Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 191 - 188: Annual Best

Chapter 191: Chapter 188: Annual Best

"Shouldn’t you buy me a few more clothes? It’d be best to have long sleeves, in case it rains when we visit your family. And, take me for a haircut this weekend... Are you listening?"

After dinner, while washing dishes in the kitchen, Qin Guanglin mumbled without hearing He Fang respond. Turning his head, he saw her engrossed in her phone and instantly felt displeased, "Comrade He, I’m lecturing here. Could you pay attention?"

"I heard you, I heard you. You don’t need a haircut. Your hair looks good now."

"Let’s go for a haircut this weekend. Half a month is just enough time for it to grow out a bit more naturally. Isn’t that perfect? Otherwise, it’ll get too long in another half month."

"You’re acting like a nervous bride meeting her mother-in-law. Really necessary?" He Fang rolled her eyes, put down her phone, and reached out her hand, "Pass me the nail clippers."

"Meeting your father-in-law and mother-in-law are pretty much the same." Qin Guanglin took off his keychain and handed it to her, "Could you take this seriously? This concerns our future happiness. What if your dad doesn’t like me and throws me out? Then we’d have to elope."

As National Day approached, he became increasingly anxious, fearing his father-in-law might disapprove of something, constantly preoccupied with the thought.

It was his first time; he needed to make a good impression.

"You think it’ll go beautifully, running away like that?"

Taking the nail clippers, He Fang busied herself cutting her nails while reassuring him, "Don’t worry. Just be yourself in front of my dad. Looking too fancy might seem unreliable to him... He’s quite stubborn with his own set of quirky beliefs. Just be natural, I promise, no surprises."

"You’re not your dad, so your promises don’t count for much. Look at the messages your dad sends about me. It’s full of disdain... No, I’ve got a very bad feeling about this." Qin Guanglin worriedly dried his hands and sat on the couch watching her clip her nails, his mind racing.

"I’ve seen online many people bring rice or gas cylinders, or even cut grass and feed pigs when they first visit their father-in-law’s house. What should I do at your place? I need to check if I can handle it."

"You must be reading stories from the ’80s. My family isn’t living in a rural backwater. What grass is there to cut or pigs to feed? And who still uses coal stoves? Stop searching blindly; you’ll end up making a fool of yourself, and my brother will never let you hear the end of it."

Somewhat helpless, He Fang glanced at the phone on the table and suggested, "How about you two have a video call first?"

"No... don’t." Qin Guanglin tensed up, shaking his head like a rattle, "That won’t work. Faces look too big on the phone; better to meet in person."

"Then stop fussing and be quiet for a while."

The clipping sound of the nail clippers clicked, and Qin Guanglin stayed quiet for a while but then couldn’t help speaking up, "How come you were so natural when you met my mom?"

"Natural? Wasn’t I shy?"

"Really?"

"Yes, I was very shy." He Fang nodded earnestly.

"Ah, right, you even cooked for my mom the first time you visited. Did you do it on purpose?" Qin Guanglin recalled her first visit to his home, "Were you scheming on me back then?"

It seemed to parallel other tales about first-time meetings with mothers-in-law: casual chat, helping with cooking and washing dishes. Considering they had just started their relationship, it seemed unlikely, but looking at He Fang, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that she had done it intentionally.

"Mmm, I always had designs on you." He Fang leaned forward, blew a kiss toward him, then tilted her head with a smile, "Isn’t that wonderfully sappy?"

"There’s nothing splendid about that..."

Qin Guanglin pursed his lips and stood up, trying hard not to smile, "Come on, time to go out for a walk and then a run."

He had expected He Fang to deny it, but she directly offered a half-serious, half-joking declaration of love. This girlfriend of his...

He was worrying over nothing. With their relationship this strong, even if her father was slightly disapproving, it was no big deal. Why worry so much?

"That’s settled then. Here you go."

He Fang handed back the keys to Qin Guanglin and patted his hands as he stood up from the sofa. After getting ready, the two of them walked arm in arm downstairs.

Wandering around the street, Qin’s Mom sat at the corner chatting leisurely with the old ladies. Seeing this from afar, Qin Guanglin quickly changed his steps and avoided them. Although their casual strolls were not unusual to the familiar neighbors, greeting those ladies would inevitably lead to more gossip with Qin’s Mom, and he disliked being the topic of gossip.

"There’s a new gym that just opened over there, how about trying it out?"

Qin Guanglin had noticed it on his way to work a few days ago and had meant to bring He Fang, but he hadn’t remembered until he saw a guy distributing flyers just then.

"Um... no, let’s just stick to running."

"They have treadmills there too."

"I don’t like seeing so many people there, and the way they dress—" He Fang wrinkled her nose and mimicked, "Whether it’s the men or the women, they all wear tank tops. I’m not comfortable with that."

"... It’s a gym, everyone wears light clothes to sweat easily, no one would wear thick clothes to exercise." Qin Guanglin shrugged, "If you don’t like it, you don’t like it. I was thinking of building some muscles to impress you."

"Tss, you’re fine as you are now, just maintain that."

Chatting casually, they arrived back at He Fang’s place. Qin Guanglin thought she was going back up to grab something small, but then he saw her sitting on a bicycle.

"Again?"

"I got it last night at midnight." He Fang pouted, looking disappointed.

"Just take it slow then, don’t overdo it."

"..."

...

After more than three months of persistence, Qin Guanglin wasn’t gasping for breath and weak in the legs after running like he used to be. Pushing the bicycle while leisurely strolling with He Fang around the street downstairs was enough to even his breathing.

"Should I carry you up?"

"I can walk, let’s just go up."

Together, they went upstairs. Sweaty, Qin Guanglin showered first, emerging clean and refreshed, and then it was He Fang’s turn. In the meantime, he threw their dirty clothes into the washing machine, set it up, and finally brought a bucket of hot water into the bedroom for a cozy foot soak.

"If Luo City had a ’Best Health-Conscious Couple’ award, we would definitely win first place." Qin Guanglin found it amusing rather than awkward.

So young, yet living as though they were middle-aged.

If left to himself, he certainly wouldn’t bother to run, let alone prepare a hot foot soak—how pretentious.

But with He Fang... well, this was quite pleasant.

"Helping you develop good habits, we’ll both live to a hundred."

As He Fang lay back on the bed with her feet in the bucket and hugging a pillow, she half-squinted at the ceiling, "Now we’re in our twenties. If we live to be a hundred, that leaves us over seventy years."

Qin Guanglin had never really thought about how long he might live; hearing her calculate it made it seem quite lengthy.

"Living to a hundred... won’t we get sick of it?"

"Not at all."