Seeing that Zhuang Hua still wanted to hide things from him, Xia Zhe reached out to flip the pillow on the bed. Zhuang Hua hurriedly rushed over to stop him and said, “I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

Xia Zhe did not expose his buddy’s secret but waited for Zhuang Hua to speak.

Zhuang Hua did not know where to start. It was actually not a secret, he just never mentioned it to Xia Zhe. In addition, Zhuang Hua was curious about how Xia Zhe knew that he had hidden Zheng Yuan’s photo under his pillow.

“I’ll continue to stay here in the troops and I don’t plan to leave.” Zhuang Hua did not say much and just talked about work.

“You’re not going with her this time?” Xia Zhe asked.

“I had intended to, but she told me to stay here and not follow her.” Zhuang Hua scratched his head, indicating that there was nothing he could do about Zheng Yuan’s decision.

Xia Zhe also knew what Zhuang Hua wanted to do, but Zhuang Hua was the only son in his family. Zheng Yuan’s transfer this time should be a demotion, so if Zhuang Hua went with her, it would be difficult for him to do well in the future.

“It’s almost the holidays and we’ll all be in the same courtyard and see one another. Have you thought about it?” Xia Zhe asked Zhuang Hua.

Zhuang Hua nodded and said, “Yes, let’s leave it at that. It would be good for everyone to calm down separately. I also want to think about what I should do and whether I should insist on it. You also know that my parents have been urging me to get married. I had originally managed to stop them from talking about it, but now that you went off and got married secretly, my parents are starting to urge me to get married again.”

Xia Zhe smiled in embarrassment and said, “Why? Did my marriage bring you trouble?”

“After the news about your marriage, Zhang Yong and I already can’t count the number of phone calls from our families on just one hand. Fortunately, the news of your wife’s pregnancy hasn’t spread to the capital yet. If it did, Zhang Yong and I would have to answer calls every day urging us to get married!” Zhuang Hua had a headache just thinking about the phone calls from home.

Xia Zhe smiled and did not say anything. To him, it would be best if all his buddies found good partners as well.

It was late in the morning when Qiao Mei slowly opened her eyes. She touched the side of the bed next to her and realized that Xia Zhe was not around. She hurriedly got up and looked around. The sunlight shone into the tent through the crack in the door.

Looking at the time of the day, Xia Zhe had probably gone to work long ago. Qiao Mei stood up and did some stretches, preparing to go to the cookhouse to take a look. After collecting the water yesterday, they were probably still thinking about what to cook today.

As she walked slowly along the path, many soldiers greeted her and addressed her as Mrs. Xia, making her feel overjoyed.

“So this is how it feels to be called Mrs. Xia, hehe.” Qiao Mei skipped her way to the cookhouse.

As soon as she reached the door, she saw the junior soldier shouting inside, “Squad leader! Sister Qiao Mei is here!”

When everyone heard that it was Qiao Mei, they put down what they were doing and went up to greet her.

“Sister-in-law is here!”

“Sister-in-law, come quickly! We’re having meat today!”

“Sister-in-law, go sit in the front. This place is so smoky and oily!”

Everyone spoke at the same time and Qiao Mei did not know who to answer first. The squad leader asked everyone to quiet down and asked, “Comrade Qiao Mei, why are you here?”

“Don’t call me comrade Qiao Mei. Just call me Qiao Mei. I’m here to see if there’s anything I can do to help,” Qiao Mei said as she picked up the apron.

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t move. How can we let you work hard when you helped us so much yesterday. Everyone can’t thank you enough!” The squad leader laughed and snatched the apron from Qiao Mei’s hand.

“That’s right, that’s right!”

“How can we let sister Qiao Mei work!”

Qiao Mei was too embarrassed to reject their kindness so she smiled and said, “Then I’ll just sit there and wait to eat delicious food!”

“Yes, sister Qiao Mei. Just wait for the food!” After saying that, the junior soldier quickly went back to do his tasks diligently.

Everyone returned to their respective posts. Qiao Mei sat under the shade of a tree and looked at the hustle and bustle, feeling very happy. This kind of life was not too bad. It was completely different from before and everyone was very enthusiastic.

Not long after, the fragrance of food wafted out. Although Qiao Mei did not help with the cooking, she secretly gave the vegetables a little bit of energy so that the food would be as fragrant as her cooking even though it was made by others. The food would be so delicious that people would find it unforgettable after eating it.

At noon, when everyone was done with their work and came back to the camp, they all ran to the cookhouse to get food. They were so worried that there would be no food left if they were late, so they all rushed to line up.