An Accidental Military Marriage

Before Lu Tingting could even open her mouth, Wu Meixia and the others took turns telling Meng Wei the whole story.

They rattled off a list of Jiang Moli’s past transgressions—her shamelessness, her laziness, all of it.

Meng Wei’s expression grew darker the more she listened.

They all assumed she was indignant on behalf of Lu Tingting, who had been bullied by Jiang Moli.

In reality, Meng Wei was fuming over Lu Cheng’s terrible taste. She was even more furious and resentful that she had actually lost to a worthless airhead like Jiang Moli.

[Disdain Value +1.]

Hearing the Disdain Value come in, Jiang Moli wasn’t too concerned. ’No doubt someone’s complaining about me behind my back.’

Suppressing her inner fury, Meng Wei took out a handkerchief and offered it to Lu Tingting, comforting her in a gentle voice. "Your third uncle was in the wrong. No matter the circumstances, he shouldn’t have sided with an outsider and let you be wronged."

Her words struck a chord with Lu Tingting. "Sister Weiwei, I wish you were my third aunt! That bitch, Jiang Moli... I don’t know what kind of tricks she used to seduce my third uncle. It makes me so mad!"

Hearing Lu Tingting call Jiang Moli a bitch gave Meng Wei a flicker of satisfaction, but she said, "There, there. No need to get angry over someone so insignificant. As for the volunteer teaching post, I’ll talk to your third uncle for you."

Lu Tingting pouted. "I don’t want to clean toilets. They smell awful."

Meng Wei smiled. "That’s an easy fix. You’re the one who got her that job. If she were to lose it, she couldn’t order you around anymore."

Lu Tingting’s face lit up as an idea struck her. "Oh, right! How could I be so stupid? Thank you, Sister Weiwei!"

Once she saw Lu Tingting and her group off, Meng Wei’s smile faded. She turned and walked into the department store.

The department store was bustling with people, but Meng Wei spotted Lu Cheng in a single glance.

His tall frame stood out from the crowd like a crane among chickens. With his sharp brows and bright eyes, he was dazzling even in a sea of people.

Then her gaze fell on the woman beside Lu Cheng.

She admitted Jiang Moli had a certain charm, but when compared to her awful traits—laziness, ignorance, vanity—that bit of beauty couldn’t possibly cover her many flaws.

Besides, Lu Cheng wasn’t a man driven by looks.

While she might not be a devastating beauty, she was widely acknowledged in their circle for having both talent and looks. If Lu Cheng were truly a man driven by lust, he would have made a move on her long ago.

No matter how she looked at it, Lu Cheng falling for Jiang Moli was bizarre.

Either Jiang Moli possessed some hidden virtue, or Lu Cheng had a compelling reason he couldn’t share.

Whatever the case, she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

...

After searching all the counters on the first floor without finding any wedding attire, Lu Cheng led Jiang Moli to the fabric counter. He told her to pick a festive material they could take home to have a tailor make into an outfit.

"This fabric is nice. It’s light, breathable, and the color is perfect."

Lu Cheng’s eye was immediately caught by a bolt of bright red polyester, also known as terylene. In those days, it was a point of pride for young people to wear terylene.

Jiang Moli didn’t like terylene. Instead, she took a liking to a fine cotton fabric with a small floral print on a red background.

"I want this one."

"Alright, this one it is. How many feet do you need?"

’This simple act of buying fabric revealed something. The man didn’t have the common flaw of most men in this era—male chauvinism. He didn’t seem to think that just because he was the head of the household and earned the money, I had to listen to him.’

After buying the fabric, the two of them headed up to browse the second floor.

The second floor primarily sold items like furniture, electronics, and hardware.

Jiang Moli picked out a new bed, a new wardrobe, and a vanity. She also bought a set of woven rattan-style end tables and lounge chairs.

’The Lu Family home has a courtyard. Come autumn, I could set up a sun canopy, arrange the tables and chairs underneath, and just lie back and relax. How nice would that be.’

For everything Jiang Moli picked out, Lu Cheng paid without a word of protest.

Department stores in this era were state-run, and being a salesclerk was an enviable "iron rice bowl" of a job. As such, they all acted high and mighty, not bothering to be polite just because you were making a purchase. Home delivery was out of the question; you had to figure out how to haul away your own things.

Lu Cheng, however, had a simple solution. He just called Lu Deyao and told him to send some people over to help.

After the call, Lu Cheng asked Jiang Moli, "Do you want to see anything else on the second floor? If not, we can head up to the third."

Jiang Moli actually felt they were about done. They had bought most of what they needed, and they had already spent a fair bit of money.

’But seeing Lu Cheng act like a sugar daddy who didn’t care about the cost, Jiang Moli decided it was necessary to show him what it really meant to spend money like water.’

The two of them went up to the third floor.

The third floor had an overall atmosphere of being high-end, grand, and classy. Gold, silver, and jade; watches and fountain pens; tobacco, liquor, and tea; high-end clothing and leather shoes—it had everything.

Further in, there was even a separately sectioned-off "Special Supply" area.

Lu Cheng had obviously come prepared, as he led Jiang Moli straight to the jewelry counter.

"Do you like gold, jade, or gemstones?"

Jiang Moli replied directly, "I like them all."

Lu Cheng wasn’t fazed. "You have all our money. Just set aside one thousand yuan for the wedding banquet. The rest is yours to manage. Once it’s spent, it’s spent."

’Jiang Moli didn’t know whether to say the man had no concept of money or was just incredibly magnanimous.’

’But on second thought, given his profession and rank, he really didn’t have much financial pressure.’

’His uniforms were provided by the army, his meals were eaten in the army mess, and even his housing was allocated by the army. The only thing he needed to spend money on was me, his new wife.’

Lu Cheng pointed to a plain gold bangle in the display case. "This one’s nice. Simple and elegant."

"I don’t want it."

Lu Cheng pointed to a green jade bangle. "What about this one?"

"I don’t like it."

Lu Cheng glanced at her and chuckled. "Then you pick something out yourself. It’s still early, so take your time. There’s no rush."

’His tone wasn’t impatient at all. Instead, it was filled with the patient tolerance of an older man.’

Jiang Moli walked a lap around the jewelry counter with her hands behind her back but didn’t buy a single thing in the end.

"You don’t like any of them?"

"Yeah."

"Then we can check some other stores later."

"We’ll see."

’It wasn’t that she disliked the jewelry designs. It was that this was a sensitive era. Flaunting gold and silver and living extravagantly could easily lead to being criticized for having a capitalist mindset.’

Although she didn’t buy any jewelry, the ready-to-wear clothes on the third floor were quite nice. The craftsmanship and materials were superior, but the colors were a bit plain—mostly just shades of blue, black, gray, and white.

Jiang Moli picked out two outfits.

One was a blouse and pants set, the other a short-sleeved shirt with a midi skirt. She also bought a pair of the caged leather sandals that were so popular at the time.

On her way to the restroom, she spotted a counter selling bras tucked away in a remote corner.

People were relatively conservative in this era. Rural women mostly wore traditional *dudou* tops, while city women generally wore undershirts. Bras were not yet widely accepted.

But for Jiang Moli, bras were much more comfortable than undershirts.

Lu Cheng must have noticed she had been gone for a while, because he came looking for her.

"What are you looking at?"

Jiang Moli casually picked up the two bras she had chosen. "Which one do you think is better?"

The man stared at the bras for two seconds before tactically averting his gaze, his ears turning bright red.

"Whichever you like is fine."

’He gets this shy just from looking at a bra. I wonder how he’d react if I put one on right in front of him.’

’Tsk, tsk.’

Jiang Moli decisively bought both bras.

After that, the two of them went to check out the special supply counter.