Unable to endure the hardships of rural life, she returned home to arrange a marriage with a militar

"Little Gu is here. What would you like to buy?" Li Jianqing greeted Gu Jun warmly. The next second, another figure walked out from behind Gu Jun—a beautiful girl.

Shu Yun: "Hello, sister-in-law."

Li Jianqing paused for a moment, then laughed, his eyes full of amusement, "This must be Shu Yun, finally moved in?"

Shu Yun looked at Gu Jun with a puzzled expression. "Could you introduce him?"

Gu Jun: "This is Political Commissar Zhao's wife, Li Jianqing."

Li Jianqing said with a smile, "Old Zhao was your matchmaker, and so was I. I was the one who took Xiao Gu to find a matchmaker back then. Shu Yun, you didn't see how anxious Xiao Gu was at the time."

"Ahem." Gu Jun coughed a few times as if nothing had happened. Li Jianqing laughed and wisely refrained from bringing up his shortcomings. He simply said, "Old Zhao and Little Gu are brothers, so we should visit each other more often. If you don't understand anything since you're new here, just come to me. My home is on the first floor of the same building."

Shu Yun agreed, "I'll definitely come to see you when I have time."

Gu Jun turned to the side, "Let's see what we need to buy? I think we're short on basins, should we buy a few more?"

Shu Yun nodded. It was indeed necessary. Basins were used in many places: for washing, for the kitchen, and even for regular cleaning. These basins couldn't be used interchangeably, so several of different sizes were needed.

Next, Shu Yun bought some kitchen supplies: salt, soy sauce, sugar, oil, and vinegar, all of which she didn't have at home and needed to get.

Gu Jun put all the little creatures into the basin and asked, "Any more?"

Shu Yun thought for a moment, then shook her head. "That's all for now. If anything's missing, I'll come back next time."

Gu Jun nodded, but then asked Li Jianqing, "Sister-in-law, do you sell any high-quality rice here?"

Li Jianqing: Yes, did you bring your grain ration book?

Gu Jun reached into his pocket and said, "I brought some. Buy me thirty catties of fine rice."

Li Jianqing was surprised, "So much!" She had worked at the supply and marketing cooperative for several years and had never seen so much refined rice sold.

Shu Yun tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "Too much."

Gu Jun smiled and said, "It's not much, sister-in-law, just weigh it for me. Also, weigh some sponge cake for me, and I'll pay for it all together."

On the way back, Gu Jun carried a load of rice on his shoulder and a lot of other things in his hands, all bottles and jars of liquids, which were quite heavy. In contrast, Shu Yun only carried a bag of steamed egg cakes and a small bag of flour.

Shu Yun couldn't bear to watch and wanted to reach out to help carry some, but Gu Jun stopped her, saying, "I can do it, it's not heavy."

As expected of a soldier trained in the military, he had no problem carrying heavy loads at all, and his breathing was not disordered when he spoke to Shu Yun, so Shu Yun did not force him.

"Why did you buy rice again? Don't we already have some at home?" Shu Yun asked.

Gu Jun: "The rice we use at home is too coarse and it gets stuck in our throats. We should eat refined rice from now on."

Shu Yun was taken aback. "You figured it out?"

Gu Jun raised an eyebrow and said deliberately, "You seem to be eating with great difficulty."

Shu Yun lowered her head. "I'm just not used to it, but it's still edible."

Gu Jun paused, then smiled. "I was just kidding. If you're not used to it, we won't eat it. I can afford it. I can't let you be less comfortable than you were at your parents' home after you marry me."

Shu Yun breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at her sideways, "Don't you think I'm spoiled?"

Gu Jun shook his head and laughed, "I just love it when my wife is a little spoiled." He gestured with his eyes to the bag of chicken cakes that Shu Yun was carrying, "I bought these for you because I was worried you didn't eat enough at noon."

Shu Yun took one out. The old-fashioned sponge cake was soft and sweet. Shu Yun tasted it and found it to be smooth and sweet, not dry at all, but slightly moist. "It's delicious."

She broke off half of the sponge cake and brought it to Gu Jun's lips, saying, "You eat some too."

With cake crumbs stuck to the corners of her mouth, Shu Yun's cheeks puffed out as she gestured for him to eat. Gu Jun smiled and lowered his head slightly to take the sponge cake with his mouth.

Shu Yun: "So? Do you like it?"

Gu Jun: "Delicious."

Shu Yun smiled and said, "I can make it too. I'll make it for you next time."

Gu Jun: "Then I'll remember that."

------

"Please get me a bottle of soy sauce."

No sooner had Shu Yun and Gu Jun left than another military wife arrived at the service station. She handed an empty bottle to Li Jianqing, curiously glancing at the two figures walking intimately together. She gestured with her lips to Li Jianqing, and inquired:

"Is that the new couple, Xiao Gu and his wife, up ahead? Her name is Shu Yun, right? I've heard from many people who've met her that she's pretty. What did you think of her?"

Li Jianqing opened the large vat, scooped out soy sauce with a ladle, and glanced at the two people walking away, laughing, "They are indeed good-looking. Even if I told you, you wouldn't be able to imagine what they look like. Anyway, you'll get to know them eventually. You'll know when you meet them."

"Your words have piqued my curiosity." She exclaimed, "Xiao Gu has changed so much. He used to be so cold and aloof, not like someone who would dote on his wife. But now it seems I was wrong. Look how affectionate he is."

Li Jianqing: "That's just how men are. If they don't like someone, no matter how much you say, they won't look at them. But if they like someone, they'll always be good. Xiao Gu chose this person himself, so how could he not cherish her?"

"He bought a big bag of polished rice without even blinking. Xiao Gu has lived in the military for so many years, how could he not be used to brown rice? It must be that his wife doesn't like it, so Xiao Gu came over to buy it, right?"

In the afternoon, under the bright sun, Gu Jun took off his military uniform, changed into some old clothes, and took a shovel to the fields to till the soil.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll drive." Shu Yun ran forward, and the person who came was a stranger.

Is Commander Gu home?

"Yes, I am," Shu Yun replied. She opened the door a little and called out, "Gu Jun, someone is looking for you."

"Who is it?" Gu Jun put down his tools. It was a soldier from his regiment. He was talking to the person outside, and Shu Yun consciously avoided him and went inside to work.

Newly bought pots and pans need to be washed before use. Shu Yun filled a basin with water from the hand pump, mixed it with boiled water from the kitchen, adjusted it to a suitable temperature, added a handful of laundry detergent, stirred it to create foam, soaked the new pots in the water, and rinsed them clean.

Shu Yun moved two long benches to the yard, placed the washed basins on them, and let the sun dry them.

Gu Jun came in, helped her put the basin away, and then told Shu Yun that there was an urgent matter at the military base and he had to go there first.

Shu Yun was all alone at home. She moved a bamboo chair and sat down to rest under the shade of a tree. Through the gaps in the leaves, she could see the vast blue sky. It was windy today, and the white clouds were slowly moving westward.

The rice has been bought. Shu Yun wants to cook something for herself tonight instead of going to the cafeteria. She'll just make fried rice with an egg and have a bowl of tomato and egg soup. That would be perfect.

As she was making this plan, she suddenly realized that she had forgotten to buy eggs when she went to the service center, so she had to take the money and go back again.

She ran back into the house, opened the bottom shelf of the bedroom closet, and found a tin box with peeling paint inside. Inside were all of her and Gu Jun's belongings.