Chapter 182: Show Your Ability
Sheng Wanyan translated at a rapid pace, her fountain pen scratching smoothly across the paper while Gu Tingxiao quietly organized her messy manuscript pages into a neat stack.
Maodou lay lazily under the shade of the pavilion to rest, his small tail occasional twitching. The gentle rustle of papers, the soft light filtering through the bamboo mesh, and the quiet rhythm of the man handing the woman a fresh glass of water every now and then created an incredibly warm, peaceful atmosphere.
Wanyan translated continuously for more than two hours until her fingers and wrists grew stiff. She finally set her pen down and stretched her arms over her head.
Noticing her fatigue, Tingxiao immediately stepped behind her and began gently massaging her arms to help her muscles relax. “Take a break, wife,” he murmured.
“I can’t. I want to send this out as quickly as possible,” she replied.
As a translator, Wanyan was deeply aware of the critical importance of this specific text on firearms. Even though military ordnance wasn’t her professional field, she understood the stakes. Firearms were the core defense of a nation. To the men on the front lines, they were life itself. She refused to lose a single day and wanted the manuscript delivered to the capital as soon as possible.
Seeing the fierce resolve in her eyes, Tingxiao didn’t try to dissuade her further. Instead, he took one of the crisp apples she had brought back, sliced it neatly, and set the plate within her reach.
Wanyan nibbled on the fruit as she continued to write, while Tingxiao quietly retreated to the kitchen to get dinner started. A short while later, Grandpa and Grandma Sheng walked through the front gate.
Tingxiao quickly helped her tuck the sensitive translation materials safely away into the bedroom, and Wanyan hurried across the courtyard to unbolt the door.
“Grandpa, Grandma, come in quickly!”
She guided them over to the outdoor pavilion, inviting them to sit down and enjoy the fresh fruit.
“When did you two build this pavilion?” Grandma Sheng asked curiously, her eyes sweeping over the meticulously arranged backyard. Seeing how beautifully planned and organized everything was, her heart finally settled. “And this kitchen enclosure is wonderful.”
“Grandma, how did you sleep last night?” Wanyan asked, bringing out two steaming mugs of rich malted milk before sitting down to chat.
“Excellently,” Grandma Sheng smiled. “We were completely worn out from the train ride and fell asleep the moment our heads hit the pillows. Oh, by the way—your brother mentioned he wants to apply to trade his apartment in the tube building for a freestanding courtyard house. I noticed the place directly across the lane from you looked entirely quiet today.”
Grandma Sheng desperately wanted to live closer to her granddaughter. That way, whenever young Gu was deployed on a dangerous mission, the family could easily look out for her.
“The courtyard across from us is completely vacant,” Wanyan replied, her eyes brightening. “And the layout is identical to ours.”
Hearing this, Grandma Sheng’s interest was instantly piqued. A prime property like that needed to be claimed immediately! “Is that true?”
Even Grandpa Sheng lifted his head, his ears perking up at her words.
“It’s absolutely true. Commander Fang and his family used to live there, but they moved into the multi-story building once it was finished,” Wanyan explained. “Grandma, the winter snow out here is brutal—it can easily reach a man’s waist. A courtyard house gives you a proper brick kang and a private root cellar to hoard food.”
Grandma Sheng nodded in firm agreement. The winters here were vastly colder than anything they had experienced in Chengdu; living in a house with a functional kang was an absolute necessity. How could a pregnant woman survive the freeze without one?
“Alright, I’ll sit down and discuss it thoroughly with your brother tonight,” Grandma Sheng decided. “Xiaoyue is carrying a child; she absolutely cannot be stuck in that drafty apartment building when the deep freeze hits. Your brother mentioned his unit is deploying tomorrow. Is young Gu going as well?”
Wanyan nodded quietly. They belonged to the same regiment, so they would inevitably be heading out on the exact same deployment.
“Good heavens,” Grandma Sheng sighed, reaching out to pat her hand. “In that case, the moment the men leave, you march right over to our place for dinner every night. Don’t you dare cook for yourself in an empty house. Otherwise, it’ll just be the three of us and Xiaoyue, which is entirely too quiet anyway.”
Wanyan didn’t argue. Her grandparents had only just arrived at the isolated base and were completely unfamiliar with the layout, so she had been quietly worrying about them. This would be the perfect opportunity to guide the elders around and help them find their footing. “Alright, I will.”
Grandpa and Grandma Sheng were still entirely focused on securing the empty courtyard house. After finishing their sliced apples and draining the malted milk, they stood up to head back.
Wanyan quickly prepared a small parting bundle, counting out ten fresh eggs to send back with them. Grandma Sheng immediately pushed the basket away, refusing to accept them. In her mind, her granddaughter was a newly married bride; she couldn’t allow Gu Tingxiao to think his wife’s heart and resources were solely focused on bankrolling her parental home.
“Grandma, please take them,” Wanyan insisted, holding the handle out. “Sister-in-law is pregnant and needs the nutrition, and the logistics truck won’t be making another supply run to the city until next Monday.” Right now, Sheng Wanze’s pantry was virtually bare, stocked with nothing but the smoked bacon and dried pheasants they had hauled from Chengdu. “I also packed some of the sour wild fruits we foraged today.”
“Oh, keep those for yourself, child. My old teeth can’t handle anything that tart,” Grandma Sheng laughed, shaking her head.
“They’re for Sister-in-law,” Wanyan countered smoothly. “Wild grapes are packed with vitamins, which is exactly what an expectant mother needs. Didn’t you say she’s been craving sour flavors?”
Grandma Sheng relented, remembering how much Pan Yue had been enjoying the pickled greens at dinner. She accepted the fruit, figuring that even if Pan Yue didn’t want to eat them raw, they could always be used to stew a savory dish. Either way, the nutrients wouldn’t go to waste.
Wanyan took a sturdy basket to organize the items, quietly tucking a factory-sealed tin of premium malted milk powder beneath the produce.
“Wanyan, why on earth are you stuffing such an expensive luxury in there?” Grandma Sheng scolded, her blood pressure instantly spiking as she caught sight of the tin. “Your brother’s household has more than enough provisions!”
She was deeply exasperated; this silly girl had barely settled into her marriage, yet she was already trying to haul their finest assets back to her family.
“Grandma, this tin isn’t from me—Tingxiao explicitly wanted to present this to you and Grandpa to show his filial respect,” Wanyan lied smoothly, wrapping her arms around her grandmother’s elbow. “Whatever my brother provides for his household is his business, but what we choose to give you is ours.”
Hearing her fierce, loving logic, Grandma Sheng felt a wave of profound emotion wash over her, her anger melting away completely. What other family was blessed with a granddaughter this fiercely devoted?
“Grandpa, Grandma, please accept it,” Gu Tingxiao chimed in, stepping out of the house. He smoothly took the heavy basket from Wanyan’s hands, intending to personally escort the elderly couple back to the apartment building.
With the senior officer himself endorsing the gift, the two elders could no longer refuse without looking entirely stubborn. They accepted the basket with warm smiles and stepped out into the lane.
Left alone in the quiet courtyard, Wanyan headed into the kitchen to prepare their final dinner together. Since Tingxiao was deploying the following morning, she was determined to cook an exceptionally delicious, comforting meal.
There were exactly five eggs left in their ceramic crock, which she whipped into a golden, fluffy omelet. She then pulled out the preserved pheasant her mother had sent, frying the rich meat until the skin was perfectly crisp and fragrant. To round out the spread, she prepared a savory platter of braised eggplant and served everything alongside bowls of fluffy white rice. Two rich meat courses and a fresh side dish made for an incredibly lavish meal for a household of two.
Once dinner concluded and the dishes were scrubbed clean, Wanyan set up a workspace in the backyard to compound the hemostatic medicine. Lacking professional laboratory equipment or a mortar and pestle, she had to improvise, using two smooth, heavy river stones from the yard to painstakingly grind the dried herbs into a fine dust, processing a small handful at a time.
She carefully pulverized every leaf and root, meticulously measuring out the exact ratios down to the gram.
Tingxiao stood quietly by the kitchen door, watching her hover over the stones. He didn’t fully comprehend the chemical process, but watching her focus so intensely in the dim light filled his chest with a profound, aching warmth. He knew she was doing this entirely for him. Normally, at this late hour, his comfort-loving wife would have already crawled under the thick quilt to sleep.
Wanyan labored continuously until the clock struck ten in the evening. She carefully transferred the fine, pale green powder onto a clean sheet of parchment, folding it into a secure, compact packet before presenting it to him.
Tingxiao looked down at the neatly folded paper resting in his palm, his brows knitting together. “What is this, wife?”
“Hemostatic powder. It stops bleeding almost instantly.”
“What?” Tingxiao stared at her, utterly dumbfounded. His wife had spent the entire night sweating over a pile of wild weeds, and she had actually manufactured medicine?
“This… Wife, how did you…” He stammered, entirely at a loss for words as he stared at the packet and then back into her calm face.
“I managed to piece the formula together after studying a few rare medical texts back in the city,” she explained breezily, offering a seamless lie. “I haven’t had the chance to run a proper field test, so I can’t guarantee the exact level of efficacy. But please, keep it tucked inside your uniform pocket during your deployment. I’ll sleep a thousand times easier knowing you have a layer of self-defense.”
Tingxiao nodded slowly, carefully tucking the packet into his breast pocket. Even though he couldn’t verify the medical potency of a handful of crushed forest herbs, the sheer reality that his brilliant wife could independently compound medicine left him utterly spellbound.
She had given him an endless stream of surprises today. It seemed her beautiful mind was constantly brimming with the most unique, extraordinary concepts—and one by one, she possessed the uncanny ability to turn those ideas into solid reality.
Seeing that he was still standing there frozen like a statue, Wanyan gave the toe of his boot a playful kick. “Stop staring. I’m exhausted.”
Tingxiao’s lingering questions instantly dissolved. He set the packet carefully on the table, kicked off his boots, and climbed onto the warm kang, pulling her firmly into his chest. No matter what hidden talents his wife possessed, she was still his wife—the precious, irreplaceable woman he would fiercely protect with his very life until his final breath.
The couple lay in the absolute quiet of the room, their breathing syncing as a deep, unshakeable sense of peace enveloped them.
Wanyan leaned her head against his steady heartbeat, knowing she had taken a massive gamble tonight. She had intentionally put her elite pharmaceutical skills on display, betting everything on Gu Tingxiao’s absolute trust and his unconditional love for her. She was a woman who refused to muzzle her own capabilities forever; she wanted to shine brightly and live fully in this existence.
As she closed her eyes, she smiled in the dark. She had won the wager. She had chosen the perfect man to stand beside her.
