"Let's talk inside."
The two-story house Mr. Huo Sr. had assigned them had a living room downstairs, fully furnished with a sofa. Wen Ci took a few moments to size up the room.
'I thought the 1980s would be so primitive. This is completely different from what I imagined.'
"What did you want to tell me?"
Wen Ci bit her lip, a sudden nervousness washing over her. She took a deep breath, met Huo Jingyuan's deep-set eyes, and slowly began to speak.
"Actually, I'm not really a daughter of the Jiang Family. My real name is Wen Ci."
The body's original owner had the same name in the countryside.
"What do you mean?" Huo Jingyuan frowned.
Wen Ci continued to explain, "But I am a daughter of the Jiang Family. I was swapped at birth by our family's nanny, who replaced me with her own daughter.
"I was raised in the countryside. I'm not educated.
"I was only brought back from the countryside to Beijing a few days ago."
As she spoke, tears welled up in Wen Ci's eyes, and the tremor in her voice revealed a lifetime of suffering.
Huo Jingyuan got the gist of what Wen Ci was saying.
'So Wen Ci is a daughter of the Jiang Family too.'
'She was just the one who was switched at birth and grew up in the countryside.'
Seeing Wen Ci in tears, Huo Jingyuan was at a bit of a loss.
He had never seen such a delicate woman cry before.
Huo Jingyuan didn't know how to comfort her. After hesitating, he reached out and wiped the tears from her face. His expression was exceptionally serious, but the bobbing of his Adam's apple betrayed his nervousness.
"It's okay. I don't mind, Ms. Wen Ci."
Huo Jingyuan was telling the truth.
He had never met the Jiang Family's daughter to begin with.
Besides, the woman before him had made a very good impression.
Wen Ci's gaze was fixed on his alluring Adam's apple. Her eyes lifted slightly, her heart pounded like a drum—she could hardly wait.
'Maybe it's because I worked so hard fighting zombies...'
'...that the heavens rewarded me with such a fine man.'
"You really don't mind?" Wen Ci asked, already knowing the answer.
"I don't mind."
Now that she had been honest, Wen Ci felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders. She looked at Huo Jingyuan's handsome face, a grin spreading from ear to ear.
"Since we're married now, I want to tell you about my family situation." As he spoke, Huo Jingyuan pulled a group photo from a drawer in the bookcase and handed it to Wen Ci, his voice calm.
"This is my family portrait. My parents are research scientists. After I was born, they were sent on a classified mission, so I was raised by my maternal grandfather."
Wen Ci looked down at the photo in her hand, which showed a young couple holding a baby. She immediately looked back up at Huo Jingyuan.
Huo Jingyuan resembled his mother, especially his eyes and brows.
Wen Ci smiled and said, "Your mother is so beautiful."
Huo Jingyuan sat down beside Wen Ci. A thought suddenly made him smile. He looked at her and said, "Ms. Wen Ci, we're married now. You can't call her that."
"We haven't even had the tea ceremony yet."
After they had both been honest with each other, Wen Ci's stomach betrayed her with a growl. Her eyes lit up as she looked at him, licking her slightly dry lips. "So, Mr. Huo," she asked, "can we have noodles for lunch?"
"Of course." Huo Jingyuan slowly stood up and leisurely rolled up his sleeves. "Do you want thin noodles or wide noodles?"
"Could we have knife-cut noodles?"
Huo Jingyuan went to the kitchen. He wasn't sure if they had any flour left in the house. He lifted the lid of the flour canister and glanced inside. There wasn't much left, but it was barely enough for one meal.
As for the toppings for the knife-cut noodles, Huo Jingyuan already had an idea.
'The military compound has a cafeteria. I'll see if they have any suitable ingredients there.'
'If not, I'll just borrow some from the cafeteria kitchen and prepare them myself.'