An Accidental Military Marriage

Chen Xue didn’t want to talk to Zhou Xiaoqing, but she couldn’t help but stop when she heard Jiang Moli’s name.

"What’s she done now?"

"She really screwed up this time—she got her family’s house taken away!"

Having learned her lesson from last time, Chen Xue didn’t just blindly believe Zhou Xiaoqing.

She asked around with some employees from the Hongguang Machinery Factory. After confirming that the factory had indeed repossessed Jiang Moli’s family home, she excitedly went to find Lu Tingting.

When Lu Tingting heard that Jiang Moli had gotten her family’s house taken away, she was so happy she could have set off firecrackers to celebrate.

After Chen Xue had passed on information a few times, Lu Tingting had come to recognize her abilities and accepted her into their little clique.

Having received such explosive news, Lu Tingting’s first instinct was naturally to go tattle to An Hui.

She refused to believe that her grandmother would still protect Jiang Moli after she’d caused such a huge disaster.

...

Jiang Moli had just woken up from her nap and was sprawled on the sofa, trying to fully wake up.

Seeing Lu Tingting burst in excitedly, she instantly perked up. "My dear niece, come have a seat. Keep your Third Aunt company and help me with my boredom."

Lu Tingting snorted coldly at her, the schadenfreude on her face impossible to hide. She turned her head and shouted to An Hui, who had come out of her room after hearing the commotion, "Grandma, I have huge news to tell you!"

"What is it? What’s all the fuss about?"

Lu Tingting pointed at Jiang Moli on the sofa. "She’s really caused a huge disaster this time! She got her family’s house taken away."

"My dear niece, I had no idea you cared so much about your Third Aunt."

"Who cares about you? Stop flattering yourself!"

"If you don’t care about me, then you must care about my family, right? Don’t tell me you’ve got your eye on my little brother?"

"You’re full of shit!"

An Hui irritably cut them off. "Alright, that’s enough from both of you. You bicker every time you see each other, just like enemies."

Lu Tingting continued to tattle. "Grandma, if she can get her own family’s house taken away this time, she’ll dare to get your house taken away next time. You can’t keep spoiling her."

’A scolding isn’t enough to vent my anger. It would be best to give Jiang Moli a good beating until she’s black and blue.’

"I know about this."

An Hui’s calm response clearly dissatisfied Lu Tingting. "Grandma..."

"There’s red bean soup in the kitchen. Go get some for yourself."

Lu Tingting had a huge sweet tooth. As soon as she heard there was red bean soup, she forgot about bickering with Jiang Moli and turned to go into the kitchen.

"My dear niece, how about getting a bowl for your Third Aunt, too?"

"In your dreams!"

Jiang Moli copied her, tattling to An Hui, "Mom, look at Tingting. She has no respect for me, her Third Aunt."

"Get a bowl for your Third Aunt, too."

Although An Hui said this, she shot a glare at Jiang Moli, clearly warning her not to take things too far.

Lu Tingting was so angry she didn’t even want the red bean soup anymore, but on second thought, she changed her mind.

After entering the kitchen, Lu Tingting took two clean bowls from the cabinet. She opened her mouth and spat into one of them. Feeling that wasn’t enough, she dug out a big glob of snot and flicked it in before she started ladling the red bean soup into the bowl with a sneaky smile.

"Here, this bowl is yours!"

The red bean soup was served in a snow-white porcelain bowl. The soup itself was thick and smooth, dotted with plump lotus seeds and peanuts, looking absolutely tempting.

"Thank you, niece."

Lu Tingting snorted coldly and pretended to lower her head and eat her own red bean soup.

"Huh? Whose cat ran into our house?"

An Hui and Lu Tingting looked in the direction Jiang Moli was pointing.

"Where’s the cat?"

"It’s already gone. Let’s just eat the red bean soup. Hey, my cousin-in-law’s cooking is really good. The red beans have been cooked down to a perfect, soft paste."

Jiang Moli lifted her bowl of red bean soup as if to eat it. Noticing Lu Tingting’s gaze, she said, "What, you want my bowl? You can have it, then."

"Who wants yours? It’s not like I don’t have my own!"

With that, she picked up her own bowl of red bean soup and started eating.

Jiang Moli started eating too.

Watching Jiang Moli eat the red bean soup spoonful after spoonful, Lu Tingting was blooming with joy on the inside.

’Go on, eat it. Eat my spit and my snot. It won’t kill you!’

Only when Jiang Moli was near the bottom of her bowl did Lu Tingting speak up with malicious intent, "Third Aunt, was the red bean soup good?"

Jiang Moli beamed. "Your bowl was delicious. I wonder how my bowl tasted?"

Lu Tingting looked at Jiang Moli’s bowl, then at the red bean soup in her own hands, her eyes widening.

"What do you mean?"

"I got greedy. I saw that your bowl was a little fuller, so while you were looking at the cat earlier, I secretly switched them."

Lu Tingting’s face changed. The next second, she clapped a hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom.

"BLECH—"

Hearing the sounds from the bathroom, An Hui quickly followed to see what was wrong.

Jiang Moli unhurriedly finished the rest of her red bean soup, then wiped her mouth and went to the bathroom to watch the show.

In the bathroom, Lu Tingting was hunched over the sink, vomiting violently, while a worried An Hui patted her on the back.

"Oh my, an upset stomach?"

An Hui shot her a look. "Are you alright?"

’Her granddaughter had started vomiting like this right after eating the red bean soup, so she couldn’t help but worry that the soup had gone bad.’

"I’m fine. It’s strange, though, isn’t it? Same pot of soup, I’m perfectly fine after eating it, but she’s vomiting like this. Could it be she has some underlying health problem?"

Lu Tingting whipped her head around to glare at her, her eyes redder than a rabbit’s. "You’re the one with a problem! Get lost! The sight of you makes me sick!"

Jiang Moli feigned surprise. "The sight of me makes you sick? What, did I get you pregnant? If you are, it’s fine. Have the baby, I’ll raise it."

"AHHH!!!"

Lu Tingting was so angry she could have split apart.

After finally managing to coax her granddaughter away, An Hui closed the main door. She turned back to look at Jiang Moli on the sofa and couldn’t help but scold her:

"You’re the elder, Tingting is the younger generation. You shouldn’t always be bullying her."

"Mom, don’t be biased. She’s clearly the one who came here looking for trouble. And about that bowl of red bean soup... why do you think she threw up?"

Hearing Jiang Moli say this, An Hui finally guessed that her granddaughter had tampered with the red bean soup.

’She was inwardly surprised at Jiang Moli’s sharp perception, but what she said was,’ "If you knew the soup wasn’t clean, you could have just not eaten it."

"That won’t do. If I didn’t eat it, word would get out that I’m wasting food. I’m not taking the blame for that."

An Hui couldn’t win an argument with her, so she couldn’t be bothered to say any more.

...

「Menghai Command Post.」

"...The disaster relief mission in Dian City has been successfully completed. All 436 soldiers who participated in the mission have returned to base. Awaiting your orders, sir!"

"Good."

Zhang Zhili clapped him on the shoulder, his resolute eyes filled with admiration for his outstanding subordinate. "You’ve all worked hard for so many days and must be exhausted. Have the soldiers dismissed to go back and rest up. At 6 PM sharp, we’ll hold a celebration on the training grounds. The brigade will be commending the soldiers who performed exceptionally on this mission."

"Yes, sir!"

After dismissing the soldiers, Lu Cheng was also preparing to return to the barracks when he was stopped by Zhong Weiguo.

"Hey, your letter. Just arrived this morning, it’s fresh off the press."

Lu Cheng took the letter. Seeing it was sent from home, his heart suddenly surged with emotion.

"Thank you, Commander Zhong!"

"Alright, now. Look at that stubble on your face. Hurry back, wash up, and get yourself cleaned up."

Lu Cheng tucked the letter away safely. With a new spring in his step, he hurried toward the barracks, too preoccupied to even respond to the greetings from soldiers he passed along the way.

When he got back to his dorm, he first drew a basin of water to wash his hands thoroughly before carefully taking out the envelope and opening it.