Early in the morning, Cheng Su walked out the door with an electric rice cooker in her hands, yawning, when she heard a bout of crying and consoling voices coming through.
"Where could he go, where else could he possibly go? He’s just angry with me, not coming home for a whole night; we’ve been married for so long, when has this ever happened?"
That was Hualing’s voice.
"Maybe he slept at the barracks, don’t overthink it, Platoon Leader Chen isn’t one of those unfaithful types." Chunhua’s voice arose in Hualing’s place.
Cheng Su walked over, knocked on the door, and asked, "What happened?"
Upon seeing her, Hualing turned her back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, while Chunhua said, "Hualing had a little argument with Platoon Leader Chen yesterday, and, well, Platoon Leader Chen didn’t come home all night."
Cheng Su suddenly realized, saying, "He might have slept in the barracks’ dormitory then."
"That’s what I said too." Chunhua nodded and then turned back to console, "Every couple quarrels now and then; Platoon Leader Chen probably stayed out because he didn’t want to upset you further by coming home."
"Pah! I think he just doesn’t want to say where he went to fool around, and even if he slept in the barracks, wouldn’t he at least have the decency to send a message home?" Hualing said between sobs.
Chunhua was about to respond when the sound of footsteps approached. Cheng Su stepped out to see it was Liang Shurong, who said, "I asked around; Platoon Leader Chen didn’t sleep at the barracks yesterday."
A shock went through Cheng Su’s heart.
What’s all this fuss about, a grown man running away from home?
"See, what did I tell you? I was sure he was up to no good. Where else could he be if not at some Fox Spirit’s place?" Hualing immediately started crying again.
Chunhua, at a loss, looked at Cheng Su.
Cheng Su then said, "You should stop crying for now. Think about it—is there any good friend or buddy Platoon Leader Chen has? Maybe he’s at their place, you never know."
"What good friends or brothers? It’s clear that man’s got someone else on the side. Boo-hoo." Hualing leaned heavily on the table, sobbing uncontrollably.
"If he’s just at some place, that’s one thing, but if something happened to him—now that’s really serious." Cheng Su sympathetically said as she watched her cry woefully.
Hualing’s crying paused, and she lifted her tearful eyes, her face slowly turning pale.
"This is all just speculation, he’s a grown man, he should be fine." Cheng Su said, though she felt somewhat disgruntled thinking about Chen Shouwang. A couple’s quarrel is one thing, but leaving without a word and making everyone worried is another.
Meanwhile, Chen Shouwang was also rushing home in a hurry. He had gotten dead drunk at a tiny tavern the previous night, and when he woke up, the sky was already bright. To make matters worse, he woke up on a bed.
Right, on a bed at the tavern, where the landlady had let him stay over for the night. Although he had slept in a guest room, it was nonetheless a ludicrous situation. Getting so drunk that he ended up sleeping in someone else’s bed—if word got out, what would happen to his image as a military man?
Chen Shouwang kept apologizing to the landlady, named Liu Li, and tried to pay the bill, but upon searching his entire being, he did not have a single yuan, which nearly made him desperate enough to want to crawl into a hole.
It was all thanks to Liu Li’s kindness and generosity. She said he could pay next time and even lent him a few coins to take the bus home, otherwise, he really wouldn’t have known what to do.
Having not been home all night, Chen Shouwang was anxious. This had never happened before, and it was all his fault for drinking too wildly. He didn’t know whether Hualing would be worried or not.
But would she worry, really?
Chen Shouwang slowed his steps, walking slowly towards home. When Liang Shurong saw him, he exclaimed, "Platoon Leader Chen is back!"
Hearing this, Hualing rushed out from inside the house and charged towards Chen Shouwang, "You deadbeat, decided to come back, did you?"