Gu Jiaojiao listened to the man rattle on and on, every sentence about life in the mortal world... She really wanted to just slap him.
'I've lived in the mortal world for twenty-eight years, just not in the 1980s, for crying out loud!'
"Are you done?" Gu Jiaojiao asked, mustering her patience.
"Yes, that's more or less what the mortal world is like. Do you understand?"
"Of co— How could I not understand? The disparity between the city and the countryside is huge in this era. City dwellers eat state-subsidized grain.
They get all sorts of ration coupons every month, so having enough food and clothing isn't an issue. Rural folk, on the other hand, have it really tough.
Workers at state-owned factories, in particular, regardless of gender, are the most sought-after catches on the marriage market."
"You know all this?"
Su Shuochi was utterly astonished. 'Can Immortals really foresee the past and the future?'
"What's with that look on your face? I may have lived in this compound for eighteen years, but I'm a high school senior. Besides, my adoptive father and older brother tell me things when they come home."
"Aren't you an Immortal?"
"What? I'm an ordinary person. I just happen to have an Immortal master who knows the Five Elements Transporting Skill.
Could it be that you've been in despair for so long, you started dreaming that an Immortal would descend from the heavens and pull you out of the abyss?"
Su Shuochi: "..."
He lowered his proud head in shame. He truly had been in despair for so long, hoping an Immortal would fall from the sky and save him.
He also knew that Country Z had long advocated against believing in superstitions.
But he didn't know how to explain what the old man had told him, so he could only recount the facts.
"Didn't I just tell you? I saved an old man, and he could foresee the future.
A few things he told me really came true. How do you explain that?"
Su Shuochi stared at Gu Jiaojiao with pleading eyes. He wasn't sure now if she was an immortal or…
But he knew for certain that she was absolutely not the Gu Jiaojiao he had married three days ago.
No one could change so completely. The previous Gu Jiaojiao had been a brutish and unreasonable person.
Her behavior was understandable. No one would be willing to waste their entire life's happiness on a paraplegic.
It was no surprise that she'd be angry enough to curse and scream, but she had already agreed to the marriage.
Yet on their wedding day, she had flown into a public rage, her anger flowing as ceaselessly as the mighty Yangtze River.
It came in wave after wave, as she berated everyone at the banquet until they were left speechless.
That was simply irrational. She was behaving like a lunatic.
Although he had only met this Gu Jiaojiao twice, he was a former military scout with exceptional powers of observation.
'The person who woke up is definitely not the original her. The wife before me is an Immortal.'
His whole life, he had always struggled on his own, bearing all of life's joys and sorrows by himself.
He never shared anything with anyone, because when you're doing well, others aren't happy for you.
And when you're not, they won't help you. So why bother showing them your scars?
Yet now, he found himself willing to share all his inner pain with the young woman before him, to lay his bleeding wounds bare for her to see.
Gu Jiaojiao saw that the man's face had become deathly pale, more ghastly than a corpse. His broad forehead was creased in agony, his eyes were dark and frantic, and his whole body was shaking uncontrollably.
Acting on her doctor's instincts, she went over and took his pulse. In her previous life, Gu Jiaojiao's maternal grandfather had been the heir to the Xinglin Family.
Her entire maternal family were masters of traditional Chinese medicine, and she had been immersed in it since childhood. So, even though she had studied clinical medicine in school...
...she was also a top-tier master of traditional medicine in the modern era. Gu Jiaojiao retrieved a set of silver needles from her pocket dimension.
They didn't even need to be sterilized. She held her breath, focusing her mind and steadying her spirit. After locating the acupoint, she inserted the needle with a firm, steady hand.
With a twist of the needle's end, the silver needle began to rotate. The pained expression on Su Shuochi's face intensified.
He shouldn't have been in so much pain, but Gu Jiaojiao was being aggressive to get faster results. The effects would be better, but the sensation was a unique and potent kind of agony.
As she administered the acupuncture, Gu Jiaojiao answered Su Shuochi's earlier question. The man looked like he was about to pass out from the ordeal.
She kindly spouted some nonsense, "Have you ever heard of a living Buddha? They're high-ranking monks in Buddhism.
The old man you met might be someone even more formidable than a high-ranking monk—basically no different from an Immortal."
Su Shuochi: …
He no longer cared to investigate whether she was the Immortal or if her master was.
'As long as she is my wife, that's all that matters. Immortal or not, she's my wife.'
After she removed the needles, Su Shuochi's pain temporarily subsided. He was now even more convinced of her incredible abilities.
Gu Jiaojiao carefully took his pulse again. "You have a poison in your system. I can't identify what kind it is just from your pulse; we'll need to analyze it with proper equipment later.
It's a good thing you have no sensation below your waist, or the pain would have literally killed you. The poison is slowly invading your vital organs, so we need to start treatment immediately."
The moment Gu Jiaojiao had inserted the first needle, a storm had erupted in Su Shuochi's heart, though his pained expression concealed it.
His mind was still reeling, but he was so adept at hiding his emotions that Gu Jiaojiao truly didn't notice.
"Jiaojiao, time for dinner!"
"Com~ing~!" Gu Jiaojiao was slightly out of breath, exhausted from the acupuncture session.
Mr. Su, however, read too much into her tone. "Actually, you can take your time. Your mother still has one more dish to cook."
Gu Jiaojiao: "…"
She shot Su Shuochi a look that said, 'What in the world does your dad mean by that?'
Having been single for twenty-five years, Su Shuochi had even less of a clue. "Let's just go eat."
In an effort to win over their new daughter-in-law, Mr. Su and Su's mother had actually borrowed money to buy pork for dinner.
There was twice-cooked pork with green peppers, a dish of leafy greens, and a bowl of lean pork and egg soup.
Su's mother ladled a bowl of the egg soup and placed it in front of Gu Jiaojiao, making sure to scoop up all the meat and egg, leaving only clear broth in the main serving bowl.
Gu Jiaojiao then took her spoon and transferred most of the pork and egg from her bowl into the bowls of the other Su family members.
"Dad, Mom, you eat. I just like the broth."
She had just eaten food from her pocket dimension and wasn't hungry in the slightest, so she and Su Shuochi both just drank the soup.
Su's mother glanced at her son, asking with her eyes if they should give the food back to Jiaojiao.
"Dad, Mom, you've been exhausted lately, you need to eat well to recover. Tomorrow, I'll take Jiaojiao to the store to buy meat and rice. An old army buddy of mine still owes me some money."
Su Shuochi was lying. He had no money. 'He just wanted to take his young wife somewhere private and have her Immortal master conjure up some food.
This was what they had agreed upon in the room earlier. If his parents found out his wife could materialize things out of thin air, all hell would break loose.'
"Chi, you're willing to go outside?" Su's mother was so moved that tears streamed down her face.
"Mom, I was wrong before. I won't make you worry anymore. Let's eat."
"Good, good. You too, dear. Chun Ni, you eat too." Su's mother's face was wreathed in smiles, though tearstains still glistened on her cheeks.
The Su family's rice was cooked until it was mushy. Gu Jiaojiao much preferred her rice cooked so that each grain was distinct, fragrant, and had a bit of a chew.
She didn't like this kind of mushy rice; it felt heavy and unsatisfying in her stomach.
'But since I'm new here, I'll just make do and eat a little.'
"Jiaojiao, you're too thin. You need to eat more," Su's mother remarked.
'Such a gentle, kind, and considerate daughter-in-law is so hard to find.'
"I'm full, Mom." Gu Jiaojiao wasn't worried about giving herself away. After all, her predecessor had never actually eaten a single meal in the Su family home.