Qiao Xingyue had asked the question casually, merely wondering why Comrade Xie was changing his bedsheets and duvet cover in the middle of the night.
By the time she belatedly realized the reason, the man before her had turned even redder in the face.
He looked utterly adorable!
How could Qiao Xingyue not know what this was about?
When a male comrade washed his bedding at night, there were only two possible reasons: either he had wet the bed, or he had soiled the sheets during a dream.
Clearly, it was the latter.
Knowing Comrade Xie was easily embarrassed, Qiao Xingyue didn’t press further. “Comrade Xie, I’ll take Ningning back to the room to sleep.”
“Mm.” Xie Zhongming didn’t even lift his eyelids, but internally, his mind was in turmoil. He hurriedly strode away and went downstairs.
…
Washroom.
The quiet night was completely shattered by the sound of rushing water.
Xie Zhongming bent over the faucet, cupping water in his hands and splashing it repeatedly onto his face.
The cold water slapped against his skin, but it couldn’t extinguish the burning shame and guilt he felt.
Five years—he had never been stirred by any woman, nor had he ever dreamed of being intimate with a female comrade…
Tonight’s dream was downright disgraceful!
He splashed another handful of water on his face, then turned the faucet to full blast.
“Zhongming?”
Jiang Beiyang, returning from night training, was on his way home.
Jiang Beiyang’s father was also a senior officer in the Jin Cheng Military Region. The house assigned to the Jiang family in the Family Compound happened to be right next to the washroom.
Their two-story house with a small courtyard came with its own washroom and kitchen, but Xie Zhongming had been afraid that washing the bedding at home would disturb his parents and grandmother.
Besides, who washed bedsheets in the middle of the night?
Being caught red-handed by Comrade Qiao had already left him at a loss for words. If his parents had seen him, the embarrassment would have been unbearable.
So he had come to the communal washroom.
In the dead of night, Jiang Beiyang was drawn by the sound of rushing water. Approaching, he was surprised to find his good friend here, washing a duvet cover?
Despite the late spring chill, Xie Zhongming wore only an army-green tank top.
His arms were exposed.
Under the dim yellow light, he scrubbed the duvet cover with swift, forceful movements, the muscles and veins in his arms bulging.
Sweat beaded on his forehead, and the back of his ears were tinged with a faint red.
As a man himself—and an unmarried one in his twenties—Jiang Beiyang understood everything at once.
He stepped forward and slung an arm over Xie Zhongming’s shoulder.
“Zhongming, washing your bedding in the middle of the night—which female comrade did you dream about?”
“Let me think.” Jiang Beiyang’s hand was pushed away by Xie Zhongming, but he deliberately leaned in closer and said, “It definitely couldn’t have been Pang Ya. Zhongming, be honest—you didn’t dream about the fair-skinned, beautiful Comrade Qiao, did you?”
Xie Zhongming’s ears burned.
He couldn’t calm his mind at all.
After years of maintaining a clear and detached heart, this was the first time he had lost control because of a woman.
He clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white. After all, he was a married man. No matter how much he detested Pang Ya, as long as that title remained, he shouldn’t harbor even a shred of improper thoughts about Comrade Qiao.
His emotions churned inside, but on the surface, he shot Jiang Beiyang a cold glare. “Morning drills tomorrow—do you want to lead by example and do five hundred weighted clap push-ups?”
Damn!
Five hundred push-ups were bad enough.
But weighted clap push-ups?
“Are you some kind of slave driver? I just got back from night training with the new recruits, and now you want me to lead morning drills?”
Jiang Beiyang and Xie Zhongming had grown up together.
Although Xie Zhongming was his superior and Jiang Beiyang his subordinate.
But usually, Jiang Beiyang loved joking with Xie Zhongming. He hooked an arm around Xie Zhongming’s shoulder again, “Be honest, who did you dream about?”
Xie Zhongming tightened his grip on the enamel basin and coldly raised his eyes, “Get back to bed!”
…
The next morning, because his wound hadn’t fully healed and had become infected, Xie Zhongming didn’t go for morning exercises.
But accustomed to waking up early as usual, he got up at 5:30. After washing up, he shut himself in his room to read for a while.
Hearing movement from Comrade Qiao’s room across the way—probably her getting up to make breakfast—his fingers gripping the book pages tightened sharply.
Only when the footsteps descended the stairs and faded away did his tightly clenched fingers finally relax.
That morning, Xie Zhongming didn’t go downstairs for breakfast.
He only came down late after hearing from upstairs that Comrade Qiao was taking the two children to the military district service center to buy groceries and meat.
Huang Guilan noticed her son looked energetic, not at all sick, so why had he come down half an hour late today?
“Old Fourth, why are you so late coming down?”
“Writing reports all morning.”
Xie Zhongming sat opposite his parents at the square table, picked up a potato-filled bun, and took a big bite. Remembering the absurd dream he’d had last night, his back stiffened involuntarily. Thankfully, Comrade Qiao had taken the kids out shopping—otherwise, he wouldn’t know how to face her.
Taking another bite of the bun, Xie Zhongming realized Comrade Qiao’s potato buns were fried with lard, making them exceptionally fragrant—far more aromatic than any bun he’d ever tasted from state-run restaurants.
Her bun-making skills were truly beyond reproach.
…
“Achoo!”
Qiao Xingyue walked through the compound with its whitewashed walls and slogans, suddenly sneezing several times in a row.
Who could be talking about her?
Aunt Lan trusted her completely, having given her a full month’s living expenses at once to freely manage three meals a day—a total of one hundred twenty yuan.
Averaged out, that was four yuan per day for food, plus grain and meat ration coupons.
At this time, pork cost eighty cents per jin. With four yuan, she could buy five jin of meat if she spent it all on pork—though of course she wouldn’t buy only meat. Anyway, she was eating well, sleeping well, everything was good at Division Commander Xie’s home.
These past couple days, Aunt Lan still piled extra rice and numerous meat pieces on her plate. She really feared if she kept eating like this, she’d balloon back to her former two-hundred-plus jin weight.
…
At the Xie residence, Xie Zhongming had eaten half his bun while drinking porridge.
Just then, Jiang Beiyang rushed hurriedly into the main room from outside, holding a telegram in an envelope.
Seeing Xie Zhongming, Division Commander Xie, and Aunt Lan all eating breakfast at the square table, he quickly strode over and handed the telegram to Xie Zhongming.
“Zhongming, urgent telegram from Chadian Village. Not sure if something happened to Pang Ya.”
Xie Zhongming took the telegram, opened it, and read it.
Noticing his tightly furrowed brows, Huang Guilan beside him grew concerned, “Old Fourth, could it be something really happened to Pang Ya?”
Xie Zhongming remained silent.
He clenched the telegram in his hand, his face dark and gloomy.
Xie Jiang took the telegram and glanced at it, “What trouble has Pang Ya gotten into in the village this time?”
“What kind of trouble?” Huang Guilan wasn’t initially very angry, but after taking the telegram from Xie Jiang and reading it clearly, even with her good temper, she couldn’t help feeling furious enough to make her lungs ache.
“How could Pang Ya cause such a big trouble this time, stealing eight hundred yuan from a fellow villager?”
The telegram was sent by the village chief of Chadian Village, stating that Pang Ya had stolen eight hundred yuan from a fellow villager. That money was meant for the villager’s betrothal gifts, purchasing the Three-Turns-and-a-Buzz, and covering the wedding banquet expenses.
If the money couldn’t be repaid, the wedding would be called off.
The villager also threatened that if Pang Ya failed to return the money, she would be sent to jail.
What was even more infuriating was that Pang Ya had taken the eight hundred yuan to the city’s department store, buying delicious food and pretty clothes, and spent it all within a few days.
Huang Guilan trembled with anger, “How can Pang Ya be so gluttonous? Eight hundred yuan gone in just a few days—no wonder she’s grown to over two hundred jin. Old Fourth, did you marry such a troublemaker just to become her cash cow for life?”
Jiang Beiyang chimed in from the side, “Zhongming, Aunt Lan is right. We can’t keep giving money to Pang Ya. If she knows you’ll always clean up her mess, she might cause even bigger trouble in the future, and you’ll end up losing more money.”
Jiang Beiyang added, “Zhongming, in my opinion, you should firmly refuse Pang Ya this time and directly file for divorce with the military.”
Xie Zhongming took the telegram from Huang Guilan’s hand and clenched it tightly.
He had collected many such telegrams demanding money from him over the years.
He had lost count of how much money he had paid on Pang Ya’s behalf.
After careful consideration, he calmly stated, “No, I must go to Chadian Village this time. I need to get to the bottom of this. Even if we divorce, I have to see Pang Ya first, resolve this matter, and then submit the divorce report to the organization.”
Xie Jiang, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke, “Old Fourth is right. Even if we divorce, we must go to Chadian Village to see Pang Ya once. They should talk things out face to face.”
As he spoke, Xie Jiang patted his son on the shoulder, “Old Fourth, handle this matter properly when you see Pang Ya. This kind of woman really isn’t suited to be a military wife.”
Others only knew that his Old Fourth had married.
But no one knew what kind of wife he had married.
Whenever someone asked, Xie Jiang would hem and haw, evading the question.
If his comrades were to find out that Pang Ya was a lazy, gluttonous thief, he would be too ashamed to show his face.
Even five years ago, when the elderly Chen Suying asked what kind of granddaughter-in-law Zhongming had married for her, Xie Jiang and Huang Guilan had lied, claiming that Old Fourth’s wife was tall, beautiful, educated, and kind-hearted.
Xie Jiang added, “Old Fourth, if Pang Ya refuses to divorce this time, just let her name her price. However much money she wants, our Xie family will pay her.”
Xie Jiang also felt sorry for his son.
He didn’t want his Old Fourth’s lifelong marital happiness to be ruined by Pang Ya.
After careful consideration, Xie Zhongming nodded and said, “Dad, I will handle this matter properly.”
Because of Pang Ya’s actions, he no longer had the mood to continue eating breakfast.
He simply packed his luggage and went to the train station to buy an afternoon ticket to Kun City.
Since there was still time, he went to the Military General Hospital and specifically made an appointment with a male urologist.
The doctor, wearing black-framed glasses, clicked his tongue upon seeing the infection, “It’s gotten this bad, why did you wait so long to come to the hospital?”
Xie Zhongming hadn’t wanted to delay it this long either.
He made two trips to the military district’s Hygiene Section, but only female doctors were available.
Having been completely examined by Comrade Qiao was already embarrassing enough. He didn’t want a second female doctor treating him, nor was he willing to let Comrade Qiao handle his infection again.
He’d rather let the infection persist.
That’s why he had delayed until today.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too severe. The doctor removed his stitches and performed wound debridement and drainage. “Maintain hygiene and change the dressing promptly every day.”
After leaving the military hospital, he went to the train station—the timing was just right.
The next day, he arrived in Kun City, took a bus to Shanquan Town, then found an ox cart to take him to Chadian Village.
After much traveling, he finally arrived at Pang Ya’s thatched cottage.
Next to Pang Ya’s grass house was Aunt Liu’s home.
Everyone in this village shared the surname Liu.
When he had come to Chadian Village on assignment before, he had stayed at Pang Ya’s house.
That evening, he drank a bowl of sweet potato porridge cooked by Pang Ya’s mother. Little did he know that she had laced the porridge with beast medicine.
It wasn’t until late at night when Pang Ya climbed on top of him and forced herself on him that he realized what had happened.
Aunt Liu recognized him at first sight. “Oh, is that Comrade Xie?”
Xie Zhongming wasn’t wearing his military uniform today.
A white shirt was tucked into navy blue trousers.
His posture was naturally straight and upright.
Aunt Liu, holding pigweed, stood before him. Her stooped frame only reached his chest, forcing her to look up at his handsome figure.
“Comrade Xie, are you here in Chadian Village on another assignment?”
Seeing an elder, Xie Zhongming’s stern features softened with a warm smile. “No, Aunt Liu. I’ve come back to see Pang Ya.” Aunt Liu’s smile turned to astonishment. “Pang Ya? But Pang Ya is dead! Didn’t you know, Comrade Xie?”
“Dead?”
It felt like a blow to the head.
Although Xie Zhongming had never liked Pang Ya, she was still a living being.
“Aunt Liu, you’re not joking, are you?”
Aunt Liu looked completely serious. “How could I joke about such a thing? If you don’t believe me, ask your mother-in-law. Look, your mother-in-law is right over there carrying night soil—go ask her.”
Before she finished speaking, Xie Zhongming had already quickened his pace, leaped over a field ridge with agile movements, and reached Pang Ya’s mother.
Pang Ya’s mother was named Zeng Xiuzhu.
At first, Xie Zhongming didn’t recognize her, but upon closer look, it was indeed Pang Ya’s mother.
He hurriedly asked, “Mom, where is Pang Ya?”