Chapter 51: Rumors—Did Company Commander Sheng Marry an Ugly Woman?

She didn’t bother with false modesty or pretend to downplay her looks, nor did she claim she was just average.

If you’re good-looking, you’re good-looking. Since someone had sincerely complimented her, she accepted it graciously and thanked them openly.

The car slowed to a stop. After about twenty minutes, they arrived at the Northwestern Military District.

Their arrival happened to be witnessed by quite a few military wives.

Everyone knew that the “Jade-faced Yama,” Sheng Zexi, had brought his country wife back!

Sheng Zexi had always been the center of attention in the Northwestern Military District. Now that he’d gotten married—and to a country girl, no less—it was the talk of the town.

“So, what do you think Company Commander Sheng’s wife looks like?”

“What else could she look like? She’s a country girl—probably dark-skinned, either skinny as a bean sprout or big and burly. I bet she’s not very educated either.”

After all, every country girl they’d ever seen fit that description.

“Why do you think Company Commander Sheng married a country girl?”

“Just because he married her doesn’t mean he wanted to! I heard those country folks are the most cunning, always scheming. Maybe she used some trick to latch onto Company Commander Sheng.”

“I think so too. She probably trapped him somehow, so he had no choice but to marry her.”

“Honestly, I feel bad for Company Commander Sheng.”

So, just as Sheng Zexi and Gu Jianing got out of the car, a wave of rumors about them swept through the military district like a gust of ill wind.

As the gossip spread, the story became that Sheng Zexi had been tricked into marrying his country wife, and that she was hideously ugly—dark-skinned, rough, and even pockmarked.

The “Jade-faced Commander” had married an ugly woman! How pitiful, truly pitiful!

Gu Jianing had no idea that people were gossiping about her, calling her ugly and saying she’d schemed her way into marrying Sheng Zexi.

By now, the car had stopped in front of their new home—a single-story house Sheng Zexi had applied for.

Getting out of the car, the cold wind made Gu Jianing quickly put her hat back on and pull her scarf up.

Looking around, she saw several rows of neatly arranged houses. Sheng Zexi’s house was in the front row, with several more rows behind.

Next door lived Zhang Shuwan’s family.

Sheng Zexi had told her that the houses in the front row were the best—they had courtyards, private bathrooms and bathhouses, and even their own wells.

The houses further back didn’t have courtyards, and were missing one thing or another.

In fact, the back rows were sparsely occupied, with many empty houses.

The reason was simple.

For one, the northwest was bitterly cold. In winter, it snowed almost constantly, sometimes leaving the mountains snowbound for two months and causing shortages of supplies.

Most families didn’t want to come and live with the troops.

Another reason was that most people preferred the apartment-style buildings in the family compound.

So, the apartment blocks in the family compound were much more crowded.

Gu Jianing, however, preferred these courtyard houses. They were more spacious, while the apartments were tiny and everything had to be shared—there was hardly any privacy.

Sheng Zexi returned with the keys and unlocked the door.

After helping the couple carry their luggage inside, Lin Xing took his wife and daughter back to their own house next door.

“I had the place thoroughly cleaned after I got the approval. See? It’s pretty tidy, isn’t it?”

Gu Jianing glanced around. It must have been the soldiers who’d cleaned up—everything was spotless and neatly arranged, reminding her of Sheng Zexi’s perfectly folded “tofu block” blankets.

“Let’s take a look around together.”

So the young couple began exploring their new home.

In the middle was the living room, with two rooms on either side. To the east was the kitchen and a storage room; to the west, the bathroom and bathhouse.

A three-sided courtyard enclosed all these rooms.

It wasn’t huge, but it was far from small—especially with a well in the yard.

Gu Jianing knew all too well how important and convenient it was, in those days, to have your own well, bathroom, and bathhouse.

But...

“Isn’t there too little water in this well?” Gu Jianing asked.

The water was clear, but you could almost see the bottom. Was there really enough?

“Water is scarce in the northwest, especially in winter. This is actually pretty good. Plus, with temperatures dropping to minus ten or twenty, people hardly bathe in winter—sometimes only once a month. Otherwise, it’s just too cold and you might get sick.”

Sheng Zexi started heating the kangs (heated brick beds) in the living room and main bedroom, fetched water to boil on the stove, and then grabbed a broom to quickly sweep the snow from the courtyard.

Even though someone had cleaned a couple of days ago, it snowed every day, so snow kept piling up.

When Gu Jianing heard that people only bathed once a month, she was stunned.

“Don’t tell me I’ll have to go a whole month without bathing? Can I at least take a bath today? I feel like I’m already marinating in my own sweat.” Her voice was tinged with grievance. In Huaihua Village, down south, it never snowed even in winter, and Gu Jianing was a stickler for cleanliness—she bathed every day, no matter how cold it got.

“You can,” Sheng Zexi assured her, then leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Gu Jianing’s eyes lit up, and she grabbed his arm in delight. “Really?”

“Really. I’ll take you this afternoon.”

“Deal!”

“So, is there anything I should do now?” Gu Jianing, though a bit lazy and not fond of chores, felt embarrassed seeing Sheng Zexi busying himself alone. After all, this was their home.

“Go unpack and put away the small things. When I’m done, I’ll go to the canteen to get us food.”

“Okay.”

So the couple got to work, one inside, one outside.

Gu Jianing put the food she’d brought from home in the kitchen cupboards—lots of cured meats, like pickled rabbit, smoked chicken, smoked pork, and her mother Yao Chunhua’s homemade pickles.

Her family had wanted her to bring rice and flour too, but she’d refused. Everyone was short on food these days, and besides, it was too far and too heavy to carry.

Gu Jianing had her own “exchange store” system, where she could get food and daily necessities for cheap. She’d find a chance to exchange for some grain later.

After putting away the food, she went to the main bedroom she’d share with Sheng Zexi, curiously eyeing the kang.

There were no kangs in the south, and she’d never slept on one before.

In these days, without modern heating, people relied on kangs for warmth.

Gu Jianing touched it—maybe it hadn’t been heated long enough, because it wasn’t warm yet.

She spread out the bedding, carefully making the bed and arranging the pillows."