Volume One, Chapter 13: Let Sister-in-Law Be the Lady of the House!

Lin Xiaoxu and Lin Manru returned to Taoyuan Village only as the last rays of the sunset faded.

Passing by the village’s only small shop, Lin Xiaoxu recalled the old wooden door that Chen Bao had kicked in the night before. For the safety of his sister-in-law, Shen Yulian, he planned to buy a door latch.

“Mrs. Liu, do you sell door latches here?”

As Lin Xiaoxu stepped inside, Widow Liu Shulan was just coming out from the small courtyard behind the shop. A strong fragrance of shampoo mixed with body wash invaded Lin Xiaoxu’s nostrils without warning.

The shop’s lights were off. By the dimming sunset light, Lin Xiaoxu saw Liu Shulan, about thirty-three or thirty-four years old, approaching him step by step.

She was voluptuous and radiant, with a perfectly curved waist revealing a slender figure. Though middle-aged and makeup-free, her face was surprisingly firm and fair.

Her long, wet black hair hung naturally over her chest, with droplets still clinging to the ends, dampening a small patch of her thin blouse. Beneath, a dark red lace bra and her well-supported bosom were faintly visible.

With each step, her ample chest swayed gently from side to side.

Lin Xiaoxu was nearly mesmerized by Widow Liu’s post-bath allure. He scolded himself inwardly for being so weak-willed—after all, he had been to the county and provincial cities, yet here he was momentarily distracted by a village widow.

The heat was oppressive, and with nightfall approaching and business slow, Liu Shulan thought to close the shop and then wash her hair, cook, eat, and sleep.

In her haste, she forgot to lock the door.

There were several idle men in the village who had been eyeing her. If one of them broke in now, she would be in danger. Fortunately, it was just Lin Xiaoxu who entered.

Liu Shulan narrowed her dark eyes and appraised Lin Xiaoxu carefully.

Wow! She was startled to see how much more handsome he had become, even more burly. Her gaze drifted down to the bulge at his waist.

A shiver ran through her.

That morning, in the excitement of chasing debts, she had failed to notice Lin Xiaoxu’s changes.

“You want a door latch? I have some!”

She swayed her shapely hips and went to a wooden rack, pulling a black door latch from a cardboard box.

Lin Xiaoxu’s eyes involuntarily landed on her enticing hips, visible through her thin pants, where a dark red lace undergarment was faintly discernible—a matching set, it seemed.

“How much, sister-in-law?” Lin Xiaoxu asked, quickly averting his gaze as she turned.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his last fifty-yuan bill.

“Forget it, you’re pitiful anyway,” Liu Shulan said. The door latch cost just over three yuan wholesale, and she had planned to sell it for five, making a small profit.

She pressed the latch into Lin Xiaoxu’s palm and, slyly, scraped her fingernail lightly across his hand.

“Sister-in-law…” Lin Xiaoxu felt as if struck by electricity, a tingling rush spreading through him.

“You must remember to be good to sister-in-law. This is the first time I didn’t charge you,” Liu Shulan teased, drawing close and unabashedly swaying her waist.

Her proud, heavy assets swayed beneath his gaze like waves colliding in the sea.

Lin Xiaoxu’s heart pounded fiercely, a restless fire coursing inside him, finally settling in his lower abdomen, causing an unbearable heat.

“That won’t do—you have to take it,” he said, slapping the fifty-yuan bill onto Liu Shulan’s chest. Without waiting for change, he turned and ran out of the shop.

He hopped onto his tricycle and sped away, knowing if he stayed any longer, he might lose control.

Liu Shulan followed him to the shop’s entrance, watching the red taillight flash on the tricycle as it sped off.

She was baffled—when did Lin Xiaoxu get a brand-new three-wheeled motorcycle? And he casually pulled out a fifty-yuan note!

Turning away, her cheeks flushed inexplicably as she recalled him tapping her chest. A strange desire bloomed within her, spreading through her body, and her hands involuntarily reached toward her own bosom...

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“Xiaoxu, it’s almost dark and you’re nowhere to be seen. Were you trying to scare me to death? Next time, when the sun’s about to set, you must come straight home, understand?”

Shen Yulian, standing at the gate pacing anxiously, flew into Lin Xiaoxu’s arms as soon as she saw him.

Warmth flooded his heart.

Among the countless lights in this world, there was one shining just for him.

Gently stroking Shen Yulian’s long hair, Lin Xiaoxu promised, “I swear, no matter when I come back or if I can’t come back, I will always let you know. I will never make you worry or sad again.”

“But Xiaoxu, you don’t even have a phone. How will you keep me informed?” Shen Yulian smiled through her tears.

“After you left, I went to the back mountain and gathered a basket of wild mugwort and found some wild polygonatum. Tomorrow, when I sell these in town, I’ll buy you a phone. If there’s money left over, I’ll buy some pork belly to satisfy your cravings!”

Lin Xiaoxu knew the kind of phone she meant: a simple “senior phone”—a button phone with loudspeaker sound, capable only of calls and texts. Such phones in town typically cost between one and three hundred yuan.

“You! And this three-wheeled motorcycle…”

Shen Yulian suddenly noticed Lin Xiaoxu was riding a brand-new three-wheeled motorcycle with three seats.

“Sister-in-law, I bought this three-wheeler with the money I earned selling wild guavas, from a motorcycle shop in the county…” Lin Xiaoxu got off the bike and locked it.

He told Shen Yulian everything in detail, even mentioning how Lin Manru and Cao Wanjin had broken up because of him.

“I spent all six thousand two hundred yuan, down to the last two coins. Tomorrow, I’ll bring more wild guavas to Miss Song and earn even more. Once I save enough, I’ll build a three-story mansion more luxurious than Village Chief Wu Deshun’s, and you’ll be the lady of the house!”