A stunning beauty arrived on the island; she invented everything from childcare to babysitting.

Others might be frightened by Wang Xiuying's appearance, but compared to the zombies in the apocalypse who are no longer human, Wang Xiuying's appearance is much better.

An Ning simply took a step back to prevent the man from suddenly attacking her.

After losing her husband, Wang Xiuying was like a trapped beast; all her past persistence and all her fantasies had vanished like a bubble.

Especially after her husband sacrificed himself to get promoted to battalion level as soon as possible so that she could have the house she wanted, everything she had been looking forward to before became something she was now terrified of.

Like a nightmare, it haunted her even in her dreams.

So she desperately wanted to find a reason to get away; she wanted to prove that she hadn't done anything wrong, that the fault lay with others.

Anning just happened to provide her with such a reason.

"If you want to know, then we'll exchange them for something of equal value."

How do we exchange them?

"I'll ask you a question, and then you'll ask me a question."

"You ask."

Wang Xiuying gripped the vegetable basket tightly, completely unaware that her fingernails, covered in black mud, had dug deep into her palms.

How did you and Qiao Shanshan meet?

Wang Xiuying's eyes flickered as she recalled the events of that day, saying, "We met by chance."

As she spoke, she glanced quickly at Anning, as if worried that she might change her mind, and immediately asked, "What did you mean by what you just said?"

"literal meaning."

"You promised one question per person, are you kidding me?"

"You were the one who lacked sincerity first."

"I didn't lie."

"I didn't lie either."

"Since that's the case, then I have nothing more to say to you."

Wang Xiuying turned to leave, but An Ning didn't stop her at all.

Wang Xiuying tentatively took a few steps forward, but even after walking all the way to the military service center, she still didn't hear the voice she was waiting for.

The conversations with Wang Xiuying and Tang Qiuqiao were similar, but An Ning did not use the same approach.

When she was talking to Tang Qiuqiao, it was Tang Qiuqiao who took the initiative to stop her, so the initiative was in her hands.

But now, Wang Xiuying is waiting for her to speak first, which puts her in a passive position.

An Ning wasn't worried about this; it was Wang Xiuying who was.

Her military dependent registration had been completed, but the military kept urging Wang Xiuying to leave.

If the other party didn't know about this, it would be fine, but now that she has told them, she doesn't believe Wang Xiuying doesn't care at all.

So after Wang Xiuying walked away, An Ning went straight home.

The next day, she told the children to go next door for lunch, and then rode her bicycle to the county town.

Although Wang Xiuying seemed very composed yesterday, she is definitely not a patient person.

Going to the county town was for three reasons: first, to deposit money; second, to see the model Chen Hai mentioned; and third, to catch a glimpse of Wang Xiuying.

If nothing unexpected happens, Wang Xiuying will come today.

She'll be worried when she discovers that Anning didn't take what she said yesterday seriously at all, and instead went to the county town.

Upon arriving in the county town, Anning went straight to the bank.

Unable to explain the origin of the two thousand dollars in the envelope, she hid it where it was. Of the remaining four thousand dollars, she kept only a small fraction and deposited the rest into the bank before heading to the port.

An Ning hadn't communicated with Chen Hai before coming. On the way, she was still thinking about whether she should ask someone about the situation or just leave if Chen Hai wasn't at the port.

But once she arrived at the port, she realized she had been overthinking things.

Just like when Chen Hai got the walkie-talkie back, he sat on a small stool near the ticket office, his long legs stretched out, leaning against the wall, intently reading the book in his hands.

That was a book called "Aerodynamics," an introductory book for studying aircraft.

Chen Hai was reading very attentively, turning the page only after a long interval, so much so that he didn't even notice when An Ning approached.

"Comrade Chen Hai."

Upon hearing his wife's voice, Song Wenyuan got up without thinking, folded a corner of the book in the spot he could see, closed it, tossed it onto the stool, and a big smile appeared on his face.

"Comrade Anning, you've arrived? Have you eaten?"

"Ate."

"Shall we go take a look at the model?"

"Okay, thank you so much."

As if by magic, Song Wenyuan produced a small yellow flower from behind his back and presented it to An Ning: "A flower for a beautiful woman, this is for you."

"You're so greasy!"

An Ning's lips instinctively wanted to curl into a smile, but she restrained herself.

Here we go again, that feeling.

It's not that she's overthinking things; Chen Hai's behavior is truly perplexing. His actions clearly go beyond the bounds of friendship.

What does "oil" mean?

Song Wenyuan did not understand the meaning of this word from later generations.

"It's like when your male colleague puts a huge amount of hair oil on his hair and then comes up to you and starts posing seductively."

Song Wenyuan imagined Xue Man doing this to him after his hair grew long, and he felt a little disgusted and wanted to vomit.

He silently tossed the flowers in his hand aside.

He just wanted to send a flower, it shouldn't make people feel disgusted or want to vomit, right?

Song Wenyuan led An Ning for a while and arrived at a residential building near the port.

Perhaps because everyone was at work, Anning didn't see anyone else in the vicinity.

Song Wenyuan stopped in his tracks: "Wait here for me, I'll go upstairs and get the things down."

"it is good."

Before long, Chen Hai came downstairs carrying a one-meter-long boat and walked toward the stone table near the green belt.

The residential building looks quite new, and the landscaping and infrastructure at the base are quite good.

Seeing his somewhat strained movements, An Ning remembered the injury he had sustained on his shoulder before and stepped forward to offer a helping hand: "Is your injury alright?"

"It's nothing, I'm all better now."

Song Wenyuan avoided An Ning's movements, carefully placed the model ship on the table, patted his shoulder, and acted as if nothing had happened.

But secretly, his left hand, hidden underneath, couldn't help but clench into a fist.

After a while, he took out a small item from his purse and handed it to Anning: "Oh, right, this is for you, I'm afraid I'll forget about it later."

In his hand was an exquisite silver-gray boat, its hull pieced together from small metal sections, with obvious signs of polishing, clearly a handmade item.

An Ning held her breath for a long time before finally sighing, "Comrade Chen Hai, what you're doing is very likely to cause misunderstandings."