Chapter 82.2

The next day, Jiang Nian overslept. He Yue nearly broke down the door, and she hurriedly got up, ran over, and opened the door to see He Yue standing with hands on hips, glaring at her, “The sun’s been up, why are you still asleep?”

Jiang Nian: …

She awkwardly ran her fingers through her hair, “I had trouble sleeping last night.”

He Yue saw through her but didn’t say it aloud. She scanned Jiang Nian with a teasing look in her eyes, “Hurry up and get ready. We’re going to my mother’s village to catch fish. If we’re late, we won’t catch any.”

Jiang Nian: “Okay.”

After freshening up in her room, she saw breakfast warming in the pot, prepared by Lu Yu. She ate a few bites casually, then shouldered her basket and went downstairs with He Yue. At the stairwell, she met Yue Qiao and Guan Lu, both carrying vegetables as if they had just returned from the market.

Yue Qiao saw He Yue and Jiang Nian and greeted them. She asked He Yue, “Where are you going?”

He Yue said, “We’re going to my mother’s village to catch fish.”

She paused, glanced at Guan Lu, and asked, “Do you want to come?”

He Yue was just being polite in asking. In her eyes, Guan Lu was not on the same level as them. Every time they met, Guan Lu would lower her head and walk away without saying a word.

Yue Qiao said, “Sure, wait here. I’ll go with Guan Lu to get the baskets.” After saying that, she pulled Guan Lu along.

The two waited in the corridor for a while. Yue Qiao and Guan Lu came out together with baskets on their backs. The four of them walked towards the outskirts of the military compound. The neighboring village was quite far, taking over forty minutes to walk. Yue Qiao and He Yue talked a lot along the way, mostly between the two of them, with Jiang Nian interjecting occasionally and Guan Lu saying a few words now and then.

They arrived at the commune’s fish pond. By now, there were already many people from the brigade and educated youth catching fish in the pond. He Yue pulled Jiang Nian and said, “Hurry, if we’re any later, there won’t be any fish left.”

Yue Qiao had grown up in the compound and hadn’t caught many fish before. Guan Lu was even less experienced. They followed He Yue and Jiang Nian into the fish pond. The muddy bottom of the pond was slippery, and Guan Lu slipped. Jiang Nian grabbed her arm in time to steady her. Gratefully, Guan Lu looked at Jiang Nian, “Thank you.”

Jiang Nian smiled and said, “It’s nothing. I almost slipped the first time I went into a fish pond too.”

Guan Lu looked at Jiang Nian’s smile, and some of the distance in her eyes faded. Lowering her head, she followed He Yue to learn how to catch fish. He Yue turned her head to glance at Jiang Nian. Seeing her skillfully catching fish, He Yue was surprised for a moment, “Oh, Jiang Nian, you know how to catch fish?”

Jiang Nian said, “I went fishing with a few sisters-in-law before, and they taught me.”

He Yue chuckled, “I really didn’t expect that.”

Yue Qiao anxiously grabbed at the fish, exclaiming, “Why can’t I catch any? It’s running away!”

After trying for a while, Guan Lu managed to catch some mud. Jiang Nian came over and taught her how to catch fish. Guan Lu bit her lip and followed Jiang Nian’s instructions, successfully catching a fish. However, when she tried to throw it into her basket behind her, the fish slipped from her hand. Seeing this, Jiang Nian bent down, grabbed the fish, and tossed it into Guan Lu’s basket.

Guan Lu smiled, “Thank you.”

When she smiled, there was a gentle and mild temperament in her brows and eyes, indicating a different upbringing from others since childhood. Jiang Nian became even more curious. How did a woman like Guan Lu end up marrying Luo Chengyi?

In the end, all four of them caught a few fish. They lined up at the commune to weigh them and paid for them before heading back with their baskets. After the fishing trip, Guan Lu noticeably spoke more on the way back and even initiated a few conversations with Jiang Nian.

They missed lunch and it was almost afternoon when I returned to the army.

Everyone was covered in mud, rushing back to the family apartment. On the way, they ran into Chen Yao and Jiang Zhou. Chen Yao stared at Jiang Nian for a moment before daring to recognize her, “Sister-in-law?”

He looked at Jiang Nian, trying to suppress a smile.

After knowing each other for so long, it was the first time he had seen Jiang Nian covered in mud, looking like she had just rolled out of a mud pit. The other three sisters-in-law didn’t look much better, and even Jiang Zhou couldn’t help but laugh.

Jiang Nian: …

She chuckled softly, glancing down at the mud dried on her hands. “We went fishing.”

He Yue said, “Yes, we caught quite a few.”

Afterwards, she glanced at Chen Yao and the others. Chen Yao looked at Jiang Nian and joked, “Sister-in-law, will there be braised fish tomorrow?”

Jiang Nian replied, “Yes, there will be plenty.”

Back at the family apartment, Jiang Nian put down her basket and went to the bathroom to remove her clothes. It took three buckets of water to wash off all the mud. Just as she stepped out of the bathroom, she heard the door opening. Jiang Nian was only wearing a vest and shorts. Seeing Lu Yu entering, she blinked, “Why are you back so early today?”

Lu Yu closed the door behind him. “There’s nothing going on in the regiment today.”

He asked again, “How many fish did you catch today?”

Jiang Nian smiled, “Three.”

Lu Yu chuckled, “I’ll go clean the fish.”

Jiang Nian went to the kitchen to eat some food and then returned to her room to embroider. The embroidery would be finished in about ten days. When it was dusk, Yue Qiao came over and brought Jiang Nian some spicy sauce, her mother’s specialty that went well with rice.

Compared to Yue Qiao’s enthusiasm, Jiang Nian didn’t know how to respond at first.

She decided to make some pastries tomorrow and take them to Yue Qiao as a reciprocal gesture.

After Lu Yu cleaned the fish and tidied up the room, he went to prepare dinner. Outside, there was a noisy commotion in the corridor. Fang Xia, Fang Guo, and Luo Xiaoyue had just finished school. As the sky darkened, Jiang Nian looked up at the man with a clean-shaven jaw. “Zhang Xiao is due next month.”

Taking her hand, the man looked down at her. “Are you going?”

Jiang Nian nodded. “I promised Zhang Xiao I would go see her.”

A faint smile crossed Lu Yu’s dark eyes. “I’ll take leave to accompany you. We’ll go together.”

“You—”

Jiang Nian paused, looking at Lu Yu’s stern face, and finally asked aloud, “How should we present ourselves when we go back?”

Lu Yu replied, “We haven’t invited Captain Tang and Zhu Jun to a wedding banquet yet, so we’ll make up for it this time when we go back.”

Jiang Nian immediately understood. Now that Lu Yu was no longer there, she and Lu Yu didn’t need to be as cautious as before about going back to invite them to their wedding banquet. Even if they gossiped behind their backs, they wouldn’t hear it. At least they would know that she and Lu Yu were married.

They are no longer brother and sister-in-law, but husband and wife.

She remembered Lu Yu had previously said he would take her back there. Now seemed like a perfect opportunity.

That night, Jiang Nian dreamed again of the New Century’s home. She opened the door as usual, but this time the scene was missing ‘Jiang Nian’. She called out to her parents and grandparents, but they were oblivious. Returning to her own room, the bedding was neatly arranged, and there was a diary on the bedside table.

It was the same one she had seen in her dreams last time.

Curious, Jiang Nian walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, picking up the diary. Last time, Lu Yu had woken her up before she could read its contents, only catching a glimpse of the crooked handwriting of ‘Jiang Nian’.

Jiang Nian’s hand hovered over the diary for a moment. She wanted to see what ‘Jiang Nian’ had written, to understand the connection between her and ‘Jiang Nian’. Why had she appeared in the New Century and become her?

Jiang Nian flipped open the first page of the diary, which simply read ‘Jiang Nian’.

She turned to the second page, which contained only three sparse sentences.

“I finally woke up.”

“It’s all fake.”

“I saw Xu Cheng.”

The handwriting was crooked, but the last sentence startled Jiang Nian.

‘Jiang Nian’ saw Xu Cheng?

Was it Xu Cheng from the New Century?

She turned to the third page, where ‘Jiang Nian’ had written about working in the restaurant helping her parents. She saw a customer who looked remarkably like Xu Cheng eating there. Jiang Nian checked the time recorded in the diary and glanced up at the calendar on the wall. It happened three days ago.

Jiang Nian gripped the diary tightly, suddenly feeling a bizarre thought.

Had the characters in the book coincided with reality?

Footsteps sounded outside the door. Jiang Nian turned to look at the slowly opening door. A familiar figure appeared in her field of vision. Jiang Nian felt her arm grow heavier and, in a daze, opened her eyes. Lu Yu was close by, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, his eyes dark and deep.

Jiang Nian froze. Her voice softened after waking up. “What’s wrong with you?”

Lu Yu asked, “Who were you calling just now?”

Jiang Nian: ???

Was she talking in her sleep?

Seeing her puzzled and confused expression, Lu Yu pinched her cheeks, his eyes staring into Jiang Nian’s. His voice carried both temptation and coldness. “Did you dream of Xu Cheng?”

Jiang Nian suddenly pursed her lips, blinked her eyes, and didn’t know how to respond.

She had dreamed of ‘Jiang Nian’, but she had only seen Xu Cheng’s name in the diary. Perhaps she had inadvertently mentioned Xu Cheng’s name, leading Lu Yu to misunderstand. Looking at the unfamiliar coldness in Lu Yu’s eyes, she pondered for a moment, whispering softly, “Yes, I dreamed about him.”

She couldn’t say she hadn’t dreamed of him, or her sleep-talking wouldn’t be easily explained, which might make Lu Yu think she was hiding something.

As she finished speaking these three words, Jiang Nian clearly felt Lu Yu’s breath tense.

She looked at the man’s deep, unreadable eyes, bit her lip, and lowered her gaze as she softly said, “I dreamed that father Xu and Xu Cheng came to Yuan City to see us.”

The arm around her waist tightened again, as if he wanted to embed her into his bones, afraid that if he loosened even a little, she would disappear.

Jiang Nian continued, “Let’s burn some paper for Father Xu and Xu Cheng again at the end of the year, and see them.”

Lu Yu responded, “Okay.”

Jiang Nian released his hand, leaning into Lu Yu’s embrace. He held her tightly, saying, “Jiang Nian.”

“Mm?”

Jiang Nian raised her head from his chest, in the dim light, looking at Lu Yu’s sharp jawline, waiting for him to continue. Instead, he just said, “Go to sleep.”

In the latter part of the night, Jiang Nian slept soundly, but Lu Yu did not close his eyes all night.

As dawn broke, Lu Yu pinched his forehead, looking at Jiang Nian sleeping peacefully in his arms. When she murmured Xu Cheng’s name in her sleep, it reminded him of the last time in Xu Cheng’s room when Jiang Nian had acted strangely. Although she was asleep this time, the numbness in her expression couldn’t deceive him.

He was afraid the person before him would disappear.

Afraid she would return to her previous state, no longer the Jiang Nian who always smiled at him with bright eyes.