Chapter 17.1

Wen Nuan sat on the bed, constantly observing the man across from her. She watched as he placed the candle on the bedside table, then set the enamel plate in his other hand on a wooden stool across from the bed.

Inside the plate, an enamel cup and toothbrush were neatly arranged, with the handles and the toothbrush head all pointing to the right in a straight line.

After finishing these small tasks, the man slowly unbuttoned his coat. Once he took it off, he spread it out over the quilt, making it a bit warmer.

Wen Nuan had become a bit more thick-skinned by now, not feeling as awkward as she had the first time she shared a bed with him. Instead, she was eagerly hoping he would quickly get back into bed and warm it up.

The night was far too cold, and her face wasn’t warm at all!

Seeing that the man was about to climb into bed, Wen Nuan deliberately turned her face away, reaching out to touch her daughter to check if she had kicked off the blanket.

The bed had originally been placed in the center of the room, with both sides open. However, after dinner, Wen Nuan asked Gu Qinghan to move the bed against the wall, worried that the child might get squished if she slept in the middle. Now, the child slept furthest inside, against the wall.

The little one, perhaps feeling carsick after sitting in the car for most of the day, had been a bit sluggish since they arrived. Normally, if she took a nap in the late afternoon, she wouldn’t fall asleep until after ten at night.

Now, however, she was sound asleep, her tiny hands and feet resting obediently, with the blanket securely covering her.

Before the man got into bed, Wen Nuan couldn’t resist asking, “Did you wash your feet?”

She couldn’t stand the thought of going to bed without washing her feet. There were no conditions for a full bath here, but feet had to be washed, no question about it.

Gu Qinghan paused slightly in his movements as he got into bed and responded with a simple “Yeah.”

After the man lay down flat beside her, Wen Nuan adjusted her position, neatly placing her hands on her stomach and stretching her legs straight, behaving very properly.

Gu Qinghan raised one hand and placed it behind his head as a pillow. He glanced slightly at Wen Nuan but didn’t say anything. He simply and silently extended his feet toward her, letting her lean against them.

When he felt Wen Nuan’s still cold feet, he frowned and couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t you soak your feet before going to bed?”

He had clearly just prepared hot water for both her and the child, so in theory, after soaking her feet, she shouldn’t still be this cold. However, Wen Nuan’s feet were unexpectedly icy.

Wen Nuan let out a soft “Ah” and quietly said, “I washed them a bit.”

Her feet always got cold in winter. In the past, she had the means to buy a wool blanket, so it didn’t feel too cold.

But after arriving in this era, the body of the original host was even weaker than hers. Coupled with the limited conditions, every night she’d wake up with icy feet.

Back in the south, she could tolerate it since it wasn’t that cold, but now in the Northern Military District, with the occasional snowfall, the temperature dropped below freezing at night. She couldn’t bear it, which was why she had thickened her skin and asked Gu Qinghan to sleep with her.

His body was like a little furnace, quickly warming up the bed.

Last night at the guesthouse was the first time since she’d arrived that her feet had stayed warm through the night.

After lying there for a while, Wen Nuan started feeling uncomfortable in her position. The bed wasn’t very big, only about one and a half meters wide. Gu Qinghan was too large, so after some thought, she turned onto her side, her back facing him.

The man noticed her adjusting her position and followed suit, turning onto his side as well. However, he couldn’t find a comfortable place to rest his hand, no matter where he put it. Finally, he just settled it on Wen Nuan’s waist.

Wen Nuan felt a bit cramped and shifted twice before asking him, “Do you have enough space? Are you going to fall off the bed?”

Just a little while ago, the broadcast from the housing compound had played the bugle, and before that, there had been the sounds of people arguing and children crying. Now, everything had gone completely quiet.

Because of the silence, she became especially aware of the breathing next to her ear, which made her feel a little uneasy.

“I’m fine. Stop moving and go to sleep.”

Wen Nuan obediently closed her eyes, thinking about getting up early tomorrow to buy groceries.

But then she realized that, with a child in tow, she wouldn’t be able to buy much. Running back and forth so many times would be exhausting.

Feeling irritated, her mind became more alert, and any trace of sleepiness vanished.

“When you have time, make a cart for our daughter,” Wen Nuan said.

Today, while passing by several housing blocks, she had seen quite a few people who had made their own wooden carts. Since they had just moved into the housing compound, they could probably get some materials from the logistics office to build furniture.

So she thought for a moment and added, “Make it a bit larger so we can put some other things on it too.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll draw a sketch for you tomorrow morning. You can follow it to make one.”

She planned to create a cart similar to a camping cart, one that could carry things and also allow the child to sit in it.

“Yeah.”

Having resolved the issue of the child’s transport, Wen Nuan finally relaxed. Gu Qinghan was very warm, and she slowly began to feel drowsy.

Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, she suddenly heard Gu Qinghan say, “Let’s name her Gu Xingfu. I hope she can be happy and cheerful in the future.”

Wen Nuan made a soft “Mm” sound. While the name was pleasant and had a good meaning, and she wished for the little one to be happy, it felt a bit ordinary.

Names like Xingfu, Mei, and Hao were too common; the chances of sharing names were high.

So, Wen Nuan quietly suggested, “The child was born after 1 o’clock, and the moon was very full that day. I want to name her Gu Wanyue—‘Wan’ as in ‘to reclaim and ‘Yue’ for ‘moon.’”

Wen Nuan hoped that she could help her child reclaim a beautiful childhood, giving her love, care, and happiness.

“Then for her nickname, let’s call her Lele. It means joy and happiness. What do you think? Does it sound nice?”

Wen Nuan instantly felt quite clever, realizing how good she was at naming things. What a lovely name! Surely, it wouldn’t be a common one!

Gu Qinghan chuckled softly, finally adding, “It’s beautiful. I wouldn’t have thought of such a nice name. Lele, may you grow up happy and joyful.”

Wen Nuan felt a bit proud to receive this small compliment and huffed playfully, “Of course!”

After all, she was a high achiever from the 21st century!

In the darkness, Gu Qinghan slightly curved his lips. “Alright, we’ll do as you say. Tomorrow we’ll go help Lele get her household registration sorted out.”

“Yeah, so let’s go to bed early. Otherwise, who knows when we’ll wake up tomorrow.” Wen Nuan leaned towards the child, sniffing the milky scent on her. She didn’t mind it at all and leaned over to kiss her.

Then she muttered, “There are so many things to do tomorrow. We have to buy groceries, get the household registration sorted, and continue cleaning up the yard and kitchen…”

‘Heavens, being in charge of a household wasn’t that easy.’

“The army has a wake-up call, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Oh, so it’s like the one just now?” Wen Nuan felt reassured. In this era, without an alarm clock, it was easy to oversleep.

“Yeah, go to sleep quickly.”

Gu Qinghan didn’t tell her that the army’s wake-up call was at 5 o’clock in the summer and 6 o’clock in the winter. If she didn’t sleep soon, she would really struggle to get up in the morning.

Seeing her leaning toward the child, he decided to squeeze in closer and pulled Wen Nuan tightly into his arms.

Wen Nuan yawned and simply closed her eyes.

She didn’t know if it was because the bedding was too warm, but she quickly fell asleep without feeling out of place.

Before drifting off, she stretched her feet into the space between Gu Qinghan’s long legs, finding it warm and incredibly comfortable.

However, the next day, she still woke up late.

When she woke up, Gu Qinghan was already gone. By the time she got dressed and stepped into the living room, she saw Gu Qinghan walking in with two buckets of water.

The water jar in the kitchen was nearly full, revealing that he had already gotten up early to fetch water.

On the table, there were also two iron lunchboxes and several large steamed buns.

Wen Nuan felt a bit troubled. She had clearly heard the bugle sound for a while, but when she opened her eyes, everything was still pitch black. She thought it wasn’t dawn yet and turned over to fall back asleep.

Back in her hometown, she used to wake up quite early too because Zhao Wuzhu and Gu Qingsong made a lot of noise. However, at that time, she deliberately avoided chores, so even if she woke up, she wouldn’t get out of bed.

But things were different now. Gu Qinghan had returned to report for duty yesterday, and he was likely going back to his unit today. Still, he had to take care of household chores.

Though Wen Nuan wasn’t particularly industrious, she understood the special nature of Gu Qinghan’s work. There were some household tasks within her ability that she should take on.

When Gu Qinghan saw that she was up, he said, “The porridge and steamed buns are on the table. You should eat first.”

After she finished washing up, Gu Qinghan filled the water jar, and the two of them sat down at the Eight Immortals table to have breakfast.

Wen Nuan took a bite of the steamed bun and asked him, “When do you go back to the unit?”

She wanted to plan well and see how to arrange the household chores each day, making sure she wouldn’t rely on Gu Qinghan for everything like she had today.

Gu Qinghan glanced at her and then placed a scallion roll in front of her, saying, “Tomorrow. The organization considers that we’ve just arrived here and wants me to help you familiarize yourself with the environment.”

Having eaten two meals of steamed buns in a row, Wen Nuan’s southern stomach was starting to feel uneasy. It seemed like something was missing.

She recalled hearing Gu Qinghan mention that the army offered special treatment for comrades from the south.

Each person could receive eight catties of rice per month, and children could get six catties. This meant their family could collect twenty-two catties of rice every month.

Rice and noodles were taken in turns, which shouldn’t be too monotonous.

Especially now that Lele had reached the age to start solid foods. A richer variety of food could help her adapt quickly, and she could wean off milk sooner.

She also planned to look for suitable work in the family compound to earn some money. Otherwise, with Gu Qinghan’s overly kind nature, the family finances would likely be tight every month.

Once she earned some money, she would wait for the college entrance exams to be relaxed, then take the university entrance examination and bring Lele to the best school in the capital!

Thinking of this, Wen Nuan felt invigorated, as if she had received a boost of energy. After the two of them had breakfast, Lele woke up.

As she thought about going out later, this outing to the family compound with Lele might involve meeting many people, so she specially tidied herself up.

However, she hadn’t started making new clothes yet, so she could only wear her old cotton jacket. Fortunately, she had two of them. The one she wore yesterday had been on since arriving in the Northern Military District and had been worn for several days, so Wen Nuan decided to change it.

“Wen Rou” had also been quite a vain girl. Although her clothes were a bit worn, the style was still the beloved red floral pattern favored by young ladies.

After getting dressed, Wen Nuan tied her hair up again. In that era, married women were popular for sporting the “Jiang Jie” hairstyle, but “Wen Rou” was only twenty years old, so she would never cut her long hair.

Instead of braiding two pigtails, she braided a five-strand braid at the back of her head and secured it with a red ribbon hairpin.

Lele’s outfit was simpler since she was still too young to walk, so there were no little shoes; she only wore a pair of cotton socks.

The clothes were made by Wen Nuan back in her hometown, featuring the same red floral pattern. Since it was new, the color was bright, and Wen Nuan had specially designed it with a doll collar, making it very cute.

The red cotton jacket made the little one’s skin appear even whiter, and her big eyes shone particularly bright. Although her hair hadn’t grown much, there was a small tuft in the front that was longer, bobbing up and down in the wind, which was quite adorable.

Wen Nuan took out the pink ribbon she had prepared earlier and tied a little bun with that front tuft of hair.