On the way to fetch water, I saw a few people, but since we didn't know each other, we didn't say hello.

Lin Qingqing fetched water very neatly. Although modern people use tap water, many old houses in the countryside still have wells.

For example, their old house has been converted into a small country villa, but the well is still there. When eating watermelon in summer, her grandmother likes to soak the watermelon in well water, so that the watermelon tastes cool, but it is different from the cold watermelon in the refrigerator. The watermelon soaked in well water tastes better.

When washing clothes and dishes, her grandmother also likes to use well water. Although it is more convenient to wash with a washing machine or a dishwasher, or to wash small items with tap water without using home appliances, the elderly are used to saving money, or are used to a lifestyle, that is, they like to use tap water. Moreover

, Lin Qingqing grew up in the countryside, so there is nothing she is not familiar with in the countryside.

Lin Qingqing is weak, and she had to use a small bucket more than ten times just to fill the large bucket of water in the kitchen. When the big wooden barrel was full of water, she found a rag and wiped the square table in the living room first. After wiping it clean, she wiped it dry again. Then she carried all the clean clothes and quilts in the room to the square table and placed them. She took out all the dirty clothes in the room and piled them in the corner of the living room. Finally, she cleaned the room.

She wiped the desk, three beds, and the floor in the room. She didn't feel relieved until the rag could not wipe out any dirt. Of course, the Lu family didn't have so many rags, so she tore up the original owner's clothes and used them as rags.

They were discharged from the hospital and arrived at the family room at about 1:30. Now she didn't know what time it was, but Lin Qingqing estimated that at least more than an hour had passed. She didn't move the dirty clothes in the living room, and threw them in the corner to wash slowly. The quilt that the original owner had used had not been changed for half a month, and she thought it was dirty, so she changed it.

After cleaning the sleeping place at night, she was too lazy to clean the living room. She didn't know when Lu Cheng would come back. For her now, the most important thing was to prepare a bed to put in the next room, so as not to be embarrassed when Lu Cheng came back. Although there was a one-meter small bed here, because there was no closet, if this bed was moved away, there would be no place to put the clean clothes and quilt.

So, either a bed or a closet, this was the thing she needed to prepare most at the moment. Comparing the two, even if clean clothes and quilts are placed on the bed, it is also easy to attract dust, so she bought a wardrobe and put it in the room, and moved the idle bed to the next room for herself to sleep.

"Xiao Haici, I want to find your Aunt Qin, can you show me the way?" Just now when she was cleaning the room, the little guy kept squeezing out the dry cleaning cloth for her, busy all the time. Now that the room is cleaned, he sticks his butt out and washes his hands with soap.

"Hey." Lu Haici was washing his hands. Hearing his mother's words, he hurriedly stood up.

"Let's go." Lin gently stretched out her hand to him.

Lu Haici was stunned: "Hey." He responded again in a loud voice, and obediently handed his hand to his mother.

The family compound is not too big or too small, but it takes several minutes to walk from Lu's family to Yu's family, because the two families are one at the front and one at the back.

The family compound is made up of three courtyards connected together. Lu's family is the innermost one, and there are two families on the right side. However, Lin Qingqing has been in and out of these two courtyards for several times since she came back and fetched water, and she has not seen anyone in these two courtyards. Instead, she walked to the outermost corner and saw several women sitting there. Some were mending clothes, some were peeling potatoes, and some were knitting.

Seeing Lin Qingqing coming, one of the women said, "Lu Cheng's wife, are you discharged from the hospital?"

Lin Qingqing thought carefully and found this person from the original owner's memory. Half a month ago, when Lu Cheng brought the original owner back to the army, he also met a few women on the roadside. Everyone greeted Lu Cheng, and Lu Cheng naturally introduced the original owner.

However, the original owner did not remember the names of these people, so Lin Qingqing did not know how to address the person who greeted her. She thought for a while and said, "Hello, sister-in-law. I was just discharged from the hospital this afternoon." It seems that several families nearby knew that she was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment with a fever of 41 degrees.

The woman: "You are so lucky. When Sister Yu came to ask us to send you to the hospital, we saw your face was red at home, as if you were holding your breath. We were really scared."

Not to mention the woman was scared, Lin Qingqing also felt a little scared when she heard her say that. At that time, she had just come from the book, and the original owner should have just had a fever. "Thank you so much, sister-in-law. To be honest, it's my own fault. When I first came here, I took the train for several days because it was my first time traveling far away, so I was not used to it. After arriving here, I felt dizzy. I thought I could just hold on and it would pass, but I held on for half a month, and then I became dazed and had no consciousness."

"If you don't treat a minor illness, a major illness will cost money." A woman next to her said.

Lin smiled at the other party: "That's right, now I understand."

"Look at you now, you are recovering quickly. After all, you are young and energetic." Someone said.

Lin Qingqing: "Thank you, doctor... Sisters-in-law, I have something to do at Sister Yu's house. When I get better, I'll invite you all to come to my house. I haven't recovered from the illness in the past few days, so I won't invite you all."

"You're welcome. It's important for you to recover."

"Of course, there will be plenty of opportunities to visit you in the future."

Lin Qingqing chatted with them for a while and then separated from them.

After Lin Qingqing left, several women looked at her from behind and started talking again.

"This girl is pretty, so fair and clean. I have never seen a girl as fair as her."

"That's right. You can tell at first glance that she is blessed."

"I originally wanted to introduce my niece to Deputy Colonel Lu."

"Come on, your husband is just a battalion commander. Is it appropriate to introduce your niece to Deputy Colonel Lu?"

"This girl looks so young. How can she be someone's stepmother? It's too inappropriate." Some people also said something bad about Lin Qingqing.

"Forget it, if your stepmother can marry the deputy commander, would you be willing?"

"That's right, Commander Lu is so handsome, and his son is only five years old. He can be raised and educated, so why can't he marry?"

"Speaking of which, have you met Deputy Commander Lu's former wife?"

"His former wife never followed the army, how could we meet her?"

"Isn't it? I heard that Deputy Commander Lu got married only nine months ago, and his former wife gave birth prematurely due to poor health, so his former wife passed away early. His son was born prematurely, so he was not in good health and had been raised in his hometown. It was only last year that he recovered and was brought here to attend kindergarten."

"This new daughter-in-law looks very gentle, she should be good to the child."

"No matter how good she is, she is still a stepmother." The person who just said that Lin Qingqing was out of tune spoke again, "How can a stepmother be good? Only time can tell a person's true character."

"Captain Ji's wife is also a stepmother. She is a well-known virtuous wife in the military camp."

The woman thought about it and wanted to find some faults with the virtuous wife, but she really couldn't find anything bad. In the end, she could only grit her teeth and said, "Time will tell. It's only been half a year. She doesn't have a child, so she hasn't revealed her true colors."

Lin Qingqing naturally didn't know that these people were talking about her and her stepmother. She and Lu Haici had already arrived at Yu Xiuyao's house. Yu Xiuyao was drying clothes at this time. She brought Lin Qingqing food in the morning, stayed in the hospital until noon, and brought her food again at noon, and waited until she was discharged from the hospital. She didn't do anything all day, and only now did she have time to do housework. Seeing Lin Qingqing and Lu Haici holding hands and coming home, she hurriedly asked enthusiastically: "Qingqing sister, why are you here?"

Lin Qingqing said: "Sister-in-law, it's like this, I want to buy some cabinets for the house, but I don't know where to buy them."

Yu Xiuyao heard: "Go to the nearby village, there is a carpenter in the village, just buy it from the carpenter. When you are well, I will take you there." The army is close to the county town and belongs to the suburbs of the county town, so it is also close to the countryside.

Now it is 1963, and the measures for free trade have just begun, so carpenters will take jobs privately. When the ten years of hardship came, various organizations such as the Little Red Soldiers appeared, and this kind of private transaction would be labeled as speculation, and all kinds of free trade became cautious.

Lin Qingqing said gratefully: "Thank you, sister-in-law, I feel much better now. Are you free tomorrow? If you are, can you take me there tomorrow? I also want to buy some food and vegetables for my family so that I can cook by myself."

Yu Xiuyao listened and said: "You can cook by yourself? That's great, I have vegetables at home, you can just come to my place to get them." Her yard is planted with green vegetables, eggplants, and cucumbers. Although the yard is small and dirty, it is full of greenery.

Lin Qingqing looked at the vegetables in the yard and said without hesitation: "Then sister-in-law, can you lend me some rice, eggs and vegetables? I will buy them tomorrow and return them to sister-in-law." There is nothing at home, and I have to eat in the cafeteria tonight and tomorrow morning. It is indeed more convenient to cook at home. Lin Qingqing actually likes to cook delicious food.

When Yu Xiuyao heard this, she didn't hesitate to say that she didn't need to return it. She asked cheerfully: "Okay, what specific things do you want to borrow? Let me see if I have them."

Lin Qingqing thought for a while and said: "I want to borrow two kilograms of rice, four eggs, some potatoes and vegetables, and two cucumbers." She will have fried rice with eggs in the evening and mashed potatoes tomorrow morning.

Yu Xiuyao said: "All these are available. I'll get them for you." She put down the half-dried clothes.

Seeing this, Lin Qingqing finished drying her half-dried clothes.

So when Xiuyao came out, the clothes had been dried. Yu Xiuyao didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You..." She originally thought that this girl was well-fed and might not be suitable for work, but looking at this, she should be a hardworking person. Yu Xiuyao put down the basket and picked a handful of vegetables and four cucumbers in the yard. "Our yard is small, and we can only grow these things."

"Thank you, sister-in-law. By the way, sister-in-law, I see that your yard is elevated, and our yard has a low wall. Can we raise it ourselves?" Lin Qingqing also likes the elevated yard, which is more private.