Around noon, after Zhang Yaning had washed and chopped the ingredients for lunch, Shen Nansheng happened to get home from work.

He was carrying two cans of fruit and some steamed buns he had bought from the cafeteria.

“How did you know I was craving fruit?” Zhang Yaning beamed as she took the things from his hands. She glanced at the golden-yellow peaches inside the jar—they looked sweet and juicy.

Fresh fruit was hard to come by these days, and canned fruit was even rarer. She hadn’t expected Shen Nansheng to actually get his hands on two cans for her.

“You talked about it in your sleep,” Shen Nansheng teased. “You were crying because you wanted fruit.”

He tied on an apron, washed his hands carefully with soap at the sink, then took over the cooking she had been doing.

“That’s nonsense. I don’t talk in my sleep,” Zhang Yaning protested.

But then she suddenly remembered how she really had cried two nights ago. It had happened in the middle of the night, and if Shen Nansheng hadn’t mentioned it, she would have forgotten all about it.

Half-asleep at the time, she vaguely remembered dreaming of a huge orchard filled with fruit she couldn’t eat. In the end, she had been so frustrated she cried from craving it.

Her face instantly flushed with embarrassment.

Still, a dream was just a dream. Thinking back on it now, some of the fruit in that dream looked like things she had never even seen before.

She hovered beside Shen Nansheng, eagerly helping him while watching him stir-fry with practiced ease. The way he tossed the wok and handled the spatula filled her with admiration.

His cooking was nearly as good as the professional chefs hired for village banquets back home. Anyone who tasted his food would praise it.

Compared to him, she really did seem lacking.

Although she had grown up in the countryside, she had been the only daughter in the family and was spoiled by everyone. From childhood to adulthood, she had barely cooked more than a few meals.

Even when she worked in the fields, she only did the easier tasks—pulling weeds or picking vegetables.

Yet somehow, jealous people had spread rumors that she was lazy and useless.

Aside from making marriage prospects harder, though, her life had actually been quite good.

Her family had been open-minded and never looked down on her for remaining unmarried. It wasn’t until she was twenty-four that she met Shen Nansheng, and only then did she feel that perhaps fate truly existed.

A twenty-four-year-old “leftover woman” somehow ended up marrying a handsome, successful twenty-seven-year-old soldier.

If she had married earlier, or if he had settled down sooner, the two of them never would have crossed paths.

How could that not count as destiny?

Soon, three dishes were ready: scrambled eggs with green peppers, shredded potatoes, and the cured pork dish she had been craving.

There were also steamed buns and rice porridge.

In those days, it was considered an extremely lavish lunch. Back in the countryside, an entire family might only eat one dish for a meal.

Zhang Yaning felt happier and happier, increasingly grateful that she had married such a good man.

Truthfully, she had played a tiny trick during their matchmaking.

She had deliberately hidden the fact that she could barely cook, letting the matchmaker praise her to the skies. Her plan had been to get married first and worry later.

The lie lasted all the way until after the wedding.

Yet even after Shen Nansheng discovered the truth, he never blamed her. Instead, he simply cooked delicious meals for her every day.

That alone already made him a hundred times better than most men.

A man this handsome, capable, strong, and loving toward his wife—she never imagined she would actually catch one in this lifetime.

“Shen Nansheng, eat some meat.” She rewarded him first by placing a slice of cured pork into his bowl before serving herself.

The corners of Shen Nansheng’s lips lifted uncontrollably. One bite of pork and half a steamed bun disappeared.

Food tasted better when his wife picked it for him.

The newlywed couple finished lunch in sweet harmony, shared a can of fruit afterward, then enjoyed a comfortable afternoon nap.

Later that afternoon, loud noises began coming from next door as furniture and belongings were dragged outside amid constant banging and crashing.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Zhang Yaning peeked outside. She saw Aunt Wang and several others gathered nearby watching the commotion, so she quietly slipped into the crowd as well.

Soon they saw Liu Zhaodi emerge, crying as she led three dirty children behind the gloomy-faced Liu Gensheng. One side of her face was swollen red.

After everything was loaded up, the entire family climbed into the vehicle and slowly drove out of the compound.

“They’re leaving just like that? Did he retire from the army?” someone asked curiously.

“I heard from my husband that he got transferred somewhere else,” Miao Xi replied. “Who knows how Liu Zhaodi’s life will turn out after this.”

Miao Xi’s husband served in the same battalion as Liu Gensheng and knew him fairly well, so she was more informed than most.

Because of that connection, her husband had gone to mediate their fights several times.

Though Liu Zhaodi was pitiful, she herself was impossible to help. She was unreasonable and indiscriminately lashed out at anyone who tried to assist her. People eventually started avoiding her altogether.

Her life was truly a complete mess.

“Her life definitely won’t improve,” said a plump auntie while cracking sunflower seeds, unable to hide the schadenfreude in her tone.

“At least here there were leaders who knew the situation and kept things somewhat under control. Once she gets somewhere unfamiliar, who’s going to bother handling all her drama?”

“Honestly, who cares?” said Lin Qiu, the political commissar’s wife who lived on the other side of Liu Zhaodi’s home. “Neither of them are easy to deal with. As long as they’re gone, that’s enough. They fought day and night without stopping. Maybe now I can finally sleep peacefully.”

Every time the couple fought, her husband had to step in to mediate. But Liu Zhaodi was utterly unreasonable and only acted according to her own temper. The moment she was unhappy, she would scream and throw tantrums. Liu Gensheng wasn’t the type to back down either.

Their family had never known a moment of peace over the years.

This time, aside from a few close comrades coming to see Liu Gensheng off, not a single military wife went over to say goodbye.

That alone showed how unpopular they were.

That evening, the entire area felt unusually quiet.

“It’s so quiet all of a sudden. I’m not used to it,” Zhang Yaning remarked during dinner.

Shen Nansheng looked helpless and silently placed a tender piece of fish belly into her bowl.

He had specially traded with a nearby villager after work to get the fish. Knowing how much Zhang Yaning loved it, he often went searching for some whenever he could.

“Hurry and eat,” he said. “After dinner, we still have important business.”

Hearing him say something so suggestive with a perfectly serious face made her want to smack him.

Ever since they got married, this man seemed endlessly energetic at night.

Back when they first dated, he had blushed just from holding her hand. But after marriage, he became far bolder than she was.

“Can you stop thinking about that all the time?” Zhang Yaning snapped. She truly didn’t know how he had survived before getting a wife.

“Thinking about what?” Shen Nansheng asked innocently.

“Weren’t you the one who said we needed to heat water for a bath tonight? Did I remember wrong?”

Zhang Yaning choked on her words.

She suddenly remembered she really had mentioned wanting a bath that morning. Watching all the excitement next door had made her completely forget.

“Yes, yes, we definitely need to bathe!”

Coal briquettes were rationed these days, so to save fuel they usually gathered firewood from the hills behind the compound to heat water.

Normally she only wiped herself down with a cloth. A proper bath happened maybe once a week.

Every bath required three pots of hot water mixed with cold water—a lot of physical work. She relied entirely on Shen Nansheng for it.

“But now I’m curious,” Shen Nansheng said, unable to suppress his grin. “What exactly was that ‘thing’ you thought I meant?”

Mortified, Zhang Yaning lowered her head and shoveled the rest of her rice into her mouth before fleeing back to the bedroom, her ears burning red.

She no longer wanted to deal with the man behind her.

The husband she once thought was cool, upright, and dignified clearly had hidden depths—just like her own so-called “virtuousness.”

Watching her run away, Shen Nansheng laughed softly. He quickly finished eating, cleaned up the dishes, then cheerfully went to heat the bathwater.

As he stared into the fire beneath the stove, he thought back to the day they first met.

She had worn two braided pigtails, a white blouse, and blue work pants. Her skin had been soft and fair, her eyes bright and lively.

She had only smiled at him once from a distance, and his heartbeat had immediately gone wild.

Later, after they officially began dating, their wedding had originally been planned for August.

But under his persistent urging, they moved it forward and got married in early May instead.

The moment he married the woman he loved, happiness overwhelmed him so completely that he wanted to shout at the sky.

All that excess energy had nowhere to go except toward doting on his wife.

Now she was his wife.

And she would always be his wife.

Full of enthusiasm, Shen Nansheng finished heating the water and poured it into the large wooden tub until it was half full, testing the temperature carefully.

“Wife, the water’s ready.”

The bathroom was a small room he had specially built beside the kitchen for bathing.

Zhang Yaning carried in her change of clothes. Steam filled the room warmly, far more comfortable than the public bathhouse.

She had never liked bathing naked with a crowd of women anyway. Back then she had no choice.

Now, though, she had a good husband.

After enjoying a thorough bath, she emerged to find that her diligent “Mr. Snail” had already washed all her dirty clothes—including her undergarments.

At first she had felt embarrassed by that.

But after sharing a bed often enough, she gradually became accustomed to it.

Cheerfully, she shot Shen Nansheng an approving glance before heading into the bedroom while drying her hair.

The moment Shen Nansheng saw her slender waist, his gaze darkened.

Without saying a word, he entered the bathroom, quickly washed himself with the remaining water, then rushed into the bedroom and wrapped his arms around that soft waist.

Another night of passion unfolded, only ending well past midnight.

By now, Zhang Yaning had completely given up resisting.

The difference in strength between men and women was simply too great.

This man indulged her in almost everything—except in this one matter, where he absolutely refused to compromise.

She truly had no way to deal with him anymore.

Whatever happened, happened.