"I..." Su Wan began to explain, but Zhao Qing was already winking at her enthusiastically. "Listen, my brother, Zhao Jue, is also a soldier in the Southwest Military Region. Since you have the chance, how about you two meet?"
Only then did Su Wan realize the reason for Zhao Qing’s enthusiasm—she wanted to set her up!
Too bad she wasn’t Zhang Yun.
Su Wan explained softly, "Sister, my name is Su Wan. You must have..."
Before Su Wan could finish, Zhao Qing grabbed her arm, patting it gently. She pursed her lips, lowered her voice, and started to gossip. "Wanwan, I actually mentioned this to Battalion Commander Lu a long time ago. But since he married such a nightmare of a wife and hadn’t even sorted out his own family problems, I figured I’d wait a little longer."
"I can’t believe I ended up meeting you, Wanwan!" Zhao Qing couldn’t hide her delight. Her every word was filled with satisfaction and praise; she looked like she wanted to drag a wife home for her brother that very instant.
Everyone appreciates good style, and Zhao Qing herself was quite fashionable in a red polka-dot dress, her hair in soft curls.
Then there was Su Wan. She wore a simple white shirt and straight-leg jeans, her long, straight black hair thick and lustrous. She had a bookish air about her, with fine features and fair skin. But what stood out most wasn’t her beauty, but her uniquely captivating presence.
Her simple canvas shoes were scrubbed spotless, and up close, you could catch the fresh scent of sunshine and laundry soap on her clothes.
Clean, sensible, intelligent, and good-tempered—this was Zhao Qing’s first impression of Su Wan.
’For a fine girl like her, the fact that she came from a village only made her excellent qualities and good upbringing more impressive. Once she joined the military community, plenty of young soldiers would be vying for her attention. You had to act fast.’
"Wanwan, you’re every bit Battalion Commander Lu’s sister. It’s obvious you two had a very good upbringing."
Su Wan managed a faint smile, but the five words "a nightmare of a wife" kept replaying in her mind. As she listened to Zhao Qing praise the good character of both Lu Zhengchuan and Zhang Yun, she felt a swirl of complicated emotions.
"So... Lu Zhengchuan’s wife... has a bad reputation on the base?"
Su Wan decided to hold off on revealing her identity and use this opportunity to learn more about the situation on the base.
"Wanwan, you’re so good-natured. I hope your sister-in-law doesn’t bully you, does she?" Zhao Qing asked with a mix of sympathy and concern. "That sister-in-law of yours is a real gold digger. She’s always tearing into Battalion Commander Lu in her letters. Back in the village, she’s apparently too lazy to even work the fields and just buys all her food. Battalion Commander Lu gives her his entire monthly stipend, but she’s still not satisfied."
"I hear she insists on wearing trendy clothes from Shanghai or Hong Kong, the kind you see in the movies, and turns her nose up at anything from the county supply co-op."
"And that’s not all. She has to drink malted milk every day, always has milk candies in her pocket, and insists on using the best vanishing cream. She takes every nice thing she gets and sends it to her own family, basically just sucking Battalion Commander Lu dry." Zhao Qing pursed her lips in anger, her voice dripping with contempt for Lu Zhengchuan’s wife.
’A gold digger? Tearing into Lu Zhengchuan? I’ve never done that.’
’Buying all my food? My parents were the ones who always brought me things.’
’Taking his stipend? I did take it.’
’Still not satisfied? That’s not me.’
’Trendy clothes? That’s true, except I made them myself. They weren’t from Shanghai.’
’Malted milk, milk candy, vanishing cream... those were indeed things I used every day. I even have them in my luggage right now.’
’In Zheng Zhizhi’s eyes, my comfortable life must have seemed entirely funded by Lu Zhengchuan’s stipend. That’s probably how she could twist the facts in those letters, mixing truths and lies to write things that would completely destroy my reputation.’
’It seemed that while I was oblivious, Zheng Zhizhi hadn’t just swapped out my letters; she’d written entirely new ones herself, completely trashing my reputation on the base.’
’No wonder that after the miscarriage in my dream, the base was so unsupportive when I contacted them. I was a military dependent, after all.’
’How could the Zheng Family have bullied me so easily? The details in the dream were hazy, but now I understood. This was the root of the problem.’
But.
Su Wan’s eyes narrowed slightly as she continued her questioning. "Just based on a few letters, Lu Zhengchuan believed all that? Why didn’t he call the village to check?"
’If Lu Zhengchuan had made just one phone call to the village to confirm things with me after receiving those letters, Zheng Zhizhi’s plot never would have succeeded.’
’Unless... Lu Zhengchuan condoned the whole thing. Unless he knew Zheng Zhizhi wrote the letters and deliberately let the lies spread throughout the compound to make it easier for him to divorce me and marry her.’
Zhao Qing noticed the dark look on her face. Instead of joining in on the criticism, she seemed to be defending her "sister-in-law." Zhao Qing’s expression turned to one of surprised suspicion. "Wanwan, don’t tell me... you’re actually taking your sister-in-law’s side?"
"She hasn’t tricked you too, has she?" Zhao Qing didn’t question her identity. Instead, she came up with her own explanation, not even giving Su Wan a chance to speak. "Let me tell you, your brother, Battalion Commander Lu, is a real man of integrity. He spends most of his time away on missions and is rarely back at the base. He’s working hard to earn military honors—how else could he have become a battalion commander at such a young age?"
Zhao Qing clearly thought very highly of Lu Zhengchuan and was quick to sing his praises.
Su Wan didn’t argue. She just mentioned one thing: "Lu Zhengchuan has a childhood sweetheart. The two of them were extremely close."
"Childhood sweetheart?" Zhao Qing laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "Wanwan, you’re his sister. You, of all people, should know that his personal life is squeaky clean."
"I know everything that goes on in this compound, so you’ve come to the right person. Battalion Commander Lu is definitely not messing around."
Far from being reassured, Su Wan’s heart sank. It seemed Lu Zhengchuan and Zheng Zhizhi’s affair was so secretive that no one on the base even knew about it.
Had the events from her dream not been confirmed one by one, Su Wan would never have suspected Lu Zhengchuan.
Now she realized Lu Zhengchuan was far more secretive than she had imagined. Asking around was useless; she would have to gather the evidence herself through her own interactions with him.
She had no ironclad proof of their affair right now. Even if she exposed Zheng Zhizhi for swapping the letters, as long as Lu Zhengchuan was there to protect her, he could easily sweep the whole thing under the rug.
Su Wan made up her mind and decided to stop hiding her identity. "Sister, thank you for telling me all this. Actually, I’m not Lu Zhengchuan’s sister, Zhang Yun. I’m Lu Zhengchuan’s wife, Su Wan."
"Wh-what?" Zhao Qing’s smile froze on her face. She snatched her hand back, clutched her handbag awkwardly, and took an involuntary step back, her expression sheepish. There’s nothing more suffocating than being caught gossiping by the very person you’re talking about.
"I’m sorry, Sister. It’s my fault for not clarifying sooner. I just heard you mention Lu Zhengchuan and got curious about his situation, so I selfishly wanted to learn a little from you." Su Wan took a few White Rabbit milk candies from her bag and pressed them into the hands of both Zhao Qing and her son, Wang Hao.
It’s hard to stay angry at someone who offers you a gift. Moreover, Su Wan had politely taken all the blame upon herself and didn’t seem at all angry about the gossip.
Zhao Qing’s expression softened, and her embarrassment gave way to curiosity. "Well, Wanwan... to be honest, I’m surprised. You’re very different in person from the rumors."
"Sister, the fact that you continued to talk to me even after hearing those rumors proves you’re a good person. I honestly don’t know why people are saying those things." Su Wan gave a wry smile and shook her head. "After all, I’ve only been married to Lu Zhengchuan for three months. If I were really such a terrible person back in the village, I have no idea why he would have wanted to marry me in the first place."