usenovelgroup Chapter 22 The Cold-Noodles Chief Has Changed
Chapter 22 The Cold-Noodles Chief Has Changed
The lime plaster was brushed onto the wall, making a uniform rustling sound.
Bai Rongbei stood on the stool, his arm moving steadily, leaving neat white marks wherever he brushed.
He worked as diligently as ever, as if painting walls and training soldiers were no different tasks that required focused attention.
Su Wanwan stood below, holding an old iron basin filled with lime slurry in her hands, her eyes following his movements.
"To the left... a little higher," she whispered a reminder.
Bai Rongbei flicked his wrist, and the brush precisely reached that corner.
"Is this alright?" he asked, his voice unusually clear in the quiet room.
Su Wanwan looked up and nodded: "Yes, it's brushed very evenly."
As she spoke, there were still a few specks of lime on her face, and her hair was wrapped in an old handkerchief, revealing her fair neck.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a soft halo around her profile.
Bai Rongbei glanced down at her, said nothing, and continued painting the wall.
But his movements unconsciously became gentler, and the brush made almost no sound as it brushed across the wall.
Outside, Lin Weiwei and Bai Si'an were painting another wall.
To be precise, it was Bai Si'an who was brushing the brush, and Lin Weiwei was "instructing" him.
"Hey, you didn't get it here!" Lin Weiwei pointed to the corner of the wall. "A little lower, yes, lower still!"
Bai Si'an pushed up his glasses and bent down to scrub that corner.
His right leg was slightly bent, and his weight was on his left leg. His movements were a little awkward, but he brushed very carefully.
Lin Weiwei looked at him and suddenly fell silent.
She noticed that every time Bai Si'an squatted down or bent over, his right leg would involuntarily stiffen for a moment. Although he quickly covered it up, it was still noticeable.
"Are you tired?" she asked, her voice unusually soft.
Bai Si'an straightened up and glanced at her: "Not tired."
"Liar." Lin Weiwei pouted. "I saw you rubbing your legs."
Bai Si'an paused in his work and didn't reply.
Lin Weiwei walked over and took the brush from his hand: "You take a break, I'll do it."
"Can you?" Bai Si'an asked.
"If you don't know how, you can learn," Lin Weiwei said matter-of-factly. "Didn't you just teach me? Use your wrist, keep the brush level..."
As she spoke, she mimicked Bai Rongbei's actions, raising a brush and scrubbing the wall.
As a result, the force was not well controlled, and the lime slurry splashed out with a "splat", with a few spots of white splattering onto Bai Sian's glasses.
Bai Si'an: "..."
Lin Weiwei: "...I'm sorry!"
She quickly put down the brush and frantically searched for something to wipe his glasses.
Finally, he pulled out a crumpled handkerchief from his pocket, the one Su Wanwan had given him yesterday.
"I can do it myself." Bai Si'an took the handkerchief and took off his glasses to wipe them.
Without his glasses, his eyes looked a little dazed, and he squinted as he looked at things.
Lin Weiwei leaned closer to take a look: "Is it clean?"
"Hmm." Bai Si'an put his glasses back on, and the world became clear again.
He saw Lin Weiwei's face very close to his, her face still covered in lime dust, her eyes bright, with a hint of apology and ingratiation.
"I really didn't mean to," she said.
"I know," Bai Si'an said, his voice softer than usual.
He took the brush back: "I'll do it. You just hold the stool for me."
"Okay." Lin Weiwei obediently held onto the stool.
Bai Si'an started painting the wall again, while Lin Weiwei held onto a stool below, occasionally handing him a tool or reminding him where he hadn't painted.
The two worked together and surprisingly found themselves in good sync.
Inside the house, Su Wanwan and Bai Rongbei were in similar situations.
After finishing painting one wall, Bai Rongbei got off the stool and stretched his wrists.
Su Wanwan handed over the bowl of water: "Have some water."
Bai Rongbei took the bowl, tilted his head back and drank half of it, then handed the rest back to Su Wanwan.
Su Wanwan paused for a moment, took the bowl, and drank the rest of the water in small sips.
The action was so natural that neither of them felt anything was wrong.
Just like that day in the cafeteria, when Bai Rongbei ate her leftovers as naturally as if it were nothing.
"I'll paint that wall outside," Su Wanwan said. "You've been teaching me for so long, I should be able to do it."
Bai Rongbei glanced at her: "The sun is strong outside."
"It's okay, I'm wearing a hat." Su Wanwan pointed to the military cap on her head.
Seeing that Su Wanwan persisted, Bai Rongbei didn't say anything more and nodded.
The two took their tools and went outside.
The outer walls are even dirtier, and due to years of wind and sun exposure, the paint is peeling off even more severely.
Following Bai Rongbei's example, Su Wanwan first used a shovel to remove the plaster from the wall, scraping off the pieces that were about to peel off.
She worked very diligently, and although her movements were slow, she did it little by little.
Bai Rongbei watched for a while, then suddenly said, "I'll shovel it, you brush it."
"Huh?" Su Wanwan looked up.
"Scraping the plaster off the wall is hard work, and your wrists aren't strong enough," Bai Rongbei said, taking the shovel from her hand. "Go and mix the lime mortar."
Su Wanwan looked at him and felt a warmth in her heart.
"Okay," she said softly, turning to mix the paste.
The two divided the work: one scraped off the plaster from the wall, and the other painted it.
As the sun rose higher, the temperature on the Gobi Desert began to rise as well.
After brushing for a while, fine beads of sweat appeared on Su Wanwan's forehead.
She raised her hand to wipe it, but the lime on her hand ended up smeared on her face, making her look like a big mess.
Bai Rongbei saw it, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
"What's wrong?" Su Wanwan asked.
"On my face," Bai Rongbei said, pointing to his own face.
Su Wanwan realized what was happening and tried to wipe it with the back of her hand, but the more she wiped, the more smudged it became.
Bai Rongbei couldn't stand it anymore, so he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.
Use this.
Su Wanwan took the handkerchief, wiped her face, and immediately got lime on it.
"It's dirty..." she said embarrassedly.
"It's nothing." Bai Rongbei took the handkerchief, casually stuffed it back into his pocket, and continued scraping the plaster off the wall.
Su Wanwan looked at him and suddenly realized that although he didn't talk much and always had a stern face, he was actually... quite thoughtful.
She smiled slightly and continued painting the wall.
Just then, footsteps could be heard in the distance.
The two looked up and saw Wang Xiuying.
She was carrying a shopping basket, and it looked like she had just bought some things from the convenience store.
When Wang Xiuying saw Bai Rongbei and Su Wanwan working outside, she paused in her tracks.
Her gaze lingered on Bai Rongbei for several seconds, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Bai Rongbei...is he working?
Remove the plaster from the wall?
Wang Xiuying rubbed her eyes, thinking she was seeing things.
She knew all too well what kind of person Bai Rongbei was in her previous life.
The head of the cold noodle shop is known for his seriousness and unsmiling demeanor in the family compound.
Let alone helping his wife with chores, he wouldn't even pick up a fallen oil bottle at home.
In his previous life, his wife, Lin Weiwei, served him every day, taking care of his food and clothing, and had to be mindful of his mood.
But now...
Wang Xiuying watched Bai Rongbei's back as he bent over scraping the plaster off the wall, then looked at Su Wanwan standing next to him painting the wall.
Although the two didn't say much, the atmosphere...
Bai Rongbei scraped off a piece of plaster from the wall, and Su Wanwan quickly applied lime plaster, their coordination surprisingly tacit.
Moreover, Bai Rongbei would glance at Su Wanwan from time to time. Although his face was expressionless, there was no impatience in his eyes. On the contrary, he seemed to have some patience.
Wang Xiuying's heart skipped a beat.