Qiao Zhenzhu smiled at him. “Xiao Li, thanks for coming to pick us up. Sorry for the trouble.”
Hearing that, Li Jianye shot her a horrified look.
What was going on with the regiment commander’s wife?
She’d only gone back to Shanghai to visit family once—how had she come back like a completely different person?
Before this, she had always treated him like he was invisible.
But now, not only was she smiling at him, she was even thanking him.
Unbelievable!
Even after they got in the car, Li Jianye kept sneaking glances at Qiao Zhenzhu through the rearview mirror.
When she caught him in the act, his face instantly turned red, and he hurriedly focused on driving, not daring to look again.
Once they left the train station, the car headed straight out of the city.
At first there were still villages scattered around them, but soon all that remained were endless wheat fields stretching to the horizon.
It was June, the season for harvesting winter wheat. The fields were full of people working up a sweat, basking in the joy of a good harvest.
Looking at the scene before her, Qiao Zhenzhu smiled sincerely.
In the apocalypse, every wild plant was dangerous.
Even a tiny blade of grass could take someone’s life.
Even crops grown inside the base had to be constantly monitored in case they suddenly mutated.
But here, wheat was just wheat. Grass was just grass. Trees were just trees.
Everything looked so lovable.
Qiao Zhenzhu gazed out the window.
Lu Huai gazed at the side of her face.
While driving, Li Jianye happened to catch the scene in the mirror and nearly jumped in fright, quickly looking away again.
Was there something wrong with his eyes, or was there something wrong with the regiment commander and his wife?
In the past, whenever anyone mentioned the commander’s wife, Lu Huai would frown deeply.
But now, the commander was staring at her like some lovestruck fool…
The moment the thought crossed his mind, Li Jianye hurriedly suppressed it.
He actually dared to think the regiment commander looked lovestruck!
If the commander ever found out, he’d definitely double his training drills!
Another twenty minutes later, the car stopped in front of a small farmhouse courtyard.
This was part of the military residential compound, though it wasn’t one giant enclosed yard.
It was more like a large village.
Every few dozen meters stood another courtyard house, each surrounded by vegetable plots, some with ponds nearby.
June was the height of summer growth, and the vegetables in everyone’s gardens were flourishing.
Well… everyone else’s.
The vegetable patch around the courtyard in front of Qiao Zhenzhu looked like it had been hit by frost.
There hadn’t been many vegetables planted to begin with, and now every last one looked half-dead.
Without comparison, it wouldn’t have seemed too bad.
But beside the lush gardens nearby, it looked like a dull gray patch sewn onto bright green silk—painfully conspicuous.
Qiao Zhenzhu had the original owner’s memories, so she naturally knew why things had turned out this way.
Someone at Lu Huai’s rank was genuinely busy.
As for the original owner, she had been a rich young lady from a capitalist family. At home, the most she’d ever done was cook, sweep, and wash clothes.
She wasn’t lazy, exactly, but she truly knew nothing about farming.
Asking her to grow vegetables was simply too much.
She neither knew how nor wanted to.
Lu Huai, meanwhile, had no time.
At the end of spring, Lu Huai had managed to clear the garden and scatter seeds for a few kinds of vegetables.
But he was so busy that he only had time to tend the garden once every ten days or half a month, and everything ended up in this half-dead state.
Other families had more vegetables than they could eat.
But the original owner and Lu Huai had none.
Either Lu Huai brought meals back from the army cafeteria every day, or nearby military wives would occasionally send over vegetables from their own gardens.
When Lu Huai was away on missions, the other army wives didn’t interact with the original owner, much less bring her food.
The original owner didn’t care anyway.
One steamed bun or one flatbread was enough for her to get through a meal.
As long as she didn’t starve.
To her, delicious food could never compare to the spiritual nourishment found in books.
Among the dowry she brought with her, aside from some clothes, there were two whole trunks of books.
The original owner was pregnant with quadruplets, yet she frequently skipped meals. Her belly had grown frighteningly large, while her limbs remained unnaturally thin. She looked almost like a frog, already severely malnourished.
Even if she had never gone to Shanghai and never suffered any emotional shock, giving birth would still have been like stepping through the gates of hell—a nine-in-ten chance of death.
Lu Huai helped Qiao Zhenzhu out of the car, unlocked the front gate, and then took the two luggage bags from Li Jianye.
Li Jianye saluted. “Commander, I’ll head back now.”
“Wait!” Qiao Zhenzhu called out to him.
Li Jianye turned to her in confusion.
Qiao Zhenzhu unzipped one of the bags, took out two packs of Dafront Gate cigarettes, and handed them to him.
“Thanks for driving us back. I brought these from Shanghai for you.”
The moment Li Jianye saw the two packs, his eyes widened.
Daqianmen cigarettes cost thirty-five cents a pack and also required a cigarette ration coupon. They were hard to get.
And now the commander’s wife was giving him two whole packs?
“N-No… I can’t accept these.”
Qiao Zhenzhu deliberately put on a stern face. “Why not? Do you think they’re not good enough?”
“Of course not! It’s just—I…”
Not knowing what to say, Li Jianye could only look pleadingly at Lu Huai for help.
Lu Huai had a faint smile on his face, his voice unusually gentle.
“Your sister-in-law is giving them to you. Just take them.”
Since Lu Huai had spoken, Li Jianye couldn’t very well refuse anymore. He accepted them with both hands.
“Thank you, Sister-in-law.”
“No need to thank me.” Qiao Zhenzhu smiled warmly.
Li Jianye was only in his early twenties, still a young and inexperienced kid. Holding the two cigarette packs in one hand, he scratched his head awkwardly with the other and grinned sheepishly.
“Alright, drive the car back. I’ll report to the army tomorrow,” Lu Huai said.
“Then I’m leaving! Goodbye, Commander! Goodbye, Sister-in-law!”
Li Jianye jogged back to the car. Even after driving away, everything still felt unreal to him.
The commander’s wife had actually given him two packs of Daqianmen cigarettes!
She even thanked him!
And smiled at him!
Looks like the commander’s wife was actually pretty nice—not at all like the arrogant capitalist young miss everyone described…
Qiao Zhenzhu followed Lu Huai into the house.
It was a very ordinary northern countryside courtyard.
The main house faced south and had five rooms, with three side rooms on the western side.
The front yard was spacious, probably around one or two hundred square meters.
Near the courtyard wall stood a cherry tree, lush and thriving.
Not far away was a hand-pump well.
A stone-paved path stretched from the main house to the well.
Other than that, the courtyard was mostly empty except for a few scattered weeds.
By now Lu Huai had already opened the door to the main house. When he turned around and saw Qiao Zhenzhu still standing in the yard, he quickly called out to her.
“Zhenzhu, it’s hot outside. Come in first.”
“Coming!”
Qiao Zhenzhu answered as she hurried inside.
The moment they entered was the kitchen. Against the left and right walls sat two traditional clay stoves.
The stoves connected to heated wall flues. During winter, once the flues were opened, cooking would also warm the heated walls. Combined with the heated brick beds in every room, the house stayed warm and cozy even when temperatures outside dropped dozens of degrees below zero.
The kitchen had no windows, so even with the door open it still felt somewhat dim.
But once they stepped into the eastern room, everything suddenly opened up and brightened.