Chapter 5: I saw a white calf

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Xueyi looked up at him, her eyes full of curiosity.

"It's okay." He Chengze said, "Let's go in."

He took a deep breath and took the key from his pocket.

With a "creak", the door opened.

Jiang Xueyi stepped into the house and looked around.

What comes into view is the living room, with a mahogany square table in the middle and several chairs around it.

The kitchen is on the left side of the living room. I thought it would be empty since He Chengze lives alone, but it is unexpectedly fully equipped with everything. In addition to cooking utensils, there is also a half-person-high chest of drawers and a honeycomb coal stove with an aluminum kettle.

He Chengze said with some discomfort: "Although I live alone, I cook for myself occasionally."

Jiang Xueyi raised the corner of her mouth: "That's good."

She was clearly praising him, but He Chengze thought she was mocking him.

After all, there are not many men who can cook these days. In most families, the man is the breadwinner and the woman is the homemaker. They believe that it is natural for women to cook and that men who enter the kitchen are afraid of their wives.

He Chengze turned his head and snorted.

Jiang Xueyi laughed and took his arm and shook it: "Take me to the bedroom again."

He Chengze seemed unaccustomed to such physical contact. He was stunned for a few seconds before pulling his hand out of Jiang Xueyi's arms: "Got it."

Next to the kitchen is the master bedroom. The old wooden bed opposite the door occupies most of the space. The military green quilt is placed at the head of the bed and folded into square tofu blocks, which is very military style.

Next to the bed is a bookcase with iron sheets inlaid on the four corners. The metal handles of the cabinet door have been rubbed to a shine. When you open the cabinet door, you will see red classics such as "On Protracted War" and "Sparks Spreading Across the Land" on the top shelf, military theory works on the middle shelf, and the bound edition of "The Art of War" and "Introduction to Modern Warfare" placed side by side. The bottom shelf is some miscellaneous books.

Jiang Xueyi casually pulled out a book and opened the pages. It was full of key points marked in red and blue pencils, and the blank spaces were filled with densely packed experiences. Some of the handwriting had been revised repeatedly, revealing a persistence in serious study.

He Chengze coughed lightly: "If I can't sleep at night, I'll get some books to read."

"That's great." Jiang Xueyi stroked the spine of the book with her hand and sighed.

In the extreme weather of the end of the world, books have become tools for burning to keep warm, and it is extremely difficult to find a complete book.

He Chengze has so many books here, I guess he is a person who loves learning.

He Chengze: "I'll take you to the bathhouse."

He led Jiang Xueyi into a room on the right side of the master bedroom. What surprised Jiang Xueyi was that in addition to the washbasin, there was also a shower head in the bathroom. Judging from the traces, the shower head should be usable.

Jiang Xueyi couldn't help but ask: "Can I take a shower with the shower head?"

"Of course." He Chengze looked at her in surprise and turned on the shower.

The gurgling water flowed out of the shower head. Jiang Xueyi caught it with her hands and asked in surprise, "Why is this water hot?"

He Chengze: "Of course it's hot. We have hot water here, but it's not available all day. It's available from 7 to 9 in the morning and from 8 to 10 in the evening. Outside of these hours, you have to take a cold shower."

It's still a little inconvenient.

But in Jiang Xueyi's opinion, this is already very, very good.

It was such a pleasant surprise.

In the end times, water resources are extremely precious. It is difficult to find drinking water, let alone use it for bathing. As for taking a hot bath, that is even more unrealistic.

Could it be that people now generally have access to hot water baths? Jiang Xueyi wondered.

She looked through the original owner's memory and found that it was not the case. Only some of the more "high-end" tube-shaped buildings, or military compound dormitories like this, had independent bathrooms with hot water. Most people had to go to the bathhouse to take a bath.

As for the countryside where the original owner lived, taking a bath required going to a farther river to fetch and boil water, which was very troublesome, so taking a bath only once every few weeks was very common in that era.

Jiang Xueyi said, "Didn't you say you live in a two-bedroom, one-living room apartment?" She counted on her fingers, "Living room, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, now it's three bedrooms and one living room."

"The bathroom and the kitchen were originally in one room, and I asked someone to separate them out." He Chengze seemed to have thought of something, his expression showing a hint of coldness.

Although the two of them tacitly agreed not to mention it, everyone knew that Jiang Xueyi had slept with him because she was attracted by his military status and his position as a regimental commander.

I thought about marrying him, becoming the regiment leader's wife, and living a good life.

When Mrs. Liu, the wife of Captain Zhao in Room 207 next door, first came to join the army, she looked down on the two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment in the Section Chief's Building and wanted to live in the three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment in the Minister's Building. She made a big fuss about it and the couple quarreled a lot.

I think that Jiang Xueyi asked this question because she is probably like Mrs. Liu, who also looks down on this two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment and wants to live in a three-bedroom, two-living-room apartment.

He Chengze suddenly felt a little uneasy, as if a small stone had been stuck in his shoe, which was very painful.

Unexpectedly, the next second, Jiang Xueyi exclaimed in surprise: "You really know how to live. I think I've found a treasure."

He Chengze was stunned for a moment and stammered, "What, what about picking up treasures or not..."

He turned and walked out of the house, his steps hurried, as if he was fleeing in panic: "You must be hungry, I'll go make you some food."

Jiang Xueyi watched He Chengze leave the door. After a while, he brought back some vegetables and meat, which he must have borrowed from the neighbor.

The man carried something into the kitchen, and soon the aroma of food wafted out.

Jiang Xueyi took a deep breath, walked into the kitchen, and rolled up her sleeves: "I'll help you."

He Chengze paused and said "hmm" softly.

Jiang Xueyi washed the dishes with cold water and handed the plate with a few drops of water on it to He Chengze. He Chengze took the plate and used a spatula to put the dishes on it.

The two of them moved back and forth, their movements showing an indescribable tacit understanding.

The food was served, including stir-fried ham with cucumber, shredded pork with green pepper and a loofah soup. These two simple dishes and one soup were refreshing and delicious, and they were all suitable side dishes for summer.

Jiang Xueyi poured two bowls of soup and placed one in front of He Chengze: "A bowl of soup before meals, delicious and healthy."

He Chengze looked at her strangely. He didn't have the habit of drinking soup before meals. He was used to drinking it after meals.

However, he still picked up the bowl and took a sip.

Then he picked up a piece of fried cucumber and ham and put it in Jiang Xueyi's bowl: "Reciprocity is the norm."

Jiang Xueyi raised the corner of her mouth, thinking that this man was quite cute: "Okay, it's a good thing to reciprocate."

After saying this, the two fell silent.

For a moment, the only sound in the living room was the sound of someone chewing food.

Originally, the two were not very familiar with each other. They had different backgrounds and growth experiences, and had nothing to talk about.

If 'she' hadn't climbed into bed with him more than four months ago, the two of them would have never met in their lives.

He Chengze and Jiang Xueyi finished the meal in silence.

Jiang Xueyi began to clean up the dishes. After all, she was living under someone else's roof, so she had to have some self-awareness.

As soon as he stood up, he was held down by He Chengze.

He poured all the food scraps from the dishes into a plate and cleaned them up neatly without even looking at Jiang Xueyi: "I'll do it."

Jiang Xueyi blinked: "I'll help—"

"No need." Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by He Chengze, "I told your stepmother that you are a pregnant woman, what kind of work can you do? Do you want me to contradict myself?"

Jiang Xueyi smiled with her eyes curved like crescent moons: "Okay."

She sat on the bench in the living room and looked towards the kitchen. He Chengze's shadow swayed slightly on the ground through the light, and the sound of dishes colliding echoed with the sound of dripping water.

Jiang Xueyi lowered her head, touched her slightly bulging belly, and chuckled.

It was getting dark, and Jiang Xueyi glanced at the wall clock. It was time for hot water to be supplied.

She picked out clothes from her luggage: "I'm going to take a shower."

"Okay." He Chengze took a newspaper from the coffee table and began to read it seriously.

Jiang Xueyi took her clothes into the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and hot water sprayed out from the shower head, accompanied by a slight smell of rust.

The hot water brushed across my shoulders and collarbone, and the steaming mist quickly blurred the small window.

Jiang Xueyi hummed a tune while washing every part of her body, enjoying this hard-earned hot bath.

There was an intermittent sound of water coming from the bathroom, and suddenly, the sound of water stopped.

He Chengze paused in flipping through the newspaper, then sat up abruptly, causing the papers to rustle.

Realizing his own loss of composure, he lowered his head in panic, trying to immerse his entire mind in the text.

"He Chengze..."

"He Chengze..."

The woman's voice was like wet silk, soft and damp. "Help me get the towel."

The tail note swirled, mixed with the sound of water droplets dripping on the ends of hair, creating ripples in the silent living room.

She cleared her throat and her voice suddenly rose a little: "It's in my bag. I forgot to take it just now."

"Oh..." He Chengze stood up suddenly, and his knees hit the coffee table, causing it to shake.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Xueyi sensed something was wrong and stuck half of her head out of the bathroom.

"It's okay! Wait a minute, I'll get it for you soon." The man spoke very quickly, and it seemed that he almost bit his tongue.

He Chengze walked towards the bathroom with a towel in his hand, his steps feeling like they were stepping on cotton.

The hot air wafting out from the crack of the bathroom door was wrapped in the fragrance of soap nuts, and seemed to contain some indescribable fragrance, which went straight into his nose.

He held his knuckles above the door for a long time before daring to tap it gently: "Towel..."

With a "creak", the door opened.

A hand stretched out, white and slender, with crystal water droplets on the knuckles.

He Chengze's face turned red, like a cooked shrimp. He stuffed the towel into Jiang Xueyi's hand, and before Jiang Xueyi could say anything, he turned and left. His posture seemed like he was running away.

Jiang Xueyi held the towel in her hand and looked at He Chengze's back with a thoughtful look in her eyes.

Haven't we been honest with each other before? Why are you still so innocent?

After Jiang Xueyi finished taking a shower, she went to take a shower with He Chengze.

He always took a quick shower, which was much faster than Jiang Xueyi's and only took five minutes to finish.

When He Chengze came out of the bathroom while wiping his wet hair with a towel, he saw Jiang Xueyi sitting on the bench in the living room.

She was wearing a floral cotton shirt and trousers. It was obviously an old-fashioned style, but she managed to create a unique charm.

The trouser legs seemed to be too short, revealing a section of white calves, which was so bright that it was a bit dazzling under the light.

It was not until now that He Chengze began to feel the reality of the fact that a woman had moved into his house.