But to her surprise, Lu Zhengchuan didn’t obediently return to his dorm this time.
Instead, he followed Su Wan into the kitchen.
Su Wan frowned and turned to look at him. "What are you following me for? Can’t you even go get me some medicine?"
Lu Zhengchuan looked at her in confusion, pulling a packet of medicine from his pocket. "I have medicine on me. I don’t need to go to my dorm to get any."
Su Wan fell silent for a moment. She hadn’t expected such a coincidence. Her randomly concocted excuse—and her plan to seize the opportunity to get the letter—had fallen flat.
Seeing that Lu Zhengchuan was about to grow suspicious, Su Wan knew she couldn’t appear too anxious.
"Oh." Su Wan took the packet, turned her back to Lu Zhengchuan, and took a sip of water, pretending to take the medicine.
Lu Zhengchuan didn’t look closely at what she was doing, so he didn’t suspect that she hadn’t taken the medicine.
"Go light the stove and get the rice started."
When Su Wan turned back and saw he was still standing there, she started telling him what to do.
Lu Zhengchuan nodded in agreement.
Su Wan took advantage of this time to quickly dry her hair.
By the time she was ready, Xiao Li had returned, carrying vegetables, pork ribs, and a piece of lean pork.
"Sister-in-law, what dishes are you preparing? Let me help. I used to be in the cooking squad."
Su Wan was surprised by his competence. She nodded and said, "Great. Thanks for the help. I’m planning to make sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts, and a cucumber and egg soup..."
The dishes she mentioned were all common, home-style ones.
"Xiao Li, do you know where Battalion Commander Wang and Sister-in-law Zhao are from? What kind of flavors do they like?"
Xiao Li followed her into the kitchen. Seeing Lu Zhengchuan, he took the initiative to greet him.
"Sister-in-law, Battalion Commander Wang is from Shanbei, and Sister-in-law Zhao is from Hai City. Neither of them can handle spicy food very well, and I hear the peppers in Yang Province are very hot." Xiao Li diligently squatted on the floor to help her prepare the garlic sprouts and green vegetables, starting to make small talk with Su Wan.
Since Su Wan was hosting, she naturally wanted to make dishes her guests would enjoy. She swapped out two dishes and decided to prepare some noodle-based ones instead.
"Yes, the food in Yang Province is spicy..."
Lu Zhengchuan watched them chatting away like old friends. It was only their first day meeting, yet they acted as if they’d known each other forever and were on the best of terms.
But in contrast, even though he and Su Wan were husband and wife, she seemed to be pushing him away.
’Could it be that I did something wrong?’
Unconsciously, Lu Zhengchuan walked over to Su Wan. Seeing her chopping meat, he said nothing, simply taking the cleaver and starting to chop himself.
Su Wan didn’t understand the meaning of his action and tilted her head to look at him.
Lu Zhengchuan felt a pang of jealousy. He remained silent and continued to chop the meat, which he was actually quite good at.
Su Wan blinked. Seeing that he still wasn’t talking, she didn’t think much of it.
She simply placed the pork ribs on the cutting board. "These need to be chopped, too."
"Mm." Lu Zhengchuan finally deigned to speak. He not only responded to Su Wan but also placed the shredded pork on a plate. "Is it sliced okay like this?"
Surprisingly, Su Wan felt a sense of domestic dependability from him.
She saw the pork was shredded to a uniform size, even neater than what she had cut before.
And looking over at Xiao Li preparing the garlic sprouts, the results were a bit rough. Lu Zhengchuan had surprisingly done a better job than Xiao Li.
"You know how to cook?" Su Wan was astonished. She had never heard about it back in the village. ’If the villagers knew, they would probably adore him even more.’
’Then more people would have competed with me for Lu Zhengchuan, and I wouldn’t have been tricked into this marriage.’
’Though, if I hadn’t been the one tricked into this marriage, it would have just been some other innocent girl.’
"I can chop vegetables, but I can’t cook. When we’re in the field, we sometimes have to prepare rations in a hurry, so that’s why I know how to chop." The corners of Lu Zhengchuan’s lips lifted.
But Su Wan frowned and pressed, "You never seemed to step foot in a kitchen back in the village."
"I’ve rarely been in a kitchen since I joined the military at sixteen." Lu Zhengchuan had few holidays; even when he returned to the village to get married three months ago, he only had a three-day leave.
"After the wedding banquet in the village, we were invited to meals at everyone’s house, and you sometimes cooked. I never had a chance to cook for myself."
Su Wan was mollified by his explanation. At least Lu Zhengchuan hadn’t openly cooked for Zheng Zhizhi. It made sense now why she hadn’t discovered their close relationship before the marriage.
After all, while rumors in the village painted Zheng Zhizhi as Lu Zhengchuan’s childhood sweetheart, that was all based on them playing together before the age of ten.
Later, Lu Zhengchuan was in the army year-round, and truly, no one had ever seen him and Zheng Zhizhi acting intimately.
It was because of these impressions that she had chosen Lu Zhengchuan in the first place, never imagining that even after they were married, he would still be secretly in contact with Zheng Zhizhi.
Su Wan suddenly fell silent and focused on her cooking.
Lu Zhengchuan sensed the shift but didn’t overthink it, simply continuing to help with the prep work.
「That evening.」
Before the sky had completely darkened, Zhao Qing arrived at their door, smiling. She led her son, Wang Hao, by the hand, with the recently returned Battalion Commander Wang at her side carrying a cloth basket of apples.
"Wanwan, we’re here! So sorry to impose. It’s really too much for you to personally host us when we’re just neighbors."
Before Zhao Qing arrived, she had been pulled aside by several of the army wives in the compound, all asking about Su Wan.
Zhang Cui had said, "Sister Zhao, I heard that Su Wan is gluttonous and lazy, has people wait on her at home, and doesn’t know how to cook at all."
"I can’t believe she’d lie about hosting a dinner just to win you over. The food is bound to be terrible. This must be so awkward for you."
Remembering this, Zhao Qing pulled Battalion Commander Wang aside and whispered, "Even if the food is bad later, just bear with it. Don’t say anything unpleasant at their table."
Battalion Commander Wang naturally understood these social niceties. Even if he didn’t do it for Su Wan’s sake, he had to show respect for Lu Zhengchuan.
"I know, I know," Battalion Commander Wang nodded repeatedly.
Still worried, Zhao Qing told her son, "Little Hao, if the food isn’t good, don’t make a fuss. When we get home, Mommy will reward you with a White Rabbit candy!"
"But Mommy, the peanut brittle Aunt Su gave me was delicious," Wang Hao said, looking up at her.
Zhao Qing replied, "She probably bought that, or her family made it. It had nothing to do with her."
"Oh." Wang Hao nodded.
"Alright, let’s just go in."
Battalion Commander Wang was uninterested in the domestic gossip. Seeing Lu Zhengchuan come out to greet them, he smiled and handed over the fruit he was carrying.
"Xiao Lu, sorry for the intrusion today."
"Brother Wang, Sister-in-law, please, come in..." Lu Zhengchuan led the family of three into the living room.
As soon as she walked in, Zhao Qing saw seven dishes arranged neatly on the dining table.
What stood out was the fresh, floral tablecloth covering the otherwise ordinary wooden table.
Next to the table, a jar filled with water served as a vase for some flowers—the same common wildflowers she had seen earlier in the Lu Family’s yard.
Putting aside the taste, the mere presentation of the dishes was enough to surprise Zhao Qing.
She couldn’t help but think to herself, ’This doesn’t look bad at all; it’s actually quite pretty.’
"Sister-in-law, what did you say?" Su Wan asked. She had just brought out the last cold dish and was gesturing for the family of three and Xiao Li to sit down, so she hadn’t quite heard what Zhao Qing had mumbled.
"Oh, n-nothing." Zhao Qing laughed awkwardly. ’I can’t just tell her what I was thinking, can I? That would be so offensive.’