Chapter 27: His Little Wife Is Very Ambitious

Seeing Lu Chen ask like this, Xu Nuo felt both curious and puzzled.
“What’s wrong? Is this a book I’m not supposed to see?”

Before Lu Chen could answer, she immediately regretted asking that question.

They had only just gotten married, and though they were husband and wife now, their relationship foundation was still very fragile. Was he going to control even what books she could read?

She didn’t want to be that kind of woman!

It was just a book. What difference would it make if she didn’t look at it? Who didn’t have some secrets or privacy?

“Forget it, I don’t want to see it anymore,” Xu Nuo changed her mind.

Lu Chen nodded, “Alright.”

Xu Nuo was a bit surprised by his straightforward response. So quick to agree?

She felt relieved that she hadn’t insisted on looking at the book earlier.

Xu Nuo lifted her bowl and finished eating, then heard Lu Chen continue speaking:
“I’m on duty once every seven days. Unless there’s something special, I usually come home.”

“Okay, I understand,” Xu Nuo replied.

Soon, the dining table fell into silence.

The two ate quietly for a while. Xu Nuo felt she should say something to Lu Chen.

So she said, “These few days I’ll be tidying up the house and getting familiar with the surroundings. But I don’t want to just sit idle at home.”

Lu Chen caught the underlying meaning of her words. He knew she had already tried to find a job in the capital, but failed due to household registration issues.

“The unit can arrange jobs for family members accompanying the troops. What kind of work do you want to do?” Lu Chen looked at her.

“Medical,” Xu Nuo said, “Preferably pediatrics. I learned mostly about pediatric knowledge from my grandmother.”

Lu Chen recalled the night she saved Lu Yiyi and felt her medical skills were fairly reliable.
“Good, that’s possible.”

Although this was Xu Nuo’s first time living in a military compound as a military spouse, she had heard some things about it before.

It was like a small society, with service shops, kindergartens, clinics, canteens, barbershops, and the like.

If a job was arranged for her, Lu Chen would most likely assign her to the clinic in the compound.

It would be close to home, but she wasn’t very keen on working there.

To put it bluntly, she was still an ordinary person who hoped for a bigger stage. After all, she had studied continuously for eight years through undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs—not just to treat common colds and headaches.

She wanted to go to a big hospital, to access richer medical resources and room for promotion.

Perhaps in the 1970s and 80s, when medicine wasn’t very advanced, she could make use of the advanced knowledge she had learned to benefit the children of this era.

So she added, “It would be better if I could go to a hospital.”

Lu Chen hadn’t expected his little wife to be so ambitious. She wasn’t satisfied with the clinic in the compound and wanted to go to a hospital.

Soon, he understood why she had gone out in the heavy rain that day—it must have been to look for a hospital job.

“We’ll see what opportunities arise.”
Where she would be assigned wasn’t up to him—it depended on the unit’s arrangements.
“If possible, I will fight for you.”

Lu Chen was a man of his word.

Xu Nuo believed him on this point, so she gave a bright smile.
“Alright, thank you!”

Lu Chen caught that smile clearly.

No wonder she smiled so sweetly—it turned out she had a pair of small dimples on both sides of her mouth.

They weren’t very obvious when she smiled lightly, but when her smile became radiant, the dimples became very clear.

He hadn’t noticed them before.

After breakfast, Lu Chen dressed in his military uniform and went off to work. Xu Nuo washed the dishes, then went upstairs to the storage room to finish unpacking what she hadn’t gotten to the day before.

The luggage was packed by her mother-in-law. She knew there were many things inside but had no idea what they all were.

Now, opening the box, she was truly surprised—there were peach cookies, pastries, chocolates, luncheon meat, and canned food.

Her mother-in-law really treated her like a little girl—there were so many snacks.

Xu Nuo took all those out, and on the next layer were two large jars of pickled radish and small salty vegetables. She remembered Aunt Lin mentioning that Lu Chen loved this kind of pickled vegetable, so these were probably gifts for him.

Besides the pickles, there was a red box inside. She opened it and found a pair of watches with a note inside. Reading the note, she learned it was a gift from Lu Huai Zheng.

Below that layer was a big bag full of candies, peanuts, and sunflower seeds—these were probably wedding candies to share with Lu Chen’s colleagues since he was married now.

Xu Nuo regretted not opening the luggage earlier—it should have been opened the night before.

She thought that was all, but under the candies and peanuts was a stack of red envelopes.

These were gifts from family members, which Xu Nuo had clearly declined before, but somehow they were still placed inside.

Lu Cheng gave two sets.

One set was the one she was holding now, and the other was tucked inside the book “Armored Warfare” that he had given.

Xu Nuo finished organizing everything and counted the red envelopes—there were nearly a hundred in total.

Since the house was empty, she thought of buying some things for it, so she took out two of the envelopes and tucked them into her pocket.

As for the candies and nuts, she planned to repackage them and, when Lu Chen came back that evening, hand them over to him to distribute among his colleagues.

Before leaving, Xu Nuo called her family back in the capital. It happened to be Cheng Wanying who answered. She briefly updated them on her life over the past couple of days and thanked her mother-in-law for preparing the gifts.

After hanging up, Xu Nuo stepped outside.

In front of the row of small buildings was a line of locust trees—thick trunks and lush canopies. The mid-morning sunlight filtered through the branches, casting mottled light and shadows on the ground.

Beneath the trees sat a group of women, about seven or eight, some younger, some middle-aged, none appearing older than fifty.

They were busy with their own tasks, chatting away about their husbands and children, all with smiles on their faces, happily talking.

Someone was the first to speak up, “Hey, have you heard? I heard that Commander Lu got married.”

“I’ve heard. It caused quite a stir at the unit. Commander Lu is already twenty-seven. The leaders at the unit were anxious to help him settle his personal life, throwing all kinds of pretty girls at him! And guess what? He didn’t fancy a single one!”

“Isn’t that so? The female soldiers at the regiment are all eye-catching, right? He didn’t choose any of them either! I wonder what kind of person he married this time.”

“He’s the son of a big leader in the unit. Whoever married him can’t be ordinary—must be someone of considerable status. Hey, Qiu Ning, tell us—your husband works with Commander Lu, right?”

Bai Qiuning was knitting a sweater for her husband. Hearing the question, she looked up and smiled, “No, not at all. I heard she’s a girl from the countryside.”