Chapter 169 Battalion Commander Zhao's Secret Jealousy

On the way back to the ward, Jiang Wanqiu couldn't help but ask, "Why did you suddenly come to the cafeteria?"

Zhao Wenchang looked at Jiang Wanqiu, his voice carrying a faint smile: "I came back from the division commander's place and didn't see you in the ward. I figured you were probably here with Ping An to get food at this hour, so I came to find you."

After finishing their meal, Ping An cleared the table and went to wash the dishes, while Jiang Wanqiu took out paper and pen from the cabinet, sat on the edge of the bed, and gently tapped her temples with the pen, trying hard to recall something.

When Zhao Wenchang returned after washing his hands, he saw her deep in thought and went over to her.

"What are you writing? You seem so engrossed."

The man stood very close, and Jiang Wanqiu's ears turned slightly red. Pointing to a few words on the paper, she said, "A prescription for treating urticaria. I saw Gu Feiyan today; his younger sister, Nannan, has urticaria and it's been going on for a long time without getting better. It's quite pitiful. I had it when I was little, and my grandma cured it with herbal medicine. I was thinking of writing down the prescription to see if it could help."

Upon hearing the name "Gu Feiyan," Zhao Wenchang's eyes deepened. He asked, seemingly casually, "By the way, what do you think of... Gu Feiyan?"

Jiang Wanqiu thought for a moment and replied earnestly, "He's a good person. He's taken good care of me ever since I came here. If it weren't for his quick reaction to Du Wenxiu's situation, the consequences would have been unimaginable. We should really thank him properly."

As Zhao Wenchang listened to Jiang Wanqiu's words, his deep eyes surged with emotions, but eventually returned to calm.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Yes, you're right, he should thank me. On our wedding day, I'll personally toast him with the first glass of wine."

These words sounded polite and considerate, but Jiang Wanqiu sensed something was off about the tone.

She glanced at the man, Zhao Wenchang, who was smiling at her.

But she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong, so she just assumed she was overthinking it and nodded, replying, "Okay."

Zhao Wenchang then changed the subject to something lighter, his voice filled with anticipation for the future: "When spring comes in a few days and the weather gets warmer, I'll take you to the county to buy some good cloth and make you a new dress for your wedding."

Mentioning this made Jiang Wanqiu's cheeks flush slightly. She softly hummed in agreement, feeling a sweet warmth in her heart.

...

In a ward on another floor, Jiang Wanxia, ​​with a dark expression, slammed a lunchbox she had hastily picked up from the floor onto the bedside table in front of Qian Xiaoxia.

Qian Xiaoxia was impatiently rubbing her legs when she saw her return. She immediately started yelling, "Where have you been? You take longer than a pig to get food! Are you trying to starve me to death?!"

While cursing, she grabbed her chopsticks and shoveled a large mouthful into her mouth.

The next second, Qian Xiaoxia felt a sharp pain in her teeth, and with a "pui" sound, she spat out a spittle of saliva mixed with rice grains.

"Cough...Ptooey! What is this stuff!" Qian Xiaoxia exclaimed in disgust, picking sand out of her mouth with her fingers. "Jiang Wanxia! What kind of food did you get? How come there's so much sand in it! Were you dug out of the ground?"

Jiang Wanxia was still annoyed by her older sister's words when she heard her mother-in-law's reply. She retorted irritably, "It's good enough that we have something to eat! Take it or leave it, why are you making such a fuss!"

"Hey! You little bitch, you've really grown some guts!" Qian Xiaoxia glared at her, raised her rough, fat hand, and was about to slap Jiang Wanxia across the face.

Jiang Wanxia instinctively raised her hand to block, but her strength was no match for Qian Xiaoxia, who had been doing manual labor for many years.

With a sharp "smack," a solid slap landed on her face, making her ears ring and causing her to stagger and fall onto the hospital bed behind her.

Her cheeks burned with pain. She propped herself up on the bed and lifted her head. Through her blurred vision, she met Wang Jianjun's face, which was swollen like a pig's head.

She gritted her teeth and stared at the pig-like face in front of her.

That's the face! That's the man!

If it weren't for him! If she hadn't married that good-for-nothing, how could she have ended up like this! The one who should be swaggering around Zhao Wenchang now, the one respected by the entire military region, is Jiang Wanxia!

Why?! Why can Jiang Wanqiu have everything, while she has to be beaten and scolded by an old hag and stay here with a half-dead good-for-nothing?!

Wang Jianjun seemed to sense her gaze. His eyes, squeezed into slits by his fat, darted around, staring intently at her, making a "hoarse" sound in his throat.

That look instantly ignited the powder keg in Jiang Wanxia's heart.

"Why don't you just die?!" she screamed, lunging forward like a madwoman and ripping off Wang Jianjun's oxygen mask! Then, with all her might, she covered his mouth and nose with her hands, her face contorted in a rage as she roared, "Die! If you die, I'll be free! Die!"

"You crazy woman! What are you doing!"

Qian Xiaoxia was terrified by this sudden scene. She screamed and rushed over, tearing at Jiang Wanxia with her hands and feet.

She finally managed to pull Jiang Wanxia away from her son and hurriedly put the oxygen mask back on Wang Jianjun.

Seeing her son's face turn purple from lack of oxygen, Qian Xiaoxia trembled with anger. She turned around, grabbed the bowl of cold rice on the table, and dumped it all over Jiang Wanxia's head without thinking!

Rice, vegetable scraps, and soup mixed with sand dripped down Jiang Wanxia's hair and cheeks, making her look utterly disheveled.

But that wasn't enough to vent her anger. Qian Xiaoxia grabbed the thermos from the bedside table, unscrewed the cap, and splashed the scalding hot water inside directly onto Jiang Wanxia's face!

"ah--!"

A piercing scream burst from the woman's throat, and her face burned with a stinging pain, as if countless needles were pricking it; her skin instantly turned red.

The excruciating pain caused Jiang Wanxia to completely lose her mind. She lunged at Qian Xiaoxia again, grabbed her hair, and slammed her head against the metal cabinet next to her!

"Thump!"

With a muffled thud, Qian Xiaoxia's forehead slammed heavily against the cabinet door, and blood instantly flowed down her forehead.

Taking advantage of the moment when Qian Xiaoxia cried out in pain and let go, Jiang Wanxia scrambled out of the ward and ran away without looking back, ignoring her mother-in-law's curses behind her.

She ran down to the hospital, found an empty bench, and finally couldn't hold back any longer, sobbing uncontrollably with her arms around her knees.

It's all because of Jiang Wanqiu! It's all because of Jiang Wanqiu!

If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have ended up like this! She ruined my life!

She absolutely had to kill Jiang Wanqiu! She absolutely had to! She wanted to send her and that bastard child in her belly to hell together!

Just as she was immersed in her own frenzied hatred, a gentle male voice suddenly rang out above her head.

"Comrade, what's wrong? Do you need help?"

The voice seemed to come from another world, carrying a hint of concern. Jiang Wanxia froze, slowly raising her head. Through her tear-blurred vision, a handsome and familiar face came into view.

The person who arrived... was actually Gu Feiyan.

Gu Feiyan never expected that the woman sitting there crying her heart out was actually Jiang Wanqiu's younger sister, Jiang Wanxia.

He came over because he saw someone crying pitifully and thought of the close bond between the military and the people, so he asked if they needed any help.

When he recognized her and realized that she was Jiang Wanqiu's sister, his concern for her increased, and his attitude softened.

"It's you? What happened to you?" Gu Feiyan frowned as she looked at the disheveled state of her face, especially the area of ​​skin that was burned red.

Seeing his concern, Jiang Wanxia's mind raced with calculations.

She didn't answer, but instead seemed to have found an outlet, her tears flowed even more fiercely, her shoulders heaving, and she cried so hard she couldn't catch her breath.

"Comrade Gu..." she choked, her voice soft and aggrieved, as if she had been greatly wronged, "Why is my life so miserable..."

While crying, she started to talk non-stop, pouring out her grievances like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.

She portrayed herself as a pitiful daughter-in-law who was tormented by her in-laws, saying that her mother-in-law, Qian Xiaoxia, beat and scolded her every day, and that her husband, Wang Jianjun, was a good-for-nothing who only sided with his mother to bully her.

"...He was so badly injured trying to save my sister, and now he's lying in bed unable to move. I feel terrible, so I thought I'd go find my sister... my own sister, and talk to her about my feelings..." Jiang Wanxia said, choking back tears, "But my sister... she doesn't even treat me like a human being!"

"Not only did she not comfort me, she also had that Zhao Ping'an... kick me! Look, look here!"

As she spoke, she rolled up her trouser leg, revealing a bruise on her calf.

She then pointed to her red and swollen face.

"And here! My mother-in-law scalded me with boiling water, and the pain was unbearable, but even though I was in such a terrible state, my sister just watched coldly! Does she even care about me as her sister anymore!"

Gu Feiyan's brows furrowed more and more as she listened.

He knew that Jiang Wanqiu was someone who wouldn't stand to be taken advantage of, but the idea that Jiang Wanqiu would condone Ping An beating his own sister just didn't seem right to him.

"Is there...some misunderstanding here?" Gu Feiyan asked cautiously. "Comrade Jiang Wanqiu is not that kind of person."

"Misunderstanding?" Jiang Wanxia sneered inwardly when she heard him defend Jiang Wanqiu, but on the surface she looked utterly miserable.

"Yes, it's a huge misunderstanding! The biggest misunderstanding is that she stole the man who should have been mine! Zhao Wenchang!"

"What did you say?!"

Hearing this, Gu Feiyan's eyes widened in shock, her face filled with disbelief: "That's impossible!"

"How is it impossible!" Jiang Wanxia was desperate, and her tone became sharp. "We had feelings for each other a long time ago. Battalion Commander Zhao Wenchang and I... we were mutually attracted! If it weren't for Jiang Wanqiu interfering, I would be the one with Zhao Wenchang now!"

Seeing Gu Feiyan's shocked face, she knew that her words had worked and added fuel to the fire.

"Do you really think Battalion Commander Zhao has feelings for her? If he did, why would he wait until today to get married? It's all because of my sister... she's pregnant! She used the child in her belly as a bargaining chip to force Battalion Commander Zhao to marry her! This is a shotgun wedding!"

"Jiang Wanqiu is pregnant?"

The news came so suddenly that he was momentarily stunned. An indescribable sense of loss and bitterness quietly spread from the depths of his heart.

Even so, he still subconsciously defended Jiang Wanqiu.

“Comrade Jiang Wanqiu is a good comrade, she wouldn’t do such a thing.” His voice was a little hoarse, but his tone was very firm.

"Good comrade?" Upon hearing this, Jiang Wanxia wiped away her tears and sneered as she glanced at Gu Feiyan. "Comrade Gu, if you're so siding with my sister, people who don't know better might think you and my sister have some kind of shady relationship."

Upon hearing this, Gu Feiyan waved her hands repeatedly: "You...you're talking nonsense! I didn't!"

He was a little flustered and eager to change the subject. Suddenly, he remembered something else: "Oh right, my sister Nannan was naughty last time and accidentally hurt you. I haven't apologized to you on her behalf yet."

As he spoke, he took out his wallet from his shirt pocket, pulled out two 10-yuan bills, and handed them to Jiang Wanxia.

"Take this and go buy some ointment to apply to your face."

Jiang Wanxia stared wide-eyed at the two brand-new ten-yuan bills in front of her.

She hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise, and the money instantly lessened the resentment and anger she felt.

She paused for a moment, then quickly reached out and grabbed the money, clutching it tightly in her palm as if afraid he would change his mind.

“Comrade Gu, I actually noticed it too,” Jiang Wanxia said to Gu Feiyan, looking at the money in her hand. “You’re thinking about my sister, aren’t you?”

Gu Feiyan was taken aback by her question and instinctively began to retort: ​​"No, my relationship with Comrade Jiang Wanqiu is purely comradely!"

Seeing his expression, Jiang Wanxia knew what was going on.

"Don't deny it. If you didn't care about her, would you have defended her every word I said about her?" She grew bolder as she said this, "In that case, if you're willing to help me, I can help you too. We can both... get what we need."

"Help me win Zhao Wenchang back, make him realize that I'm the woman most suitable for him, and make him divorce my sister. Then... my sister will be yours, won't she?"

"shut up!"

Gu Feiyan finally lost her temper: "You...you're utterly unreasonable! How could you say such shameless things!"

He never imagined that a seemingly gentle and weak woman could be so vicious! She would even scheme against her own sister!

"Comrade Jiang Wanxia, ​​I'm warning you! Breaking up a military marriage is a serious crime! It will get you arrested and imprisoned! What on earth are you thinking!"

Seeing the man's furious expression, Jiang Wanxia merely gave a cold laugh.

Going to jail? She's not afraid of that.

She was willing to pay any price to trample Jiang Wanqiu underfoot, ruin her reputation, and ensure she could never recover her life!

Jiang Wanxia's mind raced.

She looked at the upright and dignified man in front of her with the same eyes she would use to appraise a useful tool.

Wasn't Zhao Wenchang planning to give Jiang Wanqiu the most grand and spectacular wedding in the entire military region?

Fine, then she'll make sure Jiang Wanqiu becomes the biggest and most shameful joke in the entire military region in front of everyone, on her most glorious day!

The man before her was the perfect pawn in her plan.