I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

When Su Liting got home, she saw her husband, Engineer Wang, sitting at the table writing and drawing as if nothing had happened. She was immediately furious. She took off her coat, didn't hang it on the wall, and just threw it on the chair.

Her fiery actions finally pulled Mr. Wang, who was lost in his own world, back to his senses.

Looking up at Su Liting's gloomy and unpleasant face, Engineer Wang quickly asked with concern, "Liting, what's wrong? Are you unhappy? What happened?"

"Oh, so now you know to ask? Forget it, I don't need your concern. You should go and worry about your good buddy across the street. I'm not worth your attention." Su Liting said sarcastically, plopping down heavily on a nearby bench.

"Liting, what's wrong? Did someone make you angry? Is it something about our family? Isn't that all in the past? Didn't I tell you I'm fine?"

"Heh, yes, you're all right now. How nice of you, washing your hands of everything cleanly, completely innocent. You just pushed me aside and dumped all the blame on me. Fine!"

"Ah, Liting, what happened? Tell me quickly." Seeing this scene, Engineer Wang couldn't help but feel worried and flustered.

"What's the point of telling you? What can you possibly fix? Which department are you in charge of? Besides, I'm not worth your feigned concern."

"Let me be frank with you, the factory found out about the time you asked me to plead with Zhou Yufei to help your good friend Zhang and his wife. They want to make an example of me and have a bunch of accusations against me. Not only are they going to cut my salary, but they're also going to transfer me to another job, send me to a study session to reflect on my actions, and there's even a possibility that they'll send me directly to the countryside for re-education."

Su Liting stared straight at Engineer Wang as she spoke, a bitter smile slowly creeping onto her lips.

"Oh, right, it's not so much that the factory wanted to send me down there, it's more like you personally sent me to the countryside. I told you from the beginning I didn't want to go, I didn't want to get involved in these things, but you insisted on persuading me. Now, you've got what you wanted, are you satisfied?"

"No, Liting, how could this happen? When was this decided? I'm going to the factory, I'm going to talk to the leaders right now! This has nothing to do with you from beginning to end, it was all my idea, so whatever punishment you want should be directed at me!" Engineer Wang didn't expect things to turn out this way and didn't know how to deal with it.

"Alright, enough with the empty words and pretty phrases. If your words were effective, would you have needed me to grovel and beg for favors in the first place? If it were that easy, none of this would have happened today," Su Liting said with a look of disdain.

"Oh, Liting, what... what should we do now?" Engineer Wang was completely panicked, at a loss for what to do, and extremely flustered.

"Hmph, what can I do? I knew all along that I had to rely on you for everything, and I had no hope of anything else." Su Liting glanced at him sideways.

Seeing Wang Gong pacing anxiously in the room, she spoke up and stopped him: "Alright, stop grinding grain in here, it's making my eyes dizzy. If you have so much free time, you should go out and buy some cigarettes, I need them for tomorrow."

"Huh? Liting, buying cigarettes? Okay, okay, I'll go right now. What do you need cigarettes for?"

"What else can you do with it? Give it to people to get things done and smooth things over. Or how about I buy it for you to smoke?" Su Liting's tone was full of sarcasm.

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you. Tell me what kind of cigarettes you want to buy, and how many cartons, and I'll go get them right away." Faced with her scolding, Engineer Wang couldn't utter a single word of rebuttal, since this whole thing was his fault.

"They said they want six cartons of Peony cigarettes," Su Liting replied calmly.

"Huh? Peony?" Engineer Wang was stunned for a moment.

"What? You froze when you heard it was a peony? Do you think it's too expensive and you're reluctant to spend the money?" Su Liting said with a face full of dissatisfaction as she looked at him.

"It's not Liting. Money isn't so bad, it's the cigarette coupons that are hard to come by. Peony is a top-grade cigarette, and you need top-grade cigarette coupons to buy it. Our family simply can't scrape together that many top-grade cigarette coupons."

"Oh, you can't afford it, huh? Fine, then don't bother, and don't bother buying it. Whatever happens, happens. I don't care anymore, I'll just leave it to fate."

Su Liting feigned a nonchalant and indifferent expression, leaned back in her chair.

"No, Liting, don't do this! I'll think of a way, I'm sure I can figure out a way to raise the money!" Engineer Wang said anxiously, making sure he could.

Su Liting quietly watched his worried face, deep in thought, and helpless expression. Her eyes paused slightly as she suddenly thought of Li Jing'an.

She thought to herself, "If a man can't even protect his woman from the wind and rain, has no ideas when things happen, and can't solve any problems, then being his woman is truly pathetic."

Just like myself now, I've reached this dilemma, so who can I rely on?

Thinking of this, a bitter smile, tinged with sadness and helplessness, slowly appeared on Su Liting's face.

"Liting, don't worry! I'll go ask my colleagues at the factory one by one to borrow any extra Grade A cigarette coupons we can use to make up the difference. It's just that Grade A cigarettes are strictly controlled and there are many rules. Each person can only buy two packs at most, so it's really too difficult to get six cartons at once. But don't worry, I will definitely do my best to get it done for you, and I absolutely won't delay anything!" Engineer Wang immediately assured her.

"Gather? You've cobbled together a bunch of loose cigarette boxes, and I'm supposed to give them away? Are you deliberately trying to embarrass me in public and make me a laughingstock?"

Su Liting was so angry that she laughed. A deep sense of powerlessness welled up in her heart, and she felt that she had really married a cowardly, incompetent, and irresponsible good-for-nothing.

Looking at Engineer Wang, who was speechless and at a loss after she had spoken to him, Su Liting sighed deeply.

"Alright, I won't make things difficult for you. Go to the black market first thing tomorrow morning and see if they have any Peony cigarettes for sale. If they do, buy them. If not, I'll take the money myself and ask someone else to find another way."

Engineer Wang quickly and cautiously approached, whispering, "That Liting, it's too expensive to buy on the black market. In the regular stores of the supply and marketing cooperative, a box of peony tea costs five cents, but on the black market, even though you don't need coupons, it costs one yuan and fifty cents a box, which is three times the price. It's not worth it at all."

"Oh, you've got it all figured out. What, you're starting to feel the pinch now? No problem, you don't need to pay a single penny. I'll just use my own salary. Anyway, this is my own business and has nothing to do with you, so I can't let you suffer a loss for no reason, okay?"

"No, Liting, that's not what I meant at all! Don't worry, I'll go to the black market first thing tomorrow morning, I'll go to several places, and if I can't buy it in one place, I'll go to several more. No matter how much it costs, I promise I'll buy you all six cartons of Peony cigarettes!"

Su Liting listened to his empty and hasty promise, too lazy to even look at him again, her heart filled with only exhaustion, sorrow and disappointment.