Chapter 21 Sleep Here Tonight

Even though the room was pitch dark and Doubao was lying between them, Lin Suisui still had the odd feeling that Huo Changzheng was angry. But whatever—it didn’t matter. She had work the next day and needed to sleep early.

Because she had to get up early, Lin Suisui didn’t sleep very soundly that night. As soon as the rooster crowed, she woke up.
The first thing she did after waking was change clothes. Honestly, it was quite inconvenient living in the same room as Huo Changzheng. Normally, he would leave early, so she could wait until he was gone to get dressed. But now, she could only change in bed under the covers.
Thankfully, it was still dark and both father and son were fast asleep. She quietly got dressed and got up to wash and freshen up.
By the time she was done with everything, it wasn’t even 6 a.m., but she still left the house early—better to be early than late.
She gently opened the door, and just as gently closed it behind her.

With a faint “click,” a pair of eyes opened in the darkness. Huo Changzheng stared at the door for a long moment, then let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes again.

After working a one-hour shift yesterday, Lin Suisui was clearly more at ease today.
By 6:30, the canteen began to fill up with people, and she quickly got to work with practiced movements.
Li Changlong watched from the side and nodded in satisfaction.
He had initially assumed Huo Changzheng’s wife would be delicate and flustered when it came to work, but to his surprise, she had picked things up fast.
If there were other vacancies in the canteen, he’d consider keeping her on.

Lin Suisui stayed busy until nearly 7:30, when Huo Changzheng finally came in for breakfast.

“What do you want to eat?” she asked.

“Just get whatever—you know what I like.” Huo Changzheng answered as if it was a given.

And to be fair, Lin Suisui really did know the answer.
Back before he joined the army, she had asked him that question, and even though so many years had passed, she remembered it clearly.
Sometimes she hated how good her memory was.

She had thought about pretending not to remember, but when she saw that slightly “threatening” look in his eyes, she got worried about offending him.
In the end, she served him three meat buns and a bowl of rice porridge.

Yes—he liked meat buns.

Huo Changzheng took the food, clearly satisfied, and even shamelessly added, “Make sure to deduct the ration tickets for this later.”

“…”

He ate quickly, and since it wasn’t much food, by the time Lin Suisui was done with her shift, he had already gone back to the barracks.
After having her breakfast, she planned to head back too, but halfway there, she was stopped by a young soldier running toward her.

“Sister-in-law, there are two men at the gate with some furniture—they said it’s for your place. Can they come in?”

“Yes, please have them deliver it to unit 17 in the family housing area,” Lin Suisui replied quickly, then hurried off to the house to open the door for the workers.

She had thought the furniture would take a few more days to arrive, but it had already been delivered.
However, when she saw the two craftsmen, she realized they had only brought two beds and a coffee table.

“These pieces are already finished, so we brought them over first. We’ll have to make a few more trips anyway,” said the older craftsman.
“Take a look and tell us which rooms the beds should go in. We’ll assemble them for you.”

The house had three rooms—two larger ones and a smaller one.
Lin Suisui planned to use the smaller one for storage.
As for the two larger rooms, one would be for her and Doubao, the other for Huo Changzheng.

Since she was technically still a guest in his house, she obviously couldn’t take the biggest room—so that one would go to Huo Changzheng.
Originally, she had planned to share a 1.5-meter-wide bed with Doubao, but last time Huo Changzheng had complained that the 1.2-meter bed was too small, so she decided to give him the 1.5-meter one.
She and Doubao would manage just fine on the 1.2-meter bed.

After explaining the layout to the craftsmen, the father-son duo began assembling the bed frames.
Since she didn’t understand carpentry, she left them to it.
Meanwhile, a storage cabinet had also arrived, so she used the time to start organizing things she had bought earlier.

The craftsmen were experienced and worked efficiently as a team, so both beds were put together quickly.
Lin Suisui paid them for the two beds and the cabinet, and then it was time for her afternoon shift in the canteen.

Huo Changzheng had been in meetings all morning. When they finally wrapped up, his direct superior—Regimental Commander Ji Hongqi—called him over.
“This mission’s going to be tough. If you’re not too busy this afternoon, head home early and spend time with your wife and kid.”

Sun Mingyang, who had enlisted at the same time as Huo Changzheng and was now a battalion commander, chimed in immediately.
Though technically lower in rank, he never held back with Huo Changzheng.
Grinning meaningfully, he said, “Sir, you really understand people’s hearts. You know his wife’s just arrived, so you’re letting him go early.”

Then he raised an eyebrow at Huo Changzheng.
“Take it easy tonight, alright? Don’t wear yourself out and sleep through morning assembly.”

They were all men—married men at that—so the meaning behind those words was clear.

As soon as he finished speaking, a round of knowing laughter spread through the group.

Huo Changzheng, as always, kept his face expressionless, giving nothing away.
But when no one was watching, he quietly clenched his fist.

Lin Suisui figured Huo Changzheng always showed up at the last minute for meals.
Sure enough, just as she was getting off shift, he arrived—so they ended up sitting across from each other to eat.

“Are you going back to the dorm after this?” Huo Changzheng asked as he ate.

“No,” Lin Suisui replied. “The workers delivered a big bed and a storage cabinet today. I want to use the time to organize a few things.”

Huo Changzheng paused briefly when he heard that, then listened as she added,
“Right, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you.”
“Go ahead,” he said.

“Can we build a shower room in our new house?” Lin Suisui asked. “The bathroom is too small, it’s not convenient to shower in there, but I really can’t get used to going to the public bathhouse.”

Recently, she had only been showering in the afternoon when she was alone in the dormitory, but without proper drainage, it was very inconvenient. Still, the dorm was small and couldn’t be helped. But the housing unit in the family compound was big enough—building an extra shower room wouldn’t be a problem.

“Sure,” Huo Changzheng agreed without hesitation. “I’m heading out tomorrow, so I won’t have time for this. I’ll ask Fang Weiguo to take care of it. Just open the door for him when he comes—you don’t need to worry about anything else.”

Lin Suisui had done hard labor before, but she really didn’t know anything about house renovations. If he could arrange someone, that was obviously for the best. She nodded and said, “Alright. But we’re always troubling Comrade Fang. Once we move in, we should find a chance to treat him to a meal.”

“No need for that. This is his chance to make amends,” Huo Changzheng said matter-of-factly.

“…” Hearing that, Lin Suisui suddenly remembered how Fang Weiguo had been punished with weighted runs a few days ago. His “mistake” was probably related to this matter. Still, she didn’t ask further. When it came to his work, she knew she should stay out of it.

After they finished lunch, they left the canteen. Lin Suisui headed to the family compound, thinking Huo Changzheng would return to the dorm, but to her surprise, he followed her.

“I’m coming along to take a look too.”

“…Alright.” After all, it was his house too, and he hadn’t even visited once. She had no reason to refuse.

The layout of the houses in the family compound was all the same. Huo Changzheng had visited his comrades’ homes before, so he was already quite familiar with it. They walked around and decided on the location for the shower room, then went into the inner room.

“The beds are already assembled?” Huo Changzheng asked when he saw a large bed in the master bedroom and a smaller one in the second biggest room. He seemed quite satisfied.

“Yeah, they’re all set up. Just need to lay the sheets and you can sleep on them,” Lin Suisui replied. “I’ve prepared some new bedding. Once I move the ones from the dorm over, there’ll be enough.”

“In that case, let’s head back later and pack up. We’ll sleep here tonight.”

“…”