Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 413: Chapter 403: How Did You All Get Here?

After tidying up at home, Shen Yunfang was ready to take the children to clean up the courtyard house.

Although no one was currently living in the courtyard house, the New Year necessitated a fresh start. Cleaning was a perfect way to sweep out the old and welcome the new.

Shen Yunfang rode her bike with the two kids, followed by Taxue, their voices bright and cheerful as they approached the courtyard house. They had not yet reached the entrance when Yunfang faintly spotted what looked like two people sitting by the door.

She briskly parked her bike and walked slowly forward. Taxue dashed ahead and began barking at the people by the door. When she got closer, Yunfang finally recognized the two people, and she knew them.

"Uncle, Auntie, what are you doing here? Taxue, no barking." Yunfang was truly surprised. She had considered the possibility that her folks back home might come looking for her, most likely her in-laws or maybe her elder uncle’s family, but she had never imagined it would be her own uncle and aunt.

"Oh, Yunfang, we’ve finally found you," said Aunt Shen, who was seated until she heard Yunfang’s voice and then recognized the woman with the bike as her niece, Yunfang. "Oh my, you really look different after moving to the city. If you hadn’t spoken up, your aunt wouldn’t have recognized you at all, but look at you, so pretty," Aunt Shen said exaggeratedly.

Uncle Shen didn’t speak, merely stood up silently from the ground.

"Auntie, listen to you. I am still me, nothing’s changed, but why didn’t you send a letter before coming? I had no clue you were coming. Wait a second, how did you even find me?" Yunfang couldn’t remember if she had provided her home address in the letters she wrote to her uncle. Ever since an unpleasant encounter with her aunt during her last visit home, and after not receiving any replies to several letters she sent her uncle, she knew he was upset too. Consequently, she consciously reduced contact with her uncle’s family. The last time she had written to her Uncle was when she was studying in S City, unaware at that time that she would move to the Capital; therefore, she certainly wouldn’t have included her current address in the letter.

"Hehe, well, your Uncle and I came here to see..." Aunt Shen began to chatter away, smiling, but was abruptly cut off mid-sentence by Uncle Shen.

Uncle Shen frowned and said, "This is your house, right? Let’s go inside and talk."

Yunfang, sensing something serious from her uncle’s demeanor, didn’t ask any more questions. Sooner or later, she would find out anyway. She took out the keys, opened the gate, and everyone walked into the courtyard.

"Yunfang, did you buy this house? It’s really nice," said Aunt Shen, who had been inspectively wandering around since they entered the courtyard. By then, the courtyard house had been mostly tidied up, the tiles replaced, the walls painted, it looked much better than before.

Yunfang didn’t answer this question. It seemed like her uncle and aunt already knew she had bought the house, but she was unsure how they found out. Of course, there was no need to hide the fact that she had bought a house from them, but she wasn’t clear about her aunt’s intentions, so she chose not to respond.

"Auntie, Uncle, let’s go inside, it’s quite cold out here," Yunfang said as she opened the front door, ushering them into the house.

"Oh my, why is this beast coming inside too, out you go, hurry up," Aunt Shen reacted immediately upon entering the house and seeing Taxue follow in, and feeling responsible for her niece’s property, she stepped forward to shoo Taxue out.

Yunfang felt rather unhappy upon hearing this, thinking about the saying ’even when beating a dog, one must look at the owner.’ What’s this ’beast’ talk? Who is she calling? When someone else calls her Taxue such names, it makes her, the owner, very uncomfortable indeed.

"Auntie, there’s no need to chase Taxue away. I’ve raised her since she was small, she lived with me back home, stayed with me in the army, and now has followed me to the Capital. She’s like a child of my family." Her point being, be careful with your words, this ’beast’ talk, it may be fine for your own dog, but it’s not okay when referring to my Taxue.

As she spoke these words, the smile on Yunfang’s face had diminished.

Aunt Shen had not expected that Shen Yunfang would give her the cold shoulder as soon as she arrived, especially over a dog. She hummed to herself in annoyance, thinking that Yunfang was no longer the pitiable little girl from the old days back home. Now, she was a university student with real talents.

"Enough, stop fussing over those trivial things." Uncle Shen chided his wife before finally sitting down on the stool that Shen Yunfang had wiped clean.

In fact, the room was almost as cold as outside since there was no heating. It was very cold.

"Yunfang, didn’t you say in your letter that you were studying at a university in S City? How come you ended up in the Capital? Does Hongjun know about this?" What Uncle Shen actually wanted to ask was where the money for buying this house had come from.

"Oh, that. Last year I did start university in S City, but then the university relocated, and all of us students followed it to the Capital to continue our studies. Li Hongjun knows about it. He’s also in the Capital now, attending a party school for further studies, and he can come home every weekend," Shen Yunfang said cheerfully.

Uncle Shen was about to ask more, but Aunt Shen beat him to it, "Yunfang dear, it’s strangely cold in this room. Can people really live here?"

"Auntie, I don’t live here right now, so I haven’t lit any fire in the house. See? The stove is in the room up front. If Auntie feels cold, I can go and get a stove for you later, and we’ll light it up to get warm," Shen Yunfang said, pointing to the room across.

"Oh, I see." Aunt Shen was reassured knowing that they could make a fire and it wouldn’t remain this cold.

Uncle Shen gave his wife a glare, and once she had finished speaking, he continued, "Yunfang, did you buy this house yourself?"

He still couldn’t believe that Yunfang could afford that much money.

"Yes, but Li Hongjun’s comrade-in-arms helped us out, or else we wouldn’t have been able to buy this place." What she meant was that without Ma Liguo finding such a great place for them and helping along the way, she herself might not have come across it or been able to purchase it so smoothly.

However, Uncle Shen misunderstood, thinking that Yunfang was talking about one of Li Hongjun’s comrades helping them buy the house. That made sense to him, so he nodded.

"Yunfang, I see you’ve got the house, but where’s the kitchen? And the toilet?" Aunt Shen, after roving around, continued with her questions.

"I’ve only recently bought it and haven’t had the time to fix it up properly. I had the original kitchen torn down but haven’t rebuilt it yet. The toilet is also not fixed; we have to use the public facilities outside." Shen Yunfang hadn’t planned on living there permanently, so there was no rush to renovate.

"Goodness, no kitchen or toilet? How could anyone move in?" Aunt Shen was not pleased.

"Auntie, the kids and I aren’t living here now, and we don’t plan to anytime soon, so we don’t need those things," Shen Yunfang answered with a smile.

Aunt Shen was at a loss for words. She certainly couldn’t say, "My daughter needs to live here; build the kitchen and toilet."

"There, will you stop now? If you want to look around the house, just go by yourself." Uncle Shen wasn’t too concerned about the house itself, "Yunfang, tell your uncle, what’s going on with Hongjun? Wasn’t he serving in the military? How did he end up studying at a school? Will he still be a soldier after that?"