After a night of wild passion, Zhang Yaning could only feel speechless when she saw Shen Nansheng put his military uniform back on and instantly return to his usual upright, serious self.

Did this man never get tired?

“I’ll be away for the next few days, so take good care of yourself,” Shen Nansheng reminded her worriedly.

“If you don’t feel like cooking, just get food from the cafeteria or buy something from the state-run restaurant. Don’t let yourself go hungry.”

“And if anything happens, go find Aunt Wang next door, or Political Commissar Zhao. If even they can’t solve it, just endure it for a bit until your man comes back and stands up for you, understand?”

He was worried she might suffer grievances while home alone. From past experience, he knew that beneath the seemingly harmonious surface of the military family compound, plenty of undercurrents existed.

“Got it, got it. Hurry up and leave already, you’re so naggy.”

Wrapped in the blankets, Zhang Yaning impatiently urged him on.

She truly couldn’t understand how such a big man could be this fussy. He had already repeated all of this the night before, and now he was disturbing her sleep first thing in the morning to say it all again.

“I already made today’s meals and left them in the pot. Just heat them up when you wake up.”

Patiently, Shen Nansheng tucked the blanket around her more securely, reached out to deliberately ruffle her hair, then left the room in satisfaction before she could explode at him.

Yet once the room actually became quiet, Zhang Yaning found herself unable to fall back asleep.

She tossed and turned for a while before finally getting up.

This was the first mission Shen Nansheng had gone on since their marriage, and also the first time she had to stay home alone.

At first she had been happy about it, but now the house suddenly felt too quiet.

After breakfast, she wandered around the courtyard to digest her meal and checked on the cucumber and tomato seedlings growing there, unable to stop herself from imagining how they would look once they bore fruit.

Back at her parents’ home, she had loved eating freshly picked tender cucumbers.

Unfortunately, her mother never allowed it, insisting they wait until the cucumbers were fully grown before harvesting them.

Now she was the mistress of her own household.

This time, she was definitely going to eat the cucumbers at their most tender stage.

After carefully watering the plants, she happened to run into several women from the compound heading together to the supply and marketing cooperative. After considering what she needed to replenish, she decided to go along.

“Yaning, your sweater is so beautiful.”

Li Sisi, who had moved here around the same time she had, looked enviously at the loose-fitting knitted cardigan Zhang Yaning was wearing.

The sweater had a creamy off-white base decorated with layered red flowers that gave a three-dimensional effect, making her look especially lively and graceful with every movement.

It looked completely different from the sweaters currently in fashion. This was Li Sisi’s first time seeing this style of knitting, and she thought it was gorgeous.

Lin Qiu noticed it too.

“It really is different from the way we usually knit,” she said. “There’s something especially delicate about it.”

“Oh, this wasn’t knitted with regular needles,” Zhang Yaning explained. “It was crocheted with a hook needle, so the method’s different.”

The moment she said that, everyone looked surprised.

“Crocheted?”

“Yep. You use a hooked needle to stitch it bit by bit. It’s actually simpler than knitting with straight needles, though it’s not as warm since it’s looser. Mostly it’s just prettier.”

Seeing the confusion in everyone’s eyes, she realized this technique still hadn’t spread to the north yet.

“My sister-in-law brought it from her hometown in the south,” she explained. “It just hasn’t become popular here yet. Crochet hooks can make slippers, dolls, handbags—lots of things can be made from yarn.”

Her sister-in-law had once been a sent-down educated youth from the south.

“My goodness… don’t tell me that handbag is crocheted too?” Lin Qiu pointed at the bag Zhang Yaning was carrying.

“Yep, I made that too.”

“If you’re interested, I can teach you all later. It’s actually pretty easy to learn.”

Zhang Yaning felt secretly proud.

Back home, she had originally learned knitting from her sister-in-law. Though she never mastered traditional knitting, she turned out to have a natural talent for crochet instead, even figuring out all kinds of beautiful patterns on her own.

They looked far prettier than the stiff, conventional styles.

She had even crocheted a little tiger doll for her nephew once, and the child had been overjoyed.

Even her sister-in-law had praised her as a crochet genius.

“That’s wonderful!”

“Master Yaning, I’m definitely coming to learn from you later,” Li Sisi said excitedly. “I’ve been trying to figure things out at home for days, but my sweaters never look this fashionable.”

“We want to come too!” several others chimed in.

“Sure, everyone’s welcome,” Zhang Yaning agreed grandly with a wave of her hand.

The group soon arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative.

It was located in the nearest town to the military family compound, about half an hour away on foot. The store was medium-sized and stocked basic necessities, though compared to the department stores in the city, its selection was far more limited.

For expensive items, people still had to go into the city.

After browsing for a while, Zhang Yaning bought two packs of peach pastries, a bag of fried glutinous rice sticks, and two jin of white sugar. After paying with ration coupons and cash, she waited outside for the others.

As she admired the scenery around her, she noticed several young women in military uniforms approaching while chatting and laughing together.

One of them stood out immediately.

She was especially beautiful, walking at the center like the moon surrounded by stars.

The group only glanced at Zhang Yaning as they passed by.

Only the beautiful woman in the middle paused briefly, her gaze lingering on Zhang Yaning long enough for her to vaguely sense a trace of hostility.

After thinking carefully, Zhang Yaning was certain she had never met her before.

“They’re from the performance troupe,” Li Sisi whispered after coming outside and noticing the interaction.

Looking toward the retreating figures, she lowered her voice gossipingly.

“The prettiest one in the middle is Han Nian. She’s the star performer of the troupe. Tons of officers pursue her, but she’s rejected every single one.”

“I even heard that once a division commander’s son chased her all the way to the troupe dormitory carrying a huge bouquet of flowers, and she still turned him down!”

Li Sisi had been stunned when she first heard the story herself. No one had ever even given her a flower before.

“If my Hao Jun gave me even one flower, I’d be so happy I couldn’t sleep for three days. I seriously wonder what kind of man she’s waiting for.”

“Oh, really?” Zhang Yaning exclaimed in surprise.

But then again, considering how beautiful, elegant, and talented at dancing Han Nian was, having many admirers seemed normal.

“I heard about that too,” Aunt Wang suddenly joined in with the others. “That division commander’s son was refined and scholarly. They say he teaches at a university—a true intellectual. Even he wasn’t good enough for her. Her standards are unbelievably high.”

Li Sisi jumped in fright when the others suddenly joined the conversation. Guiltily, she glanced behind her, only relaxing after seeing the performers had already gone inside the store.

The group chatted about the topic all the way home.

A middle-aged woman carrying a basket of eggs—the wife of the Second Regiment commander—also chimed in.

“I originally wanted to introduce my nephew to her. He’s twenty-three this year and works as a purchasing agent at the department store. He earns at least seventy-five yuan a month. But after thinking about it, I figured she probably wouldn’t be interested, so I never brought it up.”

“If any of you have suitable young women in your families, let me know. If fate works out, maybe we’ll become relatives!”

“Now that you mention it, my niece might actually be a good match for your nephew,” another woman immediately replied. “She’s an elementary school teacher, and her monthly salary—”

At that point, Zhang Yaning and Li Sisi exchanged amused looks.

The conversation had completely veered off track and somehow turned into a matchmaking session.

Meanwhile, over at the supply cooperative, the young women from the performance troupe were also chatting animatedly.

“So the woman in the sweater just now was Deputy Regiment Commander Shen’s wife?”

“She’s not ugly or anything, and her clothes aren’t unfashionable either… but she’s not exactly some fairy-level beauty.”

“So how did she manage to win over Deputy Regiment Commander Shen?” Liu Jingjing wondered aloud.

“I heard she’s from the countryside,” Tian Xin added.

Out of curiosity, she had specifically asked around about Zhang Yaning before.

“She and Deputy Regiment Commander Shen are from the same hometown, but she’s a genuine rural girl while he grew up in the county town. I really don’t know what he saw in her.”

Before Shen Nansheng married, he had been one of the top dream husbands among the women in the performance troupe.

An outstanding military academy graduate, he had become the youngest regiment commander through military achievements while still very young. His future was bright, he was handsome, and most importantly—he had been single.

Unfortunately, he had been completely impervious to romance.

It wasn’t like no one had tried pursuing him. Every single one ended up humiliated.

Even someone as thick-skinned as Sun Jia couldn’t withstand Shen Nansheng’s coldness. He was genuinely capable of publicly scolding beautiful women who confessed to him until they cried.

Words like “unromantic” and “iron-faced” fit him perfectly.

Eventually, nobody dared pursue him anymore.

Not because they didn’t want to—but because he was impossible to crack.

Yet they had only gone away for a little over half a month on a performance tour.

When they came back, how had Deputy Regiment Commander Shen suddenly gotten married?!

“Hey, do you think Deputy Regiment Commander Shen treats his wife the same way he trains soldiers?” Tian Xin asked curiously.

“I think he probably does,” Dong Lele replied immediately. “Just imagining being disciplined and lectured every day makes me unwilling. I prefer gentle scholarly men.”

She was the only one completely uninterested in Shen Nansheng.

“Nian Nian, don’t you think Deputy Regiment Commander Shen must’ve been trapped somehow?” Liu Jingjing still couldn’t understand it. “Otherwise why would he marry such an ordinary village girl?”

Back when Shen Nansheng was still a battalion commander, she had secretly admired him too.

But after hearing that even the commander’s daughter had been rejected by him, she gave up.

Still, in the end… how had he somehow married the most ordinary rural woman imaginable?

“That’s enough. Their marriage has nothing to do with us. Hurry back so we can train.”

Han Nian stopped their wild speculation, though her own mood remained gloomy.

She truly hadn’t expected Shen Nansheng to marry some random rural woman so quickly just to reject her.

Did he really think doing this could help him escape his true feelings?

One day, he would definitely regret it.