Chapter 14

This whole area was where the family housing compounds were located—ten rows in total, each row with six households. The middle few rows had houses facing each other. The neatly painted little homes looked much better than those in the Hongshan Brigade.

This was one of the earliest batches of military family housing, and each house had been allocated through a lottery system based on rank.

When Pei Songbai applied, there weren’t many units left, so he casually chose a number. It turned out to be the last house in the tenth row, tucked deep inside, with no house across from it and even some distance from the nearest neighbor. It was located right at the foot of the mountain.

Although he had once imagined the possibility of a life together, Pei Songbai was realistic—without some special circumstances, Xia Wenhua would never come live with him, so he had never paid much attention to the courtyard.

Now that she was really here, he started to feel anxious and quickly explained,
“This place is a bit remote. I remember there are still a few vacant houses in this area. Once I report back to duty, I can talk to logistics and see if we can switch to another one?”

Under normal circumstances, transfers like this weren’t allowed, and Pei Songbai was not someone who abused his authority.

However, a new batch of family housing—apartment buildings—was about to be built, and many hadn’t applied for this older compound because they were waiting for the new ones.
Those who had already applied for the older units weren’t eligible to apply again for the apartments.
The authorities had considered the concerns of military spouses, and since the first batch of homes had few applicants left, they allowed limited switching for those who were unhappy with their assigned houses.

But contrary to Pei Songbai’s expectations, Xia Wenhua wasn’t displeased at all.
In fact, she instantly liked the courtyard the moment she saw it.

The distance to neighbors was just right—close enough to see signs of life, but far enough for privacy.
No one could peek into their yard by just standing on tiptoe.
Standing in the yard, one could see the hazy outlines of the nearby mountain, and vegetables and fruit that Pei Songbai had someone plant earlier were already growing in the garden.

It had the feel of a quiet life “plucking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence”.

If not for her illness, Xia Wenhua’s original plan had been to pass her livestream company on to a successor and retire to a small village.

Looking at the courtyard now, she felt her dream had simply taken a different form and come true.

In her previous life, she had ridden the wave of the livestream boom, developing from a small-time streamer to building her own streaming company, reaching the peak of success.

After falling terminally ill and dying, she somehow got the chance to come to a new world.
Unlike her past life, she was no longer alone—now she had a family and children. It was like a whole new life had begun.

She was a realist. To her, there was no right or wrong between her two lives.
As long as she had the chance to survive, she believed her knowledge and personality would help her thrive in any environment.

In the week since crossing over, from Hongshan Village to here, it wasn’t until she stepped into the courtyard that Xia Wenhua truly felt grounded—like she was really going to live in this world.

She turned to Pei Songbai with a smile:
“Why switch? This place is great. Once I tidy it up, it’ll definitely be a cozy home.
Oh right—can I help myself to the vegetables in the garden?”

Her radiant smile, completely free of gloom, warmed the deepest part of Pei Songbai’s heart.

Pei Songbai nodded without hesitation:
“Of course! This is our home. From now on, everything in this house—you have the final say.”

The couple smiled at each other and walked into the courtyard with their things.

By now, evening had set in. Under Xia Wenhua’s direction, Pei Songbai installed the two new pots as dusk shadows crept into the yard.

The kids, who had napped earlier, were awake again. Pei Xiangchen pulled Pei Xiangguang along and came out:
“Mom, we’re hungry.”

Xia Wenhua rummaged through the day’s purchases and pulled out a few pieces of milk candy, handing one to each of them:
“Chenchen and Guangguang, have a candy first. Mommy’s going to cook, okay?”

The two soft, adorable kids nodded eagerly. The sight made Xia Wenhua’s heart melt, and the “auntie instinct” in her flared up.
She reached out and vigorously ruffled their hair, enjoying it for a while before finally preparing to cook.
But when she turned around, Pei Songbai was nowhere to be seen.

She vaguely saw a figure in the kitchen and raised an eyebrow, then walked over.

When she entered, she found Pei Songbai had already started making dough.
His posture looked serious enough, but as she got closer, she saw that the dough was a sticky mess—he had clearly added too much water.

Sensing her presence, Pei Songbai turned around nervously and said:
“It’s been a long time since I cooked. I didn’t get the water right. Don’t worry—I’ll have it ready soon.”

Before Xia Wenhua could stop him, he added a big spoonful of flour into the bowl and stirred it again, this time making it too dry.

Ignoring the mess, Pei Songbai tried to reassure her again:
“I know you’ve never done housework. Usually I do all the cooking at home.
When I’m not here, you and the kids can eat at the canteen.”

He thought for a moment and added:
“Not just cooking. I’ll do the other chores around the house too—when I have time.
I won’t let you suffer.”

Ever since they’d left together, this phrase—“I won’t let you suffer”—was something Pei Songbai had repeated several times.

At first, Xia Wenhua simply thought: As expected of the male lead.
But after hearing it so often, her emotions became more complex.

She suppressed her churning feelings and said with a straight face:
“So you think I can’t cook or do chores?”

Pei Songbai gave her a long, meaningful look. He didn’t say it outright, but the message in his eyes was clear as day.

Fake marriage or not, they’d been married for several years, and the kids were already two.
Xia Wenhua had never done a single chore at home.

Before, Pei Songbai hadn’t paid much attention to it.
But during the family property division caused by a dispute among his siblings, he learned that Xia Wenhua used to give money to his younger siblings to have them cook instead.

Because of that, he had already come to accept that she wasn’t involved in household matters but was still generous with money.

Knowing her complex background, that she came from a truly wealthy family, he had no problem accepting that she didn’t know how to do chores.

But his obvious disbelief made Xia Wenhua laugh in disbelief. She pointed to the two pots and asked:
“You think I can’t cook, so why did you insist on buying two pots?”

Everyone knew even one pot was hard to get in a normal household.
It wasn’t like she had anything else to do in the short term—cooking was the only productive thing she could focus on, so she equipped herself accordingly.

How could Pei Songbai accept that she didn’t cook, but still let her buy two pots?

Just this morning, she thought their views on money wouldn’t cause friction—but now, Xia Wenhua’s brows furrowed deeply as she stared at Pei Songbai.

Still elbow-deep in dough, Pei Songbai looked up nervously and said,
“Isn’t that the case?”