Back to the ‘70s: My Life as the Trouble-Maker's Bride

Annette felt like she was seeing ghosts. After all, with Carl's current sorry state, it was already a miracle if he could even get out of bed—how could he possibly show up here?

Yet the fleeting face and figure she caught a glimpse of were remarkably similar to Carl's.

Annette was confident in her memory—not perfect, but good enough to recognize someone at a glance.

Little Zhu had finished washing his hands and, seeing Annette still standing there motionless, tugged gently at her sleeve and then pointed toward the house.

Snapping back to reality, Annette followed Little Zhu inside, not telling Stuart since she wasn't entirely sure.

Meanwhile, Stuart was busy comforting Third Uncle: "Luckily, it was discovered early. With treatment, nothing will be delayed."

Third Uncle sighed deeply, "I just fear if something happens to Little Zhu, how will your Third Aunt and I go on?"

At dinner, Third Uncle barely touched his food, weighed down by worry.

The shop didn't have milk, eggs, or rice wine that evening but offered wontons and dumplings, both quite tasty.

Annette noticed the somber mood, quietly fed Little Zhu some dumplings, then lowered her head to eat by herself.

Early the next morning, they first returned to Riverbend Village, explaining to Third Aunt that the county hospital couldn't help and they needed to visit the city hospital. After packing fresh clothes, they headed straight back to Longbridge City.

They didn't go to Jiangyang City, where Riverbend Village belonged, mainly because Stuart wasn't familiar with Jiangyang. He trusted the Longbridge Military Hospital more.

Sean and Stuart took turns driving without stopping until evening, finally arriving in Longbridge.

They went straight to the hospital, where a familiar face was on duty and helped admit Little Zhu. The doctor could examine him first thing in the morning.

For convenience, they stayed at the military guesthouse next to the hospital.

Annette was happy to find the guesthouse had baths—women's bath on the second floor, men's on the first.

After days in the countryside where even washing was a luxury, she eagerly cleaned and changed into fresh clothes, then headed to the bath.

Having bathed once already, Annette was no longer shy about being naked in a room full of strangers. While scrubbing, she sneakily glanced around to see who had the best figure.

In the end, she confidently concluded her own body was the best: no trace of excess fat where it shouldn't be, and all the right curves were full and ripe, like a perfectly juicy peach.

After finishing her bath and admiring herself, she came to one conclusion: Stuart got a real bargain.

The thought made her giggle as she dressed.

While drying her hair, she felt an itch on her scalp. Strange — hadn't she just washed her hair? Why was it still so itchy?

She scratched, feeling something tickling and crawling on her scalp.

Annette froze. Could there be bugs in her hair?

After a long scratch session, the itch worsened. She decided to find Stuart to take a look.

Standing outside Stuart and Sean's room, she called, "Stuart! Stuart..."

Stuart hurried out, noticing her still-damp hair, "What's wrong?"

Annette pointed to her hair, "I feel like something is crawling on my head. Can you check for me?"

Stuart's expression stiffened for a moment as if recalling something, but he said nothing and followed her to her room.

Annette sat down, scratching her head, "Right here — feels like little bugs crawling. Please help me find them."

Obediently, Stuart leaned over, fingers stiff and clumsy, parting her hair to search carefully. After a while, he caught a little bug.

Annette saw the awkward look on Stuart's face and asked, "What kind of bug is it?"

Stuart held the bug in his palm for her to see, "Not a bug — lice."

He pressed his nail down on it until a bit of blood appeared.

Annette nearly jumped up, "Lice? How did I get lice?"

This was something rarely heard of in their world. How could it appear on her?

Stuart wasn't sure either. "Sit down. I'll look some more. There are lots of people with lice these days."

Annette suddenly felt her whole body tingling with itchiness and hurried to sit down. "Please find them fast. I don't want them spreading everywhere."

If lice were present, it probably happened during the two nights staying at the Longbridge family home—no wonder her scalp had been itching all along, initially thinking it was just dirty hair.

Stuart clumsily began searching again, parting her hair little by little.

Annette, though anxious, pictured the scene—a male monkey picking lice off a female monkey—and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Stuart noticed her sudden laughter after she had been so worried and was now amused himself. After a while, he said, "I don't see any more, but there are some nits. Tomorrow we should get a comb and thoroughly comb your hair."

Looking at Annette's long hair nearly reaching her waist, he thought even with a comb it would be troublesome.

Annette was more easygoing: "I'll just go to a barber tomorrow and cut it short—much easier to manage."

Then she turned to Stuart, "Do you have any? Should I check you too?"

Before Stuart could respond, Annette stood up, grabbed him by the sleeve, and started parting his thick, coarse hair without asking.

Annette found Stuart was really tall—even sitting, his head was above her chest.

His hair was thick and coarse, and as her fingers poked and itched his scalp, she felt a strange shiver, trying hard to suppress it.

Little bumps rose on her skin, like electric shocks running through her.

She glanced at Stuart's blushing ears. How could such a big man be so easily embarrassed?

That night, Annette barely slept, feeling bugs crawling all over her body. She got up halfway through the night, took out all her clothes to check every corner, then suspected lice in her hair again and scratched hard.

Stuart also had a restless night. Rarely dreaming, he unexpectedly dreamed of Annette—crying like a little beast beneath him...

He got up in the middle of the night to wash clothes.

Sean woke up in the morning puzzled: "What's wrong with you, getting up in the middle of the night to do laundry?"

Stuart ignored him and started tidying the bedding.

Sean, though single himself and no stranger to dirty jokes and erotica, saw Stuart's awkwardness and grinned mischievously, "Did you dream about something you shouldn't have?"