Chapter 2

That morning, all the wives in the family compound were curious—Chen Yuan’s lazy wife was actually cleaning the house and doing laundry. It was like the sun had risen from the west.

Fortunately, it was summer. She took all the quilts out of the wardrobe and laid them out in the sun, practically occupying all the drying racks in front of the house.

But the other drying racks were already in use with clothes as well. Since the racks were communal, there was no need to ask anyone for permission.

Using laundry detergent and soap, she washed all the clothes and hung them up. By then, she was so exhausted her clothes were soaked with sweat. This body consumed energy quickly. Near 11 a.m., she ate a steamed bun and went back to work.

She scrubbed all the tables, chairs, and stools in the house—she even cleaned the wardrobe. By the time she finished, it was already past 4 p.m.

Chen Yuan hadn’t come back for lunch. She ate some biscuits and buns from the table. The floors had been thoroughly mopped, and even the walls wiped clean.

When everything was spotless, and the sun began to set, she started hauling things back inside the house.

Even with her strength, she was so tired her legs felt weak as she carried things in. She had to unwrap a piece of candy for energy before continuing.

She made the bed, put everything back in place, and folded the laundry neatly into the wardrobe.

After tidying up, she realized there was no rice or vegetables in the house. She wondered how the original host had even been surviving—was she eating at the cafeteria every day?

Well, she was quite overweight. That night, she ate a meat bun to tide herself over and didn’t eat anything else.

She boiled a kettle of water on the stove, then filled a bucket and plugged in the electric heater, preparing to take a bath.

Then she turned to hang the curtains.

Tomorrow, she would need to go to the market to buy some rice, flour, grains, and oil for cooking.

While putting things away, she found a stash of ration coupons and money—not a lot, but scattered together, it added up to 193.27 yuan, along with seven five-jin grain coupons and eleven one-jin meat coupons.

She stored everything neatly and then took the water to the bathroom to wash her hair and bathe.

That was when Chen Yuan came home. He had a lunchbox in hand. Standing at the doorway, he pushed open the door, paused at the clean and tidy room with freshly scrubbed furniture, and instinctively stepped back to double-check the house number. Confirming it was indeed his home, he finally stepped inside.

He placed the lunchbox on the table. Hearing the sound of running water from the bathroom, his eyes darkened.

In his mind, the memory of last night flashed suddenly—an unexplainable heat surged through him, making even someone as disciplined as him feel parched.

He sat down and waited for about ten minutes before Su Wan finally came out.

She had a towel wrapped around her head and was dressed in clean clothes. After her bath, the scent of soap lingered on her skin and subtly drifted to Chen Yuan’s nose.

Su Wan also noticed him and softly asked, “Do you want to take a bath? Wait a moment, I’ll dry my hair and then heat some water for you.”

As she spoke, she quickly went outside to towel-dry her hair, then came back carrying a bucket and plugged in the electric heater.

Chen Yuan didn’t say anything, and she wasn’t sure what to say either, so she hurried back outside to avoid the awkward silence.

His gaze grew even darker. Suddenly, he stood up, startling Su Wan just as she was about to re-enter the room.

“S-sorry…” she stammered, intimidated by the tall man before her.

Would he get violent?

Some men looked refined and handsome but were abusive behind closed doors. Su Wan sincerely hoped she hadn’t ended up with someone like that—especially since she didn’t really know Chen Yuan, and the original host had left very few memories of him. Right now, she was all the more afraid.

“Dinner’s in the lunchbox,” Chen Yuan said calmly, glancing at the table.

Family members could occasionally eat at the military cafeteria, but not every day. Since Chen Yuan had gone on a mission shortly after arriving at the unit, Su Wan had been eating at the cafeteria regularly. The higher-ups didn’t mind, but Chen Yuan himself felt a bit guilty about it.

He planned to have a proper talk with Su Wan.

Then he heard her soft voice say, “I want to go to the market tomorrow to trade the grain coupons for some rice, and also buy some vegetable seeds. I saw the wives planting vegetables near the entrance—I assume we have our own plot too?”

Chen Yuan looked at her in surprise. It seemed like Su Wan had changed.

But remembering her past behavior, he didn’t have high hopes. Still, he pointed to an unplanted vegetable patch out front and took five one-yuan bills from his pocket, handing them to her. “That’s all I’ve got left. I’ll give you more when I get paid.”

“No need, I still have money,” Su Wan said.

Among the money was the 200-yuan bride price Chen Yuan had given to her parents, and the 60 yuan they had added, not wanting her to suffer. That made a total of 260 yuan. Before leaving on his mission, Chen Yuan also gave her 50 yuan. Despite eating at the cafeteria, the original host had spent freely and only about 200 was left.

Su Wan decided she needed to be more frugal from now on.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yuan said, “I have the day off tomorrow—I’ll go with you.”

“Okay,” Su Wan nodded. “I just had some biscuits and I’m full. You can have the lunchbox.”

Chen Yuan wanted to scold her for wasting food but held back.

After her hair was fully dry, Su Wan climbed into bed.

She had been working all day and was utterly exhausted. She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

When Chen Yuan came out of the bathroom, he saw the scene.

While in the bathroom, he had worried Su Wan might want to sleep with him again. Last night had been so intense that his wounds had reopened and needed to be stitched up again. He really didn’t want to go through that again.

Fortunately, she was already asleep—no need to worry.

And yet, lying next to her, he found himself tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

The next morning, Su Wan woke up early.

She had never imagined herself getting up around 6 a.m. one day.

Chen Yuan was up even earlier. By the time she was awake, he had already washed up.

Once she was done washing, Chen Yuan led her to the army procurement truck to head to the county to shop.

It was early, and there weren’t many people going out to buy supplies. They sat in the row right behind the driver.

As soon as they got on, the driver and the procurement officer sitting next to him greeted them cheerfully: “Good morning, Captain! Morning, sister-in-law!”

“Good morning!” Su Wan responded.

Chen Yuan asked, “Anyone else coming?”

“Nope,” the driver replied, starting the engine and heading toward their destination.

Along the way, they chatted casually. Through the conversation, Su Wan learned the driver was named Wang Bin, and the procurement officer was Xu Weiguo—he handled the supply purchases for the military camp.

When they arrived in the county, they got off and agreed to meet back at that spot around ten o’clock, then went their separate ways.

“What do you need to buy?” Chen Yuan asked.

“Just some basic cooking supplies. We don’t have any pots, bowls, or utensils at home—it’s hard to cook without them.”

“Let’s go.”

Chen Yuan took the lead and started walking. Just then, a girl in a red dress riding a bicycle stopped right in front of them. She waved sweetly and greeted him with a smile:

“Brother Chen!”