Bonnie spent a few days cleaning up the house.
The vegetable garden in the yard has been replanted, and the chicken coop has been built. Zhang's wife said that raising chickens in the family compound is not strictly regulated. As long as it is not too excessive, the people will not complain and the officials will not investigate. The main reason is that chickens are the mainstay of the Guangdong dining table.
Upon hearing the confirmation, Bonnie quickly set up a chicken coop and, with the help of Sister Zhang, bought ten chicks from a nearby village.
"Sister-in-law, thank you so much these past two days. You've been a huge help to me." Bonnie was genuinely grateful to Sister-in-law Zhang. Otherwise, she would have been completely clueless and wouldn't have been able to start her new life so smoothly.
"It's nothing. I'm happy you're here. It's nice to have someone to talk to. Otherwise, it would be quite boring." Zhang's wife was sincere. She didn't have anything in common with her neighbors, and she couldn't open up to other military wives whose husbands held lower positions.
“Then let’s keep each other company. I just arrived and don’t know anyone except you, sister-in-law. We actually have a lot in common, so we’ll have each other for company. By the way, sister-in-law, how many chickens do you raise?”
When Bonnie went to Aunt Zhang's house, she didn't seem to hear the chicks chirping.
“My family doesn’t raise chickens, but I’m thinking about whether I should raise a few like you do.”
"No, why? If you don't raise chickens, you won't have enough eggs. Are there no limits on the number of eggs here, and you can buy as many as you want?" If that's the case, that would be great. She'll go buy more; her family loves to eat them.
"What are you dreaming about? There are unlimited eggs, only a pound or two each month." Aunt Zhang shattered Bonnie's fantasy. Eggs were another form of currency.
"I didn't raise chickens because I was afraid the neighbors would laugh at me and my husband would be gossiped about." Zhang's face showed some unease, sadness, and insecurity.
"Would you mind telling me more?" Bonnie felt that Aunt Zhang had a story to tell and needed to share it.
Zhang's sister-in-law hesitated for only a second; she had been holding it in for too long.
"This story begins with my husband, Xu Feng, who is three years younger than me. We are from Northeast China. When my parents and I migrated to Northeast China, we became orphans. My father-in-law rescued me and took me home, intending for me to be his eldest son's child bride."
Because there were many children in the family, the eldest being my husband. I was only a little over ten years old at the time, and I didn't understand much, but I ended up living with the Xu family. Xu Feng was smart and did well in school. He finished elementary and junior high school and later went on to attend a military academy.
I basically took care of everything at home. We got married after he graduated from high school, and he never abandoned me or the children. We've been together for over twenty years, and we have four children.
When Sister Zhang talked about these things, her eyes shone. This showed that Political Commissar Xu treated her well, or at least she was satisfied with him. But then why was she depressed?
"That's good, but why do I feel like you're a little..."
Bonnie couldn't quite describe the feeling Zhang Saozi gave off; it was a bit contradictory.
“My husband, Lao Xu, has been here for several years. When he came, his position was already quite high. In the last two years, he was promoted to political commissar of the special operations brigade. Most of the neighbors around me have jobs and are educated. Sometimes the way they look at me makes me uncomfortable.”
Aunt Zhang had raised chickens before, but they were disliked for the smell and the chicks' noise. Afraid of embarrassing Old Xu, she sold the chickens, but it was a real shame, as they had all weighed over a pound. She preferred staying in her hometown, where no one looked down on her; everyone praised her for being a good woman, supporting her husband's education, taking care of the family, and being a capable homemaker.
"Are there any rules in the residential compound that prohibit raising chickens?" Bonnie hadn't asked in detail before, but she hadn't expected this.
"No, the military wives over there also have wives." Sister Zhang was referring to the wives of soldiers below the battalion level who were accompanying their husbands. Although they lived in the same family compound, they were not in the same area, and their houses were much smaller. Just a wall away, on the other side, were generals' houses, which were more spacious and mostly occupied by veteran revolutionaries who had actually climbed snow-capped mountains, crossed grasslands, and shed sweat on the Long March.
"Since we can raise them, why bother with them? There are only a few chicks, how could they smell? Just keep them clean." Bonnie traded for ten chicks. After raising them for more than six months, the hens would start laying eggs, and the roosters could be kept for meat.
"Let them say what they want. They complain about the smell of chicken, but they don't complain when they eat chicken and eggs. Sister Zhang, don't worry too much about what others say. We live our lives for ourselves, and we can ignore what others say."
Throughout her life, Bonnie has never been afraid of what others say, whether it's good or bad.
"Okay, let me think about it." Zhang's lack of confidence mainly stemmed from her husband, Xu, a college student and a rural woman who could barely read. There were too many voices around them, and it was lucky that she hadn't gone crazy.
Bonnie had only seen Political Commissar Xu once, and it was just a fleeting glimpse from a distance; she didn't see his face clearly. He was quite tall, probably over 1.8 meters. As a soldier, he had a straight posture and couldn't possibly have gained weight. Over the years, Zhang's wife hadn't had it easy; there must have been some flirtatious suitors throwing themselves at her.
After having a deep conversation with Sister Zhang, Bao Ni felt more natural and relaxed around her.
Meanwhile, the other military wives began to wonder why the family of the newly arrived Marine brigade commander wasn't visiting them, but instead was hanging out with the rural woman from Political Commissar Xu's family.
Bao Ni's neighbor on one side was Sister Zhang, and on the other side was Wang Haiyang, the brigade commander of another brigade. His wife, Xu Mei, was a government clerk, a high school graduate, and their family was well-off.
"Sister Xu, I heard that Commander Gu's wife is the daughter of a fisherman from the island. She saved Commander Gu back then, and that's how they got married." The woman who spoke was in her early thirties, and her husband was a regimental commander under Wang Haiyang's brigade.
“Really? I didn’t realize that. Although Commander Gu’s family is dressed simply, they don’t look like they come from an island fishing family at all,” another woman said.
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