First Night with the Army: The Stoic Big Shot Is Done Pretending

Wen Ci’s eyes widened. "That fast?"

She’d clearly heard Sister Jing say, "That little rascal is very slow with his homework, so keep an eye on him." She had assumed elementary school students in the eighties were buried in assignments.

But he finished in just half an hour!

The little rascal nodded. "Yep. I usually like to play with my younger siblings while doing my homework. Today, I didn’t play at all, so I finished it pretty quickly."

Wen Ci looked at the little rascal. He was a smart kid, just with weak self-control; he couldn’t resist the temptation of fun.

"You kids sit here and do your homework nicely, okay?"

Wen Ci took the little rascal’s hand and led him to the study. Her gaze locked onto the most prominent book on the shelf: How the Steel Was Tempered.

She reached out, took the book down, and said, "I’m lending you this book, so you can’t damage it, okay? You have to give it back to me when you’re done."

The little rascal looked at the cover, extremely interested in the book. He nodded vigorously. "I’ll definitely take good care of it."

-

Before they knew it, it was time for dinner.

The four men were already at the table. A pot of liquor and some side dishes were set out, and they had already started drinking. "Good thing the Living Yama isn’t here. Otherwise, we wouldn’t dare drink in front of him."

Drinking was forbidden at the military base, so even on leave, they were on edge. Just looking at the Living Yama’s face was enough to send a chill down their spines.

"Tell me about it. When my wife told me we were eating at the Living Yama’s house, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I’d rather eat in the mess hall than come here." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Wen Ci helped bring some dishes to the table.

Zhu Jing shot the men a look and grumbled, "Look at you all, living it up. You’ve already started drinking, but it didn’t occur to you to help bring the food to the table?"

In front of Wen Ci, the men fell silent.

They didn’t know Wen Ci’s personality, but they figured any woman the Living Yama would marry must have a temperament to match. She was not to be trifled with!

Just as the men were about to get up, Xiang Qin and the other women brought out the rest of the dishes from the kitchen. Each dish had been divided into two bowls, one for each end of the table.

Zhu Jing was beaming. "I won’t say much more. Let’s eat up!"

Wen Ci stood up, raising her soda. "I’d like to wish Sister Jing a happy birthday!"

Her original plan had been to buy Sister Jing a birthday present from the mall in Hai City when she went to get her Water Sleeve Dance costume custom-made.

But the broken-down bus had ruined her plan.

Zhu Jing clinked her soda bottle against Wen Ci’s. "Thank you for the well wishes, Wen Ci. Here’s to our lives getting better and better."

At that, everyone clinked their glasses together.

Zhu Jing pointed to the lean pork soup in the middle of the table and said, "Chicken soup would have been the most nutritious, but we didn’t have an extra chicken. I used codonopsis root to cook this lean pork instead. It’s just as nourishing."

Wen Ci: "..."

She touched her forehead but, not wanting to disappoint Sister Jing, ladled a bowl of the soup. The codonopsis and lean pork soup was surprisingly savory, and the herbal taste wasn’t strong at all.

Wen Ci’s eyes lit up. She gave Zhu Jing a thumbs-up and said, "This soup is genuinely delicious. Sister Jing, your cooking is amazing."

"If you like it, have some more."

Xiao Shitou tugged on Wen Ci’s sleeve, looked up, and asked in a small, child-like voice, "Pretty sister, can I have a turn on your bike?"

They had all seen that bicycle the moment they entered the courtyard. The little kids were especially excited, but had been given strict warnings from their parents.

So they didn’t dare get too close.