Chapter 76

Grandpa Zhang felt guilty towards Grandma Qian.

Back then, he hadn’t confirmed it carefully and easily believed his wife that his son had died.

Also, during the years when Chaoyang’s grandmother went to work, he hadn’t noticed the change in Chaoyang’s father’s attitude, leading to the estrangement between mother and son.

Now, Chaoyang was getting married. No matter who the bride was, since Chaoyang and his grandmother agreed, others had no right to object.

…

“Xiao Di, go rest for a while. You’ve been busy all morning, you must be exhausted.”

“Grandma, you should rest. You’ve been worried about our wedding for so long.”

Xu Di sat beside her grandmother, thinking to herself, it was a good thing that Grandpa Zhang didn’t bring his current wife. Otherwise, Grandma would definitely feel bad.

Although Grandma truly didn’t care about that man anymore, some things, even if you don’t care, others do. There are many people who love to stir the pot.

“Xiao Di, Chaoyang, Grandma knows you haven’t known each other for long, and you don’t know each other well enough. After marriage, you’ll also face being separated.

Grandma still hopes that you’ll slowly let each other into your hearts.

Passionate love may not arise between you, but you respect each other, stay true to your marriage, care for each other, face things together, good or bad.

Consider each other the most important people in your lives, support each other until you’re old, that’s also a kind of happiness!”

Grandma looked at the two children sitting on either side of her, hoping they would manage their marriage well and live their own lives.

When they got old, they could walk together, go home together, truly achieve a lifetime companionship.

“Grandma, we will.”

“Grandma, we’ll try our best.”

Zhang Chaoyang and Xu Di looked at each other. If they could be like Grandma said, be together until they were old, it wouldn’t be bad.

“Okay, I’m going to lie down for a while. You two go back to the room and rest. We won’t go out for dinner tonight. There’s food at home. Finish eating early, and get some rest early.”

Grandma went into the room. She hadn’t slept well these past few days and needed to catch up.

Xu Di and Zhang Chaoyang returned to their room. The room was a little messy, as people had come in to see the new house.

“Xu Di, you rest for a while, I’ll tidy up. It’s a bit messy.”

“Let’s do it together, it’ll be faster.”

Xu Di picked up the melon seeds, peanuts, and longans on the bed and put them on the tea tray.

Zhang Chaoyang swept the floor clean. It was covered in melon seed shells.

Xu Di put her clothes in the closet. The empty closet was slowly being filled, and she felt reassured.

This was her home now.

“Chaoyang, help me put these two blankets in the top space.”

Xu Di finished putting away her clothes. The blankets her mother had delivered needed to be put away for now, they wouldn’t be needed for a while.

“Coming, these two?”

“Yeah, the blankets my mom bought. We don’t need them now, put them on top.”

Zhang Chaoyang put the two wrapped blankets in the top of the closet. Looking at Xu Di’s clothes already put away, the whole room had a sense of home life.

“Okay, does it look good?”

“Good, the interior is well-organized.”

Xu Di could tell that soldiers were good at organizing their belongings.

With everything tidied up and the room clean, Xu Di suddenly felt a sense of awkwardness in the air.

They hadn’t spent much time together since their first meeting, and even fewer opportunities for such close contact.

“Well…”

“Xu Di…”

They spoke at the same time, a mix of awkwardness and amusement.

“You go first.”

Xu Di didn’t really know what to say. She just wanted to say something to break the silence.

“Xu Di, this is all my savings. Keep it. From now on, every month, besides necessary expenses, I’ll send my salary back to you.”

Zhang Chaoyang handed Xu Di a passbook, containing all his savings.

He had been working for six or seven years. For the first two years, his salary was low. Later, he was promoted, and he often went on missions, so his bonuses were more than his salary.

Xu Di took it, opened it, and it was quite a lot, five thousand yuan.

That was a huge sum of money in the 1970s, which also showed that Zhang Chaoyang had been on many missions.

“You really know how to save.”

“I’m in the army, I don’t smoke or drink, and I don’t have to support a family, so I don’t have much to spend money on.”

What Zhang Chaoyang didn’t say was that he also had pocket money from his grandmother, and he didn’t spend much of that either.

His grandmother had really spoiled him since he was little, perhaps because she felt he lacked parental love. She was strict with him, but in terms of material things, she never let him down.

When others were throwing tantrums at their parents for five or ten cents, his grandmother gave him fifty cents or a yuan.

Back then, he was the richest among his friends. Hao Yunlei said he was a rich miser, wasting all that pocket money.

“This isn’t just your salary, is it?”

“Yeah, my salary isn’t that much. There are also bonuses from missions.”

“You’ve been on a lot of missions, are they mandatory or voluntary? Can you tell me?”

Xu Di knew that many things in the army were confidential, and she wasn’t sure what she could ask and what she couldn’t.

“It depends on the specific mission.”

Zhang Chaoyang didn’t know how to explain, because some things were confidential.

“You don’t have to go into detail. What I want to say is, I don’t want to be a martyr for now. You should be careful in the future.”

“You don’t want to be a martyr for now, does that mean you want to be one later?”

Zhang Chaoyang narrowed his eyes, and Xu Di felt a chill down her spine. Those small eyes were quite piercing.

“It depends on Comrade Zhang’s performance. What if you meet someone you really connect with later, and you insist on marrying them, and you want to divorce me?

I’d rather be a well-cared-for military martyr than a divorced woman who everyone pities.

Don’t you think I make sense?”

Xu Di said this half-jokingly, half-seriously. She was afraid of Zhang Chaoyang’s small eyes, feeling like they could see through everything.

“That won’t happen. With my grandmother’s example, I will protect my body and mind.”

Zhang Chaoyang suddenly became serious, and Xu Di didn’t know how to respond.

“Xu Di, we don’t have any so-called emotional foundation, and we’re both new to marriage.

But we have a common goal, which is to live a good life.

People, as long as our goals are aligned, we won’t go wrong.”

“Comrade Zhang Chaoyang has studied philosophy, your reasoning is excellent. We don’t need earth-shattering love. As long as when we’re old, looking back on our decades of marriage, we don’t regret it, that’s enough.”

Xu Di hoped she hadn’t made the wrong choice this time. She felt like her life was a mess, tiring and exhausting.

Learning from her past failures, she adjusted her mindset, hoping for a good beginning and a good end.

“That’s what I hope for too. Passion is fleeting, only life is real.”

Xu Di increasingly felt that Comrade Zhang Chaoyang had studied philosophy.

After joking for a while, Xu Di started yawning. Her mother had woken her up before dawn, and she was really tired.

“You go sleep for a bit, I’ll wake you up for dinner.”

“Okay, I’m really tired. You go sleep too, it’s fine, I’ll leave you some space.”

Xu Di patted the half of the bed next to her, letting Comrade Zhang Chaoyang know she didn’t mind.

“You sleep, I’m not used to sleeping during the day.”

Zhang Chaoyang could go on missions for days without rest, he was used to it.

Xu Di didn’t bother him. She was sleepy, so she took off her coat and went to sleep.

Zhang Chaoyang listened to Xu Di’s breathing and found it quite amazing.