The crisp scent of Chinese soap filled her nose, and the solid chest beneath her made Shen Zhixia unconsciously nuzzle closer.
The next second, she suddenly woke up.
Right in front of her was Fu Siyu’s enlarged handsome face, their warm breaths spraying across each other’s faces. Shen Zhixia’s face instantly flushed red.
“Are we there?” She sat up and curiously looked outside. In the distance, rows of bungalows stood neatly arranged across the open ground.
The sign at the gate in front of them read “military family compound.” A plump woman was sitting beneath the large tree in front of the gate, sewing a sole.
When she saw the vehicle stop at the entrance to the military family compound, she put down her work and craned her neck to look over.
“Yes. Vehicles aren’t allowed inside, so we’ll have to walk in.” Fu Siyu expertly smoothed Shen Zhixia’s hair, which had been mussed from sleeping, then took out a gauze scarf and carefully wrapped it around her face before helping her down.
“The wind and sand have been bad lately. Cover your face with the scarf, or by the time we get home, you’ll have a mouthful of sand.”
Shen Zhixia nodded and pulled the scarf up to cover half her face, leaving only her eyes exposed.
As they entered, the woman who had been sitting beneath the tree came over with the shoe sole in her hand, smiling as she welcomed them.
“Oh, Battalion Commander Fu is back. This must be your younger brother’s wife, right? What a fresh and pretty girl. You can tell at a glance that she’s from a big city.”
Shen Zhixia gave an awkward smile, almost admiring this sister-in-law’s ability to spout blatant nonsense with a straight face.
She was wrapped up so thoroughly—exactly where had the woman seen that she was fresh and pretty?
“Hello, Sister-in-law Li. This is my wife, Shen Zhixia. She just arrived today. While I’m away in the future, I’ll have to trouble you to look after her a little.”
After Fu Siyu finished speaking, he moved closer to Shen Zhixia and introduced her. “This is Sister-in-law Li. She’s the wife of Battalion Commander Li from the Third Battalion and lives right next door to us.”
Shen Zhixia nodded to show that she understood.
She pulled a handful of candies from the bag she carried with her and held them out to Sister-in-law Li.
“Hello, Sister-in-law. These are candies I brought from home. Take them back for the children to sweeten their mouths. If I trouble you with anything in the future, I hope you won’t find me bothersome.”
Sister-in-law Li accepted the candies with a broad smile and stuffed them into her pocket.
She liked Shen Zhixia even more now. After all, who didn’t like someone sweet-tongued and good at handling people?
Unlike Battalion Commander Lu’s wife. She had been in the military family compound for more than a year, and every time she saw wives like them, whose husbands held the same rank as hers, she was as proud as a swan, practically lifting her head into the sky.
But whenever she saw wives whose husbands held higher ranks, she would greet them with a smiling face, practically ready to kneel and lick their boots.
So, upon meeting someone as sensible and easygoing as Shen Zhixia, Sister-in-law Li couldn’t help wanting to grow closer to her.
“No wonder Battalion Commander Fu hurried to apply for a place in the military family compound as soon as he came back. If I were a man and had such a fresh and beautiful wife willing to travel all the way to this poor place to join me in the army, I’d be happy even if you asked me to pluck the moon from the sky.”
Sister-in-law Li’s words made Shen Zhixia feel a little embarrassed.
She glanced sideways at Fu Siyu and unexpectedly discovered that his ears were red too.
Was he… embarrassed?
“Sister-in-law, we’ll head back first. Once we’ve finished tidying up, we’ll invite you and Battalion Commander Li over for a meal.”
After Shen Zhixia said this, Sister-in-law Li also realized that it wasn’t appropriate for them to stand at the gate chatting. She quickly waved her hand.
“Go on, go back. Look at me—I always forget that you’ve only just arrived once I start chatting.”
After saying goodbye to Sister-in-law Li, Shen Zhixia followed Fu Siyu farther inside. She also looked from side to side at the houses on both sides of the military family compound.
The layouts of the courtyards were all more or less the same: a small yard with three rooms, where people could grow vegetables and raise chickens.
As they walked, Shen Zhixia noticed that some courtyards were kept very clean, with their vegetable gardens arranged neatly, while others were a complete mess. At a glance, it was obvious that the people living in them were not very diligent.
“Is it different from what you imagined?” the man walking beside her suddenly asked.
There was a trace of imperceptible nervousness in his voice.
He was afraid that after Shen Zhixia saw the environment and living conditions here, she would regret her decision to join him in the army.
After all, compared with Hesh i, the conditions here were more than a little worse.
Then he thought: If Shen Zhixia truly disliked this place and asked to return to Hesh i, would he really be willing to send her back? After they had spent three years apart and had finally met again?
The answer was no.
Before he had seen her, perhaps he could have had no expectations and therefore wouldn’t have imagined what it would be like for the two of them to live together. But now he had seen a living, breathing Shen Zhixia.
Especially yesterday, when he had cleaned the house by himself, he had imagined their entire future together. He had even thought about where they would be buried after growing old and dying.
“Yes, it’s a little different.”
Shen Zhixia smiled and nodded. There was not the slightest trace of dissatisfaction with the current surroundings in her gaze as she looked at Fu Siyu. Instead, it held even more anticipation.
When she had been in the modern era, she had lived in high-rise buildings from childhood. She was used to the traffic flowing through the city and the lights shining from thousands of homes. Even when she occasionally stayed in the countryside, the houses had always been tastefully renovated buildings.
This was the first time she had seen—and the first time she had lived in—a house built from primitive mud bricks. In particular, she had heard that people in the northwest slept on heated brick beds rather than regular beds, which made her even more eager to see one.
She really wanted to see with her own eyes what the heated brick bed described in books was like—the kind with a fire burning beneath it and on which people could even bake flatbreads.
Seeing Fu Siyu’s nervousness, Shen Zhixia amusedly extended a finger and lightly hooked his palm.
“Don’t worry. I’m just a little unaccustomed to it because I’ve only just arrived. I’ll get used to it very soon. I’m very adaptable, after all—and you’re here.”
Her teasing action and words made Fu Siyu’s Adam’s apple roll involuntarily. His body stiffened, and the lower half of his abdomen grew hot and restless, as though scorched by fire.
He immediately shifted his gaze away, refusing to look at Shen Zhixia’s foxlike eyes.
He swallowed hard and cursed inwardly. Damn, she was far too seductive.
Sooner or later, he really was going to die at the hands of this silly wife of his.
When she saw Fu Siyu suddenly fall silent and turn his head away, Shen Zhixia assumed that he didn’t believe her. Her hand moved faster than her brain, and she pinched Fu Siyu’s cheek, making him face her.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Do you doubt me? Don’t you believe that I really came to join you in the army?”
It was only natural that she would think this way. After all, the original Shen Zhixia had been married to Fu Siyu for three years without ever joining him in the army. Now she had suddenly come to join him and even said that she had cut ties with her family. Anyone with a brain would have been suspicious.
Not to mention that the original Shen Zhixia and Fu Siyu had only been husband and wife in name. In truth, they weren’t familiar with each other at all. It was perfectly normal for him not to believe her.
With his face suddenly pinched, Fu Siyu froze for a moment. Then a single thought came to him: His wife’s hand was so soft. Even when she pinched his face, it didn’t hurt at all.
He gently removed Shen Zhixia’s hand and held it in his palm, sighing helplessly. “I’m not questioning you. You’re my wife. If I don’t believe you, who else can I believe? I was just thinking about something else.”
“Something else? What were you thinking about?”
Shen Zhixia suddenly moved closer to Fu Siyu with a mischievous smile.
Seeing the amusement in Shen Zhixia’s eyes and hearing the many twists and turns in her final tone, Fu Siyu might have been slow when it came to romance, but even he knew that his wife’s question could not possibly have innocent intentions.
He gave a light cough, wrapped an arm around Shen Zhixia’s waist, and pulled her into his embrace before slowly lowering his head.
“What do you want me to think about? That’s what I’m thinking about.”
Caught off guard by his countertease, even Shen Zhixia, who considered herself an experienced hand, was rendered speechless.
Her heart pounded wildly. In her panic, she tried to push Fu Siyu away, but accidentally caught her own foot. Just as she was about to fall, Fu Siyu pulled her back into his arms.
“What are you hiding from? Weren’t you quite bold just now?”
“I only—”
Before she could finish, a tentative voice came from behind them.
“Xiaxia, is that you?”