Chapter 166 Battalion Commander Zhao Wants Her "Reward"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhao Wenchang suddenly realized, "Look at my brain! I'm so happy I've gone mad! I have to send a telegram, I'll send one today! Tell our parents they're going to have a grandson... no, a granddaughter!"

An overwhelming sense of happiness washed over him like a tidal wave, making him feel light and dizzy, as if he were walking on clouds.

Just then, the ward door was pushed open. A nurse in a white coat walked in carrying a tray, ready to change Zhao Wenchang's dressing and give him an IV.

Zhao Wenchang's eyes were still somewhat unfocused. He stared blankly at the ceiling, then turned to look at Jiang Wanqiu, and suddenly blurted out, "Wanqiu, do you think... I'm already dead? I died while on a mission, and all of this... is just my imagination before I died?"

"Pah! Pah! Pah!" Upon hearing this, Jiang Wanqiu quickly reached out to cover his mouth. "What nonsense are you spouting so early in the morning! Don't say such unlucky things!"

The nurse who was about to change the IV bag was also stunned and looked completely bewildered.

She subconsciously looked up at the IV bottle hanging on the shelf, then checked the prescription, muttering to herself: Aren't these all anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant drugs? I haven't heard of any of them having side effects that damage brain nerves... Why is Battalion Commander Zhao talking nonsense?

"Come on, time to change the dressing. Lift your leg up a bit," the nurse said in a businesslike manner.

Jiang Wanqiu quickly lent a hand, helping Zhao Wenchang pull down half of his pants.

Changing the dressing was no easy task. The gauze was stuck tightly to the rolled-up skin by dried scabs. The nurse soaked it in saline solution for ages, but could only peel it off little by little.

The feeling was like having a layer of skin forcibly peeled off.

Zhao Wenchang didn't utter a sound, only clenched his teeth, cold sweat rolling down his face. As the last piece of gauze was torn off, the scabbed wound was ripped open again, and bright red blood immediately seeped out.

The nurse deftly disinfected and applied medicine, glancing up at him and casually asking, "Does it hurt?"

Zhao Wenchang forced out a few words through gritted teeth: "What do you think?"

The nurse paused, then pursed her lips and replied in a tone that suggested she was used to it:

"It's okay if it hurts. It means you're still breathing and alive. You're just thinking about all sorts of nonsense all day!"

The nurse packed up the tray, glanced back at Zhao Wenchang before leaving, and reminded Jiang Wanqiu, "Family members, keep a close eye on things. If Battalion Commander Zhao talks nonsense again, remember to report it to your attending physician immediately."

The ward door clicked shut, and the room fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of their breathing remaining.

"Come here and let me take another look."

He stretched out his long arm, not caring whether it would aggravate his wound, and pulled Jiang Wanqiu, who was still standing by the bed, into his arms.

"Hey you..." Jiang Wanqiu exclaimed in surprise, and her body fell into a hot and firm chest.

The man smelled strongly of medicine mixed with a faint odor of sweat, which wasn't exactly pleasant, but the smell that filled her nostrils made her feel incredibly at ease.

She was completely encircled by him, her back pressed tightly against his burning chest, and she could clearly feel his heart pounding, strong and powerful, like a drumbeat.

Zhao Wenchang rested his chin on her shoulder, his warm breath spraying onto her earlobes and neck, sending shivers down her spine.

After a while, perhaps having calmed down, Zhao Wenchang thought of something else and began to speak in a cloying tone: "But if you get pregnant, then... will the reward we agreed on still stand?"

His hands became restless, his rough fingertips, calloused and soft, gently caressing her supple waist through the thin fabric. The movements carried no lust, but rather resembled a large dog begging for food from its owner, both cheeky and irresistibly charming.

Jiang Wanqiu felt ticklish from his touch and couldn't help but twist her waist to avoid the man's hand.

She turned her head, her eyes sparkling, a mischievous smile playing on her lips: "What reward?"

"You!" Zhao Wenchang was very displeased.

He turned her around so she was facing him, held her hand, and his eyes were full of accusation: "You little ingrate! Just a few days ago, you promised me that when I came back, you would pay me back all those rewards with interest."

The woman smiled and slowly said, "Oh—so that's what it is."

She deliberately dragged out her words, watching the man's eyes light up instantly, and then slowly and cruelly added, "But, things are different now. We're pregnant, carrying a golden nugget inside us, so that reward we talked about before... is off the table."

Zhao Wenchang's smile froze instantly, and the corner of his mouth twitched: "It's scrapped?"

"Hmm." Jiang Wanqiu suppressed a laugh, giving him an innocent "I'm sorry" look, and nodded heavily. "For the sake of the child, you should just bear with it for now."

"No!" Zhao Wenchang blurted out, "Jiang Wanqiu, you can't do this to me! I've been waiting for this for so long! I think about it day and night, I even dream about it!"

He's in his mid-twenties, at the peak of his sexual energy. He has such a beautiful, fragrant, and soft wife sleeping right next to him, and you're telling me he can see her but can't have her?

This is going to kill him!

Looking at Zhao Wenchang's handsome face, which was filled with "utter grief", Jiang Wanqiu finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

She gently comforted you, "Okay, okay, I was just kidding. But you really have to be careful in the first three months... After that, after you give birth, you can do whatever you want, it's all up to you, okay?"

Zhao Wenchang looked at her with a resentful gaze, and after a long while, he muttered, "Hmph, all he does is make empty promises."

That's what he said, but he couldn't bear to let go of Jiang Wanqiu's hand.

Although he felt extremely regretful, Zhao Wenchang knew that women who were pregnant really couldn't do *that* kind of thing, and he could only indulge in his whims in words.

Just as the two were getting intimate, the door to the ward was pushed open.

Zhao Ping'an burst in, carrying an aluminum lunchbox: "Dad, Mom! I'm back with the food! There are meat buns today!"

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Zhao Wenchang embracing Jiang Wanqiu, their affectionate display making even a young boy like him blush.

Jiang Wanqiu blushed when she saw that Ping An had bumped into her. She hurriedly stood up from the man's arms and was embarrassed for a moment, not knowing how to speak.

Zhao Wenchang didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, his eyes lit up and he waved to Ping An.

He scooped Ping An up and pulled him to the bedside, placed his large hand on Ping An's shoulder, cleared his throat, and announced in an unprecedentedly solemn tone:

"You little rascal, listen to me! You're going to have a little sister!"

Zhao Ping'an exclaimed "Huh?" and froze, almost dropping the large lunchbox in his hand.

He looked at Zhao Wenchang's flushed face, then at Jiang Wanqiu's smiling nod, and it took him a long time to react.

"Really...really?" he asked uncertainly.

"Really!" Zhao Wenchang smiled. "From now on, you're the older brother! You have to protect your sister. If anyone dares to bully her, you beat them up! You hear me!"

Zhao Ping'an's face instantly lit up with immense joy. He nodded vigorously, his eyes sparkling: "I heard you! Dad, don't worry! I'll definitely protect my sister!"

...

In the afternoon, an urgent telegram was delivered to the Zhao family by fast horse.

Zhao Xiaohua was mixing cornmeal in the kitchen, preparing to make cornbread for dinner.

When she took the telegram from the postman and shakily read the words, she swayed and accidentally knocked over the bowl of cornmeal beside her, spilling cornmeal all over herself.

"Oh my God!"

She didn't even bother to brush the flour off her clothes, and rushed into the yard, her voice so loud it could lift the roof off: "Husband! Husband! Come back quickly! A telegram from Wenchang! Wanqiu... Wanqiu is pregnant! Our family has an heir!"

Zhao Shan, who was weaving baskets outside the yard, rushed out upon hearing the noise, snatched the telegram, and read it word by word. After reading it, this tough man's eyes instantly turned red.

"Quick! Go...go to the village store and buy a string of firecrackers! The biggest one! This is great news, we have to set off some fireworks to celebrate!" Zhao Shan's voice trembled with excitement.

Ma Jinhua was overjoyed, her hands clasped together in prayer. She prayed to her husband on the wall while wiping away tears and repeatedly chanting, "Ancestors, please bless us! Our Zhao family has finally been restored..."

On his way to the supply and marketing cooperative, Zhao Shan kept telling everyone he met that his daughter-in-law was pregnant, so the news quickly reached Zhao Wuqiang's ears.

He and his wife were at the village head's house checking how much Zhao Hui had taken from the supply and marketing cooperative for her wedding when they heard the news. They both stopped what they were doing and looked at each other.

In that glance, there was surprise, there was envy, but more than anything, there was a rekindled hope after a complex mix of emotions.

When Zhao Wuqiang got home that evening, he closed the door and said to his wife in private, "I knew Wenchang was a good kid! Now that's great, even if... even if we really can't have any more children in this life, all the family property will go to Wenchang's children. They'll still be our own flesh and blood, which is better than giving it to outsiders!"

Hearing her husband's words, Zhao Wuqiang's wife pondered them, feeling somewhat uneasy, but given the current situation, she could only nod in agreement.

Liu Erxing naturally heard the deafening crackling of firecrackers coming from the Zhao family's courtyard.

She was tidying up the yard at home when she heard the commotion, so she decided to go and find out what was going on.

When she finally learned from Zhao Xiaohua that Jiang Wanqiu was pregnant, her powdered face instantly fell, becoming even longer than a donkey's face.

"Pregnant? So fast?" Her eyes darted around, and a wave of jealousy welled up inside her.

She offered a few words of congratulations to the Zhao family with a forced smile, but as soon as she turned away, her smile turned cold.

That vixen from the city is really cunning! Back then, everyone in the village knew that the Zhao family man was sick and unlikely to have an heir. Even her son, Zhao Wuqiang, couldn't be cured after going to a big hospital in the city. So how did Jiang Wanqiu manage to get pregnant so easily?

Liu Erxing grew angrier the more she thought about it. Zhao Wuqiang's family property was something she had planned to leave to Shitou, the godson he had adopted from her maternal family!

The women in the village gathered together and began to chatter amongst themselves.

"Hey, have you heard? Zhao Wenchang's city wife is pregnant."

"Really? I have to go and congratulate you."

To be honest, in previous years, people took advantage of the fact that his family had no descendants and gossiped about him a lot behind his back. We can't afford to offend him again this time.

Some people, however, couldn't bring themselves to congratulate her, and said with a sneer, "What's there to congratulate? She's only just gotten pregnant; whether she can give birth is still another matter!"

Upon hearing these words, Liu Erxing immediately had an idea.

She sidled up to a group of gossipy women, her face full of disdain: "Hey, I'm telling you, don't you guys think this is a bit strange?"

Seeing that she had successfully attracted everyone's attention, she continued, her voice carrying a clear hint:

"Think about it, Zhao Wenchang had just left home, and Jiang Wanqiu was already pregnant? The timing... isn't it a bit too coincidental? We know the girls around here well, but she's a woman from the city, who knows if she was clean before?"

She paused, then poured another spoonful of oil into the fire: "Besides, have you forgotten? Why did the Zhao family adopt Ping An in the first place? Wasn't it because everyone said the two brothers couldn't have children? This child, to put it bluntly, his origins... whether he's legitimate or not is another matter!"

As soon as she finished speaking, someone immediately echoed her words.

"Hey, what Erxing's family said makes sense!" a plump woman said. "Think about it, the Zhao brothers have health problems, that's been known for years. Sister-in-law Erxing, to put it bluntly, your son Zhao Wuqiang has been married for so many years and hasn't gotten pregnant at all. He's taken medicine like it's food, but it hasn't helped. How come Zhao Wenchang, on the other hand, got pregnant less than a year after marrying a city woman?"

“That’s right!” another man exclaimed, spitting as he spoke. “I’ve heard that women from the south are very shrewd, unlike the honest and virtuous girls here. In the Li family village next door, a couple of years ago, a man married a woman from the south, and she ran off with someone else in less than six months. I heard she already has someone else outside!”

As these words were passed around, they inexplicably became more and more believable.

When the words reached Zhao Xiaohua's ears, she was drawing water from the well. As the gossipy women's words became increasingly offensive, she slammed the bucket on the ground with a bang, splashing water all over her trouser leg.

"You're talking nonsense!" Zhao Xiaohua was so angry that her face turned red as she cursed at the women. "My wife is an innocent and virtuous woman! You gossipy old women can't stand seeing others doing well when you're unhappy in your own families! If I hear another word from you, I'll tear your mouths apart!"

But when she opened her mouth, she couldn't out-argue the whole village. After only a few words, she was accused of being "guilty" and "getting angry," with some even saying, "It's questionable whether this child can even be born."

Zhao Xiaohua was so angry that she trembled all over. In the end, she could only carry half a bucket of water, wipe away her tears, and run home.

"Mom! Listen to what those people outside are saying!" As soon as Zhao Xiaohua entered the door, tears streamed down her face.

Inside the main room, Ma Jinhua was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a half-finished shoe sole in her hand. After hearing the few words that Zhao Xiaohua had learned, her face was so gloomy that it could drip water.