Chapter 26

Lu Chen finished putting on his shirt and turned around, noticing Xu Nuo staring at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Xu Nuo shook her head. “Nothing!”

Lu Chen nodded, thinking she was just embarrassed to see him getting dressed, and said, “I’ll go downstairs first. You hurry up and get ready.”

After he closed the door and left, Xu Nuo got up, folded the quilt, washed up, and tidied herself. Once she felt properly dressed, she went downstairs.

On the first floor, the dining table was already set.

Cheng Wanying happily called Xu Nuo over to eat, and as usual, reminded them a few times to live well and take care of each other.

After the meal, Lu Chen and Xu Nuo got into the car to head to the military base.

Lu Cheng approached and knocked on the car window. When the window rolled down, Lu Chen turned to him and asked, “What else do you need?”

Lu Cheng handed over a book, mustering courage to say, “This book is for you and my sister-in-law.”

Lu Chen glanced down at the book cover: Armored Warfare. He frowned and said, “Since when does your sister-in-law need to study military theory? Lu Cheng, take it back. This isn’t something I can help you with, and you don’t need to feel guilty.”

Lu Cheng scratched his head. “Big brother, at least… let me express my feelings toward my sister-in-law.”

Lu Chen glanced at him and took the book.

Seeing Lu Chen accept it, Lu Cheng seemed relieved. “Brother, have a safe journey! See you at the base!”

The Lu family came to see them off. Cheng Wanying waved and said, “Come back during holidays if you can. We look forward to the family reuniting.”

The car started moving toward the military base, thousands of miles away.

Lu Chen still sat in the front passenger seat, and Xu Nuo sat in the back, watching the scenery speed by outside.

After traveling all day and night, they finally arrived at the large compound where Lu Chen’s unit was stationed.

The living area was quite big. Xiao Wei drove for about ten minutes before stopping in front of a row of buildings called the “Colonel’s Building.” As the name suggests, this was where senior officers lived.

Lu Chen was the regiment commander with the rank of colonel, so this was where he stayed.

Xiao Wei opened the car door and started unloading the luggage.

This time, the two of them didn’t bring much — just two large suitcases and a handbag.

Xu Nuo wanted to help, but Xiao Wei quickly stopped her, saying, “Sister-in-law, don’t carry anything. I can handle this.”

“That won’t do. Even though there are only two suitcases, they’re heavy…”

“Go open the door,” Lu Chen said, pulling the key from his pocket and handing it to her. “The door facing the car leads right inside.”

“Okay.” Xu Nuo took the key and opened the door.

When she switched on the lights, she discovered that Lu Chen’s place was actually two stories: the first floor had the living room, kitchen, and bathroom, and the upper floor was probably the bedroom.

As Xu Nuo was looking around the room, Lu Chen came in carrying one suitcase, with Xiao Wei following and putting down the other suitcase and handbag.

“Commander, sister-in-law, rest early. I’ll head back now.”

Lu Chen nodded slightly. “Thanks for your hard work. Rest well after you get back.”

Xiao Wei gave a salute. “Yes, sir.”

“Is this our home?” Xu Nuo walked around the living room and found the house was quite big but very simple.

A single man’s place — it truly lacked any sense of warmth or liveliness, feeling somewhat cold.

“I’ll show you around the house.”

“Okay.”

Lu Chen led her on a tour around the house. Xu Nuo found that the house was not only spacious but also quite well-equipped, with plenty of tables, chairs, and stools.

Upstairs there were four rooms. Aside from one bathroom, there were three rooms left—one was used as the bedroom, another as the study, and the remaining one was temporarily empty, serving as a storage room.

Perhaps because he lived alone and didn’t have many belongings, the place felt spacious but also somewhat empty.

After getting familiar with the rooms, it was getting late.

After a whole day of traveling by car, Xu Nuo was exhausted. She took her clothes out of one suitcase and neatly put them into the wardrobe, leaving the other suitcase in the storage room to unpack the next day.

After finishing all that, she was too sleepy to keep her eyes open. She washed up and went straight to bed.

Before falling asleep, she heard Lu Chen’s voice downstairs, apparently reporting to the unit’s leaders.

After Lu Chen finished his report and came upstairs, he pushed open the door to find Xu Nuo already asleep.

She had left a small lamp on for him, and the dim yellow light made the room feel a little warmer and more comforting.

Xu Nuo slept very soundly until she was awakened by the military bugle signaling wake-up time. She rubbed her eyes and woke up.

When she turned and sat up, noticing the empty space beside her, she remembered she was already married and had come to the base to accompany the military.

Her new life had just begun; she needed to muster all her enthusiasm and energy.

After washing up and changing clothes, she went downstairs to find breakfast already laid out on the table.

Lu Chen sat at the table, flipping through a book, seemingly absorbed.

“Did you make breakfast?” Xu Nuo asked, surprised.

“No, the canteen cooked it. Come eat. I also have some things to explain to you.”

Xu Nuo nodded, “Okay.”

When she sat across from him, Lu Chen pushed some things onto the table in front of her.

“This is my bankbook. It shows all my allowances and bonuses over the years — a total of 6,432.1 yuan. Here are food ration coupons and extra food coupons. You can take these to the cooperative to buy things. This key is for the cabinet at home — I’m entrusting you with it.”

Xu Nuo flipped through the bankbook and was secretly surprised; she hadn’t expected him to have saved such a large sum.

Compared to herself, who had struggled just to borrow fifty yuan from Xu Laoer to get out of Qingshan Village — back then, fifty yuan felt like a fortune!

Now she realized the real fortune was here.

“I’ll take all of it then,” Xu Nuo said without hesitation. Since they were married now, they were family — his things were hers.

“Alright, eat,” Lu Chen picked up his chopsticks.

“Wait,” Xu Nuo pointed at the book Lu Chen had just placed behind him. “What kind of book is that?”

“Nothing,” Lu Chen lowered his eyes and picked up his chopsticks. “You probably wouldn’t understand it anyway, so just leave it be.”

“This is the Armored Warfare book Lu Cheng gave you?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?” Xu Nuo was curious. When she came downstairs earlier, Lu Chen had packed away the book quickly, and to her it seemed almost flustered.

Yes, flustered!

Lu Chen was usually calm and composed, his movements always clean, neat, and orderly. But just now, he wasn’t like that.

That made her very interested.

Lu Chen’s ears flushed slightly, but his face remained expressionless, showing no sign of emotion. “Are you sure you want to see it?”