Chapter 49: Showing Goodwill

"Oh, Lingning, you didn't hear it! It's all over the place!"

Aunt Sun lowered her voice with a relieved smile on her face: "Everyone says that Li Hongmei has a bad mouth. Even a kid like Fubao thinks she's dirty!

Serves her right! Someone even saw her on her way home with a long face. Wang Tiezhu was throwing pots at her at home and calling her a disgrace! Now it’s finally quiet!

Shen Lingning was feeding Fubao rice porridge. Hearing this, he just smiled faintly and said, "The child is ignorant. He was scared when he saw a stranger with a fierce look on his face." He downplayed the situation and attributed all the credit to the child's "instinctive reaction", keeping his own achievements and fame to himself.

Jiang Weiyi, who was pushing a 28-inch bicycle, heard these words and a calculating smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Shen Lingning, right?

If you continue like this, I'd like to see how you, a newcomer, will be able to stay in this family compound if you offend so many people.

Thinking about it, under Jiang Weiyi's unintentional instigation, everyone in the family compound knew how powerful the new daughter-in-law was, and even the fierce Li Hongmei didn't get any good results.

She was scolded severely. The young wife was arrogant and had a backer in Chang'an, so she looked down on the military families in the camp.

——

A few hundred miles away, the Chang'an Military Region compound.

Zhao Changhe opened the letter and read it word by word. Especially when he saw the sentence "the black noodles are solid and filling", his brows were tightly furrowed into knots.

He picked up the small oil-paper bag and opened it.

The tea looks ordinary, but an indescribable, refreshing fragrance that seems to condense the vitality of the forest spreads out faintly. When inhaled into the lungs, it actually makes people feel refreshed.

How can this be just some ordinary "old mountain tea"?

Zhao Changhe felt heavy in his heart.

He wrapped up the tea leaves and turned to his wife, Wang Xiulan, the chairperson of the Military Region Women's Federation, who had just entered the room. His voice was full of unquestionable strength: "Xiulan! Get ready immediately. Use your connections to get something substantial to send to Lingning and Fubao!

I need everything I need, including food, clothing, and daily necessities! Life is too hard over there! I’m worried about her being alone with her baby…”

Wang Xiulan understood what was left unsaid.

As soon as Old Zhao got home, he talked about the goddaughter who saved his life on the train. Although he recognized her in a hurry, the Zhao family decided to treat her as a real family member after hearing about what happened on the train.

Hearing Lao Zhao say this, Wang Xiulan took Shen Lingning's letter and said admiringly, "He is a sensible child who only reports good news and not bad news..."

Mr. Zhao nodded at the table and waved his hand: "Xiao Li, tell your Aunt Wang what you saw at the base."

Xiao Li recounted what he had seen at the base, including how he'd gotten off the bus and seen two women fighting over food, and how the wild vegetable dumplings that Political Commissar Zhang had treated him to had black flour...

Wang Xiulan understood what was going on and was ready to act decisively: "Okay, I get it. Although I haven't met this girl yet, I like her behavior.

Now that we've acknowledged our daughter, we should treat her like our own. "Old Zhao, just roll some noodles and cook them. I'll go get some milk powder for the child..."

Shen Lingning didn't know all this yet. These past two days, she and the other military families at the base were working together to encourage each other so that they could have food to eat this year.

In the small courtyard at the east end of the family compound at the Songtaogou base, Shen Lingning was following Aunt Sun, tilling the palm-sized hard ground in the corner with a hoe.

The soil was really hard. When I dug it with the hoe, my palms felt numb from the vibration, and the clods of earth that were brought up were as hard as small stones.

Several shiny blood blisters had long been rubbed out on the palms of Shen Lingning's hands. Beads of sweat flowed down his forehead, soaking the broken hair at his temples and sticking to his slightly red face from the sun.

She gritted her teeth and said nothing. She just wiped the sweat off her face with the old cloth wrapped around her hands and picked up the hoe again.

Aunt Sun saw this, paused, and sighed, "Hey, your hands aren't made for rough work. Don't be impatient, take your time. This job can't be rushed."

Turn it over, let it dry for a few days, add some manure, and sow some radish and cabbage seeds. If you take good care of it, you can always harvest some green leaves before winter comes, so you don’t have to eat pickled cabbage and steamed bread every day, which makes you choke!

Shen Lingning straightened up, took a breath, and smiled: "Auntie, it's okay, I can do it. Living in the mountains, you can't live without some farming skills. You can't always rely on the small amount of food supplied by the camp."

Her eyes swept over the small half bag of brown rice, the grayish-black flour, and the turbid rapeseed oil piled in the corner, and her heart felt heavy.

This little bit of food is barely enough for her and Fubao.

Although she had other supplies, when she arrived, southern Shanxi was in the midst of a famine and there were no vegetable reserves. She didn't grow vegetables, and there was no place to buy vegetables at the base.

“Ah! Ah!”

The babyish voices came from the shade under the eaves.

Half-year-old Fubao sat in a small bamboo basket, with four white teeth showing. He was waving his little hands excitedly, greeting the sparrows jumping on the old locust tree outside the courtyard wall. His little face turned red and he was busy having fun.

Aunt Sun was amused and said, "Look at our Fubao, how energetic he is! His little arms and legs are so strong!"

Shen Lingning looked at his daughter's carefree appearance, and his heart softened. He also became more determined to take root in this mountain valley and live a good life.

Just as she was about to continue working, she heard footsteps at the gate.

Wang Shufen came in carrying a basket, with a worried look on her face. She greeted Aunt Sun first.

Then he pulled Shen Lingning aside and lowered his voice: “Lingning, I just heard some gossip outside. I’m worried, so I came to talk to you.”

Shen Lingning understood a little bit in his heart, but his face remained calm: "Sister-in-law, what's wrong?"

"What else could it be? Li Hongmei, that scoundrel!"

Wang Shufen curled her lips. "That woman is a firecracker, easily ignited and unreasonable. She's been eyeing your courtyard for a while now. She's used to being a big shot in the yard, relying on the fact that she has a large family and Wang Tiezhu is a protective company commander.

You just arrived and brought Fubao with you. Don't confront her. It's not worth it! Stay away. If you have any problems, find the organization, find Lao Zhang, or come to me."

She paused, glanced outside the courtyard, and lowered her voice with a hint of meaning: "This courtyard was allocated by the organization based on Weiguo's rank and merit.

Not everyone with a jealous eye or a loud voice can move in. You must remember this kindness."

This was both a reminder to Shen Lingning not to give in easily and a reminder to her that this house represented Zhou Weiguo's position in the army and her identity as a "meritorious military family member."

Shen Lingning immediately understood the hidden meaning.

She was grateful for Wang Shufen's advice, so she quickly put down the hoe and walked into the house.

When he came out again, he was holding a small package wrapped tightly in oil paper, which he stuffed into Wang Shufen's hands without saying a word.

"Sister-in-law, I understand your intentions. Thank you! I brought this little bit of brown sugar from my hometown in southern Shanxi. You can take it back and give it to the children to sweeten their mouths. Don't despise it."

Shen Lingning's tone was sincere. Brown sugar was a rare thing in this mountain valley, and you might not be able to buy it even if you had money.

Wang Shufen's eyes lit up and she subconsciously squeezed the small package. She could feel the hard candy inside through the oil paper.