At Lu Xiao's words, a small smile appeared on Su Tang's face, and she softly said, "Thank you."
The next morning, by the time Su Tang woke up, Lu Xiao was already gone.
The spot where he had slept was already neatly made.
Su Tang sat up and stretched, planning to go to the cafeteria with Zhang Cui to get food.
She would also ask Zhang Cui if there was anywhere nearby to buy things.
She didn't want to suffer the disdainful looks in the cafeteria anymore. She was going to be self-sufficient.
On the training grounds, Lu Xiao had just finished his drills and was about to head back to wash up when Chang Jia stopped him.
"Full of energy, huh? So, how was the wedding night? Pretty good, I bet?"
Hearing Chang Jia's teasing and seeing his lewd winks, Lu Xiao lifted his foot and kicked at him.
Luckily, Chang Jia dodged quickly.
"So fiery! Looks like last night didn't go so well."
"That little missy from the city must be all for show. Can't even compare to my wife from the countryside."
'Lu Xiao had been abstinent for so many years. He finally gets a wife, and she's not even satisfying him? Life's too rough.'
"Got too much time on your hands?"
Chang Jia felt a chill from Lu Xiao's icy glare but kept up his cheeky grin.
"Not at all, not at all. I just saw you looked awful and wanted to show some concern for an old comrade."
He leaned in and lowered his voice. "I heard Su Tang has been asking all over the logistics department about a vegetable market. Don't tell me the delicate young lady is thinking of cooking herself?"
Lu Xiao paused in the middle of wiping his military canteen. The image of the stubbornness hidden in Su Tang's eyes from yesterday surfaced in his mind.
His Adam's apple bobbed. He picked up the canteen. "Let her do what she wants."
'It's not like I can control what she wants to do.'
'I told her to just behave, and that I would handle these things for her.'
"Tsk, tsk. That's not something a newlywed husband should say."
Chang Jia suddenly lowered his voice again. "Lu, are you really not worried about Su Tang? If she keeps this up, I'm genuinely afraid it'll affect you."
Before he could finish, Lu Xiao had already turned and strode away, his tall, straight figure cutting a sharp silhouette in the morning light.
In the cafeteria, Su Tang was poking at the bland cabbage in her bowl with a spoon.
Zhang Cui sat down across from her with a lunchbox, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Little sis, I found out there's a commissary right here on base. You can use tickets to buy things."
Su Tang's eyes lit up. She quickly said, "I don't have anything to do today. Why don't we go check it out together?"
"Sure. I need some things for the house anyway. Let's go take a look."
"But there's no one to watch my little one, so we'll have to take him with us."
Hearing this, Su Tang waved her hand, indicating she didn't mind.
Zhang Cui's baby was very well-behaved. He wouldn't wake up if you made noise while he was sleeping, would only cry a little when he was hungry, and would go right back to sleep after eating.
Su Tang had never seen a stranger baby than Zhang Cui's.
As the two of them ate and chatted with a smile, Su Tang caught sight of a few women gathered in a corner, whispering to each other and occasionally shooting assessing glances her way.
She tightened her grip on her chopsticks, her nails digging crescent moons into her palm.
Ever since she'd set foot in the family courtyard, she had been subjected to these kinds of looks.
She couldn't imagine how many times they had called her "young missy" behind her back.
"Don't mind them."
Zhang Cui patted the back of her hand comfortingly. "By the way, Brother Lu took his team out for training at five this morning. I heard he even added a weighted run."
She winked knowingly, implying, "Was it because of last night…?"
"Sister Zhang!"
The tips of Su Tang's ears turned red, and she quickly changed the subject. 'People from this era are truly as fierce as tigers when they speak.'
'They make bawdy jokes without a second thought, enough to make even a modern person like me blush.'
After they finished eating, Su Tang got another portion of food for Lu Xiao.
When she returned, Lu Xiao wasn't back yet. Su Tang used a pen to leave a note for him in a notebook.
-Shopping at the commissary. Back by noon.
After writing it in the familiar language of this era, Su Tang grabbed her various tickets, slung an inconspicuous bag over her shoulder, and went to find Zhang Cui.
When Lu Xiao got back and saw the characters, he couldn't recognize them no matter how he looked.
They looked a little familiar, but something was off.
Su Tang had forgotten that people still used traditional characters in this era. She had written in simplified characters, which Lu Xiao couldn't understand at all.
If Lu Xiao hadn't gone to ask a neighbor, he would have had no idea where they'd gone.
Looking at the characters in the notebook, Lu Xiao felt a little resigned.
'This little missy from the city really has nice handwriting. It's just that I have no idea what country the words are from.'
The neighbor scratched the back of his head and explained, "Brother Lu, those are called simplified characters. I hear some people in the big cities outside are secretly using them."
Lu Xiao rubbed the edge of the paper. Su Tang's handwriting was forceful, penetrating the paper, radiating the same defiant spirit as the woman herself.
'She clearly knows her background is problematic, yet she still dares to be so blatant. She really isn't afraid of dying.'
Though that's what he thought, Lu Xiao tore the piece of paper to shreds and threw it in the trash.
...
The wooden door of the commissary was pushed open, and a bell attached to it chimed crisply.
Su Tang clutched her tickets, her eyes scanning the enamel mugs and coarse cloth socks on the shelves.
A few bags of coarse grains were piled in a corner. Just as she was about to reach for one, a mocking, sarcastic laugh came from behind her.
"Well, if it isn't the capitalist's precious daughter?"
Three women carrying bamboo baskets surrounded them. The leader had her hair in a bun, and her face was so dark and weathered you could hardly make out her original features.
Zhang Cui immediately stepped in front of Su Tang. "Wang Guifang, if you have something to say, say it nicely!"
Wang Guifang wasn't the least bit afraid of Zhang Cui. She just snorted coldly. "I heard Captain Lu doubled the weights for training today. What, did marrying a pretty vase make him take his anger out on his own soldiers?"
The whispers of the surrounding crowd washed over them like a tide. Su Tang's nails dug into her palm. Suddenly, she glimpsed a tin can on a shelf.
"Sister Zhang, isn't your child coughing?"
She suddenly turned, her voice clear and bright. "They have pear paste preserves here. It's perfect for soothing the lungs."
Before Wang Guifang could react, Su Tang was already on her tiptoes, reaching for a can on the top shelf. A sliver of her slender waist was revealed beneath her blue cotton shirt.
This made quite a few people envious. Where would they have ever seen someone as beautiful as Su Tang?
She spoke so softly and gently, and her voice was incredibly pleasant to listen to.
Wang Guifang snorted again, flinging her scarf as she walked toward the door. "Putting on an act!"
Only when they were far away did Zhang Cui let out a sigh of relief. "I was afraid you were going to start a fight with them."
Su Tang tucked the can into her cloth bag, her gaze falling on the brown sugar behind the counter.
"Arguing with them is a waste of time. We're here to shop."
"Yesterday, I argued with Hu Jianjun because he took my grain tickets and wouldn't give me food."
"Today, I haven't lost anything, so why bother with them? Sister Zhang, let's also buy two jin of brown sugar."
"Oh, dear, that can of preserves was already quite expensive. I can't afford brown sugar on top of that."
Zhang Cui had been wincing at the cost, but her child had indeed been coughing a lot these past two days, so buying the pear paste was fine.
But brown sugar was a luxury, and she couldn't bring herself to spend money on it.
"Fine, then I'll buy it. It's for Lu Xiao to drink."
Hearing this, it was Zhang Cui's turn to be stunned. "Brother Lu is a grown man. Why would he need to drink brown sugar water?"
'Isn't that something for women to drink?'
'Don't tell me... Brother Lu really has some kind of... problem?'
Thinking of Lu Xiao's cold face and then his sturdy build, Zhang Cui felt an inexplicable chill.
'I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.'