Life in the military compound was even more regimented—and more monotonous—than Su Wanqing had imagined.
Every morning, the piercing wake-up call rang out on schedule, slicing through the sky and announcing the start of a new day. Lu Zhanting moved like a precisely calibrated machine: up, morning training, back home, finishing the breakfast she had prepared, then changing into his uniform and disappearing into the depths of the camp.
He still spoke very little, but a quiet understanding had already formed between them. She cooked; he washed the dishes. She tidied the house; he would silently move aside anything heavy that required strength. They didn’t talk much, yet through these wordless actions, they slowly built a kind of “comrades-in-arms” trust.
That morning, Lu Zhanting had gone to a regimental meeting and likely wouldn’t be back until noon. After cleaning the house, Su Wanqing realized they were running low on salt. She recalled the hand-drawn map Lu Zhanting had given her, which clearly marked the location of the service cooperative.
This would be her first time venturing out alone in the compound.
She changed into a clean blue cotton blouse, neatly combed her hair, checked her reflection in the mirror to make sure she looked proper and presentable, then took her money and cloth bag and went out.
The afternoon sun was just right—not harsh, warm as it fell on her skin. The compound was quiet; the men were training or working in the camp, and the children were in school. From time to time, she could see small groups of military wives—some hanging laundry in their courtyards, others sitting under trees sewing shoe soles and chatting.
When they noticed Su Wanqing, a new face, their gazes inevitably turned toward her, filled with undisguised scrutiny and curiosity.
She could feel those looks. She didn’t avoid them—she straightened her back, wore a polite, faint smile, and nodded courteously to everyone who looked her way.
Her calm composure made some who had been hoping for a bit of drama feel awkward about continuing to stare.
Following the map, the service cooperative was on the east side of the family quarters, requiring her to pass through a small public area. There were several communal washing stations there for laundry and vegetables.
Before she even reached them, she heard laughter and chatter coming from that direction.
When her figure, cloth bag in hand, appeared at the corner of the path, the laughter abruptly stopped.
Four or five military wives were gathered around the washing stations. Leading them was Auntie Li, whom she had met the day she moved in—the woman who lived diagonally opposite. She had high cheekbones, thin lips, and sharp, constantly darting eyes that radiated shrewdness and meanness.
Seeing Su Wanqing, Auntie Li immediately nudged the person beside her with her elbow, curled her lips, and spoke with a fake smile. “Well, isn’t this Captain Lu’s new wife? Where are you headed?”
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was more than enough for everyone around to hear.
Su Wanqing paused. She knew this was a hurdle she had to face. She stopped, turned toward them, and kept her calm expression. “Hello, Auntie Li. Hello, sisters-in-law. We’re out of salt at home—I’m going to the service cooperative to buy some.”
“To the service cooperative, huh.” Auntie Li drew out her words, looking Su Wanqing up and down. “Already running the household as soon as you arrive—how capable. Not like us, clumsy hands and feet, still needing our men to worry about things at home.”
On the surface, it sounded like praise, but in reality, it was a jab—mocking Su Wanqing for grabbing authority too quickly, for not being a ‘proper’ submissive wife.
A round-faced military wife beside her immediately chimed in. “Exactly. Captain Lu is the youngest and most promising battalion commander in our whole compound—so many people have their eyes on him. We all thought he’d at least marry someone well-matched, like a leader’s daughter. Who knew he’d end up marrying someone… from the countryside.”
She bit down hard on the words “from the countryside,” her disdain completely undisguised.
Su Wanqing’s fingers tightened around the cloth bag. The rough fabric pressed into her palm, grounding her and calming her swirling emotions.
She knew that showing even a hint of anger or weakness would only encourage them further.
“I am indeed from the countryside,” Su Wanqing said calmly, her gaze sweeping over their faces. “But marriage is about fate, not background. My husband doesn’t care about that.”
She deliberately emphasized the words my husband.
Auntie Li was momentarily choked by her neither-soft-nor-hard response, her expression darkening. She had expected this quiet-looking young woman to blush in shame and be at a loss for words after their comments. Instead, she dared to talk back.
“Well now, already calling him ‘my husband’—how affectionate,” another sharp-faced military wife sneered. “We’re just curious—how did you and Captain Lu meet? We’ve lived in the same compound with him for years and never saw him say more than a few words to any woman. You must be… quite capable.”
The implication was far more vicious—practically accusing Su Wanqing of using improper means to snare Lu Zhanting.
The air seemed to freeze. Some wives who had only been watching for entertainment now felt the comment had gone too far, but no one dared to offend Auntie Li’s group by speaking up.
The color finally drained from Su Wanqing’s face.
These words were even more hurtful than the gossip of village busybodies. They pierced her heart like countless tiny needles.
She could tolerate people looking down on her background, but she could not allow them to smear her relationship with Lu Zhanting. Though this marriage had begun as a transaction, to her it was sacred and solemn. She had wagered her entire life in exchange for this protection.
She took a deep breath, about to retort, when a voice—cold as ice—suddenly rang out from behind them.
“Are you all that idle?”
The voice wasn’t loud, but it carried unquestionable authority and a chilling edge.
Everyone stiffened as if frozen in place, then turned around as though jolted by electricity.
Lu Zhanting stood not far behind them, though no one knew when he had arrived. He wore a crisp military uniform, the insignia on his shoulders glinting in the sunlight. He wasn’t wearing his cap, revealing his neat, short hair. His sharply defined face was expressionless, but in his deep-set eyes churned an icy storm that made people afraid to meet his gaze.
He had just finished the meeting at the regimental headquarters and was heading home for lunch—only to come upon this scene.
His wife—the girl who always appeared calm and resilient before him—was now surrounded by a group of women. Her face was pale, lips pressed tightly together, her hand gripping the cloth bag so hard her knuckles had turned white. She looked like a small deer surrounded by wolves, forcing herself to be strong—and the sight sparked an unprovoked anger in his chest.
“C-Captain Lu…”
Auntie Li’s face instantly went deathly pale, her lips trembling, all her earlier arrogance gone. The other wives lowered their heads in terror, wishing they could crawl into a crack in the ground.
Lu Zhanting didn’t spare them a glance.
He strode straight to Su Wanqing’s side. Without a word, he naturally reached out and took the tightly clenched cloth bag from her hand. Then his other arm wrapped around her slightly trembling shoulders, drawing her halfway into his embrace.
His palm was broad and warm. Through the thin fabric, it conveyed a steady, reassuring strength.
Su Wanqing stiffened and instinctively looked up at him.
His profile remained hard and unyielding, but when he looked at her, the coldness in his eyes melted in an instant, turning deep and focused.
He didn’t ask a single question, yet with this simple gesture, he declared his stance to everyone present.
Only then did Lu Zhanting slowly turn his head, his icy gaze settling once more on Auntie Li and the others.
“I believe I just heard you discussing my wife’s background?” His voice was flat and calm, yet it made their hearts leap into their throats.
“N-no, Captain Lu… we were just… just joking with the new sister-in-law, chatting a bit…” Auntie Li forced a smile uglier than crying, stammering through her explanation.
“Joking?” The corner of Lu Zhanting’s mouth curved into an extremely dangerous smile. “Is my wife something for you to joke about?”
He took a step forward. The oppressive presence of his tall figure made several of the women instinctively take a step back.
“Who I marry, and what kind of woman I marry, is my own business—Lu Zhanting’s business,” his voice suddenly turned icy. “Since when did it become your place, as family members, to interfere?”
“Or is it that your husbands are so idle in the army that you have time to gossip here, sowing discord and undermining unity among military families?”
The moment the charge of “undermining unity among military families” was thrown out, Aunt Li’s legs nearly gave way. She knew things had spiraled out of control.
“Battalion Commander Lu, we were wrong. We won’t dare do it again…”
“I heard that Clerk Li has recently been applying for a promotion,” Lu Zhanting’s gaze locked precisely onto Aunt Li as he enunciated each word clearly. “A household with poor conduct doesn’t seem to fare very well in cadre evaluations. Don’t you agree, Aunt Li?”
The words struck her like a bolt from a clear sky.
Her face drained of all color in an instant, her lips trembling so badly she couldn’t form a complete sentence. She knew Lu Zhanting wasn’t joking. With his absolute authority in the Fierce Tiger Battalion, all it would take was a single word to the regiment’s political commissar, and her husband’s career would be finished.
“I was wrong… Battalion Commander Lu, I was really wrong… I have a filthy mouth, I talk nonsense… Please, be magnanimous and don’t stoop to my level…” Aunt Li nearly dropped to her knees with a thud, begging through sobs.
The other military wives were terrified as well, bowing repeatedly and apologizing profusely.
Lu Zhanting looked at their panic-stricken faces, his eyes devoid of even a trace of sympathy. He merely swept his gaze across them and declared coldly:
“Listen carefully. Su Wanqing is my wife, married to me through proper channels. She is the woman I acknowledge. From now on, if anyone dares speak ill of her behind her back, or lets her suffer even the slightest grievance—don’t blame me, Lu Zhanting, for showing no mercy.”
“I don’t care what your husbands do. In my eyes, you’re all the same.”
“Do you understand?”
“Yes! We understand!” The women nodded frantically, hardly daring to breathe.
“Get lost.”
Lu Zhanting spat out a single word.
As if granted amnesty, the women scattered in panic, scrambling away without daring to linger for even a second.
The once-noisy water basin area instantly fell silent, leaving only Su Wanqing and Lu Zhanting behind.
The air returned to stillness, broken only by the rustling of leaves in the wind.
The taut string inside Su Wanqing finally snapped. Her eyes burned, and a mist of tears quickly blurred her vision.
She wasn’t someone who cried easily. When Zhao Jianhe broke off their engagement, she didn’t cry. When villagers pointed fingers and gossiped about her, she didn’t cry. Even when Aunt Li and the others publicly humiliated her just now, she had forced herself not to shed a single tear.
But at this moment—under this man’s powerful protection, after feeling his unquestionable defense—every ounce of suppressed grievance, fear, and unease surged up like a breached flood.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t hurting. She simply hadn’t dared to be weak.
And this man had given her a reason to be.
She lowered her head, not wanting him to see how disheveled she was, but the disobedient tears still slid down her cheeks, dripping onto the concrete and spreading into a small dark stain.
Lu Zhanting tightened the arm around her shoulders. He didn’t speak, nor did he clumsily try to comfort her. He simply stood there quietly, using his body to create an absolutely safe space for her.
After a long while, he finally spoke in a low voice. “Let’s go home.”
He didn’t release her, just half-embracing her as he turned and led her toward home.
Su Wanqing kept her head lowered, her face buried between his solid chest and arm. She caught the scent of clean soap and a faint trace of sweat on him. The embrace wasn’t gentle—if anything, it was a little hard and awkward—but it made her feel safer than she ever had before.
She knew that from this moment on, no one in this military compound would dare look down on her or bully her again.
Because she was Lu Zhanting’s woman.
This man had fulfilled his promise to “protect you for a lifetime” in the most direct and domineering way possible.
When they got home, Lu Zhanting closed the courtyard gate, shutting the outside world away.
He released her, walked to the table, poured a cup of warm water, and placed it into her icy hands.
“Drink some water.”
Su Wanqing accepted the cup silently. The warmth of his palm still lingered on the glass. She took small sips, the warm water flowing into her stomach and gradually soothing her turbulent emotions.
She lifted her head, her eyes red, and looked at him.
Lu Zhanting stood before her, his tall figure enveloping her. Seeing her reddened eyes and nose, his brows knit together unconsciously, a flash of regret and self-blame crossing his gaze.
“This was my oversight,” he said in a deep voice. “I should have thought of it.”
He shouldn’t have let her go out alone to face such a complicated environment and human malice.
Su Wanqing shook her head, her voice still tinged with a sob. “It’s not your fault. Thank you.”
“There’s no need to say thank you between us.” Lu Zhanting looked at her and repeated the words he had already said many times. After a pause, he raised his hand, his rough fingertips clumsily yet gently brushing away the remaining tears at the corner of her eye.
His movements were light, carrying a careful tenderness.
That burning touch made Su Wanqing’s heart tremble violently.
She looked at the man before her. Under the indoor lighting, his resolute features no longer seemed so cold. His eyes were deep as the sea, clearly reflecting her small, tear-streaked face.
At this moment, Su Wanqing suddenly felt that staking everything to marry him back then had been the most correct decision she had made in both her lifetimes.
This marriage that began as a transaction seemed to have quietly changed without her realizing it. Something called “warmth” and “dependence” was breaking through the soil and slowly taking root in this small home that had just weathered a storm.