Chapter 55

Jiang Nian pursed her lips tightly, curling her fingers on her legs. Lu Yu wiped the water droplets on Jiang Nian's hair with a towel. His fingers rubbed across her scalp, and an electric current instantly ran through Jiang Nian's body. She was almost unable to sit still. The towel rubbed across the top of her head and slowly moved to the end of her hair.

Lu Yu's hand lifted Jiang Nian's long black hair. Without the cover of the long hair, a section of her snow-white and slender neck was exposed.

The towel wrapped around the long hair, soaked with moisture.

The extreme black reflected the snow-white neck, giving Lu Yu a strong visual conflict. The man's steady breathing gradually became thicker and heavier. The towel wiped the ends of his hair and gradually became wet. His sight fell from the black hair to the snow-white neck.

It was very thin and fragile, as if he could break it with a little force.

Lu Yu's eyes were filled with thick scarlet. He tried his best to restrain his dirty and despicable thoughts and wiped Jiang Nian's hair with concentration.

"Are you done?"

Jiang Nian asked in a low voice.

Behind her was a man's low and hoarse voice: "Almost done."

The warm yellow light cast their shadows on the ground. Jiang Nian watched the tall shadow on the ground suddenly sink. After a moment of stunned, she turned around and saw Lu Yu, who was standing just now, half squatting. But even if he was half squatting, he was still taller than her.

Jiang Nian raised her head slightly: "What's wrong?"

Lu Yu looked into her eyes: "I'll wipe your hair."

Jiang Nian said "um". After Lu Yu finished wiping his hair, she quickly stood up and walked to the chopping board to cut vegetables: "Go and kill the fish, otherwise you won't be able to stew fish soup later."

"Okay."

Lu Yu's Adam's apple rolled up and down a few times, and he walked out with a towel.

Jiang Nian breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the sound of pouring water and scraping fish scales outside.

Jiang Nian fried a vegetable and baked five pancakes. Song Bai's voice suddenly came from outside the door: "Sister-in-law, I'm here to eat again."

Jiang Nian didn't look back and said, "I'll bake a few more pancakes."

Song Bai held two kilograms of meat in his hand and put it on the table. , watching Lu Yu clean up the fish: "Why, you don't welcome me?"

Lu Yu stood up with the enamel basin and gave him a cold look: "You don't feel it?"

Song Bai said:...

Jiang Nian cut the fish into pieces and prepared the side dishes and condiments. Song Bai took the initiative to cook it. The fire was lit, and Lu Yu drove him out. He sat in front of the stove and watched the fire. When dinner was ready, Song Baiyin came in again to serve the meal. Jiang Nian said, "I baked a few more cakes. If you don't have enough, tell me and I'll bake a few more."

Lu Yu took the plate and said, "Enough."

Song Baiyin held the fish and smelled the fragrant smell, which was completely different from the fish soup stewed by his sister-in-law: "Sister-in-law, it's enough."

They took the food out, and Jiang Nian took out chopsticks from the cupboard and walked out, handing each of them a pair of chopsticks.

"Thank you, sister-in-law."

Song Baiyin looked up at Jiang Nian, and his eyes suddenly froze.

Jiang Nian lowered his head, his long black hair was draped over his head. His hair was a little damp, as if he had just washed his hair but it was not completely dry yet. His skin was white, his lips were rosy, and his eyes were still the same as when he first saw them, as if they were filled with the stars in the sky.

Song Bailing was stunned for a moment before he came back to his senses. He coughed lightly and took the chopsticks.

Lu Yu frowned, a cold look flashed across his eyes, he stood up and sat on Song Bailing's left, letting Jiang Nian sit next to him.

Jiang Nian looked at Lu Yu's angular profile in confusion, and felt that he seemed a little unhappy.

Could it be because of something happening in the group?

He knew that Lu Yu had been very busy these days, and now that the Dragon Boat Festival was over, there was still no movement from Captain Song.

Lu Yu picked up the most tender fish meat from Jiang Nian's bowl and helped her pick out the bones: "Eat more."

Jiang Nian took a bite and put down her chopsticks, whispering: "Hmm."

Song Baiyin rolled up a cake and took a few bites before realizing something was wrong. He looked at Lu Yu carefully picking out the fish bones and giving them to Jiang Nian. His eyebrows raised slightly, as if he noticed his gaze. Lu Yu raised his eyes and glanced at him: "Is there a scar on my face?"

Song Baiyin: ...

He took a big bite of the cake: "No, why are you so sarcastic when you talk to me recently?"

Lu Yu lowered his eyes and took a bite of the cake: "You heard wrong."

Song Baiyin snorted and laughed: "Well, I hope I heard wrong. "

Jiang Nian didn't understand the conversation between Lu Yu and Song Bailing, and thought that there was something that couldn't be said between the second and third groups. Jiang Nian ate a lot of this meal. When she stood up to clean up the dishes, Lu Yu stopped her and said, "You go back to the room."

Jiang Nian nodded, "Oh."

Seeing Jiang Nian go back to the room, Lu Yu took Song Bailing's stool and said, "Sweep the floor."

Song Bailing stood up, "No problem."

Jiang Nian went back to the room, where there was a bathtub. She sat on the edge of the bed, embroidering in the light of the lamp, and waited for Lu Yu to help her pour the bath water after he was done, otherwise she would have to pour it out one basin at a time by herself.

After a while, footsteps were heard outside.

Jiang Nian looked up and saw Lu Yu walking into the house. She smiled and said, "Pour the water for me."

Lu Yu looked at the smile on Jiang Nian's lips and also smiled, "Yeah."

The man was strong and picked up the large basin and went out. After pouring the basin into the second room on the east side of the room, he went to Jiang Nian's room and said to Jiang Nian, "Come out and lock the door."

"Okay."

Jiang Nian put down the embroidery and followed Lu Yu out. Song Baiyue walked out of the yard first, but before going out, Lu Yu closed the gate with one hand and leaned against the door panel, clasped the back of Jiang Nian's head with his palm, lowered his head and kissed her heavily on the lips before leaving: "I'll be back tomorrow morning."

After that, he opened the gate and went out.

Song Bai raised his eyebrows when he saw Lu Yu coming out: "Why are you closing the door?"

Lu Yu said calmly: "I'm trying to see if the door can be closed."

In the yard, Jiang Nian was stunned until the wet touch on her lips became clearer and clearer.

She bit her lower lip, never expecting Lu Yu to kiss her right next to the door.

Jiang Nian patted her hot face, went back to the house, wiped her hair and went to sleep. She slept until dawn. When she woke up, she didn't hear any sound from outside. She rubbed her eyes, put on her clothes and walked out. There was no one in the kitchen, the table in the yard was empty, and the gate was locked.

Lu Yu didn't come back.

Jiang Nian suddenly felt a little empty in her heart. After she washed up at the well and finished breakfast, Lu Yu hadn't come back yet. This had never happened before, so she ran to the wall, stood on a wooden block, and shouted to Feng Mei's yard: "Sister Feng, is Captain Song home?"

Feng Mei ran out of the stove room with a bowl in her hand: "He got dressed and ran away in the middle of the night, without even leaving me a word."

So that's what happened.

Jiang Nian marinated the fish at home today, and then went to the house to continue embroidering. She embroidered at home for a day and didn't see Lu Yu come back, so she went to Feng Mei's house to ask again, but Captain Song didn't come back either.

After Lu Yu left, the house also felt empty.

Jiang Nian tidied up the vegetable garden. She has been embroidering in the house these days. She is the only one at home. She embroiders except when eating. When it was dark, Jiang Nian came out of the kitchen and looked at the house next door. Lu Yu has never come back to live since he moved to the dormitory.

Jiang Nian stood outside the house for a while, opened the door and walked in. The house was still the same as before, clean and tidy. The

furnishings were the same as her room, a bed, a small table and a wooden cabinet, on which there were several books. Jiang Nian just took a book in her hand and flipped through it, and she heard Xu Yan's voice. It seemed that Liu Jianye had a fever, so she put down the book and walked out of the courtyard gate, bumping into Xu Yan who was walking to the door.

Jiang Nian asked, "What happened to Jianye?"

Xu Yan sighed, "He has a fever. I'll go to the clinic to buy some fever-reducing medicine."

"I'll accompany you."

It was a bit dark along the way, and Jiang Nian wanted to keep Xu Yan company. Xu Yan smiled and said, "Okay."

The two walked to the clinic. On the way, Xu Yan said, "Jiang Nian, you know, I'm living a very happy life now."

Jiang Nian looked at the smile on Xu Yan's face and said, "Is it because Liu Qiang is not here?"

"Yes."

Xu Yan continued: "After Liu Qiang left, Jianye has been more cheerful than before. You know, Jiang Nian, I feel the most sorry for Jianye. Before Zheng Hong came, Liu Qiang was nice to me and Jianye. After Zheng Hong came, Jianye saw with his own eyes what his father had become."

Jiang Nian shook Xu Yan's hand: "It's all in the past."

After returning from the health center with some fever-reducing medicine, Jiang Nian went back to her room to sleep. Her daily routine was eating and embroidering. Lu Yu had also been gone for twenty days, and there had been no news. At the end of the month, Ge Mei called, and she went to the police station to answer the call.

"Jiang Nian, I'm leaving tomorrow."

Jiang Nian smiled and said, "What time is the train tomorrow?"

Ge Mei said, "Seven in the evening. There is one more thing. I met the new director today. Her surname is Peng, and her name is Peng Yin. When she came, she brought an embroiderer with her. She is her niece."

Ge Mei paused and said, "Jiang Nian, the deadline for your embroidery is July 20th. Take the embroidery to the state-owned embroidery house. The boss of Gangcheng will come in person to pick up the embroidery on that day."

Jiang Nian instantly understood what Ge Mei meant: "Sister Ge, thank you."

Ge Mei said, "I'll call you after I settle down in Yuanshi."

"Okay."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Nian stood in front of the phone for a long time.

It seemed that the new director was not easy to get along with, so she turned around and left the police station. Unexpectedly, she saw Tang Ze and Sun Ying walking towards her as soon as she reached the door. Tang Ze smiled and said, "Sister-in-law."

Jiang Nian nodded, "Yes."

Sun Ying looked at her coldly, as if there was a deep hatred between them. Jiang Nian ignored her and turned back to her family compound.

Lu Yu had been gone for a month, and Song Tuan had not returned for a month.

In the blink of an eye, it was mid-July. The weather was getting hotter and hotter. Jiang Nian was sitting in the yard, fanning himself with a round fan. Feng Mei came over after lunch. She didn't seem to be in a hurry about Captain Song being away for a month. Feng Mei smiled and said, "He probably has some mission. Anyway, these are all military secrets, so let's just ignore them."

"By the way."

Feng Mei moved her butt along the bench towards Jiang Nian: "Captain Tang is getting married."

Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment: "So early?"

She thought Tang Ze and Sun Ying had just started dating and it would take some time for them to get married. She didn't expect them to get married in just a few days.

Feng Mei said, "I didn't expect it to happen so soon. I heard that the marriage application was submitted a month ago, and it was approved two days ago. I'm quite curious. What do you think the female nurse likes about Captain Tang? A widower..."

"Auntie Feng, let's not talk about other people's business."

Jiang Nian interrupted Feng Mei: "Is Xiangdong off today?"

Feng Mei said, "He had a day off yesterday afternoon. I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a bag of cakes later. Xiangdong has his birthday tomorrow, and I'll buy him something delicious."

The mention of birthdays reminded Jiang Nian of her and Lu Yu's birthdays.

Last year, she was thinking about how to go back and how to survive in this era. She hadn't thought about these things in detail. However, she only knew that the original owner's birthday was in September. As for Lu Yu's, she seemed to be really unknown.

There was no detailed information about Lu Yu's birthday in the book, and there was no picture of Lu Yu celebrating his birthday in the original owner's memory.

When Lu Yu came back, she asked him indirectly.

Song Xiangdong's birthday is tomorrow, and Jiang Nian plans to make him a cake. She doesn't have any tools now, so she can't bake the bread dough. She went to the supply and marketing cooperative in the afternoon and bought some things. On the way, she met Hou Lian, the wife of Deputy Regiment Commander You. Hou Lian was stunned for a moment when she saw Jiang Nian, then turned around and left.

Jiang Nian didn't bother to pay attention to her.

After Hou Meng caused Xiangdong to fall into the river last time, Deputy Regiment Commander You's family didn't come to the Song family to see Song Xiangdong. The family didn't know how to do anything. She didn't know how Deputy Regiment Commander You got to this position.

However, she heard from Feng Mei two days ago that Deputy Regiment Commander You is not liked by the political commissar in the regiment.

Jiang Nian went back to the yard one foot, and Chen Fang came the next.

As soon as Chen Fang arrived, Feng Mei also came. She wanted to see what Chen Fang wanted to do with Jiang Nian. Now she was not afraid that she would match Jiang Nian and Tang Ze again, but she was afraid that Chen Fang would do something weird again. Chen Fang turned her head and glanced at Feng Mei: "Why are you following me?"

Feng Mei said: "I'm here to visit."

Chen Fang: ...

Jiang Nian put the things in the stove room, came out and saw Chen Fang holding a neatly stacked red cloth in her hand. Not knowing what it was, Chen Fang walked over and said with a smile: "Jiang Nian, can't you embroider? Can you help me?"

Feng Mei looked over curiously.

Jiang Nian smiled and said, "What does Sister Chen want me to do?"

Chen Fang shook the cloth in her hand and revealed a piece of red cloth. "Isn't Tang Ze getting married? I just wanted to hang a red curtain in his room to make it more festive. But red alone seems too plain, so I want you to embroider a pair of sparrows on it. Tang Ze's parents are not here, and there are only his brother and I as relatives here. His brother is busy with family affairs every day, so how can he have the time to take care of his affairs? Isn't it all stressful? I'm in trouble, aren't you? You're the only one in our courtyard who can embroider, so just help my sister-in-law once."

Feng Mei laughed when she heard this: "Jiang Nian embroiders every day to make money. If I embroider a doll for you, wouldn't it delay her making money? You can't let others waste their time embroidering for you. If everyone asks Jiang Nian for help like you, Jiang Nian should just stop embroidering to make money in the future and just embroider for our courtyard."

Chen Fang: ...

She found Feng Mei's mouth really annoying.

Chen Fang looked at Jiang Nian and said, "Don't worry, your sister-in-law won't let your efforts be in vain. How about this, when you finish embroidering, I'll give you five yuan as a labor fee, okay?"

Jiang Nian shook her head and smiled, "Sister-in-law Chen, just bring the silk thread to me. You don't have to pay for the labor, just exchange it for things."

Although they were just neighbors, private transactions of money were not allowed, especially in the army. If it got out, Lu Yu would be the one affected in the end. Chen Fang smiled and said

, "Okay, tell me what kind of silk thread you want to buy." Jiang Nian told Chen Fang, and Chen Fang nodded, "I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative now." After Chen Fang left, Feng Mei pulled Jiang Nian and poked her head, "Why don't you want money? That's five yuan, it can buy several pounds of meat." Jiang Nian looked at Feng Mei and explained the pros and cons. Feng Mei's face changed, and her tone was a little scared, "If you don't tell me, I won't know. I'm telling you, Jiang Nian, don't do it if anyone asks you to embroider a picture in the future, in case you really get into trouble. It will be troublesome." She glanced outside the courtyard, approached Jiang Nian and whispered: "Old Song mentioned it that night, saying that someone in the family courtyard was engaging in speculation. I asked him who it was, and he just said it was from another group, not ours, and he wouldn't tell me more. If this matter is found out, her husband's position will probably be in jeopardy." Not long after Feng Mei left, Chen Fang came, handed the silk thread to Jiang Nian, cut two pounds of meat for Jiang Nian, bought three pounds of eggs, and asked Jiang Nian when the embroidery would be finished. She was a little anxious. Jiang Nian said: "Within two days." After saying that, he asked curiously: "When will Camp Commander Tang get married?" Chen Fang smiled and said: "The date has been set, the wedding will be on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month." Jiang Nian didn't expect it to be so soon. She said, "Don't worry, Sister-in-law Chen, I will hand it over to you as soon as possible on the fifth night of the fifth lunar month." Today is already the third day of the lunar month, so it is indeed a bit rushed. She really didn't expect that Sun Ying would marry Tang Ze so soon. After Chen Fang left, Jiang Nian went to the kitchen to make the cakes. It was already dark the day after they were ready. She took a few bites and then turned off the lights in the courtyard and went back to the room. She stuck the place where she wanted to retouch on the embroidery shed and started embroidering. It is easy to embroider a pair of chicks, but it takes a bit of time to embroider a pair of chicks on both sides of the curtain. Jiang Nian embroidered until very late and went to bed the next day. She ate something casually and continued to embroider. When Feng Mei called her over for lunch at noon, she put down the painting of nightingales and went to the kitchen to get two plates of exquisite pastries and brought them over. When Feng Mei saw them, her eyes lit up immediately: "Did you make this?" Jiang Nian smiled and said, "Well, try it." She handed a piece to Feng Mei. Feng Mei took a bite and wanted to take a second bite. She still felt unsatisfied until she finished one piece. When the two plates of pastries were brought over, Song Xiangdong happily kept calling her Aunt Jiang. Even Song Xianghong ran over and hugged Jiang Nian's calves, calling her Aunt Jiang sweetly. Jiang Nian smiled and patted their heads. Song Xiangdong went into the house and grabbed a handful of candy and some peach cakes for Jiang Nian: "Auntie Jiang, eat candy and peach cakes." "Thank you." Jiang Nian took the candy and finished his meal at Feng Mei's house. When he returned home, he also sent some to Xu Yan's house. Liu Jianye and Liu Jianwu stood cautiously beside Xu Yan's legs, smiling shyly: "Thank you, Auntie Jiang." Song Xiangdong and Liu Jianye are the same age, but their personalities are completely different. In the final analysis, it is still caused by family influence. Jiang Nian had been embroidering a painting of sparrows in the house for the past two days. She finally finished the painting on the fifth day of the New Year. When it was getting dark, there was a knock on the courtyard door from outside. Jiang Nian knew that it was Chen Fang who came to pick up the embroidery painting. She folded the embroidery and walked into the yard and opened the gate. Just when she was about to call Sister-in-law Feng, she saw Lu Yu who had been gone for nine days. He was still wearing the military uniform with some dust on his clothes. His handsome face looked a little tired, with some blue stubble, and he looked like he hadn't had a good rest for several days. The voice of Captain Song came from the next yard: "Meizi, pour me some water quickly, I want to soak my feet." "Sister-in-law." "I'm back." His voice was very low, his dark eyes locked tightly on Jiang Nian's fair and beautiful face. He felt like a long time had passed since he last saw her for a month. Jiang Nian came back to her senses and a smile appeared on her face: "Lu Yu." She just called his name, but Lu Yu's eyes showed an uncontrollable darkness. Outside the door, military wives and comrades passed by. Lu Yu hid the emotions in his eyes and smiled at the corners of his lips: "Come in." Jiang Nian turned around and walked into the yard holding the red window curtain: "Have you eaten dinner? If not, I will make it for you. What do you want to eat?" "You can do anything." Lu Yu closed the door, bolted it, turned around and looked at Jiang Nian's back as she walked into the room, and chased after her. Jiang Nian was standing by the bed, putting the things in her hand on the bed. She bent her waist, and the waist-hugging shirt outlined her slender waist. "I'll make you a plate of braised pork and two vegetarian dishes later...ah!"

As soon as Jiang Nian stood up, her back hit the steaming arms. The man's breath enveloped her like mist. Through the thin clothes, Jiang Nian could clearly feel the throbbing heartbeat from Lu Yu's chest. Lu Yu hugged her tightly, lowered his head, and breathed hot air on her ear with his thin lips: "Jiang Nian..."

"I missed you."