Su Wan could hear the annoyance and accusation in Lu Zhengchuan’s voice.
It was as if everything was her fault.
If she were really the one who wrote those letters, then it would be understandable.
But Lu Zhengchuan knew perfectly well that Zheng Zhizhi had written them. For him to still speak to her this way showed he was not only biased, but that he also had a character flaw.
Su Wan was now having a firsthand experience of why it was so important to marry someone with good character.
But she felt something was wrong, and with no outlet for her grievances, she decided she might as well keep tormenting him.
"I’m not going to argue with you. Go wash my clothes for me now," Su Wan ordered in a deliberately sweet voice.
"Wash clothes? I’m not doing it." Lu Zhengchuan shook his head, refusing.
An idea flashed in Su Wan’s eyes. "If you won’t wash them for me, I’ll just ask Xiao Li to do it."
Lu Zhengchuan’s head snapped up. He looked at her, seemingly in disbelief that Su Wan would do something like that.
"Xiao Li is a man." Lu Zhengchuan was already feeling resentful about how pleasant she was to other men. Hearing this, he couldn’t hold back any longer and reminded her through gritted teeth.
Su Wan nodded gravely, her lovely eyes glinting with a new idea. "You’re right. In that case, I’ll just find one of the wives in the compound to help me. I can just pay her."
Su Wan knew he was proud and cared about his reputation, so she said it on purpose.
"No, that’s what a capitalist would do," Lu Zhengchuan retorted with a frown.
Su Wan held out her hands. "Back in the village, my mom always did my laundry. Are you telling me that now that I’ve come to the army base, I’m expected to suffer?"
"Then go back to the village," Lu Zhengchuan said without a moment’s hesitation.
Su Wan’s heart sank. ’See? Lu Zhengchuan really didn’t want me to join him at the base. He must be afraid that with me here, it’ll be inconvenient for him and Zheng Zhizhi to meet in private.’
’If he truly saw me as his wife, what kind of husband wouldn’t want his wife by his side?’
"Fine, I’ll go back to the village. We can get a divorce, and then I’ll go back." Sometimes, Su Wan thought that if none of this had ever happened, perhaps she could just let it go. She could divorce Lu Zhengchuan cleanly and move on. Living a good life on her own was better than anything else.
But then she would think about how Zheng Zhizhi had slandered her and would face no punishment. She might even get to marry Lu Zhengchuan and live what the world considered a good life.
How could she ever be resigned to that? Of course, she was also worried about what would happen if Zheng Zhizhi gained power and continued to target the Su family.
’That’s why Zheng Zhizhi can’t be allowed to marry Lu Zhengchuan.’
"...I’ll go wash the clothes." The word "divorce" gave Lu Zhengchuan a headache. He rubbed his forehead, turned around, went out into the courtyard, sat down by the washbasin, and started scrubbing the clothes.
Su Wan was a little disappointed. "..."
He was being so compliant that Su Wan had to abandon her plan to cause a big scene.
"Battalion Commander Lu, you’re working so hard!"
"Washing your wife’s clothes? How thoughtful of you."
Lu Zhengchuan had only been washing in the courtyard for a short while before he was spotted by the officers and their families returning to the compound for lunch.
Immediately, people started to tease him, and many cast curious glances his way.
Lu Zhengchuan felt like this was the most difficult load of laundry he had ever done.
He wanted to just drop it all and walk away, but an image of Su Wan’s cold expression involuntarily popped into his head. He was surprised to find that, strangely, he wanted to avoid making her angry even more.
’After all, women are difficult to please!’
Lu Zhengchuan told himself it was a perfectly reasonable justification.
"Yes, my wife isn’t feeling well. It’s just a few pieces of clothing, nothing much," Lu Zhengchuan replied, looking up at the person who had spoken.
Among the onlookers were Wang Mei and Aunt Liu.
"Xiao Lu, I hear your wife is a fantastic cook?" Unlike the others, Aunt Liu walked right into the Lu Family courtyard, grabbed a small stool for herself, and sat down next to Lu Zhengchuan to chat.
Lu Zhengchuan thought of last night’s meal with a sense of fondness. He hadn’t actually eaten her cooking many times; Su Wan had rarely cooked for him.
To be precise, he and Su Wan hadn’t had much chance to spend time together at all.
At this thought, Lu Zhengchuan felt a pang of guilt. Back in the village, Su Wan hadn’t been a troublemaker at all; the Su family was known for being very harmonious.
She had been doted on her whole life. Now that she was at the base, not only was he not taking care of her, he was bickering over every little thing. Add to that the rumors flying around the compound... it was no wonder Su Wan was angry.
"It is very delicious." The praise from Lu Zhengchuan was sincere.
He couldn’t help but think, ’Su Wan has a lot of good qualities, too. She’s a good cook, she made the house look nice and cozy, she can fix a bicycle, and she’s well-read.’
Aunt Liu’s voice cut through his thoughts. "That settles it, Xiao Lu. We were lucky enough to get our hands on an old hen today. I’ll bring my husband over tonight, and we’ll eat with you. We’ll have to trouble Comrade Su Wan with the cooking."
"?" Lu Zhengchuan knew Aunt Liu was blunt and forward. He usually didn’t mind, but he didn’t dare agree on Su Wan’s behalf without asking her first.
He didn’t want to see Su Wan get angry and pull a long face.
"Aunt Liu, the thing is, my wife isn’t feeling well. Let me ask her first, and then I’ll get back to you, okay?"
Aunt Liu raised her eyelids, displeased. "She was well enough to have Zhao Qing over for dinner last night, but suddenly she’s not feeling well enough to have me over tonight?"
"If you ask me, she’s probably just as fussy and pretentious as the rumors say."
Her words silenced the entire courtyard. Lu Zhengchuan’s brow furrowed.
He was just about to speak.
Having overheard the conversation, Su Wan walked out of the house.
She wore a perfectly pleasant smile, as if Aunt Liu hadn’t just been gossiping about her.
"Aunt Liu, who’s been spreading rumors that I’m pretentious?" Su Wan not only asked directly, but also poured her a cup of tea and offered her some peanut brittle.
Aunt Liu had a habit of enjoying little perks. Seeing Su Wan being so generous—the pieces of peanut brittle were all neat and whole, not just some broken crumbs to fob her off—her gaze toward Su Wan became one of satisfaction.
"That’s what everyone in the compound is saying. I just heard it from the younger folks."
"After all, it’s rare to see a woman foolish enough to so openly show her love for money, cursing Xiao Lu in letters and demanding cash," Aunt Liu said bluntly.
Far from being angry, Su Wan felt as if she had just discovered a hidden treasure in Aunt Liu.
The reason was simple: this woman was clearly the compound’s gossip queen. If she could win her over, it would be much easier to find out what was really going on with Lu Zhengchuan.
"Aunt Liu, you’re absolutely right. Once you get to know me, you’ll see I would never do something like that," Su Wan said, nodding gravely.
Aunt Liu hadn’t expected the young woman to be even more thick-skinned than she was, but surprisingly, she didn’t find it annoying in the least.
"As long as you understand. Just don’t be so foolish in the future," Aunt Liu advised before getting down to business.
"Su Wan, are you free tonight? We want to stew our old hen to make a nice, nourishing meal for the kids. I heard from Zhao Qing that you’re a great cook. Even a picky eater like Wang Hao ate until he was stuffed last night."
Su Wan shook her head honestly. "Aunt Liu, regarding that, I can only say that Little Hao loved it because I made it into a kid-friendly meal."
"Not only that, but I also used the special Great Saint Pottery Bowl. You know how kids are with bowls that have cartoon characters on them."
Aunt Liu didn’t know what a "cartoon character bowl" was.
So Su Wan showed her the Great Saint Pottery Bowl she had.
"Whoa, this is so intricate! It really looks like the Great Saint from the shadow puppet shows we used to watch in the village." Aunt Liu waved her hands dismissively. "This bowl looks expensive. I have so many grandsons and granddaughters; I could never afford to get one for each of them."
"And if I only bought one, they’d raise such a fuss the sky would fall." Aunt Liu clicked her tongue inwardly but lectured her out loud, "Su Wan, all this fancy stuff is useless. You’d be better off saving your money to eat better."
She clearly disapproved of Su Wan’s ’petit bourgeois’ lifestyle.