Chapter 38: Zheng Hai Arrives

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Zheng Hai Arrives

Lu Zhengchuan had just sat down on the edge of the bed when he heard Su Wan’s cold voice. "Aren’t you leaving for a mission tomorrow?"

"Yes," Lu Zhengchuan nodded. The hand at his side tightened slightly, betraying a tension he hadn’t even realized he was feeling.

"Then you should go sleep in your private quarters," Su Wan said, her back still to him.

Lu Zhengchuan asked, "Why?"

"You’ll rest better there. I toss and turn a lot during my pregnancy, and I don’t want to disturb you. You have a mission to go on. If you’re not well-rested, what if something happens?" Su Wan turned to face him, a puzzled look on her face.

"...You’re not angry anymore?" Lu Zhengchuan asked tentatively.

Su Wan smiled. "Angry? I’m not angry. I’m just tired after a long day."

"You’re the father of my child. Of course I care about your safety."

’Su Wan had already thought it through. Plenty of married couples had no feelings for each other. She and Lu Zhengchuan were just living out their marriage. As long as he turned over his stipend every month and it was enough to raise the child, she wouldn’t push him away.’

"It won’t affect me," Lu Zhengchuan said, pursing his lips.

He looked at Su Wan’s smile, but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to feel happy.

"What was that?" Su Wan let out a lazy yawn.

"I said, sleeping together won’t affect my sleep. You can toss and turn as much as you like."

Su Wan shook her head. "No, I’d still be worried. It was one thing when you were on leave, but you need to be well-rested for a mission."

"You don’t want me worrying sick at home, do you?" Su Wan patted her belly, her gaze softening with affection. "If I’m constantly worried, it’s not good for the baby."

Lu Zhengchuan looked like he wanted to say something but stopped. In the end, he didn’t insist. He tucked the corner of the blanket in for Su Wan, then turned and left for his private quarters.

Su Wan’s attention wasn’t on Lu Zhengchuan.

She patted her belly, her mind on the baby.

’She didn’t know if she should have the baby.’

’If she really didn’t want to go through with it, she could use silver needles on her acupressure points to induce a miscarriage. It would minimize the physical damage.’

’People really are greedy.’

’Before coming to the base, all she’d cared about was Lu Zhengchuan bringing home his stipend so they could live a normal life.’

’But after arriving, she learned that Lu Zhengchuan was pleased with her looks and was treating her well because of the baby. That was when she got greedy and started wanting to develop a real relationship with him.’

’But now it seemed that you couldn’t force matters of the heart.’

’Oh well. The baby was innocent.’

Su Wan closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.

Early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Su Wan woke to the sound of movement in the kitchen.

She peeked out and saw Zhang Yun.

"Did your brother come back?" Su Wan asked as she walked out and stood by the kitchen doorway.

"Su Wan, you’re up?" Zhang Yun explained, "He dropped off some steamed buns. He said he probably wouldn’t be back and was heading straight out for his mission."

Su Wan pursed her lips. "Did he say anything else?"

"He told me to take good care of you. He also left some money and ration tickets for you."

Su Wan glanced at the cloth bundle Zhang Yun handed her. Opening it, she saw a small collection of cash and notes—it looked like he had given her all the money he had on him.

"Alright. If you need to buy anything, just ask me for the money," Su Wan told Zhang Yun.

"Su Wan, should I go buy groceries from the co-op later? We can start cooking for ourselves instead of getting food from the mess hall."

"Sounds good."

Su Wan gave her the money and ration tickets.

After breakfast, Zhao Qing came over.

She and Su Wan worked all day, finally finishing the sixteen sets of ceramic bowls that Aunt Liu had ordered.

Aunt Liu came by to pick them up and paid the remaining balance.

"Oh, Wanwan, thank you so much! What you make is beautiful and so affordable. Just you wait, I’ll introduce more customers to you so you can earn a bit more." Aunt Liu was very enthusiastic, her way of showing gratitude simple and heartfelt.

Touched by Aunt Liu’s kindness, Su Wan couldn’t resist pulling her into the bedroom to speak privately.

"Aunt Liu, I just heard something... I’m not sure if you know," Su Wan began, hesitating.

"Wanwan, if you have something to say, just say it. There’s not much your old Auntie Liu hasn’t seen or heard," Aunt Liu said, patting her chest reassuringly.

Su Wan then told her about Liu Lang and Liu Cong, and what Xu Yan had seen. However, she didn’t mention that Liu Lang supposedly disliked Liu Xiangju, since that was only Xu Yan’s side of the story.

Aunt Liu’s expression changed as she listened. She patted Su Wan’s hand. "Wanwan, thank you for telling me this. I’ll look into it. Please, don’t mention this to anyone else."

"Of course."

With that, Aunt Liu left.

Whether it was because of Aunt Liu’s referrals or not, many people started coming to Su Wan for custom pottery.

After using the Lu Family’s bathroom, Zhao Qing had Su Wan make her a ceramic squat toilet as well.

When other military families saw it, nearly every household ended up buying one.

Su Wan’s life over the next few days was quite content.

However, her peaceful life was shattered when Zheng Hai arrived at the base.

"Su Wan, get out here!"

Zheng Hai stood outside the family housing area, shouting. It was early in the morning, and the commotion drew a curious crowd of residents.

Zhang Yun went to open the door while Su Wan was in the middle of breakfast.

She merely furrowed her brow at the sound of Zheng Hai’s voice.

"Zheng Hai? What are you doing here?" Zhang Yun stood at the door, her eyes wary as she looked at him. She was now afraid of being bullied whenever she saw any of the Zheng family. Before Zheng Hai could speak, she turned eagerly to the young soldier who had escorted him. "Soldier, could you please go find Li Guo?"

Li Guo was the soldier also known as Xiao Li. Before Lu Zhengchuan left, he had told his family to find Xiao Li if they ran into any trouble.

The young soldier hadn’t expected Zheng Hai to be so aggressive.

This was Battalion Commander Lu’s family, after all. He immediately nodded in agreement. Instead of leaving himself, he called over another soldier on patrol and asked him to fetch the person.

"Zhang Yun, get out of the way." Zheng Hai shoved her aside.

He started to step into the yard.

Zhang Yun instinctively blocked his path again, puffing out her chest. "You can’t come in," she said angrily. "My sister-in-law hasn’t said you could. What gives you the right?"

"Get lost! I’m here to talk to Su Wan. Are you blocking me because she has a guilty conscience?" Zheng Hai craned his neck and shouted toward the house.

Zhang Yun thought he was being ridiculous. "A guilty conscience? What’s there to feel guilty about? Your Zheng Family is the one that did something wrong. What does that have to do with my sister-in-law?"

"She’s guilty of framing our Zheng Family, of course!" Zheng Hai’s voice boomed, clearly meant for the surrounding residents to hear.

Hearing this from within the crowd, Zheng Qing immediately pushed her way to the front. "Comrade," she asked curiously, "who are you? What business do you have with Su Wan?"

"I’m Zheng Hai, Zheng Zhizhi’s brother. I came all the way from the village to this base because my sister was bullied. Did you really think the Zheng Family has no one to stand up for them?"

"A member of the Zheng family? Bullied?" Zheng Qing’s eyes lit up. She could smell gossip in the air.

Su Wan walked out of the house. Seeing Zheng Hai’s self-righteous expression, she was reminded of her prophetic dream, where he had viciously turned on his own family for Zheng Zhizhi’s sake.

Her guard went up instantly. ’He actually followed me all the way to the base? Surely he wouldn’t dare to lay a hand on me here, in a military compound?’

"I’m quite curious," Su Wan said, immediately invoking a higher authority. "In what way, exactly, has the military wronged Comrade Zheng Zhizhi?"