“Sister-in-law?”
Shen Siyuan froze for a moment, then after a pause nodded and replied, “Yes.”
Xiao Li’s eyes instantly widened.
Oh my god, it’s confirmed.
This was great news!
Their commander, who had been single forever, had finally found them a sister-in-law and such an outstanding woman at that. It really wasn’t easy.
His heart raced with excitement as he stammered, “Commander, you’re amazing. You actually managed to ”
“Xiao Li.”
Shen Siyuan interrupted him calmly. “I’ve only been on leave for a short while, yet you seem to have become quite relaxed.”
Xiao Li shuddered.
Oh no. He had gotten too excited and forgotten how terrifying the commander could be.
He quickly shook his head.
“No, no, Commander. I’m actually very busy. I still have a lot of work to do. I’ll go take care of it right now.”
As he spoke, Xiao Li prepared to make a quick escape.
The most important intelligence had already been gathered. The rest could wait.
“No rush.”
Shen Siyuan glanced at him sideways and pointed to a tall stack of folders nearby.
“Organize and archive these first.”
Xiao Li’s gaze landed on the pile of folders, and he instantly felt like crying.
The stack was almost as tall as he was.
How long would it take to organize all of that?
Besides, he had always dreaded paperwork the most.
This was even more torturous than extra military training.
As expected, provoking the commander came with a price too painful to bear.
With a mournful expression, Xiao Li dared not disobey orders. He could only carry away the mountain of folders.
Back in the office, he saw a group of comrades chatting and laughing together. His eyes lit up as an idea suddenly came to him.
“Ahem, ahem…”
After drawing everyone’s attention, he announced,
“Fresh news! It’s about the commander…”
Though it was only a short sentence, it instantly aroused everyone’s curiosity.
After all, the words “about the commander” were automatically headline-worthy.
“What news?”
“Come on, Xiao Li, tell us!”
“Yeah! Stop keeping us in suspense!”
“Hurry up already!”
Smiling, Xiao Li deliberately played hard to get.
“You all want to know?”
The soldiers nodded in unison.
Wasn’t that obvious?
Very satisfied with their reaction, Xiao Li said,
“Sure. But first, help me sort and archive all these files. Then I’ll tell you.”
The soldiers suddenly felt the urge to roll up their sleeves and beat him up.
But Xiao Li wasn’t afraid at all.
If they didn’t help, he wasn’t telling them anything about their future sister-in-law.
Thus the two sides entered a standoff.
After a fierce battle of wills, Xiao Li emerged victorious.
Unable to resist their curiosity, everyone reluctantly accepted their fate as laborers.
Many hands made light work. Combined with their eagerness to hear the commander’s gossip, their efficiency was astonishing.
The huge pile of documents was organized in no time.
Keeping his promise, Xiao Li immediately revealed the news that they had a sister-in-law.
Naturally, he didn’t forget to lavish endless praise on their fairy-like sister-in-law.
The soldiers were utterly shocked.
Staring at Xiao Li with wide eyes, they exclaimed,
“Xiao Li, you’re making this up, aren’t you?”
“Exactly! The commander always keeps female comrades at arm’s length. How could he possibly get married?”
“Right! We never even heard about him dating anyone.”
“You just made this story up to trick us into doing your work!”
The room erupted into discussion.
Clearly, no one believed him.
Xiao Li wasn’t annoyed. He simply said leisurely,
“If you don’t believe me, go ask the commander yourselves.”
The entire room immediately fell silent.
Ask the commander?
With how intimidating he usually was, who would dare?
But…
If they couldn’t ask the commander, they could ask someone else.
The same thought appeared in everyone’s mind at once.
They exchanged glances and blurted out almost simultaneously:
“Captain Feng!”
That was right.
They could ask Feng Jianye.
Everyone in the military district knew how close Captain Feng and Commander Shen were.
If anyone knew the truth about the commander, it would definitely be him.
With that in mind, the soldiers rushed off to find Feng Jianye.
As it turned out, Feng Jianye held nothing back.
His good brother had gotten married a cause for celebration!
He wished even more people knew about it.
And so, within a single afternoon, news of He Ruchu spread rapidly throughout the unit.
Before long, almost the entire military district knew that Commander Shen the famous “Ice Prince” and “Cold Flower” had a wife.
Some people rejoiced, while others despaired.
The happiest were naturally the military leaders.
For years, Shen Siyuan’s marriage prospects had been a major headache for them.
Several leaders had even spoken with him personally and tried to persuade him, but none of their efforts had worked.
Now the problem had suddenly solved itself.
How could they not be delighted?
As for those who were unhappy, they were naturally the many female soldiers who secretly admired Shen Siyuan.
Among them, the performance troupe was hit the hardest.
One could almost hear countless hearts shattering.
They had spent so long secretly competing with one another.
Only for an unexpected rival to appear out of nowhere and snatch victory away.
It was infuriating!
The girls of the performance troupe lost all interest in rehearsal and gathered together to gossip.
They were both curious about and jealous of this mysterious newcomer, He Ruchu.
As a result, the moment He Ruchu stepped outside that afternoon, someone blocked her path.
She glanced over the group before her, her gaze finally settling on the young woman standing at the front.
“Do you need something?”
The girl looked her up and down with obvious disdain.
“So you’re He Ruchu?”
That attitude and tone were truly unpleasant.
A faint smile appeared on He Ruchu’s lips.
“And who might you be?”
“You don’t even know who Sister Zhiya is? How dare you speak to her like that!”
Before the girl herself could respond, one of the women behind her shouted indignantly.
Sister Zhiya?
He Ruchu raised an eyebrow.
She instantly understood who these people were.
So the girl leading them was Zhao Zhiya, one of the female supporting characters from the novel.
And the women behind her must be her little clique.
After all, how could a “heartthrob” male protagonist have only two admirers the original host and the heroine?
Zhao Zhiya was another one of his admirers.
Unlike the original host, whose villainy was obvious and out in the open, Zhao Zhiya preferred to work in the shadows.
She was one of the heroine’s strongest romantic rivals.
At the same time, she was also a villain.
The Zhao and Shen families were of equal social standing, and Zhao Zhiya had always been Shen’s mother’s favorite candidate for a daughter-in-law.
Mrs. Shen had repeatedly tried to match the two together.
Meanwhile, Zhao Zhiya was obsessively in love with the male protagonist.
From their school days to later military service, she followed him every step of the way.
Eventually, after repeatedly failing to win his heart, her love twisted into obsession, and she wanted to destroy him.
In the end, because she constantly opposed the male and female leads and repeatedly plotted against them, she met the same tragic fate as the original host a miserable death.