Chapter 345 - 339_1
"Dongjia Niangzi, I’m certain of it. The fresh vegetables were just pulled out of the ground this morning, and it was me who delivered them to the cart," Liu Aniu said with assurance, unaware of what Lin Yue was thinking in her heart.
"I understand, you may go now," Lin Yue said with a forced smile. If it weren’t for her casual chat with Zhang Chunhua, she would never have known that Zhao Erhu had been deceiving her. Why would he hide things and lie to her? Lin Yue recalled Zhao Erhu’s unusual behavior when he left. She hadn’t paid much attention to it at the time, but now she remembered that he had avoided eye contact while speaking to her, clearly feeling guilty.
Knowing that Zhao Erhu was lying to her, Lin Yue had no heart for anything else and kept pondering the matter but couldn’t come to any conclusion. If a man deceives a woman, it usually means he has a change of heart or something on the side, but Lin Yue couldn’t believe that Erhu would be involved with someone else; she felt the sincerity in his feelings for her. But what could it be that he needed to hide from her?
"Forget it, I’ll wait for Zhao Erhu to come back and then confront him. This old man actually dared to deceive me; I’ll show him when he gets back," Lin Yue muttered angrily. Glancing at the time, she saw that the dough had risen enough. Thinking of the red bean paste and red yeast at home, Sister Chunhua said she would make plain white buns since that was the only type she knew how to make. Since today was Wu Qiang’s father’s birthday, Lin Yue decided to make longevity peach-shaped buns instead—nice to look at and festive, and they wouldn’t take too much effort.
Having lived with them for so long, Lin Yue had some understanding of Wu Qiang’s family situation. Zhang Chunhua’s two younger sisters had married well, into prosperous farming families that were nosy and liked to show off. Zhang Chunhua didn’t like her sisters-in-law’s attitude and often competed with them. Despite her straightforward and generous personality, Zhang Chunhua, after all, was a woman with a sense of vanity. Making these peach-shaped buns would indeed add a lot of prestige for her.
Lin Yue finished making the longevity peach buns and placed them in the steamer. Thinking it over, she prepared a few cold dishes and a dish of braised pork with the ingredients she had at home, planning to let Wu Qiang take them to the birthday celebration—it would make for a perfect feast.
Usually, Wu Qiang would stop by Zhao Erhu’s home on his way back from the city. However, Erhu had instructed him that morning. Although Wu Qiang didn’t understand why his brother would want to keep something from Lin Yue, he would naturally help out when asked, so he drove the cart straight home, without stopping by Lin Yue’s place.
"Wu Qiang, why did you come straight home today?" Zhang Chunhua had been expecting Wu Qiang to bring back the plain white buns when he came over, but he didn’t show up.