Shen Nanchu leaned against the window, watching the scenery speeding past outside as drowsiness gradually washed over her.
Sunlight filtered through the car window, casting dappled patterns on her face, her long eyelashes leaving tiny shadows on her cheeks.
Soon, Shen Nanchu's eyes grew heavy, her head nodding gently, like a kitten dozing off.
Pei Zhengnian noticed. Glancing at his wife's sleepy form in the rearview mirror, he unconsciously eased his foot off the accelerator.
The car's speed immediately dropped, and the engine's roar softened considerably.
Whenever they encountered bumpy patches on the road, Pei Zhengnian deliberately slowed down even more.
His long fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel as he stole occasional glances at the sleeping Shen Nanchu in the mirror, his gaze so tender it seemed to drip with affection.
A journey that should have taken just over an hour was stretched by Pei Zhengnian into a full two hours.
This detail was not lost on Li Yanhong.
She had ridden in military vehicles before and knew roughly how long the trip should take.
Those soldiers usually drove as if they were racing to be reborn, with little care for passenger comfort.
She had never seen a man dote on his wife to this extent.
And they called him a block of wood?
Li Yanhong thought her own husband wasn't much better than a block of wood either.
...
When the car finally glided smoothly into the military compound, Shen Nanchu slowly woke up.
She rubbed her eyes and stretched, languid as a cat.
"Are we here?"
Her voice carried the soft, fuzzy quality of someone just roused from sleep, sending a tremor through Pei Zhengnian's heart.
"Mm-hmm."
A faint smile touched the corners of Pei Zhengnian's mouth, softening his usually stern features considerably.
He turned to look at Shen Nanchu, his gaze lingering for a moment on her slightly flushed cheeks.
Taking a turn, Pei Zhengnian drove the car to the residential building area.
Rows of neat, three-story buildings in grey and white stood in lines, with laundry of various colors drying on the balconies, adding a touch of domestic life to the austere military camp.
"Wait in the car for a bit," Pei Zhengnian instructed Shen Nanchu softly. "I'll help Sister-in-law carry her things upstairs with Old Fourth."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yanhong hurriedly refused.
"No, no need for that."
She waved her hands anxiously.
"I can manage on my own."
She wouldn't dare trouble the regimental commander himself to move her luggage.
In the end, it was Pei Zhengnian and Pei Yunzhou who saw her to the third floor, one carrying her belongings and the other holding her child.
The narrow stairwell echoed with the sound of heavy footsteps and the child's laughter.
Li Yanhong felt a wave of relief that she hadn't tried to be stubborn. Carrying all that stuff and her child up by herself would have been exhausting.
When Pei Zhengnian returned to the car, he asked, seemingly offhandedly, "What do you think of our military housing?"
His fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel, betraying his inner tension.
Shen Nanchu looked up, surveying the building in front of her.
The fresh white exterior walls gleamed in the sunlight, and every household's balcony was adorned with potted plants, making the place look clean and bright.
"Not bad."
She offered an objective assessment. Compared to the houses in Wang Family Village, this was indeed quite good.
Hearing this, Pei Zhengnian's heart immediately grew uneasy.
He hesitated for a moment before asking again, "If you had to choose, would you prefer to live in an apartment building like this? Or in a single-story house?"
He tried to keep his voice level, but his hands unconsciously tightened their grip on the steering wheel.
Shen Nanchu didn't even have to think. "An apartment building, of course!"
Her tone was matter-of-fact, as if the answer were obvious. Who would choose an old, single-story house when there's a new building available?
Pei Zhengnian's heart instantly sank like a stone. He was done for.
He hadn't chosen an apartment. He'd chosen a single-story house. A wave of regret washed over him. If he had known, he should have listened to Wu Minghui's advice and picked an apartment.
Now, if Shen Nanchu was unhappy...
At this thought, Pei Zhengnian's Adam's apple bobbed. Steeling himself, he started the car.
The jeep slowly pulled away from the residential building area, heading deeper into the camp. The trees lining the road grew denser, sunlight filtering through the leaves to cast mottled shadows on the ground.
Shen Nanchu looked out the window, puzzled. This wasn't the way to the living quarters, was it?
During her previous, brief stay at the camp, Shen Nanchu had, out of habit, familiarized herself with the basic layout. Her memory was astonishing; she could remember a route after seeing it just once, especially since Pei Zhengnian had made a point of showing her around the entire camp last time.
Logically, since she and Pei Yunzhou were here visiting family this time, they should be heading to the military guesthouse.
But the road Pei Zhengnian was taking definitely wasn't leading to the guesthouse.
The jeep passed the training grounds and turned onto a quiet, secluded path.
Neat rows of poplar trees lined both sides, their leaves rustling in the wind.
A multitude of question marks popped into Shen Nanchu's mind. She turned to look at the man in the driver's seat and noticed his Adam's apple bobbing unnaturally, his knuckles white where they gripped the wheel.
Soon, Pei Zhengnian brought the car to a stop in front of a courtyard.
It was a standalone single-story house with red brick walls and grey tiles, looking somewhat aged but clearly well-maintained and recently refurbished.
A low white picket fence surrounded the yard, with a few newly planted rose vines climbing on it, their tender green shoots swaying gently in the breeze.
Shen Nanchu looked at Pei Zhengnian with suspicion, one eyebrow slightly raised.
"We're here."
Pei Zhengnian's jaw was tight, his voice an octave lower than usual.
He quickly got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side to open the door for Shen Nanchu, but persistently avoided meeting her eyes, his gaze drifting instead to the treetops in the distance.
Shen Nanchu stepped out into the summer heat.
She stood before the courtyard gate, arms crossed, taking in this unfamiliar place. Pei Zhengnian pulled a key from his pocket, the metal jingling crisply.
His hand trembled slightly; it took him two tries to insert the key into the lock.
As the gate swung open, the view inside the courtyard rushed into Shen Nanchu's sight.
Her pupils dilated in shock, and for a moment, she forgot to breathe.
A path paved with bluestone slabs and pebbles stretched from the gate all the way to the front door, the grass along its edges neatly trimmed.
A small gazebo stood in the yard, its wooden structure varnished to a warm, glossy sheen in the sunlight.
Beside the gazebo was a grape arbor, its emerald vines already climbing the frame. Underneath the arbor hung a swing, its hemp ropes wrapped with colorful cloth strips, swaying gently in the breeze.
The setup was quite nice, if a bit bare.
Shen Nanchu's gaze swept over a small, recently transplanted tree in the yard, its trunk still supported by wooden stakes.
She glanced at Pei Zhengnian and found him staring intently at that tree, as if studying exactly how many leaves it had, still refusing to meet her eyes.
"Don't tell me this is the house you exchanged your military merits for?"
