled-up anger would burst forth.
"What are you saying?" Chen Yanmei was embarrassed as Li Nuanchun’s comments had hit a nerve, "My husband is a deputy director after all, do you think we would be jealous of their little livelihood?"
"Who knows."
Li Nuanchun was huffy, and didn’t spare Yanmei’s feelings either. The discomfort between them lingered. Chen Yanmei snorted coldly, turned around, and walked out of the kitchen, carrying Baodan.
Staring at her retreating figure, Li Nuanchun spat quietly and grumbled, "She holds her son like a precious gem. Anyone would think he couldn’t walk."
It was rare to see a mother like Chen Yanmei. Every other three or four-year-old child could run about freely. Unlike Baodan, who’s always carried around as though his legs were broken. At this rate, he’d be sharing a quilt with his mother, even after getting married.
Chen Yanmei, fuming, came out of the kitchen carrying Baodan. She bumped into Li Meiyu, who was about to head for a shower. The two chitchatted briefly, and the topic soon veered towards Tong Yao.
"I don’t know if she was a sow in her previous life. All she does is eat, either fish or meat, every day. She can’t work but has a good appetite and a sharp tongue to match. She wouldn’t have lasted a day during my younger years. She would’ve been beaten to death by her in-laws. Doctor Si must be enchanted by her bewitching beauty to pamper her like an ancestor." Yanmei didn’t miss an opportunity to badmouth Tong Yao, she spoke as though she wished to reduce Tong Yao to mere cow dung.
"Sis, don’t be anxious, just wait and see!" Li Meiyu gave a self-assured smile, brimming with sarcasm, "Newly-wed men are, of course, going to be excited, let’s see after that phase passes. She’s nothing then What’s so good about just having gotten married? All couples are sweet initially, a few months later, she’ll taste hardships."
Chen Yanmei retorted distastefully, "Wait for another two or three months and the bedposts will be shaken to a break by them. The noise at night even disrupts Baodan’s sleep. I don’t know where that little vixen came from."
"Little vixen, little vixen..." Baodan, who did not quite understand what Chen Yanmei was saying, parroted his mother’s words.
"Oh, my son is so clever, he even knows how to insult people for me." Hearing her son insult someone made Chen Yanmei not only neglect to educate him but left her so thrilled that she even planted a kiss on Baodan’s face, wishing she could praise him to the skies.
"Little vixen, little vixen..." Baodan, enjoying the praise, thought he had done something appropriate, and the word slipped off his tongue more cheerfully.
Watching the mother-son duo, a glimmer of disdain flashed through Li Meiyu’s eyes. Suddenly remembering something important, an idea came to her.