After finding the letters, Lu Zhengchuan casually placed them on the table.
He filled a basin with water and was about to wash his face when someone called for him from outside.
Lu Zhengchuan went out.
Half an hour passed before Lu Zhengchuan returned.
He flopped down on the single bed and had just taken off one shoe, preparing to wash his feet, when his gaze fell upon the basin.
Seeing the soaked letters inside, he shot forward and fished the papers out.
Looking at the letters, the ink bleeding from being soaked, Lu Zhengchuan didn’t seem surprised. He just frowned, spread the papers on the table, and decided to wait for them to dry before giving them to Su Wan.
「The next morning.」
Su Wan woke to the sound of chanted slogans.
She didn’t need to ask to know it was 6:20 AM.
Since she was awake, she couldn’t get back to sleep. She cooked some simple porridge, then used the toilet in the washroom. Staring at the primitive latrine, she frowned, finding it completely unacceptable.
She had just washed her hands when she heard the front door open.
Su Wan peeked out and saw Lu Zhengchuan coming in with a meal box.
Seemingly surprised that she was awake, he paused as he closed the door.
"I’m on leave recently, so I had breakfast at the canteen. They had pickled vegetable buns, so I bought some for you. Do you want any?" Lu Zhengchuan walked in and placed the food container on the dining table.
Su Wan, who was standing in the courtyard, waved a hand. "I’ll eat in a bit."
Noticing her lack of enthusiasm, Lu Zhengchuan took the initiative to ask, "What’s wrong?"
"The toilet is so inconvenient." Su Wan took two deep breaths, her lovely brows knitted tightly together.
Lu Zhengchuan glanced at the dry latrine. "The conditions here are what they are. It’s not like in the village where you can build whatever you want. To do any construction in the family courtyard, you have to submit a report in advance and get approval from the higher-ups."
"I didn’t know you were coming to the base before, so I never thought about renovating the toilet."
Hearing his last sentence, Su Wan became even more certain he had no intention of building a long-term life with her. ’After all, under normal circumstances, how could a married couple live apart for so long?’
’Unless, from the very beginning, Lu Zhengchuan never planned on staying with her for long.’
’It seems I need to find a way to get some compensation from Lu Zhengchuan. Otherwise, I’ll be at a huge loss.’
’After all, it means my first marriage will end in divorce.’
As Su Wan thought this, she looked up and started ordering him around. "Go and submit the application to your superior today. I’ll find someone to renovate the toilet."
This time, Lu Zhengchuan’s reply was faster than ever. "Fine, no problem."
Su Wan gave him a couple of suspicious glances.
Lu Zhengchuan subconsciously straightened up, even snapping into a military posture. "What is it?"
"Nothing." Su Wan’s gaze slid from his long legs up to his chest. She recalled the feeling of his abs on their wedding night and felt a twinge of regret. ’Such a handsome face, but how could it house such a morally skewed soul?’
’Anyone who likes a malicious person like Zheng Zhizhi must be cut from the same cloth. Lu Zhengchuan’s true character can’t be much better.’
’What a waste.’
Su Wan shook her head and turned to walk toward the kitchen, ready to eat breakfast.
Lu Zhengchuan felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze and followed her right into the kitchen.
"Why are you following me? Didn’t you already eat breakfast?" Su Wan ladled a bowl of thin porridge for herself, picked up a side of pickles, and went into the living room.
Lu Zhengchuan didn’t say a word. He sat down beside her, and only after Su Wan had finished her breakfast did he pull the letter papers from his pocket and hand them to her.
"The letters you asked for the other day."
The moment Su Wan heard the word "letters," she reacted instantly, her head snapping toward him.
Lu Zhengchuan placed the letters in front of her.
Su Wan immediately snatched the letters. The moment they were in her hands, she realized they had been soaked in water. In disbelief, she quickly flipped through them, only to find that every single letter was water-damaged.
A wave of fury surged through her. Her bright, dark eyes flew wide as she glared fiercely at Lu Zhengchuan.
"These are the letters you’re giving me? You soaked them on purpose before giving them to me, didn’t you?"
Lu Zhengchuan was momentarily dazzled by her beautiful eyes, and her furious glare made him feel a little guilty. "I was getting ready to soak my feet last night, and the letters accidentally fell into the water. I didn’t do it on purpose."
"It doesn’t matter that they’re wet, right? I looked, and you can still read them. The ink just bled a little; it doesn’t affect your ability to read them."
Lu Zhengchuan reached for the letters. "If you don’t believe me, I’ll read them to you."
Su Wan slapped his hand away with a sharp SMACK. Even filled with anger, her eyes were still breathtakingly beautiful. "Don’t act like this isn’t important! I wanted the original letters, not these ones you’ve ruined."
"And you still dare to say you didn’t do it on purpose."
Su Wan’s heart went cold. Without the original letters, she was missing a piece of evidence. In the military, conviction required proof.
’No wonder Lu Zhengchuan agreed so quickly before. He never intended to give them to me from the start. He was just trying to placate me first, then fob me off with some random excuse.’
Su Wan quickly calmed herself down. She looked at Lu Zhengchuan, lifted her chin defiantly, the hurt in her eyes impossible to hide. "Lu Zhengchuan, you’ve been stringing me along this whole time."
Seeing her reddened eyes, Lu Zhengchuan froze for a moment and subconsciously reached out to her.
Su Wan batted his hand away and deliberately turned her head, refusing to look at him. "You can’t even look after a few letters. It proves you don’t care about what I say at all. We can’t go on like this."
"And here I thought we were getting along quite well these past few days." Her voice was choked with emotion, and she sniffled, her tone thick with unshed tears.
"I’m not stringing you along, it really was an accident..." A clear note of urgency entered Lu Zhengchuan’s voice as he explained, his brow deeply furrowed.
Seeing Su Wan with her back to him, head bowed, he couldn’t resist reaching out and pulling her down to sit on a stool.
Su Wan looked at him with disappointment in her eyes. "I was actually thinking that we could try to get along for a few days, and if we were compatible, we could continue trying."
"But now it seems we’ll have to separate."
"Didn’t I tell you last time not to mention separating again?" Lu Zhengchuan’s tone was stern. "If you say it too often, it might come true."
Su Wan was almost cowed by the genuine anger in his eyes.
But she quickly collected herself. ’Angry? My foot! Lu Zhengchuan clearly can’t wait to get rid of me; he just doesn’t want to get a bad reputation.’
’Maybe it’s because getting divorced after only three months of marriage would cause gossip, so he’s deliberately dragging it out.’
’It’s not like it affects his private contact with Zheng Zhizhi anyway.’
’So, she would say it. In fact, it would be for the best if Lu Zhengchuan really did divorce her.’
She couldn’t stomach this half-cooked rice of a marriage, and she didn’t want her whole family to repeat the same disastrous mistakes.
"And so what?" Su Wan faced him directly. "What makes you so sure I’m joking when I mention divorce?"
Lu Zhengchuan’s stern face grew even colder. He saw no trace of theatrics in Su Wan’s eyes. On the contrary, her utter seriousness made his heart skip a beat.
After a long moment, Lu Zhengchuan glanced away, breaking their eye contact. "...What do you want me to do? So you won’t be angry about the letters anymore."
Hearing the weakness in Lu Zhengchuan’s voice, Su Wan’s eyes gleamed. She was smart enough to immediately seize this opportunity to gain some leverage over him.
She cleared her throat, put a hand to her eyes, and deliberately rubbed them until they were red. Sniffling, she said, "Write me a guarantee."