Her wrist hurt from his grip, the force like an iron clamp, firm and impossible to resist.
Yet Su Qiao did not even furrow her brows. Instead, her smile deepened.
Following the force of his pull, she let him draw her away from him, maintaining what he considered a “safe distance.”
Gu Changfeng took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the unfamiliar flutter in his heart. His eyes carried the unmistakable warning of a soldier.
“Comrade Su Qiao, please show some self-respect.”
His voice was cold and hard, as though the man who had just lost control had not been him.
Hearing this, Su Qiao looked as though she had heard the funniest joke in the world.
She leaned against the mottled earthen wall. With a slight twist of the wrist he was holding, she turned the tables and lightly scratched his palm with her fingertip.
Gu Changfeng released her hand as though he had been burned, as if an electric shock had passed through him.
“Self-respect?” Su Qiao folded her arms and leisurely studied his handsome face, which was filled with embarrassment. “Regiment Commander Gu, we’re practically at the point of choosing our children’s names, and you’re lecturing me about self-respect now?”
“Who was it that kept changing positions and having his way with me last night?”
“So when you take the initiative, that’s called self-respect?”
Her words were direct and downright fierce.
“You…” Gu Changfeng was rendered speechless by her.
In his entire life, he had crossed bayonets with enemies on the battlefield and matched wits with opponents during military exercises, but he had never encountered a woman who refused to play by the rules like this.
Every word she spoke, every movement she made, was like a stone tossed into an ancient well, sending ripples through the calm lake of his heart that had remained undisturbed for twenty-nine years.
In the end, all his rebuttals turned into a tactical cough.
“Ahem.”
Gu Changfeng turned around, presenting his back to her, as though doing so could shut out the distracting fragrance emanating from her.
He decided to stop going around in circles with her and get straight to the point.
“I need a wife.” His voice regained its usual composure and seriousness, as though he were issuing a battle command. “To deal with my family’s urging and the organization’s annual review.”
In the military, once an officer reached a certain age and rank, his marital status was also one of the factors considered by the organization when assessing his stability.
His family and his superiors had nagged him about it so much that his ears were practically calloused.
The pressure to get married had nearly made him question his entire life.
“After we’re married, we’ll be legally husband and wife. But privately, we won’t interfere with each other’s lives.” He paused before adding, “I’ll send you money every month. You can live in the housing provided by the army. My duties are demanding, and I spend most of the year with my unit, so I rarely come home.”
His words were clear and logical, filled with the straightforwardness and firmness characteristic of a soldier.
Wasn’t this basically paid leave with food and housing included, plus a powerful protector?
Not bad at all.
Su Qiao was practically bursting with delight inside. After surviving ten years in the apocalypse, this was exactly the kind of life she had dreamed of.
She licked her slightly dry lips, a calculating gleam flickering in her eyes.
“Sounds pretty good,” she said slowly, getting straight to the most important question. “How much is your monthly allowance?”
The air froze again.
Gu Changfeng slowly turned around, his face openly displaying his astonishment.
That was it?
He had imagined she might bargain, demand some kind of guarantee, or even cry and insist that he promise her “love.”
But he had never expected her to ask so bluntly, so… money-minded.
In an era when even talking about money was considered vulgar, her question was practically a mudslide sweeping through the conversation.
He stared at her bright, sparkling eyes, which seemed to scream “Follow the money,” and remained silent for several seconds before finally squeezing a number from his throat.
“I’m currently a full regiment commander. Including my monthly allowance and various subsidies, I receive a total of ninety-eight yuan a month.”
Ninety-eight yuan!
Su Qiao’s eyes immediately lit up.
In an era when pork cost only seven or eight jiao per pound and ordinary workers generally earned twenty or thirty yuan a month, this was undoubtedly a fortune!
It was practically equivalent to the combined monthly wages of three able-bodied laborers.
“Deal!”
She made the decision decisively, as though afraid he might change his mind.
Her straightforwardness left Gu Changfeng stunned once again.
He had the distinct feeling that the initiative in this “transaction” had somehow slipped out of his hands without him realizing it.
Su Qiao did not care what he thought. She had already begun planning her wonderful future.
She tilted her head, as though suddenly remembering something, and asked, “Then when are you going back to the army? Am I going to live here alone?”
“I’ll leave after we finish the marriage formalities. My leave is already over.” Gu Changfeng answered without the slightest hesitation, as though eager to leave this troublesome place where he had repeatedly lost control. “I’ll give you the key to the house in the family compound. I’ll take care of everything on the army’s side.”
His answer was cold and devoid of the slightest attachment.
Like a machine that only wanted to complete its mission.
The smile at the corner of Su Qiao’s lips grew increasingly playful.
She suddenly stepped forward and moved close to him again.
This time, her target was his ear.
Gu Changfeng’s body stiffened. He wanted to dodge, yet he found his feet seemingly nailed to the floor, unable to move.
He only felt a warm breath carrying the faint fragrance of orchids gently brush against his ear, making half his body tingle with numbness.
Then he heard her ask in a soft, breathy voice, one capable of making a man’s bones go weak:
“Then… what if I miss you?”