Chapter 73: A Husband and Wife Quarrel—How Exciting!  

Military Camp? Discipline? Courtesy?  

Forget all that!

As Zhao Guifen’s anger surged, all reason vanished from her mind.  

She shoved past Zhou Zhongshan in a fit of fury and stormed into the office.  

Inside, Second Regiment Commander Zhao Guosheng stood there, completely dumbfounded.

Upon hearing his wife’s furious roar, he failed to react and remained frozen in place.  

Zhao Guifen charged in and slammed the lunchbox onto the desk with a loud thud.  

The sturdy-built man from the northeast flinched, his muscular frame trembling slightly.  

Without hesitation, Zhao Guifen reached out, grabbed Zhao Guosheng’s ear, and unleashed a relentless torrent of scolding.  

Jiang Rou stood outside the door, peering curiously inside.  

A husband-and-wife quarrel!  

How exciting!  

Such juicy drama.  

Though… the smell was still a bit unbearable.  

Her enchanting eyes sparkled with curiosity as she watched the scene unfold.  

But before she could enjoy more of the show, Zhou Zhongshan closed the door. He then took the bamboo basket and lunchbox from Jiang Rou’s hands and gently pulled her aside.  

“Wife, what brings you here?”  

“Sister Guifen said we could come deliver food today and asked if I wanted to join, so I came along. It’s also Qingming today, so I made some qingtuan and qingming guozi for you to try.”  

At that, Jiang Rou’s eyes curved into a smile, her expression warm and bright.

She lifted the towel covering the bamboo basket and showed Zhou Zhongshan.  

“Look… this is qingtuan, and this is qingming rice cake. The children and I made them together. They’re still warm, so eat a few more later—they’re really delicious.”  

“Alright.”  

Zhou Zhongshan responded in a deep voice.  

From the moment Jiang Rou appeared, his gaze had never left her delicate and radiant face.  

His dark eyes burned with intensity and sincerity—just like the scorching midday sun.  

Ever since that kiss in the middle of the night, Zhou Zhongshan had returned to the Military Camp early the next morning.

Seven days had passed since then.  

This was already the seventh day.  

In these seven days, he hadn’t seen Jiang Rou even once.  

Whenever he missed his wife, he would take out her old one-inch photo, look at it, and gently run his fingers over it.  

For half his life, Zhou Zhongshan had never truly understood the meaning of longing.  

But over the past few days…  

That restless feeling before sleep, tossing and turning in bed yet unable to drift off—this must be what longing felt like.  

Zhou Zhongshan had been sleeping on the folding steel bed in his office.  

Each time he turned over, the simple steel bed let out a creaking sound—ge zhi, ge zhi—echoing in the silent night.

A wave of sweetness rippled through Jiang Rou’s heart.  

…  

Before long, Zhao Guifen and Zhao Guosheng’s “marital war” came to an end.  

Zhao Guifen emerged with a flushed face, waving toward Jiang Rou and Zhou Zhongshan.  

“Sister Rou, Regiment Commander Zhou, come on in… I’m really sorry about this. You’ve just arrived, and we’ve already made a spectacle of ourselves.”  

Inside the office, Zhao Guifen had already cleaned up the mess. Zhao Guosheng’s ears were bright red, and he had opened the windows wide.  

With both the windows and the door open, fresh air circulated through the room, quickly dispelling the lingering stench.  

Zhao Guifen turned to Jiang Rou and explained,  

“My old Zhao is already in his thirties, a regiment commander no less, yet he’s still as unkempt as a farmer. I’ve been nagging him at home, complaining about how filthy he is. He got tired of hearing it, so he came up with his own solution—hiding his stinky socks in the office. These past few days, it was Regiment Commander Zhou on duty, sleeping in the office at night… and that’s when he caught the smell.”  

What happened next was simple.  

Zhou Zhongshan had discovered Zhao Guosheng’s secret stash of foul-smelling socks.  

Just as he was uncovering the entire hideout, Jiang Rou and Zhao Guifen happened to walk in—witnessing everything firsthand.  

“And to think, a grown man like you isn’t even embarrassed to let Sister Rou see this joke! You’ve dragged me down with you and made me lose face too!”  

Zhao Guifen was truly exasperated, growing angrier the more she thought about it.  

Zhao Guosheng, however, remained grinning from ear to ear. He didn’t feel embarrassed at all, nor was he the least bit upset.  

“She’s our neighbor now, and she’s also Zhongshan’s wife—she’s one of us. There’s no such thing as losing face in front of family. Don’t be mad anymore, or your chest will start hurting again tonight.”  

Hearing this, Zhao Guifen raised her eyes and shot Zhao Guosheng a fierce glare.

This couple had known each other since they were running around bare-bottomed as children.  

From young sweethearts to now being married for over a decade, they had spent years bickering back and forth. Yet, they knew each other inside out—understanding one another’s temperaments and never truly taking things to heart.  

Their constant quarreling had instead become a unique kind of marital affection.  

After all, without these little squabbles, wouldn’t life become unbearably dull?  

Jiang Rou watched Zhao Guifen and Zhao Guosheng before commenting: “Sister Guifen, you and Commander Zhao share such a deep bond.”  

As soon as she said this, Zhao Guifen suddenly froze.

Her already flushed face turned an even deeper shade of red from embarrassment.  

She muttered under her breath: “Who has a deep bond with this stinky man?”  

Zhao Guosheng, however, was delighted to hear this. He pulled a chair over to sit beside Zhao Guifen and nodded enthusiastically. “That’s right, that’s right—our bond as husband and wife is truly strong.”  

---

After all the commotion, Jiang Rou reminded everyone to wash their hands before they finally sat down to eat.  

As soon as Zhou Zhongshan opened his lunchbox, he was met with a container filled to the brim with white rice and steamed egg with minced meat.  

“Today’s lunch was made in a rush, so I didn’t have time to prepare more dishes. Zhongshan, just make do with this. I also brought qingtuan…”  

Jiang Rou had brought plenty of qingtuan, so not only did she give some to Zhou Zhongshan, but she also shared them with Zhao Guosheng.