There was 9,135.25 yuan in the passbook.
That was a huge sum of money.
According to Zhao Cuilv, he had joined the army at the age of fifteen. By now, he had been serving for twelve years.
He rarely spent any money. The army covered all his food, clothing, and daily necessities, and the only money he spent was what he sent home every month.
So it made sense that he had managed to save this much.
This was probably all of his savings.
“What? Do you think it’s too little?” Seeing her staring at the passbook without saying anything, Li Yanfeng couldn’t help but wonder.
Knowing her family background, this amount of money probably meant nothing to her.
“No, no. It’s already a lot.” Lu Xinran hurriedly waved her hands and explained.
She realized that this man really liked imagining her as some spoiled, money-loving girl.
He thought she couldn’t get used to the food and now assumed she disliked his savings because there wasn’t enough.
She really wasn’t like that.
“Keep it. We’ll withdraw some money from the bank in town later. I also brought the ration coupons and industrial vouchers.”
He took out another pocket, which was filled with various ration coupons and industrial vouchers.
They received a certain quota every month. Knowing they would be buying things today, he had brought everything with him.
He never went into battle unprepared.
“Okay.”
Lu Xinran accepted everything.
Since she was going to spend the rest of her life with him, there was no need to be overly formal.
At least, this was her way of showing sincerity.
Li Yanfeng quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that she wouldn’t accept it.
Then he heard Lu Xinran say, “Then I’ll give you five yuan a month as spending money from now on. You can keep the money you normally send home.”
“I don’t need that much. Three yuan is enough. I don’t have much to spend it on.”
“I send ten yuan home to my parents every month.”
Li Yanfeng explained these things to her clearly.
Since they were going to live together, she should know these things about him.
At this point, Lu Xinran suddenly remembered something important.
She asked, “About our marriage—shouldn’t you tell your family?”
“I will. I’ll send them a telegram later. I only came back from my last home leave not long ago, so if I want to go home again, I’ll have to wait until the New Year.”
Lu Xinran nodded. As long as he had it under control, that was enough.
“Then shall we go buy the furniture first?” Lu Xinran changed the subject.
They had already brought her suitcase here. There was no way they could still stay at the guesthouse tonight.
“Okay.”
Lu Xinran took out paper and a pen from her crossbody bag and wrote down everything they needed to buy.
As the saying went, the best memory was a bad pen.
But there wasn’t a single piece of furniture in the house yet, so she could only write down everything by hand.
Li Yanfeng stood beside her, watching her write.
She had elegant, neat small-script handwriting, and it was very beautiful.
He pressed his lips together.
She was an educated intellectual. One of her parents was a scientist and the other was a medical professor. She came from a highly educated family.
Ten minutes later, Lu Xinran had written down almost everything they needed.
“Done. Let’s go. We need to hurry.”
Lu Xinran had no idea what he had been thinking about.
“Alright.”
After leaving the house, Lu Xinran went to take another look at the kitchen.
There was a traditional clay stove with two burners side by side.
She wondered if they had coal stoves here.
A clay stove required firewood and straw to burn, and she didn’t know how to use one yet.
Li Yanfeng saw the worry on her face and guessed what she was concerned about.
So he said, “If you don’t know how to cook, you can eat at the family compound cafeteria. You don’t have to cook yourself.”
“The food at the family compound cafeteria should be about the same as the food at the guesthouse, right?”
“Yes.”
Li Yanfeng didn’t elaborate.
He remembered that she didn’t seem very accustomed to eating that kind of food.
Lu Xinran thought about those dishes with barely any oil and didn’t feel very enthusiastic.
“I’ll learn eventually. I want to cook for myself.” Lu Xinran was confident in herself.
Besides, she had so many ingredients in her space. It would be such a waste not to cook for herself.
In her previous life, she often ordered takeout, eventually ordering from every restaurant around her until she was sick of the food.
Now she had no such pressures. Cooking could simply be an enjoyable activity.
She could finally experience a truly idyllic rural life.
“If you really can’t do it, don’t force yourself. If you can’t get used to the food at the family compound cafeteria, I’ll bring lunch back for you from the camp cafeteria.”
Li Yanfeng looked at her fair, delicate hands. They didn’t look like the hands of someone who knew how to cook.
They were much more suited to holding a pen and writing.
“Do you look down on me?” Lu Xinran looked at him and asked indignantly.
“I don’t. You misunderstood.”
Li Yanfeng hurriedly explained, though his expression remained calm.
“Good. It better be that way,” Lu Xinran muttered softly.
They still weren’t very familiar with each other, so she couldn’t exactly act spoiled or make demands.
But what Lu Xinran didn’t know was that, in Li Yanfeng’s eyes, her expression at that moment was already incredibly lively and charming.
Before he realized it, he found himself staring at her in fascination.
Lu Xinran noticed his gaze and looked at him suspiciously.
“What’s wrong?”
Li Yanfeng suddenly came back to his senses.
He had the strange feeling of being caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.
He quickly turned his face away and pretended to clear his throat twice.
“Nothing. Let’s go buy the furniture.”
“I’ll have my guard, Xiao Chen, contact the army’s transport team. Later, I’ll have them help us haul the furniture back.”
“Okay.”
Afterward, Li Yanfeng rode a twenty-eight-inch bicycle with Lu Xinran sitting on the back as they headed toward town.
It took about half an hour to cycle from their family compound to town.
The bicycle was quite tall. Lu Xinran was 165 centimeters tall, yet even sitting on the back, her feet were still slightly too far from the ground.
It was a completely new experience for her.
“Hold on to me,” Li Yanfeng said in his deep voice.
Lu Xinran bit her lower lip, unsure where to put her hands.
Simply grabbing onto his camouflage uniform didn’t seem very secure.
But wrapping her arms around his waist seemed a little too intimate.
“Hm? Didn’t you hear me?”
After not hearing any movement from the back for a while, Li Yanfeng glanced back.
Lu Xinran closed her eyes.
It was as though she had made an important decision.
She wrapped both arms around his waist and thought, Whatever. We’re already married anyway!
Safety was more important.
Otherwise, if she fell off the back, it would be even more troublesome.
Li Yanfeng’s body stiffened for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.
Feeling that her hold was too loose and not secure enough, he even took the initiative to say, “The road ahead isn’t very smooth. Hold on tighter yourself so you don’t fall.”
Lu Xinran knew all too well what the roads around here were like.
Yesterday, she had been jolted around for two whole hours, feeling as though her internal organs had been shaken out of place.
So when she heard Li Yanfeng’s words, she hugged him even tighter.
This was the first time he had ever been so physically close to a girl.
Feeling her arms tighten around him, he was finally satisfied.
The corners of his lips lifted into a smile he didn’t even realize he was wearing.
“Let’s go!”
He pedaled the bicycle with renewed energy.
Their military camp was about two hours away from the city, so they rarely went into the city and usually bought things in town instead.
There were furniture shops in town that could make custom pieces, as well as ready-made furniture.
The logistics department could also order custom furniture, but that would take time.
Li Yanfeng wanted to have all the furniture arranged today. How could he wait?
They would obviously buy ready-made furniture.
Half an hour later, they finally arrived.
Lu Xinran climbed down from the back seat.
The moment her feet touched the ground, she felt a sharp, needle-like pain shooting through the soles of her feet.
She sucked in a breath and staggered several steps, nearly falling.
Fortunately, Li Yanfeng was quick enough to react and caught her around the waist.