Chapter 35.2

Once home, Pei Zheng asked to hold his younger brother while studying, but Lu Nong ruthlessly refused him.

Shen Jiming, Jiang Yu, and Zhang Kaiping came to find Pei Zheng to play basketball, but Lu Nong turned them away. They had to help Aunt Wu with chores instead, and afterward, they were required to study cultural knowledge with Pei Zheng.

The worst part was that they couldn’t protest—Pei Zheng had already told them about Lu Nong’s frenzied speech that morning, which had made them all heartbroken and tearful.

fter taking care of his stepson’s unlucky brothers, Lu Nong extended her influence to Aunt Wu, her son, and his pet dog, Xiao Bai.

At the dinner table, Lu Nong announced that starting tomorrow, the old lady had to exercise with her every day, whether in the morning or evening. Her son needed to learn how to use chopsticks and dress himself, and Xiao Bai had to learn to go to the designated spot to relieve himself.

Everyone in the family had a performance evaluation chart, except for Pei Ji’an.

The old lady: “…” She never expected that the fire could burn her.

“Young lady, I don’t need to do this. Look at my age.” The old lady was so frightened that she reverted to calling Lu Nong ‘Young lady’ from their past.

Lu Nong shook her head. “That won’t do, Godmother. Look, even the baby and Xiao Bai have tasks. Since you’re older, you should set an example. You must clock in every day. Our family evaluation chart is posted downstairs. Complete your tasks to earn a little red flower. If you fail, you’ll get a black cross.”

Huaihuai mimicked Lu Nong, “Black cross!”

Pei Zheng looked sympathetically at his little brother. ‘Little brother, your mom has gone crazy. Even the dog isn’t spared.’

Shen Jiming and the others kept their heads down, silently chanting, “We don’t see them, we don’t see them.”

Only Pei Ji’an put down the tonic soup that Wu Ma had prepared for him. That’s right, the old lady no longer concealed the fact that the tonic soups for each family member were different. Lu Nong and the old lady herself drank the ones that replenished qi and blood, Pei Zheng drank the ones that strengthened bones and supplemented calcium, and Pei Ji’an drank the ones that replenished the kidneys and strengthened yang.

“Am I the only one without a task?” Pei Ji’an looked at Lu Nong.

Lu Nong felt annoyed just thinking about what had happened last night. Throughout the day, Nini (ahem..her breast) was extra sensitive to even the slightest touch. She averted her gaze, not wanting to meet the eyes of that old pervert.

Hmph, she had made up her mind to sleep with her godmother tonight to avoid that old pervert!

But since the old pervert took the initiative to fall into her hands, don’t blame her for being cruel, haha.

“…… Alright, since you’ve been injured and are weak, starting tomorrow, Godmother will make an extra bowl of nourishing soup for you,” Lu Nong said.

Pei Ji’an: “……”

“Pfft—” That was Pei Zheng and Jiang Yu.

“Cough cough…” That was Shen Jiming.

Zhang Kaiping scratched his head, looking around nervously, too afraid to speak.

Seeing that her objective had been achieved, Lu Nong continued, “As for your study tasks, aren’t you learning English? You need to clock in every day and memorize two hundred words, learn twenty grammar points, and read ten pages of an English classic. I’ll check your progress every night. How does that sound?”

Pei Zheng looked puzzled. His dad was an outstanding military academy graduate, fluent in Russian, English, and even various local dialects. Why did he suddenly need to learn English again?

Pei Ji’an ignored his son’s questioning gaze and calmly nodded, “Alright.”

After dinner, everyone at home except for Huaihuai and Pei Ji’an, sighed in disappointment. Only Lu Nong was full of energy as she headed to the study to continue her studies.

At two-thirty in the morning, Lu Nong once again fell asleep at her desk. Tomorrow was Saturday with no classes, and she had promised Sister Qin to attend a tea party. Lu Nong had initially planned to study until three.

This time, Pei Ji’an didn’t try to wake her up. Instead, he naturally carried her to the bed. Sleeping on the bed was much more comfortable than slumping over the desk, and Lu Nong adjusted her position, sinking into a deeper sleep.

Pei Ji’an watched Lu Nong for a while before leaving the bedroom. When he returned, he brought a basin of warm water. He walked to the bedside, cradled Lu Nong gently, and patiently wiped her cheeks and hands.

Pei Ji’an’s movements were slow and gentle. Lu Nong felt comfortable and cooperated by leaning into him. After he finished, she even began to snore softly.

In the dead of night, a string in Lu Nong’s mind tugged at her, waking her from her dreams.

She found herself in the same position as last night. Whether it was her or Pei Ji’an, her legs were in the wrong place, and Pei Ji’an’s hand rested inappropriately as well.

She was wearing her pajamas.

Lu Nong gazed at the ceiling, her eyes blank and lifeless, resembling the expression Pei Zheng had in the morning.

She turned to look at Pei Ji’an and asked softly, “Are you awake?”

Pei Ji’an didn’t respond but drew Lu Nong closer to him and said, “Go to sleep. Aren’t you getting up early tomorrow to exercise with Godmother?”

Lu Nong: “……“ You old pervert!

She stopped holding onto Pei Ji’an’s arm and let herself relax. In the darkness, she slowly extended a finger, using a universally recognized gesture directed at him.

Pei Ji’an seemed to be oblivious, but Lu Nong thought, given his nature, even if he understood, he probably wouldn’t care.

“Humph!” The more Lu Nong thought about it, the angrier she got. She kicked him with her foot and gritted her teeth, saying, “Do you do this every night?”

“No,” Pei Ji’an replied in a calm voice, just like the previous night.

After a moment, he sighed and said, “At first, you ran into my arms on your own.”

His words left Lu Nong speechless, but Pei Ji’an continued, “Let’s be reasonable, Nong Nong. You make Godmother boil soup every day. Today, you said you wanted her to make two bowls. I’m a normal man.”

This was the first time Pei Ji’an called Lu Nong by her nickname. His voice was low and gentle, carrying a hint of helplessness. Unfortunately, Lu Nong was too focused on defending herself to notice the nuance in his tone.

“I-I… I told you it wasn’t me who made Godmother boil the nourishing medicine!”

“And what about tonight?”

Lu Nong was at a loss for words. It felt like she was eating bitterness without being able to complain.

Forget it, let this unfeeling world come to an end.

Lu Nong closed her eyes, telling herself it was nothing. Just wait, once your injury heals, there will come a day when she will reclaim what was rightfully hers.

As she drifted off to sleep, she suddenly remembered that Pei Ji’an had called her by her nickname. Did that mean she should change how she addressed him?

The next morning, to accompany Godmother in exercising, Lu Nong got up at six. By the time she woke up, Pei Ji’an was already gone, and his side of the bed was neatly made.

Pei Ji’an had been busier these past few days than before his injury. According to Godmother, he hadn’t even come back for lunch when she was away.

Sitting on the bed, Lu Nong was lost in thought, considering how to deal with (tease) Pei Ji’an in the future.

After thinking for a long time, she couldn’t come up with a good plan. It was infuriating that he used the excuse of needing to drink another bowl of soup to shift the blame onto her. Was there any justice in this world?

Lu Nong was baffled, and she angrily pounded her fist, getting out of bed in frustration.

When she went downstairs, she saw only Godmother picking green beans. Lu Nong looked around and asked, “Godmother, isn’t Pei Zheng up yet?”

Godmother jumped in surprise when she saw Lu Nong, silently chanting a prayer. Based on her understanding of Lu Nong, she knew the young lady usually slept in on weekends. This morning, she had deliberately avoided knocking on the door to bring her soup, hoping Lu Nong would sleep longer and forget about exercising.

Unexpectedly, the young lady got up after all. The old lady was terrified now, afraid that she would mention the matter of exercise, so she quickly shifted the blame to someone else, “Xiao Zheng, he hasn’t gotten up yet. He’s sleeping in. Nongnong, go and wake him up quickly. There’s a lot of work waiting for him at home. Oh, and don’t you arrange for him to study? Yes, yes, he needs to study hard.”

“……”

Godmother, isn’t it too obvious?

But Lu Nong didn’t call her out on it. She decided to take care of Pei Zheng first.

She went upstairs and knocked on Pei Zheng’s door. After just a few knocks, he opened the door with a scowl, gritting his teeth, “I know, I’ll go wake them up.”

Good brothers share blessings and burdens. Since he couldn’t fight against Lu Nong, he decided to call a few more people to join him.

Tsk tsk, Lu Nong shook her head. This is pure socialist brotherhood. Shouldn’t Zhang Kaiping and the others thank Pei Zheng?

In the end, the old lady couldn’t escape Lu Nong’s clutches and ended up exercising with her for half an hour.

After half an hour, Lu Nong finally let Aunt Wu go. Aunt Wu exchanged glances with Pei Zheng, and they felt a kinship. From that day forward, their bond as a family deepened.

At eight in the morning, Lu Nong began to apply makeup and get ready for the gathering.

Sister Qin had told her that the military wives’ gatherings were hosted by Sister Zheng from Deputy Division Commander Ye’s family. Sometimes there was a theme, such as organizing military wives to help prepare food for soldiers or helping officers find wives.

This time, it was said that a few families in the compound had sons who found girlfriends. Coincidentally, Sister Zheng’s son was among them. So, Sister Zheng thought it would be a good idea to gather everyone, allowing her to test the future daughter-in-law’s worth.

The other families thought this was a great idea and decided to bring their own unmarried daughters along for some fun. Even if they didn’t initially intend to compare, it would inevitably turn into a competition.

How to compare? Looks, style, eloquence, and social skills.

One must first respect others’ appearances; fashion and style would definitely be the focus.

So even though this was Lu Nong’s first appearance, she didn’t need to dress too ostentatiously, but neither did she need to dress down intentionally. Sister Qin had mentioned that a few military wives came from wealthy families, and their outfits wouldn’t be any worse than Lu Nong’s.

Moreover, considering the age difference between her and Pei Ji’an, dressing too young wouldn’t work either. It was best to appear mature while not overshadowing him.

Lu Nong chose a gentle white dress that wouldn’t go wrong. Such dresses give an impression of elegance and indirectly add a few years to one’s appearance. She neatly tied her hair back with a hair tie, avoiding anything overly flashy. She only applied skincare products on her face and didn’t even put on lipstick.

However, Lu Nong naturally had red lips and white teeth, so not wearing makeup didn’t make much difference.

First, she went to Sister Qin’s house. Sister Qin pulled her around, looking her up and down, and said, “You’ve exposed your forehead completely today. You look even better.”

Then, she looked at Lu Nong’s dress and added, “The outfit is too plain. It shows you don’t want to draw attention. That girl from the Shen family loves to wear red dresses. She doesn’t care about stealing the spotlight. Sister Zheng is a gentle person and won’t mind these details. Plus, I’ll say this, with your looks, it’s hard not to stand out. So let’s not worry about it. We should take pride in being beautiful. Besides, your attitude is in place. I’m sure they won’t be able to criticize you.”

Lu Nong felt touched upon hearing this. Sister Qin had such a proper outlook on life.

Sister Zheng’s house was right behind Sister Qin’s. Since it was still early, Sister Qin explained the relationships and personalities of various military wives to Lu Nong. Half an hour later, they finally headed out.

When Lu Nong and Sister Qin arrived, several people were already chatting.

As they walked in, all the women in the living room turned to look at them, and there was a moment of silence in the air.