EBE Chapter 93 Sour Grapes
Chapter 93 Sour Grapes
Time flies, and several pages of the calendar hanging on the wall have been torn off. It's time for the official release of Shu Yun's comic books.
After all, it was Shu Yun's debut work. Although she had already received the payment, she was still very concerned about the reaction to the painting. After Gu Jun left, she ate breakfast and rode her bicycle into the city.
On the way, Shu Yun was a little worried that the print run would be insufficient and that second-tier cities like Haicheng might not be able to import her comic books. However, when she arrived at the largest Xinhua Bookstore, she saw her comic books prominently displayed on the top shelf of the comic book section, divided into three small volumes.
When Shu Yun arrived, several people were already standing or squatting, looking at her work. Some of them were holding her drawings, which calmed her down.
She picked out a few newly released comic books to restock, and also bought a set of her own comic books to show her support. When paying the cashier, she casually asked, "Comrade, these comic books must be newly released recently, right? How are they selling?"
The sales clerk glanced at her and, seeing the stack of comic books she was carrying, her expression softened considerably. "This one is currently our best-selling book," the sales clerk said, pointing to one of the books Shu Yun had chosen.
"However, apart from 'Birthday,' the rest were all new last week. 'Birthday' was only put on display this morning, but it was already sold out... Including you, four people came to buy it, so the response has been good."
The "Birthday" book mentioned by the saleswoman was a comic book drawn by Shu Yun. She felt much more relaxed and left with a large bag of comic books amidst the envious glances of the other children.
As Shu Yun walked out of Xinhua Bookstore, she happened to see several people loading baskets of books onto a vehicle, while a bookstore employee nearby kept track of the quantity.
Shu Yun had only glanced at one of them briefly, but she was stunned when she saw one of them. Wasn't this Feng Jie's boyfriend whom she had seen before?
A strange sense of familiarity resurfaced in her mind. Who could it be?
The next second, a bookstore employee's loud voice rang out, "Xiao Sun, all the books are here, but the social science books haven't arrived yet. I'll let you know when they arrive."
Sun Yeshan nodded, and the savvy man handed him a cigarette. The two chatted while the workers were still unloading goods. "How are things? Are you busy working at the university now?"
Oh, right, university!
The fog in Shu Yun's mind instantly dissipated. She, no, the original owner of this body, had seen him at the university. When the original owner went to find her father, who was a university professor, she happened to run into Sun Yeshan unloading cargo.
Her recollection ended there. She met Sun Yeshan's eyes, who smiled at her. Shu Yun nodded and left.
Was this the only time he had met him? It had been too long for Shu Yun to recall, but he felt something was off. Why would a complete stranger, someone he had only met a few times, be so important to him? What was so strange about him?
Shu Yun couldn't remember, which could only be attributed to the original owner's memories and emotional reasons.
That evening, Gu Jun talked about the investigation into the rumors circulating in the family compound about Shu Yun that had been circulating recently.
"The initial investigation has traced it back to Ye Shufen. According to her description, it was a friend she met in the city who told her about it. We still need to investigate the specifics."
"Ye Shufen?" To be honest, Shu Yun had actually wondered if this was the person in question.
Gu Jun said, "We should have results soon. If it is true that someone spread rumors, whoever it is will be punished."
In fact, Shu Yun usually stayed at home most of the time, and her close sisters-in-law did not tell her about the bad rumors outside, so she always thought that the only people in the family compound who knew about her parents' problems were her parents.
But as the saying goes, "three men can make a tiger," and "many mouths can melt metal." As the story spread, various versions would eventually emerge. Gu Jun only learned later that there were all sorts of rumors about Shu Yun back then.
Just because Shu Yun is good-looking, people attributed the reason why Shu Yun's identity was not problematic to power and sex. They even got the news that Shu Yun had drowned from who-knows-where, which added more room for imagination. Not to mention that there were many rumors that were hard to hear, even Gu Jun was caught up in them, and Gu Jun's face darkened as he listened.
This matter involves slandering military spouses, soldiers, and even undermining the seriousness of the military, so it will not be easily let go and must be thoroughly investigated.
Shu Yun reached out and placed her hand on Gu Jun's clenched fist on his head. "Alright, let's investigate. Don't get yourself worked up. It's not worth it."
Gu Jun didn't want Shu Yun to worry, so he forced a smile, took Shu Yun's hand in return, and agreed.
These past few days, besides pondering the next comic book, Shu Yun has been tinkering with new foods. Without an oven, Shu Yun tried steaming bread in a large iron pot. After several attempts, she finally succeeded in making honey bread rolls. They were fragrant, shiny, and looked delicious. However, Gu Jun lost his appetite upon seeing them and even felt like burping. The reason was simple: most of Shu Yun's recent failed attempts had ended up in his stomach, and he was really tired of them.
Shu Yun carefully distributed the steaming hot bread rolls one by one and instructed Gu Jun to send some to several of their close friends to try.
When the bread came out of the oven, its strong aroma wafted far and wide. Granny Jiang had smelled it long ago, but the two families were now at odds, and even with her thick skin, she was too embarrassed to go to their house. She could only peek through the door.
A moment later, Gu Jun came out with a small bread roll. A steamed bun? It didn't look like one. It looked more like the ones in pastry shops, but his wife thought they were too expensive and had never bought them when they went to the city.
When Gu Jun returned after delivering the bread, there were still a few loaves of bread left, and several households were not home.
When Granny Jiang saw this, her eyes lit up. She pretended to walk out of the courtyard casually. Gu Jun saw her but didn't say anything. He turned around and went back home, slamming the door shut. Granny Jiang was furious. She had already offered him a way out, how could someone be so ungrateful!
"Sour grapes," Granny Jiang shouted in the yard, "You spendthrift woman, is this how you waste flour? And oil, do you think it grew on trees?"
"You'll squander it all sooner or later, you lazy woman, you're good for nothing."
Granny Jiang was speaking to Kong Ping, but Kong Ping only had a bowl of pickled vegetables and two bowls of coarse grain rice in her hand. There was no white flour, let alone oil. It was obvious that she was indirectly criticizing Kong Ping.
"Mother, dinner's ready."
Old Mrs. Jiang sat down at the table with a grumpy expression, especially looking at the bland and watery dishes. Jiang Fuchang wasn't home for dinner today, so the food at home was just make do.
Granny Jiang put down her chopsticks in dissatisfaction. "Didn't I go up the mountain and pick a lot of mushrooms during the day? Why didn't you cook them and let them rot?"
Kong Ping also saw the mushrooms in the kitchen; there were white ones and red ones. She was a little worried. "Are they safe to eat?"
Granny Jiang was unhappy. "Why can't I eat it? I grew up in the fields, do you think I don't know what I'm doing? Go make it, I want to eat it."
Shu Yun and Gu Jun were eating in the courtyard when they could hear Granny Jiang's voice clearly. They looked at each other, both speechless.
"He must be envious, it's my fault for not giving it to him," Gu Jun said.
"I won't give it to her, let her be furious."
Grandma Jiang wasn't so angry that she died, but she was in excruciating stomach pain late at night and had to be taken to the hospital overnight.