Chapter 378| Chapter 379| Chapter 380
Chapter 378: The New Military Wife in the Army
Gu Tingxiao stared at his soundly sleeping wife, who had just delivered a blind strike and completely escaped accountability by remaining unconscious. He was caught between anger and sheer amusement.
“Wow…”
For the first time in his life, the formidable commander felt entirely defeated. What could he possibly do with a woman who slept like a log? Fight back? He couldn’t bring himself to do it, so he simply had to swallow his pride and bear it.
“Oh~”
A tiny, childish voice bubbled up through the quiet room, carrying a note of sleep-addled joy.
Gu Tingxiao turned his head to find little Yi Yi swinging her tiny fists through the air, executing a series of miniature, unconscious punches. She waved her arms a few more times, smacked her lips contentedly, and plunged right back into a deep slumber.
Gu Tingxiao: “…” They truly are mother and daughter.
Fine, she was just another little piglet he absolutely dared not provoke. He carefully tugged the blankets over the two sleeping piglets and lay back down, thoroughly resigned to his fate. He had completely fallen into the hands of these two women.
Yi Yi: “…” You’re the pig.
The next morning, after sharing a quiet breakfast with her husband, Sheng Wanyan left his lunch tightly sealed inside a thermal pot in the kitchen to keep it warm. She meticulously changed Yi Yi into a fresh diaper, fed her, and hoisted her sturdy backpack over her shoulders before stepping out the door.
By the time she reached the main gate of the military base, the other dependents had already assembled, and everyone began filing onto the transport truck. Sheng Wanyan climbed aboard and took a seat next to Yang Wanshu. As she scanned the benches, her eyes locked onto an unfamiliar face—the newly wedded wife of Deputy Company Commander Wu.
The woman, Niu Chunhua, was the daughter of one of Wu’s father’s long-term colleagues. She possessed a sun-deepened complexion, but she was undeniably quite pretty. However, the expression she threw at the military wife sitting directly beside her was dripping with thinly veiled disgust. The neighboring dependent hailed from a traditional farming village; her worn tunic bore two heavy patches, and her shoes were heavily caked in dried mud, which had accidentally brushed against Niu Chunhua’s clean skirt during the boarding scramble.
“Is that Deputy Captain Wu’s new bride?” the women whispered.
The wives in the back row began dissecting the newcomer. Hearing the phrase new bride, Niu Chunhua curled her lips in a subtle, dismissive sneer.
“My word, I hadn’t expected Deputy Captain Wu to remarry so quickly after his divorce cleared.”
“Auntie Du, speaking of remarriage, when exactly is your Captain Du planning to bring home a new wife?”
Captain Du’s mother had also caught the transport truck today, intending to travel to the city post office to secretly wire funds to her eldest and youngest sons. Now that Liang Qian had been thoroughly divorced from her middle son, the household finances had reverted entirely to the old woman’s control, allowing her to funnel cash back to her favorite children behind his back.
“Is that any of your business?” Auntie Du shot back, rolling her eyes. These busybodies simply couldn’t tolerate seeing her family preserve their dignity.
Everyone on the base was well aware that despite the Du family’s recent scandals, the matriarch’s grand ambitions remained completely untouched. She was aggressively hunting for an elite bride from a high-ranking official’s household—someone who could rival Chief of Staff Liang’s family—to secure her thrice-married son’s professional future.
In her delusional estimation, Liang Qian had only agreed to the previous match because she was blind to his flaws. But the daughters of other high-ranking cadres weren’t nearly that foolish. Raised in the lap of luxury, what refined, educated girl would willingly marry down and move into a cramped compound apartment? If the Du family kept dragging their feet with these impossible standards, every eligible bachelorette on the base would look down on them. Besides, who would willingly sign up to be a stepmother?
Sheng Wanyan and Yang Wanshu exchanged a brief, knowing look but wisely chose to remain completely silent, refusing to enter the chaotic fray.
Sitting directly across the aisle, Niu Chunhua fixed her gaze squarely on Sheng Wanyan. Was this the exact woman her mother-in-law had repeatedly warned her about—the one person in the entire family compound she must never, under any circumstances, offend?
Niu Chunhua covertly mapped every detail of Wanyan’s appearance: the premium cut of her tailored blouse, the sleek watch wrapping her wrist, and the pristine sneakers on her feet. It was immediately obvious that Sheng Wanyan commanded an exceptional level of personal wealth, but then again, she was the daughter-in-law of Commander-in-Chief Gu himself.
Sensing the heavy scrutiny, Sheng Wanyan shifted her eyes forward. Catching her gaze, Niu Chunhua instantly flashed her a radiant, highly practiced smile. Sheng Wanyan offered zero physical reaction, but she privately concluded that this new bride was miles ahead of Zhang Zhaodi in terms of baseline intellect. It was no mystery why Mother Wu had selected this specific girl for her precious youngest son.
Niu Chunhua operated on the exact same behavioral wavelength as her new mother-in-law. She possessed a razor-sharp understanding of social hierarchy—knowing precisely who to flatter and who to trample. When facing someone of superior status, her face was a mask of perpetual sweetness; but when looking at a vulnerable civilian, her disdain was absolute. It appeared that only individuals with identical moral compasses could forge such a perfectly harmonious mother-in-law and daughter-in-law dynamic.
Sheng Wanyan calmly diverted her gaze to the passing scenery outside. Seeing the total lack of validation, Niu Chunhua’s fingers tightened around her cloth bag. But she quickly forced her frustration down. Sooner or later, she would engineer a seamless relationship with Sheng Wanyan, using the connection to catapult her husband to the top of the command track. At the very least, she had to ensure the Gu family harbored zero negative opinions of the Wu household.
The turbulent journey lasted just over an hour before the transport truck finally rumbled to a halt in the urban district. The military wives swarmed the tailgate, eager to disembark. Refusing to join the frantic crush, Sheng Wanyan waited patiently until the crowd cleared before preparing to hop down.
“Captain Gu’s wife, let me assist you!” Niu Chunhua called out enthusiastically, lingering by the rear bumper with her hands extended.
Instead of accepting the gesture, Sheng Wanyan executed a swift, athletic jump straight off the bed of the truck, clearing the distance instantly without requiring a single ounce of support.
“Thank you, but I am entirely capable of managing the jump myself,” Sheng Wanyan replied with cool, clinical politeness.
Niu Chunhua’s hands hovered awkwardly in midair before she slowly withdrew them, her expression morphing into a mask of fragile embarrassment. “Of course. After all, Captain Gu’s wife is still so wonderfully young and nimble. It seems I was merely worrying over nothing.”
A profound wave of manufactured grievance washed across her features, her strained smile casting her perfectly as an innocent victim who had merely tried to do a good deed.
Sheng Wanyan pinned her with a flat look. Every single syllable dripping from this woman’s mouth carried an undercurrent of humble submission, yet the underlying psychological manipulation was transparently clear. She was attempting a textbook guilt trip.
“Then I suggest you save yourself the unnecessary worry next time, Deputy Captain Wu’s wife,” Wanyan countered smoothly.
Niu Chunhua visibly recoiled. She had comprehensively failed to anticipate that Sheng Wanyan would dismantle her passive-aggressive stance with such blunt, public directness. Thoroughly stunned, she stood frozen on the packed dirt, staring blankly. By the time she gathered her wits, she could only force out another tight, trembling smile. “Yes… Captain Gu’s wife makes an excellent point.”
Sheng Wanyan gave a curt nod, turned on her heel, and walked away. Yang Wanshu, who was also bound for the supply and marketing cooperative, quickly fell into step beside her.
Niu Chunhua stared at their retreating figures, taking several long, heavy breaths to suppress the rising fury in her chest. She only carries herself with such supreme arrogance because she holds the Gu family name, she thought bitterly. But I must keep my temper in check. For the sake of my husband’s career advancements and my own security as an officer’s wife, I cannot afford to alienate her.
Steeling her resolve, Niu Chunhua trailed from a distance. Since a vast majority of the dependents naturally gravitated toward the central cooperative upon entering the city, Sheng Wanyan didn’t pay her presence any mind.
As was her standard routine, Sheng Wanyan systematically exhausted every single food coupon and cash bill she had carried out. Once her purchases were finalized, she turned to Yang Wanshu. “I have a few urgent documents I need to process at the post office, Sister-in-law. Why don’t we meet back at the transport truck ahead of the departure window?”
Yang Wanshu nodded understandingly, and the two women parted ways.
Naturally, the post office errand was a complete fabrication; Sheng Wanyan simply required a private window to safely transfer an influx of high-grade supplies from her secret spatial dimension into her backpack.
Before securing the goods, she detoured toward the perimeter of the local black market, curious to assess the current level of administrative enforcement. True to her historical predictions, the systemic stranglehold over private trade had visibly softened. The citizens slipping past the lookouts no longer carried that paralyzing, frantic terror from previous years.
Sheng Wanyan observed the flow for a while, well aware that over the next two years, the state’s grip would relax even further. During that transitional window, the pioneer traders operating in these underground markets would amass staggering fortunes. However, that chaotic gold rush would be short-lived; eventually, the era of formalized, independent business owners would dawn, shifting the economic paradigm completely.
Having locked in an accurate reading of the city’s economic pulse, she turned away from the alleyways and directed her steps toward the municipal scrap yard. Although her personal luck had never quite rivaled the extraordinary, treasure-finding fortunes of the legendary heroines in webnovels, she had yet to explore Bing City’s local repository, and she was determined to see what history lay buried in the dust.
Chapter 379: Shameless Niu Chunhua
Other webnovel protagonists always seemed to uncover invaluable relics the second they stepped into a scrap yard, but Sheng Wanyan clearly lacked that specific brand of literary luck.
She didn’t mind, though; she was only there to pass the time. If she stumbled across something special, great; if not, she would simply treat the outing as a fun little treasure hunt. Besides, her secret spatial dimension was already bursting with a vast treasury of gold, silver, and precious gems—courtesy of her future family’s entire estate, which she had safely tucked away before her transmigration.
As it turned out, her luck in this particular repository was undeniably poor. After nearly an hour of searching, she emerged with nothing more than a single, weathered inkstone.
Though small and unassuming, it was a piece of genuine value. The stone was crafted from an exceptionally rare, premium material. If it were ever put on a modern auction block in the future, elite calligraphers would undoubtedly enter a bidding war for it.
Sheng Wanyan discreetly slipped the inkstone into her space and grabbed a small bundle of old, discarded newspapers to serve as a cover.
“That’ll be five cents,” the old gatekeeper muttered, barely looking up.
Without a word, she handed over the nickel. Once she reached a completely deserted alleyway, she swept the old newspapers into her spatial dimension, pulled out the heavy provisions she had planned to bring home, and loaded the basket onto her back before marching toward the military vehicle.
By the time she arrived at the designated assembly point, most of the military wives had already gathered. The regiment transport truck had yet to return, likely because the soldiers from the purchasing department were still finalizing their logistics across the city.
“Wanyan, over here!” Yang Wanshu called out, waving her over.
Sheng Wanyan walked across the lane, unburdened her heavy backpack, and sat down beside her on a smooth boulder to wait.
“Did you manage to mail your documents, Wanyan?”
Sheng Wanyan nodded smoothly, steering the conversation into light family matters. Before long, Yang Wanshu began sighing over the rising cost of living, complaining that the price of pork had spiked by half a cent per catty compared to the previous week.
“Exactly. It was perfectly stable last month,” a neighboring wife chimed in.
The nearby dependents eagerly latched onto the topic, chiming in with a few words of their own. They were clearly desperate to utilize the shared grievance to strike up a lively chat with Sheng Wanyan and worm their way into her good graces. To their immense disappointment, the exact moment the crowd’s enthusiasm flared, Sheng Wanyan went entirely quiet. Whenever someone pointedly directed a question her way, she merely offered a polite smile and a subtle nod, refusing to engage further.
Yet, her clinical detachment wasn’t nearly enough to dampen the women’s gossiping fervor. If anything, the chatter around the benches grew increasingly animated.
Spotting Sheng Wanyan sitting quietly on the perimeter, staring off into the distance, Niu Chunhua adjusted her posture and purposefully sashayed over.
“Regiment Commander Gu’s wife, what grand purchases did you make today?”
Every dependent’s backpack was meticulously covered with a thick black cloth to shield their goods from prying eyes, meaning no one could discern what anyone else had acquired. Niu Chunhua was merely using the query as a clumsy bridge to initiate a dialogue. Given that Sheng Wanyan pocketed a staggering independent income every month, she was undoubtedly bringing home premium luxuries.
“Just standard household provisions that we use every day,” Wanyan replied neutrally.
“What a spectacular coincidence! My basket is filled with the exact same things,” Niu Chunhua beamed, her sweetness dialed to the maximum.
Sheng Wanyan read her transparent calculations like an open book. In all honesty, she had never been a person who actively required a large social circle; she frequently found her own solitary company infinitely more entertaining. Furthermore, cultivating a genuine, deep friendship within the shark tank of this family compound was a statistical impossibility—unless, of course, the other party happened to be completely brainless.
The thought of density caused Sheng Wanyan’s mind to stall for a second. She couldn’t help but wonder how that silly Xu Guihua was progressing with her high school curriculum. She was patiently waiting for the woman to absorb enough fundamental knowledge so she could formally install her as her operational corporate partner.
At that exact moment, back in her own apartment, a fiercely studying Xu Guihua let out a violent sneeze. She stared down at the complex algebraic equation laid out before her, her chest heaving with pure, unadulterated fury.
What on earth is this monstrous gibberish?!
She had been agonizing over the text for hours, yet she had only managed to comprehend a fraction of the formulas. How could a high school curriculum possibly be this brutal? She was a certified graduate, for heaven’s sake! She clearly recognized every single character printed on the page, yet the absolute second the variables were combined, they transformed into an alien dialect she couldn’t decode.
Sighing heavily, Xu Guihua pulled out the cheat sheet of fundamental concepts her nephew had meticulously drafted for her during her city visit. The more she attempted to digest the logic, the more demoralized she became. At her advanced age, the intellectual strain of re-learning academics was nearly breaking her spine; if it was this agonizing for an adult, how much torment were her own children enduring at school?
A sudden wave of maternal enlightenment washed over her. She resolved right then and there to treat her children with immense gentleness going forward, vowing never to force them into excessive study sessions, lest they develop the same visceral disgust toward books that she was currently battling.
Xu Guihua’s children: “…” You are truly the most magnificent mother on earth.
Little did she know, this impulsive display of maternal mercy would completely alter the trajectory of her children’s development, rendering them infinitely more eager to pursue higher learning entirely on their own terms. If she had possessed the foresight to realize that reverse psychology worked so beautifully, she would have adopted the tactic years ago.
The rumble of the military transport truck broke the afternoon quiet. The vehicle ground to a halt, and Sheng Wanyan climbed aboard, securing a spot on the bench.
“Alright, Sisters-in-law! We’re rolling out!” the logistics soldier at the wheel barked back through the partition. “Hold on tight!”
The dependents adjusted their bundles as the heavy truck lunged forward. Niu Chunhua and Yang Wanshu squeezed onto the bench directly beside Wanyan. It was during this grueling return journey that Sheng Wanyan truly experienced the terrifying, shameless depth of Niu Chunhua’s social ambition.
But at the end of the day, these benches were public military property; if the woman chose to park her bottom right next to her, Wanyan had absolutely no authority to evict her.
Sheng Wanyan was already physically drained from her city march. Throughout the entire hour-long drive, Niu Chunhua relentlessly manufactured an endless stream of conversation topics, desperately trying to force an interaction. Sheng Wanyan merely offered perfunctory, single-syllable hums in response, letting her eyes drift shut.
The moment the transport truck finally rumbled past the base checkpoint, Sheng Wanyan let out a massive sigh of relief. She lunged off the tailgate the second the vehicle halted, desperate to flee back to her courtyard. She was completely exhausted; she had envisioned a peaceful, quiet drive where she could simply lose herself in a daydream, but she hadn’t anticipated that Niu Chunhua would be such an relentless chatterbox.
The woman hadn’t paused for a single breath the entire way. Even in the face of Wanyan’s freezing, monosyllabic brush-offs, she had somehow managed to unearth an infinite supply of small talk. Sheng Wanyan couldn’t help but harbor a cynical admiration for the woman’s sheer endurance and bottomless pool of trivia.
An individual possessed of such terrifying, shameless thick-skinned persistence, she thought, would be an absolute weapon on a corporate payroll. If Niu Chunhua hadn’t been anchored to the Wu family lineage, Wanyan would have gladly recruited her on the spot; her personality was fundamentally flawless for aggressive client negotiations and corporate acquisitions. It was a tragic waste that her marriage to Deputy Company Commander Wu rendered her completely unusable as a future business ally.
Sheng Wanyan practically sprinted down the residential lane. Niu Chunhua tried to match her stride to squeeze in one final conversation, but Wanyan didn’t grant her a single opening. Her figure blurred past the hedgerows, running so fast she vanished from sight within seconds.
Niu Chunhua stopped running, panting heavily as she stared down the empty path, forcing her simmering frustration back down. It seems I’ll have to manufacture another opportunity, she reasoned. I must secure a flawless connection with her if my husband is ever going to leapfrog his peers on the promotion track.
Sheng Wanyan crossed her own threshold, letting out a long, ragged breath of pure relief. She dropped her heavy backpack onto the living room sofa and immediately hurried into the master bedroom to check on the co-conspirators.
“Wife, you’re finally home.”
Hearing the front door, Gu Tingxiao had already shifted his posture. A deep wave of protective sorrow filled his eyes the moment he took in her flushed face, hating that she had been forced to haul such massive provisions back from the city entirely on her own. He reached out, pulling her down onto the edge of the mattress, his large hands immediately working to massage the tight muscles across her shoulders and arms.
“How did the day go for you and our girl?” she asked, leaning into his touch. “Did Yi Yi give you a difficult time?”
Sheng Wanyan had been secretly terrified that his fractured leg would render him entirely helpless against a turbulent toddler, but she was pleasantly surprised by the absolute order of the room. Yi Yi wasn’t a single bit hungry, her diaper was pristine, and she was currently bouncing energetically across the blankets.
“Not at all. Our girl was a perfect little angel,” he smiled. She was simply a burst of pure, chaotic energy who loved to test her physical boundaries, but with his commanding reach, capturing her before she rolled off the mattress was effortless.
Yi Yi scrambled across the quilt the second she processed her mother’s presence, throwing her chubby arms around Wanyan’s waist. She hadn’t seen her favorite person all day and missed her fiercely.
“Sweetheart, Mommy is covered in city grime. Let me change first before I hold you, alright?”
Yi Yi’s little lips instantly puckered into a dramatic, thoroughly displeased pout.
“Be a good girl. Give Mommy two minutes to slip into fresh clothes, and then I’ll hold you for the rest of the afternoon.”
“Ma~” the baby whined, her eyes shining with an expectant plea. Confronted by that soul-melting look, Sheng Wanyan’s resolve crumbled. She swiftly darted into the washroom, changed into a clean lounge set, and raced back to scoop her daughter into a proper embrace.
“Take a real rest now, Wanyan. I’ve already prepared our evening meal,” Gu Tingxiao noted softly.
Sheng Wanyan raised her eyebrows, a heavy dose of skepticism coloring her face. He was responsible for a high-energy toddler while nursing a severe bone fracture; how on earth had he managed to execute a hot meal? “And how exactly did you pull off a cooking shift?”
“The moment Yi Yi faded into her afternoon nap, I utilized my cane to navigate the kitchen corridor,” he explained smoothly.
Sheng Wanyan’s brow furrowed in immediate disapproval. His fractured bone had yet to achieve stability, yet he was already hobbling around hot stoves? What if his footing failed and he triggered a secondary disaster?
Catching her rising panic, Gu Tingxiao squeezed her hand reassuringly, his voice deep and anchoring. “Wanyan, look at me. My system is entirely stable, and I can move across short distances perfectly safely now. Please, breathe easy.”
Chapter 380: Pan Yue Shares the News
“Just think of it as my rehabilitation training,” Gu Tingxiao urged gently. “And since I’m using a cane, it’s actually quite manageable.”
Sheng Wanyan had been ready to scold him, but hearing his calm explanation, she realized she was probably overreacting. Gu Tingxiao had already begun his rehabilitation exercises, and his sense of balance was remarkable. Lately, he could even hobble out to the backyard with a cane in one hand.
“I’m not doing this because I’m worried about you,” she huffed, a note of stubborn pride in her voice. “It’s just that if your old injuries flare up again, I’m the one who has to nurse you back to health.”
Sheng Wanyan dug her heels in, but Gu Tingxiao knew his wife’s temper inside out and always managed to soothe her with endless patience.
“Yes, yes. My wife is always right, and she’s the absolute best.”
Sheng Wanyan opened her mouth to argue further, but found herself completely choked up. “……”
The man had cleanly cut off her retreat. After being showered with such smooth praise, how could she possibly find the nerve to lose her temper?
“You’re nothing but a sweet-talker.”
Sheng Wanyan checked the wall clock. It was exactly five o’clock, leaving her a perfect one-hour window before the evening routine kicked into high gear.
“Wanyan, go close your eyes for an hour,” Gu Tingxiao murmured, reading the exhaustion in her face.
She gave a weary nod; the grueling, bumpy ride in the military transport truck had truly taken a toll on her stamina. She lay down on the comfortable kang to rest, and Gu Tingxiao, terrified that little Yi Yi might burst into a loud tantrum and disrupt her sleep, quietly leaned on his cane with one hand, using his free arm to scoop the baby up and carry her into the living room to play.
Yi Yi absolutely adored being held by her father. If he hadn’t been nursing a severe bone fracture, she would have happily demanded he hoist her through the air for another round of her favorite flying game.
Gu Tingxiao pulled the bedroom door shut to seal out the noise and sat down on the living room rug with the baby. He set her down gently and scattered a colorful assortment of toys across the floorboards. Yi Yi immediately locked her attention onto a small, tin jumping grasshopper, winding the key and letting it loose. As the toy clicked and leaped across the room, she burst into a brilliant, ringing laugh.
The entire apartment was instantly flooded with her pure, childish giggles. Every single time the tin grasshopper made a sudden bound, she clapped her chubby hands and squealed with delight. This little girl was truly a master at keeping herself thoroughly entertained.
After a deep, restorative one-hour nap, Sheng Wanyan rinsed the sleep from her face with cool water and sat down to share a quiet dinner with her husband. Once the dishes were cleared, Gu Tingxiao moved outside to execute his daily rehabilitation routine, slowly tracing the perimeter of the courtyard with the support of his cane. Sheng Wanyan leaned against the doorframe, keeping a protective eye on his progress.
Yi Yi extended her plump little hand, pointing dynamically toward her father as he carefully paced out his steps in the backyard, a tiny thread of drool gathering at the corner of her mouth from her intense focus.
“Daddy walking!” she babbled.
“Baba!”
Yi Yi stared at Gu Tingxiao with shimmering, wide eyes, delivering her shout with such an explosive, high-volume enthusiasm that it practically left Sheng Wanyan’s ears ringing.
“My goodness, sweetheart, your vocal cords are far too powerful for such a little body,” Sheng Wanyan laughed, rubbing her ears.
Hearing his daughter’s booming battle cry, Gu Tingxiao paused his steps and looked over. Seeing that the restless toddler was squirming frantically in his wife’s arms, threatening to throw Wanyan off balance, he hobbled across the dirt toward them.
“Stop giving your mother a difficult time,” Gu Tingxiao chided, shifting his features into a stern, authoritative military expression.
Confronted by his fierce face, Yi Yi froze. Her bottom lip trembled as a wave of sudden panic washed over her; she wanted to burst into tears, yet she didn’t dare provoke him further, her wide eyes filled with pure toddler horror.
Sheng Wanyan found the standoff completely hilarious. Why on earth was a decorated regiment commander attempting to engage in a battle of wills with a one-year-old infant? The baby couldn’t possibly comprehend his strict discipline.
Yi Yi promptly threw her arms around Sheng Wanyan’s neck, burying her face deep into the crook of her mother’s shoulder and pivoting her tiny bottom directly toward Gu Tingxiao in a display of ultimate defiance.
Gu Tingxiao shook his head, a quiet smirk breaking through his stern facade. This stubborn, dramatic temper was an exact carbon copy of his wife’s.
“Go ahead and take her in for her bath,” Sheng Wanyan smiled, peeling the baby from her neck and transferring her squarely into his arms, determined to let the father and daughter navigate their communications independently.
Before Yi Yi could fully process the tactical betrayal, she found herself firmly anchored against her old father’s chest, while her safe, merciful mother vanished back into the house. Her little face puckered, and she prepared to let out a proper wail, but catching another glimpse of Gu Tingxiao’s unyielding expression, she thought better of it and forced the tears back down. Her small frame gave a tiny, involuntary shudder of defeat, and she reluctantly wrapped her arms around his neck, resigning herself to her fate.
Fortunately, children’s moods are as fleeting as the wind. Within ten minutes, the crisp sound of splashing water and bright, unified laughter echoed clearly from the washroom. Hearing the joyful harmony, Sheng Wanyan smiled warmly, stepping over to the stove to boil a fresh cauldron of hot water for Gu Tingxiao’s own bath.
Before long, domestic life inside the apartment settled into a smooth, predictable rhythm, and Sheng Wanyan found herself entirely capable of managing the household single-handedly. Gu Tingxiao spared her any unnecessary anxiety; instead of acting like a demanding patient, he aggressively looked for ways to lighten her load, proudly taking charge of Yi Yi’s daily entertainment and supervision.
Early one crisp autumn morning, Sheng Wanyan marched down to her private garden plot balancing a heavy bucket of water. She crossed paths with Pan Yue, who was leading little Huzi out for a walk, and the two sisters-in-law paused by the hedgerow to share some gossip.
The moment the toddler spotted his aunt, his face lit up with pure excitement. He was well aware that this beautiful aunt was the one formidable force his own father never dared to cross. Sheng Wanyan reached into her pocket, pulling out a small handful of White Rabbit milk candies and presenting them to the boy. Overjoyed by the premium treats, Huzi lunged forward and planted a big, wet, sticky kiss right on her cheek.
Caught entirely off guard by the sudden display of affection, Sheng Wanyan blinked in mild bewilderment. Could a child this young truly possess such advanced social calculations? “He’s barely out of infancy, yet he already knows exactly how to charm a woman.”
Pan Yue laughed, thoroughly entertained. She had been forced to bear witness to her son’s blatant double standards on a daily basis. “Tell me about it. He maintains a flawless, charming diplomacy with every single soul on this base—except for his biological father. He goes out of his way to actively sabotage Sheng Wanze at every turn.”
“With those instincts, our Huzi is definitely going to have an effortless time securing a bride when he grows up,” Sheng Wanyan noted with a smile.
As the boy grew, the soft baby fat was beginning to lean out, revealing the striking underlying structure of his facial features; it was glaringly obvious he was going to mature into an exceptionally handsome man. He had inherited Sheng Wanze’s signature, tilting fox eyes—a trait that would undoubtedly grant him an incredibly charming, lethal gaze in his adulthood. While his individual features weren’t delicate, when combined, they formed an incredibly noble, commanding profile. There was no question he would grow up to be quite a looker, destined to break a fair share of hearts down the road.
“I’m not the least bit worried about him struggling to find a wife later in life,” Pan Yue sighed, though a wry smile touched her lips. “My real anxiety is that he’ll grow up to be a smooth-talking playboy, stringing poor girls along. If he starts playing with people’s hearts everywhere, I don’t even want to calculate how many families we’ll end up offending.”
Sheng Wanyan nodded in unified agreement. She held a strict, traditional standard on that front; she would never tolerate her own children growing up to be reckless heartbreakers who treated other people’s genuine emotions like a game.
“Fortunately, our little Tiger is going to be raised under your brother’s absolute, unyielding supervision,” Pan Yue added reassuringly. “He wouldn’t dare step out of line.”
With a seasoned, hardcore soldier like Sheng Wanze managing his upbringing, if the boy ever displayed the slightest hint of degenerate behavior, his father possessed a mountain of grueling military disciplinary tactics to snap his character right back into alignment. Once Huzi experienced a taste of that raw discipline, he would naturally lose all appetite for reckless behavior.
“That’s very true,” Sheng Wanyan laughed. “My brother did mention he intends to formally drag the boy out to the training field for morning drills the exact day he turns three.”
Pan Yue shook her head in amusement. That was an incredibly classic Sheng Wanze move. The man had meticulously documented every single toddler prank and act of defiance Huzi had ever launched against his authority, and he was simply biding his time until the boy was old enough to face his systemic revenge. When it came down to it, the father and son were equally childish.
After a few more minutes of light banter, Pan Yue’s smile shifted. She cast a swift, covert glance around the perimeter to verify the lane was completely deserted, before leaning closer to whisper a confidential query regarding the academic rumors.
“Wanyan, tell me the truth—have you formally initiated your review curriculum for the national exams yet?”
“I’ve been studying steadily,” Sheng Wanyan replied smoothly, seeing absolutely no reason to conceal her preparation from her sister-in-law. After all, Pan Yue’s maternal family commanded significant influence back in the Capital, so it was only natural that they would have caught wind of the shifting political tides ahead of the general populace.
“That’s an immense relief,” Pan Yue breathed, letting out a long sigh. “I was terrified you were being left in the dark.”
Given the current restrictive climate, an advanced update of this magnitude was locked behind tight administrative doors, accessible solely to high-ranking cadres and elite families stationed within the capital.
But Sheng Wanyan held a piece of absolute, infallible intelligence that no official on earth could rival: she knew with mathematical certainty that the historic declaration restoring the National College Entrance Examination would be formally broadcast to the nation on October 21, 1977.
Following the historic announcement, the examination windows would rapidly deploy through November and stretch into December, depending on the specific operational schedules structured by each individual province. This would mark the first and only winter college entrance examination in the history of modern China, drawing the intense, personal scrutiny and high hopes of the country’s top leadership.
Furthermore, the state’s policy framework was incredibly progressive and humane: any active, working citizen who successfully cleared the testing thresholds and secured a university placement would be legally permitted to retain their official job titles and corporate salaries throughout the duration of their academic tenure.
Naturally, every manufacturing plant and administrative department desperately hoped to retain these elite, future college graduates within their own ranks. Yet, even if a bureau chief deployed every available incentive to keep them anchored, these ambitious young minds would inevitably set their sights on far broader horizons. The moment a person secured that coveted university acceptance letter, their path to ultimate success was thoroughly solidified.
But for the massive wave of exiled educated youths currently toiling in the remote countryside, desperate for a chance to reclaim their urban citizenship, the sudden announcement would leave them with a brutal, single-month window to master years of forgotten high school curriculum. The countdown was on, and the time remaining was perilously tight.
