1956: This Is How I Am

This Is How I Am

"Xiaoxiao, you can get off now." Lu Xingzhi stopped the card at the hotel entrance and turned his head to speak to Lu Xiaoxiao. "Take your things. Don't leave them in the car. I won't send them back to you if you leave them here."2

Lu Xiaoxiao choked on her words. She had a feeling that her brother did not want her there. It must have been an illusion when she thought her brother was handsome while they were at that shooting location.

"Sister-in-law, do you want to go up and chat with me?" Lu Xiaoxiao asked as she patted Jiang Yao.

"She has nothing to say to you. Get out of the car quickly," Lu Xingzhi spoke before Jiang Yao could.

Lu Xiaoxiao stuck out her tongue and made a face at Lu Xingzhi before she got out of the car with her things.

Then, Lu Xingzhi quickly started the car and left the hotel as if he was hiding from someone.

"Why did you say that? She hasn't seen you for a long time. She must miss you." Jiang Yao patted Lu Xingzhi's arm. "Think about your tone just now. She might think you don't care about her."

"It hasn't been that long. We saw her when we were back home." Lu Xingzhi chuckled softly. "It's not like she doesn't know my personality."

Fine, it was his personality. Whatever he said was right.

Jiang Yao rolled her eyes at Lu Xingzhi. She thought, 'Why wasn't he the same when he's with me?' He clung to her all day long, wanting nothing more than to tie her to him. Where had his coldness gone?

She had only been abroad for two days, yet he kept asking her when she would return home. He did not even give her a chance to say no and immediately got her on the plane home.

Lu Xingzhi slowed the car as he drove toward the army base. He switched off the air-conditioner and lowered the window. There was a cool breeze, and the vehicle was not moving fast. It was as if they were going for a ride.

The comfortable breeze made Jiang Yao drowsy. Not long after that, she leaned against the back of the chair and fell into a deep sleep. She did not know when they reached the army base, how she got out of the car, how she got home, or how she changed into her pajamas.

When Jiang Yao woke up, she was already lying comfortably on the bed. Lu Xingzhi was not in the room. It sounded like he was in the bathroom.

Jiang Yao got off the bed, put on her slippers, and walked toward the sound. She saw Lu Xingzhi washing their dirty clothes.

He had already washed her underwear separately and hung them outside to dry.

"It's so late, don't wash them now. I'll do that tomorrow." Jiang Yao rubbed her eyes.

"Only two left; I'll be done soon."

Lu Xingzhi shook his head. Before Jiang Yao was pregnant, he enjoyed watching her wash his clothes, but he still felt sorry for her hands most of the time. He could not let him continue washing their clothes since she was pregnant.

They did not have a balcony, and they did not have a proper place to wash clothes as they did in their home in Jin City. They had to crouch to wash the clothes while they could do that standing up in their previous home in Jin City. He did not want Jiang Yao to get tired.

"Why are you awake? Do you need to use the toilet?" He had read that pregnant women would urinate quite frequently as the fetus grew larger and squeezed on their bladder.

Lu Xingzhi moved away from her and said, "Go ahead."

"Go out, please." Jiang Yao did not feel like using the toilet until Lu Xingzhi asked her.

Lu Xingzhi washed the suds off his hands and turned to look at Jiang Yao with a faint smile. "We're an old married couple. Are you afraid that I'll look at you?"

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