Chapter 173 If anyone digs this up again, she'll fight them.

The two arrived hesitantly, but left satisfied.

Before leaving, Section Chief Zhong looked at Jiang Si with a hint of something in his eyes. If his superior hadn't repeatedly told him to speak, he would have insisted on asking her.

This mural was created by Comrade Jiang, so it would be better if she were to paint it herself.

Ye Mingfeng meant the same thing.

In painting, seniority is useless; ultimately, it's the artwork that speaks for itself.

He came here with a learning mindset.

Comrade Jiang's abilities are undeniable, and he is completely convinced of them!

Jiang Si understood what they meant, but after thinking about it, she politely declined.

The portraits in her facial feature database still need to be polished for more than half a month. If she takes on this job, it will be quite time-consuming.

"Maybe next time. Anyway, I'm in the Fourth Division, and there will be plenty of opportunities to cooperate in the future."

That's what she said, but Jiang Si also said that if there are any problems with the mural later, she would still help if she could.

For example, color correction or overall composition.

Since she had already said that, Section Chief Zhong couldn't make things difficult for her any further. After thanking her repeatedly, the two of them took the sketch drawn by Jiang Si back to their unit.

Taking advantage of their current burst of inspiration, they need to hurry up and draw up the sample.

Why didn't you eat lunch?

As soon as the door closed, Huo Tingzhou frowned and looked over.

Jiang Si glanced at him with amusement; this man's reaction time was far too slow.

It's been an hour and a half, why does he still remember this?

Why don't you think I should eat?

Jiang Si rubbed his face and lightly spat at him, "You exhausted me last night. I didn't wake up until 10:30. You ate breakfast so late. Do you think I have any appetite for lunch?"

"Also, next time you have guests, please make sure you know who is the most important and who is not."

"Otherwise, if your soldiers find out, they'll definitely laugh at you behind your back."

Huo Tingzhou didn't care about any of that. After Jiang Si finished speaking, he only asked one question.

Are you hungry now? Do you have an appetite?

Upon hearing this, Jiang Si knew that all her previous words had been in vain.

But she never neglects her stomach. "I'm a little hungry, I want to eat your handmade noodles."

"Wait a minute, I'll make it for you right away."

Seeing him rushing to the kitchen in such a hurry, Jiang Si couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The two went to the kitchen one after the other.

Jiang Si leaned against the door frame, watching quietly.

At this moment, Huo Tingzhou was kneading the dough with practiced ease.

Watching the dough change shape in his hands, Jiang Si suddenly felt her ears burning.

Just as he was lost in his fantasies, he suddenly heard Huo Tingzhou's voice.

"Honey, it's hot in the kitchen, why don't you go sit in the living room first?"

This isn't heat at all...

That idiot...

Jiang Si awkwardly changed the subject.

Huo Tingzhou seemed to remember something, "Wife, where are Third Uncle and Uncle Zhong?"

While they were chatting about painting, he took a moment to go to the attic, only to find that neither his third uncle nor Uncle Zhong were home.

Jiang Si sighed, "I went to the beach with Wei Dong and Wei Min."

Huo Tingzhou was puzzled because his wife's tone seemed a bit off.

Jiang Si glanced at him thoughtfully, "They went to dig for oysters."

The moment the words "oyster" were uttered, Huo Tingzhou's back visibly stiffened.

Jiang Si wanted to say something more.

Huo Tingzhou suddenly turned around, his dark eyes fixed on her, his tone unusually serious.

"I didn't do well last night, but I'll try harder next time to make you satisfied."

"..."

Jiang Si could no longer laugh.

"Hmph!" She tossed her head and prepared to leave, but before she could take two steps, Huo Tingzhou stretched out his long arm and pulled her back.

"I was wrong." He readily admitted his mistake.

"What did I do wrong?" Jiang Si persisted.

Huo Tingzhou reflected seriously for a moment, "I shouldn't have behaved like that yesterday..."

To be honest, he was also quite confused.

Jiang Si simply told him two words: "Stop!"

We can't talk about this anymore.

At this moment, the water boiled, and Huo Tingzhou put the cut noodles into the water, and then added two eggs.

While waiting, he stir-fried some chopped green onions on another stove.

Then I poured in a whole bottle of tomato sauce.

Next comes seasoning.

"Is this much sauce okay?" Huo Tingzhou knew she liked sweet and sour things, so he scooped out a big spoonful.

Jiang Si glanced at it and said, "Make the noodles a little less; I can't finish them."

"It's okay, you eat first, I'll eat what you can't finish."

Jiang Si glared at him. "From the first day you came to the Jiang family, I have never let you eat leftovers. I never did before, and I certainly won't now."

Huo Tingzhou wanted to say he didn't care, but then he met his wife's gaze.

He silently took another bowl out of the cupboard.

"That's more like it." Jiang Si scooped the excess noodles from her bowl into his bowl.

"I'll serve it, you go sit over there first."

As they were talking, Huo Tingzhou had already placed the noodles on the table and opened a small bottle of soda for her. "Eat up."

The hand-rolled noodles are incredibly chewy, and paired with this tomato sauce, it's absolutely delicious!

Jiang Si finished the noodles in her bowl in no time.

After the meal, Huo Tingzhou went to wash the dishes.

Jiang Si then tidied up the table with a rag.

After he finished washing the dishes, he went back to his room to change out of his military uniform, and then went to the vegetable garden to start weeding.

Jiang Si asked curiously, "Don't you need to go to the troupe later?"

"Okay, I won't go this afternoon. I'll officially rejoin the team tomorrow."

Speaking of this, Huo Tingzhou looked over and said, "I'm sorry, I can't go with you to the fishing village to look at houses tomorrow."

He had originally planned to go and check out the house earlier today, but the leaked list delayed him.

"What's the big deal?" Jiang Si smiled nonchalantly. "Have all the matters in the troupe been resolved?"

After saying that, he paused for a moment and said, "I forgot, is it something I shouldn't ask?"

Huo Tingzhou shook his head, "It's alright, the list has been finalized."

Thinking that the district-wide public criticism would be issued tomorrow, he said a few more words.

"The original list of recommendations was a confidential document, but the head of the organization section leaked it to a company commander with whom he had a good relationship."

"His wife is one of the two military dependents who were with Deputy Company Commander Yang's sister yesterday."

"Originally, it was a two-out-of-five selection, but those two military dependents instigated Deputy Company Commander Yang's sister to make a mistake, so these three were disqualified from being recommended and are not allowed to be recommended again for five years."

Jiang Si listened thoughtfully.

Seeing that she remained silent for a while, Huo Tingzhou said, "Don't overthink it. Even without this incident, the chances of Deputy Company Commander Yang being selected in the end are not high."

Jiang Si nodded; she wouldn't overthink it.

Even if she didn't say anything, those two military dependents would still use this to their advantage.

Moreover, when Yang Xiaoyu came yesterday, she made it clear that she would not help cover this up.

The two of them pulled weeds in the vegetable garden for a while, picked some fresh vegetables, and then went back to the house to rest.

As evening fell, Uncle San and Uncle Zhong returned home laden with their loot.

Besides a small bucket of fish, shrimp, and crab, the two also pried open a whole bucket of oyster meat.

Third Uncle exclaimed excitedly, "There's so much! We don't even want to come back!"

Jiang Si originally wanted to complain that they went to the beach without taking her along.

But when she thought about having to leave before seven in the morning, she decisively made peace with herself.

Forget it, she can't handle this hardship.

In the evening, unsurprisingly, we had another five or six oyster feast.

Fortunately, the quantity wasn't large; most of the oysters were used by Uncle San to make oyster sauce.

Even so, the two still spent most of the night making love.

When Jiang Si woke up the next day, she clutched her aching lower back and secretly made a vow.

She'll get angry with anyone who digs this up again!

Not long after breakfast, Hu Meili and Xu Mingjuan arrived.

It's the weekend, and they don't have much to do.

He then decided to accompany Jiang Si to visit a nearby fishing village.

Jiang Si didn't refuse, but just as they were chatting and laughing as they left the family compound, they were stopped in their tracks—