Fang Manping knocked on the door and walked in, her gaze falling on Li Shuyao.
Li Shuyao was indeed very beautiful—her features were pure and gentle, giving off a soft, approachable vibe. At this moment, she was holding a cat in her arms, carefully feeding it.
From this angle, the scene looked warm and serene.
Fang Manping thought that this might be one of the reasons why so many elders in the military compound liked Li Shuyao. It wasn’t just because of her influential family background but also because of the graceful and demure persona she meticulously maintained—perfectly fitting the image of a high-ranking military wife.
Even her picky stepfather once wanted Sheng Zexi to marry Li Shuyao.
Fang Manping knew well that despite all these years of her mother’s interference, which led to her stepfather often scolding and even beating Sheng Zexi, he still valued his biological son the most.
That was why he had been trying to find the most suitable wife for Sheng Zexi.
Who would have thought that Sheng Zexi would go ahead and get married on his own? And his stepfather only found out when Sheng Zexi submitted his marriage report. To this day, he was still keeping it a secret from the rest of the family. Even though Sheng Zexi had brought his country-bred wife to the Northwest Military District to live with him, no one back home knew about it.
“Mimi, come, have another bite.”
Li Shuyao’s voice interrupted Fang Manping’s thoughts. Snapping back to reality, she realized she had already walked up beside Li Shuyao.
Her gaze fell on the brown cat in Li Shuyao’s arms before shifting to the food in her bowl. She was feeding the cat meat!
Fang Manping’s expression twitched. In an era where even people couldn’t eat enough, let alone have meat, Li Shuyao was actually feeding meat to a cat. Unbelievable. In some ways, a cat lived better than a human.
This cat—Fang Manping remembered—was one that Li Shuyao had raised for several years. Its name was Mimi.
Li Shuyao adored it. No matter where she performed, she always took Mimi with her and fed it personally.
Even now, when she came to the Northwest Military District, she brought it along.
“Yaoyao,” Fang Manping suppressed her thoughts and called out.
Li Shuyao responded with a nonchalant “Hmm” without even looking up. “Did you come because you’ve found out more about that woman?”
Fang Manping: So in Li Shuyao’s eyes, this was her only value? Well… maybe that was true.
Fang Manping let out a soft acknowledgment and then relayed everything she had learned about Gu Jianing from Peng Wenjing.
“You’re saying she’s very beautiful? Even more beautiful than me?” Li Shuyao’s cold gaze locked onto Fang Manping, making the latter stiffen slightly.
Fang Manping forced a smile. “That’s not my opinion—it’s what Peng Wenjing and others said. But honestly, I think they’re exaggerating. She’s just a woman from the countryside. How beautiful could she possibly be? It’s probably because she hasn’t seen many city girls or met anyone from our cultural troupe. That’s why they’re hyping up some rural village girl.”
Hearing this, Li Shuyao finally withdrew her gaze, seemingly pleased with Fang Manping’s response.
However…
“That woman knows medicine?” Li Shuyao asked again.
“Yes. Apparently, she even performed a surgery that the hospital director couldn’t handle. She also came up with two medicinal formulas, and the military is planning to collaborate with her.”
“I see…” Li Shuyao lowered her eyes, continuing to feed Mimi while lost in thought.
“Find some time in the next couple of days to visit her yourself,” she said after a long pause.
Fang Manping let out a sound of surprise—she was supposed to visit in person?
But the thing was, she had no relationship with this Gu Jianing at all. Even with Sheng Zexi, though they were nominally siblings, they weren’t close in the slightest.
Back when she first followed her mother, Fang Wanrong, into the Sheng family through marriage, she had indeed tried to get on Sheng Zexi’s good side.
But Sheng Zexi had never acknowledged her. He wasn’t hostile, but he had never regarded her as family or a sister. To him, she was just a stranger.
“At the very least, you are his sister. Since you’re here, it’s only natural to pay a visit.”
“Seeing her with your own eyes—how else would you know what kind of woman she truly is?”
Fang Manping: Alright then, so Li Shuyao just wanted her to use this excuse to visit and gather information on Gu Jianing.
Did she dare refuse? Of course not. Even though she was a little afraid of Sheng Zexi, she still agreed.
Li Shuyao held Mimi in her arms and suddenly smiled. “Manping, my brother will be on leave after the Spring Festival. When the time comes, I’ll arrange for you and my brother to go see a movie together.”
Fang Manping was momentarily stunned before delight spread across her face. She quickly beamed with joy. “Alright, Yaoyao, thank you so much.”
Fang Manping knew that while Li Shuyao was aware of her intentions, she had never really thought highly of her.
But now, Li Shuyao was taking the initiative to set her up with Li Tingxuan—was she finally acknowledging her?
Although Fang Manping understood that a large part of this was because she was helping gather information on Gu Jianing and Sheng Zexi, she didn’t mind. She was well aware that Li Shuyao was using her.
But so what?
The process didn’t matter. As long as the result was what she wanted, that was enough.
…
The next morning, on a rare day off from her training program, Gu Jianing was still sound asleep when she vaguely heard knocking at the door.
“Who is it…” she murmured, unwilling to get up in the cold winter. Without even opening her eyes, she pulled the blanket over her head, pretending not to hear.
Outside, Fang Manping had been knocking for quite a while but heard no response from inside.
She frowned. Could it be that the woman wasn’t home at this hour?
Impossible.
She had specifically checked—at this time, Sheng Zexi would be at training, leaving only that woman at home. That was why she had chosen this time to visit.
Just as she was debating whether to keep knocking or leave, a door suddenly opened next door, and a woman stepped out.
The woman looked her up and down before asking, “Who are you looking for?”
Zhang Shuwan had been busy in the kitchen when she heard the persistent knocking from next door. She found it strange—who would be looking for Jianing at this hour? After all, those who were close to her, like herself, Sister Yu, or Jiang Baihe, all knew that Gu Jianing liked to sleep in. She was probably still in bed at this time.
Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t choose this time to visit Gu Jianing.
When the knocking continued without stopping, Zhang Shuwan went out to take a look—only to see a young woman standing there.
One glance was enough to tell she was from the city, given the way she dressed. But she was unfamiliar—Zhang Shuwan had never seen her in the military district before.
“Hello, sister-in-law,” the young woman greeted politely. “Is this where Commander Sheng Zexi and his wife live? I’m the commander’s sister. I arrived from the capital yesterday with the arts troupe.”
Commander Sheng’s sister?
Zhang Shuwan was momentarily taken aback—Sheng Zexi had a sister?
To be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure and had never heard Gu Jianing mention it before.
But since the girl said so, it was probably true.
Thinking that this might be Gu Jianing’s sister-in-law, Zhang Shuwan’s attitude softened significantly. However, she still offered a reminder, “Your brother is probably at training right now, and your sister-in-law is most likely still asleep. Maybe you should come back later?”
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