Zhan Zeyi put his arm around his older brother's neck, and with that simple gesture, the long-standing estrangement between them disappeared.
The two brothers had been very close since childhood, and they talked about many memories from those days, slowly closing the gap that had formed between them over the years.
When Zhan Zeyi returned to the room, he saw Tang Qiyue reorganizing the things she had brought back.
However, no matter how she arranged them, she still had a headache. The items were scattered everywhere, and she didn't know what to bring with her.
"What's this?"
Zhan Zeyi tossed the oil-paper package toward Tang Qiyue.
Curiously, she opened it.
When she saw the money inside, her eyes widened in surprise.
Zhan Zeyi lay on the bed, leaning against the headboard, watching Tang Qiyue's beautiful eyes grow round.
"This is my wife's fund," he said lazily, resting his chin on his hand.
He expected her to ask questions out of curiosity.
But instead, Tang Qiyue simply placed the money into a small box on the bed without saying a word.
Her reaction surprised him.
Zhan Zeyi clicked his tongue and sat up.
"Aren't you curious?"
Tang Qiyue was sorting through the clothes her mother had given her. They were very beautiful, but the popular colors of the era were black, white, and gray. Her clothes were far too eye-catching.
She was thinking about giving some of them to Zhan Chunying.
When she heard Zhan Zeyi's question, she instinctively looked at him.
"Curious about what? You already said it's your savings for marriage. We're not getting divorced, are we? Isn't it meant for me?"
Tang Qiyue spoke very naturally.
Zhan Zeyi chuckled.
He had originally thought he had married a spoiled and arrogant young lady, but Tang Qiyue was nothing like the rich young women he had imagined.
"That's right. It's for you. Life with me won't be easy from now on."
Thinking about the life she would have after following him to the army, he touched his nose awkwardly.
But the words he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.
Having nothing better to do, Zhan Zeyi went to wash up.
When he returned, Tang Qiyue was still tidying things.
"What's bothering you?"
The room was now filled with Tang Qiyue's belongings.
The suitcases had to be emptied, but there were so many small items inside. If she organized everything properly, it might take all night.
Tang Qiyue frowned and pointed to the scattered things.
"Didn't you say we're leaving tomorrow? Wouldn't it be inappropriate if I left all this here?"
These items were supposed to be part of her dowry. If they remained in the village, she couldn't guarantee what would happen to them.
It wasn't that she didn't trust Zhan Zeyi's mother.
She simply didn't trust time—or human nature.
Zhan Zeyi thought something serious had happened.
"Don't worry about that. A big truck will come to pick us up tomorrow, and all of this can go with us."
Tang Qiyue still frowned.
"But the suitcases are being moved, right? We can't just load all this loose stuff onto the truck like this, can we?"
What would people think?
This was something Zhan Zeyi had never considered.
He rarely cared about such details.
"I'll have Chen Dazhuang and the others move the boxes first. We'll take out the things from the hidden compartments, then put the boxes back where they were."
"We'll come early tomorrow morning and repack everything."
"It'll just take a little effort. It's not a big problem."
With Zhan Zeyi's reassurance, Tang Qiyue relaxed a little.
Still, thinking about people coming later to move the boxes made her uneasy, and she felt she might not sleep well tonight.
While Tang Qiyue continued tidying things, Zhan Zeyi lifted his shirt.
The gauze on his wound had yellow discharge that had already dried, sticking to the skin.
To change the dressing, the gauze had to be torn off.
Zhan Zeyi was not a cautious man.
He grabbed the gauze and ripped it off in one motion.
The scabbed wound split open again, and fresh blood appeared.
Tang Qiyue happened to see it.
Even though she had seen countless injuries during the apocalypse, the sight still made her expression stiffen slightly.
In the apocalypse, injuries like this could be healed within minutes using treatment devices and bio-healing sprays.
But in this era, such technology did not exist.
However, Tang Qiyue suddenly remembered the interdimensional trading system.
She recalled seeing healing potions listed there.
While Zhan Zeyi continued tending to his wound, she checked the prices in the system.
Ordinary healing potions were not expensive.
They could be exchanged with items of equal value.
Tang Qiyue looked around the room.
She couldn't bear to trade away the jewelry her mother had given her.
Since money couldn't be directly exchanged, she could only recycle items to estimate their value.
Then she found a fox-fur scarf that her mother had stuffed into her dowry.
It was a rare item.
The system could recycle it for 100 points, while the healing potion cost 80 points.
Without hesitation, Tang Qiyue exchanged it.
She quickly took out the potion while pretending to rummage through a box.
Seeing that it looked exactly like the potion she had used in her previous life, she tore off the outer packaging and slipped it into her pocket, planning to burn it later.
"Do you need help?"
Tang Qiyue stood in front of Zhan Zeyi.
She was about to sprinkle the powder directly onto his wound—even ignoring the torn stitches.
She was surprisingly ruthless.
Zhan Zeyi looked up at her in surprise.
He hadn't expected her to remain calm in front of such a bloody wound.
The injury was indeed painful, but he was used to being hurt and showed no reaction.
"You know how to do this?"
Bandaging wounds required some skill.
Zhan Zeyi wasn't sure if Tang Qiyue really knew how.
"I learned it at school."
Tang Qiyue wasn't lying.
Because war could break out at any time, schools taught more than just academics.
Mornings were for classes, while afternoons were spent doing labor training or learning practical survival skills.
Girls often received additional hygiene training, including emergency medical care and wound treatment.
During wartime, most rear-line medics were women.
Although Tang Qiyue was the daughter of a capitalist family, she was not spoiled. She studied diligently and had even received a medal for excellence in hygiene training.
Zhan Zeyi lay back on the bed and allowed Tang Qiyue to handle the wound.
Tang Qiyue examined it carefully.
Half the stitches had already come undone.
If left untreated, the wound would repeatedly become inflamed. If infection set in, the situation would become much more complicated.
"I'll clean the stitches and apply some medicine. It should heal within a day at most," she said casually.
Zhan Zeyi didn't believe her.
Even the best wound medicine couldn't guarantee such quick healing.
But since Tang Qiyue was trying to help, he didn't object.
However, when he saw her take out a small metal box containing tweezers and wound-cleaning medicine, he was still surprised.
What kind of bride included a first-aid kit in her dowry?
But that wasn't even the most shocking part.
The most shocking thing was still to come.
If Tang Qiyue hadn't held him down, Zhan Zeyi probably would have jumped up.