Free Web NovelChapter 34: Chapter 34: Old Peacock
After a few brief seconds, Yu Le let out a loud shout.
"Holy crap, a sweater! Captain Tang, your wife must have sent this! You’re a lucky man!" Yu Le cried out, his voice a mix of envy, jealousy, and admiration.
"Ahem..." Tang Yuanxiao hadn’t taken his eyes off the sweater since he first saw it. Hearing Yu Le’s strange cry, he gave an awkward cough and put on a stern face. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"I’m not talking nonsense, Captain Tang! Hurry up and read the letter. See if your wife bought it for you."
Yu Le was even more excited than Tang Yuanxiao, the one who had actually received the package.
Tang Yuanxiao picked up the letter and read it, a faint blush creeping onto his face.
Mrs. Tang had asked someone to write the letter for her, filling it with praise for Su Li. It described how skillful and capable Su Li was and how wonderfully she treated Little Tang Mo. Mrs. Tang even included her previous apologies to Su Li to show her sincerity. The words were full of expectation, and she even mused about the future.
...Something about if Tang Yuanxiao had time to come home, Su Li would immediately get pregnant and give her another grandson...
Yu Le saw the change in Tang Yuanxiao’s expression clearly. He stood to the side, scratching his head in anxious curiosity.
"So? Did your wife buy it for you? Can I see what she wrote?"
"No." Tang Yuanxiao abruptly folded the letter and put it away, refusing firmly. His expression grew even more uncomfortable.
Meeting Yu Le’s curious gaze, his eyes darted away as he blurted out an explanation, "She didn’t buy it. She knitted it."
"Huh?" Yu Le froze.
A flash of regret crossed Tang Yuanxiao’s eyes. He explained vaguely, "The sweater... she didn’t buy it. She knitted it."
Yu Le was stunned for a second, then he broke into a grin. He sidled up to Tang Yuanxiao, chuckling slyly and nudging his arm repeatedly. His grin was especially cheeky.
Tang Yuanxiao kept a straight face. "Stand up straight. What kind of behavior is this?"
"Captain Tang, if you want to smile, just smile. If you want to jump for joy, go ahead. No need to hold it in, I get it." Yu Le waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Your wife feels... ahem... hehe... toward you."
The "ahem, hehe" was particularly full of insinuation.
"Speak properly," Tang Yuanxiao said, stuffing the sweater back into the bag.
"Sir!" Yu Le snapped to attention, standing ramrod straight. He bellowed in a powerful voice, "Captain Tang, your wife is deeply devoted to you! Assessment complete, retreating!"
He bolted the moment he finished shouting, vanishing in an instant.
Left behind, Tang Yuanxiao’s face—usually as stern and prim as a little old man’s—slowly, strangely, began to turn red.
The soft, light package in his hands suddenly felt exceptionally heavy.
Because it contained a person’s feelings.
Tang Yuanxiao, a man who always stood as straight as a pine and sat as still as a bell, now sat rigidly in his chair, staring at the sweater on the desk with a solemn expression.
Su Li had knitted and sent him a sweater. It was obvious, just as Yu Le had said... she liked him.
This was something Tang Yuanxiao had never expected.
His impression of Su Li was faint; he had only met her once and could barely recall her appearance.
He sat for a long time with a blank expression before he finally dredged up an image from a corner of his mind: a small, thin girl with a bit of a temper who liked to keep her head down.
A trace of confusion and bashfulness appeared in Tang Yuanxiao’s eyes. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Just as Su Li had thought, if not for his parents’ command, Tang Yuanxiao wouldn’t have wanted to marry her. It wasn’t that he was dissatisfied with Su Li, but rather that he didn’t want to get married at all.
Tang Yuanxiao’s reason for not wanting to marry was simple: he was afraid his new wife would be unkind to Tang Mo, and he was also afraid of ruining a young woman’s life.
He had gone back and gotten married in a hurry. Though his heart was filled with guilt, he hadn’t even exchanged a few words with Su Li before an urgent mission called him back to the factory.
Looking back on that rushed wedding now, it all felt like a dream.
He had written a letter home the first chance he got. While writing, he’d wanted to say a few more things to her, but he didn’t know what to say.
He had always felt quite guilty towards Su Li and had been considering bringing her over. He just hadn’t mentioned it because Old Tang had fallen ill and then passed away.
He didn’t feel comfortable leaving Mrs. Tang at home alone, but bringing her over as well wasn’t realistic.
In the end, the matter of bringing Su Li over was endlessly delayed. He could only shamelessly hope that Su Li would treat Mrs. Tang and Tang Mo well.
Over the past year, he had calmed down and thought things through. No matter what, Su Li and he were already family. As long as she could treat Mrs. Tang and Tang Mo kindly, he would be good to her for the rest of his life and never let her down.
He had thought it through clearly, but because he’d had no contact with Su Li, she still felt like a stranger.
He had assumed Su Li felt more or less the same way about him. He never imagined that her feelings were completely different from his!
She actually... liked him, and with such deep affection.
Tang Yuanxiao’s gaze fell on the sweater. Su Li had knitted it, little by little... Every single stitch was a testament to her feelings.
’As her husband, now that my wife has made her feelings so clear, shouldn’t I also show some kind of response?’ Tang Yuanxiao’s face flushed slightly as he thought seriously.
Just as Tang Yuanxiao was thinking, the office door suddenly opened, and Yu Le’s head popped in. freёwebnovel.com
"Captain Tang, a friendly reminder! You should try on the sweater to see if it fits. If it does, write back to your wife right away. She must be anxiously waiting for your reply!"
He spoke in a rapid-fire burst, winking and grinning at Tang Yuanxiao.
"When you write back, Captain Tang, you can’t be so stiff. You have to use some sweet talk. If you don’t know any sweet nothings, you can ask me. I’ll teach you for free, you know."
Tang Yuanxiao grabbed the first thing he could find on his desk and threw it at him. "Get out!"
"Captain Tang, you’re repaying my kindness with malice!" Yu Le yelled as he ran off.
Tang Yuanxiao endured all of Yu Le’s teasing and jokes. He maintained his stern expression until the end of the workday, then took the package back to his dormitory.
After returning to his dorm, he thought for a moment and decided to try on the sweater first.
Before putting it on, Tang Yuanxiao was perfectly calm. But once the sweater was on, he found it hard to maintain his composure—because it fit too perfectly!
Su Li, who had knitted the sweater, would never have guessed that the garment she’d intended to be loose would fit Tang Yuanxiao so perfectly!
The collar, the arms, the waist, the chest, the cuffs... every part of it fit him snugly, a perfect match.
Tang Yuanxiao was tall and slender. He didn’t look fat, but he actually required a lot of fabric. He had the perfect "clothes-hanger" physique: slim with clothes on, but muscular underneath.
The sweater Su Li sent was the best-fitting piece of clothing Tang Yuanxiao had ever worn in his life. It was as if it had been custom-tailored.
’Custom-tailored...’ Tang Yuanxiao looked down at the sweater. His expression turned strange for a moment, and then his face slowly reddened.
It was just a sweater, but thinking of the words "custom-tailored" made the soft wool against his skin feel... strange. It was as if her hands and her gaze were brushing against him...
’She’s never been that close to me, so she must have, at some point when I wasn’t paying attention, carefully studied my body with her eyes, inch by inch...’
"COUGH, COUGH..." Tang Yuanxiao choked, his ears and neck turning red.
He couldn’t believe Su Li had secretly studied him in such detail!
Tang Yuanxiao’s body suddenly felt hot. The sweater on his skin felt like it was scalding him, and a wave of heat rushed through him.
Flushed and steaming, Tang Yuanxiao fumbled to pull off the sweater and tossed it onto the bed.
The moment he threw it down, he hastily picked it up again, frowning and muttering to himself.
’...I can’t just toss it aside like that. This is a token of her feelings.’
’She is my wife, after all.’
’Because she’s my wife, because she’s already married to me... that’s why she would... It’s all perfectly normal.’
’Wife... My wife...’
Tang Yuanxiao mulled over the word, his expression complex.
Tang Yuanxiao ate dinner absent-mindedly, declined his colleagues’ invitation to stay up for the New Year’s Eve vigil, and returned to his dorm. He locked the door, sat down at his desk, and began to write a reply with grim seriousness.
