Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 494: Chapter 484: Arguing with Whom

Yoshida pursued her persistently for three months, until the Agricultural University announced the start of the summer vacation, which marked a temporary cessation of his efforts. He didn’t lose the will to continue, for over these months Shen Yunfang had ignited his fighting spirit, but he had been away for so long that the head office in Japan had repeatedly urged him to return. By mid-July, he had no choice but to temporarily bid farewell to everything here and go back to his country.

Shen Yunfang was very happy to no longer have Yoshida in her sight. Although she appeared calm and unflustered on the surface over the past few months, in reality, Yoshida, and that nonsensical Vice Principal Tao, had left her seething with anger, so much that she wished she could find a dark and windy night to sack them both.

Yoshida might have tried to look cool, but he brought her quite a bit of trouble.

In the school, there were many students who initially looked down on her, then became envious, and finally jealous. This psychological journey took many turns, and eventually, some rumors unfavorable to her began to spread around the school. Some said she was behaving pretentiously, some said she was putting on a facade, but the most widespread rumor was that she was not behaving according to women’s virtue—already married with two children, yet still using her innocent face to seduce others.

Shen Yunfang found it all very helpless. She couldn’t decide how she looked; what could she do if her parents gave her such a tender face? To whom could she possibly justify herself?

Since Yoshida’s appearance, she could confidently say she remained emotionally unmoved. As for flowers, expensive gifts, or anything of the sort, she had never accepted a single item—all the students had seen this. So why then, were such rumors still circulating in the school? It was because some people were envious. Envy could twist people’s hearts, drive them crazy, and strip away their humanity. Shen Yunfang had understood the human heart in her past life, so she could empathize.

And it wasn’t just the school; the impact was evident in the neighborhood as well. Auntie Sun from across the street now looked at her with a superior air, as if she herself had some lofty status. And then there were the other idle women like Auntie Sun, who would point and laugh at Shen Yunfang from afar whenever she stepped out of the house.

Shen Yunfang knew without listening that they must be sizing her up and not saying anything nice. But such things couldn’t be explained; the more she tried, the more it became inexplicable. She thought, once her husband Li Hongjun came home, these idle gossips should come to an end.

This vacation, Shen Yunfang didn’t go anywhere. She quietly spent her days at home with the two children.

"Mommy, are we going to pick flowers again tomorrow?" Manman looked at her mother with hopeful eyes.

Shen Yunfang bent down to kiss her daughter, then asked, "Does Manman want to go?"

"Yes." Manman replied softly and sweetly.

"Alright, then we’ll go flower picking again tomorrow. But Manman must wear a hat, okay? Otherwise, the big sun will turn your little face all red, and that wouldn’t be pretty," she pinched her daughter’s rosy cheek.

That day in the fields, the children, being young and playful, hadn’t sought out a shady spot to play, so after a few hours, both their cheeks were sunburned. If this continued, they would surely get sunburnt.

"Okay, I’ll go find my hat." Manman, though still little, cared greatly about her beauty.

Shen Yunfang watched her daughter run off with a bounce, then turned to her son who was still playing with a toy on the terrace, "Pangpang, stop that and come in to drink some water. It’s so hot on the terrace."

Pangpang obediently came inside, nestling close to his mother, letting her feed him water.

Yoshida’s influence was something Pangpang hadn’t mentioned. Pangpang was never a dull child, and after Yoshida appeared around Shen Yunfang a few times, the little guy started to feel something was wrong. Several times he asked where his father was and when he would come home.

Upon hearing from his mother that his father was away on a task and couldn’t come home for a while, he seemed to grow more sensible overnight. Whenever he had time, he would cling to his sister and stay near his mother. His gaze towards Yoshida was unfriendly, probably fearing that the man might take his mother away.

Shen Yunfang had no chance but to accept the situation as well. She had talked to her son several times, telling him not to worry, not to feel burdened, insisting she would never abandon them. Each time Pangpang would say he understood, that everything was fine and that he would go back to how he used to be. However, the little boy was only becoming more and more mature.

He would rush to do any work around the house, and even if he couldn’t do it himself, he would follow his mother around to help.

Watching such a child, Shen Yunfang felt heartache and, at the same time, an itching rage inside her—the damn Yoshida better never show up again, or she would make sure he would be left unable to take care of himself.

"Look at how dirty your little hands are, hurry to the bathroom to wash your hands and face." Shen Yunfang urged her son. "You, you’re just like a little housekeeper. I’ve already told you, you’re still young, your mom can take care of these things, you don’t have to worry about them."

Pangpang, holding his mother’s hand and puffing out his little chest, declared, "Mom, I’m all grown up now. Since dad is not at home, I am the only man of the house."

"Alright, alright, our little man of the house, go clean your kitten face and make it squeaky clean. Mom will make a big feast for you tonight to celebrate that we have started to harvest."

In the Agricultural University’s experimental fields, the honeysuckle Shen Yunfang had planted could now be picked. Since it was only the second year, the blossoms weren’t abundant, and the plot of land wasn’t large, so Shen Yunfang took both kids with her to pick the flowers, treating it like a family activity as well.

Manman, the little beauty, enjoyed the destructive pleasure of picking the flowers so much that she wasn’t satisfied even after a whole day and wanted to continue the next day.

For dinner, Shen Yunfang made her children the famous Northeast rice bundles, which is just a matter of cleaning a few cabbage leaves and then some dipping vegetables, preparing some meat sauce, and making some mashed potatoes, and then teaching the kids hand by hand how to wrap the rice bundles and how to eat them.

True to their Northeastern roots, both kids were exceptionally fond of the self-made rice bundles. Even Manman alone ate two of them.

Of course, Shen Yunfang didn’t give the kids any large leaves, just small ones, and the kids ate with gusto.

The next morning around nine, Shen Yunfang, along with her children and Taxue, took a picnic basket and rode their bikes to the fields for a picnic.

Shen Yunfang’s assigned experimental plot was in the middle of the whole area, and to get there, they had to cross many other people’s fields.

The whole experimental field was divided into countless small sections, filled with a variety of plants—cucumbers, persimmons, eggplants, potatoes—that the students of the agricultural college were growing, all competing for splendor on this stretch of land.

By the time Shen Yunfang and the kids reached their own plot, their pockets were already stuffed with two persimmons and a cucumber.

During the holidays, some students who didn’t go home would come here now and then to check on and care for their plots. If they had to go home for something, they would entrust their plots to a trusted classmate to take care of. Shen Yunfang did just that last year.

"All right, free time now, but remember to protect yourselves, and don’t take off your hats, understand?" Shen Yunfang gave each child a small basket to collect honeysuckle with. "And Taxue, you mustn’t run around carelessly and trample other people’s fields, understand?"

"Understood, Mom." The two kids and the dog chorused in unison, took their baskets, and scampered off to play.