Chapter 20

Shen Nanxing did not respond to Lu Zhanye’s question.

“Go to the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow.”

Lu Zhanye took out his household registration booklet from his trouser pocket.

It was obvious that he had kept the household registration book with him for a long time, and the corners of the cover were slightly curled.

Shen Nanxing looked at the bloodshot in his eyes, but ultimately couldn’t bring herself to say no.

“You should heal your wound first, then we can talk.”

She turned her face away, and the image of the fatal shot in her mind became an indelible shadow in her heart.

Lu Zhanye fell silent, facing this wife whom he had “picked up” with great difficulty.

No one could imagine how important Shen Nanxing was in his heart.

Outside the window, Wang Guiying and Zhao Chunmei gathered together and talked in low voices.

Wang Guiying was holding up a yellowed piece of paper, which was exactly Shen Nanxing’s divorce announcement on the bulletin board a few days ago.

“Look at the date. I’m afraid he’s living with Captain Lu before he even gets his certificate.”

“Have you heard? Xiao Shen was married to a pig farmer in the village before, but was divorced. Now she’s hooking up with Captain Lu…”

“Ah… A remarried woman might bring bad luck. Captain Lu is probably going to be in trouble…”

Lu Zhanye, who was lying on the bed, looked at the household registration book in his hand and sneered:

“Evil star? I’ve stepped on more corpses on the battlefield than they’ve ever seen.

Let them say whatever they want. Once you get the certificate, we’ll see who dares to frame you.”

When the old-fashioned wall clock pointed to ten o’clock, Shen Nanxing stood at the door of the master bedroom, not knowing what to do.

Inside the house, Lu Zhanye was wrapping several copies of “People’s Liberation Army Pictorial” and picture books with newspapers.

“Tomorrow, take Xiaoman to the hospital.

He’s a twelve-year-old kid, and being in the hospital alone must be very boring. It’s good for a kid his age to read more books.”

Shen Nanxing had to admit that Lu Zhanye was thoughtful.

However, in her opinion, this love without reason must be related to the fatal shot in the original book.

“Thank you, Captain Lu.”

“Is it necessary to be so polite between you and me? After all, I’ve ‘deprived’ you of the time you spend with your brother after get off work.”

Seeing that Shen Nanxing had no intention of entering the bedroom, Lu Zhanye couldn’t help but say:

“Standing there as a gatekeeper?

Wang Guiying was just downstairs discussing why you didn’t wash the sheets today.”

“Wash the sheets?”

Shen Nanxing was a little confused when he heard these three words.

At the same time, his eyes were attracted by the medical examination report exposed on the edge of the newspaper.

Shen Nanxing glanced at the “Reproductive Function” column and saw the blue word “Normal” covering it, and his heart skipped a beat.

“No, I…I’ll sleep in the small room.”

“casual.”

Lu Zhanye didn’t care, he took off his coat and lay down on the bed.

“Shen Nanxing, think carefully. Tomorrow the whole compound will hear that Captain Lu is being rejected by his wife and is ‘not good enough’…”

He paused deliberately and took out the marriage report and the contract from the drawer.

“After all, there’s someone waiting for us to wash the sheets.”

“I’m a second-married woman and I don’t have any sheets to wash.

Your back injury is probably not a serious problem. So, Captain Lu, please consider someone else as soon as possible.”

The sound of storytelling from the radio next door drifted in through the window, mixed with someone’s comments:

“I heard that the Lu family’s husband was seriously injured on the battlefield, so marrying a wife is just for show…”

“How do you know?”

“My wife guessed it. After all, among all the regimental-level cadres in the entire military region, he is the only one who has not yet married.”

“Thinking about it this way, it is possible.”

“Oh, one is infertile and the other is married twice, put together, what kind of thing is this?”

She listened to the discussions outside the house and gritted her teeth before stepping into the room.

“Go to bed early. You’ve been tired all day.”

Lu Zhanye didn’t say anything else and lay down on the outside of the bed wrapped in the quilt.

“You sleep inside and I’ll sleep outside.”

Shen Nanxing had no choice but to do as she was told. She lay down silently, her back pressed against the cold wall.

“Go to sleep…”

Lu Zhanye turned off the lights casually.

But even such a small movement still scared Shen Nanxing.

In the darkness, she heard Lu Zhanye’s small movements.

Then something warm was gently pushed towards me. It was a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel.

“There’s hot water in the water heater.

Next time if I’m not home at night, don’t be stingy and use it freely.”

Lu Zhanye’s voice was muffled.

He helped Shen Nanxing cover up the exposed back of the blanket.

“Cover yourself up, don’t get cold, we still have to go see Xiaoman tomorrow.”

“land……”

Shen Nanxing was about to speak when Lu Zhanye suddenly turned over and held her in his arms.

The smell of Lu Zhanye made her feel a little dizzy at the moment.

“You, what are you doing?”

“Cooperate, and the show must be done in full.”

“What?”

“Listen… outside the house, shh!”

Amidst the creaking of the bed, Shen Nanxing vaguely heard

“Captain Wang” and “Captain Zhao” were listening to their front feet.

“Old Zhao, did you hear anything? There was no movement from the Lu family all night. It must be…”

Before he finished speaking, Lu Zhanye’s palm gently stroked Shen Nanxing’s lower back.

Through the thin pajamas, Shen Nanxing was so shocked that his whole body tensed up and he froze in place.

She heard her own violent heartbeat mixed with Lu Zhanye’s deliberately amplified breathing.

She wanted to struggle…

However, it turned out that the more she struggled, the more embarrassing her situation became.

“Lu Zhanye, you…”

The moonlight shone through the old wooden lattice windows, outlining a sharp outline on Lu Zhanye’s profile.

She could never accept herself in the warm embrace of the cold executioner in the original book.

“That’s enough!” She pushed Lu Zhanye’s body away.

Lu Zhanye rolled to the edge of the bed.

Shen Nanxing immediately wrapped himself tightly and dared not move.

Lu Zhanye behind him also stopped making any sound.

However, Shen Nanxing vaguely sensed that there was a pair of eyes behind him staring at him intently.

In the original novel, Shen Nanxing had never slept in such a spacious and comfortable bed.

During the three years she was married to Li Dazhuang, she slept with her brother in a small hut next to the pigpen.

Last night was the first time she slept in a bed like this.

The mattress prepared by Lu Zhanye was as soft as a cloud, but it made her feel uncomfortable all over.

The faint sandalwood scent mixed with the smell of gunpowder on Lu Zhanye’s body always reminded Shen Nanxing that the two of them were very close.

She had never been so close to a man.

When she married Li Dazhuang, the drunkard was drunk all day long and never touched her except for beating and scolding her;

At this moment, Lu Zhanye’s breath brushed the back of her neck, and through the thin pajamas, the warmth of his palm seemed to burn through her body.

The memory of the man who had raised a gun and dealt her a fatal blow, and the considerate man who had carefully prepared a hot water bottle behind her, kept intertwining and overlapping, causing her heart to ache.

The discussions outside the window, and the harsh words “second marriage” and “bad luck star” kept coming into her ears.

Shen Nanxing recalled the time when he and his brother curled up in the thatched hut.

Thinking of those nights of hunger and cold.

She bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes.

It turns out that even sleeping seems to have become a carefully choreographed drama.

And she was just a tool used by Lu Zhanye to silence the public.

The burning gaze behind her made her whole body tense, and every nerve was clamoring to escape.

But where can I escape to?

After the divorce, she fled Qinghe Village, while her younger brother was still waiting for imported medicine in the hospital.

Lu Zhanye held an offer in his hand that she couldn’t refuse.

Thinking of this, she couldn’t fall asleep at all.

“Still asleep?”

Lu Zhanye’s voice suddenly rang in his ears.

Shen Nanxing’s body stiffened instantly and no sound came out of his throat.

“take it easy.”

Lu Zhanye seemed to sense her nervousness and whispered, “Don’t worry, I won’t cross the line again.”

Shen Nanxing bit her lip, not knowing how to respond.

In the darkness, Lu Zhanye turned over and deliberately kept some distance from her.

That night, she stayed awake until dawn before falling into a light sleep.

Little did he know that Lu Zhanye behind him also had not slept all night.