Chapter 60.2

With the commotion tonight at the Tang household, the news would be widely spread at the family the next day. Tang Ze’s wife not only couldn’t tolerate his sister-in-law but also went against Lu Yu’s sister-in-law.

Tang Ze stepped over the broken red curtain and closed the courtyard gate, turning back into the house. Sun Ying heard the door open and sat on the bed, too scared to speak. She only wanted to provoke Jiang Nian. The more Jiang Nian was unhappy, the happier she was. But who knew Song Bai would step in to defend Jiang Nian, and even invite Tang Ze’s sister-in-law and eldest brother, ruining her reputation.

Now she hated Jiang Nian to death and wanted to stab her face with scissors!

Why does a widow like her have so many men to stand up for her?

Lu Yu was not there, and now Song Bai appeared, all surrounding her!

“Yingying…”

Tang Ze closed the door and looked at Sun Ying with a complex gaze. “Even if you don’t like the curtains, you could have folded them away in a box. Why cut them and hang them on the wall to cause trouble?”

Sun Ying concealed her impatience, raised her head with teary eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks with her mole, making her look even more pitiful. Although Sun Ying had gained some weight, her face was still attractive. Tang Ze never thought she would be less attractive because of her weight. On the contrary, he felt that a bit of weight was good for her health.

“I’m sorry.”

Sun Ying stood up and walked to Tang Ze, hugging him and burying her face in his chest. “I was just afraid of the mandarin ducks, so I used scissors.”

Tang Ze frowned slightly at Sun Ying’s initiative but didn’t react much. He couldn’t understand why Sun Ying had to hang the cut curtains on the wall to provoke Jiang Nian. To scare Jiang Nian?

After a moment of silence, he asked, “Do you have any grudge against Jiang Nian?”

Sun Ying didn’t speak. After a while, she said no, but Tang Ze keenly noticed her body stiffening for a moment. Thinking back to the first time he met Sun Ying, when she asked him to sign, wanting to come in to find Lu Yu but was forced away by Lu Yu’s ruthlessness, Tang Ze suddenly had an unexpected thought.

Sun Ying still cared about Lu Yu.

Her targeting Jiang Nian was also related to Lu Yu. Every time she was intimate with him, she covered his face. Who did she think he was? Tang Ze didn’t want to think further.

He looked at the messy bedding on the bed and seemed to think of something. There was a trace of self-mockery between his eyebrows. He added a few more words, “Yingying, I won’t ask what happened before you married me, but after marrying me, I hope you understand your identity. From now on, I will go to the cafeteria to get you food, so don’t go to my sister-in-law’s house. It’s late, go to bed quickly.”

After speaking, he grabbed Sun Ying’s hand and pulled away.

Hearing Tang Ze’s words, Sun Ying’s heart sank. She almost immediately thought Tang Ze had found out about her and Wu Youshan?

She turned to look at Tang Ze, who was lying outside the bed with his shoes off, his eyes closed and no longer speaking, feeling hesitant.

The lights were on in the yard next door. Liu Qiang and Xu Yan were sitting in the yard.

Song Bai swept the snow with a broom. Jiang Nian asked him to go back, and Song Bai said, “I’ll leave after sweeping.”

Xu Yan held Jiang Nian’s cold hand. “Let’s not bother with such women.”

Jiang Nian nodded. “Hmm.”

Liu Qiang glanced at Jiang Nian and said, “If you have anything in the future, find Xu Yan. You two are companions.”

Jiang Nian said, “Okay.”

Song Bai left after sweeping the snow, not staying for a moment longer. After Song Bai left, Liu Qiang and his wife left as well, to avoid gossip.

Jiang Nian lay awake in bed at night, tossing and turning, unable to sleep until midnight.

The next day, after lunch, Xu Yan came. Feng Mei left, and Xu Yan became the second person to pass on news from the family quarters to Jiang Nian. She said that now everyone in the family quarters is spreading rumors about Captain Tang’s wife being malicious and heartless.

Xu Yan sat by the brazier, warming herself and laughing, “You don’t know. The rumors outside are fierce now. Captain Tang couldn’t even lift his head when he went to the cafeteria this morning.”

Actually, Tang Ze was also implicated.

But Jiang Nian didn’t regret what she had done. Sun Ying had bullied her to her doorstep. If she didn’t fight back now, she would really be a soft persimmon.

When the night was dark, the courtyard gate was knocked again.

Jiang Nian thought it was Song Bai again. Just as she walked to the door, she heard Tang Ze’s voice, “Younger sister, it’s me, Tang Ze.”

Jiang Nian opened the courtyard gate. “What’s wrong?”

Tang Ze said, “I’ve come to apologize to my younger  sister.”

Jiang Nian was somewhat surprised and paused for a moment. “It’s okay.”

Tang Ze smiled and turned away.

In the blink of an eye, it was almost the end of the year, with only ten days left until New Year’s Eve. Lu Yu hadn’t called again.

He had been away for almost half a year this time.

The old man’s embroidery was almost finished, and Jiang Nian spent a day finishing it, packing up the embroidery, and planning to send it to the embroidery shop tomorrow. 

Liu Qiang stayed at home for a month and left. On the day he left, he came over again to tell her to take care of Xu Yan.

Early the next morning, after Jiang Nian had breakfast, she walked out of the house with her small cloth bag. Just as she turned around, she bumped into Sun Ying, who was coming out.

Sun Ying’s face instantly turned extremely ugly. She looked at her with eyes filled with hatred, as if she wanted to cut her with a knife.

Jiang Nian: …

She just coldly glanced at Sun Ying, passing by her doorstep and saying, “Those who do evil will bring about their own destruction.”

“You!”

Sun Ying was so angry that she held her protruding belly, watched Jiang Nian’s figure gradually disappear, and angrily slammed the lunchbox on the ground, then slammed the door shut and went home.

Xu Yan looked outside the door and clicked her tongue, “She deserves it.”

When Jiang Nian left the army and waited at the bus station, she met Zhu Jun and Song Bai.

All three of them were taken aback.

Zhu Jun recovered first, glanced at Song Bai first, saw Song Bai’s slightly furrowed eyebrows, and didn’t dare to say much. Song Bai asked, “Sister-in-law, where are you going?”

Jiang Nian smiled, “I’m going to the city to deliver embroidery.”

Zhu Jun said, “Then I will send my sister-in-law over.”

“No need, no need.” Jiang Nian wanted to refuse, but was stopped by Song Bai, “It’s okay, we’re also going to the city, so we’ll just drop you off on the way.”

Jiang Nian was actually curious why Song Bai and Zhu Jun were going to the city together. Normally, they wouldn’t be together if they had business, so she asked, “What are you going to the city for?”

Song Bai said, “I have something to discuss with the police officer in the city. I’ll be back soon.”

Jiang Nian understood, “Oh.”

Since Song Bai went to talk to the police, Zhu Jun should be going to see Zhang Xiao.

It was almost New Year, and the bus was quite crowded. There was only one empty seat left. Song Bai helped Jiang Nian occupy the seat and sit down. There was a middle-aged woman next to her, eating dry rations, probably because she hadn’t eaten breakfast before leaving in the morning.

It was cold on the bus, especially when it started moving, the wind blowing in through the window gaps.

Jiang Nian felt sleepy as soon as she sat down in the bus, leaning on the seat and drowsily wanting to sleep. Halfway through her sleep, she unconsciously hugged her coat tighter. Song Bai grabbed the handle above and looked down at Jiang Nian, unbuttoned his cotton coat and covered Jiang Nian.

The middle-aged woman sitting next to the window looked at Jiang Nian, who was sleeping comfortably, and then looked up at Song Bai, who was wearing only a thin sweater in surprise, asking, “Young man, aren’t you cold?”

Song Bai smiled, “I’m not cold.”

The middle-aged woman: …

This is really killing me. She felt cold just looking at them.

The noisy sound of the brakes and the noisy noise woke Jiang Nian up when the bus arrived at the station. She opened her eyes and saw a touch of military green. Her first reaction was that Lu Yu had come back. She lifted her head happily, but saw Song Bai. Song Bai smiled, “Sister-in-law, we’re here.”

Jiang Nian hurriedly lowered her eyes to conceal the disappointment in her eyes, got up and handed her clothes to Song Bai, feeling a little guilty as she looked at Song Bai, who was only wearing a thin sweater, “You don’t need to cover me. It wouldn’t be worth it if you catch a cold.”

Song Bai took the clothes and put them on neatly, “I’m tough, I can withstand the cold.”

The two of them took Jiang Nian to the state-run embroidery shop. Zhu Jun went in to see Zhang Xiao, talked to Zhang Xiao for a while, and left. Before leaving, Song Bai said, “Sister-in-law, we’ll come pick you up later.”

Jiang Nian wanted to say no need, but the two had already left.

She frowned and shifted her gaze from Zhu Jun to Zhang Xiao, “Wasn’t Zhu Jun here to see you?”

Zhang Xiao was already visibly pregnant, wearing clothes that showed a small belly bump, although not large, it was still noticeable. She smiled, “What is there to see? After the New Year, I will follow him to the army. There’s no need to meet every day.”

Jiang Nian didn’t say anything, took out the embroidery, and Lu Xiaoqing and Zhai Peipei also came. When they saw Jiang Nian, they happily started talking. After a while, Peng Yin came. Zhai Peipei said to Jiang Nian, “Let’s go in first.”

Zhang Xiao also sat decently at the counter.

Since the last incident, Peng Yin no longer found fault with the three of them, but she was still not easy to get along with.

Today was the deadline for the embroidery. Peng Yin came, followed by Director Wang.

Director Wang looked at the embroidery on the table that looked like a photo. Whether it was the old man’s expression or the wrinkles around his eyes, it was all vividly embroidered. Looking at it vividly, Director Wang couldn’t help but pick up the embroidery and admire it, “Jiang Nian, I really admire your embroidery skills.”

Peng Yin stood aside and didn’t dare to speak.

Director Wang said, “Comrade Deng will come tomorrow and will surely be very satisfied with this embroidery.”

Jiang Nian modestly smiled a few words, then glanced at Peng Yin. After the incident last time, Peng Yin was scared of Jiang Nian from the bottom of her heart. When she met Jiang Nian’s eyes, she awkwardly avoided her gaze.

The embroidery was perfectly completed. When Director Wang wanted to give Jiang Nian a new embroidery task, Jiang Nian refused.

Peng Yin was stunned for a moment, then looked nervously at Jiang Nian, with a pleading look in her eyes, asking her not to cause trouble.

Jiang Nian: …

Director Wang frowned, “What’s wrong? Tell me.”

Jiang Nian said, “I’m going to Dongshi city soon and don’t have time to embroider right now. I’ll do it after I get back from Dongshi city.”

Upon hearing this, Director Wang and Peng Yin both breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Nian indeed planned to go to Dongshi city. If Lu Yu couldn’t come back in time, she would personally go and help Commander Song avoid the disaster of his previous life.

Jiang Nian didn’t intend to wait for Song Bai and the others. She went to the bus station by herself to catch the afternoon bus back. When passing by the state-run restaurant, she saw Zhu Jun buying three boxes of food. Jiang Nian frowned slightly. For some reason, she felt something was wrong since she saw Zhu Jun and Song Bai at the bus station this morning.

She didn’t call Zhu Jun, but quietly followed him.

Zhu Jun was a soldier and more sensitive than ordinary people. Jiang Nian didn’t dare to get too close, just watching him from a distance, until she saw the city hospital. Jiang Nian suddenly realized. Her heart beat violently. Her first reaction was whether Lu Yu was inside?

After Zhu Jun’s figure completely disappeared into the hospital, Jiang Nian ran over.

The city hospital was crowded, so Jiang Nian searched floor by floor. She couldn’t quite describe how she felt; her hands and feet were trembling. When she reached the third floor, she checked each patient room one by one until her hand rested on the wooden door of the fourth room. That’s when she heard Song Bai’s voice.

“Sister-in-law is fine; she’s just been worried about you.”

“Deputy Commander Lu, you should focus on recovering. Deputy Commander Song and I personally escorted your sister-in-law to the embroidery shop.”

“As long as she’s okay.”

It was Lu Yu’s voice.