Chapter 23

He told her to go out.

Su Ruo’s hand rested on the countertop beside her. Her heart was pounding, her limbs still weak, and her head a little dizzy.

But after doing something like that to her, without even sparing her a glance, he just told her to leave. Su Ruo suddenly felt a bit hurt and wronged.

Although she vaguely understood the reason why.

But how could she be rational at this moment?

Maybe girls are always flustered and aggrieved at times like this.

They always need the person who did something “bad” to them to coax them a little, to soothe the panic.

But he ignored her.

She wanted to say something to him, but remembering the words he had just said, her heart was all in chaos again. She didn’t know how to respond—or maybe he didn’t even need her response in the first place.

Besides, after something like that, was she supposed to be the one coaxing him?

She stood there, flustered and at a loss, for a while. He still didn’t look at her. In the end, she felt so wronged, afraid she’d burst into tears, that she really did pull open the door and turned to leave.

He didn’t try to coax her at all.

Only after she left did Han Zecheng finally turn his head to glance at her retreating figure. But after just one look, he stiffly turned back, pulled his hand away from the sink where his joints had turned white from the force, and poured another glass of water—draining it in one go.

There were three rooms in the house: a master bedroom, Guoguo’s room, and a study.

The furniture was all set up, but there was no bed in the study.

And the master bedroom had only one large bed.

Su Ruo hadn’t thought too much about it.

Because these past few days, she had been sharing a bed with Han Zecheng anyway.

She had felt a little awkward, wondering if they’d always have to sleep together from now on, but she never expected that before bed, he would somehow produce a folding bed and set it up in their bedroom.

Su Ruo stood by the door, watching him fuss with the folding bed, not knowing what to say.

But the folding bed was very narrow and didn’t seem that long either.

He was so tall and strong, and after intense daily training, how could he rest well on such a bed?

Su Ruo had originally felt it was fine for them to sleep in the same bed, but since he’d brought in another bed, she couldn’t exactly invite him to share hers again.

Especially after that kiss in the kitchen—she really didn’t have the courage to say such a thing now… That kiss had left her unsure of whether something else might happen if they shared a bed. She didn’t even trust herself anymore.

Not that she didn’t trust him… She knew that as long as she firmly refused, he would never force her.

But could she really refuse firmly?

So, in truth, she didn’t fully trust herself anymore.

She just stood there, watching him make the bed.

Finally, she spoke: “This bed might be too small for you. I’ll sleep on the little bed.”

Han Zecheng looked up at her. In truth, being stared at by her like that had already made him a little uncomfortable… especially after they’d kissed.

He had never doubted his own self-control before, but now it was truly being tested.

He said, “It’s fine. I used to sleep like this during missions. Most of the time, it was just on the ground. This is nothing. You need to review properly these days—sleep on the big bed.”

Su Ruo didn’t say anything more.

She knew that once he’d made up his mind, her few words wouldn’t change anything.

She silently climbed into bed.

Then she watched him turn off the lights, and after seeing him lie down on the folding bed, she found herself unable to fall asleep.

Maybe it was because the past few days had been too tense and exhausting. Now that everything had finally settled down, she felt a strange clarity that came after relaxing her mind.

Or maybe it was because of that kiss in the kitchen earlier, the one that stirred her emotions, and also that question he asked.

That question forced her to confront an issue she had been avoiding all along, something she never wanted to think too deeply about.

And that was: her future with him.

As for her own future, she was determined to go to college.

Even after getting into college, she would pursue the career she liked—but she couldn’t ignore the realities of life.

Right now, his identity was her husband, the father of her child.

But she no longer had the memories of those years.

In fact, as her days calmed down and her emotions stabilized, she often felt dazed, as if she hadn’t merely forgotten the past five years, but had never lived through them at all.

It truly felt like she had jumped straight from 1972 to 1977.

That made her feel as if, during those five years, the woman who was his wife wasn’t really her.

This left her uncertain and confused when facing their relationship.

Moreover… he seemed to be rejecting her.

Rejecting intimacy with her.

Otherwise, why would he have pushed her away so suddenly earlier, and then told her to leave?

And even go as far as bringing in a separate bed…

The more Su Ruo thought about it, the more her thoughts strayed.

And the more wronged she felt.

No, she shouldn’t keep thinking about it—Su Ruo pulled the blanket over her head, then after two seconds, felt stifled and stuck her head out again, hugging the blanket to her chest and turning to sleep on her side.

She told herself: this matter can wait.

First, she had to get into college.

Sigh, she was never one to overthink in the past.

It had to be that kiss—only that could’ve turned her into such a jittery mess.

She made up her mind. From now on, she would keep her distance from him.

She had to focus on the college entrance exams.

……….

The next day, Su Ruo took Guoguo to the military district’s kindergarten.

Han Zecheng drove them there, but he had to head to his unit afterward. He greeted the principal, gave Su Ruo a few instructions, and left. After that, Su Ruo talked with the principal while holding Han Guo’s hand, and they toured the kindergarten together.

The principal was a kind and gentle middle-aged woman. If it weren’t for her straight posture and the clear air of a soldier about her, Su Ruo wouldn’t even have thought she was military personnel. In her mind, soldiers were always stern, rigid, upright, and full of justice and responsibility—but correspondingly, they often lacked warmth and came across as cold or distant.

But after interacting with more soldiers in the military district, she realized her earlier thoughts were biased.

Han Guo wouldn’t turn four for another two months, so he was being placed directly into the junior class.

However, Han Guo had never attended school before.

His only concept of school came from the old, run-down commune school back in their hometown, where dozens of students crammed into a single classroom, sat on long wooden benches all day, chanting and copying from books over and over again.

So what had his life been like before?

When his mom was home, she’d tell him stories and play with toys. Otherwise, he’d run around with other kids—climbing hills to dig up bird eggs, raiding nests, setting traps for rabbits, fishing in streams… At first, his mom had been very worried, but eventually, she just turned a blind eye.

So naturally, he was resistant to the idea of going to school.

How could he sit still all day?

But he also knew his dad was busy with work, and his mom might go off to study soon, only coming home once a week.

He’d have to go to kindergarten just like the other kids here.

As a result, Han Guo looked gloomy and unmotivated when he got to the school.

After the principal finished chatting with Su Ruo, she crouched down to talk to Han Guo.

“Student Han Zhen, welcome to our Biyang Military District Kindergarten. Can you tell the principal what you usually like to play?”

Han Zhen was the official name given to Han Guo when his household registration was transferred.

“Han Zhen” thought: Catching bird eggs, raiding nests, trapping rabbits—does that count?

But his mom was standing right beside him, smiling gently on the surface but clearly keeping a close eye on him.

He didn’t dare say it out loud.

So he obediently replied, “Assembling gun and car models.”

Which was also true.

But still—he got bored quickly after playing with those for a while.

The principal smiled. “As expected of Deputy Commander Han’s son. Perfect timing, today the kids in the junior class are learning to assemble models. Since you’re interested, why don’t we go check it out together?”

Han Guo was stunned.

Learning to assemble models?

Not just chanting ‘one-two-three’ and ‘ah-oh-goose’?

Su Ruo knew exactly what was going through his little head. She held his hand and smiled at the principal, “Thank you, Principal.”

With his mom dragging him along, Han Guo followed the principal to the classroom.

As soon as he stepped in and saw the things on the tables, floor, and in the other kids’ hands, his eyes lit up.

The principal found his reaction amusing.

She hadn’t missed how unwilling and low-spirited he’d looked earlier.

She picked up a box of wooden tank building blocks from the teacher’s desk and handed it to him. “Try it—see if you can assemble it according to the diagram.”

At first, the principal just wanted to pique Han Guo’s interest in kindergarten. But she hadn’t expected that after fiddling with it for a bit, he’d actually manage to put together a model anti-aircraft tank just by following the illustration.

She was a little surprised. “I didn’t expect you to be so skilled, Student Han Zhen.”

Su Ruo explained with a smile, “He’s loved this kind of thing since he first learned to crawl. I used to draw a lot of model diagrams for him. His dad also gave him many building blocks and model kits. What he said just now about liking them is true—it’s just that there’s only so many models at home. Once he’s played with them too much, it stops being fun.”

The principal nodded with a smile and said, “So that’s how it is. Then I believe he’ll really like it here. No other kindergarten has as many toy models as we do.”

They even had real ones.

After all, this was a military district kindergarten, and many of the models were specially made—ones you couldn’t even buy elsewhere.

She continued, “Comrade Su, if Han Zhen enjoys being here and is willing to attend, then let him play for an hour today. He can officially start class tomorrow.”

Su Ruo looked over at Han Guo and saw that he was already playing with another little boy. The two were putting together an airplane model.

That little boy was Gu Yang, the youngest son of Gu Yilin.

Su Ruo smiled and said, “Thank you, Principal. Then I’ll have to trouble you and the teachers to look after him. Just… this kid is quite mischievous. If he does anything wrong, please let me know.”

That was her being protective.

The principal found this young-mom-like girl quite adorable and smiled, “Mischievous kids are exactly what we’re not afraid of here.”

There were plenty of physical training games outside to burn off their energy.

Su Ruo had initially worried that Guo Guo wouldn’t like school, or wouldn’t have the focus to stay in a classroom for long. But it turned out she’d been worried for nothing.

This kindergarten was completely focused on play and physical training—exactly the kind of environment Guo Guo liked.

After an hour, Guo Guo was still happily playing and didn’t want to leave. It wasn’t until Su Ruo gently coaxed him that he reluctantly agreed to go.

The next day, Su Ruo didn’t even have to encourage him. He got up early on his own, dressed himself, packed his bag, and rushed her to leave…

The days that followed were peaceful yet busy.

Han Zecheng went to the military base every day.

As for Guo Guo, he went to kindergarten daily. He quickly made a bunch of new friends there, and his life was far more colorful than Su Ruo’s… Over the past few days, Su Ruo had come to realize that although her son was only four years old, perhaps due to being raised more freely in their hometown, he was incredibly independent, had astonishing self-care abilities, and a whole lot of ideas—so much so that she often found herself mentally spinning from his antics.

Su Ruo could only sigh that she had really given birth to quite the little genius…

At first, she had worried that living with Han Zecheng might be awkward or uncomfortable.

But in reality, Han Zecheng was extremely disciplined and lived a very orderly life. Although he was busy, he was surprisingly easy to get along with and was both a good father and a reliable partner in daily life.

He was highly capable. Since Su Ruo had moved in, other than focusing on her studies and picking up and dropping off Guo Guo from kindergarten, all she needed to do was occasionally tinker in the kitchen. She hardly had to worry about anything else—household chores were mostly taken care of by Han Zecheng, who handled everything neatly and efficiently.

As for the relationship between the two of them…

It was just a normal cohabitation.

Aside from that kiss on the day she moved in, he hadn’t made any other inappropriate moves toward her. His demeanor didn’t even show anything special.

Plus, since he was often busy, even though they lived together, they didn’t actually spend much time together.

Sometimes, seeing how indifferent he was, Su Ruo couldn’t help but think she’d probably overthought things before—perhaps she’d just been imagining things.

Maybe he hadn’t liked her as much as she thought.

He was a soldier, and soldiers had a strong sense of responsibility. She just happened to be his wife, so everything he did for her was simply what a responsible husband would do.

As for that kiss—that heart-pounding, face-reddening kiss—it must’ve just been a moment of impulse because he had been drinking.

Like her sister-in-law said, he was a man after all, and he had been stationed on base for a long time without any women around…

Wait—what kind of thoughts was she even having right now?!