They had to find a way to make sure Zhou Yuanzheng still died on his wedding night just like in her previous life. At the very least, he had to die after marrying Shen Qingqing. Otherwise, if he died before they got married, it wouldn’t have much impact on Shen Qingqing. She could simply find someone else to marry.
After thinking for a long time, Shen Jiaojiao came up with a good idea. She carefully chose her words before speaking.
“Sis, why don’t you two hurry up and get your marriage certificate first? You can hold the wedding banquet a few days later, but you can register your marriage first. Having your period doesn’t affect getting the certificate anyway. Don’t you think?”
Shen Qingqing pretended to hesitate.
“But getting the certificate early and holding the wedding banquet later are basically the same thing. I still think we should have the banquet first and then register our marriage.”
In this era, holding the wedding banquet was considered more important than getting the marriage certificate, so most people would hold the banquet first and register their marriage afterward.
Seeing that Shen Qingqing wasn’t listening to her, Shen Jiaojiao grew anxious.
“What do you know? Sis, you don’t realize how popular your future husband is. There are plenty of women who want to marry him. You should hurry up and get the certificate with him. What if someone tries to interfere during this time and snatches him away? You won’t even have anywhere to cry!”
“Huh? Really? I don’t think so. How could anyone do something like that? Everyone on the island seems pretty nice. Besides, everyone knows we’re getting married soon.”
Shen Qingqing looked doubtful.
Shen Jiaojiao was getting annoyed, but to prevent anything from going wrong, she could only patiently coax her.
“You never know. You should hurry up and get the certificate with your future brother-in-law. That’s the most important thing. Don’t let the duck that’s already cooked fly away at the last moment.”
If she weren’t trying to make Shen Qingqing experience being a widow in this life too, she wouldn’t have bothered nagging her so much.
What an idiot. She had already made things so clear, yet she was still hesitating. Who knew what kind of good fortune Shen Qingqing had stumbled upon in her previous life to actually marry Lu Yunshan?
Fortunately, this time, she would be the one to become the regiment commander’s wife.
With that thought, Shen Jiaojiao forced a smile.
“Oh, come on. Would I ever hurt you? I’m only doing this for your own good, Sis. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have given such a good marriage opportunity back to you in the first place. You absolutely can’t let down Mom and me after all the trouble we’ve gone through for you.”
“Alright, then.”
After sending Shen Jiaojiao away, Shen Qingqing tugged at the corner of her mouth and sneered.
Her sister’s heart was truly rotten.
She couldn’t understand it. In her previous life, neither she nor Zhou Yuanzheng had ever done anything to wrong Shen Jiaojiao. So why did she hate the two of them so much that she wished for one of them to die and the other to become a widow?
Clearly, in this life, Shen Jiaojiao could have used the knowledge she possessed to prevent Zhou Yuanzheng and the other soldiers from dying.
Yet, simply because she wanted Shen Qingqing to become a widow, she was willing to stop at nothing.
Shen Jiaojiao wasn’t particularly clever, but her heart was rotten to the core. Just for the sake of becoming a regiment commander’s wife, she could disregard other people’s lives.
Shen Qingqing didn’t consider herself some great saint, but she truly couldn’t stand Shen Jiaojiao’s actions.
More than a hundred human lives—were they really less important to her than becoming a regiment commander’s wife?
Shen Qingqing shook her head.
Shen Jiaojiao’s actions only strengthened her determination to prevent those soldiers from dying.
After seeing Shen Jiaojiao off, she returned to Wang-saozi’s home and began preparing for the wedding. She also found time to make a trip to Haicheng.
She went to the carpenter Wang-saozi had mentioned last time and ordered a batch of furniture.
She had already visited the house assigned to Zhou Yuanzheng by the army. There were practically only two wooden beds inside. Other than that, there was a wardrobe in the largest bedroom. The living room and the other room were completely empty.
She couldn’t help shaking her head.
Zhou Yuanzheng really hadn’t been exaggerating when he said they hadn’t bought anything for the house.
Since there would only be the two of them, they didn’t need too much furniture. Shen Qingqing ordered an Eight Immortals table, four wooden chairs, and three cabinets of various sizes for the living room.
Fortunately, the carpenter had been introduced by Wang-saozi, and his craftsmanship was genuinely good. Worried that he wouldn’t be able to finish everything before the wedding, Shen Qingqing was lucky to find that he already had some pieces finished at home.
After paying the labor and material costs, she could simply hire people to carry everything back.
Although the prices were higher than those at the supply cooperative, the advantage was that she didn’t need furniture coupons.
After buying a few other small household items, Shen Qingqing returned to the island with Wang-saozi.
Zhou Yuanzheng’s parents weren’t around, so the only person who could help organize the wedding was the married Wang-saozi.
Fortunately, Wang-saozi had a good reputation. She brought along several women she worked with, and they all helped prepare the wedding together.
Zhou Yuanzheng wasn’t idle either.
Before they even registered their marriage, he had already brought over the famous “three transfers and one sound”—a bicycle, a sewing machine, a wristwatch, and a radio.
The women who came to help were incredibly envious.
After all, there weren’t many families capable of getting their hands on all four of these things, especially when they were all the most fashionable Shanghai-brand products of the time.
Although quite a few people were jealous, what could they do? Their own husbands simply weren’t capable of providing the famous “three transfers and one sound.”
Someone said sourly,
“Oh, Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou really is more capable than us ordinary folks. He’s actually willing to get all four of these things. Looks like he really dotes on Xiao Shen.”
Wang-saozi certainly wasn’t going to indulge her.
“What nonsense are you talking about? When Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou was risking his life out there, who knows where your husband was? Why are you speaking so sarcastically? If you’re jealous, blame your own husband for not being capable enough. Why take it out on other people?”
The woman unhappily pursed her lips.
Wasn’t she even allowed to say anything?
She wondered whether Xiao Shen’s younger sister was just as lucky.
She had seen that wristwatch at a department store in the city. It cost more than a hundred yuan!
It was incredible that Deputy Regiment Commander Zhou was actually willing to spend that much.
Wasn’t it just a wife? Was there really a need to spend so much money?
And then there was that Bee-brand sewing machine. She was practically drooling with envy.
In those days, if a bride had a sewing machine as part of her wedding gifts, it was an incredible source of pride.
Wang-saozi truly lived up to her experience as a married woman. Under her careful arrangements, every large and small item that should be prepared was taken care of without missing a thing.
In her previous life, Shen Qingqing had relied on Lu Yunshan’s parents to handle the wedding preparations, so she hadn’t paid much attention to them. But she knew that there had been quite a few things they hadn’t managed to buy.
She had never expected Wang-saozi to go this far for her in this life.
Shen Qingqing was genuinely touched and secretly vowed that she would definitely repay her kindness properly in the future.
Shen Luanfeng and Bai Nianyun hadn’t prepared any dowry for her either, so Shen Qingqing took out her own money and, accompanied by Wang-saozi, bought everything herself.
A festive quilt, a red washbasin, a spittoon, and various other dowry items were all prepared according to the standard for marrying off a daughter.
In the end, when everything was laid out, it was actually even more thoughtfully prepared than what the Lu family had arranged for her in her previous life.
At the same time, Shen Qingqing hadn’t forgotten her real purpose.
One day, when Zhou Yuanzheng came to deliver some things, Shen Qingqing deliberately pulled him aside to an unoccupied corner, saying that she had something important to tell him.
“Comrade Zhou, a few days ago, I went out with Wang-saozi. We unexpectedly noticed something strange in the waters to the east. At night, I seemed to see some faint lights over there. I’m not sure whether I saw correctly, but no matter what, I thought I should tell you.”
Zhou Yuanzheng froze.
His expression immediately became serious.
“Are you sure you really saw it?”
In truth, Shen Qingqing hadn’t seen any lights at all.
From that distance, there was no way she could have seen anything.
But she genuinely couldn’t think of another way. All she could do was claim that she had seen something.
Whether he believed her or not, she had to try.
“I didn’t see it very clearly either. I just thought it was strange. Where would there be lights out on the sea?”
“Alright. I understand.”
Zhou Yuanzheng agreed without much suspicion.
After the founding of the country, there were still quite a few enemy agents hiding within China. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t simply ignore something like this.
So he immediately returned to the military base and ordered the patrol teams to increase their vigilance, paying particular attention to the eastern waters.
It was better to be overly cautious than to dismiss a genuine threat.