Chapter 158: She Has Their Little Home in Her Heart, That’s Enough
Sheng Wanyan waved her hand dismissively; if anyone needed to be polite, it was her. Once the four soldiers headed home with their White Rabbit milk candies, she went back to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
When the soldiers arrived at their respective quarters, the children in the compound cheered at the sight of the coveted treats.
“Old Wang, where on earth did you get White Rabbit candy?” Deputy Battalion Commander Wang’s wife asked the moment she saw the wrapped sweets. She knew how hard they were to find; usually, you could only buy them if you had connections in a major city like the Capital.
“I went over to help out this afternoon, and Captain Gu’s wife gave them to me.”
“Captain Gu’s wife?”
“Yeah,” Deputy Battalion Commander Wang admitted honestly.
His wife nodded, a soft smile appearing on her face as she divided the five candies between their two children.
“Here, you eat one too, wife,” Wang said, holding one out to her.
His wife’s face flushed red. How could this man say something so sweet right in front of the kids? “I won’t. Save it for the children.”
“Just take it. In all our years of marriage, I’ve never managed to buy these for you.”
Hearing his gentle words, her eyes grew misty. People used to tell her she was marrying down when she chose him. Her family lived in the city, and Wang—then just a hardworking village boy making his way up the ranks—had saved her from a group of thugs during a visit to his hometown. To repay his bravery, and because she had genuinely fallen for his character, she had married him despite her family’s fierce opposition.
They had been married for seven or eight years now. While they had their share of arguments, her husband was a reflective man. Whenever he realized he was in the wrong, he would always swallow his pride and find a way to cheer her up. It was normal for couples to bicker; as long as her husband kept her in his heart and truly cared for her, she would never regret her choice. Over the years, he had proven her right.
Granted, her in-laws weren’t the easiest people to deal with. His family back in the village was large, and her sisters-in-law were incredibly petty. As a city girl, she had found it impossible to get along with them. Her mother-in-law had even tried to seize her city dowry to pay for the eldest grandson’s wedding. Fortunately, her husband cherished her enough to bring her along to the military base the moment they wed. Now, with two lovely sons and only needing to visit his family once a year, she didn’t have to suffer any of their nonsense. This life was more than worth it.
At the same time, the wives of the other three soldiers were asking the same question. Upon learning the candies were a gift from Captain Gu’s wife, they took them and distributed them to their children.
However, not every household was as harmonious.
“Captain Gu’s wife is far too stingy. You sweat for her an entire afternoon and only get five pieces of candy?” Captain Wu’s wife grumbled, handing the sweets to her two sons while her two daughters stood to the side, watching with eager, longing eyes. “Five candies aren’t even enough to split evenly between two boys. It just causes arguments.”
Captain Wu felt a massive headache coming on at his wife’s sharp words. Why did she always have to be so bitter?
“When Captain Gu came to help us build our shed, he worked a full day and only drank a few glasses of plain water,” Wu countered, his voice tight. “Today, his wife provided sweet sugar water and expensive White Rabbit candy for a few hours of help. What more do you want? Besides, she doesn’t even know how many kids we have.”
Seeing that her husband wasn’t taking her side, Captain Wu’s wife immediately flared up. “Are you calling me greedy? If your salary was as high as Captain Gu’s, do you think I’d have to count pennies like this? We have four children to feed and can barely keep our bellies full, yet you’re sitting there judging me?”
Captain Wu sighed heavily. He knew finances were tight, but it exhausted him that his wife constantly compared him to other officers.
“Look, I give you fifteen yuan a month for the household, and I don’t say a word when you send money back to your parents in the countryside every month,” he said, his temper fraying. “Just don’t start trouble out of nothing.”
Not wanting to drag out the argument, Captain Wu turned on his heel and stormed into the bedroom. The four children shrunk back, frightened by the sudden tension, while his wife’s face turned crimson with rage.
“Fine! Go on then!” she screamed after him. “You despise me now because I’m a country girl, don’t you? You’re just jealous that Captain Gu married a beautiful city woman, and it’s eating you alive! Now that you’ve got a bit of rank, you want to throw away your wife and children. What a noble man you are, Wu Dayong!”
Captain Wu tuned out her shouting; it was the same script every time they fought. Whenever she felt slighted, she would claim that everyone looked down on her because she was a rural woman married to a city man. He couldn’t understand why the mere mention of “city people” drove his wife into such a frenzy. She used to be so hardworking and family-oriented; he had no idea how she had turned so bitter.
Standing in the corner, the two young girls trembled at their mother’s outburst, taking a cautious step back.
“What are you two staring at?” their mother snapped, rounding on them. “Think dinner is going to cook itself? Move it, or do you want to go hungry tonight?”
The two sisters hurried to the kitchen. Though they were only ten years old, they were already seasoned handcrafters of the household chores. In their home, all the new clothes, sturdy shoes, and decent food were strictly reserved for their two younger brothers.
Sheng Wanyan remained entirely oblivious to the drama unfolding across the compound. Had she known, she would have marched straight over, demanded her candy back, and let them grumble over nothing.
In her own quiet courtyard, Wanyan was busy preparing a delicious meal. She chopped the fresh pheasant to make a classic poached chicken, paired with a spicy stir-fry of dried chili meat, a plate of crisp seasonal greens, and a pot of rich chicken soup. It was a magnificent spread for two.
Gu Tingxiao ladled a bowl of the steaming broth for her, setting it aside to cool slightly. “Time to eat.”
At her call, he quickly began transferring the dishes from the stove to the table. “I’ll carry everything, wife. You just sit down.”
Wanyan wiped her hands on a cloth. Seeing his eagerness to take care of her, she didn’t argue and happily took her seat. Once the food was laid out, they dug in. Gu Tingxiao absolutely adored her cooking, eating with an enthusiasm that made Wanyan smile.
“Slow down, don’t choke,” she laughed, pushing the soup closer to him. “Have some broth.”
While she liked to savor her food, Tingxiao ate with the rapid intensity of a soldier on a timed drill. He picked up his bowl, took a large draft of the savory soup, and looked at her with complete seriousness. “Wife, your cooking is incredible.”
“If you like it, eat up.” Wanyan picked up a tender chicken leg and dropped it into his bowl.
Tingxiao immediately picked it up to place it back into hers. “You eat it, wife.”
“I already have one,” Wanyan pointed out, showing him her bowl. She wasn’t about to be so selfish as to keep all the choice cuts for herself. A marriage was built on mutual care and looking out for one another; that was the only way a home could truly flourish. “Eat it since I gave it to you. Otherwise, you can sleep on the floor tonight.”
At the mention of “sleeping on the floor,” Gu Tingxiao stiffened, quickly bringing the chicken leg back to his mouth and taking a massive bite.
Wanyan nodded, thoroughly satisfied. Once they finished the feast, Tingxiao seamlessly took over the clean-up, heading out to wash the dishes without being asked.
Later that evening, he used the remaining scraps of bamboo to fashion a secure pen in the backyard for the other two pheasants. Wanyan stood by, watching him work, her mind already shifting to their future homesteading. “Let’s trade for two proper laying hens later, and we can cultivate a vegetable garden back here as well.”
“Alright. I’ll turn the soil over tomorrow evening and reinforce the perimeter fence,” he promised. Originally, he had just thrown together a temporary pen for the wild birds, but knowing she wanted a proper flock, he resolved to build something sturdy and lasting. A man had to take pride in the details of his own home.
“I also want to install two washbasins near the kitchen entrance for our daily washing, with a larger sink right next to them specifically for dishes,” Wanyan added, visualizing the layout. “And we’ll need some wall-mounted bamboo racks outside to keep our toiletries organized, plus a few smaller ones inside the kitchen for my spices.”
