Chapter 16 Chapter 16 You are shameless in public! …
"Your fever is gone?"
"Resigned."
Liang Xin put the soybeans, green vegetables and dried chilies behind the door and held up the salted duck wrapped in oil paper in her hand. "Hello, Yueji. It's just in time for dinner. I brought the cut duck."
"Second sister-in-law, you are such a kind person. For my second brother, you actually rushed back from your mother's house overnight and brought him his favorite salted duck from the Red Star Restaurant in the south of the city."
Lu Yueji's words hit Lu Chongfeng's heart exactly.
He grabbed a handful of hair.
Messy hair covers the hot ears.
He reached out to take the oil-paper bag from Liang Xin's hand, but accidentally touched her cold and delicate fingers. His fingertips trembled slightly, and he retracted his hand and scratched his hair again, "It's so cold outside, and you've been sitting in the car for so long. The bus station is so far from the Red Star Hotel... Hurry up and wash your hands and eat something."
Liang Xin looked down at the salted duck.
What is Lu Zewei’s favorite food?
She said nothing, handed him the duck, rolled up her sleeves and went into the bathroom.
"Mom isn't home?"
"It seems that one of dad's comrades-in-arms passed away. Dad came back and took mom out together." Lu Yueji brought out a double-handled steel pot from the kitchen. "Originally, I was asked to look after my second brother tonight. Now that my second sister-in-law is back, I will go back to the dormitory later."
Liang Xin pulled out a chair and sat down. She picked up a soup spoon and scooped a bowl of porridge. She scooped two spoonfuls of sugar into it. She was about to eat it herself, but when she looked at her sister-in-law opposite her, and thought of her own salary, she brought the bowl to Lu Zewei.
"Hey? Second sister-in-law, don't!"
Lu Yueji, who had been despised for a long time, secretly thought that something was wrong when she saw Liang Xin's action.
She just served some porridge that was a little cooler than this one, but her second brother said it was hot.
This is not the point. The point is that putting sugar in white porridge is the combination that my second brother hates the most.
My second brother has had a very bad temper ever since he fell ill.
Lu Yueji was afraid that her second sister-in-law, who was unaware of the situation, would be scolded like her. It would be even more terrifying if this directly caused her second brother to become ill.
Just when he was about to sacrifice himself to save others, he suddenly saw the grumpy second brother pick up a spoon, scoop up a full spoonful of porridge, swallow it in one gulp, and looked at his second sister-in-law with red ears, "It's delicious, you eat it too."
Lu Yueji: “?”
"Isn't it hot?"
Lu Zewei: "The temperature is just right."
Lu Yueji: “?”
“Isn’t it sweet?”
Lu Zewei: "The sweetness is just right."
Lu Yueji: "Don't you hate sugar in porridge? I remember one time I put sugar in your bowl by mistake, you took a bite and scolded me for a long time."
Liang Xin looked at Lu Zewei.
Lu Zewei scooped up another spoonful and put it into his mouth, then put the spoon down, picked up the bowl and drank most of it.
Lu Yueji said, "I see. No wonder you were not satisfied with anything I did just now. It turns out that your taste changed after you got sick. You like to eat porridge with sugar. Then why didn't you just say it directly and kept finding fault with me."
Lu Zewei: “….”
Liang Xin: “.”
There was the sound of a car outside.
When Hu Fenglian saw Liang Xin as soon as she entered the room, she was obviously stunned, "Liang Xin, why did you come back?"
Chief Lu, who followed in from behind, also had a surprised look in his eyes. "I'm worried about my second brother."
"You are the one who knows more." Hu Fenglian suddenly saw soybeans, green vegetables and dried chili peppers behind the door. "Liang Xin brought something back? It must be tiring to carry it. She should leave it for the family to eat."
"My sister-in-law asked me to bring it to you."
"Next time I have the chance, I will thank you, sister-in-law, in person."
Hu Fenglian pointed at Lu Yueji and said, "Come and sit over here. I had something to tell you before I left. I haven't finished yet."
"Could it be that she just arranged a blind date for my second brother and is planning to arrange another blind date for me?"
"no."
"That's good!" Lu Yueji breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go upstairs. "I just went to the group to get the tickets for the fourth quarter and got the new photos. Mom, can you let me use the shopping notebook at home? I plan to buy some more things and send them to Brother Heping together."
"Winter cotton-wool sweaters, shampoo, soap, frostbite cream, the old-fashioned bread that your brother Heping likes to eat, peach cakes, cream biscuits, green tea, fermented bean curd with radish and fermented bean curd, national food coupons, and your second brother's wedding candy, I have already sent them all to Heping, you don't have to worry about it."
Hu Fenglian did not let her daughter go. "Come and sit here. Do you remember Aunt Hongyan, whom I often mentioned to you? Her son is the child left by your Uncle Wei..."
"I don't have any plans to get married right now." Lu Yueji stood up and ran upstairs, her voice coming down the stairs, "I still want to dance, and it would be best if I could dance for the rest of my life."
"That's not what I meant, kid. You're getting more and more outrageous."
Hu Fenglian ran out of words to talk to her daughter, and looked at Liang Xin, "Liang Xin, you must be tired today, go upstairs and take a shower and rest."
Liang Xin was about to clear the dishes on the table, but Lu Zewei took the lead, stacked up the dishes and took them to the kitchen.
After going upstairs, Liang Xin saw washed sheets and quilt covers hanging outside the floor-to-ceiling window of the room.
"Reform starts with ourselves." Lu Zewei leaned against the window, "Please review it, leaders."
"It was a quick move, but it's not praiseworthy."
"Why?"
"You've been ill and had a fever all night, so you should get some rest."
Is this out of pity for him?
Lu Zewei raised the corners of his mouth.
"When you took the quilt apart and washed it today, did you notice the seams on it?"
"...No, what's wrong?"
Liang Xin unbuttoned her cotton jacket and looked back at him, "After drying it tomorrow, I'll sew a quilt."
Lu Zewei's face suddenly turned pale.
He thought carefully about all the places in the house and planned to take the quilt to the confinement room upstairs to sew it tomorrow, so that no one would see him doing women's work at home.
However, Lu Chongfeng did not get what he wanted.
After noon the next day, Liang Xin carried the cotton mattress to the living room on the first floor and spread a cool mat on the floor, facing the window of the backyard.
Lu Zewei: “….”
"It will be windy in the afternoon and it will be cold."
"The windows are closed, there's no wind." Liang Xin took her mother-in-law's sewing basket and asked, "Have you ever seen Mom sew a quilt?"
Lu Zewei struggled, "I haven't seen much."
"You have been in the army for so many years. Who took apart, washed and sewed your quilts in the army?"
"The military-civilian support system in the garrison was active, and we often went to help the farmers with heavy work. The local government would also organize skilled workers to help us solve some practical difficulties, including a tailor. When the old lady came, the soldiers would send their clothes and quilts to her, and they would take them back after they were mended. Later, I was promoted to the regiment headquarters, and some older family members of the troops in the regiment would occasionally help."
Liang Xin nodded.
Hu Fenglian just came out of the room, "Liang Xin, do you want to sew a quilt? It's not convenient to do it alone, I'll help you."
"I didn't sew it, he sewed it."
"What?"
Hu Fenglian looked at the two of them in surprise, "Chongfeng, sewing a quilt?"
Lu Zewei, who was struggling just now, stood in front of Liang Xin and said, "On the surface, I am sewing a quilt, but in fact, I am taking a new revolutionary path."
Hu Fenglian looked at the peony quilt cover hanging on her son's arm, and then looked at Liang Xin.
"Liang Xin asked you to do this?"
Before Lu Chongfeng could open his mouth, Liang Xin said, "Mom, I asked him to do it."
"this......"
Just as Hu Fenglian was about to speak, she thought of the chili pepper Liang Xin mentioned when she first met her, and swallowed the rest of her words, "Do you want my help?"
"I can sew." Liang Xin took out the sewing needle and white thread from the basket, "I can help him."
Hu Fenglian said nothing more.
At this point, Lu Zewei stopped struggling. He took off his slippers, put on clean white socks, and stepped on the mat. "What is the first step?"
"Come down."
"......"
Lu Zewei, who had just stepped on it, walked down from the mat again and stood aside in slippers.
"One layer of quilt lining, one layer of batting, and one layer of quilt cover. Put the quilt lining first."
Liang Xin put the white quilt on the mat and opened it, grabbing the two corners. "You grab the two corners on the other side. I'll just help you. I remind you in advance that the quilt should be spread evenly and the cotton batting should be placed correctly. Otherwise, even if it is sewn well, you will have to take it apart and sew it again."
Lu Zewei grabbed the two corners, lifted the sheet and shook it hard. The white quilt danced in the wind, blowing up Liang Xin's hair on her forehead. She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembled slightly, her skin was almost transparent in the sunlight, and when she raised her eyes again, her eyes were amber, clear and calm.
The white quilt lining fell slowly and unevenly onto the mat.
Lu Zewei followed the instructions and carefully spread the quilt evenly on the mat with Liang Xin's help in fixing the two corners.
Two minutes passed.
Lu Zewei hasn't spread it evenly yet.
He underestimated the sheet. He pulled the two corners evenly, but a few wrinkles appeared in the middle. When he spread the middle evenly, the two corners became less even again.
It was even harder than having his general folded into a block of tofu.
Liang Xin watched him walking around the mat and pulling the sheets for a while, then picked up a wooden ruler and tapped his shoulder, motioning him to move aside.
Lu Zewei took a few steps back and watched Liang Xin use a long wooden ruler to scratch the quilt from the head to the foot. The sheet was quickly smoothed out without a single wrinkle, as if it had been ironed.
"......"
Deliberate.
It's intentional again!
Lu Zewei was sweating, but he didn't ask any questions. Instead, when he was laying the cotton pad on, he asked, "What's the trick at this stage?"
Liang Xin held a wooden ruler and leaned on the mat, just like the old landlady leaning on a cane standing at the edge of the field, supervising the farmhands, "Put the cotton batting straight and evenly, make sure it is very flat, without any bulges. There is no trick, just use your eyes and tear it with your hands."
Lu Zewei squatted on the mat, carefully fiddling with the cotton wool. Because the mat was very slippery, if he used a little force, the cotton wool would run away with the quilt that had been laid out with great difficulty. Once it ran away, he would have to lift up the cotton wool and re-lay the quilt underneath, which would inevitably be more troublesome than the first step.
Liang Xin stood behind Lu Zewei, his white shirt tucked into his green military pants. When he squatted on the mat, he had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and his back muscles were slightly gathered, as if the white shirt was about to burst.
But what makes people unable to look away, or what makes Liang Xin most uncomfortable, is the curve between his waist and hips. Just one look at it makes her mouth inexplicably dry.
Lu Zewei stood up with one hand, turned around to see Liang Xin's face, then looked up at the sun outside the window, "Is this correct?"
Liang Xin pointed at a few thread ends with a wooden ruler and asked, "Did you pull the stitches hard when you removed them? Tear off the raised parts and lay them flat again."
Without saying a word, Lu Zewei seemed to have received an order and suddenly got down to do push-ups. Without even bending his knees an inch, he placed his hands on the cotton. Before he could tear it off, his buttocks were tapped several times by the wooden ruler. His back subconsciously tightened, and he knelt on one knee on the cotton. He turned around and looked at Liang Xin, "What's wrong?"
"If you press it like this, won't the area where your hand presses be more concave than other areas?"
“.......”
Lu Zewei raised his hand and saw a dent under his palm. He felt that sewing a quilt was a very delicate and technical job.
This is just the beginning.
After the cotton batting was straightened and leveled, it was covered with a red silk quilt cover with golden peony flowers, and under Liang Xin's instruction, she began to thread the needle and make a quilt around the quilt.
Lu Zewei's hands, which were the envy of the entire army for being able to wield all kinds of guns, seemed to be frozen and were very clumsy. If he was not careful, the calluses on his palms would scratch the golden threads of the peony flowers and ruin the quilt cover.
He felt painful, powerless, and even a little bit collapsed.
This kind of powerlessness is not the kind of powerlessness that occurs when everyone else is drunk and you are the only one sober, unable to wake up the drunk people.
Rather, it is the feeling of powerlessness that I have never experienced in learning technology since I was born.
Lu Zewei pushed the sewing needle forcefully into the three-layer quilt weighing six pounds. His fingers were numbed by the thin needle, and even the thick gun calluses could not block the needle hole. The needle hole easily penetrated into the calluses, directly pressing against the flesh inside and drilling into the bone gap.
Drilling every time you sew is more painful than being shot!
Suddenly, a round object that looked like a ring was handed to him.
Lu Zewei frowned, recognizing that this was the thimble that his mother and the local ladies often wore on their middle fingers. "You forgot again?"
"I'm sorry." Liang Xin said without a trace of apology on her face, "You should have understood it clearly and made adequate preparations before starting, otherwise you would have suffered a painful and bloody lesson."
"......The truth always goes your way."
In his heart, Lu Zewei actually agreed with Liang Xin's words. He took the thimble and tried to put it on his hand, but it got stuck on the nail of his middle finger and he couldn't put it on at all.
"If it's alive, break it open."
After Liang Xin finished her instructions, she checked the quilt and said, "Take off the crooked stitches you just made. You can't make it like this when sewing. How can you use it as an auxiliary thread? Also, when you poke and pull out the needle, pay attention to the cotton that is held up by the needle eye. Use the needle to spread the cotton evenly before each stitch."
Without a thimble, if it weren’t for the calluses on his hands, he might have been bleeding from the thimble. Lu Chongfeng, who had finally stitched a few inches, said: “…”
Suddenly there was a burst of laughter at the door.
Liang Xin looked up and saw two officers wearing military uniforms with four pockets standing at the door, laughing so hard that they were stumbling over. They were pointing at Lu Zewei who was sitting on the mat and stamping their feet.
“Hahaha, Chongfeng, hahahaha!” The cadre on the left laughed so hard that he couldn’t straighten his back. “Lu Chongfeng, the hero who acts like a fighting cock every day, was reformed by his wife just two days after their marriage. He had to wear a thimble and sew quilts like a woman!”
Lu Chongfeng's face suddenly turned dark as he looked at the two of them.
"A few days ago I praised you, saying that a man should be like you. I never thought that you are such a sissy at home!" The cadre on the right did not let him go. Not only did he not let him go, he also raised the camera hanging around his neck and suddenly pressed the shutter button towards Lu Zewei.
Lu Chongfeng held a sewing needle in his hand and pointed it at the cadre who was taking the photo. "If you dare to post it, I will smash you and your camera together!"
The soldier on the left burst into laughter again, and tears came out of his eyes.
"Chongfeng, I was afraid of you before. I couldn't see you and I was afraid of your name. But now seeing you like this, I'm not afraid of being scared by you at all!"
The camera officer said this but kept moving toward the door. When he saw Lu Chongfeng stand up suddenly, he quickly ran out.
The cadre, who was laughing so hard, did not slow down at all and ran out as fast as he could. Even after he ran outside the door, his exaggerated laughter could still be heard, like a loudspeaker on a telephone pole, which could immediately spread throughout the entire military compound.
"Who is it?"
Even Hu Fenglian, who was taking a lunch break, was woken up by the noise.
Looking at Lu Chongfeng standing on the quilt with a small cotton fluff floating on his hair and a white cotton thread dangling close to his ear like an earring, coupled with his gloomy face, the contrast made Hu Fenglian stunned for a moment, and then she laughed out loud.
Lu Chongfeng's face suddenly became even darker.
"Is it so funny to quilt a quilt?"
Liang Xin followed her mother-in-law's line of sight and noticed the cotton wool and thread on his head. Previously, her attention had been on the area below his neck. She walked forward and pinched the thread that was dangling near his ear.
She didn't notice that her fingers touched his ears, nor did she notice that Lu Zewei's dark face suddenly turned red.
Is this to comfort him?
Mom is still here...
Lu Zewei stood with his back straight and coughed unnaturally.
There is a twenty centimeter difference in height between the two.
Liang Xin was too lazy to stand on tiptoe, "Look down."
"Not low!" Lu Chongfeng straightened his back even more. "During the process of reform, there will inevitably be difficulties and ridicule. If I can't overcome these myself, how can I correct other distorted concepts!"
Liang Xin: “…”
Lu Zewei sat cross-legged on the mat, bent the thimble, put it on his middle finger, and continued to sew the quilt.
After being ridiculed, instead of becoming negative, he became more serious than before.
“Tear it down.”
"......" Lu Zewei looked at the stitches he had just made, "......Oh."
Hu Fenglian, who had been watching from the sidelines, looked at her son in surprise, then looked at Liang Xin, said nothing, and quietly returned to her room.
"charge!"
Another female soldier ran in from the door. Because she ran too fast, her two pigtails were still flying when she entered the door.
As soon as she entered the room, she saw Lu Chongfeng's hands, which had won countless shooting competitions, holding a gun and sewing a quilt with a thimble. Her pupils trembled immediately, and the next second, anger swept towards Liang Xin.
Liang Xin was sitting on a recliner in front of the window, with a wooden ruler leaning against the edge of the chair. She was drinking tea slowly from an enamel teacup in her hand. There was a plate of orchid beans and a plate of melon seeds on the coffee table next to her.
When Lu Chongfeng looked up, the girl's angry face suddenly turned into distressed. She walked quickly to the mat with two cans of oranges in her hands.
"Chongfeng, I just came back from a performance in the countryside and heard that you got married. I never saw you doing housework before you got married. How come you are worse off than being single after getting married? You even have to sew your own quilts?"
Lu Chongfeng took a look at who was coming, lowered his head and pulled out the needle, "What's the matter?"
As soon as he lowered his head, Liang Xin saw that the pain on the girl's face suddenly disappeared, and his fierce eyes turned towards her again.
"Charge, no one is helping you, I'll help you."
The girl put the can she was carrying on the telephone coffee table and squatted on the ground to unfasten the buckle of her leather shoes.
"You help?"
Lu Chongfeng looked up and said, "You are a lesbian, right?"
The girl was stunned and looked down at her swollen chest. "Is this question... difficult to tell?"
"Comrade, I can't help."
It is much more convenient with a thimble.
Lu Zewei quickly sewed one side and moved on to the other side.
The girl was confused by these two sentences and asked with some doubt: "Aren't quilts sewn by women?"
After hearing this, Lu Chongfeng looked up again, his eyes hiding disapproval.
It seems that feudal old ideas are not only held by men, but also by lesbians themselves.
"A quilt is a must for both husband and wife, so sewing a quilt should be a common matter for the couple. If women can do it, men should do it too. Comrade Xiao Wang, this kind of thinking is unacceptable."
The girl's face suddenly turned as dark as before Lu Chongfeng, "...My last name is Li."
Liang Xin suddenly laughed out loud.
Xiao Li's face darkened when he heard the laughter. "Chongfeng, we grew up together. You must have slipped up just now. Don't you remember who I am?"
Lu Chongfeng withdrew his gaze from Liang Xin and turned to look at Xiao Li, "Oh, it's you, Chunlai."
"...Chun Lai is my brother! I am Chun Jiao!"
Xiao Li couldn't act anymore and couldn't help asking, "Are you so sick that you can't even tell the difference between men and women?"
"Chun Jiao?" Lu Chongfeng suddenly remembered, "Oh, Chun Lai's sister, didn't you go to the countryside to get married?"
Xiao Li closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "The one who went to the countryside to marry is Chunlai's elder sister, Chunhua, and I am Chunlai and Chunhua's younger sister, Li Chunjiao!"
Lu Chongfeng was stunned: "Really?"
Liang Xin couldn't help laughing for a rare moment, and the water in the enamel teacup in her hand splashed due to her laughter.
She put the teacup aside, stood up and said, "Please sit down."
Xiao Li felt very uncomfortable with Liang Xin's tone of addressing him as a guest, so he ignored Liang Xin and picked up the can of oranges in the net bag.
"Chongfeng, I heard that canned food is good for sick people, so I brought back two cans from the supply and marketing cooperative. The sun is strong today and you are sweating, so it would be most comfortable for you to eat now."
Liang Xin raised her eyebrows, sat back in the recliner, and picked up the melon seeds.
"Good stuff." Lu Chongfeng took a look and said, "Canned food is rare. Keep it for yourself."
"It's because it's a rare thing that I specially gave it to you. If it was something else, I wouldn't have given it to you. You and my brother have such a good relationship, and I've eaten a lot of your good things since I was a child. Don't be polite."
Comrade Xiao Li took out a can, tapped the bottom of the can a few times, twisted the lid open, put it aside, ran to the kitchen, took out a spoon, and said, "Chongfeng, eat it quickly, it's so sweet."
Seeing Comrade Xiao Li's sincerity, Lu Chongfeng took the can of tangerines in syrup.
Comrade Xiao Li immediately smiled and glanced at Liang Xin with pride out of the corner of his eye.
She and Chongfeng are the same type of people.
It is of no use marrying someone who takes advantage of others' misfortunes.
"It's sunny now, it's quite comfortable to eat this can of sugar water." Lu Chongfeng stood up, holding the can of sugar water and the spoon to Liang Xin who was sitting on the recliner, "After you finish, there's more here. Chunlai is my childhood friend, and his sister sent two cans."
While Comrade Xiao Li was so angry that his face turned blue, Liang Xin took the can and the spoon, scooped a spoonful of tangerine slices in syrup and put them into her mouth. "It's so sweet, the orange melts in my mouth. Thank you, Xiao Li."
"Lu Chongfeng!" Xiao Li was so angry that tears came out. "I gave it to you to eat."
"You give it to me, and I'll share it with my family members." Lu Chongfeng looked puzzled, "Isn't that possible?"
"you......."
"Xiao Li."
Liang Xin handed the can of sugar water to Lu Chongfeng and looked at the angry girl quietly, "Come and play more often next time."
Li Chunjiao clenched her fists, looking unwilling, and stared at Liang Xin.
They stared at each other for a long time, trying hard not to blink, not wanting to lose the upper hand, while Liang Xin opposite her was rocking the recliner very leisurely.
Confidence, unconcerned confidence.
He didn't even have the confidence to take her seriously.
What does this mean?
This means that Lu Chongfeng has been completely controlled, and that he has established a firm foothold in the Lu family.
Li Chunjiao was reluctant to believe it, but she watched Lu Chongfeng use the spoon Liang Xin had used, taste the canned sugar water Liang Xin had eaten, eat secretly, and feel secretly happy...
"You have no shame in public!"
"Why does she curse?"
Lu Zewei looked at Li Chunjiao who ran away and said, "She is so uncultured."
Liang Xin rocked the chair, picked up a melon seed, cracked it open, pinched out the kernel, and handed it to Lu Zewei's lips, "Do you want to eat it?"
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