Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Auntie, don't be nervous, we're going back to Ningzhou today."

Yang Shuying felt relieved and pretended to be polite, saying, "What are you saying, child? Why would I be nervous? It's just that you left in such a hurry. It's rare for you to come back. Stay a few more days and visit your aunts. Your eldest aunt was asking about you the other day."

Will her aunt ask about her?

Jiang Xuan would never believe it, not even if he were beaten to death.

"I also wanted to stay a few more days, but Shengye only took two days off, so I can only visit my aunt next time."

"Oh, is that so? Well, work is more important then, so I won't keep you any longer. Oh, by the way, you can leave the blankets as they are, but you still need two pairs of insoles. I got a few patterns from someone a few days ago, I'll go get them and show them to you."

After Yang Shuying left, Jiang Xuan walked over to Lu Shengye and whispered maliciously, "I'll tell you something."

She moved closer to Lu Shengye and naturally placed her hand on his shoulder.

Warm breath caressed his ear, and Lu Shengye's heart skipped a beat. He held his breath, and the tips of his ears turned as red as tomatoes.

Yang Shuying quickly came in with several sheets of pattern paper.

“Look at HyunHyun, I think this design is pretty good.”

Jiang Xuan verbally agreed, but she didn't actually look closely at what the pattern was. She secretly poked Lu Shengye.

Lu Shengye looked very troubled.

Jiang Xuan poked it again.

Lu Shengye still didn't move.

Jiang Xuan couldn't hold back any longer, "Shengye, didn't you say that your aunt's fried dough cakes are delicious and that you wanted to take some back with you?"

Lu Shengye: ?

Yang Shuying was taken aback, thinking she had misheard.

Lu Shengye actually wants fried dough sticks?

How could someone who seems so aloof say something like that?

The fried dough cakes were specially made for Qiaoyun. Apart from Jiang Xuan, who shamelessly wasted two of them, none of the others could bear to eat a single bite.

To be honest, she didn't want to give it to her.

But since Jiang Xuan had already spoken, she couldn't refuse directly. She just said, "Sheng Ye grew up in the city and has seen all kinds of delicious food. Why would he care about a few fried dough sticks?"

Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Auntie, your cooking skills are so good that even among the chefs in the city, few can compare to you."

Yang Shuying liked to hear this. She smiled and said, "How can I compare to the chefs in the city? I figured it all out myself, and it's barely edible. Since Shengye doesn't mind, I'll go and make a few."

"Auntie, pack a few more so that Shengye's family can have a taste. The Lu family values ​​the Jiang family highly, so we can't appear stingy."

Yang Shuying cursed inwardly: You're quite the opportunist. If it weren't for you, you troublemaker, we wouldn't be eating coarse grains and wild vegetables these past few days.

To raise money, they even sold several chickens from their home.

When visiting relatives, people usually bring a maximum of four fried dough cakes, but she gritted her teeth and packed six.

Jiang Xuan, who followed, said, "Auntie, six is ​​too few."

Yang Shuying gritted her teeth and packed four more. "Ten is enough. If you like them, I'll mail them to you next time. The rest are really for visiting relatives."

Jiang Xuan was still not satisfied, so she went over and grabbed six more. "Auntie, we'll be on the road for a whole day, so give us a few more to eat on the way."

Yang Shuying was heartbroken.

Before leaving, Jiang Xuan picked several bags of fruit from Yang Shuying's field.

*

Jiang Xuan was still smiling even after the jeep left the village and headed towards the main road to the county town.

Lu Shengye's expression softened as he said, "Are you that happy? You've been smiling for a long time."

"Of course I'm happy. I saved you 500 yuan all by myself. 500 yuan! That's several years' salary for you."

Lu Shengye nodded, "Pretty much, but I also get bonuses and allowances."

"And the fried dough cakes, you didn't see the expression on my aunt's face when she was packing them, it was like she was cutting off her own flesh. I can imagine how she's cursing me right now."

Lu Shengye laughed and said, "Actually, if she doesn't want to give it to you, that's fine. If you want to eat it, I'll buy it for you."

"No, I just wanted to make her angry."

Lu Shengye suddenly asked, "Did you never have enough to eat when you were a child?"

Several images involuntarily flashed through Jiang Xuan's mind.

Yang Shuying stood at the door, waving a broom and pointing at the original owner of the body, saying, "Useless thing, all you do is eat all day long!"

The original owner of the body kept her head down, taking small bites of the rice in her bowl.

In another scene, the original owner had just picked up the bowl when Yang Shuying snatched it away and grabbed her ear, saying, "Put it down! How dare you eat like that? Look at that yard you swept! Go sweep it again!"

The past is too painful to recall, and the poor original owner has already left; Jiang Xuan doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

She looked out the window. This place was located on the Loess Plateau. On the hillside, there were still some unharvested wheat fields, which looked golden from afar.

"I probably won't come back here after this departure."

"This is your hometown. You can come whenever you want. As long as you're not on a mission, I can ask for leave."

Jiang Xuan shook her head, "I'm not coming anymore. Grandpa has been laid to rest, and there's nothing or no one here that I'd like to stay with."

Lu Shengye felt his heart tremble.

Everyone loves their hometown, and everyone cherishes their home.

What kind of despair must a person have experienced to say such a thing?

Lu Shengye turned his head to look at her, and she looked out the window.

In the sunlight, her fair neck gleamed with a soft glow.

Lu Shengye felt his throat was dry.

“It seems like your relationship with your father isn’t very good either,” Jiang Xuan suddenly turned around and said.

Lu Shengye hurriedly turned his face away, "Mm."

“But you are different from me. He is at least your biological father, so he would never scheme against you.”

Lu Shengye said calmly, "He might not scheme against me, but it's hard to guarantee that the people around him won't."

Jiang Xuan understood immediately, but since Lu Shengye didn't continue, she tacitly refrained from asking any further questions.

Wang Yingqiu didn't make a very good first impression on her.

Although she appeared warm and attentive on the surface, her every move seemed somewhat deliberate.

To be honest, Jiang Xuan didn't want to live with them.

Thinking of this, she asked, "By the way, where will we live after we get married? I feel like we don't have enough rooms at home."

"The military region promised me that once I submitted my marriage application and it was approved, they would allocate me another apartment."

"That's great, so will you still be assigned to that family compound?"

"The priority is still the family compound, but we also need to see if there are any vacant rooms with suitable apartment types in the family compound. If not, there is a high chance that we will be assigned to a large tenement compound."

"A tenement courtyard?"

Lu Shengye nodded, "It's the courtyard next to the family compound. The residents there are quite diverse. Besides the families of the military region, there are also families of several units that cooperate with the military region, such as the garment factory and the machinery factory."

"However, since it is newly built, the conditions are quite good. Generally, it is a small courtyard for two households, with the two households sharing the kitchen and toilet. The house types are two-bedroom and three-bedroom, and the courtyard is relatively large."

Jiang Xuan quickly asked, "Is there a shower room?"

Lu Shengye shook his head. "No."

Jiang Xuan let out a long sigh of relief. Oh well, one can't expect too much these days.