Chapter 416: Chapter 413: Getting Interested
Zhang Hao immediately became interested when he heard this.
"Aren’t there any girls in the neighboring villages, and who might you be?"
As soon as Zhang Hao asked this, the elderly woman’s face showed embarrassment.
She hastily laughed it off, "I’m just a neighbor, living at the east end of the village. I’m here to see if there’s any way I can help."
Zhang Hao didn’t believe a word the elderly woman said; even if she really lived at the east end of the village, she had nothing to do with him.
Coming up to his girlfriend and asking all sorts of questions, his first impression was not too good.
"Xiaohui, come over here."
Using his body, Zhang Hao created a barrier for He Qianhui.
The elderly woman seemed to notice that Zhang Hao wasn’t very interested in talking to her, and she reluctantly stood up and left.
At her departure, He Qianhui couldn’t help but laugh, "That elderly woman is quite interesting, asking all those questions right off the bat. I thought we had some kind of family connection with her."
Zhang Hao also had this doubt.
Waiting for his dad and mom to come inside, he immediately stopped his mother.
Fortunately, the elderly woman had not left the yard yet.
Zhang Hao pointed with his hand, "Mom, who is that person?"
Zhang Hao’s mother looked out the window, equally puzzled.
"I don’t recognize her. What’s up, did she talk to you just now?"
Zhang Hao nodded.
"This is what it’s like in the countryside, everyone is familiar with each other. You haven’t been back in a long time and might be a little unaccustomed to it, but it’s nothing to worry about."
He had thought his mother might know the woman, but she too had no idea who she was.
After a round of pleasantries, the eldest family member began to urge everyone to prepare dinner.
Because these next few days were days of great celebration, the food and drink were very abundant.
Zhang Hao still wanted to take He Qianhui for a walk around the village.
Just as they were about to get up, a woman pushed aside the curtain and walked in.
"Sister, could you come over and give us a hand? We’re short-staffed in the kitchen."
He Qianhui pointed at herself, "What can I help with? Just cutting and washing vegetables, stir-frying and the like? There are a lot of people coming to the house today, and we few can’t manage."
Zhang Hao was displeased when he heard this; they really were being taken for fools.
He grabbed He Qianhui’s hand and said, "She can’t cook, and we don’t do much cooking at home either."
The woman blinked, her expression a mix of embarrassment.
She murmured to herself in a low voice, "How can a woman not know how to cook? You must be joking. Look at this hand..."
She stopped mid-sentence, grabbed He Qianhui’s hand to look at it, and swallowed the rest of her words.
Although He Qianhui did cook on regular days, she always made sure to wash her hands thoroughly and apply hand cream afterward.
Once every two weeks, she even did a hand mask, so her hands showed no signs of hard work.
Fair and delicate, they were like freshly pulled up young onions.
Key to this was He Qianhui’s knowledge that this trip home was for a fairly lavish event.
So yesterday she had specifically spent a lot of money to get her nails done.
Looking at those shiny nails, it was clear she would not be able to do any work.
In the midst of the awkwardness, Zhang Hao’s mother came in, "Hao, Xiaohui, both of you come here."
Both Zhang Hao and He Qianhui were grateful for their mother’s timely intervention.
Giving the woman an apologetic smile, Zhang Hao then pulled He Qianhui out of the house.
Following his mother through an alley, they entered another household.
Zhang Hao quickly walked forward, "Mom, whose house is this now?"
"One courtyard isn’t enough; tonight, you and Xiaohui will stay in this courtyard."
The rural environment truly left much to be desired, but it was far from unbearable.
Zhang Hao followed her into the room for a look, noting the floral sheets on the old wooden bed.
On top was a neatly-folded red blanket.
Seeing this quilt, Zhang Hao really couldn’t hold it in any longer.
"Mom, whose wedding quilt did you bring over here? Could it be that you’ve already accepted Xiaohui and me being together?"
"What’s the use of my acceptance? The key is for your dad to accept. You know your mom’s family status isn’t as high as you think."
Hearing his mom say this, Zhang Hao couldn’t help but feel a sigh.
"Mom, about the family status thing, you shouldn’t belittle yourself."
Watching his mom’s embarrassed smile, Zhang Hao knew that it wouldn’t be long before his parents accepted He Qianhui.
"All right, all right, you’ve been driving all day and it’s been tough. You should rest early."
Since his mom suggested it, Zhang Hao did not refuse.
It was the height of summer, and without a bath for a day, one would start to smell.
In this place, one couldn’t hope for luxuries like water heaters—having solar-powered hot water would be considered a blessing.
However, even solar power was a luxury.
After wandering around for a while, he found out from a kid where he could take a bath.
In a corner of the courtyard, there was a brick-built bathing area.
Zhang Hao only glanced inside unintentionally but immediately frowned.
He thought about driving back to the city and finding a hotel to stay in.
Even if it wasn’t a starred hotel, as long as there was 24-hour hot water, that would be enough.
He Qianhui had the same thought, but sadly, the nearest town to the village was over a half-hour drive away.
What mattered most was that his mom didn’t agree.
She said that although the environment was a little rough, they weren’t that delicate.
At most, they were only going to stay here for three days and two nights.
Once the wedding was over, they would go back home.
So for things like bathing and sleeping, one should endure if possible.
Zhang Hao, however, was very adamant.
"You wait for me here, I’ll go and talk to mom," he said.
At that moment, He Qianhui had already resigned herself to staying here for the night.
She didn’t want Zhang Hao’s mom to think she was too delicate.
So as soon as Zhang Hao left, she found a basin, took a towel, and went to the bathing area to take a quick shower.
Naturally, there was no such thing as shower gel; having a bar of soap was considered good enough.
He Qianhui had just let the curtain down in the bathing area and was about to undress when she heard footsteps outside the curtain.
Frightened, she hurriedly put on her clothes again and peeked out, only to find no one there.
It could have been someone just passing by unintentionally, but the bath was located in a corner of the yard.
Could it be that someone else wanted to take a bath?
He Qianhui thought it over and decided to bathe quickly.
At the same time, a man entered the courtyard.
He seemed to hear some noise by the bathing area and tiptoed over.
The brick-built bath area wasn’t well-sealed.
If there was any hole, you could see everything inside.
Zhang Hao suddenly returned, and as soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw a man lying outside the bath area, looking inside.
He yelled, "What are you looking at?"
The man hadn’t expected someone else to come and was startled by Zhang Hao’s shout.
"I’m here looking for someone. Who are you, and where’s your family from?"
Zhang Hao strode over, his instinct telling him that He Qianhui was inside.
Sure enough, he called out and heard He Qianhui’s voice come from inside.
"Don’t you know this is a place for bathing? Looking for someone here, you’re really something."
Taking advantage of the conversation outside, He Qianhui didn’t bother to dry off the water on her body, hastily put on a piece of clothing, and came out.
