Wen Jianing pursed her lips ever so slightly after hearing him say that.
She’d thought he hadn’t noticed.
In truth, she’d spotted him the moment she got off the bus. He had been standing there with his head lowered, flipping through the registration ledger, wearing an expression that practically said keep your distance.
She had been the last person in line, stealing glances at him every chance she got while secretly grumbling to herself.
So a regimental commander still has to handle registration paperwork himself?
One walked ahead, the other followed behind as they entered the military dormitory building and made their way to the first room at the end of the corridor.
Along the way, every soldier they passed stopped and saluted Song Tingyue.
Once he was out of earshot, however, their eyes widened in disbelief.
“Am I seeing things? Commander Song actually brought a young woman back with him! Weren’t the women from the textile factory only arriving today for the social mixer? Did he really find someone he liked that quickly?”
“What are you talking about? Even if he did, he wouldn’t bring her straight to his quarters. Do you think Commander Song is that kind of man? Besides, when has he ever shown the slightest interest in those matchmaking events? Even the division commander couldn’t force him to attend. If dead wood could bloom, he wouldn’t still be single at twenty-five.”
Another soldier leaned in conspiratorially and lowered his voice.
“Haven’t you heard the latest? A couple of days ago, Commander Song applied for housing in the family quarters.”
“The family quarters?”
The others exchanged stunned looks.
“What kind of person gets assigned a place there?”
“A wife?!”
Their mouths fell open.
“When did Commander Song get married? Where did this beautiful little wife suddenly come from? No wonder he turned down every woman people tried introducing to him. Even when the division commander kept trying to match him with Comrade Shen Manli, he wouldn’t budge. Turns out his standards are that high!”
Before long, the explosive piece of gossip spread throughout the entire base.
“Bullshit!”
A furious roar erupted from the division commander’s office.
His palm slammed onto the desk so hard that even the lid of his enamel mug rattled noisily.
“Old Song, calm down, calm down. At the end of the day, it’s still good news.” Political Commissar Li Shungang quickly patted Song Zhen on the shoulder, forcing an awkward smile.
He had only just heard the news himself. Assuming Song Zhen, as Song Tingyue’s father, already knew that his daughter-in-law had arrived to join the military, he’d come intending to tease him a little—joking that he’d done a fine job keeping his son’s marriage a secret.
Instead, he’d walked straight into a hornet’s nest.
“Calm down?” Song Zhen’s face was livid. “How am I supposed to calm down?”
“They haven’t even registered the marriage, and he’s already brought the girl here!”
“Tell me this—without a marriage certificate, how did she get her household registration transferred? Who pulled strings behind the scenes?”
“It was him!”
“He’s abusing his position for personal matters. If someone decides to make an issue of it, they’ll strip that military uniform right off his back!”
After a long pause, Song Zhen let out a heavy sigh.
“I knew it. Once something happened to the Wen family, there was no way he’d stand by and do nothing.”
“But if he’d just come to me, I could’ve helped! Does he think his own father is nothing but decoration?”
Most people didn’t know the story behind the Song family.
Li Shungang, however, had witnessed it all.
Life truly had a cruel sense of irony.
Years ago, Song Zhen had been gravely wounded during a mission and remained unconscious for a long time. By the time he recovered physically, he’d lost all his memories.
When those memories finally returned…
His wife had already passed away.
His son had eventually been found, but the distance between father and son remained.
Over the years, Song Tingyue had never relied on his father for anything.
Everything he achieved in the military had been earned through his own blood and sweat.
At twenty, he’d become a company commander.
Soon afterward, the border self-defense war broke out. He led his company into battle, earned distinguished military honors, and nearly gave up half his life to achieve the rank he now held.
No one treasured his military uniform more than Song Tingyue.
The soldiers under his command were renowned for their discipline.
Li Shungang never imagined that, for the Wen family who had once raised him—for the little sister he’d grown up with—Song Tingyue would be willing to bend military regulations.
“Well,” Li Shungang said with a smile, “she’s already here. Once she’s settled in, hurry up and register the marriage. That’ll finally put one of your biggest worries to rest.”
“Haven’t you always been nagging Tingyue to get married? Now your daughter-in-law has practically delivered herself to your doorstep. Aren’t you going to meet her?”
“I’ve heard she’s quite the beauty—a proper Jiangnan girl.”
Song Zhen grumbled, “How beautiful can she be? Is she prettier than my Lili?”
Li Shungang laughed.
“Manli is the star of the performing arts troupe. No one’s questioning her looks or bearing.”
“But after all the matchmaking you’ve tried, Tingyue still wouldn’t agree.”
“What does that tell you?”
“It tells you she simply isn’t the woman he wants.”
Shen Manli was Song Zhen’s stepdaughter.
Her biological father had been Song Zhen’s comrade-in-arms, who entrusted his wife and daughter to Song Zhen before dying.
Four years earlier, Song Zhen had married the widow, becoming a family with the mother and daughter. Ever since then, he’d hoped to make the relationship even closer by marrying his son to his stepdaughter.
Unfortunately, Song Tingyue always gave the same answer.
“I’ve only ever thought of her as my younger sister.”
Inside the dormitory building…
Song Tingyue gave Wen Jianing exactly the same answer.
“A younger sister.”
“‘A younger sister,'” Jianing murmured.
Then, unable to stop herself, she added with obvious bitterness,
“You seem to have quite a few little sisters.”
Back when she’d heard the rumors that Song Tingyue’s father intended to pair him with his stepsister, she’d held her tongue.
But seeing that he was still unmarried after all these years, she’d finally worked up the courage to ask him.
Hearing the answer, she felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
If he’d already had a sweetheart—or even a fiancée—she would rather have worked herself to death in the countryside than obey her parents and come seeking his help.
Yet for some reason, hearing him say he regarded Shen Manli as a sister as well left a sour taste in her mouth.
The relief she’d just felt disappeared, replaced by a strange, aching bitterness that rose into her throat.
So…
She wasn’t special after all.
She was no different from anyone else.
Song Tingyue’s hand paused on the doorknob.
Instead of opening the door, he turned back to look at her.
“Do I?”
“I only have one younger sister now—Shen Manli.”
“Unless there’s someone else I don’t know about?”
“Wasn’t there someone who insisted she didn’t want me as her brother anymore?”
He had struck exactly where it hurt most.
Jianing choked on her own words.
She couldn’t answer.
The tightness in her throat only grew worse.
After a brief silence, Song Tingyue continued,
“You don’t have to worry. I’m unattached.”
“If I really had a fiancée, I never would have agreed to this ridiculous idea of a fake marriage.”
“That would be unfair to her.”
“I’ve already submitted the paperwork. Tomorrow we’ll go to the commune office and register the marriage.”
“You can stay here without worrying.”
“As for Mom and Dad…” He still referred to the Wens that way, just as he always had. “As long as they cooperate with the investigation and explain everything honestly, the outcome shouldn’t be too bad.”
“I’ll do what I can and speak to the right people. I’ll try my best to help them receive a fair judgment.”
Even after all these years, he had never stopped calling her parents Mom and Dad.
Jianing stared blankly at his back as he turned away.
“…Okay,” she answered softly.
He pushed open the door.
The room was small.
There wasn’t much furniture, but everything was spotless.
His army-green quilt had been folded into a perfect square, crisp as a block of tofu, and the bedsheet was stretched so tightly that not a single wrinkle could be found.
Beyond that…
There was almost nothing worth looking at.
The walls were badly weathered, with patches of white plaster peeling away to reveal the dark surface underneath.
The widest cracks had been covered with yellowing newspapers in a makeshift attempt at repair.
The wind sweeping across the Gobi Desert whistled through the gaps around the window, carrying fine sand with it, making the loose corners of the newspapers flap noisily.
Before coming, Wen Jianing had known life in a military district in the far northwest would be difficult.
But she had never imagined it would be this harsh.
Song Tingyue set her luggage down on the table.
When he turned around again, he found the young woman still standing at the doorway—
She hadn’t taken a single step inside.