Chapter 51 Chapter 51 When the child is born, will you go there...
On the wedding day, she simply changed into a red dress, much like any other. Su Yan retrieved her makeup and tools from her space and applied a light makeup application, albeit minimal, without even lipstick. She applied foundation, fixed her eyebrows, and curled her bangs.
Qin Zhanwu came to pick people up in a jeep with a big red flower hanging in front of the car. He was also wearing a full set of lieutenant colonel uniform, but his chest was not covered with medals.
Su Yan got in the car and soon arrived at the military academy. The wedding was held in the auditorium. Not all the classmates in the military academy went, only those who were free in the class were there, and those who had families also brought their families.
The wedding was presided over by the chairman of the military academy union. He said a few words of advice and encouragement, and presented gifts including a dozen badges of great men and several books of quotations from great men.
The principal of the military academy, who looked to be in his fifties, patted Qin Zhanwu on the shoulder and said, "I don't know how many times the old commander has called me. I introduced so many to you before, but you didn't like them. Now, your life's most important matter has finally been resolved. For us soldiers, once we have settled our family affairs, we still need to make progress and return to the front lines."
Qin Zhanwu said yes with a smile and stood at attention and saluted.
The principal then said to Su Yan, "Don't underestimate Zhanwu's age. He joined the army at sixteen and was a combat hero in Korea, having made many achievements. Of course, you're not bad either. You come from a working-class background and have a college education, making you an intellectual. Our army also has a lot of roughnecks and intellectuals. You're an educated person who understands reason, so please be tolerant of Zhanwu when it comes to family matters. You must support his work."
Su Yan felt something was wrong with what she heard, but she just smiled and nodded without saying anything.
After the leader finished speaking, the two swore an oath in front of the leader's photo, and the wedding was complete. Then they went to the school cafeteria for dinner. In these difficult times, the military academy cafeteria was better than the machinery factory cafeteria, but it only had a few more steamed buns and a couple of dishes. It wasn't possible to have the all-you-can-eat white flour buns of previous years.
After finishing the meal, Su Yan said to Qin Zhanwu, "I'm not feeling well. I'm going back first."
Qin Zhanwu thought she was going to vomit again, and fearing that others would think too much, he did not allow those who said they wanted to make trouble in the bridal chamber to follow her. When he got home, he brought a basin over to her and said, "If you want to vomit, vomit here!"
Su Yan pushed him away and lay down on the small single sofa. "Who said I was going to vomit? I just wanted to come back. I don't know those people. I can just go home after eating. Why did you chat for so long? Really?" She was wearing a pair of black high heels today, which was not what she was used to. "My feet hurt from standing."
Qin Zhanwu said, "Are you still afraid of seeing people? You're the youngest and most educated among these family members, so they should be afraid of you, right? Are you also afraid of seeing those rural women?" He poured hot water from the thermos and handed it to Su Yan, "Come on, soak in a bath. You're really spoiled! It's just standing in high heels for a few hours. Your physical fitness is not good enough. You need to exercise more."
Su Yan took off her socks. The water temperature was just right. She sighed comfortably, "Physical fitness is determined by genes. Some people smoke and drink and can live to 80 or 90, while others get up early, go to bed early, and eat healthily and can only live to 60. Why don't we just follow nature's lead?"
Qin Zhanwu heard the word 'gene' and was about to ask what it meant when He Zhixiang slammed the door open and said, "Zhanwu, Zhanwu, Yang Mo is here and insists on seeing you. I've tried to persuade her but she won't leave and is still standing at the entrance to the military academy..."
He was quick-witted and had already made his words clear before anyone saw him. Seeing Qin Zhanwu squatting on the ground adding hot water to the basin for Su Yan to soak her feet, he was stunned for a moment and blurted out: "Oh, you're washing your wife's feet?"
Qin Zhanwu stood up, angry and embarrassed: "What do you mean by washing feet? I just added some hot water, what are you talking about?" He immediately threw the foot towel to Su Yan and hurriedly pulled He Zhixiang out.
As soon as He Zhixiang left the house, he started nagging Qin Zhanwu about his experience: "Zhanwu, you're washing your wife's feet right after you get married, so she'll be riding on your head in the future. I never thought that. You usually talk big, like you'll slap her twice if she doesn't obey, but that's all just bragging. I think in your family, if your wife glares at you, you won't dare to do anything."
Qin Zhanwu pulled him to the dormitory door: "What are you talking about? Go tell Yang Mo, I have nothing to say to her. It's like there's something going on between us."
He Zhixiang shook his head. "You know that girl is very stubborn. If I could convince her, she wouldn't insist on coming to Jiangzhou for further studies. She could have gone to Beijing, but she came to Jiangzhou for you. Anyway, she won't leave now. If you don't give face to others, you should go out and persuade her not to make such a fuss for herself, even for the sake of the Third Commander."
Qin Zhanwu thought for a moment and said, "If we want to make things clear, I already made it clear before I came to Jiangzhou. How about this, you go and tell her that next Sunday, my husband and I will invite her to our house for dinner."
He Zhixiang was stunned after hearing this, and after a long while he said, "Aren't you afraid of a fight between those two women?"
Qin Zhanwu smiled and said, "You're wrong. Comrade Lu is very well-mannered and would never start a fight. Just listen to me and pass on my message. It will definitely ease the worries of this stubborn girl."
He Zhixiang had no choice but to pass on the message and give it another piece of advice: "Don't be so stubborn. There are plenty of young and handsome officers. Zhanwu, he's married now, so just forget it. It's my fault too. I blindly passed on the message to you, giving you hope, and now it's shattered."
The girl looked about the same age as Su Yan. She had two long braids and wore a green army uniform. She had a sad and unconvinced expression on her face. "What does the bride look like?"
He Zhixiang thought to himself, it has nothing to do with you what I look like.
Yang Mo snorted angrily: "I know, she is beautiful and a college student." Seeing that He Zhixiang didn't say anything, she stamped her feet: "Go back and tell Brother Zhanwu that I will definitely go to their house for dinner." After that, she turned around and ran away crying.
He Zhixiang shook his head: "What a sin! Zhanwu is really a Jia Baoyu. Why do so many women like him?"
When Qin Zhanwu returned, Su Yan was looking at the bed in the bedroom, worried. Seeing him come in, she asked, "Why is this bed so small? It's only about 1.2 meters, right? How can I sleep on it? If I put two quilts on it, I'm afraid I'll fall off the bed if I turn around."
Qin Zhanwu felt a little guilty and said, "This is the bed provided by the military academy, and it's of this specification. Your 1.8-meter-long bed won't fit in this room. I've measured it, and if we move it in, the door won't close. If there's no room for two quilts, we can just use one big one. You can cover yourself with more. I'm not afraid of the cold, so I won't freeze."
Su Yan was completely oblivious as she pulled a new quilt out of the closet. "Thankfully, a larger quilt was made, but a 1.80-meter bed won't fit. A 1.5-meter bed will do, right? You can ask the logistics department someday if they have a 1.5-meter bed. This one is too small for two people." She thought for a moment and said, "There are two empty rooms in this house. Why don't you ask for another bed and sleep next door?"
Qin Zhanwu took the quilt and pillow and began to make the bed: "How can you really say that? You just got married and you're sleeping in separate beds. How would you live your life if others knew about this?"
Su Yan snorted and muttered, "Why would someone come to my house to see me? If you and I don't say anything, who would know? Besides, what does this have to do with me as a human being? Why would others talk about me and not you?"
As she was talking, she saw Qin Zhanwu sitting on the bed. She quickly said, "Don't sit on the bed. There's so much smoke and food smell that it's made the bed dirty..."
Qin Zhanwu had no choice but to stand up immediately. After the two of them washed up and blew the lights out, they didn't hear Su Yan ask about Yang Mo.
Qin Zhanwu felt lucky at first. Fortunately, Su Yan didn't ask. Otherwise, if she did, she would have to talk about it all the way back to her childhood. But after a while of sleep, he gradually came to his senses. She didn't ask because she wasn't generous or didn't care about other women. It was because she didn't care about him, didn't care about what happened between his man and other women.
Qin Zhanwu felt bad, knowing that Su Yan didn't like him in the first place. Her heart was made of stone. He had been trying to keep her warm for so long, but there was still no warmth at all.
He asked tentatively, "I'm about to graduate, and now I have two choices: one is to stay in the military academy, and the other is to go back to my original unit. My original unit is in Fujian. What do you think? But if I go to Fujian, it will be far away from Jiangzhou, and even family leave may not be available every year. If my family members don't accompany me to the army, it would be lucky if I could see them once every two or three years."
Su Yan had changed her bed and her location. She hadn't been able to sleep to begin with. Hearing this, she thought, seeing each other only once every two or three years, wouldn't that be like not being married at all? How could such a good thing happen?
She turned over excitedly: "Really?"
Qin Zhanwu thought she was reluctant to hear they wouldn't see each other for a few years, so he said, "Of course. Look at Mrs. Hu from our military academy. Her family is separated. Her husband works in the mountainous areas of Yunnan, where conditions are harsh. So Mrs. Hu has no choice but to stay in Jiangzhou with her children. The last time her husband came back was when I first came to the military academy. It's been almost four years now."
Su Yan was shocked when she heard this: "That's really abandoning your family and career!"
Qin Zhanwu lost his patience and asked directly: "If I go to Fujian, will you come with me?"
Su Yan then realized that this was the question Qin Zhanwu wanted to ask. After thinking about it, she decided that it wasn't appropriate to just say she didn't want to go. So she said, "How can I go in this state? My belly will be big in a few months, and you still have a few months until graduation. How can I go to Fujian with a big belly then?"
Qin Zhanwu remembered a battalion commander in his own regiment whose wife had heard he was injured and, heavily pregnant, had traveled from the countryside, riding on an oxcart and then the commune's tractor. The rural woman, who had never even left the county and didn't know how to buy a train ticket, had gone all the way there alone.
Qin Zhanwu asked again: "Will you go over after the baby is born?"
Su Yan yawned and turned around: "Let's talk about it later. I'm sleepy. Let's go to sleep."
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