Married but Untouched! Her Soldier Husband Came Home Dumbfounded! - Chapter 8

Ye Laifu was weeding in the cornfield. As he wiped the sweat from his forehead, he spotted a girl riding a bicycle from a distance. He nudged his eldest son beside him.
“Da Hu, isn’t that your little sister?”

Ye Dahu took off his straw hat and squinted toward the road.
“Yeah, Dad, that’s Xiaomei. Not sure if Mom’s home though. Maybe you should head back first.”

Ye Laifu hadn’t seen his daughter for more than half a month and missed her dearly, but he also hated giving up work points.
He walked toward the edge of the field, smiling as he said to his son, “I’ll go take a look, I’ll come back later.”

“Don’t bother coming back. It’s scorching today,” Ye Dahu said, walking behind him. He wanted to go greet his sister anyway.

Ye Fangfei was pedaling fast. She barely noticed the two figures by the roadside, ready to pass straight by, when she heard a loud shout:
“Xiaomei’s here!”

Next to the shouter, an older man was beaming at her, full of affection.

That’s when Ye Fangfei suddenly remembered—weren’t these the original owner’s father and eldest brother?

She hurriedly got off her bicycle and greeted them with a smile.
“Dad, Big Brother, you’re both working here?”

“Mm, Dad and I are weeding this plot today,” Ye Dahu replied.

Seeing his daughter all sweaty, Ye Laifu quickly waved her over.
“Come on, let’s head home. It’s too hot out here.”

“Big Brother, Dad and I will go ahead. Don’t work too long,” Ye Fangfei said before following her father toward the village.

…

Ye family had many children. Ye Laifu and Zhou Hongyu had four sons and two daughters.

Those four sons had already given them nine grandchildren—the eldest was eight, the youngest barely six months.

Before father and daughter even reached the house, a wailing chorus erupted from the courtyard.

“Wuuu… Grandma! Gogdan hit me!”

“You pushed me first!”

Two boys were each crying their grievances.

A middle-aged woman’s roar followed:
“Enough! Shut your mouths! If you keep fighting, I’ll drag your parents here—don’t you howl in my yard!”

One listened to that thunderous voice and Ye Fangfei instantly knew—it had to be the original owner’s mother. She couldn’t hold back a laugh.

Ye Laifu chuckled too.
“Your third and fourth brothers went to town to sell ice pops. Your sisters-in-law are busy with their own plots, so they dumped the kids on your mom for a bit.”

“Third Brother went too? Then Fourth Brother must really be earning money,” Ye Fangfei said.

“Your third brother only started a few days ago, earns less than your fourth. Yesterday your fourth made two yuan and sixty.”
Ye Laifu pushed open the gate, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
“That fourth one’s sharp—says he can make four or five yuan a day. His best day was six yuan and one jiao.”

“That’s pretty good. Better than working in the fields.”
As soon as Fangfei parked her bicycle, all the noisy little rascals stopped squabbling and ran toward her, eyes glued to the things hanging from her bike.

Zhou Hongyu was feeding water to her youngest granddaughter. When she saw her daughter arrive, her entire face bloomed with joy.
“If you hadn’t come today, I was planning to go check on you tomorrow!”

“Mom, I’m here now. I’ll stay a couple of days so don’t get tired of me,” Ye Fangfei said, parking the bicycle under the eaves and pulling down the snacks to give the nieces and nephews.

“As long as your in-laws don’t mind, you could stay here forever and I’d never get tired,” Zhou Hongyu said happily.

Then she noticed the two bundles of pork intestines hanging from the handlebars, and her expression wrinkled instantly.
“What did you buy that for? It stinks! Tastes like filth when you eat it.”

Ye Fangfei’s lips twitched.
“Mom, that stink is from not washing it well. I’ll clean and cook it later—once you try my version, you’ll want more.”

“You know how to make that?” Zhou Hongyu looked skeptical. Her daughter’s cooking was usually average—since when did she learn complicated dishes?

“I learned from a book! There’s even a recipe for steamed sponge cake. I bought ingredients today to try it—hope it works.”

Seeing the kids’ hands all dirty, Fangfei handed two bags of snacks to her mother.
“Xiangnan, take your siblings to wash up. Grandma will give you cake later.”

Then she turned to her father.
“Dad, put the intestines in a big basin and scrub them with wood ash. Rub it several times.”

“Alright, my daughter knows best,” Ye Laifu said with a smile, taking the bundle away to clean.

Zhou Hongyu placed the baby in a small bed under the eaves, washed a cucumber for her daughter, then handed out snacks to the children—muttering the whole time:
“What did you buy all this for? It was expensive. Zhanxun works hard for money. Save what he sends you. If you’re going to spend it, spend on yourself—buy clothes, dressing up a little. You’re still young, you should look nice.”

The original owner used to think her mother nagged too much.
But now, those words felt warm and comforting to Ye Fangfei.

She held up a slice of rice cake to her mother’s mouth.
“Mom, it isn’t much. Just a little treat for the kids. I can’t come empty-handed.”

“So many little rascals—you’ll never buy enough to satisfy them,” Zhou Hongyu grumbled, though her eyes were full of affection.

She took only a tiny bite of the cake Fangfei gave her and crumbled the rest to feed the baby.

Fangfei’s heart warmed painfully. Life in this era was just too hard—grown adults couldn’t bear to eat a piece of pastry.

After finishing her cucumber, she went to instruct her father on cleaning the intestines.

She’d learned the wood-ash method from short videos in her previous life—some regions used it often, and it cleaned incredibly well.

“Dad, like this?” he asked while scrubbing.

“Yes, exactly,” she said, keeping her distance from the smell. “Wash the outside, then flip the intestines and scrub the inside too. Then rinse repeatedly.”

In her previous life, her mother always paid an extra fee for pre-cleaned intestines. This raw version was new even to her.

Seeing her disgusted expression, Ye Laifu laughed.
“If it stinks, don’t stand here. Go inside and chat with your mom.”

“Thanks, Dad. Make sure to eat more later,” she said. She planned to braise the intestines in the afternoon and test the sponge cake at noon since there was no oven—she’d have to steam it.

She turned to her mother.
“Mom, do we have eggs and flour?”

“Still do. Your dad just milled wheat yesterday, and we have twelve eggs. Want me to make egg pancakes?”

Before she could finish, the kids chorused:
“Grandma, I want egg pancakes!”
“Me too!”
Even two-year-old Qiaochun drooled as she echoed.

Zhou Hongyu flicked their foreheads fondly.
“Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you know.”

Little Gogdan seemed to think his grandma wasn’t as easy to coax as his aunt, so he wrapped himself around Fangfei’s leg.
“Auntie, I’ll help you build the fire! Let’s make egg pancakes!”

“You little glutton,” she pinched his cheeks with a grin. “No pancakes today—Auntie will make sponge cake.”

Carrying the sugar, she headed into the main room.