That voice was Shen Wanqing’s!
What a small world. Shen Zhixia had just arrived to join the army, and before she had even entered her new home, she had already run into her.
Judging from Shen Wanqing’s tone, however, she probably still did not know that Shen Zhixia was coming to join the army. Most likely, the Shen family had not yet told her that Shen Zhixia had emptied out their house.
“Xiaxia?”
When the person ahead did not respond, Shen Wanqing walked two more steps forward and called out again, uncertainly.
She had originally planned to go to the post office that day to send a letter and ask about Shen Zhixia’s situation at home. She had not expected that, the moment she stepped outside, she would see Fu Siyu standing together with a woman, chatting and laughing.
No matter how she looked at her, that woman’s figure resembled Shen Zhixia.
But when she had called home two days earlier, her mother had still said that the second uncle’s family planned to marry Shen Zhixia off to the director of the Revolutionary Committee, and that the wedding date had already been set.
How could Shen Zhixia suddenly appear in the military family compound?
Just as she was about to continue questioning them, Shen Zhixia, who had been facing away from her, turned around and looked at her with a smile in her eyes.
Shen Zhixia!
It really was her!
Looking at that face before her—the face that had appeared in her dreams countless times and made her want to claw it to pieces—Shen Wanqing’s eyes flashed with frenzied jealousy and hatred.
In her previous life, that slut had relied on this fox-spirit-like face to marry Lu Ziming. Later, she had even risen to become a senior officer’s wife, held up high by the members of the Shen family.
As for her, because she was merely ordinary-looking, she could only marry a lowly director of the supply and marketing cooperative. After they married, her husband not only carried on with a widow from town, but eventually beat her to death because she had never been able to give him a son.
Fortunately, Heaven had taken pity on her and given her the chance to start over. So she had stolen Lu Ziming—the husband who should have belonged to Shen Zhixia—and married him ahead of her. In the end, Shen Zhixia could only marry Fu Siyu, who was inferior to Lu Ziming in every way.
What was more, even after three years of marriage, Shen Zhixia had still been unable to join him at his post. Shen Wanqing had originally been delighted that she had stolen Shen Zhixia’s life, but why had Shen Zhixia appeared here again?
“Xiaxia, it really is you! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. When did you come to join your husband? Why didn’t you tell me? I could have gone to meet you.”
Suppressing the hatred churning inside her, she walked forward with a fake smile and reached for Shen Zhixia’s hand, only for Shen Zhixia to dodge her.
“That’s an odd thing for you to say, Sister. My husband is here, so what’s wrong with me coming to join him? Or is it that only you’re allowed to come join your husband, while I’m not?”
At those words, the smile Shen Wanqing had been maintaining froze. She then looked at Shen Zhixia with an aggrieved expression.
“What do you mean, Sister? We’re sisters, and we haven’t seen each other in so long. I was just concerned about you.”
After saying that, she suddenly looked at Fu Siyu as though she had realized something and asked, “Did my brother-in-law make you angry? If he’s bullying you, just tell your sister. I’ll help you get even.”
“No one is bullying me. I’m just carsick and in a bad mood. If you have nothing else, we’ll go home first.”
Seeing that people who had finished work were already heading toward the military family compound, Shen Zhixia did not want to keep standing there and putting on a false display of sisterly affection with Shen Wanqing.
Besides, she had only just arrived at the compound. If she immediately got into a conflict with Shen Wanqing, a veteran military wife who had been living with her husband for more than a year, it would not be good for either her or Fu Siyu’s reputation if word got out.
Moreover, she wanted to use Shen Wanqing to learn more about the Shen family.
She did not know whether Shen Jianguo and his wife had been angered to death. She had cut off their precious son’s path back to the city—what kind of tricks would they come up with next?
And then there was her uncle’s entire family. In the book, they had played no small part in the original host’s tragic ending. She would settle every one of those debts with them, one by one, in the future.
“Then you two go home first, Xiaxia. Once you’ve rested, you can come over and visit your sister. My brother-in-law knows where we live. He can bring you over then. We sisters haven’t seen each other in more than a year, so we’ll have a good chat when the time comes.”
Shen Wanqing put on a show of deep sisterly affection that made Shen Zhixia want to vomit.
Anyone who did not know the truth and happened to see them would really think the sisters had an excellent relationship.
“We’ll see when the time comes. I just arrived, and I still have a lot of things to prepare, so I’ll probably need some time to get everything organized.”
Shen Zhixia truly did not want to stay with Shen Wanqing for even one more second. If they continued talking, she was afraid she would not be able to stop herself from hitting her.
In the past, Shen Wanqing had constantly egged Shen Jianguo and his wife on to beat the original host. It could be said that Shen Wanqing deserved half the credit for all the beatings the original host had suffered from childhood onward.
Later, on the day the original host married Fu Siyu, Fu Siyu had left because of a mission. Shen Wanqing had then repeatedly insinuated all sorts of things about how awful Fu Siyu was while speaking into the original host’s ear. The original host had always been soft-hearted and foolish, and Shen Wanqing had managed to turn her against Fu Siyu with just a few words.
It could be said that Shen Wanqing and the original host were complete opposites. One was rotten to the core, while the other was the kind of fool who would help count the money after being sold.
Fortunately, Shen Zhixia had come. Otherwise, the original host really would have been ruined.
Watching Shen Wanqing walk away, Shen Zhixia cursed her as a fool, then looked up and smiled at Fu Siyu.
“Let’s hurry home. How much farther is it? I can’t walk anymore.”
They had kept running into people and stopping to chat along the way. Even now, she had not seen so much as a glimpse of their home.
“Almost there. It’s the one at the very end of that row.”
Fu Siyu pointed toward the line of courtyards ahead and led Shen Zhixia forward by the hand.
As for Shen Zhixia’s attitude toward Shen Wanqing just now, he was considerate enough not to ask about it.
Fortunately, everyone had already begun preparing lunch, so they did not run into anyone else.
Before long, Fu Siyu brought her to the courtyard at the very end. It was bare, with nothing in it except a grape trellis near one corner.
The courtyard had been cleaned very thoroughly, however, and there were traces showing that the exterior walls of the house had recently been patched with mud.
Shen Zhixia glanced at Fu Siyu beside her. It was obvious that he had put a great deal of effort into preparing this home for her arrival.
Fu Siyu lifted the curtain covering the main room’s doorway and took out a key to unlock the door. Then he picked up several keys from the windowsill and handed them to Shen Zhixia.
“These are the keys to the three rooms. The main gate usually isn’t locked, so I didn’t have a lock made for it. If you think we need one later, tell me and I’ll go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy one. This is the main room. The rooms on the left and right are a little smaller. When Company Commander Sun’s family lived here, they converted the room on the right into a kitchen. If you don’t like it, there’s still empty space in the courtyard. When I have time, I’ll build a new kitchen.”
Fu Siyu showed Shen Zhixia the various rooms.
There were heated brick beds in both the room on the left and the main room. The room on the right had been converted into a kitchen; apparently, they had smashed out the old heated brick bed and built a stove in its place. At present, however, it was bare except for one large and one small iron pot.
The main room was still completely empty as well, making it obvious how hastily everything had been prepared.
“We can use the kitchen as it is for now. There are only the two of us anyway, and we don’t need that much living space. The empty ground in the courtyard will be perfect for growing vegetables.”
Shen Zhixia roughly planned everything out. The furniture, pots, bowls, and other household items she had brought from the Shen family would all come in handy, so she would not need to spend money buying new ones. The only problem was how to take them out without arousing suspicion. She would have to think of a way.
She had also planted some vegetables and grain in the land inside her portable space while she was on the train. She did not know whether anything had sprouted yet, so she would go take a look later.
She could plant some vegetables and raise a few chickens in the courtyard as well. That way, when she took vegetables and meat out of her portable space in the future, no one would become suspicious.
Watching Shen Zhixia seriously plan out their home, Fu Siyu could not help reaching out and pinching her cheek.
The Shen Zhixia before him was obedient and sweet, just as she had been when they first met. Now, however, she was more lively, which made his heart stir even more.
He simply could not resist touching her.
Shen Zhixia was wondering whether she should ask Fu Siyu where the post office was. If she said she had mailed some bulky luggage here, she could then take the furniture out naturally. Just then, she felt someone pinch her cheek.
She turned her head in confusion and was about to ask why he had pinched her for no reason when she heard Fu Siyu say,
“Xiaxia, I’m very happy that you were willing to come join me. Thank you.”