When Lin s.h.i.+heng came back, He Xiaobao; whose body was covered with medicinal wine, stood by the pot expectantly and looked at the dumplings with his neck stretched and his face full of yearning.

He coughed and called out, “Xiaobao. ”

He Xiaobao immediately reacted, he stood up straight, and in a standard military posture appeared in front of Lin s.h.i.+heng.

“Yes, it seems that Deputy Zhang has a good command of recruits. It's only a few days, and you look like a decent one.”

How could he not be decent?

He Xiaobao's face is bitter. If he doesn't stand well; while others go to rest, he must continue to stand. Otherwise, he has to run around. Even if his legs feel soft, he has to run. He is tired half to death, he could hardly finish running. If he does stand well, while people go back to their dormitory to eat, he has to go back to their dormitory, and stand there with sore legs and cook!

Worst of all, when he returns to his dormitory, he couldn't live in peace. It was so good at home, he only has to put his hand out or open his mouth to eat. Do whatever he wanted to do… Now he lives with a group of soldiers. His clothes must be clean, even his quilt must be folded into neat tofu pieces.

(tofu pieces = clean neat square white fluffy. ? )

The most outrageous thing is that he doesn't like to wash his feet which smells like his old bedding. But the people in the dormitory insisted that he washed his feet and wiped his body, they even forced him to use soap.

(TNnote: eeewwww….. that's nasty!)

Thinking of these hards.h.i.+ps, He Xiaobao didn't dare to complain about the ferocious Deputy Zhang and his roommates to Lin s.h.i.+heng.

He thought his brother-in-law would help stop those ‘wonderful' roommates who forced him to take a bath and wash his feet. But, he didn't expect Lin s.h.i.+heng to nod and smile after listening, with a feeling of relief he said: “You seem to get along well with them.”

He Xiaobao choked on the blood in his heart, and his face looked oppressed.

After a long time, he asked, “When can I go home, brother-in-law?”

Lin s.h.i.+heng laughed and patted him on the shoulder: “When you become like brother-in-law, you can go home.”

He Xiaobao looked down at his soft squishy arms and then at his slender brother-in-law standing in front of him in a neat military uniform.

… He's not going to be able to do that all his life.

Suddenly, he sees He Xuezhu coming back from buying vinegar outside. He immediately moved toward her with a face full of grievance. Even if he had eight galls, He Xiaobao still didn't dare to tell on Lin s.h.i.+heng, he can only scurry around like a little monkey towards her. He didn't look up in the process, too scared to look at his brother-in-law.

“Sister, are you going to cut garlic? Shall I cut it for you? I'll get this.”

He Xuezhu smiled at her brother's helpfulness. Her eyes were full of happiness.

Lin s.h.i.+heng grabbed her shoulder and said warmly, “Let's go to the hospital together after dinner.”

“What's the matter?” He Xuezhu's expression immediately became nervous. “What's wrong with you?”

“No, it's one of my soldiers who got his hand injured when he was clearing mines and stayed in the hospital for a few days. A couple of days ago, I went back home and was busy. I didn't get to visit him. He doesn't have a wife. I think he has been eating and drinking hospital food. I'll pack him a box of dumplings and let him see you; his sister-in-law, for once.”

(TLnote: soldiers consider themselves as brothers, and it's natural to call a co-worker's wife as sister-in-law….) 

When he mentioned this, He Xuezhu's face turned red, and she patted her husband's hand on her shoulder: “Don't always praise me to them. I'm very embarra.s.sed.”

“What's embarra.s.sing about it?”

Lin s.h.i.+heng indulged and pinched his wife's tender face with a smile: “My family's Xuezhu is really excellent, they are all just begging for the medicated wine you made.”

“By the way, how about the medical book I gave you? If you don't understand it, how about taking it to the hospital and asking the doctor to help you with your research?”

He Xuezhu shook her head, with bright eyes she said. “I can understand it, s.h.i.+heng. This book is too amazing. Qiu-jie, from next door, twisted her foot this morning. I tried a method according to the book. It was really effective.”

“That powerful?” Lin s.h.i.+heng's face also showed a little surprise: “When I went to buy you clothes, I saw it at the bookstall. Thinking you would like it, I bought it. If it's that good, next time we go out to shop together we can buy more. I remember there are a few more books there.”

“Let's go. Not to buy books. But let's choose nice clothes. I also stayed in the hospital for a few days, and the doctors and nurses there took good care of me. We should greet them together later.”

He Xiaobao felt bitter while cutting garlic. He watched his sister being taken away by his brother-in-law to choose clothes. He cut garlic while his mind was busy thinking.

His brother-in-law said that he had to become a man like him.

What about buying books and clothes for your wife?

(if you're NOT reading at Translateindo, this chapter has been stolen from our site)

When He Xuezhu arrived at the hospital wearing her new clothes with her husband, Zhou Qianqian looked like she had taken a hit for some reason.

At that time, when she stopped He Xiaobao, many people saw it. Although Zhou Qianqian's words were inaudible to others because of the volume of her speech, He Xiaobao fell to the ground like a big p.r.o.ne horse and the cry of injustice while getting up was clearly heard.

Then He Xiaobao ran away while wiping away tears, leaving Zhou Qianqian alone with so many strange stares. Then she stomped her feet angrily and went back to her and her husband's house.

Zhou Qianqian left, but the gossip did not stop. Especially in the last two days, people saw how she targeted Lin s.h.i.+heng's wife a few times.

When it happened, they were all sitting nearby knitting.

Watching Zhou Qianqian go, several people looked at each other and said, “Isn't that Xuezhu's brother?”

“No, she used to say bad things about Commander Lin, how can she still bully his brother?”

“It's not necessarily bullying. Maybe there's some misunderstanding between them. After all, they're young.”

Upon hearing this, one of the military wives disagreed and said, “Could there be a misunderstanding? Didn't you see that the child fell to the ground?  What I saw was Zhou Qianqian going up and stopping someone from saying something. She refused to let him go, and he cried after falling. The kid didn't seem to be picking on her or anything.”

“Yes, I met that kid yesterday. A very good kid, Deputy Zhang, asked him to do whatever he wanted. The kid didn't dare say a word. Commander Lin is too decent, so no one took care of it. I guess, this kid was bullied by Deputy Zhang and didn't tell Commander Lin. Otherwise, Commander Lin would surely come out.”

Speaking of this, several other military wives all looked somewhat disgusted.

Zhang Yanming has always been prideful and has been spoiled by his family since he was a child. He feels that he is aboveboard and straightforward, and doesn't need to cover up anything. So, he doesn't even bother looking for a reason to bully Xiaobao.

But the more he bullies, the more people wonder why he is targeting a new recruit like this. Gradually, even people who did not know about this before; all knew Deputy Zhang is targeting Commander Lin's brother-in-law because his new wife liked Commander Lin once before.

Then, it leads to how Deputy Zhang's newly-married wife's various statements in the past, regardless of Commander Lin having a family. At the end, when Commander Lin was unconscious for four days, she resolutely chose Deputy Zhang.

They had never heard of such a woman! Before all of this, people also said that maybe Deputy Zhang's brain was filled with water. But from seeing how things are these days, him hara.s.sing innocent recruits because of personal animosity, turns out that they were a perfect match.

“I don't know what Deputy Zhang is thinking. Everyone sees what he's doing. People are not deaf or blind. If he goes on like this, he'll be punished sooner or later."