An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 357 Resentment
Meng Youyou entered alone, ignoring the people behind her, and slammed the door shut. It wasn't quite a slam, but it had that kind of feel to it.

Locked outside the door, Huo Qingshan lowered his head and entered the password: 198X1017. He always felt that this password resembled a date, and every time he entered it, he would go through his mind and wonder what special meaning this date might have. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation, after all, she wasn't even born on this date, and it couldn't possibly be her parents' birthday.

After entering the password, the door opened, and Huo Qingshan pushed it open and walked in. He immediately glanced around the living room; no one was there. He then went to look at the bedroom; the door was tightly closed, so the person should be inside.

The man sighed almost imperceptibly, then turned and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner. Once dinner was ready, Huo Qingshan knocked on the door twice. Through the door, he called out, "Yo yo, dinner's ready." His tone was as usual.

After waiting for a minute with no response, I knocked again, but still got no answer, so I gave up.

She sat alone at the dining table, eating. It was a bit lonely, without the background noise of the TV series playing on her tablet. She usually found it a bit noisy because she wasn't in the mood to talk to him when she was watching the show. When he asked her, "Do you want to go out this afternoon?" she only replied after several seconds, her eyes glued to the screen, "Delicious, delicious!" It was completely irrelevant.

But now that the sound has suddenly stopped at the dining table, it feels like something is missing.

Huo Qingshan didn't know what this meant. The two of them had never argued since they got together, but there's always a first time for everything. However, Huo Qingshan felt that this feeling was not good, no, it was terrible.

He felt a pang of regret. Of course, Huo Qingshan hadn't anticipated her reaction would be so intense before it happened; if he had known, he certainly wouldn't have chosen to do it.

After taking several bites, Huo Qingshan realized that the broccoli hadn't been salted. He paused for a couple of seconds, then continued eating, not intending to reheat it. It didn't matter; she wouldn't eat it anyway. As for him, nothing tasted good in his mouth at this point, so he didn't bother with anything else.

After finishing his meal, while cleaning up the dishes in the kitchen, Huo Qingshan heard a noise coming from the living room. He went out with his hands covered in dish soap foam and saw her carrying a takeout bag straight towards the coffee table. She passed by him without even glancing at him, and then plopped down on the carpet.

She did it on purpose, Huo Qingshan knew. She had promised him that she wouldn't order takeout if he cooked—at the beginning of the month, she had dinner out with friends, secretly eating spicy food and drinking iced drinks, and ended up getting gastroenteritis in the middle of the night. He accompanied her to the hospital emergency room to get an IV drip. Huo Qingshan looked very upset at the time, and to appease him, she kept rubbing her head against his chest, her small face pale and weak, looking pitiful as she solemnly raised three fingers and promised him, "I'll never do it again."

She was unhappy today, probably angry, and felt she had to break their agreement and go against him to be happy. This takeout was specifically for him to see, so she didn't take it back to her room to eat it behind closed doors, but openly ate it in the living room.

As soon as the plastic lid was lifted, a fragrant and spicy aroma wafted out, filling the entire living room with the smell of sizzling Sichuan peppercorns. Seeing this, Huo Qingshan couldn't help but frown. He stood there watching her, silent for a dozen seconds, but ultimately said nothing, turned around, and went back to the kitchen to continue washing the dishes.

Meng Youyou looked up at the kitchen, slowly put down the plastic tableware packaging she was about to open, and didn't touch the chopped chili fish head and spicy crayfish in front of her.

She stared blankly at the two transparent plastic round boxes in front of her. These two dishes used to be her favorites, but just like people, one's appetite can be subtly influenced by the environment and change. By the time you realize it, things have already changed drastically—after nearly a month of eating a light and healthy diet under his strict control and supervision, she now felt nauseous just from the smell of hot and spicy food, and the thick layer of red oil floating on the surface of the soup made her feel nauseous.

Meng Youyou originally planned to ignore him for the whole day, not to say a word to him, which is to say, to give him the silent treatment.

Although the cold war is not advisable, as it solves nothing and can easily damage feelings, and although she often tells herself not to lose her temper easily and to be more tolerant and communicative, everyone has their own trigger point, and she gets angry when touched. The slamming of the door was entirely her stress response. He used to lie to her, thinking he was doing it for her own good, but now he lies to her, saying he wants her to exercise and improve her physical fitness, which is also for her own good.

Does it mean we should lie to her for her own good? In life, we are in all kinds of relationships and it is inevitable that we will lie. Some lies are to cover up our bad deeds, some lies are out of good intentions, and some lies may have reasons that are too complicated to be summarized in a simple sentence... Even Meng Youyou herself cannot be honest in everything. That is too demanding. No one can do that.

After calming down, you'll realize that it's really not something worth making a big fuss about. It's fun for couples to tease each other occasionally, just like she has done many similar things, and he has never been angry with her.

If this were their first relationship, and her boyfriend used such a harmless "bad trick" to get her to exercise more, she probably wouldn't have reacted so strongly. Perhaps they would have just bickered and it would have been a minor incident.

However, that's not the case, at least not from her perspective. This wasn't her first relationship with him; they had broken up once and even experienced a near-death experience.

Therefore, when the truth of the matter was suddenly exposed to her, Meng Youyou subconsciously resisted his actions. Regardless of his countless unavoidable difficulties in the past, the harm he had done to her was a fact, a real and heart-wrenching experience, and the scars left on her body were an unchangeable fact. These indelible marks had accompanied her until today. At the moment before the explosion, she still couldn't help but lose her temper and was determined to teach him a lesson.

Meng Youyou locked herself in her room, leaving him outside, officially implementing emotional abuse. She picked up a book to pass the time, but kept getting distracted while reading. She then tried playing on her phone, but couldn't get into that either, so she tossed it onto the bedside table and simply pulled the covers over herself and tried to sleep. But how could she possibly sleep? Her mind was filled with thoughts of that person.

Then she remembered that he was leaving for Ximing City on a business trip the next afternoon. If she really ignored him all day, this argument would go on for who knows how long. Besides, she didn't want them to not exchange a single word before he left; that would only make her more unhappy—even though she was still angry, Meng Youyou was certain of that.

But... she'd already put on airs and slammed the door. He came to call her for dinner, but she ignored him completely. She couldn't very well slink out later and say, "Let's not fight anymore, let's make up, okay?"

Are you kidding me?!

So, Meng Youyou finally picked up her phone and ordered takeout—the kind that's heavy on oil, salt, and spice, the kind he usually discourages her from eating.

She thought he would come over and stop her, confiscating all the takeout food on the coffee table as usual, or at least say a few words of advice, so that she could use this as an excuse to break the cold war.

However, Huo Qingshan had little experience in dating, let alone arguing. In fact, the two of them hadn't been together for very long, so he didn't know all of her personality traits. For example, if she was angry, should he stay away and not bother her, or should he go and coax her immediately, or what? ... So he didn't know that this takeout was actually a stepping stone, a bridge for the two of them to rebuild their conversation.

The tap was running, water gushing into the sink. Huo Qingshan held a greasy porcelain plate in one hand and a dishcloth in the other, motionless like a static human statue. His mind seemed rusted, unable to function. He was terrified she would find him annoying, and the longer he stayed alone, the more chaotic his thoughts became, his mind racing with uncontrollable wild ideas, yet he didn't know what to do.

After Huo Qingshan finished washing the dishes and came out of the kitchen, she found that no one was in the living room again. She went over and saw that the takeout on the coffee table was still untouched, probably because she hadn't eaten it.
Why didn't she eat it? Huo Qingshan opened the takeout box, glanced at it, and saw that there was nothing wrong with it. There were no ingredients she didn't like inside. Huo Qingshan didn't understand why she ordered takeout but didn't eat it.

Huo Qingshan turned around and went back into the kitchen.

When Meng Youyou is in a bad mood, she likes to take a bath. Today, she took a longer bath than usual, staying in the bathroom for almost an hour before slowly emerging with her cheeks flushed from the steam.

She sat on the living room carpet, applying a mud mask to her face while listening to the sounds coming from the kitchen. What was that person doing again? He seemed to have gone out an hour ago, because Meng Youyou heard the door close when she was in the bedroom. She peeked out through a crack in the door and saw that the living room was indeed empty. She came out of the bedroom and glanced at the kitchen doorway again. It was dark, and no one was inside.

Reaching the entryway, she noticed the hook above the shoe cabinet where he usually kept his car keys was empty; he had taken the keys and gone out. For some reason, Meng Youyou was now quite certain that he hadn't been neglected and bored, and had gone back to his unit's quarters, nor that he had some urgent work matter; otherwise, he would have definitely messaged her. See? Even though it hasn't been long since someone integrated into another person's life, the changes are significant.

Changes? She was aware of some of them, but not even she herself was aware of others. For example, Meng Youyou did not think deeply about why she would come up with the idea of ​​using heavy-flavored and unhealthy takeout to gain his attention. In the end, it was just because, subconsciously, she was certain that she held a significant place in his heart and that he would care.

Later, Meng Youyou went into the bathroom for a bath. Halfway through, she heard the faint sound of the door closing. When she came out of the bathroom, her gaze went straight towards the kitchen. The light was on, and there was a little noise. He was inside.

A dozen minutes later, the man came out of the kitchen carrying a large soup bowl. He walked a few steps to the coffee table, squatted down, placed the bowl and chopsticks on it, and looked at her profile, asking, "Are you hungry?"

"It's none of your business." Her attitude was still somewhat indifferent; she didn't take her eyes off her phone, but she did speak.

The man gently pushed the soup bowl towards her. "Mushroom rice noodles, it's a bit difficult to make. You said you liked it before, and this is my first time making it. Would you like to try it?" His voice was very gentle, and his eyes were probably gentle too, but Meng Youyou had her head down and couldn't see it.

After a two-second silence, Meng Youyou put down her phone, picked up her chopsticks, and began eating her rice noodles. She had originally intended to reconcile, and now that the other party had offered her a way out, she had to accept it.

But she just ate her rice noodles, ignoring him and remaining silent. While it's acceptable to back down gracefully, one's attitude cannot be ambiguous, as if the conflict between them doesn't exist.

In reality, arguments between couples rarely involve anything earth-shattering; most are just minor squabbles. Often, once the anger subsides, the matter is over, and there's no need to escalate it or dwell on it. Focusing on the bigger picture and letting go of the smaller issues is a wise approach, and it works equally well in close relationships. But this situation is different, especially for Meng Youyou. She has a lingering resentment about it, like a time bomb buried deep within their relationship. Only she can see the existence of this bomb. If it explodes this time and isn't handled properly, if it's just brushed off lightly, then it will explode again next time, and Meng Youyou is filled with anxiety about its destructive power.

During the two hours they were alone, Meng Youyou had been thinking about how to express herself, how to talk to him, and how to better handle the conflicts between them. Even though it was her second relationship, Meng Youyou had not yet figured out the profound lessons in love, and she needed to grow through exploration.

Meng Youyou opened her mouth and took a bite of the wild mushroom. Juice seeped out, and it was very fresh. Meng Youyou was a little puzzled. Where did he get such fresh mushrooms at this time? It couldn't possibly be from the supermarket near the community. After 7 p.m., the vegetables would wilt and be sold at a discount. How could they be this fresh? Besides, the supermarket didn't sell wild mushrooms.

She was eating rice noodles when her ankle was suddenly grabbed. Her chaotic thoughts were interrupted, and Meng Youyou immediately glared at him, saying, "Why are you touching me? Did I say I wasn't angry? Did I agree to let you touch me?"

"Are your legs sore?" he asked her softly. "You rarely exercise, and you climbed so many stairs today. You're likely to have lactic acid buildup tomorrow, and your legs will feel uncomfortable."

Mentioning this made Meng Youyou angry. A large part of the reason she soaked in the hot bath for so long was because her legs were sore and swollen, and it was incredibly uncomfortable. "Since you knew my legs would ache, why did you lie to me? You're happy to see my legs ache, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, Yoyo." He apologized readily, then explained softly, "I didn't initially intend for you to make so many trips. I was planning for you to help me carry some, and then we could carry them up together."

The man sat down on the spot next to her, pulled one of her legs over and placed it on his own. His warm palms gently massaged her ankle, moving slowly down to her calf. His fingertips pressed and kneaded, and it seemed that as he massaged, her leg really didn't feel so uncomfortable anymore. At the same time, he also massaged away some of the anger that was burning inside her.

"Then why did you lie to me using your injury as an excuse?" Meng Youyou questioned him. How could he take advantage of her concern for him to deceive her?

"I'm not lying to you. There was a small problem with my right arm during training. The only thing I lied about was the broken elevator." His gaze was fixed on her feet, and he didn't look up as he replied.

“Oh, no matter what, it was wrong of me to lie to you.” Huo Qingshan paused, his hands still moving, and after a few seconds continued, “...Every time you are sick and uncomfortable, I am very worried.” The man suddenly said this, his voice low.

Meng Youyou's hand, which was stirring the rice noodles with her chopsticks, suddenly stopped. Before she knew it, her heart was suddenly gripped by something, and she turned her head to look at him.

“That time you caught a cold and developed a high fever at night. You were sweating profusely, and the dry towel would get wet as you wiped yourself. I went to the infirmary to see you, but I had to leave after a short while…” That night, the camp organized a large-scale nighttime field training exercise for the third quarter. As the battalion commander, Huo Qingshan was not allowed to be absent and did not return to the team until dawn the next day.

The man didn't continue, but simply sighed softly, then looked up to meet her eyes and asked, "Yoyo, do you know what I was thinking that night?"

Meng Youyou was speechless, silently watching him, her heart filled with sorrow—his mother had been in poor health since giving birth to him, and ultimately succumbed to a seemingly ordinary cold. He couldn't possibly have escaped the shadow of that experience. All his anxieties stemmed from a past event that was too painful, so painful that he was terrified and unable to bear it a second time; he was so afraid…of it all repeating itself.

“Like when I told you today that my arm was a little uncomfortable, you were very worried. You told me not to take small problems lightly, and I think you’re absolutely right.” As the man spoke, Meng Youyou clearly saw the deep sorrow in his eyes.

Perhaps realizing his loss of composure, Huo Qingshan closed his eyes briefly, quickly concealing most of the emotions in them. Then, he calmly continued, "Similarly, so, Yoyo, can you understand how I feel?"

“Every time you get sick, you get a little better and then you become complacent. You still crave cold food, you still pick at your food, you still don’t take your medicine on time, and you do whatever you want, however you feel like.”

"I can't be by your side every moment, so I hope you can pay more attention to your health and take better care of yourself. I hope your physical condition can be better and that you won't get sick so easily anymore. I hope you are healthy every day, free from illness and disaster, and immune to all poisons."

His hands were still massaging her calves, patiently and meticulously. The rough calluses on his fingertips and palms scraped against her skin intermittently. Accompanied by his repeated "I hope you," his words penetrated into the softest part of Meng Youyou's heart, and she settled down.

"I made a mistake in this matter; I used the wrong method. Oh dear, there's a saying, 'Concern leads to confusion,' and I think... I must have fallen for it. I actually came up with such an unreliable method and even put it into practice. It's all my fault for not thinking things through enough." The man reasoned with her and appealed to her emotions, and at this point, he had fully and honestly expressed what was on his mind.

"Can you forgive me?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes with a sincere expression.

Meng Youyou put down her chopsticks, looked at the person opposite her with a firm gaze, and said in an extremely serious tone, "I promise you, I will run with you every day to exercise from now on. So, you promise me one thing too, okay?"

Meng Youyou realized that constantly making demands and requiring the other person to fulfill them is not a relationship. Security should always be mutual; if you give me a little, and I give you a little, what we have together will be much more than just two points.

"What?" he asked.

"Huo Qingshan, we need to add another rule to our relationship: you're not allowed to lie to me anymore. I hate it when you lie to me," Meng Youyou said earnestly.

"Ugh," what a heavy word. These words struck a chord in Huo Qingshan's already tense mind like a warning bell, causing his heart to plummet. He had been debating whether to find an opportunity to ask her if her handwriting had always been the same, and if she had ever written a letter to the army.

In the past, whenever he met her loving eyes, he was almost overwhelmed by happiness, but several times he would suddenly realize—how much of your sweet smile right now is a projection of past memories, and how much is because of the person in front of you?

He could never find peace of mind.

So when Huo Qingshan happened to see the identical handwriting on the express delivery box, a surge of intense joy welled up inside him. It was like a long-imprisoned criminal suddenly being notified that there was a glimmer of hope for overturning his case, unable to suppress his yearning for a brighter future. He was incredibly excited. He turned on his phone's camera, aimed it at the signature on the delivery slip, wanting to take a picture to remember it, but his fingers trembled uncontrollably. He pressed the shutter button several times before finally succeeding.

Just hours ago, Huo Qingshan had been filled with excitement, thinking that his verdict might be reversed. But now, he dared not ask any questions, and he didn't even dare to appeal.

Huo Qingshan couldn't afford to gamble. What if she suddenly had the urge to open up to him, to talk about the past, about that letter, about how they first met?
To lie so openly? Then he would be utterly unforgivable, and would no longer be able to pretend to be completely unaware and enjoy happiness.

Or should he be honest and then personally destroy the happiness he already possessed? ... He didn't even want to think about it for another second.

About half a minute later, Huo Qingshan heard himself speak: "Okay, I promise you."

As long as he doesn't ask, it's not a lie. The letter was burned, wasn't it? He doesn't know anything; his guesses don't count.

The next second after she finished speaking, she laughed and threw herself into his arms, saying in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry, I also want to apologize to you. I shouldn't have lost my temper and ignored you."

Huo Qingshan lowered his head and kissed her forehead. "It's okay, I forgive you."

"You shouldn't have broken our agreement without permission and deliberately ordered takeout to upset me."

"Then... there can't be a next time?"

"Okay." Meng Youyou nodded obediently in his arms.

How many couples in the world can't calmly say "I'm sorry" throughout the entire duration of their relationship, and then have their partner sincerely respond "It's okay"? They just keep arguing and eventually break up.

But they can do it, how wonderful.