Volume 1 Chapter 175 Differences in Concepts

Gu Tingxiao fell asleep while holding her in his arms. Sheng Wanyan had been busy all day and was very tired, so she fell asleep soon after.

After Sheng Wanyan entertained several of Gu Tingxiao's comrades-in-arms, she officially entered the normal life of a military wife.

Every day she either waters the vegetable garden, cleans the house, or cooks three meals a day and waits for Gu Tingxiao to come home from get off work.

"Wanyan, let's go to the village to exchange supplies."

Aunt Xie was knocking on the door of her yard early in the morning. Today was the day when the military wives went to exchange supplies with the villagers.

Basically, I exchange with the villagers once a month, usually in the first few days of the month.

Sheng Wanyan followed her out carrying a large backpack. It would be best to ride a bicycle to exchange supplies, and if there were a lot, they could bring it back.

"Auntie, come up and show me the way."

Sheng Wanyan pushed her bicycle out, got on it with one stride of her long legs, turned around and called Aunt Xie.

"Ai!"

Aunt Xie sat up, grabbed her clothes from behind, and pointed the way to the village for her.

"Wanyan, this is the Ice City Farmers' Commune."

"Five kilometers down, the village is there."

"There are two villages here, the First Brigade and the Second Brigade."

"The villages are adjacent to each other. This place is remote and not very populated. There are less than 300 households in the two villages combined."

Aunt Xie gave her a brief introduction to the surrounding situation. Sheng Wanyan looked at the communes of that era and found them to be similar to the communes in Chengdu that she remembered.

But there are a lot fewer people here, and the living environment is worse than in Chengdu.

They went to the First Brigade of Farmers, where the farmers were working in the fields.

They definitely didn't exchange supplies with fanfare, but instead went there secretly by knocking on doors.

After all, you can't guarantee that no one in the village will report it, so you can't be too obvious, and you have to choose a time when everyone is at work.

At the beginning of every month, every household in this area would leave an adult at home to wait for the military wives to come.

Aunt Xie took her to knock on the door of a courtyard, and soon a thin old man opened the door and walked out.

"Auntie, I'm here to exchange supplies. What can you exchange for me?"

The old man recognized Aunt Xie and asked them to come in and talk. Sheng Wanyan followed behind, pushing her bicycle in.

"There's not much right now. The harvest is bad. Just some corn, potatoes and vegetables. Take them if you want."

These are the grains that farmers basically rely on now, and they don’t even have to think about fine grains.

If you want fine grains, you have to come here at the end of the year.

At the end of the year, the village will distribute food to everyone in exchange for the work points earned by the villagers through their hard work throughout the year.

For farmers, work points are their lifeblood.

Some villagers who are in urgent need of money or other supplies would take out their fine grains for exchange.

"Auntie, how much corn and potatoes do you have?"

Aunt Xie didn't think about exchanging for fine grains. She came here for the coarse grains.

After all, we need to stockpile a lot of food for the winter. Who is rich enough to eat fine grains every day?

In this era, fine grains will not be easily taken out unless it is necessary.

"We have 30 kilograms of corn, 20 kilograms of potatoes, and vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbages, and eggplants."

"Wanyan, what do you want?"

Aunt Xie asked Sheng Wanyan what she wanted. Sheng Wanyan thought about it and decided to order 10 kilograms of corn, 5 kilograms of potatoes, and some of each vegetable.

After all, the food at home is almost gone after the dinner, and if I don’t buy something to take back, it will inevitably arouse suspicion.

"That's all?"

"Aunt, there are only two of us in our family. If it's not enough, we'll ride our bike to the city to buy some in two days."

Sheng Wanyan gave her a look and said, they can’t just do business in one store!

Aunt Xie understood immediately, but she packed the remaining corn and potatoes herself.

With such a large family, the more food she has, the better.

"Give me 70 cents for this."

The old farmer's wife pointed at Sheng Wanyan's things, and Sheng Wanyan took out seventy cents from her cloth bag and gave it to her.

It’s more expensive at Aunt Xie’s place, almost two dollars in total.

Aunt Xie put the things into the backpack and then went to other houses to exchange. Along the way, Sheng Wanyan exchanged 20 kilograms of corn, 10 kilograms of potatoes and 10 kilograms of vegetables.

She actually doesn't like eating potatoes very much. She doesn't like the feeling of them getting stuck in her throat and being unable to swallow them.

Unless it's French fries, potato chips, or mashed potatoes, which are easier to swallow.

Aunt Xie comes here seldom, so she changes a lot. She buys whatever she sees that is suitable, and she would like to fill up the cellar in her house.

After all, Aunt Xie has a son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren, so she has to prepare for everything.

After all, there is food at home, so there is no need to panic.

"Wanyan, give me your backpack. I'll carry it."

It was inconvenient for Sheng Wanyan to carry a backpack while riding a bicycle, so Aunt Xie carried her own backpack and sat on the back seat holding Sheng Wanyan.

Sheng Wanyan was carrying more than 200 kilograms of weight. She had good physical strength, but in this road condition, she was not that strong...

Besides, it took me more than half an hour to ride here, so the ride back must be extremely bumpy.

But the road conditions were like this, and she couldn't change them.

Sheng Wanyan gritted her teeth and carried Aunt Xie and the food back home. When she got home, she collapsed on the sofa.

When Gu Tingxiao came back and saw his wife lying motionless on the sofa in a weak and exhausted state, he was immediately startled and ran over.

"Wife, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm so tired... I don't want to go to the village anymore."

“The road is too difficult to walk on.”

Sheng Wanyan pouted and turned to look at him, her eyes filled with fear of the bumpy road.

She felt that she was not this tired even when she was tortured by Gu Tingxiao at night. The road conditions were really exhausting.

If the road is smooth, she can carry not only 200 pounds, but also another Aunt Xie.

"Okay, okay, I won't go there anymore."

"I'll find a way to deal with anything the family needs, don't worry about it."

"Wife, take a rest. I'll get you a glass of water."

Gu Tingxiao tidied up the loose hair on her forehead and stood up to pour her a glass of warm water.

Sheng Wanyan took several sips and finished all the water in the enameled iron cup. It seemed that she was extremely thirsty.

"Wife, take a rest. I'll go cook."

Sheng Wanyan nodded. Anyway, she was not a person who would try to show off her strength. She would just rest when she was tired. Her body was her own.

Anyway, she is not like other wives who will take good care of their men no matter how tired they are.

It is obvious that women are the naturally disadvantaged group, so why should they be abused by men?

She really thinks that most men of this era have big problems with their thinking and are very patriarchal.

He believes that his wife is meant to take care of him and bear the brunt of his anger.

Some people have no ability but still care about their reputation...

These are two completely extreme concepts compared to the life philosophy she has been exposed to since childhood.