The Stunningly Beautiful and Delicate Darling in the 1980s Military Compound - Chapter 18

Song Mingnian went to the hospital to call Wang Yufen home. Upon hearing that Chen Che had arrived, Wang Yufen immediately swapped shifts with a close colleague and rushed back.

Not long after she reached the house, Song Mingyue and Chen Che arrived together.

Even though the engagement was already a finalized matter, Wang Yufen greeted him with immense hospitality. She specially brewed big jujube tea and served it with pastries—a traditional etiquette reserved only for the most distinguished guests.

Song Mingyue told her mother to stop fussing. Hugging her arm, she said coaxingly, “Mom, I have something to tell you.”

Wang Yufen hadn’t slept well since the previous night. Her eyes were swollen, and her complexion lacked its usual rosy glow. She seemed to know what her daughter was about to say, so she sat down and listened quietly.

“Mom, I’ve decided to join Chen Che at the military post.”

Tears immediately welled up in Wang Yufen’s eyes. She turned away, wiping them with her hand. “Go then. You never listen to what I say anyway. You always decide things without ever consulting your parents.”

In that moment, Song Mingyue realized that she actually possessed a heart after all.

She had always believed she was impenetrable. Growing up without much parental discipline in her previous life, she had been willful and lacked boundaries. There were many people around her, but almost none were genuinely kind, so she never gave her heart to anyone in return. Over time, she thought she simply didn’t have one.

But now, she experienced the sorrow of an impending departure—a deep sense of helplessness.

Only Chen Che offered a sincere promise: “Auntie, I will take good care of Mingyue. I will return her to you whole and unharmed.”

Hearing this, Wang Yufen felt a bit more comforted. She urged Chen Che, “Hurry, drink your tea. Big jujube tea is no good once it gets cold.”

Chen Che’s assignment was urgent. A research project he had worked on for years had failed at the final stage, and a second trial was now beginning. The team required additional personnel, and several specialized soldiers had been selected for support. Since the assignment would last several years, the unit allowed—and even encouraged—those who could bring family members to do so. They had even prepared the necessary letters of introduction.

They were originally scheduled to depart within days, but knowing Chen Che’s situation, the unit had granted him a one-week extension. This meant that in one week, Song Mingyue would have to leave with him.

As for the marriage process, the formal engagement ceremony would proceed as usual, but the wedding itself would likely be held at the military family compound.

Old Mrs. Zhou was a firm believer in auspicious dates. She specifically asked someone to pass a message to Chen Che’s superiors, requesting that they organize a lively and bustling wedding at the compound. The more bustling the celebration, the more prosperous the couple’s future life would be.

The Song family’s engagement ceremony was the talk of the town. It wasn’t just the neighbors from Song Zhuang Street coming over to stare and envy them; many people from the city and district arrived with gifts to offer their congratulations, hoping for a chance to make an impression before Chen Che’s father.

The Chen family also provided enough “face” for the occasion. While a standard dowry consisted of the “Three Rounds and One Sound” (a bicycle, sewing machine, watch, and radio), they added three more: a television, a refrigerator, and an electric fan. In those days, few households in all of Pingcheng—let alone Song Zhuang Street—owned such luxuries.

Most importantly, Chen Che himself was talented and heroic. Anyone who saw him couldn’t help but wonder what kind of ancestral blessing the Song family had received for their daughter to marry such a god-like man.

As for the rumors about Song Mingyue “going crazy over love,” no one mentioned them anymore. If anyone did happen to bring it up, others would immediately retort in disbelief: “Impossible! If I were Little Mingyue, I’d want to marry Chen Che too. Liu Jiabao’s conditions are decent for around here, but compared to Chen Che, it’s like comparing a toad to a swan.”

Listening to these words, Liu Jiabao’s heart filled with resentment. He hid among the crowd, watching Song Mingyue stand beside Chen Che with a radiant smile. Even breathing felt painful for him.

In just one or two short months, their roles had completely reversed.

Outsiders only saw the glitz and glamour, but as the saying goes, only the one who drinks the water knows if it is cold or warm. Wang Yufen couldn’t find a genuine smile. At the thought of her daughter leaving in a few days, she couldn’t bring herself to care about the riches piled before her.

She took out all the dry provisions in the house and packed them. She went to the market and used up six months’ worth of meat coupons to buy pork, which she salted and sliced into strips to be packed for their journey.

Song Aiguo felt she was overdoing it. “Our daughter is going to a military compound. The food there is excellent; she doesn’t need all this. It’ll be a hassle to carry it all on the train.”

“She’s never eaten food from outside before. What if it doesn’t suit her taste?” Wang Yufen retorted. “These are my own preserves; she’s eaten them since she was a child. She’s going so far away; we won’t be able to reach her if she needs help.”

Song Aiguo gently comforted his wife. “Yufen, our daughter was right about one thing: children have their own fortunes. We have to learn to let go. Chen Che won’t treat her badly.”

They said the words, but few parents can truly stop worrying.

After the engagement festivities ended, Song Mingyue saw Chen Che to the station.

The train from Pingcheng to the provincial capital only ran in the mornings. Since Chen Che had work the next day—and because local custom dictated that a fiancé couldn’t stay overnight at the bride’s house on the night of the engagement—he had to travel to a neighboring city first and then take a bus home.

Chen Che could tell that Song Mingyue’s spirits were low. They walked in silence for most of the way. He wasn’t used to this; the Song Mingyue he knew was proud and dazzling, rarely keeping her head down and remaining silent like this.

Passing a street vendor, Chen Che asked, “Do you want some candied hawthorns (tanghulu)?”

Mingyue wanted to say she didn’t like sweets, but since she was in a bad mood, she craved sugar. “I’ll take one.”

As the twilight deepened, the small street was empty except for a few people returning from the station. The setting sun stretched their shadows long across the ground. Mingyue ate the candied hawthorns in silence. She thought they didn’t taste good—the syrup had a cheap, artificial flavor—but she didn’t stop eating.

Chen Che noticed. Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, he said, “If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.”

“When I’m unhappy, I like to eat sweet things.”

“Are you unhappy?” Chen Che asked.

“It’s not because of you. I just feel like I’m a bit unlucky.”

Unlucky enough to travel to this era, unlucky enough to be forced into blind dates, and unlucky enough to have to marry and move to a remote place just to escape them. She was the type of person who hated doing things without a plan, but her current situation made her feel slightly panicked—a sense of confusion about an unknown future.

Chen Che suddenly stopped. In his bottomless eyes, a rare, soft light flickered. “Song Mingyue, you aren’t unlucky. You can do whatever you want to do. If you don’t want to go away, then don’t. If you go and find you can’t adapt, you can come back. Just do whatever makes you happy.”

For a moment, Song Mingyue felt she was about to fall for his tenderness. It turned out this man had a gentle side after all. Who could refuse a handsome man being so incredibly soft and kind?

However, she quickly snapped out of it. “Wait. You don’t need to say those things to me. We have an agreement—this marriage is just to appease our parents. There’s no need to take it seriously, okay?”

Chen Che instantly returned to his cold, aloof self. “Understood. I’m not taking it seriously.”

On her way home after seeing Chen Che off, Song Mingyue ran into Liu Jiabao. To be precise, he had been waiting specifically for her.

“Yueyue, don’t walk so fast! Wait for me!”

Her mood was already sour, and seeing him play the part of the devoted, aggrieved lover only annoyed her further. She snapped, “Save your ‘deeply in love’ drama; I’m tired of watching it. If you really felt bad for Song Mingyue, you wouldn’t be standing here shamelessly begging for forgiveness. Take some actual action—at least then you’d be a man.”

“What kind of action?”

“Are you mentally disabled? Do I have to tell you how to do everything? Liu Jiabao, I’m annoyed. Stop following me!”

When she returned home, she saw the engagement gifts piled up, unopened. Her mother was in the kitchen, still packing things and muttering, “These dried beans are your favorite. We didn’t dry many this year, so I’m giving them all to you. Just soak them in boiling water before you cook them.”

Song Mingyue stepped forward and gently hugged her. “Mom, stop working so hard for me. I’ll take care of myself out there.”

“Why have you become so clingy now that you’re grown?” Wang Yufen took her hand, her heart full of reluctance.

“Once I’m settled out there, I’ll bring you, Dad, and my brother to live with me, okay?”

“Okay. Mom will be waiting at home.”

Song Mingyue felt that this journey hadn’t been entirely without gain; at the very least, she had experienced the warmth of a real family.

The next few days passed quietly. That is, until one morning, when the neighborhood around Song Zhuang Street erupted into a frenzy.

“Did you hear? They found a dead body in the river.”

“It’s someone from Song Zhuang Street. Looks like a middle-aged woman. I wonder what could have driven her to such an end.”

As it turned out, on the previous night, Song Jiajia’s mother, Sun Xiangcui, had jumped into the river and committed suicide. By the time she was discovered, her body was already cold and stiff.