Aunt-in-law Sun Cuifen’s cursing was shrill and vicious.
Su Qiao, however, acted as though she had not heard a word.
Her thoughts suddenly drifted back to the night after they had gotten their marriage certificate.
By the time they finished registering their marriage that day, dusk had already fallen. The last bus back to the town was gone, and as a soldier, Gu Changfeng could not simply find some shady guesthouse to spend the night.
So the adobe house that had witnessed the absurd beginning of their relationship became their only choice for their “wedding night.”
Awkwardness filled the air.
Gu Changfeng took the initiative to sleep on the low couch in the outer room, giving the only bed to Su Qiao.
Between them was nothing but a thin wooden door, yet it seemed to separate them by a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers.
In the middle of the night, Su Qiao woke up thirsty.
She had a special constitution, and after expending quite a bit of energy earlier, her mouth and throat were now parched.
There was no water in the room, so she had no choice but to go outside to look for some.
She took one of her usual silk camisole nightgowns from her space and changed into it.
The dress was dark green, made of smooth, silky fabric, barely reaching her thighs and outlining her alluring figure to perfection.
After ten years in the apocalypse, practicality and comfort were the only things she cared about when choosing clothes.
She opened the door.
Moonlight streamed through the window, casting a layer of silvery frost across the floor.
Barefoot, she quietly walked toward the table where the thermos was kept.
Just as she reached the table, the door to the other room creaked open as well.
Gu Changfeng walked out.
He clearly had not been able to sleep either. He was wearing only a pair of army-green training trousers, his upper body bare.
Under the moonlight, his bronze skin glowed with a healthy sheen. The contours of his chest and abdominal muscles were sharply defined, radiating a powerful masculine strength.
Beads of sweat slid from his neatly cropped hair, passed over his Adam’s apple, and disappeared into his solid chest.
He had also come out for a drink of water.
Their eyes met.
It was as though the air had been sucked out of the room, freezing into a solid block of ice.
Gu Changfeng’s movements stopped, his hand still reaching toward the cup.
His gaze first landed on her face, then uncontrollably drifted downward.
It passed over her delicate collarbones, her smooth, rounded shoulders, and then lower…
There, beneath the silk, was a breathtaking expanse of pale skin that rose and fell gently with every breath.
His pupils suddenly contracted.
The next second, as though he had been burned by a branding iron, he abruptly looked away. The tips of his ears visibly flushed red, and the redness quickly spread down his entire neck.
Su Qiao took in every one of his reactions.
Instead of retreating, she deliberately stepped closer.
Her delicate fragrance wafted toward him.
“Regiment Commander Gu,” she said, her voice carrying a hint of huskiness from just waking up, making it especially clear in the quiet night. “Can’t sleep?”
The distance between them was so close that they could feel each other’s breath.
Gu Changfeng’s body was taut like a bow drawn to its limit, and his Adam’s apple rolled violently up and down.
He could even smell the sweet, clean fragrance in her hair, completely different from any soap or soapberry scent used in this era.
“…Drinking water.”
He forced the two words through his clenched teeth, his voice dry and stiff.
After tossing out those two words, he turned around awkwardly and hurried toward his room as though fleeing from some ferocious beast, moving so quickly that he nearly stirred up a gust of wind.
His retreating back was filled with the embarrassment of someone making a desperate escape.
Su Qiao leaned against the doorway, watching his flustered figure and silently laughing.
She laughed so hard that her body trembled.
Good grief. On their wedding night, this man had actually blushed?
Only a few hours ago, he had been vigorous and unstoppable in bed, exhausting her completely. And now he was pretending to be some innocent, inexperienced man?
Looking at his tightly closed door, she deliberately raised her voice, her tone filled with playful teasing.
“Hey, the thermos is right here!”
The only response was a louder slam from inside the room, clearly carrying a hint of embarrassment and anger.
Bang!
The smile on Su Qiao’s lips deepened.
This man was really interesting.
He said they would not interfere with each other, but his body certainly seemed to have other ideas.
Beneath that calm, self-controlled mask was nothing more than a beast that could lose control at any moment, wasn’t it?
……
Her thoughts returned from that amusing night.
Su Qiao’s gaze refocused on the fleshy-faced woman before her, who was still spitting curses.
One was a troublemaker who had come looking for a fight.
The other was a taciturn, flirtatious husband whose body was far more honest than his words.
Life in the 1970s seemed to be much more interesting than she had imagined.
Looking at Sun Cuifen’s face twisted with rage and remembering Gu Changfeng’s innocent yet restrained expression, the smile on Su Qiao’s lips only grew.
To Sun Cuifen, that smile was nothing short of a blatant provocation.
“You still dare to laugh!” Sun Cuifen trembled with anger, pointing at Su Qiao’s nose. “You little whore! If it weren’t for your seductive tricks, how could a fine cadre like Changfeng ever have taken a liking to you? That marriage was meant for my Lanlan! You stole another woman’s man. You’ll die a horrible death!”
Su Lan, standing behind her, immediately joined in. She squeezed out two tears and put on an aggrieved expression.
“Sis, how could you do this… Gu Big Brother was originally my arranged match. How could you… how could you do something so shameless?”
The two of them worked together perfectly, instantly portraying Su Qiao as a shameless woman who had stolen her cousin’s marriage.
Residents returning home from work and passersby had already stopped to watch, pointing and whispering among themselves.
“What’s going on?”
“Sounds like this girl stole her cousin’s man?”
“Tsk, tsk. She’s so beautiful. Who would’ve thought she’d have such a wicked heart?”
Rumors and gossip were among the most vicious weapons of this era.
Seeing more and more people gathering, Sun Cuifen straightened her back and raised her voice even higher, as though she had already claimed the moral high ground.
She wanted everyone to see Su Qiao’s “true colors” and make sure she could no longer remain in this military family compound.
Su Qiao listened quietly the entire time.
She waited until Sun Cuifen had cursed herself hoarse, until the murmuring around them grew louder and louder.
Only then did she slowly straighten up and brush at some nonexistent dust on her clothes.
She looked around at all the faces pointing and whispering, and finally turned her gaze back to Sun Cuifen.
Her expression was utterly calm.
There was no anger, no panic, not even the slightest ripple of emotion.
She simply looked at Sun Cuifen and spoke softly.
Her voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.
“Tear my mouth apart?”
Su Qiao repeated Sun Cuifen’s words from earlier. Then she tilted her head slightly, the corners of her lips curving into a faint yet icy smile.
“Auntie, do you know whose family I belong to?”