Daily Life in the 70s-Chapter 280 The Next Day

Yang Peimin finished breakfast, drowsy with sleep.

Shen Yixiang was picking up dirty clothes to wash. Yang Peimin glanced over; these were all Yiguang’s. He had been out on field exercises for so long, who knew if he had ever changed clothes? It seemed not, as they were completely covered in mud. Even if she washed them, it wouldn’t be easy.

Her own clothes had been washed last night after taking a bath—just a few pieces of underwear. Seeing Shen Yixiang’s grand gestures, Yang Peimin said, "Just leave them there. I’ll wash them later."

Shen Yixiang gave her a look and said nonchalantly, "I used to help my family with the laundry all the time when I was little. Don’t worry, I’ve still got the skills. Brother’s few items are nothing. Now that you’re finished eating, why not just sit aside?"

Yang Peimin, seeing that Shen Yixiang did not seem to want help, left her to it, only asking for some hot water to be mixed in so it wouldn’t be so cold.

It had snowed last night, and the sun had come out this morning. It shone in, reflecting off the snow, extraordinarily clear and dazzling. Yang Peimin simply moved a chair onto the balcony to bask in the sun, waiting for the food she’d just eaten to settle in her stomach before going back to lie down in bed.

However, Shen Yixiang kept calling out from the shower room every now and then, asking where things were, "Sister-in-law, where did you put the soapberries? And the washing board? Why isn’t there a laundry stick? Where do you keep these things?"

Nevertheless, before Yang Peimin had time to go there, she heard Shen Yixiang say, "Never mind, I’ve found them."

Yang Peimin lifted her head to check the sun and decided it wasn’t suitable for her to sit there, so she told Shen Yixiang she was feeling unenergetic and needed to go back to her room to lie down for a while.

Shen Yixiang didn’t say much. "Okay, go ahead."

When Yang Peimin woke up again, it was already past 11 o’clock.

Now, she was up for good, feeling reenergized after making up some sleep. freewebnøvel.coɱ

Sitting at the vanity, she looked at her complexion, which was not as bad as before. She picked up the tools from the table and applied light makeup, but she could faintly hear a lively noise outside.

When she went out, she found her house filled with quite a few people and children jumping around. It was certainly lively.

Seeing her emerge, people like Mrs. Cui said, "Yo, Mrs. Shen is getting up at this hour."

Yang PeiMin gave a casual nod and glanced around the living room, but she didn’t see Shen Yixiang.

Someone then said, "Sister-in-law, this is my first time coming to your house, and you have decorated it so nicely. Look, you’ve even bought a sofa. This is the first time I’m sitting on one, and it’s as comfortable as I imagined. How much did all this cost you? If it’s cheap, I might get one for myself later."

Yang PeiMin was about to respond, but someone beat her to it, "You must be joking. This has to cost at least a hundred bucks. Can you really afford that? But you do have a point, the sister-in-law’s house is really different from ours—clean, refreshing, and comfortable."

"Right, I haven’t checked out the rooms inside yet. Sister, is it convenient for me to take a quick look? I imagine they are as tidy and clean as this living room, right?" After speaking, several people stood up, smiling at Yang PeiMin as they casually walked around, peeking into the kitchen, commenting, and then doing the same in the guest room. After inspecting these two rooms, they seemed to head back towards Yang PeiMin, with the intention of looking at her bedroom.

Yang PeiMin suppressed the urge to facepalm. The neighbors didn’t interact much on a regular basis. Although she had been living here for over half a year, the neighborhood chatter she’d heard was only cursory and she hadn’t gotten to the point of understanding everyone’s character and circumstances.

To the two people who wanted to see her room, she smiled, "The rooms are a mess; please have a seat, sisters, and aunts. What brings everyone over to my place all of a sudden today?"

"What do you mean? Didn’t we hear that your sister-in-law came to visit? It’s rare for us to have relatives and friends over in our big courtyard, so since your sister-in-law has come, we thought we’d drop by for a visit. Your sister-in-law is really quite something. I saw her early this morning going outside to tend the vegetable garden. I was there just now and pointed out your family’s plot to her... She cleans the house, cooks breakfast, does the laundry—you can see she’s really diligent."

As they spoke, several pairs of eyes were sizing up Yang PeiMin. Sister-in-laws were typically second only to mothers-in-law in the eyes of the other wives; at home, having her not demand you do chores for her was already considered good, but here, the Shen family’s sister-in-law was actually waking up earlier than her sister-in-law to do all the housework, allowing the sister-in-law to sleep in. Boy, that was unusual. It seemed that Mrs. Shen, who usually seemed so gentle, could be pretty capable when it came to handling family matters.

"That’s right, you’d better treat her well in the future. Which mother-in-law lets their daughter-in-law sleep until noon without getting up?" Mrs. Cui was truly incapable of holding her tongue anywhere she went.

Yang PeiMin couldn’t be bothered with her, knowing that if she ignored Mrs. Cui as if she didn’t exist, she’d be so frustrated she wouldn’t be able to stand it. After exchanging a few words with the two nearest her, she walked into the kitchen and saw Shen Yixiang. Hearing footsteps, Shen Yixiang turned around and, seeing it was Yang PeiMin, said, "You’re up. Just wait a bit, and we’ll have lunch ready soon."

Yang PeiMin asked, "Those people outside?"

"Oh, those women? Aren’t they the wives of my brother’s comrades? When there’s nothing to do, they visit each other to maintain warmth and deep relationships. It also makes my brother look good in his unit, giving people the impression that he has married well. It works in my brother’s favor too, doesn’t it? So if those outside wanted to come in, I just let them. I brought a good amount of dried sweet potatoes from home, handed out a couple of handfuls, and they couldn’t stop praising our family."

After listening, Yang PeiMin was momentarily speechless and shook her head. "You have a good idea." Then she lowered her voice, "But you haven’t understood some people yet. That Aunt Cui is just like the people from our old residence; once you mingle with her, it won’t be so easy to shake her off."

Shen Yixiang looked a bit startled, "I didn’t think of that. Okay then, I’ll go and ask them to leave. It’s getting late anyway."

Yang PeiMin held her back, "No problem, as long as they don’t blatantly take advantage, let’s just turn a blind eye and say a few polite words. After all, as you said, we don’t have to get deeply involved with the neighbors, but we shouldn’t offend them either." There was nothing serious, but everyone’s curiosity was too strong. Yang PeiMin disliked how they would rush to check on the private affairs of your home with just a few greetings.

"Hey, what are you and the sister-in-law whispering about?" And look, another had arrived.

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