Shen Shuyue couldn’t care less whether other people were happy about it or not.
Once the refrigerator was delivered, she went out and bought a huge amount of vegetables, fruit, and meat.
She bought all kinds of ingredients and filled the refrigerator to the brim.
She also stocked it with plenty of drinks and milk. The refrigerator was enormous, yet she managed to fill every inch of it.
When Qiu Chengyue saw how many vegetables Shen Shuyue had stored, his expression darkened slightly.
“There’s so much food. We couldn’t possibly finish all of this in ten days or half a month.”
Shen Shuyue didn’t care.
She bought them simply because she wanted to.
If she got hungry in the middle of the night, she could always get up and make something to eat.
Without a refrigerator, meat would go bad after sitting overnight.
Vegetables would wilt by the next day.
Leftover food would turn sour if it wasn’t eaten by the following day.
In short, it was inconvenient.
Shen Shuyue was happy, but the women in the family compound were anything but.
A refrigerator cost several hundred or even over a thousand yuan. Shen Shuyue had bought one without even blinking.
Naturally, quite a few people were jealous.
They were all human beings, and they all lived in the same family compound.
These women had to agonize over spending money on meat for even one meal.
But Shen Shuyue never had to worry about food or clothing. She could casually buy a refrigerator, wear pretty clothes every day, and even drive a small car whenever she wanted to go out.
Why was there such a huge difference between them?
Some of the women started discussing it while washing clothes at the communal wash area.
“Shen Shuyue is getting lazier and lazier. She used to come out and wash her clothes and shoes herself. Now she doesn’t even wash her clothes or shoes. I really don’t know how Battalion Commander Qiu can put up with her.”
“If I were him, I would’ve divorced a woman like that long ago.”
“A woman like her can’t even have children. I really don’t know why Battalion Commander Qiu was willing to marry her.”
As the women gossiped, their hearts were filled with resentment.
“Oh, right, Sister-in-law Zhang. You live close to Shen Shuyue. Have you ever seen her washing clothes?”
One of the women turned to Sister-in-law Zhang.
Sister-in-law Zhang didn’t like Shen Shuyue either, so when someone brought up the subject, she immediately had plenty to say.
“Oh, please. There’s no way she’d wash her own clothes. Last time, I even saw Battalion Commander Qiu hanging her clothes out to dry.”
“Our balconies are right next to each other. I only have to stick my head out a little, and I can see their side.”
“Battalion Commander Qiu has helped Shen Shuyue hang her clothes more than once.”
“And let me tell you, Shen Shuyue even wears those extremely provocative bras and underwear.”
“The kind with two cups, you know? Good grief, even as a woman, I couldn’t stand looking at them. I really wonder what Battalion Commander Qiu thinks when he sees those things.”
The women all clicked their tongues in amazement.
“Two cups?”
“What kind of bra is that?” another woman asked.
The bras they usually wore were more like simple undershirts.
They genuinely had no idea what a bra with two separate cups looked like.
Sister-in-law Zhang proceeded to give them an exaggerated description of the bra’s shape.
As the women listened, their eyes grew wider and wider.
That really was quite provocative.
“How can such a serious and stern man like Battalion Commander Qiu put up with a woman like that?”
“I heard they were engaged through an arranged marriage when they were children. They got married once they reached the appropriate age.”
“Battalion Commander Qiu definitely didn’t want to marry a woman like her. He probably couldn’t go against his grandfather’s wishes.”
“Really? It was like that?”
The more they talked about it, the more convinced they became that Shen Shuyue and Qiu Chengyue were completely mismatched.
Battalion Commander Qiu had only married Shen Shuyue because he had no choice. He didn’t like her at all.
The women finally felt better.
At least they could find some balance in their hearts.
No matter how beautiful Shen Shuyue was, if Battalion Commander Qiu didn’t like her, there was nothing for her to be proud of.
……
It was summer, and the weather was unpredictable.
Yesterday, the sky had been clear and bright, but today, torrential rain came pouring down.
The rain started in the morning and continued all the way into the evening without showing any sign of stopping.
Some of the women in the family compound had wanted to go out and buy vegetables, but because of the heavy rain, they couldn’t leave.
Shen Shuyue’s refrigerator, however, was packed to the brim.
While other families were starting to run out of food, her refrigerator was still stocked with plenty of meat.
That evening, the rain continued to pour, showing no sign of letting up.
Shen Shuyue stared at the rain pouring outside the window and couldn’t help wondering if a flood was about to happen.
Every summer, many places experienced flooding.
Wanzhou City was no exception.
If the water rose too high, the roads would be submerged.
By then, going outside would be impossible.
The rain continued throughout the entire night.
By the next morning, Qiu Chengyue and the other soldiers received orders that villages surrounding Wanzhou City had been hit by severe flooding. They needed to head to the disaster areas to carry out rescue operations.
Shen Shuyue was still asleep when Qiu Chengyue hurried home to tell her that he had to leave and participate in the rescue mission.
“Several areas are experiencing severe flooding right now. The family compound is safe, but don’t go outside for the time being.”
“There’s enough food in the refrigerator to last you more than half a month. Wait until the floodwaters recede before you go out.”
“I won’t be home, so make sure you take good care of yourself.”
Shen Shuyue sat on the bed and looked at Qiu Chengyue in his military uniform. For some reason, seeing him like this felt a little unfamiliar.
She asked, “How many days will you be gone?”
Qiu Chengyue replied, “I don’t know.”
“I’ll come back once the work is finished.”
Shen Shuyue nodded.
After giving her a few more instructions, Qiu Chengyue left.
Shen Shuyue sat on the bed for a while before walking over to the window.
Qiu Chengyue was running outside with several other men, their packs strapped to their backs. From the looks of things, the situation was extremely urgent.
Several women were also following behind them, calling out reminders to their husbands to stay safe.
Shen Shuyue watched Qiu Chengyue disappear into the distance, and for some reason, her heart felt strangely bitter.
Fortunately, she knew how to comfort herself.
After Qiu Chengyue left, she wasn’t actually unhappy.
The rain outside showed no sign of stopping.
After raining continuously for an entire day and night, the roads outside were already covered in water.
Shen Shuyue came out of the bedroom and saw breakfast waiting on the dining table.
It was probably food Qiu Chengyue had brought back from the military unit’s mess hall. There wasn’t as much as usual.
After washing up, Shen Shuyue sat down to eat breakfast.
Then she heard several women talking outside.
They were speaking in the corridor. The walls in the building were poorly insulated, so their conversation carried clearly into Shen Shuyue’s ears.
“The rain just won’t stop. We don’t have anything left to eat at home.”
“We have to go out today and buy some vegetables and rice. If we don’t, we’ll have nothing to cook.”
“You still want to go out and buy vegetables? The town has already been flooded. Even if you make it there, you won’t be able to buy anything.”
“Then what are we supposed to do? We can’t just starve to death!”
“Let’s figure out how to get through the next couple of days. The army should be delivering food to us in a few days.”
“Then what are we supposed to eat these next two days?”
“……”
……
People in the family compound began going around asking others if they could lend them some rice or vegetables.
Without food, they would go hungry.
They couldn’t leave because of the flooding, and the surrounding villages had also been submerged. There was simply nowhere to buy anything.
But no one in the family compound was willing to lend food to anyone else.
Their own supplies were already limited.
If they lent their food to others, what would they eat themselves?