I was reborn after my cousin stole my life.

Chapter 86: Don't Try to Bear It

As soon as he entered the house, Jiang Zhou took the apron from behind the door and prepared to go into the kitchen to cook.

Since Yuan Xiu started experiencing morning sickness, Jiang Zhou has been the one cooking in the kitchen most of the time.

Under Yuan Xiu's guidance, Jiang Zhou's cooking skills improved significantly.

So the issue isn't whether a person knows how to learn, but whether they're willing to learn.

Of course, the food he made was only edible, not really delicious.

"How about stir-fried cured pork tonight?" Jiang Zhou asked Yuan Xiu while tying his apron.

"Do you know how to cook?"

"Isn't there still you, the instructor?"

Yuan Xiu laughed and said, "Sure, we still have some cabbage at home. Let's stir-fry the cured pork with cabbage, it'll go well with rice..."

The two went into the kitchen together. Yuan Xiu steamed rice, while Jiang Zhou took a large cabbage to the well to wash it.

When it came time to cook, Jiangzhou became the one in charge of the ladle.

Yuan Xiu doesn't experience morning sickness when eating meat now, but she still feels nauseous when cooking with a lot of oil and smoke.

She would stand by the stove for a while, then walk towards the door to let the cold wind seeping in through the crack clear away the smell of cooking oil from her nostrils.

After Jiang Zhou finished cooking, the two of them ate a warm and cozy dinner in the kitchen.

"Yuan Xiu, isn't there something we need to discuss?"

Hearing this, Yuan Xiu looked up from her book. "What is it?"

Jiang Zhou placed the prepared malted milk powder in front of her, stretched out his legs, hooked a chair over his shoulder, and sat down next to her. His gaze fell on the high school textbook she was reading. "Learning academic knowledge is a good thing, but don't you think you're spending too much time on it?"

"You have to go to work every day, and besides reading medical books, you also have to go next door to learn medicine from your master. You study in the morning and in the evening. I wouldn't have said anything before, but you're pregnant now, and your body is already not feeling well. Studying takes up most of your energy. Have you thought about whether you can handle it?"

Yuan Xiu stroked the textbook beneath her palm. "Are you afraid I'll hurt the child?"

Jiang Zhou shook his head. "I know you know what you're doing."

He paused for a moment and continued, "I'm not saying you shouldn't study, but I think you can reduce the time you spend studying. Don't overwork yourself. You can learn cultural knowledge anytime, so there's no need to rush."

How can I not be anxious?

The New Year has already passed, and the exams are in December this year, so she doesn't have much time left.

"But I don't feel tired."

Yuan Xiu didn't feel tired at all; on the contrary, she was full of energy. She liked this fulfilling feeling. Learning a little new knowledge every day gave her a sense of grounding herself and moving forward step by step.

Compared to studying, the days spent working in the fields, toiling in the soil from dawn till dusk, were far more tiring.

She endured that kind of exhaustion for decades.

She glanced at Jiang Zhou, knowing that he was saying this for her health. "Don't worry, I'll rest if I feel tired."

After saying that, she pushed the textbook in front of Jiang Zhou, "Could you explain this question to me? I don't understand it."

Jiang Zhou resignedly picked up his pen. "Let me tell you... rest when you're tired, don't push yourself."

Yuan Xiu nodded.

Jiang Zhou could handle the junior high school textbooks with ease, but when it came to the high school textbooks, there were some knowledge points that he didn't quite understand. After all, it had been so many years since he graduated. When he was in high school, the schools in the city were even more chaotic than those in the countryside. The teachers didn't dare to discipline the students and just read from the textbook in class. Even if Jiang Zhou studied hard, he only had a superficial understanding.

Yuan Xiu also struggled with her studies. She still had some recollection of the junior high school textbooks, and with Jiang Zhou as her teacher, she learned quickly and finished reviewing them in no time. The high school textbooks, however, were completely unfamiliar to her.

When she encountered problems that even Jiang Zhou couldn't explain, she had no choice but to seek outside help.

This foreign aid is Teacher Shen.

It will inevitably involve troubling them quite a bit.

That day, Yuan Xiu carried a basket and went to Commissar Wang's house.

"You've come all this way, why did you bring anything? We don't need to be so polite." Teacher Shen, with her pregnant belly, opened the door for Yuan Xiu.

Yuan Xiu's gaze fell on her belly. "It's already this big?"

Teacher Shen laughed and said, "After five months, my belly is like an inflated balloon. I don't even dare to sleep flat on my back anymore, it's so uncomfortable. How are you? Is your morning sickness getting better?"

Yuan Xiu followed her into the house: "How do you even know this?"

"What don't I know? Your Battalion Commander Jiang is a soldier under my husband Lao Wang. I also know that Battalion Commander Jiang does laundry and cooks at home. He's very diligent. The leaders in the army all tease him about it now."

Yuan Xiu smiled wryly, "The leaders seem to have a lot of free time."

Teacher Shen glanced at her with a smile, "Oh, so you're already protecting her?"

"They made fun of my husband, so of course I have to protect him."

Yuan Xiu said jokingly, "Don't say it to my face. If they do, I'll give them a good talking to. Why is it something to joke about when a man cooks and does laundry at home? Who said that women have to do all the laundry and cooking? If a couple wants to live well, they have to divide the work."

Teacher Shen clapped her hands with a smile, "Well said, you should really tell them that."

Yuan Xiu took out a bowl from the basket: "These are some preserved meat dumplings I made. Here, have some to try."

"Sweet rice balls with cured pork!" Teacher Shen's eyes lit up. "I've eaten meat sweet rice balls before, but this is the first time I've ever heard of sweet rice balls with cured pork."

"Then you'll definitely be able to eat it. My neighbor, Sister Guiying, can't get used to it. She even wondered why there was meat inside the glutinous rice balls."

The glutinous rice balls that Yuan Xiu brought were raw, about the size of an egg, and filled not only with cured meat, but also with dried bamboo shoots, diced shiitake mushrooms, and other ingredients.

"It's normal for northerners not to be used to the food. They wouldn't be used to eating meat-filled rice dumplings either. My husband is an example."

Teacher Shen took the glutinous rice balls to the kitchen, then handed the empty bowl to Yuan Xiu, asking, "Have you finished reading the books you bought in town last time?"

"I've finished watching it."

"Whenever you want to buy more books, just call me, and I'll go with you."

Yuan Xiu then revealed the purpose of her visit: "...In our compound, only you can help me solve this problem. I really don't know who else to turn to."

"What's the big deal?"

Without hesitation, Teacher Shen agreed, "If you have any questions, just bring your textbook and come to me anytime. I will answer them to the best of my ability."

"Sister Shen, thank you so much. I was just afraid of troubling you too much."

"What's the big deal? If all my students were as eager to learn as you, I'd be laughing in my sleep. It's a pity that I haven't met a single student as thirsty for knowledge as you in the past few years."

Yuan Xiu laughed and said, "Then they will definitely regret it later."