Chapter 149: On the Train
Sheng Wanyan was delighted by the compliment. After all, what woman wouldn’t be thrilled to be told she looked years younger?
“Auntie, you really know how to flatter someone,” she said with a bright smile.
The two of them hit it off immediately and continued to chat amiably. Meanwhile, the young girl on the upper bunk felt thoroughly depressed watching her mother get along so famously with her unrequited crush’s wife.
What is wrong with my mother? she thought miserably. Couldn’t her mother see how embarrassing this was for her?
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to change the situation. Frustrated and annoyed, she pulled the heavy quilt completely over her head, blocking out the sound of their voices.
When Gu Tingxiao returned with the steaming thermos, the aunt felt it wouldn’t be right to let him do all the heavy lifting.
“Comrade, how about we take turns fetching water from now on?” she suggested.
After all, the water was for everyone in the compartment. They couldn’t just take advantage of his status as a soldier and expect him to do all the chores.
Gu Tingxiao gave a brief nod. Normally, if he were traveling alone, he wouldn’t mind helping out. But the lines for hot water on the train were notoriously long, easily taking over half an hour each time. He was genuinely uncomfortable leaving Wanyan alone in the compartment for that long.
They agreed that one party would watch the luggage while the other went to fetch water. Of course, Gu Tingxiao had no intention of ever letting Sheng Wanyan go out into the crowded, foul-smelling corridors, and Wanyan had absolutely no desire to go either.
He understood her perfectly, a fact that made Wanyan smile inwardly. You really know me well.
A few hours later, dinner time arrived. They took out the aluminum lunch boxes Mother Gu had packed, deciding to eat the meat dishes first before they could spoil.
“Wife, time to eat,” Gu Tingxiao said.
Mother Gu had specially prepared the pork ribs Wanyan loved. Gu Tingxiao meticulously picked out the leanest pieces, placing them gently into her bowl.
The sight of the fluffy white rice paired with a lunch box overflowing with savory meat made the mother and daughter opposite them secretly swallow their saliva. Eating an entire container of meat on a train journey was an absolute luxury.
As the mother and daughter chewed on their dry rations, the rich aroma of the seasoned ribs drifted across the small space. It was sweet torture.
Once Wanyan finished the food he had picked out for her, she felt completely full and left the rest to Gu Tingxiao. He handed her a cup of warm water, and she took a few sips to cleanse her palate.
When Gu Tingxiao finished his meal, he picked up the empty lunch boxes to wash them. Wanyan decided to tag along.
“I need to use the restroom,” she murmured.
Hearing this, Gu Tingxiao immediately retrieved her shoes from under the bunk. Wanyan slipped them on, grabbed her small backpack, and followed him out. Her heavy suitcase remained securely locked under the bed; it only contained clothes anyway, as she had already transferred her valuables into her pocket dimension. Carrying the backpack was mostly a formality to keep up appearances for Tingxiao.
This wasn’t her first time riding a train, but the train restrooms never failed to make her stomach turn. The moment she stepped inside and locked the door, she immediately slipped into her clean, fresh space to use the facilities.
She absolutely despised public restrooms in this era, and she couldn’t help but wonder if their new home at the military base would have a private bathroom. Many places relied on communal outhouses with terrifyingly high drop pits. The stalls often consisted of just two narrow wooden planks balanced over a deep hole, making you feel as though you might plunge through at any moment.
If their allocated house didn’t have a private toilet, Wanyan resolved that she would simply use her space whenever Gu Tingxiao was out on duty.
Curious about their future living arrangements, she decided she would ask him about it on the way back.
When she stepped out of the restroom, she found Gu Tingxiao standing guard right outside the door, steady as a statue.
“What kind of housing were we allocated?” she asked as they walked back down the corridor.
Gu Tingxiao had actually applied for their housing before returning to the city for the wedding. He, Sheng Wanze, and a few comrades had even spent a day cleaning it up. However, there was one detail he hadn’t shared with her yet.
“Wife… would you prefer to live in a tube building?” he asked hesitantly.
Wanyan was surprised by the question. Given Gu Tingxiao’s rank, he was fully qualified for a spacious three-bedroom apartment in one of the base’s multi-story tube buildings. In this era, apartment living was considered modern, high-end, and highly desirable, while old-fashioned courtyards were largely looked down upon.
But Wanyan was different. She vastly preferred a private courtyard. It offered more space and, more importantly, fewer neighbors. Apartment buildings were notorious hotbeds for gossip, where every detail of your life was scrutinized by onlookers and served up as dinner-table conversation.
“Which one did they give us?” she asked.
Gu Tingxiao looked a bit guilty, shifting his gaze slightly as he spoke. “Wife, we were supposed to get a three-bedroom flat in the main building. But… there weren’t any vacancies left by the time our paperwork cleared, so we were assigned a small courtyard house instead.”
Wanyan’s eyebrows shot up in pleasant surprise. Talk about a stroke of luck!
She had been dreading the prospect of being cooped up in a crowded apartment building. If she had actively asked to live in an old courtyard house instead of a modern flat, people probably would have thought she was losing her mind. Now, she had gotten exactly what she wanted without any awkward explanations.
“How big is the courtyard?” she inquired.
“It has a front yard and a back yard, three rooms, a private toilet, and a kitchen,” Gu Tingxiao explained, watching her expression closely. “The backyard is quite spacious, and that section of the base is relatively quiet. The military also assigns a small plot of land to each household there for growing vegetables.”
Wanyan nodded, thoroughly satisfied. A private courtyard house with a garden plot was perfect; it would give her something therapeutic to do whenever she was bored. With the massive surplus of seeds stored in her pocket dimension, she could easily cultivate a lush, beautiful garden.
“A private courtyard sounds wonderful,” she said genuinely. “We’ll have so much more space.”
Gu Tingxiao let out a long breath of relief, visibly relaxing when he realized she wasn’t upset. “If a flat opens up in the main building later on, I can submit an application for us to transfer.”
Wanyan quickly shook her head. She had no desire to move into a cramped apartment building, and packing up a household was far too much trouble.
“There’s no need. A courtyard house has plenty of character and space, and moving around is exhausting.”
She was already picturing her ideal lifestyle: planting a patch of sunflowers, setting up two comfortable lounge chairs, and sipping hot tea in the quiet of her own yard. If she were forced to live in a noisy tube building, she would honestly hate every minute of it.
Seeing her dismiss the highly coveted apartment so easily, Gu Tingxiao assumed she was just being self-sacrificing to spare his feelings. His gaze softened completely, overflowing with a tenderness so deep it felt palpable.
He resolved inwardly that he would work twice as hard to give her the best life possible in the future; she deserved nothing less.
“Alright,” he murmured softly.
His heart melted at how incredibly considerate his wife was. He must have accumulated an immense amount of good karma in his past life to be blessed with such a wonderful woman.
Wanyan, however, felt a sudden flush of goosebumps at the intense, melting look in his eyes. There’s really no need to look at me like I’m a saint… she thought, amused.
When they stepped back into the compartment, the young girl on the top bunk perked up, her eyes tracking Gu Tingxiao’s movements.
But her fleeting hope turned to bitter envy as she watched the formidable soldier pull a clean towel from his backpack, dampen it with warm water, and gently help his wife wipe her hands and face. He then carefully tucked in the corners of Wanyan’s quilt, standing watch until she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep before finally lying down on his own bunk.
Watching a proud, powerful military officer act with such humility and tender devotion toward his wife made the young girl’s chest ache with resentment. How can she just lie there and let a soldier defending our nation serve her like a maid? she thought crossly. Where is her sense of shame?
She seethed silently beneath her blankets, but there was absolutely nothing she could do. They were legally wedded husband and wife; she had no right, and no standing, to say a single word.
