The moment the words “delicate flower” were spoken, the room fell silent.
Everyone’s eyes instinctively turned toward Gu Changfeng’s perpetually icy face.
Gu Changfeng stopped moving.
He lowered his eyes and stared at the exquisite piece of chocolate in his palm, but two completely different images involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
In one, on that rainy night, she had been beneath him, her eyes alluring and misty, as fragile as a rose waiting to be plucked, even her cries carrying a seductive hook.
In the other, she had casually mentioned in her letter that “a thief came by,” reporting the incident without the slightest panic, like a fox with its claws tucked away.
A delicate flower?
He remembered the animated way Wang Xiaohu had reported the situation—“Sister-in-law scared off two lock-picking thieves all by herself!”
The corner of Gu Changfeng’s mouth twitched involuntarily.
The movement was so slight and fleeting that it was almost impossible to catch, yet it was enough to make all the comrades gathered around him stare wide-eyed.
Old Gu… smiled?
That living devil on the training grounds, who could curse a person until their ancestors started smoking, had actually smiled because someone mentioned his wife?
“Old Gu, you’ve got skills! You’ve been hiding this well!” Deputy Regiment Commander Li Shengli was the first to react. He slapped Gu Changfeng on the shoulder and gave him a knowing look. “Come on, tell us. Where did you find such a treasure of a wife? She even sends you chocolate. That kind of generosity puts the rich young ladies from the military compound to shame!”
“Exactly! Old Gu, you’re not being honest! Making a fortune in silence, huh?”
“Give me a piece of chocolate! Let me taste our divine sister-in-law’s handiwork!”
A group of rough military men crowded around him, their teasing almost threatening to bring down the roof.
The noise gave Gu Changfeng a headache. The fleeting smile on his face had long since disappeared, replaced by his usual cold, hard expression.
Without saying a word, he carefully rewrapped the remaining pieces of chocolate in wax paper, as if he were putting away some priceless treasure, and locked them inside his desk drawer.
Only then did he take out one piece, break it into several tiny pieces no bigger than fingernails, and distribute them to the men who had been shouting the loudest, as if tossing scraps to beggars.
“Can’t even shut you up with food,” he said coldly.
The men who had managed to grab pieces barely the size of sesame seeds didn’t care about his attitude. They popped the chocolate into their mouths as carefully as if it were a treasure.
The rich, silky texture melted across their tongues, and all of them instantly wore intoxicated expressions.
“Holy crap… this is damn good!”
“Is this the capitalist sugar-coated bullet? I admit it—I’ve been corrupted!”
Li Shengli hadn’t gotten any. He moved closer to Gu Changfeng, nudged him with his elbow, and lowered his voice.
“Not bad, kid. Before this, whenever we tried to set you up on a blind date, you acted like we were asking for your life. You said you’d just find someone and get it over with. But looking at you now, it doesn’t seem that way. Come clean. What exactly is the background of your little wife?”
“Country girl. Nothing special,” Gu Changfeng replied stiffly.
But in his mind, Su Qiao’s beautiful, sly face appeared again, along with the words she had thrown back at him: Stay safe.
Could an ordinary country girl possess such sharp instincts and courage?
Could an ordinary country girl get imported chocolate that couldn’t even be found on the market?
He didn’t believe it himself.
Li Shengli watched him insist that she had “nothing special” about her while his eyes were clearly somewhere else. He couldn’t help grinning knowingly.
He understood.
And so, that very night.
A brand-new legend spread through the entire border defense regiment at astonishing speed.
—The mysterious wife of the notorious “Gu Devil,” a woman everyone had heard about but no one had ever seen, was not only breathtakingly beautiful but also an almost supernatural woman with incredible connections and lavish generosity!
Rumor had it that she could somehow obtain Forever bicycles that people outside were fighting tooth and nail to buy.
Rumor had it that the snacks she casually sent to the Gu Devil were all incredibly rare imported chocolates.
Rumor had it that while home alone, she had scared off two burly home invaders with her bare hands!
With every retelling, the stories became more exaggerated. Gu Changfeng’s image also gradually transformed from that of a workaholic who showed no interest in women into a man who was completely under his wife’s thumb—a thoroughly henpecked husband.
Gu Changfeng knew nothing about any of this.
All he knew was that something was seriously wrong with him lately.
During meetings, he would find himself staring blankly at the map, wondering whether she might attract unwanted attention while carrying all those ration coupons.
During training, he would unconsciously lose focus, wondering whether she might fall while riding that brand-new bicycle around the county town by herself.
At night, lying in bed, he tossed and turned restlessly. Her letter, her chocolate, and her face—sometimes alluring, sometimes sly—played over and over in his mind like a film.
The completely uncontrollable feeling made him incredibly irritable, yet at the same time… it carried a faint sense of anticipation that he himself was unwilling to admit.
……
Su Qiao had no idea that while she was sitting comfortably at home, her reputation had already traveled thousands of miles and she had become the heroine of a military-camp legend.
At that moment, she was sitting on the sofa, leisurely peeling an apple.
Sun Cuifen had been detained for fifteen days, and judging by the date, she should be getting out soon.
Given that woman’s personality, after suffering such a major setback, there was no way she would let the matter go.
She might not dare come to the military compound and cause a scene again, but there was no doubt she would try to trip Su Qiao up behind the scenes.
Su Qiao had never been someone who simply took a beating.
Rather than wait for the other side to make a move, it was better to strike first and resolve the problem once and for all.
“Well, well.” She popped a slice of apple into her mouth, a calculating glint flashing in her eyes. “This time, I’m going to make sure you bite off more than you can chew.”
She had spent a little money to buy an interesting piece of information from a small-time hoodlum in the black market who was well connected and knew all sorts of gossip.
Sun Cuifen’s good-for-nothing, lazy son, Su Jianguo—the original owner’s cousin—was currently being introduced to a potential marriage partner.
The other party was Wang Xiujjuan, the only daughter of Director Wang of the town’s Supply and Marketing Cooperative.
A director of a Supply and Marketing Cooperative held real power in this era. It was a highly coveted position.
Sun Cuifen and her son had been dreaming of marrying into such a prestigious family.
Apparently, the two families had already reached an agreement. All that remained was to exchange betrothal gifts and formally arrange the engagement.
The corners of Su Qiao’s lips slowly curled into a cold smile.
She put down the fruit knife and took a tiny miniature listening device, no bigger than a fingernail, out of her space.
Then she pulled out a sheet of paper and quickly wrote a paragraph, imitating Sun Cuifen’s handwriting. It looked seven or eight parts identical.
Once she finished, she placed the note and the listening device inside an envelope.
“Director Wang, is it?” She stared at the unaddressed envelope and murmured softly, “I hope that after receiving this ‘grand gift,’ you’ll still be interested in your wonderful future in-laws.”