Chapter 20: No Prenatal Education Tonight

Zhou Hongying immediately agreed: “Okay.”

“Then I’ll head home first.”

As Ran Jinnian arrived at the door, she ran into Lu Jinyuan coming out. “What are you doing?”

“I saw you hadn’t come back yet, so I came to find you.” Lu Jinyuan took her hand.

“I was just helping Dayi with her homework. Sister Zhou is going to town tomorrow to do some shopping, and I asked her to bring me some fatty meat.”

They talked as they walked into the house.

Ran Jinnian finally had a chance to open the bags. Inside were bowls of various sizes, a pot, a large bucket, two large basins, and a small basin.

There were also two bolts of fabric, vegetable seeds, and some miscellaneous items.

“I’ll put these away.” Lu Jinyuan’s hands and feet moved efficiently as he tidied everything.

He couldn’t sit still and picked up the vegetable seeds. “I’ll start planting these.”

While at home, he wanted to do more chores so his wife could do less.

“We’ll do it together.” Ran Jinnian accompanied him.

“You sit and watch, I’ll do it.”

Lu Jinyuan brought a stool for her to sit on.

Ran Jinnian couldn’t argue, so she sat and gave instructions: “Plant the Chinese cabbage on both sides, carrots in the middle, garlic sprouts and green onions in the corners.”

Lu Jinyuan didn’t object at all. Whatever his wife said, he followed.

“Husband, we also need to plant cowpeas and green beans. You can make a few frames here for them.”

“We’ll also raise chickens.”

“We’ll need a big water tank so we won’t have to fetch water every day.”

Listening to his wife say “we” over and over, Lu Jinyuan’s once-stiff expression softened a little.

By the time he finished planting, the sky was completely dark.

The couple closed the door behind them.

“Oh, right.” Ran Jinnian suddenly remembered the matter that the principal of the military district elementary school had brought up today.

Lu Jinyuan brought her hot water. “Wife, time to wash your feet.”

Ran Jinnian put her feet in the basin, and Lu Jinyuan squatted to massage them.

She told him about the principal’s visit. “Husband, don’t you think I’m being ungrateful?”

Lu Jinyuan hadn’t expected that, just after his wife arrived at the military district, the elementary school principal would come inviting her to be a teacher.

He felt proud: “Wife, if you don’t want to be a teacher, then don’t. The most important thing right now is for you to give birth safely.”

“That’s what I plan to do. Once the baby is born and goes to daycare, I’ll look for a job.” Ran Jinnian wasn’t in a hurry.

Lu Jinyuan wiped her feet confidently. “You’re highly educated. You can get whatever job you want.”

“That’s not necessarily true.” Ran Jinnian thought that in a few years, the college entrance exams would resume, and then things would be different.

After washing up, the couple climbed into bed.

Ran Jinnian brought out a silk-cotton quilt from her space. Since her space had good things, she naturally didn’t want to deprive herself.

The quilt was light yet warm. Ran Jinnian loved it, and Lu Jinyuan slept comfortably under it as well.

Ran Jinnian poked him again. “I recommended someone to Principal Chen—my good friend Xiao Haili. Do you remember her?”

“Xiao Haili?”

Lu Jinyuan seemed to have met her only once. In his memory, she was his wife’s quiet, reserved friend.

“Tomorrow, send her a telegram for me,” Ran Jinnian said. She was thrilled at the thought of her friend coming.

Lu Jinyuan held his wife in his arms. “Okay.”

Ran Jinnian, still excited, suddenly sensed something amiss and pushed his hand away. “What are you doing?”

“Wife, I—”

“Don’t even think about it. Go to sleep.”

“….”

His wife was heavily pregnant now. Lu Jinyuan had no such thoughts; he just wanted to touch her.

Ran Jinnian turned back. “Husband, we haven’t done prenatal education tonight.”

“….”

“Prenatal education?” Lu Jinyuan really didn’t know what that involved.

Ran Jinnian thought for a moment. “Then just talk to him.”

“Talk?”

Lu Jinyuan swallowed nervously.

“Put your hand on my belly and talk. Just tell him about your daily training, or something interesting that happened.” Ran Jinnian saw he really didn’t know what to say.

Lu Jinyuan awkwardly placed his hand on her belly. “Today I…”

“You should say, ‘Baby, I’m your father.’” Ran Jinnian reminded him.

Looking into his wife’s expectant eyes, he took a deep breath. “Baby, I’m your father. Today we…”

At first, his words were a bit stiff, but as he went on, he spoke more smoothly.

Ran Jinnian obediently leaned against him and eventually fell asleep.

Seeing his wife asleep, Lu Jinyuan adjusted the quilt, held her gently, and drifted into a pleasant sleep himself.

The next day.

Since arriving at the military district, Ran Jinnian had been sleeping well, going to bed early and waking up refreshed.

“This is the content for the telegram, and the address is on it too.” Ran Jinnian handed the written note to Lu Jinyuan.

Lu Jinyuan put the note in his pocket while brushing his teeth.

When he finished, he said, “Wife, I’m leaving.”

“Come here for a moment.” Ran Jinnian waved him over.

Lu Jinyuan walked over, puzzled. “What’s up?”

“A kiss.”

Ran Jinnian tiptoed and kissed him.

The man’s face flushed red. He looked at her in disbelief and almost bumped into the door as he left.

“Commander Lu, Commander Lu,” Political Commissar Yan knocked on the desk, slightly annoyed, watching Lu Jinyuan daydream again. How many times had this happened today?

His wife was at the military district, yet he seemed so distracted.

Lu Jinyuan straightened his posture. “Here.”

“Every time your regiment’s reports are a mess, fix them when you get back.” Political Commissar Yan closed the file and looked sternly at Lu Jinyuan.

“Yes,” Lu Jinyuan replied helplessly.

At the family compound.

Ran Jinnian was tidying the house. She gathered several pieces of dirty clothing and put them in a basin to wash.

Her space’s villa had a washing machine, but she couldn’t stay home all day doing laundry—it would be too conspicuous.

Once outside, she saw a few young women carrying a bucket of clothes, chatting and laughing as they walked toward the river at the back.

Ran Jinnian, not familiar with them, followed while carrying her basin.

They glanced back. “Who’s that woman?”

“Commander Lu’s wife.”

Lu Jinyuan was well-known in the military district.

“The one with only a high school education, the one Principal Chen wanted to hire as a teacher?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“She’s not even that pretty.”

They whispered among themselves, and one woman added with a sour tone.

Ran Jinnian found a spot to wash her clothes. As she scrubbed, suddenly water splashed over her.

Looking up, she saw a woman squatting opposite, vigorously pounding clothes with a mallet.

Ran Jinnian moved to another spot to continue washing, but water splashed again.

Her expression darkened as she looked up.

The same woman had moved opposite her again, scrubbing clothes forcefully in the river.

Seeing Ran Jinnian watching, the woman lifted her eyes arrogantly and gave her a condescending glance.