Chapter 276: A Mother’s Premonition
I have to thank my husband for teaching me those self-defense drills all those years ago, Mother Gu thought, dusting off her hands. I never imagined I’d actually put them to use today.
The commotion in the lane had drawn a small crowd of onlookers. Unbothered by the staring eyes, Mother Gu stood tall, looking down coldly at Liang Qian, who was whimpering on the ground.
“If I ever catch you trying to bully my daughter-in-law again,” Mother Gu warned, her voice dropping to a dangerous chill, “a few slaps will be the least of your worries.”
If I don’t dismantle the Liang family’s entire safety net next time, I’ll give up my maiden name! she resolved silently.
The neighbors whispered among themselves, the situation immediately clear to everyone: Captain Gu’s mother had marched down here specifically to settle a score and protect her own.
Sheng Wanyan stepped onto the porch just in time to see the bright red handprints blooming across Liang Qian’s cheeks, and she had to bite back a sudden laugh.
Before the crowd could grow any larger, Political Commissar Xie came rushing down the path, his face tightening with a massive headache the moment he took in the scene. Why is it always Liang Qian?!
“What on earth is going on here?” he demanded.
Liang Qian scrambled to her feet, pointing a trembling, tear-stained finger at Mother Gu. “Political Commissar! You have to help me! This woman just launched a vicious, unprovoked assault on me!”
Mother Gu turned toward the officer, her expression instantly smoothing into a warm, pleasant smile. Political Commissar Xie felt his scalp go numb. Who in their right mind would dare cross the wife of the high command? Besides, despite her polite smile, the sharp, unmistakable warning flashing in her eyes was impossible to miss.
“Political Commissar, it’s my first time visiting your regiment,” Mother Gu explained, her tone dripping with sweet, reasonable innocence. “I was simply walking down the lane carrying a handful of roasted melon seeds, intending to drop by your house and chat with your wife. Suddenly, this comrade bounded over and tried to snatch them right out of my hands!”
She sighed, shaking her head in mock pity. “She was acting so aggressive, as if she hadn’t seen a scrap of food in months. When I refused to hand them over, she tried to wrestle them away from me. I had no choice but to defend my property, and during the struggle, things got a bit rowdy. It was entirely a matter of physics—I simply couldn’t control my own strength while pulling my things back.”
Political Commissar Xie: “……”
I don’t believe a single syllable of that, he thought blankly. He finally understood exactly where that clever rogue Gu Tingxiao had inherited his terrifying ability to manipulate a narrative. Logically speaking, a straightforward, rugged soldier like General Gu shouldn’t possess those particular genes. Now the mystery was solved.
Back in the Capital, Father Gu suddenly let out a massive sneeze, entirely unaware he was being blamed for his wife’s antics.
Political Commissar Xie turned a stern glare onto the bruised young woman. “Comrade Liang Qian! What is the meaning of this?” he barked. “How can you go around attempting to mug a guest over a handful of melon seeds? Have you truly never tasted them before?”
“No… Commissar, that’s completely backwards!” Liang Qian stammered, her jaw dropping in utter horror. She couldn’t believe this sophisticated woman could distort the truth with such flagrant composure. Did she truly look like a starving beggar who resorted to street brawling over pocket snacks?
“Enough, Comrade Liang Qian! You’ve barely been out of solitary confinement for two weeks, and here you are instigating public disturbances again,” the commissar cut her off, his patience entirely spent. “What is your goal? Do you want to be thrown right back into the detention cells?”
Liang Qian paled violently, her protests dying in her throat. The military detention block was an absolute nightmare; trapped in a pitch-black room without a single window for a month had nearly broken her sanity. Just the mention of it sent a shiver of pure terror down her spine, and she resolved never to risk going back.
“See that you control your impulses in the future,” Political Commissar Xie warned.
The surrounding onlookers murmured among themselves, fully accepting Mother Gu’s version of events. No one had expected the chief of staff’s daughter to sink so low. From now on, the neighbors joked privately, we’d better lock our doors whenever we cook something delicious, lest Liang Qian march in to snatch it off our stoves.
“Let’s go home, Wanyan,” Mother Gu said with a dismissive snort, looping her arm through her daughter-in-law’s and guiding her away from the crowd.
Auntie Xie eagerly followed them back to the apartment, bursting into the living room to gossip. She was utterly enchanted by Mother Gu’s fierce style. “My goodness, Sister Gu, did she truly try to steal your melon seeds?” As she spoke, she unceremoniously reached into Mother Gu’s basket, grabbed a handful, and began cracking them open.
Mother Gu laughed, setting the basket on the table and pouring two glasses of warm sugar water. “Let’s sit outside beneath the pavilion,” she suggested softly, noting that Sheng Wanyan was looking a bit weary and likely needed her afternoon rest.
The two older women settled into the shaded courtyard. The more Auntie Xie looked around the stylized yard, the more envious she became. The wooden pavilion was incredibly comfortable and tranquil. She mentally resolved to badger her husband into building a matching one for her own courtyard the moment he had a free weekend.
While they relaxed, Mother Gu subtly steered the conversation to fish for information. Auntie Xie had lived at the northern base for years, making her the undisputed eyes and ears of the compound; there was very little that escaped her notice.
Inside the house, Sheng Wanyan lay down on her bed, but peace eluded her. The moment she closed her eyes, a heavy, suffocating dread settled over her chest, pulling her into a violent nightmare. She saw Gu Tingxiao lying prone on a desolate field, his uniform torn and completely saturated in crimson blood.
“Tingxiao!”
Sheng Wanyan bolted upright, gasping for breath as she clutched her racing heart. Cold sweat beaded along her forehead, and her breath came in ragged, frantic hitching gasps. It took her several long minutes to master her panic, her hands trembling as she forced herself to breathe deeply.
It’s just a dream, she repeated like a mantra, trying to soothe the ache in her chest. What you obsess over during the day always distorts into a nightmare at night. Dreams are always the exact opposite of reality.
Despite her self-comfort, a dark cloud hung over her for the rest of the day. When dinnertime arrived, she sat at the table picking listlessly at her food, a change that Mother Gu noticed instantly.
“Wanyan, sweetheart, are you feeling unwell?” Mother Gu asked, her brow furrowing with sudden worry. The girl’s face looked unusually pale.
Sheng Wanyan offered a weak smile, setting her chopsticks down. “I’m fine, Mom. I just had a really vivid nightmare during my nap this afternoon.”
Seeing her daughter-in-law so utterly drained of her usual vitality, Mother Gu’s own heart tightened. As the wife of a career soldier, she understood that specific dread all too well. Throughout her marriage, whenever Father Gu had deployed on high-stakes operations, she had been plagued by terrifying dreams of him being killed in action. They always said that a husband and wife shared a single soul, allowing one to intuitively perceive when the other was in mortal peril.
Looking at Sheng Wanyan’s hollow expression, a sudden, heavy anxiety regarding her third son mirrored in her own chest. She had received zero word on his status. But she knew that right now, her primary duty was to maintain her composure; if she panicked, it would only break Sheng Wanyan’s fragile resolve. She had to remain the unshakeable pillar of this household.
“Wanyan, listen to me,” Mother Gu urged gently, reaching across the table to cover her hand. “You must force yourself to eat, especially now that you’re in the final stretch. Even if you have no appetite for your own sake, you have to think of the nourishment the baby needs.”
She squeezed her fingers, her voice steady and resolute. “In our world, no news is always the best possible news. Dreams are merely reflections of our anxieties, entirely opposite to the truth. What matters most is the reality right here in front of us.”
As a woman who had survived decades of military deployments, Mother Gu’s practical wisdom struck a chord. Sheng Wanyan nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. She knew wallowing in useless panic would accomplish nothing. Even if Gu Tingxiao was currently facing a crisis, her sole responsibility was to safeguard herself and the child, ensuring they didn’t become an added burden to the family.
Steeling her resolve, she picked up her bowl and began eating in large, determined mouthfuls.
Seeing her comply, Mother Gu let out a quiet sigh of relief. Yet, despite her firm words, the older woman found her own appetite lacking, her gaze drifting toward the window as her mind wandered to a dangerous, nameless territory.
A thick, expectant silence settled over the apartment over the subsequent weeks. Neither the mother-in-law nor the daughter-in-law spoke their anxieties aloud, each quietly bearing their own burden to shield the other. One operated as the bedrock of the home, focusing entirely on meticulous prenatal care, while the other poured her focus into preparing for her husband’s return.
But time moved forward relentlessly. Soon, the deployment entered its third full month, and the transport vehicles had still not rolled back through the regiment’s gates.
Mother Gu’s internal composure began to fray. The operation had dragged a full month past its original estimated timeline, suggesting the tactical team had either encountered extreme resistance or the mission parameters had compromised their extraction.
Sheng Wanyan’s pregnancy had officially reached the eight-month mark. Her belly was immensely heavy now, and a terrifying thought began to take root: if Gu Tingxiao didn’t return within the next few weeks, he would completely miss the arrival of his child.
Desperate to anchor her mind and block out the deafening silence of the house, Sheng Wanyan began working at a frantic, almost obsessive pace. Mother Gu watched with a breaking heart as her daughter-in-law spent every single waking hour hunched over her desk, translating page after page without allowing herself a single moment of stillness.
Recognizing that the girl was using the grueling intellectual labor as a shield to avoid a psychological breakdown, Mother Gu slipped across the lane to Auntie Xie’s house once more, desperate for any shred of administrative data. But Auntie Xie could offer no comfort; Political Commissar Xie had returned from headquarters with a closed mouth, indicating the entire operation had been locked under maximum security.
Across the lane, Grandpa Sheng, Grandma Sheng, and Pan Yue were equally sick with worry. Yet, this was the brutal reality of loving a soldier—when they marched into the shadows, all a family could do was wait, watch, and pray for the dawn.
