Chapter 197: Great Master Gu

Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Great Master Gu

Her calm expression only made Lu Zhengchuan more uneasy.

Su Wan only became this calm when she was truly angry.

"Wanwan, don’t be angry. I was shot this time, but it didn’t hit anything vital. If you don’t believe me, I can rip open my wound and show you."

"Rip it open? So you can start bleeding all over again? It’s your body, so you can do what you want with it, of course. Perhaps you think that just giving me money to raise the children fulfills your responsibilities as a father and a husband. If that’s the case, then you really didn’t have to come back at all. Seriously."

Su Wan reached out and gave his shoulder a push. "Go back to your unit. I don’t care if you live in the group dorms or the family housing—it has nothing to do with me."

"I can raise our two children just fine without you."

"Since you can’t be bothered with your own family, I won’t stand in the way of you and your career."

Her words were now clearly laced with anger.

Lu Zhengchuan grabbed her hand. "Wanwan, I was wrong. I never meant to imply that I don’t care about you and the children."

"I don’t really care much about my career, either. It’s just... It’s just..." Lu Zhengchuan realized that telling her the truth would only make her even angrier.

Su Wan gazed at him calmly, and he averted his eyes, seemingly losing the courage to meet her stare.

Disappointed, Su Wan lay back down without another word.

’In the end, it was just that Lu Zhengchuan was more accustomed to loving the greater good than his own family. He held a grand love for his country in his heart, though he also longed for and missed his little family.’

’But the moment the nation had a great need for him, he would be the absolute first to step forward in support, even if it meant sacrificing his life.’

’Just like this mission. Getting injured was a minor issue; what truly chilled Su Wan’s heart was what it revealed about him.’

She turned on her side to sleep, trying to convince herself.

’When she chose to marry a soldier, she should have considered this.’

’She couldn’t be so selfish as to always demand Lu Zhengchuan put his own family before the greater good.’

’To put it simply, she was this angry now because she had expectations. She hoped he cared about her and their children as much as she did.’

’But that was impossible. She could only control herself and try not to care so much about him; she couldn’t control how much he cared about her and the children.’

A pang of sorrow struck her heart, but Su Wan was already used to it. She merely frowned for a moment before forcing herself to relax.

"Wanwan, are you still angry?" Lu Zhengchuan’s tentative voice came from the other side of the bed.

Su Wan suppressed her expectations, and her tone toward Lu Zhengchuan naturally grew colder.

"No, I’m not angry. Let’s get some sleep. You’re still injured. We can talk about whatever it is tomorrow. A lot has happened at home recently, and I’ll tell you everything then."

"Okay, then I won’t keep you from sleeping." Unable to guess her thoughts, Lu Zhengchuan had no choice but to lie down quietly beside her.

Su Wan had thought she wouldn’t be able to sleep, but perhaps her body clock took over, and she drifted off before she knew it.

Early the next morning, Su Wan groggily heard voices.

She yawned and sat up to see Lu Zhengchuan talking with Aunt Zhao.

"Yes, just like that. Yuanyuan is much stronger now, so you can support her back when you hold her."

Su Wan frowned. Seeing Lu Zhengchuan’s tense and awkward movements, she thought, ’It’s only been half a month, and he’s already forgotten how to care for a child.’

But she quickly let it go. After all, Lu Zhengchuan hadn’t been back from the front lines for long, and he had only spent ten days or so with the children.

Then he disappeared for another half a month. It was only natural for him to be a bit rusty upon his return.

"Wanwan, you’re awake," Aunt Zhao said. "Breakfast is ready. Wash up, feed the children, and then hurry and eat."

"Okay." Su Wan got dressed and went to wash up.

Lu Zhengchuan instinctively started to follow her.

Su Wan turned around. "Look after the two children. I’ll be right back after I wash up. Can you handle that?"

"Of course." Lu Zhengchuan replied quickly, afraid she’d think he was useless.

Su Wan nodded, acknowledging his response, and went out to the courtyard to wash up.

Mother Su and Father Su also went over to speak with Lu Zhengchuan.

The courtyard was quite lively.

When Su Wan returned from washing up, she saw that her parents were still talking to Lu Zhengchuan, so she took the opportunity to get the bottles and feed the two babies.

When the topic turned to Zhang Yun, Su Wan didn’t chime in.

Feeling sorry for his daughter, Father Su said, "Zheng Chuan, you can’t blame Wanwan for this matter. If you have to blame someone, blame my third son. We should have just coldly rejected Zhao Xiangxiang from the start, instead of having him pretend to be a freeloader to cheat her out of her money."

"Dad, this has nothing to do with any of you, and I would never blame Wanwan. She’s already done more than enough."

"I’ll take care of the issue with Zhang Yun. I’ll contact my aunt. All of you have made things very clear to Zhang Yun. If she still insists on marrying Zhao Yuan, then that’s her own problem."

Hearing this, Father Su was finally relieved. At least Lu Zhengchuan was a man of reason.

"Zheng Chuan, there’s something else you need to know immediately." Father Su tried to figure out how to bring up the matter of Mr. Lu.

After all, the Zhang family was also involved.

Su Wan spoke up directly. "It’s about your grandfather’s fifth brother, Mr. Lu. He’s gravely ill. He arranged for people to send thank-you gifts to everyone in your maternal aunt’s family, to thank them for taking care of you over the years."

"Of course, the investigators he sent were led to believe by your older cousin, Zhang Xiaohong, that I’m a gold-digger who only cares about my own family and neglects my in-laws. So, as you can imagine, the old man isn’t too pleased with me. That’s why, even though he’s gravely ill, he’s never asked to see me."

"I was worried he was a fraud at first, so I had Xiao Liu look into it. He seems to be a real relative of yours. You figure out how to deal with it."

After Su Wan finished speaking, she caught Mother Su’s disapproving look.

Su Wan knew her mother felt her words were harsh and would damage her relationship with Lu Zhengchuan.

’But she couldn’t bring herself to swallow her pride just to please him. Besides, it’s not like he prioritizes their family anyway, right?’

"Mom, I’m hungry. I’m going to eat breakfast now; I have class later." Su Wan pretended not to see her mother’s gaze. She carried one of the babies into the living room, placed him in the small bed beside her, and didn’t waste any time starting her meal.

"Wanwan, we have youtiao this morning. Zheng Chuan went out and bought them fresh. They’re still hot and crispy, so eat up."

Second Sister-in-law Su’s voice held a teasing tone.

Su Wan smiled. "Okay, Second Sister-in-law, you eat too. I’m starving, so I’ll dig right in."

She took large bites of her youtiao, showing no restraint. She even chatted and gossiped with her family, a smile gracing her face from time to time.

Although she was acting perfectly normal, Lu Zhengchuan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

"Wanwan, have a dumpling."

"I’m having youtiao. I don’t want any dumplings. You have it." Su Wan shook her head and placed the dumpling back onto his plate.

Lu Zhengchuan froze for a moment.

Before he could say anything, Father Su placed a steamed bun on his plate. "Zheng Chuan, hurry and eat. Wanwan just loves youtiao; don’t worry about her."

"Dad, you all eat too. I’ve been gone so long, I’ve forgotten what Wanwan likes to eat." There was a hint of manipulative self-pity in Lu Zhengchuan’s words.

This prompted Father Su to comfort him repeatedly. "You rascal, all that matters is that you’re back safe. You gave us a real scare when you went missing."