Chapter 14

Lu Weiguo handed over the money. As the staff trembled with nervous hands while accepting the money, he left with a cold expression.

With his departure, the tension in the surrounding environment eased.

The staff patted their chest, turned to their colleague who had kept a safe distance and said, “If he hadn’t been in military uniform, I would have thought he was here to rob us.”

That colleague walked over, genuinely impressed, “You’ve got guts, not even running away.”

The staff collecting money straightened their chest, “We are here to serve the people, we cannot bow down to evil forces.”

Evil force Lu Weiguo: …

Lu Weiguo got into the car, and Shi Tingyu looked at him, asking, “Have you informed your family?”

“Yes.”

“How did they react?” she asked again.

Lu Weiguo’s hand paused as he fastened his seatbelt, “They are very happy. They thought I couldn’t find a wife before.”

Shi Tingyu nodded without asking further.

As the car headed towards the department store, there was a bit of silence inside the car.

Both of them were not the type to easily strike up a conversation, unsure of what to talk about while sitting in the car.

As the car was about to stop in front of the department store, Lu Weiguo spoke, “Don’t worry, my family members are all easy to get along with. In the future, you’ll be living with me in the family compound, so no need to worry.”

Shi Tingyu was a bit stubborn, “I’m not worried.”

Under Lu Weiguo’s slightly amused gaze, Shi Tingyu looked out the window, her voice softening a bit, “I know your family should be nice. I just need time to integrate into a new family.”

Lu Weiguo looked at her curiously. Although they had only known each other for a few days, in Lu Weiguo’s eyes, Shi Tingyu had grown up in a privileged and loving family environment.

She was a bit delicate, with a touch of indifference different from most people nowadays.

She was sensitive, even the slightest hint of her emotions leaking out could be captured by her. This was the first time she had revealed some of her inner thoughts to him.

Well, even though the process felt a bit awkward.

“How do you know my family is nice?” Lu Weiguo asked.

Shi Tingyu thought about the expressions Lu Weiguo had when mentioning his family a few times and casually replied, “It’s not that hard to notice. Your relaxed expression when talking about your family indicates that you have a good relationship with them.”

Lu Weiguo didn’t deny this point, but he asked, “Just because of that?”

Of course, Shi Tingyu didn’t base her judgment solely on that.

“Your older brother got married, and your uncle who rarely comes home even knows what grade his nephew is in. It seems like you pay attention to your family and keep in touch regularly,” she explained.

“Anything else?” the man inquired.

Shi Tingyu glanced at him, wondering if this man wanted to extract every bit of her way of judging people from her mind.

Nevertheless, she clarified for him, “You can also tell from your salary.”

“The fact that you can save up so much money shows that your family isn’t the type to exploit their children.”

Giving ten yuan to the family each month might seem like a lot, but considering Lu Weiguo’s entire salary, it wasn’t much. Nowadays, the salary system is categorized by levels, and how much one earns is generally not a secret, excluding allowances.

If his family were a bunch of troublemakers, he wouldn’t be able to save up his salary. She also heard that when he didn’t mention his promotion before, the amount he gave wasn’t ten yuan.

That’s why she said his family members should be nice.

Lu Weiguo started to look at her with a new perspective.

He thought she wasn’t good at handling interpersonal relationships, feeling awkward and unsure when faced with enthusiastic people, and not willing to interact much with others. If it were in modern times, Lu Weiguo would have known there was a term called social anxiety.

Shi Tingyu hadn’t reached severe social anxiety levels yet, but she definitely had some social anxiety traits.

Lu Weiguo was surprised by how accurately she judged people. She could analyze his family situation based on just a few words. Now, he wasn’t worried about her interacting with others.

He believed that as long as she wanted to, there were few who could have a falling out with her.

Lu Weiguo felt relieved. Her initial impression of his family was good, so their future interactions should be relatively smooth.

“Let’s go downstairs,” Shi Tingyu said, seeing that Lu Weiguo had stopped asking questions.

The two had been in the car for a while, and people around occasionally glanced at their car.

Lu Weiguo and Shi Tingyu didn’t linger in the car. Their shopping tasks for the afternoon were quite heavy, so they needed to make good use of their time.

It was only after five o’clock in the afternoon that the two of them managed to finish their shopping tasks.

Some things that were not immediately needed, so the two of them weren’t in a hurry. They could slowly acquire them in the future.

With the items placed in the family compound, Lu Weiguo then drove Shi Tingyu back to her parents’ home.

They would tidy up and arrange things tomorrow to make it suitable for living.

When Shi Tingyu’s parents saw them return, they suppressed their discomfort with their son-in-law’s appearance and invited him to join them for dinner.

Lu Weiguo declined, mentioning he had some matters to attend to.

Before Shi Tingyu’s parents could say more, Shi Tingyu intervened, “If he has things to do, let him go back first. There will be plenty of opportunities for the family to have meals together.”

Lu Weiguo agreed, gave Shi Tingyu a glance, and briskly left.

A family indeed.

Getting married truly makes one part of the family.

After returning to the camp, Lu Weiguo didn’t go back to his dormitory but made a detour to the home of Commander Qin.

When he called earlier to inquire about the situation of the relocated personnel in his father’s hometown, he wanted to send Shi Tingyu’s parents to his old home.

Even if they were relocated, with the prestige built by two generations of the Lu family, it would still be relatively comfortable for his elderly parents.

And for such matters, only Commander Qin could make it happen.

Commander Qin was an old revolutionary, devoted to the country. He would go all out to protect anything beneficial to the nation. His decision to suppress the reporting incident was a prime example of this.

He should have informed Shi’s family about this matter, to ease their minds. However, he wasn’t sure if it would work out. If he mentioned it and it didn’t come to fruition, it might create unease for them, which wouldn’t be good for anyone.

Commander Qin was both surprised and somewhat expecting Lu Weiguo’s visit.

Without a word, he took Lu Weiguo to the study.

Except for the individuals involved, no one knew what they discussed.

When Lu Weiguo emerged from the Commander’s house, it was already nine o’clock in the evening.

Rather than returning to the dormitory, he stayed in the new house in the family compound.

The weather in May wasn’t cold anymore, so even without many blankets, he could manage a night in the courtyard wrapped in his clothes.

His primary task now was to fix the lighting.

He found a flashlight, rolled up his sleeves, and quickly changed the light bulbs. The living room immediately brightened up.

After changing the bulbs, he didn’t rest but went to the well in the courtyard to draw a bucket of water.

He carefully wiped down the house with a cloth.

Doing a bit more now would mean Shi Tingyu could do less tomorrow.

She seemed delicate, not someone accustomed to physical labor.

On the other side, in Shi’s home.

While taking a shower in the bathroom, Shi Tingyu drank some Spirit Spring water.

Having already obtained their marriage certificate, she wouldn’t be relocated again, so drinking Spirit Spring water was no issue.

Regarding the effects of Spirit Spring water that she gradually experimented with, she summarized it in two words: detoxification and repair.

In novels, the female lead often transforms into an unparalleled beauty after using Spirit Spring water, but to Shi Tingyu, that seemed unrealistic.

She leaned towards the idea that Spirit Spring water was a type of medicinal spring with indistinguishable ingredients.

The reason people appeared more beautiful after consuming Spirit Spring water was that it helped eliminate toxins. However, transforming from a delicate beauty to an alluring beauty wasn’t realistic.

At best, it could improve one’s skin complexion.

But the premise for all beauty enhancements was having an attractive face.