Chapter 19 Chapter 19...
Chapter Nineteen
"See? If you hadn't made a decision just now, we wouldn't be neighbors anymore."
And indeed, just as Hua Fangling had said, the old woman on the other end of the line started yelling, "Hey? Who are you? What are you doing in our house?"
No one wanted to respond to Granny Wen's words. Yao Anhui always hated dealing with people like that. Everyone else knew what kind of person she was, so there was no point in wasting their breath.
But while others could remain silent, Xu Tinglan, the cadre, couldn't: "Aunt Wen, this house already has an owner. You're too late. How about I accompany you to see some other houses?"
Xu Tinglan had no choice. The military region had handed over the management of the family compound to the Women's Federation, but they were only helping with the management and had no decision-making power. It was a thankless task.
But they couldn't refuse, because these family matters were basically handled by the family members, while the men were busy with work and didn't get involved, so the task fell to the Women's Federation.
"Didn't I tell you my family wanted this house? How could you give it to someone else?" Granny Wen said loudly, while secretly glancing at Yao Anhui out of the corner of her eye.
“Auntie, changing houses isn’t something you can just decide to do on your own. Your company commander, Wang, needs to submit an application to his superiors, and the change can only be made if the leaders approve it. Besides, I don’t have the authority to decide who gets the houses in the family compound. Auntie, you should watch your words next time.”
Xu Tinglan tried hard to control her expression and convince herself that she was a staff member of the Women's Federation and couldn't show impatience towards the masses or her female comrades...
But it's really difficult. She's just an ordinary person, not a god. It's really hard for her to maintain a perfect expression when facing people she doesn't like.
"Officer Xu, please have some sympathy for my family. Seven or eight of us are crammed into two small rooms, and it's difficult to even turn around," Granny Wen said, trying to gain sympathy from Xu Tinglan.
Xu Tinglan rolled her eyes inwardly. She really couldn't sympathize with this. These days, it's perfectly normal for seven or eight people to squeeze into two rooms, and it's not uncommon for more than a dozen people to squeeze into one room.
“My son is the only one in my family who earns money to support seven or eight people. If we move here, we can grow some vegetables in the yard to save some money. Please help us, Mr. Xu.”
“Aunt Wen, this is really not something I can decide. As I just said, changing houses requires your company commander Wang to submit a report to the leadership and apply for it. Moreover, Battalion Commander Lu has already decided on this house. If you really want to move to the old house, you can only look at the other two houses.”
Xu Tinglan was really having a headache. As the tyrant of the family compound, Granny Wen was a person who would cause trouble even if she was unreasonable. Not to mention her, no one in the entire family compound was not troubled by her.
Regardless of what people in the family compound really think, at least on the surface everyone is very friendly, because almost everyone knows that their husbands or sons are soldiers, and if military dependents do anything wrong, it will affect the men's future.
Well, everyone has a brain. Who would want their husband (son) to be bad? Knowing that their family members' behavior will affect them, everyone will try their best not to cause trouble for their family members. Therefore, the military family compound is usually very harmonious. At least on the surface, the military families are all kind role models.
At this time, soldiers were highly respected. Their social status and salaries elevated them, but also imposed constraints on them.
However, there are also people like Granny Wen who take advantage of their family's status as poor peasants to play the victim and take advantage of others in the residential compound.
You could say she's foolish, but she knows how to take advantage of others in a way that makes her seem like a poor, crazy old woman from the countryside who only knows how to take advantage of others. Yet, you could also say she's clever, but the things she does are incredibly annoying.
You could say she made everyone dislike her through her own abilities; it would be strange if someone like that had good interpersonal relationships.
It's not good for the men in the family to argue with her if their positions are higher than Wang's, since several of Wang's children died on the battlefield, and Granny Wen is also a martyr's family member. If she were to be reported by some malicious person for looking down on martyrs' families, it would be a troublesome matter. If she were taken advantage of, she could only suffer in silence.
Even military dependents of the same rank or lower than Company Commander Wang dared not offend her, and each of them felt quite aggrieved.
In short, among the seemingly harmonious group of military dependents, there was only one oddball: Granny Wen.
Hua Fangling also suffered a lot at the hands of Granny Wen. Because of her famously good cooking skills, Granny Wen would often come to her house and wait for her. Whenever she saw Hua Fangling, Granny Wen would play the victim in front of her and try to get a bite of food no matter what. Hua Fangling was greatly harmed by this.
Therefore, Hua Fangling absolutely did not want Granny Wen to live next door. The reason she tried so hard to persuade Yao Anhui to live next door was not only because she liked Yao Anhui, who was a looks-obsessed person, but also because she heard that Granny Wen wanted to move in.
Hua Fangling had already suffered greatly from this, and she even came up with the idea of teaching Lu Yuanqing how to cook. Now, hearing Granny Wen's moral blackmail, she quickly said, "Auntie, I heard that other family members are also coming to live here. Why don't you go back and ask Company Commander Wang if his application has been approved yet? Otherwise, you might end up losing the last two houses."
“Yes, especially the house of Commander Li, who was just transferred.” Zhao Zhishan, who was on good terms with Hua Fangling, naturally spoke up for her. She added a sentence that only Granny Wen could hear: “That’s where Commander Li lived. I heard that after Commander Li was promoted and transferred, a lot of people wanted his house.”
When Granny Wen heard this, her eyes lit up. She knew about Commander Li, who had been transferred recently. She had heard that Commander Li had been promoted, but she hadn't thought about it before. Now she would have to think about it more.
It is said that the regimental commander who lived there had lived there since he was a battalion commander. He was transferred and even got promoted. The superstitious old woman wondered if the house had good feng shui.
After that, things became much simpler. Granny Wen stopped playing the victim and went to the place that Yao Anhui had previously considered.
That noon, everyone ate at Hua Fangling's house. It has to be said that Hua Fangling's cooking skills are really good. However, Yao Anhui was skeptical about whether she could teach Lu Yuanqing.
"Don't worry, I have a secret weapon. I guarantee your Battalion Commander Lu will be able to learn 80% of my skills." Hua Fangling
Zhao Zhishan chimed in, "Indeed, Fangqin's various sauces and seasonings make stir-fries taste great just by adding a little bit. If I had known that moving wouldn't help me lose weight, why would I have moved? It would have been a waste of time and energy."
Zhao Zhishan is a foodie who can't control her appetite when she encounters delicious food. In order to lose weight, she exercises a lot every day. Even after joining the art troupe, she still trains diligently, which is why she has barely maintained her current figure.
“It’s not without effect. If you don’t move, you’ll have to run an extra ten kilometers every day,” Xu Tinglan comforted her.
"That's true."
Lu Yuanqing didn't participate in the women's conversations; he and Hua Fangling's husband, Shen Wenkang, got together to talk about work.
As for Yao Anhui, she listened to Hua Fangling and the other two talking, occasionally chiming in, but most of the time she was engrossed in eating. She really didn't expect that Hua Fangling, at such a young age, had cooking skills better than the head chef of the imperial kitchen.
After dinner, the four women chatted in the living room. In the Shen family, Hua Fangling cooked, Shen Wenkang washed the dishes, and Lu Yuanqing conscientiously helped in the kitchen.
In the afternoon, the men went to work, and with the help of Hua Fangling, Zhao Zhishan, and Xu Tinglan, Yao Anhui cleaned the house and tidied up the yard. If you weren't too picky, you could really move in right away.
After dinner, Lu Yuanqing came to the Guan family's house to pick up Yao Anhui, and the two went back. Lu Yuanqing was busy with work during the day and didn't have time, so he had to go over to arrange the new house in the evening.
After all, the two of them will be living here for a long time in the future, especially Yao Anhui. Lu Yuanqing is almost always at work during the day and may be away for a long time when he has to go on a mission. Yao Anhui, on the other hand, is at home every day, so the decoration and furnishing of the new house should definitely be done according to her wishes.
As mentioned before, the previous owner of this house, Zhao Zhishan, was a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Not only was the house kept extremely clean, but it had also undergone major renovations before she moved in, so there was no need for any major changes.
The house wasn't actually very big; it was rectangular. There were two storage rooms in front, and an additional room was built on the left side of the storage rooms. This room was divided into two parts: one was a bathroom, which had drainage so that water could be drained into the ditch.
The other room is a toilet, somewhat like a latrine in the countryside. However, there is only a sloping ditch. As long as you bring a bucket, you can flush the water into a brick and cement pool after using the toilet. The pool is built underground with a sturdy cover. It is safe to walk on and there is no smell. The only downside is that it needs to be emptied when it is full.
Yao Anhui exclaimed at the time, "The person who came up with this idea is really amazing." Then she was told that the idea was Hua Fangling's, but only Hua Fangling and Zhao Zhishan in the entire family compound had done it.
But now it all benefits Yao Anhui.
——————
This courtyard is somewhat similar to the Guan family's; one half of it is paved, with a vegetable garden on one side and a paved area on the other, except for the bathroom and toilet built near the storage shed.
On the other side, near the bedroom, there was an open-air earthen stove and a water tank made of bricks, which was then covered with cement to store water.
Yao Anhui felt that the courtyard didn't need any further changes, as it was already quite tidy.
Inside the house, the floors were all paved, which is very different from the south. The kitchen is in the living room, and a kang (heated brick bed) is built at the far end of the living room. In winter, a kang table is placed on it for meals.
However, there is a wooden table in the middle of the living room, which was left by Zhao Zhishan, and it looks neither here nor there.
There are bedrooms on both sides, and they are quite empty, with almost nothing inside except for the kang (a heated brick bed).
It's not that there weren't any; in one of the bedrooms, there were several pieces pieced together from different furniture boards: a stool, a large trunk, and an old-fashioned display cabinet.
"These are the ones you brought back a few days ago? You fixed them yourself?" Yao Anhui hissed. Lu Yuanqing's skills are impressive.
“Hmm,” Lu Yuanqing thought Yao Anhui was disgusted by these things, so he quickly explained, “These furniture pieces are made of good wood. I’ll sand and polish them later and then apply a coat of clear varnish.”
"Do you have time to make this?" Yao Anhui glanced at the furniture pieces, which were mismatched in color and didn't look very nice, and worried that Lu Yuanqing might not have the time.
"I can come over during my break, it won't be much trouble. I'll call my comrades over to help." Lu Yuanqing smiled happily; his girlfriend just couldn't bear to see him work so hard!
"Alright." Seeing that Lu Yuanqing was enjoying himself, Yao Anhui didn't say anything more. She figured that a grown man like him would naturally know to rest when he was tired.
"Then leave the arrangement to me." Yao Anhui took over the overall responsibility without saying a word. This was where she was going to live, so the arrangement should be according to her preferences.
"Then I'll trouble you." Lu Yuanqing naturally had no objections. Not only that, he also thoughtfully handed over his property.
"This is my salary. You can buy anything you want." Lu Yuanqing handed a tin box to Yao Anhui.
Yao Anhui opened it and saw neatly stacked banknotes inside, with a bankbook at the bottom. Yao Anhui was satisfied: "Did you give me all of this? Should I keep some for you to protect yourself?"
"I've kept it." After saying that, Lu Yuanqing was afraid that Yao Anhui would think he was hiding money, so he quickly added, "I've kept the bride price and the money for the wedding dowry separately. From now on, I'll hand over all my salary to you to manage, so I won't have to spend any money."
Lu Yuanqing can be said to have a strong will to survive; he specifically sought advice from Shen Wenkang at noon.
Yao Anhui expressed her encouragement to Lu Yuanqing by handing over his salary: "Thank you, Brother Qing. This is a drawing I made myself. I hope you like it."
Although Yao Anhui has never been in a relationship, she still knows a bit about the process, so she can give you a token of love.
However, soldiers have dress codes, so they can't wear jewelry, which means they can't use many things. In the end, Yao Anhui painted a picture and gave it to Lu Yuanqing.
That night, Lu Yuanqing worked at home with boundless energy, only hurrying back to his dormitory just before lights out.
Hua Fangling watched as the once taciturn and unsmiling Lu Yuanqing carefully held a painting, and couldn't help but twitch her lips: "Yao Anhui's flirting skills are quite good. Lu Yuanqing has been tricked into pouting by her."
A note from the author:
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Try updating at 12 noon tomorrow.
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