“The rain finally stopped after three straight days.”

“I wonder how much longer before Hao Jun and the others come back?”

Li Sisi crocheted a sweater while chatting with Zhang Yaning and Aunt Wang. After two days of serious practice, she had finally gotten the hang of crocheting on her own.

“They should be back soon,” Aunt Wang replied while sewing the sole of a shoe. She rubbed the needle against her hair before threading it again and continuing her work.

“This was just a routine mission. It won’t take too many days.”

Her son, Zhou Guoqing, had gone on the mission this time as well.

Ever since she moved here to help her son and daughter-in-law take care of the children, she had grown used to her son disappearing every few days. By now, she had accumulated plenty of experience.

“You girls are still new to army life, so you’re not used to it yet. After a while, it’ll feel normal.”

“For them, going on missions is as common as eating meals. One time, my Guoqing didn’t come home for half a year.”

“At the time, my youngest grandson had just turned one and was incredibly attached to his father. But when his dad finally came back from the mission, the child didn’t even recognize him anymore. The moment he was picked up, he burst into tears.”

Aunt Wang laughed as she finished speaking.

Li Sisi looked shocked.

“They can be gone for that long?!”

She had thought that after moving here to accompany the army, she would at least get to see her husband every day.

Zhang Yaning was equally surprised.

She knew soldiers were occasionally sent on missions, but she had never imagined they could be gone for so long. The thought of guarding the little courtyard alone for half a year suddenly filled her with anxiety.

At first, she had enjoyed having the house to herself while Shen Nansheng was away.

But after several days passed, something began to feel wrong.

She hadn’t realized that in just a little over a month, she had already grown so dependent on him.

Looking at the two stunned young women, Aunt Wang laughed.

“Don’t be scared. Missions that last that long are actually rare.”

“In the five years I’ve been here, I’ve only seen it happen once.”

Only then did Zhang Yaning and Li Sisi both breathe sighs of relief.

Li Sisi stopped crocheting and patted her chest dramatically.

“Aunt Wang, you nearly scared me to death! I still want to have a baby with my husband. If he leaves for half a year, what if I can’t get pregnant? How am I supposed to explain that to my parents-in-law?”

She and her husband had been middle school classmates, and their families were close. Her husband was the only son in his family.

Even though her in-laws had never pressured her openly, she could still feel how eagerly they wanted grandchildren.

“I came here with a mission too,” she added solemnly.

“What mission?” Zhang Yaning asked curiously.

“To have babies, of course!”

That made Aunt Wang laugh even harder, and even Zhang Yaning burst into laughter.

“Don’t laugh! Isn’t having children the whole point after getting married? My in-laws treat me well, so I want to give the Hao family lots of chubby babies.”

“We’re not laughing at you,” Aunt Wang said cheerfully. “Having children is a serious matter. I also think the more children in a family, the better.”

Her son Guoqing already had two sons and one daughter, and now she was eagerly waiting for her pregnant daughter-in-law to deliver another child.

Boy or girl—it didn’t matter.

Any child born into their family would be treasured.

As the three women chatted, noises suddenly came from next door.

“Could it be that new neighbors are moving in?” Aunt Wang set down her work and listened carefully.

At that moment, the puppy Zhang Yaning had shut inside the bedroom perked up its ears and barked toward the neighboring courtyard.

The sudden sound startled Li Sisi so badly she nearly dropped her yarn.

Zhang Yaning immediately burst into laughter.

“You’re really that afraid of dogs? It’s barely over a month old. Even if it wanted to bite you, it couldn’t.”

Li Sisi’s cheeks flushed red.

“Hmph. Small or not, it’s still a dog.”

“That attitude won’t do,” Zhang Yaning teased. “As military wives, how can we be afraid of this and that? We must overcome all difficulties.”

She deliberately continued, “Comrade Li Sisi, I think you need to start fixing your fear of dogs right now. Wait here—I’ll bring him out so you can slowly get used to him.”

“No! Absolutely not!”

Li Sisi jumped up and ran, making Zhang Yaning laugh loudly behind her.

“Stop teasing her already,” Aunt Wang said while watching the two young women fool around.

They reminded her of her own daughter-in-law, and she couldn’t help sighing inwardly.

Her daughter-in-law was good in every way except one—she hardly spoke. Some days they couldn’t even exchange more than a few sentences.

Hearing voices outside the courtyard, the three women stepped out to take a look.

Sure enough, someone had moved into the neighboring house.

Several young soldiers were unloading belongings from a truck and carrying them into the courtyard.

At first glance, everything appeared to be expensive rosewood furniture.

There was even a piano.

“Look at all that stuff,” Aunt Wang remarked in amazement. “None of it’s cheap.”

Nearby, Lin Qiu was enthusiastically chatting with a young woman wearing a blue dress beneath a white coat.

The girl was stunningly beautiful—so beautiful she instantly caught everyone’s attention.

“Who is that?” Li Sisi gasped. “She’s even prettier than the star beauty from the performance troupe.”

Zhang Yaning was equally captivated.

Her gaze remained glued to the young woman’s face, completely unable to look away.

She was even prettier than the actresses on magazine posters.

As someone who adored beautiful people, Zhang Yaning instantly developed a favorable impression of her.

The beauty smiled gently at them before turning to direct the soldiers helping move the furniture.

Once the woman disappeared into the courtyard, Li Sisi hurriedly waved toward Lin Qiu.

“Sister Lin, who is she? Is she the new military wife moving in?”

Zhang Yaning was just as curious and looked expectantly toward Lin Qiu.

“That’s Regiment Commander Lu’s wife. She came here to accompany the army.”

The moment Lin Qiu finished speaking, Aunt Wang exclaimed in surprise.

“So that was Regiment Commander Lu’s wife? She’s truly gorgeous.”

“She’s just arrived to stay here now?”

Regiment Commander Lu Heng was her son’s superior officer. Everyone already knew he was married, but no one had ever seen his wife before.

Privately, many people had even speculated that the couple didn’t get along, considering that in over two years of marriage, his wife had never once visited, sent letters, or mailed packages.

Who would have thought she’d turn out to be such a delicate, beautiful young woman?

“She looks awfully young,” Cheng Li muttered quietly while holding her child. “Isn’t Regiment Commander Lu already in his thirties? That girl looks eighteen or nineteen at most. Could this be his second marriage?”

The moment she said it, everyone around her looked at her speechlessly.

“Stop right there!”

“Quit making wild guesses,” Lin Qiu hurriedly interrupted. “She’s twenty-two this year. They’ve been engaged since childhood, and the couple gets along very well.”

Lin Qiu understood better than anyone how quickly rumors spread through the military compound.

Her husband had even specifically warned her beforehand to maintain a good relationship with Lu Heng’s wife.

The Lu family had deep and powerful connections, and even the woman Lu Heng married had an extraordinary background.

“Well, he’s still much older,” Cheng Li chuckled. “Commander Lu really knows how to enjoy himself.”

“Can you stop talking already?” Aunt Wang rolled her eyes behind Cheng Li’s back.

She truly disliked Cheng Li.

The woman spoke without thinking, and everything that came out of her mouth sounded irritating, yet she never noticed it herself.

Now that everyone knew new neighbors had arrived, nobody wanted to disturb them further, so the crowd gradually dispersed.

The happiest person by far was Zhang Yaning.

Ever since Liu Gensheng’s family moved away, the place had felt too quiet. Now another family had moved in—and on top of that, there was a beautiful young woman living next door.

Visiting each other in the future would be so convenient.

Though she got along well with Aunt Wang and Li Sisi, Aunt Wang was always busy taking care of her grandchildren and pregnant daughter-in-law, while Li Sisi lived in the newly built apartment area farther away and couldn’t visit often.

In any case, if the new neighbor turned out to be compatible, perhaps they could become good friends.

They could visit each other, shop together…

Zhang Yaning felt full of confidence about the possibility.

However, the moment she walked into the bedroom and saw her torn undershirt and a missing slipper courtesy of the puppy—

“Ahhh! DouDou, you’re dead!”

“Drop that! You can’t chew on that!”