Chapter 23 Ayu, seeing you is like seeing you

Jiang Peiyu saw that they were about to leave and walked over to stop them.
“If you want me to let Xia Lizhu go, it’s not impossible…”

Chen Hui immediately spoke up, “What do you want?”

“Cash—five thousand yuan. I want to see the money by noon tomorrow.”
“Miss the deadline, and the deal’s off.”

After saying that, Jiang Peiyu didn’t even bother to look at their expressions or whether they agreed—she turned around and went back into the house.

The crowd of villagers, seeing that the drama was over, began to disperse.
Jiang Wenshu hurried to close the courtyard gate.

Li Shuzhen, worried that Jiang Peiyu might actually go withdraw the report, came over and held her daughter’s hand, trying to persuade her.

“Sweetheart, you can’t withdraw the case…”
“Our family may be poor, but we’re not desperate for their money…”

“Yeah, little sis, listen to second brother—whatever you do, don’t drop the charges…”

“Daughter, listen to your father. Xia Lizhu deserves what she’s getting, we—”

“Aiya, Dad, Mom, don’t worry. Listen to me.”
“I never planned to withdraw the case—that was just to trick them…”

“I have a plan. Xia Zhihao has been the textile factory director all these years. He’s definitely embezzled a lot…”

“Whether he brings the money or not tomorrow, we’ll write an anonymous letter to report him.”
“If he brings the money, don’t worry, just take it.”
“If he doesn’t, we lose nothing.”
“Either way, Xia Lizhu can forget about getting out of jail.”

At this time, all monetary dealings were in cash. There were no bank transfers or digital records, so even if something happened, nothing could be traced back to Jiang Peiyu.

Hearing her explanation, the whole Jiang family finally felt relieved.

There was still farm work left to do, so Jiang Fuguì took the eldest son and his wife back to the fields.
Jiang Qiyang followed his mother out to play in the fields.
Jiang Wenyan went to the back hill to pick melons for tomorrow’s sale.

Only Li Shuzhen and Jiang Peiyu were left at home.

Since there was nothing else to do, Jiang Peiyu went to her room, grabbed some clean clothes, carried two buckets of hot water to the backyard bathhouse, and took a shower and washed her hair.

Just as she came out, the voice of the postman rang out at the front gate.

“Jiang Peiyu! You’ve got a letter.”
“Oh, coming!”

Jiang Peiyu was puzzled. Who would be writing her a letter?
After signing for it, the postman handed her a brown envelope.

She took the envelope and looked at it. A beautiful postage stamp was affixed, with a postmark over it.
The letter was from Lu Huaijin.

Instantly overjoyed, Jiang Peiyu rushed to her room to read it in private.
Sitting by the bed, she carefully opened the envelope, feeling oddly nervous—like she was about to read a love letter.

---

Ah Yu (Peiyu):
Seeing this letter is like seeing me. I hope you’re doing well at home.

The marriage application form has already been submitted to my commanding officer after I returned to the base, but I don’t know how long the approval will take.
I’ll keep asking about it. Once it’s approved, I’ll write you again to let you know.

By then, I’ll have ten days of marriage leave.
Three days for round trip travel, so I’ll be able to stay home for seven days.

I’ve enclosed a remittance slip of 200 yuan with this letter.
When you have time, go to the department store with Mom and Dad and buy whatever you need for the wedding.

I’ve already written to my mother and told her what to prepare on her end, so you don’t need to worry about that.

By the time you receive this letter, I’ll have already been back at the base for half a month.
I miss you a lot—do you miss me?

Ah Yu, be my most beautiful bride and wait for me at home.
With all my heart, I send this to you.

August 2, 1980
Lu Huaijin

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Lu Huaijin’s handwriting was just like the man himself—strong and powerful, radiating masculine energy.

Though the letter was short, reading it made Jiang Peiyu feel incredibly happy.
So this is what being in love feels like. It’s wonderful.

She looked at the date on the letter—five days ago. She wondered if the marriage application had been approved yet.

Thinking of this, Jiang Peiyu sat at her desk and began writing a reply.
She planned to mail it the next day while out selling melons.

---

Back at the military base, it had already been over half a month since Lu Huaijin submitted the marriage application. Still, there was no word from the leadership.
Unable to wait any longer, he went straight to the commanding officer’s office to ask.

Jinshi First Military District Office
“Report!”
“Come in.”

Commander Jiang Yide was sitting at his desk reading a newspaper.
He glanced up and, seeing it was Lu Huaijin, looked back down at his paper.

Lu Huaijin walked over and stood beside the desk.
“Commander, has my marriage application been approved yet?”

“You brat, now you’re in a hurry?”

Before, no matter how much he was pushed to settle his personal affairs, he always dragged his feet and avoided the issue.

So many women from the performing arts troupe had come to ask Jiang Yide to help persuade Lu Huaijin—the most stubborn guy of them all.
But no matter how hard he tried, Lu never budged.

This time, when Lu Huaijin submitted the application, it had already been approved long ago.
Commander Jiang had deliberately held it back just to make him sweat.

Knowing he had offended the commander by being so difficult about dating before, Lu Huaijin tried to smooth things over.

“Commander, back then I was just trying to be responsible to the women…”
“There’s no point marrying someone I don’t love—we can’t just settle, right?”

Besides, those women were all fake—only after his rank and future.
Some even expected him to give up the child.
How can someone like that spend a lifetime with you?

“You brat! What about that girl your sister-in-law introduced—the dancer from the performing troupe?”
“What was her name again… Yang…”
“Yang Wenjing.”
“Yes! Yang Wenjing. Such a great girl.”

“You just wouldn’t take a liking to her. But she really liked you and was even willing to accept both kids.”
“And what did you do? Came back home for just two days after a mission, and then immediately threw a marriage application on my desk.”
“How am I supposed to explain this to your sister-in-law?”

Commander Jiang Yide looked at Lu Huaijin, already getting a headache.

This kid didn’t say a word, and now he suddenly wanted to get married. Meanwhile, Jiang had promised his wife he’d make a match between Lu Huaijin and Yang Wenjing.

Now this? With Lu suddenly doing this, he was stuck in an awkward position.
When his wife found out, wouldn’t she throw a fit?

“I don’t care,” Lu Huaijin replied. “I just like my fiancée the way she is. I don’t want anyone else.”
“That Yang Wenjing—whoever wants her can have her. I don’t.”

Accept the kids? That woman was just pretending to be kind.
Once married, who knows how she’d treat the children.

She never liked them in the first place. She kept beating around the bush, trying to get him to give the kids away.

When he refused, her attitude changed. She began giving him the cold shoulder, putting on airs.

Now that she saw he wasn’t falling for her act, she was probably trying to settle for marrying him first—then figuring out a way to get rid of the kids later.

Just thinking of Yang Wenjing’s fake and pretentious attitude made Lu Huaijin’s face darken.

Seeing his expression, Commander Jiang pulled open a drawer and threw the already-approved marriage application onto the desk in front of him.

“Get lost. Just seeing you pisses me off.”

Lu Huaijin picked up the document folder, opened it, and after glancing at the approval inside, happily tucked it away.

“Thank you, Commander! I’ll take my leave now.”

Commander Jiang couldn’t stand the smug look on this kid’s face.
“You still have to finish training the new recruits and assign them to their squads before you can take your marriage leave.”
“Yes, Commander!”

With that, Lu Huaijin left the office, grinning from ear to ear, thrilled to have the marriage application approved.