The inside of the house was indeed completely empty!
Jiang Nuo hadn’t dared to imagine that this place would be so spacious; calling it just “making do” was an understatement. Back in her old village, a house this large belonged only to the village chief.
Seeing that Chu Yanhan still lingered here with no intention of leaving, Jiang Nuo probed cautiously, “Is the place where you live far from here?”
In the past, Chu Yanhan wouldn’t have deigned to live in a family compound; all the residents here had families trailing after them, and he had never planned to get married in this lifetime, making it even less likely for him to move in.
That was until this recent trip home to visit relatives led him to meet Jiang Nuo. Now, he wanted nothing more than to be married, itching to hold his wife in his arms and sleep every single day.
“Well, you just arrived here and probably don’t know how to boil water yet. Let me boil some water for you before I head back!”
Without waiting for her agreement, Chu Yanhan took off his military coat, hung it on a nearby clothes rack to reveal the white tank top underneath, and headed straight for the courtyard.
Jiang Nuo knew how to boil water and do chores, but being exhausted from the train ride made her completely unwilling to move. Since someone was willing to do the work, she was naturally happy to wait.
She went back into the bedroom and took all her personal belongings out of her bundle.
The weather here was unpredictable; it was scorching hot during the day, but now it had turned freezing cold.
The quilt on the bed was very thin, and when she weighed it in her hand, it felt weightless!
Right at that moment, the man walked back in carrying hot water along with a washbasin.
“The weather is very cold here, and I noticed the clothes you brought are all skirts. Tomorrow, I’ll take you into town to pick up some thickened winter clothes.”
As he spoke, Chu Yanhan pulled a bag out of his pocket and placed it on the quilt beside Jiang Nuo.
Jiang Nuo picked it up, opened it, and found a savings passbook inside along with cash. She counted it. “There are five thousand in the passbook, and another fifteen hundred in cash here. What kind of clothes cost this much money?”
She had no intention of continuing to owe him favors; she was going to leave him eventually and wanted to earn her own living through work.
Even though Chu Yanhan had saved up so much money, she didn’t feel envious at all. Being a soldier in the military for so many years wasn’t easy!
However, settling down here indeed required buying a lot of daily necessities, and she wouldn’t start getting paid the moment she stepped into the health team. Jiang Nuo pulled fifty yuan out of the stack. “I’ll consider this money a loan from you, and I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my salary. Take the rest back!”
Bent over, Chu Yanhan mixed warm water into the basin and pulled off Jiang Nuo’s socks. “A big roughneck like me has nowhere to spend money. Besides, didn’t we agree on a one-month trial? If you get pregnant by then, I’ll marry you. Once you become my wife, you’ll be the one managing the money anyway.”
Jiang Nuo naturally knew she couldn’t possibly get pregnant just from one night of accidental contact—how absurd was that? “I don’t want to! I don’t want to manage your money!”
How could she possibly handle his finances? Wouldn’t that just let him cling to her and make it impossible to shake him off? Chu Yanhan was good-looking, but there was a huge age gap between them!
Chu Yanhan stayed silent, wearing an expression that made it clear he was never going to take the money back.
Just then, as the man bent down to wipe her feet, she noticed a tear in the tank top he was wearing. He hadn’t even realized it, proving once again what a rough-and-ready guy he was—he didn’t pay attention to his image at all!
Although Jiang Nuo was younger than him, she knew how money should be spent. “Fine, I’ll keep it safe for you temporarily. The moment our one-month agreement is up, I’m returning it to its rightful owner immediately!”
Only then did Chu Yanhan crack a smile. “Alright, whatever my wife says!”
Calling her “wife” again? Jiang Nuo’s pretty face scrunched up into a ball, and she raised a fist to punch him in the chest.
Chu Yanhan caught her body in a swift embrace. “Wife, starting tomorrow in the military dependents’ compound, you’ll have to get used to me calling you that, otherwise I won’t be able to explain it to the leadership. I already told them you’re following me for family integration, or how else do you think you snatched that spot in the health team from everyone else?”
Jiang Nuo had been about to resist, but the moment she heard about the job at the health team, she immediately caved.
“Fine, whatever you say!” The thought of the job at the health team instantly filled her heart with anticipation.
Chu Yanhan took the remaining hot water that Jiang Nuo hadn’t used and went to take a shower.
Jiang Nuo couldn’t understand it no matter how hard she tried. She was wrapped tightly in a quilt and still freezing, yet the man was actually going to take a shower—how could anyone be burning up like that?
In the bathroom, Chu Yanhan found that even warm water wasn’t enough; the dry heat raging inside his body refused to subside. Jiang Nuo’s act of a moment ago had made him feel like disaster was imminent.
He scooped up a basin of cold water and poured it straight down from head to toe. Fortunately, the blazing heat finally cooled down!
When he returned to the bedroom, Jiang Nuo looked at him suspiciously. “Didn’t you say you were going back to sleep in your own quarters tonight? Why are you still here and refusing to leave?”
With Xiao Wu’s big mouth, the bachelor dorms would be buzzing with gossip by now: the notoriously woman-hating Commander Chu had brought home a newlywed wife today.
Did he go back because there’s something wrong with him in that department? Or did his little bride pick a fight with him?
Go back? Impossible. Having a wife to hold—only a fool wouldn’t hold her!
“I… I just caught a chill outside, so I’ll stay here for the night?” Chu Yanhan finished speaking and deliberately let out a loud sneeze toward the doorway!
Jiang Nuo was startled. “You’re staying here? How can we possibly sleep in the same quilt?!”
“Isn’t there another empty room? We could clean it up and sleep there!”
“There aren’t enough quilts!” Chu Yanhan said it with absolute righteousness, though in reality, Xiao Wu had brought several thick quilts, all of which had been sent away on his orders, leaving behind only a single summer quilt!
Stripping off his outer clothes, Chu Yanhan dove under the covers with a thoroughly shameless tone. “What’s wrong with it? It’s not like we haven’t seen each other, held each other, or slept together…”
Jiang Nuo was so angry she started crying, tears streaming down her face in a flood. “You’re bullying me! The only reason I helped you back then was because you were poisoned. Why are you acting like a赖皮 (sticky, shameless leech)?”
Seeing Jiang Nuo in tears, Chu Yanhan’s heart ached instantly. He hurried to coax her gently. “Nuonu, don’t cry. I was just running my mouth off, I won’t say things like that anymore.”
Slap. A sharp sound echoed as he struck his own face with a hard palm.
Jiang Nuo jumped in fright from the sound of the slap. Being so close, the noise had been so loud—just how much must it have hurt hitting his face? “You’re not allowed to hit yourself next time! You scared me like that.”
Pulling the girl tightly into his embrace, Chu Yanhan murmured, “Alright, I’ll listen to you from now on.”
The quilt was thin, and Jiang Nuo’s body was freezing. Shielded in Chu Yanhan’s arms, the man’s body heat kept rising, and before she knew it, she found herself pressing closer against his chest.
Anyway, since that area was injured and still in the recovery period, Chu Yanhan shouldn’t try anything wild again.
Muttering under her breath, Jiang Nuo mumbled, “We need to buy another quilt tomorrow. This one is really cold.”
In the dead of night, a wicked grin spread across the man’s face. When Xiao Wu had heard earlier that the commander wanted to sleep under a summer quilt in this kind of weather, he had thought it utterly unbelievable!
Yet, not daring to disobey, he had obediently laid out the summer quilt.
No wonder Jiang Nuo was freezing like this. “Right, let me apply the medicine for you!”
Jiang Nuo was just about to refuse when she remembered that the ointment had been hidden away by Chu Yanhan.
Beneath the covers, the man’s hand was coated in ointment, gently and patiently tracing back and forth over her wounds to smooth it in evenly.