Seeing Sangsang obediently lowering her head and washing diligently, Ningxia felt relieved and continued to move her arms. She also washed her hair. Her hair had grown a lot longer and now almost covered her ears.
Ningxia sat up straight and immersed her head in the water. After wetting it thoroughly, she took the soap placed aside and applied it to her scalp. No bubbles formed, and she finally rubbed it clean with great difficulty.
Touching the rough scalp, Ningxia sighed, thinking that soapberry was more comfortable to use for washing, smooth and slippery. The soap did cleanse the skin, but the scalp was so dry, so she decided to use it for washing her body and clothes.
After soaking for a while, Ningxia stood up, applied soap, rubbed her body hard again and again, and then soaked it in water again to rinse it clean.
"Sangsang, have you finished washing the clothes?"
Sangsang raised her clean little face and smiled sweetly, revealing two rows of white teeth. "Yes!"
Ningxia went over and touched her head, "Great!" She didn't suggest washing her clothes again and just let her go.
After she had cleaned her clothes neatly, she took Sangsang's hand and slowly went back.
Ningxia thought she'd make the chicken soup before going to bed, so it would be ready the next morning. She rinsed the chicken, which had been soaking in cold water, briefly before adding it to the pot of boiling water.
Ningxia found some leaves to cover the fire, made it bigger, and then sat down to roast her hair. Sangsang nudged her head in Ningxia's arms, and Ningxia found it funny. "Sangsang, let me take you to bed, okay?"
"But I want to wait for my brother or uncles."
"My brother and uncles might have gone out to catch chickens and won't be back for a while!"
Unexpectedly, Sangsang pouted and was about to cry, with grievance written all over her face, "Brother, why don't you take me with you? Wuuwuwu...you didn't take me with you before...and didn't tell me when you left...Is it true that you don't like Sangsang...but Sangsang...didn't let Brother Xiaojie hold her...do you dislike Sangsang..."
Ningxia didn't feel distressed. She just felt that the brother and sister had a lot of drama every day. But she still had to hold her tightly, expressionless but exaggerated, "No! How could Sangsang think that? Look, your uncles love you so much. They even ask me to steam eggs for you every day. Don't you love it the most? And brother, he was jealous of you and Xiaojie before, how could he not like you?"
Sangsang cried so hard that her whole body trembled. "But I can't walk far. I need my uncle to carry me all the way. It's very troublesome."
Ningxia held her face in her hands and gently wiped the tears from it. Her tone was gentle but firm, "Sangsang is not a problem! Look, today the uncles kept asking me to boil eggs for you, saying you wanted to gain some weight. Otherwise, you're too skinny and they're worried about you."
Sangsang nodded, buried her face in Ningxia's chest, and said nothing.
Ningxia had a complicated expression. She didn't expect that this child could be so sensitive. She blamed herself for not noticing her emotions. Ningxia patted Sangsang's back and hummed a nursery rhyme she had found from the corner of her memory. After a while, Sangsang fell asleep.
After putting Sangsang on the bed prepared by the soldiers in the room, Ningxia looked at her quietly for a long time before she put a thin coat on her and quietly left.
The soup in the pot had been boiling for quite a while, but there wasn't much of a smell. After all, it was just a large pot of water for a chicken weighing just over two pounds. Ningxia's hair was completely dry. She backed out some of the firewood, reduced the flames, and went to sleep. After all, the soldiers had to take night shifts, so she wasn't worried about the fire going out.
Putting his arm on Sangsang, Ningxia fell asleep peacefully.
When Ningxia woke up again, she had become accustomed to the darkness in front of her eyes and the snoring sounds not far away. She fell asleep as soon as it got dark and woke up before dawn. There was nothing she could do because she went to bed too early.
Pushing the door open quietly, Xiao Jie looked at Ning Xia with a smile, as if he was waiting for her. "Sister, you are finally awake. I am so bored keeping watch alone."
"You mean I got up late?" Ningxia chuckled.
Xiao Jie chuckled twice, "No, my sister is such a hardworking person, how could she be late?"
After just a few days of getting along, the shy boy can now tease Ningxia with a playful smile.
"Is there anything you want to eat? I'll make it for you."
Xiao Jie shook his head. "I ate too much last night, so I'm not hungry yet. But sister, this chicken soup you made is so delicious."
Ningxia walked forward and opened the leaves. There was less than half of the soup left in the pot, and the color had turned dark yellow, but there was not much oil or water.
Ningxia threw in some dried bamboo shoots that had been soaked for a long time. These were her own goods, bought from the Shuguang Base. Otherwise, they would not be available to eat in this season.
"Sister, you are cooking your food for us again. The squad leader will scold me again when he gets up." Xiao Jie inhaled the hot steam coming out of the pot with intoxicated words, while pretending to stop her insincerely.
Ningxia patted his head gently and said, "Shaopin, go clean that big stone slab over there for me. I'll knead the dough and make noodles for you."
Xiao Jie's eyes lit up a lot, "Look at me, sister, I promise to make it clean for you."
Ningxia smiled, squatted down and rummaged through the backpack containing their food in the firelight.
"Xiao Jie, why do you only get so little in exchange for wheat flour?" Ningxia took out the small bag of wheat flour and asked in confusion. In fact, she wanted to ask last time, but they were not familiar with each other at that time, so she was embarrassed to speak up.
Xiao Jie looked up casually and then lowered his head to carefully wipe the slightly damp slate dry. "Oh, that's the monitor's high temperature allowance."
Ningxia raised her eyebrows, half-smiling. "How could such a thing still exist these days?" "Only the squad leader has it?" Over the past few days, Ningxia had become accustomed to calling him "squad leader."
"My uncles had some too, but it was all mixed grain noodles, three pounds each. The squad leader got five pounds of mixed grain noodles plus one pound of wheat flour. I didn't have any, as I haven't enlisted yet, but the chef in the kitchen made me two extra big steamed buns."
Ningxia took out the multi-grain noodles and weighed them. Sure enough, they were pretty much what Xiaojie had described. "Your military camp treatment is pretty good, and there's even a high temperature allowance."
"Well, only those who go out on patrol get it. Soldiers who stay in the barracks don't get it. They only have the big pot meals every day."
Ningxia nodded in understanding, "So, are all the food you pack subsidized?"
"No, the barracks canteen packed it for us to take with us. They only provided us with food for the journey here. We had to figure out our own food for the rest of the stay and the return trip. We exchanged our allowance at the trading post with our military ID cards. It didn't cost us a penny."
"So stingy?"
Xiao Jie didn't think so. "It's not bad actually. The allowance I get for half a month is equivalent to two months of labor in the barracks."
Xiaojie's words aroused Ningxia's curiosity again, "Has the state government resumed paper currency trade now?"
Xiao Jie shook his head. "Who uses that stuff anymore? It's a point system, and the system is pretty complete. You can use points to spend at state government agencies. But you don't have to worry, sister. This state point system is only implemented among state government employees, because most of them eat at their workplaces. If they get their salary in the form of food, not only will they have more than they can eat, but it would be a shame if it went bad. So, during meetings, the higher-ups just keep score, and they can exchange it whenever they need something."
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