Chapter 39: Is He No Longer Attractive to His Little Wife?

“Hey, Captain Rong is back?”

It was evening when Rong Jingchen returned home and happened to run into two people in the courtyard.

The usually stern look on Rong Jingchen’s face softened a little as he nodded politely at the two, “Good evening, uncles.”

These two men were about the same age as his father—veterans who had already retired from the army. They had once fought alongside his father on the battlefield. Although they still looked rather fit, old injuries lingered on their bodies, which was likely why they had retired early.

“I heard you brought your wife here?” one of them said, pointing with his chin toward Rong Jingchen’s house. “Gotta say, your wife’s cooking smells amazing. The aroma floats out through the door—you can smell it from far away!”

“Exactly, we’ve been craving it like crazy these past two days,” the other man added, smacking his lips. “Because of that, we started eating earlier than usual. After smelling the food from your place, our own meals just don’t taste right.”

They had come downstairs for a walk after dinner and hadn’t expected to bump into Rong Jingchen.

At first, when the smell started drifting around, the nearby neighbors all tried to find the source. Eventually, they traced it to Rong Jingchen’s home, which left them all rather surprised.

“My wife’s indeed good at cooking,” Rong Jingchen said with a small smile. “Next time you’re free, come over and have a meal with us.”

These two uncles had a good relationship with his father—they were old comrades and had watched Rong Jingchen grow up. So he treated them with great respect.

“Sounds good! We’ll be waiting,” both of them grinned. They didn’t take his words as a polite formality at all—they were really craving that food.

“Sure.”

When Rong Jingchen got home, Ye Muqi had already finished cooking and set everything on the table.

It was another spread of three dishes and a soup. She had stewed a whole chicken and made a tofu fish soup—its creamy white broth looked almost like milk. Just these two dishes alone were enough to match the quantity of the previous day’s entire meal. Not to mention the large plate of stir-fried spicy pork and a dish of sautéed greens.

Yesterday was all meat, so today Ye Muqi added some vegetables—she had been craving some greens.

Earlier that day, she had packed some marinated eggs for Rong Jingchen to take to the army. But during lunch, Chen Hong shamelessly snatched one, and then Yu Jianguo came by and took another. If she hadn’t packed extras, Rong Jingchen might not have gotten one at all.

Seriously, was Chen Hong some starving ghost in a past life? Even fought him for a marinated egg!

Luckily, dinner was all his alone.

Looking at the full table, Rong Jingchen was a bit stunned. Yesterday’s feast was understandable—it was their first day making money. But today’s was just as lavish. Was Ye Muqi spending all her earnings on groceries?

Rong Jingchen quietly pondered. Maybe… after payday, he should send a bit less money home and give more to Ye Muqi instead. If she kept spending like this, she might not even have enough to buy meat.

“You met our political commissar yesterday, didn’t you?” Rong Jingchen asked after sitting at the table with her, recalling something Yu Jianguo had said that morning.

Ye Muqi tilted her head in confusion. Commissar?

She did meet someone from the military district yesterday—seemed like a leader of some kind. She hadn’t expected that it really was the commissar.

“Oh, yeah,” Ye Muqi nodded casually, not thinking much of it. She’d just hitched a ride. It shouldn’t have caused any trouble for Rong Jingchen, right?

“Why didn’t you mention it to me?” Rong Jingchen asked again.

Ye Muqi usually told him about work at the breakfast shop and even how much money she earned. Just like how normal couples shared their day.

“I just got busy and forgot,” she replied honestly. Business had been great—she’d been too caught up counting her small bills.

“I couldn’t get a ride into town yesterday morning, saw a car and flagged it down. Didn’t realize it was your commissar’s car.” She paused. “Um… he didn’t say anything to you, did he?”

Rong Jingchen looked at his little wife, slightly anxious—she seemed oddly adorable.

“He didn’t say much, just praised your cooking.”

“Really?” Ye Muqi’s smile lit up the room. “There’ve been so many more customers at the breakfast shop—they all came for my cooking!”

Hearing this, Rong Jingchen felt a strange surge of irritation. His little wife’s cooking skills were top-notch, but it seemed like that was all she cared about…

Oh, and making money!

From the first day she arrived, Ye Muqi got herself a job. Other than cooking and earning, there was nothing else.

Only now did Rong Jingchen realize that maybe Ye Muqi agreed to come to the military district not to live a sweet, married life with him—but to make money.

Was it possible that he was less attractive to her than cooking and money?

Just a year ago, she liked him so much…

And to be fair, Rong Jingchen wasn’t entirely wrong.

But Ye Muqi was completely unaware of this.

“Remember to thank the commissar for me tomorrow!” she beamed.

“Chen Hong heard you opened a breakfast shop and said he’s planning to bring people over,” Rong Jingchen added, recalling what that gossip-loving guy had said. Better give his wife a heads-up so she wouldn’t be startled.

“Great! The more the better, I’d love that!” Ye Muqi’s grin was so wide it nearly split her face.

She didn’t know who Chen Hong was, but she did know there were a lot of people in the army. If they all came to her breakfast shop, even if each person only ordered a simple bowl of noodles, that would add up to a lot of money!

If that really happened, her plan to buy a car could happen even sooner.

Ye Muqi was absolutely delighted. She genuinely looked forward to the whole military base visiting her shop.

Perfect!

She really had come here just to make money!

Looking at Ye Muqi’s bright smile, Rong Jingchen became even more convinced that she wasn’t here to enjoy married life with him—but purely to earn cash. Otherwise, why would she insist on sleeping in separate rooms from the start?

Ye Muqi might not act infatuated like she used to, but Rong Jingchen now felt a bit conflicted. A strange, indescribable emotion was starting to spread inside him.

Lost in thought, he ate less than he had yesterday.

After all, he had breakfast at home and even brought extra marinated eggs for lunch. Naturally, he ate less at dinner. So maybe it was just that yesterday’s army food hadn’t been great and left him hungry.

Ye Muqi looked at the leftover food and thought to herself: maybe tomorrow she’d cook fish soup noodles using the leftovers—for their breakfast.

After dinner, Rong Jingchen went to wash the dishes while Ye Muqi, clutching her share of the money, headed into her room. Business had been even better than the day before, and she had earned even more. She planned to carefully count all her money tonight to see how far she still had to go to afford her car.

When Rong Jingchen came out from doing the dishes, the living room was empty. Ye Muqi’s bedroom door was shut. His brows furrowed slightly, and that complicated emotion within him grew stronger.

It really felt like he was living with a roommate—there wasn’t the slightest feeling of married life between them.