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Li Xia was simply recalling the original storyline, feeling a twinge of jealousy. She hadn’t expected Gu Weicheng to take it seriously, even launching into a full-on rant.
From the way he spoke, his impression of Su Wenyen was absolutely terrible, his tone filled with disdain.
But then, how did the Gu Weicheng from the novel end up liking Su Wenyen? Or was that just the author’s wishful thinking all along?
Li Xia knew she shouldn’t dwell on this question. After all, none of that had actually happened. Ever since she arrived in this world, everything had already changed.
“I was just asking casually. You don’t have to be so serious.” Li Xia tugged on Gu Weicheng’s arm, pulling him to sit on the bed. “Then tell me, who do you think is the prettiest?”
Gu Weicheng said, “I actually do know someone who looks really beautiful. Do you want to know who?”
Li Xia’s heart tightened. There was someone on his mind? Could it be his first love? But she had never heard of him having a first love.
She pursed her lips and asked. “Who?”
Gu Weicheng picked up the mirror from the bedside table and held it in front of Li Xia. “It’s the person in the mirror. What do you think? Isn’t she beautiful?”
In the reflection, the gloom on Li Xia’s face instantly disappeared. A rosy blush spread across her fair and delicate cheeks as she playfully scolded him, “Commander Gu, I didn’t know you were such a smooth talker. Come on, tell me—who else have you sweet-talked like this before?”
Gu Weicheng replied, “Do you know what my nickname is?”
Li Xia was intrigued. “What nickname?”
Could it be something like ‘Gu Yama’ (King of Hell Gu)?
She had read many novels where male leads had that kind of nickname—cringeworthy and cliché. Surely Gu Weicheng wouldn’t have something like that too?
Please, no!
Gu Weicheng said, “Yulong (Jade Dragon).”
Li Xia blinked. “Huh? Jade Dragon? What’s the story behind that?”
Gu Weicheng explained, “It means I’m as cold as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Even the soldiers in the barracks fear me, let alone the female comrades—whenever they see me, they want to run at least two meters away. Who would I even have the chance to coax?”
Li Xia thought to herself, Alright, I guess this isn’t much better than ‘Gu Yama’ after all.
“That’s not true at all,” Li Xia thought to herself. You’re a man—there are plenty of people secretly admiring you. You just don’t realize it, like Su Wenyen yesterday.
Gu Weicheng continued, “Besides, I don’t want to coax any other woman. I only want to coax you.”
They sat close together on the bed, their conversation drawing them nearer and nearer.
Their skin lightly brushed against each other. Li Xia’s arm was a little cool, while Gu Weicheng’s skin was burning hot—like a fire blazing fiercely.
“Gu Weicheng…” Li Xia felt her heart pounding rapidly, her mouth going dry.
Suddenly, she had the urge to kiss him.
“I…”
Just as their faces inched closer, a noise came from the doorway.
An An stood at the bedroom entrance and asked, “Daddy, Mommy, what are you doing?”
The two of them immediately pulled apart.
Li Xia quickly came up with an excuse. “Mommy had something in her eye just now, so Daddy was helping me check. But it’s fine now.”
Commander Gu remained calm and composed even in the face of formidable enemies. Yet, at this moment, a trace of awkwardness flickered across his face.
“Mm, Daddy was just helping Mommy blow something out of her eye. It’s all good now. The table outside hasn’t been cleaned up yet—I’ll go take care of it. An An, stay with Mommy.” Gu Weicheng stood up and walked toward the door.
Li Xia stopped him. “Oh, right, I’ve been thinking about finding a job. Does the military district offer employment opportunities for military spouses?”
Gu Weicheng nodded. “Yes, the military district has an organization department specifically for arranging jobs for military spouses. I’ll ask around tomorrow and see what positions are available.”
…
Su Family.
Chen Lina had just returned home. Seeing that Su Wenyen had gone into her room, she lowered her voice and spoke to Su Wenbin. “Wenbin, I couldn’t say this earlier with Wenyen present, but you need to talk to her. Given her current status, dressing like that is inappropriate. What if someone with bad intentions reports her?”
“She even drew on her eyebrows and put on lipstick. She’s not part of the Cultural Troupe performing on stage, and she wasn’t going on a blind date—what was the point of dressing up like that just to have a meal at someone else’s house?”
Fortunately, the people present today were all decent. If the wrong person had seen her like that, who knows? Su Wenbin might have ended up being affected again.
Su Wenbin sighed. “Wenyen just got here—she doesn’t understand these things yet. She’s still young and doesn’t realize the consequences. I’ll talk to her.”
Chen Lina felt stifled by his words.
Young? Her sister-in-law was already twenty years old, not eight. She was at an age where she could already be discussing marriage, yet he still called her young?
At the dinner table earlier, when Su Wenbin had said that, she had wanted to point out that Su Wenyen was already an adult and didn’t need to be treated like a child anymore.
It was only because Su Wenbin was ten years older than his sister that he still saw her as a little girl.
Speaking of marriage, a thought crossed Chen Lina’s mind. “Did you notice? Deputy Commander Hu seemed quite enthusiastic about Wenyen. Do you think he might be interested in her?”
“Wenyen is already twenty years old this year. Now that Father and Mother are no longer around, even if they wanted to arrange a marriage for her, they wouldn’t be able to. We need to take responsibility and help her with it.”
“How about this? Next time, I’ll try to get a sense of Deputy Commander Hu’s thoughts, and you can ask Wenyen how she feels. If they end up together, it wouldn’t be a bad match.”
Hearing his wife’s words, Su Wenbin felt a warmth in his heart.
He had always known that Chen Lina was a good person. What she said today was for his and Wenyen’s sake—she even took Wenyen’s marriage to heart.
“Lina, I knew you were the best.” Su Wenbin took her hand in his.
“But matters of the heart can’t be rushed. We still need to see how Wenyen feels about it. We don’t want to be the only ones eager while she’s unwilling.”
Chen Lina nodded. “I understand.”
Su Wenbin pushed open Su Wenyen’s bedroom door and saw her sitting on the bed sulking.
She had planned to leave a good impression today, but instead, she had only embarrassed herself. How could she not be upset?
“What’s wrong, Wenyen?” Su Wenbin asked.
Su Wenyen collected her thoughts and shook her head. “It’s nothing. Brother, did you need something?”
Su Wenbin said, “It’s nothing major. I just wanted to talk to you. Now that you’re at the army base, things aren’t the same as before. You need to be mindful of your actions and the impression they leave. For example, the dress you wore today and the makeup you had on—it was too eye-catching. That’s not appropriate here.”
Hearing this, Su Wenyen felt uncomfortable.
“I used to dress like this at home, and no one ever said anything. Even Mom and Dad never minded. Did Sister-in-law say something to you? Brother, just be honest—are you starting to dislike me? If you don’t want me here, just say so. I can always go to the labor farm and stay with Mom and Dad instead.”
Su Wenbin quickly explained, “That’s not what I meant. Your sister-in-law is only looking out for you. How can you say that about her? She was just worrying about your marriage earlier. To be honest, she’s been a very responsible sister-in-law.”
“Marriage? Brother! I’ve only been here for a few days, and you and Sister-in-law are already in a rush to marry me off? Fine! I’ll leave!” Su Wenyen bolted out of the house.
She held resentment toward her sister-in-law, Chen Lina.
If it weren’t for her opposition to Su Wenyen coming to the army base in her past life, she might have relocated as a military family member back then. She wouldn’t have ended up following their parents to the labor farm, nor would she have met that man…
In her past life, Li Xia had already died, and there wouldn’t have been anything standing between her and Gu Weicheng.
The more Su Wenyen thought about it, the more she was convinced—if she had joined the military base earlier in her past life, she would have already married Gu Weicheng and become a commander’s wife!
Back then, she had refused because, first, she was too proud to marry someone and become a stepmother. Second, she had never seen Gu Weicheng before. At the time, he was already in his thirties, and she had assumed he must be an unattractive old man. How could she have imagined he would turn out to be so handsome?
Her sister-in-law had completely ruined her life!
As these thoughts swirled in her mind, Su Wenyen strode toward the military district gate.
She wanted to find Zhou Qingshan and ask him what exactly had gone wrong. “That worthless coward! He couldn’t even handle such a simple task.”
She hadn’t gone far beyond the military district when a man suddenly emerged from the trees and blocked her path.
It was none other than Zhou Qingshan, his face bruised and swollen.