An Hao felt the body of the person holding her getting hotter and hotter, and when she turned her head, she saw his complexion was abnormal.
So, she reached behind her, and Qin Jian had a fever.
"You’re sick? Why didn’t you tell me?" An Hao reproached him.
"It’s just a fever; I have a strong body, it’ll pass in a while," Qin Jian said dismissively, not wanting to make An Hao worry.
"If you’re not feeling well, you should rest in bed. How can you just tough it out?" An Hao said as she took out a new set of bed sheets and covers from his locker to make his bed, reminding him to take medicine, drink water, and then rest.
The medicine took effect, and Qin Jian dozed off in a daze.
An Hao, not wanting to disturb his rest, took his dirty clothes directly to the washroom to clean.
She washed all morning long, getting all his piled-up dirty clothes and bedding clean.
As she was carrying the basin downstairs to hang the clothes, she happened to run into Tian Niu and the platoon leader Lin Chen, who, seeing An Hao with her small frame struggling with the heavy basin, quickly came forward to take it from her.
"Sister-in-law, why didn’t you let the battalion commander do this kind of manual labor? He’s a big man with plenty of strength," Tian Niu said.
"He’s running a fever. He took medicine and is sleeping now. I think he’s too tired; he’s even gotten thinner," An Hao said with concern.
"So tired and eating poorly, look at us, we’re all like that," Tian Niu said, pointing at his own face, "Our square faces have all thinned into melon seeds."
"I’ll make some delicious food for you guys later to reward you," An Hao said.
"Thank you, sister-in-law," Tian Niu said happily.
"Sister-in-law, can I get a share too?" Lin Chen, hearing about food, also felt his mouth watering since the food from the cooking squad was getting worse and worse.
The three of them walked out of the barracks building and came downstairs to hang the clothes.
An Hao directed the two men, wringing the water out of the sheets and then hanging them one by one in the sunny area downstairs.
Just then, the battalion commander and the commander of the fourth company came to find Jian Ying, and from the office building across the way, they saw this scene.
"I’m telling you, Instructor Jiang, your battalion commander is quite lucky? Finding such a virtuous and pretty little wife. Look at her washing and cleaning. It’s such a beautiful sight! We all came from the countryside, yet look at Old Qin’s wife, then look at my ’lioness from the east of the river,’ I can’t bear to watch," the commander of the fourth company remarked.
Jian Ying poured a cup of tea and handed it to the commander of the fourth company, "You don’t know? She’s our province’s college entrance exam top-scorer this year! She got into the Medical University! She excels both in studies and in wealth accumulation!"
"Truly capable! Back then, I even mocked Old Qin for being a lifelong bachelor! Turns out, his life is bloody good! He’s about to get promoted, has a dad who’s a Commander, and married a young and delicate wife, just looking at her makes you envious!" The commander of the fourth company took a sip of tea and smacked his lips.
Envy is useless, you must accept your fate!
"That’s true!" the commander of the fourth company turned back to look at Jian Ying, "I heard you’re also getting promoted! Going to the regiment to be a political commissar? Congratulations, Old Jiang!"
"Nothing of the sort, don’t specualate!"
An Hao kept busy at the third company that day, cleaning up Qin Jian’s room, boiling water for his medicine, and taking care of him, fully demonstrating the capability of a military wife to the officers and soldiers of the third company.
Originally, An Hao did not want to make a fuss, but she realized if she was too low-profile, it wouldn’t work; there were always people targeting Qin Jian.
Since that was the case, she might as well step forward, make everyone recognize her, and let the female soldiers know that Qin Jian was already taken.