Li Long had not expected his casual question to change Gu Boyuan's expression. He turned to look at Gu Xiaoxia, who was about to get busy in the kitchen, and said quietly:
"Uncle Gu, is this... something I shouldn't ask about? Then just pretend I never said it."
"It's not something you can't ask about." Gu Boyuan sighed, turned, and sat down at the table beside the shed, patting it to motion Li Long over.
Li Long did not sit down right away. He went into the room for two tea mugs, filled them, and brought them out. He set one in front of Gu Boyuan and one in front of himself, then sat down.
Farmers generally did not drink plain water while working. The first thing they did each morning was boil a pot of water, fill two thermoses, put a few chunks of brick tea into a teapot, and steep them. That supplied the day's tea. In winter, the teapot sat on the kang, keeping the water warm. In summer, it was left to cool naturally; anyone wanting hot tea could just add some boiling water.
"Now that you and Xiaoxia are married, that's one thing off my mind. Actually, plenty of people on our team have asked about my wife. I always said she was gone, but that wasn't really the case."
At this point, Gu Boyuan picked up his mug and drank some tea. He spat out the tea fragments that had gotten into his mouth, then continued:
"Back then, after I graduated from Southwest Political Science and Law, I was assigned a job in the city. I was really full of youthful confidence then, looking down my nose at everyone and thinking I knew everything. I disapproved of a lot of things at work. But