Chapter 272 A Small Event

Aunt Jiang came to the frontier in the 1950s. Her husband died early, and she raised her two daughters by herself. She has never remarried.

Both of her daughters are married; one married into the county and the other stayed in the village. Now, Aunt Jiang is all alone at home.

Aunt Jiang works at the health center. She doesn't have many things at home, and her house is very tidy.

While Song Lubai was sitting there revising her writing, Aunt Jiang came in with a teacup of brown sugar and egg water.

"Your aunt didn't even serve you a scrambled egg today. Drink this bowl of egg drop soup to sweeten your mouth."

Song Lubai found it amusing. "Auntie, it's not that my sister doesn't give me eggs. She's not stingy at all. She gave me a watch the first time we met."

Aunt Jiang was taken aback. "Then why can't you even fry an egg today?"

Song Lubai continued to demonstrate the stingy nature of the regimental commander's family, saying, "We won't cook lunch, but we will cook dinner. There are too many people at lunchtime, and even if we cook, it won't be enough for everyone, so we simply won't cook."

Aunt Jiang: "..."

After a long pause, she stammered, "Your man is a regimental commander, he must earn a lot of money every month, um, um..."

Song Lubai said earnestly, "Auntie, you can't buy things even if you have money. You have to save when you need to."

Aunt Jiang nodded, "You're right, hurry up and drink the brown sugar water."

As the two were talking, there was a knock on the door.

Aunt Jiang went to open the door and saw Wei Zhao's eldest son, Chen Shaohua, carrying a bowl.

"Grandma, my mom asked me to take a bowl of steamed egg custard to my aunt."

After Aunt Jiang took the bowl, she beckoned Chen Shaohua to come in.

Chen Shaohua then took out a handful of candy from his pocket and placed it on the table in the room.

"Mom said there's a happy occasion at home today, and she wants Grandma to share in the joy."

Chen Shaohua is a well-behaved and polite child, quite different from the other children in the production and construction corps.

Song Lubai called out, "Shaohua, come here. I'll drink the steamed egg custard, but you can have this bowl of egg and brown sugar water."

Chen Shaohua said, "Today is the bride's day, so give all the drinks to the aunt."

Aunt Jiang said, "Stop offering it back and forth, I'll make you another bowl."

Song Lubai said, "Auntie, don't bother, one bowl each for him and me is just right."

She just doesn't like drinking boiled egg water; it's too fishy.

"Shaohua, hurry up, take this out and share it with your younger siblings."

Chen Shaohua then stopped hesitating.

His family used to have plenty of eggs and brown sugar, but since coming to Xinjiang Province, he has never had brown sugar and egg water.

Chen Shaohua took a small sip. Just like he remembered, the eggy smell was strong, but it was also sweet and somewhat delicious.

Inside the house, Aunt Jiang smelled the delicious aroma of steamed egg custard and believed Song Lubai's story.

Wei Zhaozhen wasn't stingy, nor did she have a problem with Song Lubai. The regimental commander's family, like theirs, didn't have much, so they had to be frugal.

Song Lubai estimated that there were at least three steamed eggs in this bowl, and after collapsing, they were almost up to the rim of the bowl.

Wei Zhao gave her a watch the first time they met. In the past, Wei Zhao was a prominent person, so Song Lubai did not think she was a stingy person.

It was just past two o'clock in the afternoon when there was a commotion outside. Aunt Jiang went out and came back, smiling broadly, and said, "Commander Wei is coming soon."

Song Lubai looked down at her clothes, which were fairly appropriate, and then looked at herself in the small mirror.

If circumstances didn't allow, she only drew her eyebrows, wiped her face with red paper, put her hair up, and pinned a red artificial flower to it.

A short while later, Wei Yang was surrounded by the crowd and arrived at the door.

As everyone was exchanging joyful greetings, Wei Yang arrived at the door with a beaming smile and handed Aunt Jiang a red envelope without saying a word.

The door opened, and he strode in.

The couple looked at each other, and Song Lubai, sitting upright on the bed, smiled as she watched him approach.

He bent down and squatted in front of her, saying, "Get on."

Aunt Jiang's house was more than 200 meters away from hers, and Wei Yang carried her on his back with great ease.

Once outside, Aunt Jiang was really curious about how much Commander Wei had given her. When she opened the package and saw three yuan inside, she thought to herself, "Commander Wei is so generous!"

Halfway there, Song Lubai overheard the onlookers saying, "The regimental commander is tall, and he looks very powerful."

Song Lubai agreed in her heart.

He's very strong; he can lift her up with one hand.

The sun was blazing hot, and by the time Wei Yang reached the door, his head and neck were covered in sweat.

Just as Wei Yang was about to carry Song Lubai into the house, Secretary Feng said with a smile, "Little Wei, don't rush, put your wife down and let her meet everyone."

Wei Yang asked in surprise, "Shouldn't I have just taken her inside?"

According to the procedure, he felt he should send his wife back to the house directly, making sure her feet didn't touch the ground, before he came out to entertain the guests.

This isn't a restaurant; there's no way to hold a formal wedding banquet here.

Someone joked, "Hey, look how impatient the commander is. What's the rush? It's still a long way from dark."

Wei Yang's face turned red to the roots of his neck. He explained, "It's so hot, it's fine for me to get some sun, but my wife is fair-skinned, so I can't let her get sunburned like this."

One of the older women joked, "Our regimental commander is quite the doting husband."

Song Lubai buried her head in Wei Yang's neck.

She didn't move the whole time and sweated a lot.

Their sweat mingled, making the areas where they touched slippery.

Hearing the whispers around her that hinted at deeper meanings, her face burned.

Wei Zhao smiled and said to Secretary Feng, "According to the rules, we need to find a highly respected person to be a witness. Secretary Feng, if you don't mind, would you like to say a few words?"

Secretary Feng said modestly, "I don't deserve such high prestige. I'm just a bit old. I'm old enough to be Xiao Wei's father. So I'll just say a few words without any shame."

"Xiao Wei, you are the commander of our 16th Regiment. From today onwards, you are your wife's husband. Whether you are the commander or the husband, you must take responsibility and be a responsible person."

"Comrade Song Lubai, you used to have a formal job in Shicheng. It is commendable that you were able to give up everything and come to this difficult place with Wei Yang."

"I hope you two will have a happy marriage, stay together forever, and grow old together."

Wei Zhao was the first to applaud, "Secretary Feng is right. You truly deserve to be the secretary of our regiment. With such a wise and righteous leader like you, we people in our regiment are all blessed from now on."

She turned to Wei Yang and said, "Go inside quickly."

After entering the house, Wei Yang closed the door behind him.

The people outside deliberately said, "Why are you closing the door in broad daylight?"

Wei Zhao stood blocking the doorway and talked to the neighbors, while inviting Secretary Feng and the others to sit down over at the shed.

After Wei Yang put Song Lubai on the bed, he wiped the sweat from his brow and asked, "Are you hungry?"

Song Lubai shook her head, "My sister made me steamed egg custard before, and I've already eaten it."

Wei Yang sat down beside her, and upon hearing the noise outside the door, he suppressed the urge to pull her into his arms.

"Go out and greet the guests. I need to talk to you after the event."

Wei Yang said, "I also have something to tell you."

He squeezed her hand and said, "Just wait here for me."

Seeing her smile, he finally couldn't resist, and with his arm around her waist, he pulled her close.