This was the first time Bonnie had truly realized how difficult it was to be a military wife!

Gu Ye would occasionally go on missions before, but back then she was all alone without children. When Gu Ye wasn't home, she could go back to her parents' house, visit her secret base, or go beachcombing. Now that she's pregnant with Liu Jiu and has to help other military wives take care of their children, and Gu Ye isn't home either, Bao Ni is realizing how difficult it is.

With three young children, Bonnie has to dedicate most of her time and energy to them. She also has to think about three meals a day and do all the laundry. Deciding what to eat for each meal is a huge challenge, especially since she can't cook herself; it's really difficult.

Think of other military wives; they have elderly parents to care for and young children to raise. They go to work or other jobs, and when they come home, they still have to take care of their families. Under a sky full of stars, after finishing all their work, they drag their tired bodies to rest. On a large bed, besides the sleeping children, there is no sign of their husbands.

A military wife living alone at home, tired, with her husband not by her side; sick, with no man by her side either.

For the first time, in the pitch-black night, facing the direction of the sea, Bonnie felt an urge to shout. She wanted to yell, "Gu Ye, where are you? Come back soon! I miss you! Liu Jiu misses you too!"

But she couldn't. As a military wife, she had to be brave and protect the rear area, so she could only shed tears silently.

The next day, Bonnie woke up with slightly swollen eyes, probably from crying for a long time the day before.

Her mother would be here soon, so Bonnie quickly applied cold water to her eyes to keep her from worrying. To cover up the signs of crying, Bonnie put on makeup, applied face cream, and patted on some powder.

It's so hot today, it's really uncomfortable!

I made steamed egg custard this morning. Xiaobaisong is already quite skilled at seasoning it. The four of them have relatively fixed appetites, and the amount they eat each time is about the same. In Bonnie's words, as long as the food is cooked and seasoned to the right taste, it's considered a success.

When Bonnie's mother came, she brought a basket of food and brought her eldest child. Her youngest grandson was at home, being looked after by his great-grandmother.

"Mom, you're here. Why did you bring anything? I have some food here."

Bao Ni's mother ignored her daughter, put down the basket, which contained some vegetables and wild greens, as well as some wild fruits.

"Go ahead and do what you need to do. Will you be back for lunch?"

"Not necessarily. You guys eat first, no need to wait for me. Just put the food in the kitchen. It's hot, so don't worry about it getting cold."

Bonnie walked away with a basket on her back and a machete in her hand.

After parking the car in the usual spot, Bonnie changed into her swimsuit and went to check on her seaweed.

Swimming far away, there was no trace of her. Her two bamboo rafts had vanished without a trace, swept away by the waves to some unknown corner.

Bonnie used thirty ropes to hold the seaweed seedlings together; it took her so much effort.

Bonnie wiped the seawater off her face, took a deep breath, and dived into the sea. Several of the wooden stakes she and Gu Ye had nailed were still there, some with seaweed seedling ropes tied to them, but only the ropes remained; the seaweed seedlings were nowhere to be found.

Bonnie surfaced, took a breath, and then went to check out another area with wooden stakes.

Dive down. There are more wooden stakes left on this side than on the other side, so Gu Ye might be stronger than her. On the ten or so surviving wooden stakes, there are still six or seven seaweed seedling ropes dangling. Among them, three ropes still have two-thirds of the seaweed seedlings on them.

Bonnie swam back up to the cave, rebuilt the bamboo raft, and needed to tie up the remaining seaweed seedlings. Regardless, Bonnie's goal was to see if artificial seaweed cultivation was even possible in this era of scarcity.

Bonnie made a small bamboo valve, moved it to the surface, and pushed it over the wooden stake. Bonnie then dived back into the sea and re-tied the three surviving seaweed seedlings to the bamboo raft. Watching the seaweed seedlings floating in the water, Bonnie felt a little better.

All the hard work I put into setting up this seaweed farming experimental base over a long period of time was basically destroyed by a typhoon. It's uncertain how long the remaining three seaweed seedling ropes will last, or whether they'll eventually grow into large seaweed.

The two bamboo rafts were blown away by the typhoon and are now lost somewhere, perhaps even to the ends of the earth.

Bonnie lay on the large rock, the sun warming her body. She didn't want to go home and felt very depressed.

Honestly, in all my years, the biggest hurdle I ever faced was the pressure Old Jiang put me through training and forced me to go to military school. But compared to now, what is that?

In this era of food and drink shortages, in this era without entertainment facilities, in this era without cell phones and computers, in this era without food delivery, Bonnie doesn't know how she has survived for so long; sometimes she thinks it's a miracle.

Gu Ye hasn't been home for several days. I don't know if he's gone on another mission or if something has happened at the military base that prevents him from coming back.

For the women in the family compound, having a husband or not makes little difference. Every day, they don't know where their men are, when they will come home, or if they are safe. All they have is waiting, a long, drawn-out wait.

After basking in the sun for a while, Bonnie didn't want to cry anymore. She took a machete, carried a basket on her back, and climbed to the top of the mountain.

Standing at the highest point, looking down at the boundless sea, Bonnie shouted, "Gu Ye, when are you coming back? Gu Ye, come back soon, Gu Ye, I miss you."

Meanwhile, in a secluded thicket, Gu Ye and his comrades lay in ambush. For some reason, his ears felt hot. He suddenly thought of Bao Ni and Liu Jiu, wondering how they were doing. Could Bao Ni manage three children alone? How would she feed them?

"Attention, something's up."

Gu Ye snapped out of his daze, all his thoughts vanished, and his attention became focused on the woods ahead.

Bonnie was exhausted and hungry after shouting, so she needed to find something to eat.

Although the mountains on the island aren't very high, very few people manage to reach the top because they're too steep. Bonnie climbed up on sheer willpower.

Going up the mountain is easy, but coming down is hard. Bonnie wandered around and found a wild apple tree. She didn't know what kind it was, but it was quite red. Bonnie climbed up, picked one, wiped it on her clothes a couple of times, took a bite, and oh my, it was quite sweet!

Bonnie sat in the tree and ate five apples in a row. Sure enough, eating sweet things makes you feel good, and Bonnie thought that was really true.

With food in her stomach and her mood improving, she started picking apples. She picked almost a whole basketful from just one tree. Bonnie's basket wasn't small; her grandfather had specially made it for her.

Alright, now that we have food, let's go down the mountain.

Along the way, Bonnie also picked a lot of wild vegetables, choosing the tender ones, tying them together with vines, and carrying them around.

Sometimes luck comes knocking and you can't stop it. Halfway up the mountain, a pheasant got stuck in the bushes, not knowing what it was rushing to do. Oh well, she got lucky.

Bonnie slowly approached, reached out, grabbed the pheasant's two arms, and walked away.

With pheasants and apples, I don't care about Gu Ye or men anymore. I'll just go home and eat meat. Isn't that better?

Humming an off-key song and howling like a banshee, Bonnie came down the mountain!