Chapter 14 Chief of Staff Lu's suitors
Zhou Xiaomei's attempts to gain sympathy had no effect on Jiang Suining. In the original book, although the female supporting character was not a particularly evil person, she was petty, jealous, and often gossiped about the female lead behind her back. Jiang Suining would not change her opinion of her just because of Zhou Xiaomei's crying and whining.
"You've come to seek refuge with me?" Jiang Suining scoffed. "When you ran away from home, I was still in the village. Why are you coming here to seek refuge with me?"
Zhou Xiaomei was speechless for a moment: "I, I had no choice. My father cut my hair and locked me in the house to force me to get married. If I didn't run away, he would have sent me to the village bully as his wife the next day."
"Really? I heard your father cut your hair to get money? But you, you ran away from home and took all the food coupons and money. You're heartless. Didn't you think about how your family would live in the future?" Others might not know about her hair, but Jiang Suining, the one who started it all, certainly did. "And why did you go to someone else's house instead of me?"
"It's because Brother Li is kind-hearted. He saw that I was pitiful and had nowhere to go, so he let me stay at his house and help take care of the children." Zhou Xiaomei said this, but she was very proud of herself. She had memories of her previous life and knew Li Guodong quite well. It would be easy for her to control him.
"Is that so?" Jiang Suining sneered. "I can't control what you want to do, but there's one thing: if you have ulterior motives, don't blame me for being impolite."
After she finished speaking, she ignored her and pulled Lu Ye, saying, "Ignore her, let's go home."
"Okay." Lu Ye took out the key and opened the door.
The family compound's residences were designed and built with the approval of the military region, and all were the same size: three tiled houses with a small courtyard, and the kitchen and toilet each occupied a corner of the courtyard.
Lu Ye had applied for this courtyard before going to Qingshui Village. Although it wasn't a new house, he hadn't lived in it much. He had the soldiers in his regiment help him fumigate it with herbs to kill insects, sprinkle lime to remove dampness, waterproof the roof, clean it, and buy new furniture, making it look quite presentable.
Jiang Suining was somewhat surprised to see that the courtyard was paved with red bricks, and that there were many flowers and plants in the small flower beds formed by square bricks on both sides of the wall by the door and under the window. Lu Ye's personality didn't seem like that of someone who liked to grow flowers and plants.
Seeing her gaze fall on the flower bed, Lu Ye smiled and explained, "That was done by Sister Lian, the wife of the regimental commander next door. She heard you were coming, so she specially had the new recruits in the regiment build the flower bed in advance. The flowers were also transplanted from the regimental commander's house. The ones by the door and under the window are said to be mugwort, which can repel mosquitoes."
"Sister-in-law, you're so kind. We should thank her properly." Jiang Suining walked to the flower bed and saw that there were mugwort, cockscomb, dahlias, and roses in the flower bed. She didn't recognize many flowers and plants, and there were some she didn't know.
"Come inside." Lu Ye opened the door and placed his luggage by the door.
Jiang Suining followed Lu Ye into the house. A square table and chairs were placed directly opposite the door, and a long leather sofa was placed next to the window. A black and white television was placed on a cabinet of different heights opposite.
“This is the bedroom.” Lu Ye led Jiang Suining through the door on the right side of the living room. “There’s another room next to it, a little smaller than this one, which I turned into a study.”
Jiang Suining entered the bedroom. Blue coconut tree and sailboat-shaped curtains hung on the window. In the center, a bright red sheet covered the double wooden bed, and the pillows, towels, and quilts were all bright red. A five-drawer chest was placed on one side of the bed, and a large wardrobe was placed on the other.
"I'll have someone build you a dressing table later," Lu Ye said, pointing to the wall. "Just put it here."
"Don't buy new ones, they'll smell bad. Is there a secondhand market around here? Let's buy a used one, it'll be cheaper," Jiang Suining suggested.
"The old one?" Lu Ye hesitated. "If you think the old one smells bad, we can buy a new one."
“Really, there’s no need,” Jiang Suining thought about the 500 yuan dowry Lu Ye gave her mother, the new furniture in the house, and the clothes and watches he bought for her. All in all, he had spent a lot of money. There’s still a long life ahead of us, so we should be more frugal. “How about this, let’s go to the secondhand market first and see if there’s anything suitable before we buy something new.”
“There isn’t a dedicated secondhand market,” Lu Ye thought for a moment, “but the scrap yard does recycle old furniture, I just don’t know if they have dressing tables.”
"Let's go take a look together later." The bedroom was completely visible. Jiang Suining followed Lu Ye into the study, which was smaller than the bedroom. It was almost completely filled with two bookshelves, a desk, and a chair.
"You have so many books, that's amazing." Jiang Suining walked to the bookshelf, where most of the books were military-related, including books on combat, strategy, and weapons.
"It's alright. I don't have any hobbies. I like to read when I have free time." Lu Ye scratched his head, a little embarrassed, and pointed to the empty space by the wall, saying, "I'll buy a single bed for this place tomorrow."
"Isn't the bedroom supposed to be a double bed? Why buy a single bed?" Jiang Suining didn't react for a moment. "This study doesn't look spacious enough. If we put a bed in it, it will be too cramped."
Lu Ye looked around and nodded in agreement with Jiang Suining's words, saying, "Then we can only put it in the living room."
"Are we having guests coming over?" Jiang Suining was completely confused. After a moment's thought, she quickly asked, "You don't mean to let Zhou Xiaomei stay at our house, do you? No way, let me tell you, I absolutely disagree!"
"What are you thinking? Why would I let her live in our house?" Lu Ye was both amused and exasperated.
"Then why did you buy a single bed?" Jiang Suining asked, somewhat annoyed. "Are you planning to sleep in a separate bed from me?"
Naturally, it was because of the 'three rules'. Lu Ye's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes darkened. He pressed the tip of his tongue against his left cheek and remained silent for a moment without revealing the real reason: "I'm afraid that sometimes I work too late and disturb your sleep."
"It's okay, I'm a heavy sleeper, you won't disturb me." Jiang Suining calmed down, and thinking of Lu Ye's work-obsessed behavior in the original book, she couldn't help but advise, "But it's best not to work overtime, it's not good for your health."
“Okay, I won’t work overtime,” Lu Ye replied.
Is this person really so obedient? He must be just placating her. Jiang Suining didn't take it seriously, after all, he was portrayed as a workaholic in the original book.
Lu Ye glanced at his watch; it was already past five. "How are you feeling now? Are you still dizzy? Is your stomach still upset? Why don't you go and take a nap? I'll go buy some groceries."
“I’m not feeling bad. I’ll feel better once we get off the ship,” Jiang Suining said, her interest piqued. “Let’s go grocery shopping together.”
"Okay, wait here, I'm going out for a bit." Lu Ye ran out of the yard and came back a moment later with a straw hat in his hand. "I borrowed this straw hat from Sister Lian next door. Aren't you afraid of getting a tan? Wear it out."
"You're so thoughtful." The straw hat had a wide brim all the way around, which did provide some sun protection. Jiang Suining was very satisfied. She stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around Lu Ye's neck, pulled his head down, kissed him on the cheek, and then quickly let go. "This is a reward."
"A reward?" Lu Ye froze on the spot, even forgetting to straighten up. His face was burning hot, and he felt dizzy and lightheaded.
Jiang Suining, oblivious to her own allure, entered the bedroom.
The bedroom wardrobe had a full-length mirror embedded in it. Looking at herself in the mirror, she felt that the straw hat was missing something. After thinking about it, she asked Lu Ye to bring in her luggage.
Lu Ye was still savoring the kiss when he heard the call and quickly took both of their luggage to the bedroom. Remembering their three rules, he added, "I'll pack the luggage later. Let's go buy groceries first."
"I'm not packing my luggage, please wait a moment." Jiang Suining had already opened her luggage and pulled out a blue square scarf with geometric patterns.
She found this handkerchief while packing her luggage at her parents' home. In the original owner's memory, it was bought at the town's supply and marketing cooperative.
She folded the square scarf diagonally and tied it to the straw hat, then put it on and looked in the mirror. Sure enough, the ordinary straw hat suddenly looked fashionable.
"Is it pretty?" She turned to look at Lu Ye.
"It looks good." Lu Ye didn't even look at the straw hat; he kept staring at her face.
"Let's go." She stepped forward and took Lu Ye's arm.
Lu Ye passively followed her out of the bedroom.
There was no dedicated vegetable market within the military region, so Lu Ye rode his bicycle to take Jiang Suining to a vegetable market outside the military region to buy groceries.
The road was flat. Jiang Suining sat sideways in the back seat, her arm around Lu Ye's waist, looking around.
Lu Ye deliberately slowed down to introduce her to the facilities along the way.
As Jiang Suining listened to him, she secretly took notes. When they passed a four-story Soviet-style building, she saw a red cross on it and asked before Lu Ye could introduce it, "Is that a hospital over there?"
“Yes, that’s a military hospital.” Lu Ye deliberately slowed down so she could see clearly.
In the original book, the female protagonist, Zhuang Lina, is a military doctor at a military hospital. Lu Ye is her white moonlight, whom she has longed for her whole life but could not have. Even after marrying the male protagonist, Li Guodong, she never completely let go and always kept her love for her white moonlight deep in her heart.
"Oh dear, I wonder if we'll run into each other," Jiang Suining muttered to herself, but Lu Ye suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Suining was lost in thought when the car suddenly stopped. She instinctively hugged Lu Ye tightly with both hands.
"Lu Ye!" Just as Lu Ye was released, a brisk voice came from the front.
She looked in the direction of the voice and was taken aback. The person was tall with her hair neatly pinned up at the back of her head. Her white coat was spotless. She looked exactly like Zhang Hongjuan. If there was any difference, it would probably be in her complexion and weight.
Could it be the female lead, Zhuang Lina? She wondered.
The woman walked up to her confidently, extended her hand, and introduced herself: "Hello, I am Zhuang Lina, Chief of Staff Lu's girlfriend."
"Comrade Zhuang, what are you saying? I'm not your boyfriend!" Lu Ye immediately retorted, and then quickly explained to Jiang Suining, "Dr. Zhuang and I have only a normal doctor-patient relationship, we can't even be called friends, don't listen to her nonsense."
Jiang Suining jumped out of the car, a slight smile playing on her lips, and grasped Zhuang Lina's hand: "That's such a pity. I am Lu Ye's wife, Jiang Suining."
Zhuang Lina's smile froze, and she looked at Lu Ye in disbelief: "You, you're really married?"
“Yes, I’m married. This is my wife,” Lu Ye said, looking tenderly at Jiang Suining before turning to Zhuang Lina with a cold and distant expression. “So please be careful with your words in the future, or my wife might misunderstand.”
“I believe you, I won’t misunderstand,” Jiang Suining raised her chin slightly, looked at Zhuang Lina, and deliberately took Lu Ye’s arm. “Being pursued by a beauty like Dr. Zhuang shows that my man is outstanding.”
"You!" Zhuang Lina's face turned bright red. She had heard that Lu Ye had taken leave to go find a marriage partner from her childhood, but she refused to believe it. Just now, she was in her office upstairs and saw Lu Ye riding his bicycle towards her through the window, with a woman sitting on the back seat.
She wasn't the only one in the military region who liked Lu Ye, but no woman had ever sat in the back seat of Lu Ye's car. She was incredibly jealous of who this woman was, but she never considered that she might be Lu Ye's wife, or rather, she didn't dare to think about it.
Feeling uneasy, she hurriedly went downstairs to stop the person, and only spoke those words with a sliver of hope.
"Let's go," Jiang Suining said, tugging at Lu Ye's sleeve. "I'm hungry. Let's hurry and buy groceries to cook dinner at home."
"Okay, sit down first." Lu Ye supported the bicycle with one foot on the ground. After Jiang Suining was seated, he pushed off the pedal with all his might, and the bicycle moved steadily forward.
As Zhuang Lina watched the bicycle disappear into the distance, a mix of emotions welled up inside her, and her eyes gradually blurred with tears.
A note from the author:
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