Since that night, a strange yet harmonious pattern had formed between Qin Lie and Jiang Wu.
During the day, Qin Lie went to the military unit for training, while Jiang Wu stayed home, inventing all sorts of delicious dishes for him.
Or she would read that Barefoot Doctor’s Manual with great interest.
At night, Qin Lie would return.
He was always greeted by a steaming hot meal and a smiling, flower-like wife.
After eating and bathing, the two would lie in the same bed.
Doing the things a husband and wife should do.
Qin Lie’s attitude shifted from initial resistance and struggle, to reluctant half-compliance, and now to savoring the marrow and enjoying it thoroughly.
It had taken only a few short days.
He found himself increasingly unable to leave this woman.
Unable to leave her cooking.
Unable to leave her scent.
Even more unable to leave the ultimate intimacy and passion she offered at night.
Jiang Wu, on the other hand, discovered this man was spoiling her more and more.
He listened to whatever she said.
He gave her whatever she wanted.
When she occasionally threw a minor tantrum or sulked a little, though he would scold her sternly with words, in the end, he would still helplessly and indulgently give in to her.
For example, today.
They had run out of soy sauce at home.
Jiang Wu said she needed to go to the supply and marketing co-op.
The co-op on the island was a fair distance from the residential compound; walking took about twenty minutes.
Jiang Wu stood at the courtyard gate, looking at the blazing sun outside.
She took one glance and retreated back inside.
“Husband.”
She ran to Qin Lie, who was cleaning his Type 54 pistol in the yard, and tugged on his arm, starting to act spoiled.
“The sun’s too strong outside, I don’t want to walk.”
Qin Lie paused in cleaning his gun.
He looked up at the sky.
The sun was indeed fierce.
It stung sharply when it hit the skin.
He frowned.
“Then don’t go.”
“Go later when it’s cooler in the evening.”
“I can’t.” Jiang Wu pouted and shook her head. “I want to make braised spare ribs tonight. I can’t make it without soy sauce.”
Hearing the words “braised spare ribs,” Qin Lie’s throat moved involuntarily.
He hadn’t eaten meat for several days.
“Then I’ll take you on the bike.”
As he spoke, he went to get the 28-inch bicycle parked in the corner.
“No.”
But Jiang Wu stopped him.
“The bike hurts my bottom.”
She looked utterly spoiled.
Qin Lie: “…”
A vein at his temple began throbbing uncontrollably again.
This woman was becoming more and more difficult to serve!
She didn’t want to walk, and she didn’t want to ride the bike.
Then what did she want to do?
Fly over?!
“Then what do you want?”
He asked, his voice low, trying to maintain patience.
Seeing his nearly-exploding expression, Jiang Wu wasn’t scared at all; instead, she smiled.
She extended her fair, lotus-root-like arms and opened them towards him.
The meaning was clear.
Qin Lie’s pupils contracted sharply.
Looking at her unapologetic, demand-to-be-carried posture, he felt his head buzzing, about to explode again.
“Jiang Wu!”
He gritted her name through clenched teeth.
“Don’t go too far!”
Carry her to the supply and marketing co-op?!
What was she thinking?!
From the residential compound to the co-op, they had to pass the training ground, the office building, the family housing area…
How many people would be along that route?!
He, a full-fledged regimental commander!
Carrying his wife in broad daylight for everyone to see?!
Would he have any face left at all?!
“How am I going too far?”
Jiang Wu blinked her eyes innocently.
“You carried me before, didn’t you?”
“You carried me back from the beach.”
“You also carried me inside right at our doorstep.”
“So why won’t you carry me now?”
“Do you… not love me anymore?”
As she spoke, her eyes began to redden again.
She looked as if she would burst into tears the next second.
Looking at her, Qin Lie felt a headache coming on.
He realized this woman had now perfected the tactic of “crying and making a scene.”
And she had even added the lethal, unanswerable question: “Do you not love me anymore?”
Could he say he didn’t love her?
He didn’t dare.
He was afraid if he said it, this woman might cry herself to death right before his eyes.
Qin Lie closed his eyes, feeling a deep sense of helplessness wash over him.
What kind of sin had he committed in his past life?
To be saddled with such a tormenting little temptress in this one!
Looking into her big eyes already brimming with tears, the last line of defense in his heart crumbled with a crash.
“Get on.”
He forced the two words out through clenched teeth.
Then, he turned his back to her and bent slightly at the waist.
Carrying was out of the question.
That was too humiliating.
Carrying her on his back was his final bottom line.
“I don’t want a piggyback ride.”
But Jiang Wu was relentless.
“I can’t see the road on your back.”
“I want a hug.”
She insisted.
Qin Lie: “…”
He felt like he was going to be angered to death by this woman today.
The two stood deadlocked in the courtyard.
One stiff-necked, refusing to carry.
One with arms open, demanding to be carried.
Just then, a commotion sounded outside the courtyard.
“Regimental Commander! Regimental Commander!”
It was Battalion Commander Zhang Dashan’s voice.
He was running past the courtyard gate with several soldiers carrying sandbags.
Seeing the bizarre scene inside the courtyard, everyone stopped.
They looked at their scowling regimental commander with his back to his wife.
Then at the small, spoiled sister-in-law with her arms open.
All their faces broke into teasing, mischievous smiles.
“Hey, Regimental Commander, Sister-in-law, what are you two… doing?”
Zhang Dashan, being the boldest, came closer, asking the obvious.
Qin Lie’s face instantly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
He wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
He was about to lose all the face he had in this lifetime!
Seeing people had arrived, Jiang Wu’s eyes lit up.
The opportunity had come!
The tears in her eyes instantly overflowed.
“Waaah—”
She cried out loudly.
“Husband, are you refusing to carry me because you think I’m heavy?”
“You just don’t love me anymore!”
“Wuu wuu… my life is so miserable…”
She cried as if the sky were falling, heart-wrenching to hear, bringing tears to listeners’ eyes.
The few soldier boys watching at the gate were utterly dumbfounded.
Zhang Dashan was especially stunned.
It was the first time he’d seen anyone dare to throw such a tantrum in front of their living “King of Hell.”
And all to get the King of Hell to carry her?
This little sister-in-law was really… something else!
Everyone’s gaze focused on Qin Lie.
They wanted to see how he would handle this.
Would he explode on the spot and “execute” this audacious little sister-in-law right there?
Or…
Qin Lie felt all the blood rush to his head.
Listening to Jiang Wu’s obviously fake crying, listening to those brats at the gate holding back their laughter with sharp intakes of breath, he felt like a clown being roasted over a fire.
He had never been so mortified in his entire life!
He really wanted to turn and walk away.
Leave this lawless woman all alone here.
But when he saw her tear-reddened eyes and her slightly trembling shoulders, his heart felt as if seized by something sharp again.
Sour, soft.
Forget it.
Embarrassment was embarrassment.
She was the wife he had chosen himself.
The one he chose, he had to keep spoiling, even if on his knees.
Qin Lie took a deep breath, as if making a monumental decision.
He turned around and, under everyone’s incredulous gazes, strode over to Jiang Wu.
Then he bent down and scooped up the still fake-crying woman in a princess carry!
“Wow—”
The soldiers at the gate collectively let out astonished cheers.
“Regimental Commander is mighty!”
“Regimental Commander is awesome!”
“Sister-in-law is so blessed!”
Whistles and cheers rose one after another.
Jiang Wu, held in his arms, abruptly stopped crying.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest.
But the corners of her mouth secretly curled into a triumphant arc.
Qin Lie’s ears were red enough to drip blood.
Holding the woman in his arms who had “succeeded in her crime” and was still secretly laughing, he walked past those hollering soldier scoundrels without even a glance to the side.
He walked quickly, taking large strides.
As if wild beasts were chasing him from behind.
He just wanted to get away, faster, even faster, from this place of humiliation and gossip.
However, the woman in his arms wouldn’t let him have his way.
“Husband.”
Her voice came muffled from his chest.
“What!”
Qin Lie’s voice was practically squeezed out from between his teeth.
“Walk slower.”
Jiang Wu’s hand restlessly traced circles on his chest.
“If you walk so fast, I can’t see the scenery by the roadside.”
Qin Lie: “…”
He felt his blood pressure rising again.
He really wanted to throw this reckless woman to the ground right now!
But when he looked down and saw the cunning, dependent smile on her upturned little face, all his anger inexplicably vanished.
His footsteps unconsciously slowed down.
The sunset stretched their two shadows very, very long.
From afar, it looked like the warmest, most beautiful picture scroll.
When passing the training ground, they happened to catch other companies in combat training.
A group of shirtless, muscular soldier brothers saw their regimental commander walk by carrying a fairy-like little wife.
Everyone’s movements stopped.
They all stood as if frozen, staring at them dumbfounded.
Only after their figures had gone far away, did the training ground erupt into earth-shattering wolf howls.
“Holy shit! What did I just see?!”
“Regimental Commander… carrying a woman?!”
“That’s the regimental commander’s wife, right? She’s too beautiful! Like a fairy descended!”
“Wuwuwu, my heart is broken! My goal is gone!”
“Regimental Commander is such a real man! So damn cool! I want to find a wife like that in the future! Carry her in my arms every day!”
Qin Lie, walking ahead, hearing the increasingly unrestrained hollering behind him, felt his face darken enough to drip ink.
He quickened his pace, almost running, carrying Jiang Wu towards the supply and marketing co-op.
He swore he would never do such an embarrassing thing again in the future!
Absolutely! Never!
However, Qin Lie didn’t know.
This oath of his would soon be broken by his own hand in the near future.
And broken thoroughly.
On the way to the co-op, they passed by the small courtyard of the medical team.
Coincidentally, they saw a young soldier limping out.
His knee was wrapped in thick bandages, his face etched with pain.
Qin Lie habitually stopped.
“Xiao Wang, what happened to your leg?”
The soldier named Xiao Wang, seeing it was Qin Lie, quickly saluted.
“Reporting, Regimental Commander! I accidentally twisted my knee during training! The medic says it’s a ligament strain, needs rest for several months!”
His voice was full of frustration and unwillingness.
For a soldier, not being able to train for months was worse than death.
Qin Lie frowned, about to say something more.
But then he noticed the Jiang Wu in his arms was staring intently at the soldier’s knee.
Her gaze was focused, serious.
Carrying a trace of inquiry and thoughtfulness he couldn’t understand.