Zhu Nuannuan was so frightened that she shivered. She quickly put on the clothes that had been thrown aside, and then hurriedly lay down on the bed, pretending to be weak.
Cui Yunhan entered the room carrying a lunch box, and was instantly stunned when he saw the person on the bed. He asked worriedly, “Are you feeling unwell again? Why is your face so pale? I should take you to the hospital for a check-up.”
Zhu Nuannuan secretly regretted it, and quickly explained, “I just took a nap, sweated all over, so I took a bath, and just put on a little ‘Wan Zi Qian Hong’ cream. I feel much better than before.”
Cui Yunhan stopped and carefully looked at Zhu Nuannuan lying on the bed. He didn’t say anything more, then put the prepared food on the table and said, “Let’s eat first.”
Watching the man walk out of the room, Zhu Nuannuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then realized that she was covered in sweat.
Although she wanted to become beautiful and fair as quickly as possible, she had overlooked the most important point: Cui Yunhan was a soldier, and not an ordinary one. He was very vigilant. It seemed that she had to be more cautious in the future, no matter what she did.
Early the next morning, Cui Yunhan went to the team. Thinking of Zhu Nuannuan’s abnormality, he made a phone call as soon as he entered the office, “Re-investigate Zhu Nuannuan’s information for me. Don’t miss anything from childhood to adulthood.”
Zhu Nuannuan was unaware that Cui Yunhan was investigating her. She would never have thought that Cui Yunhan would become suspicious of her after only a short time together, and would even ask someone to investigate her.
When Zhu Nuannuan woke up, she saw the breakfast on the dining table, and thought that he was indeed a man trained in the army, so considerate, even though their relationship was only nominal now.
After washing up, Zhu Nuannuan braided her hair into a fishtail braid, and prepared to go out with her cloth bag on her back.
She was going to the city today to buy some containers for the skin-regenerating cream.
As soon as she went downstairs, a familiar voice came from behind, calling her name.
Zhu Nuannuan turned her head in confusion, and found that it was Liu Yan, who lived upstairs. Their relationship was not very close, they could only be considered acquaintances.
When she first came, this Liu Yan always tried to get close to the original owner, wanting to have a good relationship, so that the original owner would make mistakes, giving her man more opportunities. Her man was not very good to her, so she would try out any new family members who came with the army.
Now that Cui Yunhan was back and actively talking to her, a fool could guess that her purpose was impure.
Liu Yan quickly walked to Zhu Nuannuan’s side and asked, “Nuannuan, have you heard about Wang’s wife’s matter?”
Zhu Nuannuan honestly shook her head.
“Wang’s wife was beaten by her man last night, crying so heartbreakingly that my child was afraid to sleep alone. Nuannuan, why didn’t I realize you were so powerful before…”
Zhu Nuannuan glanced at Liu Yan, looking at the several military wives standing not far away, and Liu Yan’s deliberately loud voice, and instantly understood her intentions.
It seemed that she had pushed all of Wang Juhua’s mistakes onto her, and in the end, she was still jealous that Cui Yunhan had climbed too fast and become her man’s immediate superior, so she wanted to throw dirty water on her.
Thinking of this, Zhu Nuannuan’s eyes turned red, with a look of grievance, and she said with a sob, “Liu Yan, how can I, an outsider, get involved in Wang’s wife’s family affairs? You also know my personality, how can I do such a thing? I was sick a few days ago. If it hadn’t been for the regimental commander’s wife discovering it in time, my life would have been lost here. Where would I have the time?”
“But I heard Wang’s wife imply that you…”
Before she could finish speaking, Zhu Nuannuan interrupted, “Liu Yan, you’re actually stealing someone else’s husband, how can you do this?”
Liu Yan was stunned, stammering for a long time without saying a complete sentence.
The people around cast contemptuous glances at Liu Yan, and pointed and pointed, Liu Yan’s face turned pale.
In this era, quarrels between husband and wife were common. If the quarrels were fierce, beating a wife was also a common private matter. Some men even took pride in beating their wives.
“Liu Yan, this is someone else’s family’s business, what does it have to do with you? Instead of gossiping about other people’s families early in the morning, you might as well take care of your own family first.”
“Niu Guihua, you country bumpkin, what do you know? You should take care of yourself first, with all that smell of shit and urine, aren’t you afraid of stinking people?”
Following the direction of the voice, Zhu Nuannuan saw a plump woman with a face full of horizontal flesh, hands on her hips, looking at them as if she was ready to fight at any time.
Niu Guihua was from the countryside. In this compound, she was even less popular than herself.
Since coming here, other family members thought they had become officials’ wives, and that farming was not worthy of their status.
Niu Guihua was an exception. She hadn’t read much and had been busy in the fields all her life. Since coming here, she had reclaimed several acres of land by herself and planted a lot of crops. Because she was busy in the fields all day, her skin was darker than others.
The reason why everyone alienated her was because Niu Guihua had reclaimed a vegetable garden nearby and used natural fertilizers, which caused the surrounding air to always be filled with a stench, especially when it was hot, the smell was even more unpleasant, which made many people complain.
Some people couldn’t stand it and complained to the political commissar, but the political commissar thought it was a good tradition and planned to have the soldiers also reclaim land for farming.
This directly led to the people in the compound becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her. Wherever she went, the eyes she saw were full of contempt, and they cursed and cursed.
Zhu Nuannuan looked at Niu Guihua’s departing back and hurriedly chased after her, “Sister-in-law, thank you for helping me.”
The taciturn Niu Guihua nodded and replied stiffly, “It’s nothing.”
Zhu Nuannuan looked at Niu Guihua’s gradually receding back and couldn’t help but smile. To be honest, compared to those who love to play tricks and take advantage of others all day long, Niu Guihua was more worthy of deep friendship.
Thinking of this, Zhu Nuannuan chased after her again, “Sister-in-law, I’ll walk with you.”
Niu Guihua looked at the person standing beside her. She had been alone for so many years since she came here, and she was really a little uncomfortable with someone suddenly appearing beside her.
Liu Yan stood watching the backs of the two people leaving, and stomped her feet hatefully.
Although Niu Guihua was not good at words, Zhu Nuannuan kept chattering beside her, which made the atmosphere between the two still okay.
“Sister-in-law, I’ve been here for so long, and I haven’t been to the city a few times. You must call me next time you go to the city.”
……
Niu Guihua looked at the beaming Zhu Nuannuan, and her expression couldn’t help but soften a bit.
“The people in the city are very simple. You’ll know when you get there. As for the containers you want, I remember there’s a market in the west. They should be selling them there, but you still have to be careful.”
Although the current policies were much looser than before, and people were allowed to do business, although there were many stalls, there were very few people buying things.
In this era, only the main roads were asphalt roads, and the other roads were either gravel roads or dirt roads.
Zhu Nuannuan followed Niu Guihua, strolling around casually. Niu Guihua also introduced the stores she often patronized from time to time, and introduced them to each other if some of the owners were there.
Before long, they stopped in front of a barber shop and asked, “I often get my hair cut here. Your hair is so rough, do you want to get it trimmed?”
Zhu Nuannuan looked at the facade in front of her. Next to the door was a sign with the word “Barber” written in red paint. Not far away was a stove with hot water boiling on it.
Zhu Nuannuan touched her hair and nodded. She hadn’t planned to cut it, she wanted to nourish it with Chinese herbs, but when she thought of what happened yesterday, she suddenly changed her mind.
Just then, an old man came out of the house carrying a basin of water, “Master Li, we’re here for a haircut.”