Chapter 181: Gu Tingxiao’s Decision
Gu Tingxiao didn’t understand why she was digging up what looked like weeds. After asking, he found out they were actually medicinal herbs.
“Wife, how do you know these are medicinal herbs?”
“When I was in high school, I apprenticed under an old Chinese doctor after class.”
Hearing this, Tingxiao admired his wife even more. She was incredibly smart, capable of professional translation, and could recognize so many medicinal herbs. He had truly married a treasure.
“Wife, what are you going to do with these?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Wanyan kept it a secret. Although Tingxiao was burning with curiosity, he strictly obeyed whatever his wife said.
As they strolled along, Wanyan spotted some wild fruits and wanted to gather them to take back. Seeing her interest, Tingxiao reached up and harvested several large bunches of wild grapes for her.
She also found some wild oranges. They had a wonderfully sweet aftertaste, which she thoroughly enjoyed.
Then, she noticed a bush of sour jujubes. Her eyes danced with mischief as she plucked one and popped it directly into Tingxiao’s mouth.
Tingxiao took a bite, and his entire face puckered from the sourness.
“Is it sour?” Wanyan looked at him innocently, acting as if she hadn’t done anything wrong at all.
“What do you think?” Tingxiao looked at her, his eyes brimming with absolute indulgence.
Seeing how much he doted on her, Wanyan actually felt a tiny prickle of guilt. Even though he clearly didn’t enjoy the sourness, he still swallowed the whole thing.
“Wife, have you gathered enough wild fruits?”
Their woven backpack was already full, but she loved fruit and wanted to harvest a bit more since it was a rare trip to the foothills. She thought about sharing some with Grandpa and Grandma Sheng, but the wild harvest was quite tart, and she wasn’t sure if the elderly couple could stomach it.
Wanyan decided not to overthink it. If her grandparents couldn’t eat them, she would finish them herself. She loved sour flavors anyway, and she could always use them to cook something delicious.
“Just a few more wild grapes.”
Since Wanyan had spoken, Tingxiao had no intention of refusing. He cut several more massive bunches of wild grapes, cradling them carefully in one arm while using his free hand to lead her safely down the mountain path.
“Tingxiao, are there wolves in these mountains?” Wanyan asked curiously. She had no intention of wandering into dangerous territory, but she wanted to understand everything about the area surrounding the family compound.
“In the past, the units frequently marched up the mountain for field training, but the wildlife deeper in the mountains remains largely unpredictable,” Tingxiao explained. “Although the soldiers often go hunting in the foothills, no one knows the exact situation further in. These mountains are massive, and the other side borders the local villages.”
Wanyan nodded, understanding his implicit warning: these mountains were far from entirely safe.
“Wife, it’s perfectly fine for you to forage for wild fruits and vegetables along the outer paths, but you absolutely must not venture deeper into the forest,” Tingxiao warned anxiously, terrified at the thought of anything happening to her while he was away.
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay strictly on the outer trails,” she reassured him. She wasn’t foolish. Even though she possessed her personal pocket dimension, she was still an ordinary human. Who knew if she would react fast enough to vanish in the face of sudden danger? Steering clear of unnecessary risk was always her first choice. Going into dangerous areas didn’t just invite trouble for oneself; it burdened everyone else too. A person needed to have self-awareness.
“Did you use to come up the mountain for training often?” Wanyan asked suddenly, a thought clicking into place.
“Yes.”
Wanyan narrowed her eyes, glaring at him in playful annoyance as she realized he had played her. “You knew exactly how sour those jujubes were from the start! You were teasing me!”
And here she was, feeling guilty for making him eat it. It turned out he was just humoring her to make her laugh. How infuriating!
“Wife, I was wrong, I was wrong,” Tingxiao laughed, raising his hands in surrender.
Wanyan didn’t let him off easily. She chased him down the path, playfully swatting his arm several times before she finally calmed down. Tingxiao didn’t mind at all, standing entirely still and letting her vent her frustration with a soft, affectionate smile in his eyes.
When they reached the base of the foothills, a group of military wives washing laundry by the river spotted them. The women immediately huddled together to whisper and gossip.
“Captain Gu and his wife share a remarkably close bond.”
“Exactly. The moment Captain Gu gets a rest day, he spends the entire time performing chores for his wife. Unlike my man, who just lies on the kang and complains the second he gets home.”
“Oh, please. I think Captain Gu’s wife is entirely too inconsiderate,” an envious wife snipped, her tone laced with bitterness. “Captain Gu finally gets a rare break from drills, and she drags him out to do manual labor for her.”
The petty remark sparked a wave of quiet agreement born of jealousy, though others couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. “Well, who wouldn’t dote on a daughter-in-law that breathtaking?”
Captain Gu’s wife was universally acknowledged as the most beautiful woman in the entire residential compound; even the lead performers of the military art troupe paled in comparison to her. For that matter, the soldiers muttered that they had never seen a woman more striking even in the major cities. She was flawless and elegant, poised just like a white swan.
The moment they stepped back inside their courtyard, Tingxiao quickly poured her a fresh glass of water to help her cool down.
“Rest here, wife. I’ll go handle lunch.”
Wanyan nodded, taking a quiet break before heading into the kitchen to help him finish up. They prepared a couple of bowls of simple handmade noodles. Once they finished eating, Wanyan thoroughly washed the foraged herbs, spread them out across bamboo slats, and arranged the trays on a drying rack.
Seeing that her chores were clear, she retreated to the bedroom for a midday nap, leaving Maodou to trot happily around the perimeter of the yard.
Tingxiao, however, returned straight to work. He spent the afternoon completing the custom outdoor pavilion and encircling their backyard vegetable patch with a neat bamboo fence. To ensure the garden thrived, he hauled a heavy bucket of water all the way over to their assigned communal plot to water the rows there as well.
“Captain Gu, why didn’t your wife come out today?” a neighbor inquired. Normally, Wanyan was the one who tended to the garden rows, so seeing a senior officer like Gu Tingxiao hauling water alone was a rare sight.
“My wife is resting,” Tingxiao replied simply.
“What! She’s taking a nap in the middle of the day?!” the woman gasped.
Tingxiao offered a brief grunt of affirmation, picked up his empty bucket, and strode away.
The remaining wives could only exchange bewildered, deeply envious looks. They were all married to soldiers, so why was there such a massive, unfair difference between husbands?
By the time Wanyan woke up from her nap, the outdoor pavilion was completely finished. She immediately walked out to inspect his handiwork, thoroughly pleased with the neat construction.
Knock, knock, knock.
A firm knock echoed from the front gate, and Tingxiao strode over to unbolt it. It was his comrade from the logistics department, delivering the heavy earthenware water reservoirs and pickling crocks they had requested.
“Captain, we brought exactly what you ordered.”
The soldiers hauled the massive vessels into the courtyard, positioning them carefully in the designated areas near the kitchen and wash station. Wanyan quickly brought out several large glasses of rich sugar water to refresh the delivery team. Seeing how incredibly hospitable and enthusiastic she was, the men felt a bit self-conscious.
“Thank you, sister-in-law.”
“I should be the one thanking you all,” Wanyan smiled warmly. “If you hadn’t brought them on the supply truck, I wouldn’t have known how to lug these massive jars home.” She turned to her husband. “How much do we owe them? I’ll go fetch the cash.”
The heavy pottery wasn’t overly expensive, but the bulk was significant. Between the two large water reservoirs and the five specialized kimchi crocks, the total came out to exactly five yuan. Wanyan quickly pulled the bills from her purse and handed them to Tingxiao so he could settle the account with his comrades.
The logistics soldiers accepted the payment with polite smiles. As they prepared to leave, Wanyan slipped two pieces of fruit candy into each of their hands. She knew the unwritten rules of community life; when asking neighbors for a significant favor, always show genuine appreciation to ensure they would gladly help you the next time around.
With her chores settled for the afternoon, Wanyan brought her papers out to the new pavilion to continue her translation work. The floor beneath the bamboo roof had been paved with clean, smooth bamboo slats, making it an exceptionally pristine workspace.
Tingxiao sat quietly beside her, idly flipping through the completed pages of her manuscript. The moment his eyes caught the technical character for “firearms,” his fingers paused. He slowly set the papers back down on the table, a complex, heavy emotion swirling in his gaze as he looked at her.
The fact that the central government had entrusted such critical, highly sensitive defense material to his wife for translation proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that her talent was exceptional. But it also meant the state relied heavily on her intellectual contributions, exposing her to hidden scrutiny. Tingxiao’s jaw tightened silently. It was clear he needed to push himself even harder on the training grounds, climbing higher within the ranks to ensure he possessed the absolute authority required to protect his wife from any storm.
