Chapter 173: There is still discrimination!

"I'll build the kitchen when I get home in the evening. You don't have to prepare dinner for your brother and his friends. They can come over after they've eaten."

Gu Xiaoxi nodded and said, "I'm going to the mountain to collect firewood with Sister Guifen and the others this afternoon. You don't have to worry if I don't come back early."

Lu Jiansen gently rubbed her head and said, "Leave the firewood collection to me. You don't have to go."

Gu Xiaoxi pursed her lips and smiled, "I didn't really go there to collect firewood. I just occasionally participated in the collective activities of military wives. I modified my bicycle this morning and will ride there later."

Lu Jiansen glanced at the modified bicycle in the yard and nodded slightly.

"Then be safe and come back soon."

"Yes, I understand."

Lu Jiansen lowered his head and gave her a light kiss on the lips before leaving.

Gu Xiaoxi also made some preparations because he was going up the mountain.

She prepared a sickle, a flax rope, and a woven bag, and placed them all in the basket in front of the bicycle.

When Sister Guifen came to call her, she put on her small bag, pushed her bicycle and went out.

Seeing that she was still riding the bicycle, Li Guifen said with a smile, "This bicycle can't go up the mountain! Aren't you afraid of losing it if you leave it at the bottom of the mountain?"

Gu Xiaoxi opened his bag and immediately took out a thick iron chain and a large lock from it. "I'll use this to lock it to the tree. When I pick up firewood, I can tie it to the back of the car. Otherwise, I won't be able to get it back even if I pick it up."

Li Guifen looked at her thin arms and legs and nodded with a smile, "That's fine. Feng Xia and I are planning to push a cart, which will allow us to carry more and save trouble."

"Okay. Let's go!" Gu Xiaoxi pushed the bicycle and walked slowly with Li Guifen.

After the two met up with Feng Xia, they set out together.

After leaving the family compound, Feng Xia suddenly looked at the bicycle that Gu Xiaoxi was pushing with some confusion, "Xiaoxi, did you change the bicycle?"

She was still riding the same bike that she was seen riding this morning.

Gu Xiaoxi smiled and said, "This is the bike I rode this morning, but it was too high and hard for me to ride, so I modified it myself and added a basket to hold my things."

Feng Xia looked at her with admiration, "You can even modify a bicycle, that's amazing! I've never seen a bicycle like yours!"

Li Guifen, however, adapted well. "I heard from my husband that Xiaoxi girls are really good at repairing things. They can not only repair rice mills, but also tractors and even helicopters! Modifying a bicycle is nothing."

Feng Xia was a little surprised, "You can even repair helicopters?"

Li Guifen winked mysteriously at her and said, "Sister Xiaoxi wasn't home a while ago. She was on a mission. Not many people know that she can repair helicopters, so don't tell anyone. I only found out about it because my man accidentally let it slip."

Gu Xiaoxi said with a smile: "Sister-in-law Guifen is really amazing!"

"What's so great about me? I just don't have a ticket to buy a bicycle, otherwise I would definitely ask you to help me rebuild a bicycle like yours. This one looks so exquisite and beautiful, and it's very suitable for us lesbians to ride!"

Li Guifen thought this modified bicycle was very nice looking.

"Then when there is a chance in the future, I will reform you." Gu Xiaoxi also said casually.

The three of them walked along the east road, chatting and laughing as they headed towards their destination.

When they arrived, there were already people on the mountain, and there were several carts parked at the foot of the mountain. It was obvious that there were many people collecting firewood.

Gu Xiaoxi tied her bicycle to a tree on the roadside, and Li Guifen and Feng Xia put their cart next to her.

Because the dead branches at the foot of the mountain had almost been picked up, Gu Xiaoxi and her friends went up the mountain.

At this time, several soldiers' wives came down the mountain carrying firewood and ran into Gu Xiaoxi and her friends.

Gu Xiaoxi immediately spotted Gu Xinli following behind these military wives.

Similarly, Gu Xinli also saw her.

Their eyes met. Gu Xinli, who had been chopping wood for the whole morning and was already very irritable, suddenly smiled.

"Xiaoxi, are you here to chop wood too?"

Gu Xiaoxi hummed lightly.

Gu Xinli smiled and said, "You come to the mountain to chop wood even though you are not feeling well. Is your Lu Jiansen worried about you? He doesn't love you as much as outsiders say! Do you want me to give you some firewood?"

Gu Xiaoxi's face was calm, but his voice became a little lighter.

"That's not necessary. I heard you had a nosebleed yesterday. Did you have an incurable disease? Do your parents know? Did Deputy Commander Yin say to send you to a big hospital? Are you reluctant to spend the money if you don't go today?"

Gu Xinli's face suddenly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. "Who are you cursing? You are the one who has an incurable disease!"

Gu Xiaoxi shrugged innocently, "I also heard it from others. If you are not sick, then you are not sick. Why are you so fierce? I am not the only one who said this."

Gu Xinli originally wanted to pretend that they had a good relationship, but now she doesn't want to pretend at all.

Gu Xiaoxi is still as annoying as before!

With a gloomy face, she dragged her firewood down the mountain.

The military wives around looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

After Gu Xinli and her group walked away, Li Guifen asked, "Sister Xiaoxi, you and her don't have a good relationship? Aren't you relatives?"

Gu Xiaoxi nodded, "She is a relative, but the relationship is not good. Her mother and my mother have always been at odds, and I also dislike Gu Xinli. If I meet her in the future, I will not pretend to be peaceful on the surface."

Feng Xia sighed, "I thought she was a nice person! As soon as she arrived at the family compound, she gave gifts to the people nearby. Many military wives were willing to make friends with her."

Li Guifen sneered when she heard this, "I don't think she's good. She's just pretending to be good. She's not sincere when she gives gifts. You don't know that the gifts she gives to the political commissars, instructors, and the families of regimental-level cadres are different from what we give to them."

"Ah? Is that so?" Feng Xia was very surprised and obviously unaware of the situation.

Li Guifen snorted twice. "She only gives gifts to gain connections. She gives gifts to military dependents of lower ranks than her husband to look good. The only thing she gave to my family was a salted fish, which was small and tasteless. But the two fishes given to the second commander's family were fat and big."

Gu Xiaoxi was a little surprised when she heard this. "They still treat her differently! But she is indeed such a powerful person, and she has been like this since she was a child."

"Really? I just think this person is not good. I usually don't bother with her."

Feng Xia clicked her tongue twice, "Then I really misjudged you."

The three of them chatted while collecting firewood, which did not affect them at all.

With Gu Xiaoxi's secret help, the three of them quickly picked up three large piles of firewood.

After Gu Xiaoxi tied up his own pile of firewood, he helped Li Guifen and Feng Xia pick it up.

Seeing her put the firewood she had picked up next to her, Li Guifen asked in confusion, "Don't you want it anymore?"

Gu Xiaoxi nodded and said, "I am not strong enough, so I won't pick up more. Lu Jiansen said it's not enough, so he and my brother will go to prepare more. You guys have more carts to pull, so I will help you pick up some."

Li Guifen couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, "Your deputy group leader is really considerate. The one in my family has never thought of helping me collect firewood."