Island Life in the 1980s: The Delicate Stepmom Is a Military Industry Prodigy

Lin Wan thinks she must be the least housewife-like military wife in history. Other women bring sewing machines when they join their husbands at the garrison; she brings a whole box of German mechanical blueprints. While the others plant scallions in the courtyard, she tinkers with high-precision engines in the backyard.

When they first married, everyone in the compound bet that Lu Zheng, the tough-as-nails regiment commander, would return her within three months. After all, Lin Wan’s waist looked so thin it could be snapped in half. She didn’t look capable of doing any work, and she came with two kids who weren’t even hers.

Who could have guessed that once the lights were off, the usually stern Commander Lu would bury his face in the crook of her neck and murmur in a hoarse voice, “Honey, the funding’s been approved. Can I come back to our room tonight?”

By day, she’s a military-industry genius the nation is fighting to recruit. By night, she’s the delicate little wife someone keeps under “special protection,” pinning her to a creaking wooden bed. The twins peek through the crack in the door. “Is Dad picking on Mom? No, Dad’s the one blushing!”