Chapter 20 : I don’t know if she can bear the life here!

It was her first time in the army, and everything she saw was new to her. Whether it was the armored vehicles passing by from time to time or the soldiers in navy uniforms marching in formation, she was extremely curious about everything.  

Not far away, she thought she saw the mast of a massive ship. From her angle, it seemed to reach into the clouds.  

One could only imagine how enormous that ship must be!  

The family compound was located in the northeastern corner of the military base and covered a vast area.  

Upon entering the courtyard, rows of houses came into view. These houses varied in size some were quite large, with four or five rooms, even five or six rooms, while others were much smaller, with only a single large bunk bed.  

Zhou Tingyue led her to the larger house that he had arranged to move into before leaving.  

This house was in the second row, on the west side of the entire family compound.  

When they arrived, Song Shiwei carefully examined the building in front of her. It was one of those old-fashioned stone houses with gray-tiled roofs. All the houses had the same structure, though some were larger than others.  

They were arranged in neat rows, with about a dozen houses per row, and every four houses were separated by small pathways.  

There was about ten meters of space between each row, and some families had taken advantage of this by planting small vegetable gardens in front of their doors.  

The house Zhou Tingyue had exchanged for also had a flourishing vegetable patch. There were tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and more all ripe and looking even fresher and juicier than modern greenhouse-grown vegetables!  

Song Shiwei was quite surprised.  

When she pushed open the door, she was even more amazed by the interior layout. Right upon entering, there was a spacious living room, and the wooden tables and chairs all looked newly made.  

To the left of the living room was the kitchen, while to the right was a room of over ten square meters.  

Additionally, within the living room, there was a smaller room of about ten square meters.  

The beds and cabinets in both rooms were brand new!  

Zhou Tingyue placed his luggage in the larger bedroom.  

Facing Song Shiwei’s curious gaze, he felt a little embarrassed.  

“I just exchanged this house with another comrade before coming here. All the furniture is new! If you need anything else, just let me know!”  

Song Shiwei smiled and shook her head.  

“No, this is great!”  

It was much better than she had imagined!  

She had thought it would be impossible to have such a spacious house on the island.  

Having such a large home with all this new furniture showed that the man before her had put a lot of thought into making her comfortable.  

Looking around, she suddenly thought of something.  

“By the way, aren’t there four more children here? Why haven’t I seen them?”  

Zhou Tingyue glanced around as well.  

“They must have gone out to play. They haven’t come back yet!”  

Checking the time, he said, “Weiwei, you take a rest first. I need to report to my unit. I’ll cook dinner for you when I get back! If I’m late, I’ll just bring back some food from the cafeteria for you.”  

Song Shiwei quickly waved her hand.  

“No, no, I’ll do it! I’ll have dinner ready for you and the kids by the time you all get back!”  

Saying this, she rolled up her sleeves and headed toward the kitchen.  

Zhou Tingyue immediately followed her.  

He didn’t want her to have to worry about anything. After all, she had been traveling all day, and he assumed she must be exhausted.  

But seeing how eager she was, he had no choice but to step aside.  

In the kitchen, everything was already prepared before he had left.  

There was a stove, though it had never been used.  

He had given the kids money and ration tickets so they could eat at the cafeteria instead.  

Luckily, he had stocked up on plenty of coal before leaving.  

He struck a match to light the stove, helped her set it up properly, showed her where the rice, flour, and seasonings were stored, and gave her a few more instructions before heading out.  

Song Shiwei looked at the ingredients in the kitchen and thought for a moment.  

With white flour, cornmeal, and rice available, she could make rice porridge. It had been a long time since she had cooked a fragrant, sweet bowl of rice porridge for herself.  

The main reason was that, in this era, rice and white flour were rare commodities, and many families simply couldn’t afford them. Most households relied on coarse grains and mixed grains instead.  

At home, Old Lady Song was particularly stingy and would never be willing to buy such fine grains.  

For the staple food, she could make some cornmeal cakes, but there weren’t many vegetables at home.  

Then, she thought of the small vegetable garden outside.  

A smile immediately appeared on her face.  

The juicy cucumbers, tomatoes, and beans growing outside were all ready to be picked and eaten.  

So, she went out and picked a handful of beans and some cucumbers.  

Just then, she happened to run into Sun Meimei, the woman next door, who was heading out to fetch water. Sun Meimei had also followed her husband to the army and had been living here for four or five years. Her child was about the same age as Zhou Tingyue’s third child!  

When she saw Song Shiwei, she was stunned for a moment, unable to react.  

She wondered whose wife this was, how beautiful she was! Her fair little face and hands, exposed outside her sleeves, seemed to glow in the sunlight.  

She looked very young, as if she had just reached adulthood!  

At that moment, Song Shiwei noticed her and immediately greeted her with a smile.  

“Hello, sister-in-law! I just arrived today to join the army. My name is Song Shiwei!”  

Hearing this, Sun Meimei finally snapped out of her daze and responded with a smile.  

“No wonder I haven’t seen you before. So, whose wife are you?”  

She couldn’t help but wonder who was lucky enough to have married such a young and beautiful wife.  

After all, only officers at the battalion commander level or above were allowed to bring their wives to live on base.  

Most of them were already in their thirties or forties, none of them were this young!  

Then, she suddenly had a realization. Among all the officers, the only one who was young and capable was Captain Zhou!  

And wasn’t the house across the vegetable garden the one Zhou Tingyue had just moved into?  

Could she be Zhou Tingyue’s new wife?!  

Just as she was thinking this, she heard Song Shiwei say with a smile, “My husband is Zhou Tingyue!”  

At that moment, the two neighboring families, having heard the commotion, also came out to see what was going on.  

Song Shiwei’s house was the second one in the row.  

The first house belonged to Captain Zhao. His wife, Jian Qiu, was 36 years old and had three grown children.  

She walked out with a smile and greeted Song Shiwei.  

Jian Qiu had a gentle personality and spoke slowly. She wore black-framed glasses and had a Liu Hulan-style haircut, giving her the look of an intellectual.  

Sun Meimei, who lived in the third house next to Song Shiwei, was married to Captain Zheng.  

The fourth house belonged to Deputy Commander Qian. His wife, Wang Chunxiang, was the oldest among them almost forty!  

She was also very kind.  

Seeing Song Shiwei for the first time, everyone was surprised!  

They hadn’t expected Zhou Tingyue to be so lucky to have married such a young and beautiful wife!  

Since it was their first meeting, the women were very warm and welcoming. They were concerned that since she had just arrived, she might not have had time to prepare any food yet.  

Besides, now that she was newly married to Zhou Tingyue, they felt it was only right to show their goodwill.  

So, they gifted her some eggs and sugar, and Jian Qiu even gave her a piece of pork weighing over a pound.  

Song Shiwei was very embarrassed and tried to refuse, but she couldn’t resist the enthusiasm of her sisters-in-law. She had no choice but to accept their kindness, making a mental note to repay them when she had the chance in the future.  

As they watched her return to the house to cook, the three women stood there, watching her back with some concern.  

“I wonder if she’ll be able to handle life here,” one of them murmured.  

Wang Chunxiang glanced toward the courtyard gate and added, “Those four children won’t be easy to deal with. They’re already grown! Just the other day, I heard the third child muttering that he didn’t want Zhou Tingyue to find them a new mother.”