Chapter 29: Suspicion and Vigilance

Even after the family of four left, Sun Hongmei didn’t say a word to keep her good eldest son for breakfast.

     After they got home, Zhang Yuandong went out again, and soon came back with two large travel bags.

     He took out the things one by one, filling the kang with them. There were calcium milk biscuits, malted milk powder, and other rare treats, as well as two sets of bright red cotton-padded jackets, probably for the two children.

     Lin Yue was a little surprised. She had imagined many ways Zhang Yuandong would treat Zhang Zhiwei and Sun Hongmei, but she never thought it would be like this.

     This man was very good at pretending to be one way on the surface but doing something else behind the scenes. He still knew to guard against his parents.

     He was holding a thick pink scarf in his hand, looking hesitant.

     As soon as Lin Yue saw the color and pattern, she couldn’t help but run out quickly.

     Zhang Yuandong felt that this woman was a bit mysterious, and was still hesitating whether to give her the scarf, when he saw her running.

     He followed her out of the house, only to see a figure shaking constantly.

     Could she be crying? He walked up to her, wanting to say something, but then he saw a face with tears of laughter.

     Zhang Yuandong… He really couldn’t understand this woman’s thoughts.

     Seeing that she had been discovered, Lin Yue forcefully changed the subject: “I was just thinking about getting you something to eat. Go back to the house, it’ll be ready soon!” Lin Yue made some porridge for Zhang Yuandong again. Unlike what they drank in the morning, it didn’t have any bacon, and the millet and wheat grains were almost countable. It was paired with some wild vegetables, a big bowl of green.

     Fearing that he wouldn’t have enough to eat, Lin Yue “thoughtfully” made some sweet potato noodles and served them with a plate of spicy pickled cabbage.

     Zhang Yuandong didn’t pick and choose. He ate the porridge with the spicy pickled cabbage, finished it in a few gulps, wiped his mouth, and said to Lin Yue, who was still standing at the door: “Why are you still standing there?” Lin Yue thought: The room is this small, I can’t stand here, can I sit on the kang with you?

     As soon as she finished thinking this, she heard the man continue: “Don’t you have to go to work today? Go quickly, don’t be late.

     ” Lin Yue just chuckled. She had specially taken out the newly made spicy pickled cabbage to treat him.

     She retorted without any politeness: “Shouren has already asked for leave for me. You’re in such a hurry. Why don’t you think about it, you just came back today, if I’m still so eager to go to work, will the villagers say we don’t have a good relationship? You’re here to get a divorce from me!” Zhang Yuandong’s face turned green when he heard this. He said, “I was just concerned. Don’t be so angry.

     I remember you had a good temper…” Three parts sincerity and seven parts probing in his words.

     Well, she could tell. This guy definitely didn’t recognize her! As long as he didn’t recognize that she was the one who saved him a few days ago, Lin Yue wasn’t afraid. This body had no problems, and she had the whole village to vouch for her. She wasn’t afraid of anyone investigating her.

     Besides, now they weren’t allowed to talk about feudal superstition. Zhang Yuandong, a soldier, couldn’t possibly say that she had a different soul, could he? Lin Yue felt relieved and didn’t hold back her words: “Can you tell if I have a good temper just from those few days we were married? You don’t think about it, you left for three years without a word, if I had a soft and gentle personality, could I have survived these three years?” Zhang Yuandong felt guilty about this all along. He knew he was wrong, so he opened his mouth and only managed to say dryly: “I’m sorry, you’ve suffered a lot these past few years.

     ” He didn’t come back in time for his wedding. Sun Hongmei set the date too hastily. The army still needed to investigate his marriage partner.

     He came back a month later. Lin Yue had already been living alone at her in-laws’ house for a month without any official status.

     He stayed at home for only three days before rushing back to the army.

     Zhang Yuandong knew that he owed his wife a lot. Most of his monthly allowance was sent back, and he specifically designated it to be sent to his wife.

     But he didn’t expect his wife to be so weak, that she didn’t even fight for it, so that she was tricked by her in-laws.

     Not long after he returned to the army, the old commander transferred him to the Zhong Yuandong border, where conflicts were constant.

     Yuandong country had been harassing the border for years. The old commander anticipated that there would be war sooner or later. Zhang Yuandong was transferred to the border troops to have the opportunity to establish military merit. As a result, he stayed there for more than two years.

     Last year, war finally broke out on the border, and it didn’t end until the end of the year.

     If he hadn’t been sent to assist the investigation department on this mission, he might not have had time to come back and see them.

     As a result, when he came back and saw this woman who was completely different from the one in his memory, he was not only shocked but also worried about his wife’s current situation, so his attitude was naturally not good.

     Lin Yue heard the man’s sincerity, but the original owner had really only lived for less than a year. She couldn’t forgive anyone on behalf of the original owner, so she didn’t respond.

     Zhang Yuandong wasn’t embarrassed either. He took the two sets of clothes from the kang and wanted to try them on the children.

     His hand reached for the pink scarf, paused, and naturally picked it up and stuffed it into the bag. He said to her, “I didn’t buy this, a comrade asked me to bring it back.

Lin Yue secretly rolled her eyes, thinking that the thin porridge and cornbread were wasted.

     The children’s clothes were for winter. Zhang Yuandong didn’t know the children’s heights, so he bought them bigger sizes. They weren’t unwearable, but the styles were really old-fashioned.

     The two little ones wore them, and their sleeves and pants were much too long, like they were in an opera. It seemed they wouldn’t be able to wear them this winter.

     Zhang Yuandong didn’t think there was anything wrong. He smiled and said, “Good, good, they look really good!” A complete silly dad.

     Silly dad Zhang Yuandong took his two children out for the whole day, not staying home. The three of them were either visiting people or on their way to visit people.

     Fortunately, they ate lunch and dinner at home, not at other people’s houses.

     The two children saw their real father for the first time, and they weren’t unfamiliar at all. They didn’t even want to take a nap, they just wanted to go out and play with this “dad”.

     Late at night, Zhang Yuandong finally came back with the two children.

     The two little ones, one held in his arms and the other on his back, were sleeping soundly.

     Zhang Yuandong carefully placed them on the kang. Lin Yue took off their shoes and asked softly, “Where did you take the children to play? Why did you come back so late?” Zhang Yuandong said casually, “I went to the brigade headquarters and sat with everyone for a while.

     ” Lin Yue was a little unhappy. The people who usually went to the brigade headquarters to chat at night were mostly old smokers. She was afraid that the children would be affected by secondhand smoke and their health, so she never took them there.

     But he was the children’s father, and he had finally come back after a long time, she didn’t want to spoil his fun, so she didn’t say anything more.

     Besides, there wasn’t a saying like “children can’t smell smoke” at this time. If she told this novice dad, it probably wouldn’t be of any use.

     Zhang Yuandong didn’t know what Lin Yue was thinking, but he could clearly see that this woman was unhappy.

     He didn’t want to probe her thoughts, he just felt that she was too emotionally expressive.

     Who would send someone who wears their thoughts on their face to approach him? Unless it was an act.

     He slowly approached, lowered his head, trapping the woman between him and the earthen kang, his eyes deep as he looked at her, as if trying to see through her.

     Although they had only been together for three days, he still remembered his wife’s small red birthmark on the back of her head, hidden in her hair.

     It was too hidden, almost no one would notice it, even she herself didn’t know.

     The woman was clearly flustered. He gently curled his lips, pretending to be affectionate, and hugged the woman in his arms, lowering his head to brush aside her half-long hair.

     They were too close, he could smell the faint fragrance on her, a familiar scent, making him feel a little dazed.

     Zhang Yuandong’s appearance was exactly Lin Yue’s type. He had a high nose bridge and long, narrow phoenix eyes.

     This kind of appearance, when looking intently at someone, always gives people a feeling of affection, but he also had experience fighting on the battlefield, adding a touch of blood-washed solemnity, and years of training in the army made him look very tough and upright.

     What’s more, this man had broad shoulders, a slender waist, and long legs, almost 1.9 meters tall, giving people a sense of pressure. Every aspect of him was right up Lin Yue’s alley.

     Being trapped in his arms by such a person, she was momentarily caught off guard and panicked.

     Fortunately, Lin Yue quickly regained her senses. She secretly cursed the stinky man for being so old-fashioned, actually playing this kind of “wall trick with her.

     Being held in his arms now, she was even more angry, wanting to kick him hard.

     She broke free from the man’s embrace, jumped onto the kang with a force, then quickly crawled to the innermost side, pretending to be busy, straightening the two little ones in the middle, and pretending to be calm, she smiled: “The kang in our house is too small, you can just squeeze in over there!” Zhang Yuandong was slightly dazed. He had just seen the red birthmark hidden behind her head.

     He looked at Lin Yue deeply, not finding anything cute about her actions, he just felt that this woman was even more difficult to deal with.

     He didn’t continue to pester her; he took out a towel and clothes from his bag and went out to wash up.

     The sound of running water came from the courtyard. Lin Yue looked out through the window, the man was shirtless, wiping his body with a towel.

     His physique was very good, Lin Yue had known this when she saved him, but she didn’t expect him to be even more imposing when he was awake. The muscle lines on his body were smooth and beautiful as he moved, and Lin Yue couldn’t help but look at him twice.

     The man was facing away from her, but she always felt that his left shoulder was a little wrong, like he couldn’t use it properly.

     Lin Yue moved her gaze back, staring blankly, recalling the scene of saving him a few days ago. Could it be that he still had some wounds that hadn’t healed completely? Zhang Yuandong was very sensitive to gazes. He turned his head abruptly, only to see a silhouette sitting by the window.

     It was too dark, he couldn’t see clearly, but the blurry silhouette gave him a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it somewhere before. This didn’t dispel his suspicions, it only made him even more suspicious.

     The man’s gaze was too intense. Remembering his actions just now, Lin Yue’s face felt a little hot. In his eyes, they were a legal couple, did that just mean he wanted to do something? Thinking about this, she was startled and quickly lay down, pretending to be asleep.