Daily Life in the 70s-Chapter 195 - 196 Dinner

These trinkets and gifts she had painstakingly whittled down to about forty pounds, which she could lift by changing hands, were now a source of teasing by Shen Yiguang. Her face flushed—she had been rather frail before, but after several months of recuperation, she felt somewhat better. The minor ailments like colds and dizziness had not troubled her much, but was physical strength really directly proportional to frailty?

Yang PeiMin had intended to have Shen Yiguang take her to the train station just as he had when she arrived and then have Yang Peijun pick her up from the Q city train station. Apart from not having to lug heavy items, her primary concern was safety. In her past life, she had always been a person lacking in security, having once experienced being stalked. Fortunately, she was alert enough back then to quickly walk into a crowd and stop to call a friend for help. The stalker lingered nearby as if nothing was amiss until her friend arrived to pick her up. Ever since that incident, she became even more vigilant, often overthinking when venturing out alone.

At that time, a roommate teased her that it was probably time for her to get a boyfriend. To which she replied: "Choosing a scumbag for lack of better judgement is like throwing oneself into the tiger’s den—it’s even scarier than being followed."

Although Shen Yiguang agreed with her plans, he began unpacking her suitcase to see if there were unnecessary items she could leave behind, given that she would still visit again.

Yang PeiMin raised an eyebrow at his behavior and glared at him, "Are you taking advantage of this opportunity to snoop on my privacy?" She put down the vegetables she was preparing and pounced over, "Don’t mess up my things, or I’ll have to repack them later."

But Shen Yiguang was quick, and with one hand, he had already pulled out a bra that she had stuffed in a compartment in a cloth bag. She had bought this new item today at the Overseas Chinese Store with Qiao Ying, planning to wash it back in her hometown before wearing it. Considering she had a train to catch tomorrow, washing it today wouldn’t be wise. How did he just pick that out? Of all the things he could have grabbed, why that?

Shen Yiguang’s gaze rested on the pale yellow, triangle-back vest-style underwear in his hand. It wasn’t hard to guess its purpose... His eyes flickered, and his mind spontaneously conjured up images... Then there was Yang PeiMin’s face—thinking of this made his body suddenly feel hot, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and as he turned to look at Yang PeiMin, he tried to maintain his composure. His voice, however, betrayed a raspy curiosity, "What’s this?"

In the modern world, this was a very common daily essential for women.

But things were different here. Such a garment was not yet widely available in ordinary stores—it only became popular after the 1980s and was conservatively designed, not closely resembling the triangle shape of the garment Shen Yiguang was holding. It was normal for him not to have seen one before. After all, she had never seen such lingerie hung to dry outside the houses of the local women; it was something one could only buy at the Overseas Chinese Store.

Getting used to wearing it again had been a struggle for the past few months. Even though she felt uncomfortable, it was not obvious since she always wore more than two layers of clothing. She had endured it. But now, summer had come, and she planned to wear skirts and short-sleeved blouses. If she only wore vests, it would feel as if she might expose herself at any moment—exceptionally uncomfortable. And while her current body did not develop like in her previous life, it was still well-endowed, as if all the fat she had eaten before had concentrated in that area. Wearing this kind of underwear was essential for maintaining shape and avoiding... provocation of certain crimes.

Yet, browsing Shen Yiguang’s wolfish gaze made Yang PeiMin’s cheeks burn. She walked over, snatched the item from his hand, and stuffed it back into the bag, "This is women’s lingerie. Stop looking; I haven’t packed anything unnecessary. Don’t you think I would know what not to bring?"

Shen Yiguang’s hand rested on her shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her, softly speaking into her ear, "Then tonight, wear this for me to see."

"It hasn’t been washed yet."

"No problem, just for a little while..."

Yang PeiMin couldn’t resist his coaxing and nodded her head slightly.

Shen Yiguang then became incredibly proactive with the household chores, grabbed the tasks of boiling water, washing vegetables, and cooking all to himself.

Yang PeiMin had nothing to do, so she took out her study notes to look over them.

Before she had looked at them for long, Qiao Ying, who had left less than an hour ago, came back. She saw Shen Yiguang working in the corridor, looked surprised, and after saying hello to him, hesitantly called out to Yang PeiMin from outside the door.

Yang PeiMin came out and asked, "What’s wrong?" It was dinnertime now, and Qiao Ying wasn’t the clueless type; something must have come up.

Casting a glance at Shen Yiguang, Qiao Ying lowered her voice and said, "Here’s the thing. Didn’t I just take that cosmetic product from your place? Those guys, they couldn’t wait to start using it, and then a lot of them just couldn’t get the hang of doing their eyebrows and eyes. I was being driven nuts by them, but after seeing the look on my face, they decided to pester me to come to you for help. If you’re free, could you come over and take a look? But you must be about to have dinner now, right? How about, after you finish eating, you come over?"

Yang PeiMin didn’t want to go. Shen Yiguang had come home early today, which was rare, and since she was leaving tomorrow, she wanted to have a good chat with him. But as she was about to reply, Shen Yiguang, who was bent over stir-frying the dishes, called out to her, "Wife, give me a plate, the food is about to burn."

She quickly turned around, took a plate from the wooden cabinet beside the dormitory door, and handed it to him; Shen Yiguang had made this cabinet as a favor when helping her with her tools the day before yesterday.

Shen Yiguang, taking the plate from her hand, scooped up the dish and said, "Let’s hurry up, we’ll have a lot to take care of after dinner." After scooping up the food, he turned to Qiao Ying and said, "Mr. Qiao, join us for dinner. I’m very pleased that you get along with PeiMin."

Qiao Ying immediately replied, "No thanks, I’ve already eaten. I’m not here for anything in particular; I just came to see if PeiMin was ready. Since she’s not, I won’t disturb you. PeiMin, don’t go visiting after dinner, focus on packing your things at home."

Yang PeiMin: "..."

Watching her walk away, Yang PeiMin asked the man next to her, "What’s with her? Even if she didn’t want to disturb our dinner, there was no need to leave so quickly. Did a wolf chase her off or something?"

Shen Yiguang didn’t even lift his eyelids, just scooped some water into the pan, and swiftly rinsed it out, instructing her, "Just bring the food in and we can have dinner."

Yang PeiMin nodded, then her attention was caught by another plate of meat dishes, and she suddenly found herself looking forward to the dinner that Shen Yiguang had personally prepared.