Chapter 80.1

“Lu Yu…”

Jiang Nian bit her lower lip and lowered her eyes, unable to meet Lu Yu’s intense crimson gaze. Her hands rested on his shoulders as she hesitantly leaned in, her lips inexperienced as they touched his. Lu Yu’s breath caught abruptly, his arms wrapping around her slender waist, flipping their positions entirely.

Jiang Nian gasped, watching Lu Yu approach from above, her heart pounding violently.

The room remained unlit, sparse moonlight still allowing them to see each other’s silhouettes. Lu Yu leaned down, his lips carrying a warmth, descending slowly like ripples on a calm lake surface stirred by a breeze. Jiang Nian gripped Lu Yu’s strong, muscular arms tightly, the muscles beneath his skin cold and hard as iron.

Lu Yu’s movements slowed, his gaze fixed on Jiang Nian’s expressive eyes and slightly tilted neck. He asked in a low voice, “Does it hurt?”

Blushing, Jiang Nian shook her head shyly. “No.”

Seeing the smile in Lu Yu’s eyes, Jiang Nian embarrassedly turned her head away. As their rhythm continued, she gradually tightened her grip on Lu Yu’s fingers.

The next day, Jiang Nian woke up late. 

Opening her eyes, sunlight filtered through the curtains, casting a faint red hue in the room. Lu Yu was already gone. After last night, he had cleaned her up in the bathroom, staying up until midnight before finally sleeping. Surprised he woke up so early, Jiang Nian rolled out of bed, putting on her clothes. 

She subconsciously looked at the mirror hanging on the wall. Except for her smooth neck, there were marks everywhere below her neck.

Jiang Nian: …

Jiang Nian smiled to herself, washing up in the bathroom before checking the kitchen. Lu Yu had prepared breakfast and kept it warm in the pot. After eating, she thought of visiting Tian Mai’s house to see Ning Xiu. As soon as she opened the door, she bumped into He Yue. He Yue smiled, “You’re finally up. I was looking for you this morning but Commander Lu said you were still asleep.”

Jiang Nian smiled awkwardly, “I was up late embroidering last night.”

He Yue advised, “Try not to embroider late at night. It strains your eyes and wastes electricity.”

Jiang Nian nodded, then heard from He Yue, “Thank you for last night. I heard from Fang Xia that you invited them to dinner at your place. I didn’t even know how to thank you.”

Jiang Nian replied casually, “It’s nothing.” 

She asked about Ning Xiu, “How is Ning Xiu?”

Leaning against the door frame, He Yue waved her hand, “We only found her late last night, at the educated youth point in the neighboring commune. Just imagine, luckily everyone she met was kind-hearted. If she met someone with ill intentions, who knows who she could turn to for help. 

Last night, because of this, Tian Mai and Deputy Commander Ning had a fight. Deputy Commander Ning also felt upset. So he just stood there and let Tian Mai hit him.

Since arriving here, Jiang Nian had seen Deputy Commander Ning a few times. He had a loud voice and was straightforward, not a bad person. He felt uncomfortable when his daughter was lost.

He Yue continued, “We bring her home last night. Guess what her grandmother was doing at the time?” 

Without waiting for Jiang Nian to guess, she continued with a snort, “She was sleeping soundly at home. When she came to open the door, she even said, ‘If she’s lost, she’s lost. She’s already nine years old. It’s not like she doesn’t have legs. Can’t she come back on her own? Why make so many people look for her? Such a troublemaker.’ At that moment, Tian Mai started fighting with the old woman.”

Jiang Nian: …

Indeed, this old lady is not a good person, still holding the old ideas about favoring sons over daughters.

After talking with He Yue for a few words, Jiang Nian went back to embroidering. Originally, she wanted to go see Ning Xiu, but considering the old lady’s temperament, she was afraid that she would cause unpleasantness if she went by herself. So she stayed at home to embroider. 

When it was almost noon, she deliberately made Lu Yu’s favorite mixed sauce noodles and went to her private plot.

On the way to the private plot, she met Lan Hui, who was carrying a small shovel and a basket on her back. When she saw Jiang Nian, she smiled, “Are you taking food to Lu Yu?”

Jiang Nian smiled, “Yes.”

There were also several military wives with Lan Hui, all of whom knew Jiang Nian and looked at her with envy.

Look at this little wife, dressed beautifully, good-looking, fair-skinned, tender like tofu. The activities in the private plot were all done by Commander Lu, hoeing and planting seedlings. He didn’t let his wife go to the fields. Among the men in this family residential area, which one can take care of his wife as well as Commander Lu?

They had just come back from planting seedlings in the field and passed Jiang Nian’s plot of land, where Commander Lu came straight from the regiment to plant seedlings in his own field.

Lan Hui smiled, “Lu Yu is planting seedlings.”

After speaking, she joked with several military wives, “Commander Lu is really a good example of how to treat his wife well in our military area. When we go back, I have to tell my husband, look at Commander Lu, and then look at him. How many years have we followed him? He doesn’t even know which side his own private plot is facing.”

Jiang Nian smiled.

After parting ways with Lan Hui, she hurried to the field. Lu Yu was fast, he had already planted two rows. She put down the lunchbox by the well and called out, “Lu Yu, it’s time to eat.”

The man was squatting on the ground, his military uniform neatly folded at his feet. Upon hearing this, he finished planting the few seedlings in his hand before coming over. He went to the well to wash his face and hands. 

Jiang Nian looked at Lu Yu’s bowed back and thought of his restrained and rough demeanor from last night. Her heart uncontrollably skipped a few beats. Then she opened the lunchbox and whispered, “I made mixed sauce noodles that you like.”

Lu Yu responded, “Good.”

He knew Jiang Nian hadn’t eaten yet and told her to go back quickly. Jiang Nian said, “What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll make it for you.”

Thinking back to the first time she came to the field to bring lunch to Lu Yu, she crouched under a tree, not daring to look at Lu Yu’s eyes that could almost see through people’s hearts, racking her brains to find an excuse to urge Lu Yu to meet Sun Ying.

Thinking about that matter, she couldn’t help but laugh.

Lu Yu lifted his gaze to look at her. “What’s so funny?”

Jiang Nian paused, hands supporting her chin, looking into Lu Yu’s deep, dark eyes without reservation. “I was thinking about how I used to try to matchmake you and Sun Ying.”

Lu Yu: …

He lowered his head to take a bite of his noodles, then drank some water before looking at Jiang Nian. “We’re not close.”

Whether in this life or the last, he and Sun Ying were always on separate paths. Even if an invisible force tried to twist them onto the same path, he would use all his strength to split that path into two.

Thinking about his last moments in the previous life, Lu Yu drank another mouthful of water, swallowed hard, and looked at Jiang Nian with eyes so complex that others couldn’t understand. “Do you want children?”

Jiang Nian: ??

She hadn’t expected the conversation to suddenly turn to this.

But when Lu Yu mentioned it, she also remembered. Since they got married two months ago, Lu Yu had been very careful every time in that regard, as if deliberately avoiding the topic of having children. Subconsciously, Jiang Nian suddenly had a thought: Lu Yu didn’t want children.

Jiang Nian’s heart skipped a beat, feeling a difficult-to-express emotion welling up inside her.

She looked at Lu Yu, lips twitching a few times. Finally, she followed Lu Yu’s lead and said, “Not at the moment.”

Not wanting children was one thing, but for him to bring it up was another.

Jiang Nian quickly lowered her eyelashes. Suddenly, she felt her eyes warm. She picked up a piece of tree branch and drew circles on the ground, feeling like laughing. Just the year before, she was thinking about how to match Lu Yu with the original female lead of the novel. This year, she was already married to him and discussing children.

Lu Yu closed the lid of the lunch box, went to the well to wash up, then walked over and held Jiang Nian’s hand. Despite Jiang Nian holding onto a tree branch and lowering her head all this time, she didn’t care if anyone saw them in the fields. After he kissed her forehead, he hugged her and in a rare moment of tranquility, his voice hoarse, “Can we have a child three years later?”

Jiang Nian was stunned. The confusion in her heart suddenly outweighed the discomfort.

She didn’t understand why it had to be three years later. She wanted to ask Lu Yu, but didn’t know how to bring it up. After pursing her lips and remaining silent for a while, she finally said, “I’ll listen to you.”

Lu Yu said, “I have a mission next week. I’ll be back in about half a month at the latest, or within a month. I’ve already told Chen Yao and Captain Fang to help with watering the fields. When I come back, I’ll treat them to a meal.”

Jiang Nian didn’t ask where Lu Yu was going or what he was doing. She knew these were military secrets, so she just nodded gently in his arms. “Okay.”

She reached out and hugged Lu Yu’s lean waist, blinked at him, and then raised her head with a smile. “It’s Friday today. Are you leaving next Monday?”

Lu Yu said, “Yes.”

He kissed her forehead again and smiled. “I’ll call you whenever I have time.”

Jiang Nian smiled back. “Okay.”

Carrying the lunch box, she left the field. Just as she reached the family residential area, she ran into Luo Chengyi, the deputy commander of the Fourth Regiment, with a young girl about nine years old behind him. She had two high braids, wore a pink jacket, carried a backpack, and didn’t look much like Luo Chengyi, probably resembling her mother.

The three of them entered the family apartment one after another. The young girl heard footsteps behind her, turned back to look at Jiang Nian, and smiled. There was a kind of familiarity in her smile, and Jiang Nian smiled back. Luo Chengyi turned his head, saw Jiang Nian, and said, “This is my daughter, Luo Xiaoyue, who just came back from her grandmother house.”

He then said to her, “Xiaoyue, call her Aunt Jiang.”

Luo Xiaoyue smiled sweetly at Jiang Nian. “Aunt Jiang, you’re so beautiful.”

Jiang Nian smiled and replied, “Thank you for the compliment.”

As they parted ways at the stairway, He Yue happened to open the door. When Luo Xiaoyue saw He Yue, she also smiled and greeted cheerfully, “Aunt He.”

He Yue smiled back. “You’re back.”

After Luo Chengyi and his daughter closed the door and left, He Yue said in a low voice, “Ah, I guess there’s trouble in their family again.”

Jiang Nian became curious. “What happened?”

Seeing how lively Luo Xiaoyue was, if she could communicate well with her and explain that having a second child wouldn’t mean neglecting her, there shouldn’t be any problems.

He Yue said, “Luo Chengyi’s new young wife is no good. She always has a cold expression, as if everyone owes her money. She treats Xiaoyue terribly, never showing her a kind face. Look at how well-behaved this child is, always smiling and greeting everyone politely. For her to be driven to say hurtful things, it shows how excessive Guan Lu’s behavior must have been. Isn’t she just relying on her youth, and yet…”

Jiang Nian hadn’t expected there to be these factors involved. The other day, she heard from Tian Mai that Guan Lu had been driven back to her parents’ home by Luo Xiaoyue, she thought it was because the child was difficult to get along with.

He Yue said, “Seeing Deputy Commander Luo bringing Xiaoyue back, I guess his wife also came back. It’s going to be lively on our floor.”

She held a shovel in her hand, glanced at the aluminum lunch box in Jiang Nian’s hand, and smiled. “You’re really enjoying yourself. Commander Lu is planting seedlings and tending the vegetables in the fields. You don’t have to worry about it. Look at my husband. He’s diligent enough to water the fields, but as soon as he gets home, he sits on the chair like a lord, waiting for me to bring the food to him.”

Jiang Nian couldn’t respond to that remark. No matter what she said, it sounded like she was bragging, so she just smiled and didn’t say anything.

After eating dinner at home, washing the dishes, she sat in the room and embroidered, but she couldn’t calm her mind. She kept thinking about what Lu Yu had said at noon. Why did he insist on having a child three years later?

Was it because these three years were a period of advancement in his position?

But this had nothing to do with having a child.

Jiang Nian couldn’t figure it out, so she decided not to think about it anymore. If she kept this up, she would start to feel anxious about having children.

Lu Yu didn’t come back until late at night.

It was almost summer now, but there was still a chill in the air at night. He exercised outside for a while until he felt hot, then came inside, lifted the blanket, and lay down on the bed. He looked at Jiang Nian sleeping soundly and hugged her into his arms, rubbing her small belly.

Jiang Nian groggily opened her eyes and saw Lu Yu close by. She nestled comfortably in his embrace, half asleep. Suddenly, a woman’s furious voice echoed from outside.

“Luo Chengyi! Is this what you promised me, to not let her disturb us anymore? Why did she come again in the middle of the night?”

“You think you can deceive me?!”

The door slammed shut with a deafening sound, startling Jiang Nian in Lu Yu’s arms. He gently kissed her trembling eyelashes and whispered, “It’s just a quarrel next door, nothing to do with us. Go back to sleep.”

Jiang Nian sighed inwardly. Looks like what He Yue said was right—this floor won’t be quiet anymore.

The argument lasted for ten minutes before ending. The next day, when Jiang Nian woke up, Lu Yu had already left. The vegetables in their plot had been tended to, with Lu Yu watering them every afternoon until early Monday morning. He changed into new clothes and left with the others.

With Lu Yu gone, Gu Shizhou temporarily took over his responsibilities.