Chapter 150 Breakfast

"Well, well, if it isn't our hutong's great hero, Comrade Wang Dagang! What's this? Still got gauze wrapped around your head?"

"Second Brother, you must be out of the loop. That gauze is the standard uniform of a hero! Haven't you seen in the movies how heroes always stay on the front lines even with minor injuries?"

"Haha, Little Six, you're right! A hero has to stand out from the ordinary, after all!"

Wang Dagang was the actual given name of Little Bastard. Usually, when your childhood friends suddenly address you by your full name, you can just start swinging at them, and nine times out of ten, you won't hit the wrong person!

Taunted endlessly by Han the Second and Little Six, Little Bastard's face turned a dark, purplish black. Clenching his fists, he suddenly let out a roar, "None of you are getting away today! I'm going to let you experience what it's like to be treated like a hero!"

Pushed past his breaking point and catching the two off guard, Little Bastard grabbed them by the necks, clamping one under each armpit.

"Ugh! Dagang, Big Brother Gang, I know I was wrong! Let go, I'm going to puke! Blech..." Assaulted by the pungent mixture of hospital disinfectant, body sweat, and strong underarm odor radiating from beneath Wang Dagang's armpit, the stench hit their noses directly, and both of them immediately gagged and vomited.

"All right, cut the horseplay. Little Bastard, this is my big brother's shirt. Take it to the water pump and wash it. Damn it, you smell like a walking disaster!"

Only then did Little Bastard release the two of them, taking the shirt and soap handed over by Chen Liang. "Remember, this wound can't get wet, or it'll get infected, and that would be a disaster!"

By the time Little Bastard finished washing up and returned to Chen Liang's place, Chen Liang had already placed the dinner reserved by Mother Chen on the table.

"Come on over and grab a bite, you two have been starving for half the day."

Three large cornmeal steamed buns each, washed down with golden-yellow millet porridge and Liubiju pickled baby cucumbers, the two of them raced against time, wolfing the food down into their stomachs.

Chen Liang only ate until he was half full. Mother Chen hadn't expected Chen Liang to bring a childhood friend back for dinner, so she had only prepared a single portion. Now that he had split half of it with Little Bastard, he was naturally only half full.

Dinner finished, Chen Liang didn't linger at home. Tossing his bowl and chopsticks aside, he took Xiaoyu by the hand and headed straight back to the new house.

Once back at the young couple's human embryo incubation base, Chen Liang bolted the courtyard door shut, transforming the place into their private garden.

Sitting on the bed like a wealthy landlord, Xiaoyu carried a basin of foot-washing water into the room, sat down on a small wooden stool, and began washing Chen Liang's feet.

After Chen Liang finished washing his feet, they switched places: Xiaoyu sat on the edge of the bed while Chen Liang sat on the stool to wash his wife's feet.

In this era, besides the baby-making plan, there weren't many other evening entertainments to be found, and as for spouses washing each other's feet, how should one put it?

How could one who is not a fish know the joy of fish? Stroke by stroke, caressing Xiaoyu's fragrant, soft, and delicate jade-like feet, Chen Liang indulged in the tactile pleasure for a long time. Wasn't this much more fun than fondling traditional walnuts?

When Xiaoyu's little feet had been caressed by Chen Liang to the point where her eyes were swimming with moisture and charm, Chen Liang couldn't resist leaning over to plant a kiss on one of her little feet.

Then, the two days' worth of stubble on his chin tickled Xiaoyu so much that she giggled like a little hen.

After playing and nibbling for quite a while, until Chen Liang was thoroughly satisfied, he finally let Xiaoyu go.

Picking up the foot-washing basin, Chen Liang walked out of the room, casually dumped the water onto the vegetable patch by the door, and went over to the water well to draw a bucket of fresh well water.

Since there was no one else in the courtyard anyway, Chen Liang shed his clothes in a flash, lifted the bucket, and poured the cold water over himself from head to toe.

In the scorching heat of summer, aside from air conditioning, what else couldn't a bucket of icy well water solve? If there was anything, it would simply call for another bucket of water.

After taking a speedy combat shower with soap, Chen Liang didn't bother putting on clothes. Carefree and unbothered, he simply dried himself off with a towel and walked back inside the house.

Since he was going to take his clothes off again once inside anyway, wearing them or not wearing them made virtually no difference.

"Oh! Brother, why did you come inside in the buff?" The moment naked Chen Liang stepped through the door, Xiaoyu shyly covered her face with her hands and let out a coquettish scold.

If the gaps between her fingers hadn't been wide enough to expose her large, cartoonish eyes, Chen Liang almost would have believed her act.

"Hehe, little beauty! Even if you scream until your throat breaks now, no one is going to save you! Be a good girl and surrender to this young master!"

It was truly a waste of talent that Chen Liang had served as an undercover agent in his past life; with this ability to get into character in a single second, had he entered the entertainment industry, he surely would have brought home a Best Actor award!

Xiaoyu played along quite cooperatively as well, "Who are you? I'll have you know I have a husband, and he is—pfft... hahaha!" Before she could finish her line, Xiaoyu couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

Having already consumed his medicinal wine in advance, Chen Liang naturally wouldn't let Xiaoyu—who wasn't taking her acting seriously—off the hook. That night, he transformed into the most dedicated director, coaching Xiaoyu's acting until deep into the night.

Waking up early the next morning, now that the young couple had moved out on their own, things were different from being at home where Mother Chen's loving breakfast awaited them; they had to rely entirely on their own hands for food and clothing.

Chen Liang gently lifted Xiaoyu's legs and arms, which were still wrapped around him, got up, put on his clothes, and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Taking rice out from the supermarket stash, he started a fire and boiled a large pot of white rice porridge, then placed a steaming dish cover over the pot and set a dozen steamed buns from the supermarket inside to heat.

After finishing these chores, Chen Liang went to the water well to wash up. Once the porridge gave off the rich aroma of rice, he ladled it into two large bowls.

Next, after cleaning the wok, Chen Liang fried two eggs and proudly carried the breakfast back to the main room.

Arranging the breakfast dishes, Chen Liang went to wake Xiaoyu up. Yesterday, Chen Liang had clearly exceeded his limit with that medicinal wine, and Xiaoyu, who had studied acting so diligently, was so exhausted that she hadn't woken up yet.

Taking a lock of Xiaoyu's hair, he gently tickled the tip of her nose with it. Xiaoyu immediately put on a sleepy pout, "Brother, if you do that again, I'm not going to play-act with you anymore..."

"All right, all right, darling, don't be mad. It's time to get up and have breakfast!"

Having vented her morning grumpiness, Xiaoyu grew clingy again. "Then carry me to wash up, Big Brother. This little one is too tired and doesn't want to move!"

Scooping her up in a bridal style carry, Chen Liang brought Xiaoyu right up to the well before setting her down. He then went back to the kitchen for a small dish, stealthily retrieved a jar of fermented bean curd from the supermarket, scooped out a few chunks, and brought them to the table.

"Oh! Brother, aren't you being a bit too extravagant? With just the two of us eating, isn't this going to waste?"

You couldn't really blame Xiaoyu for scolding Chen Liang; nobody else's family ate this well in the morning during these times. Just look at what Chen Liang had prepared: thick white rice porridge, big fluffy white wheat-flour steamed buns, and eggs fried to a golden perfection on both sides.

With no festivals or holidays, who could bear to eat this well?

Chen Liang, however, remained unbothered. "It's fine, we aren't eating like this every single day. This is our very first breakfast in our new home, so what's wrong with having something a little nice?"