Chapter 101: Chatting and Lunch

There weren't too many people living in the military compound. If you really counted them, it was about the same size as Oda Village. If there was something new in the compound, it would spread quickly.

It is the nature of many people to like gossip. Yang Yan met Captain Zhang’s lover yesterday. As soon as she went out this morning, she was surrounded by several military wives and asked questions.

"You met him yesterday. What did he look like? Was he really as dark, strong, and fierce-looking as others said?"

Yang Yan was stunned for a moment, "Who told you this? She's good-looking, a little dark-skinned, but she looks very kind, not like what you said, don't spread rumors when you go out!"

The woman who was speaking said nonchalantly, "Hey, that's nothing, I heard many people guess so. Otherwise, how could a woman with several children survive in the village? She would be bullied to death!"

Another woman answered: "That's not possible! I heard that Captain Zhang is very satisfied with this rural wife, and often secretly looks at photos of her and her children! If she really doesn't look good, what about Captain Zhang? To agree to marry her, you have forgotten that he almost became the army commander’s son-in-law back then!”

Several people made faces and looked at Yang Yan with gossip in their eyes: "Hey, tell me, did they bump into each other yesterday? I don't know which idiot arranged for them to be neighbors. It will be interesting to watch in the future!"

Yang Yan was really anxious now. She was not familiar with these military wives and she could hardly talk to them. But today, she didn't know if it was her bad luck. As soon as she went out, these people pestered her and asked her all sorts of questions. Moreover, their words were so rude. She interrupted them and said hurriedly, "Don't talk nonsense. You know who they are, but you still gossip about them behind their backs. If someone hears them, you will be in trouble!"

After saying that, she turned around and was about to leave. As a result, when she turned around, she saw Lin Yue walking towards this side. She was holding a small blanket in her arms, holding a little boy about one year old in her other hand, and there were two children aged five or six years old beside her. This was a group of four people, mother and children, going out together.

Lin Yue wore a white shirt with pink dots and black pants today. Her half-long hair was tied into a high ponytail, which made her look neat and tidy. She was tall and well-proportioned. Maybe it was because she had given birth to several children. She had some meat where it should be, but she was not bloated where it should be thin. The key was her face. She had big eyes and a high nose bridge. She had a heroic look. Her skin was fair and clean. Even from a distance, one could see the light reflected in the sun.

This is not a country woman at all. You can hardly find girls like her even in big cities!

Looking at the other children, the two youngest ones were hard to tell. One was wrapped in a blanket and his face was not visible. The other was too young. All I could see was that he was white and plump, very cute. The other two older children looked very much like their parents. They were white and pure, like a golden boy and a jade girl.

The little boy must have just learned to walk, and he was still wobbling, but he was quite stubborn. Lin Yue reached out to hug him, but he shook her off. Lin Yue smiled and looked up, and found Yang Yan and several military wives standing together, looking over here. She smiled and greeted them, but saw that they seemed to be awakened in an instant, waved awkwardly, looked at each other, and whispered a few words.

I don’t know what Mrs. Yang said, but a few people showed disbelief and quickly left, pulling each other. Only Mrs. Yang was left standing there with a look of shock on her face.

Lin Yue called her again in a somewhat strange way, and she finally came to her senses and cried out, "Lin, Lin Yue, what are you..."

Lin Yue was amused and joked, "Sister Yang, it's only been one night, and you don't recognize me anymore?"

Yang Yan said absentmindedly: "How come you have become so white?" Not only has he become whiter, but he changed his clothes today and took off the patched clothes he wore yesterday. Even his temperament is different!

Lin Yue touched his face and smiled, "Before, when I was out, I was taking care of so many children by myself. I was afraid of being targeted by bad people, so I wiped myself and the children with something."

This was the first time she didn't disguise herself in front of outsiders. She couldn't do that in Xiaotian Village before, because her skin was too good and it was too conspicuous in the village. If she didn't cover it up, she would have to endure countless rumors and gossips, and she would have been in a lot of trouble.

But now it is different. First, except for Zhang Yuandong, no one here knows the old Lin Yue, so she can be bold and be herself. Second, the people here are not as easy to fool as the people in Xiaotian Village. The villagers are simple and honest. Sometimes no one cares if you take off your makeup, and they just think there is something dirty on your face. The people here have all kinds of backgrounds, and you don't know when someone will find out. Instead of having to explain it later, it is better to be open and not cover it up now.

Although her appearance may make people say that she doesn't look like she comes from the countryside, that's just a stereotype. Who says that people from the countryside can't tan their skin?

Yang Yan nodded mechanically and agreed, "Yes, yes, it has to be covered up..."

She saw the two dragon-phoenix fetuses each holding a basket of vegetables, and finally found her way back to her language system, saying, "You guys are going to buy vegetables, and I want to go too, let's go together!"

The military district is located close to the suburbs, with mountains and several villages nearby, which is somewhat similar to a small county town. However, because it is close to the city and there is a large army stationed there, there is a market that specializes in selling vegetables not far from the gate of the military district.

In the past, people in the countryside were almost self-sufficient in terms of food and vegetables. When Wanli and Lingling went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables for the first time, they looked around in shock along the way. Occasionally, they would run to the vegetable stalls and spend half a day looking at them, counting the vegetables they were familiar with one by one, looking like they had never seen the world before.

Lin Yue was worried about leaving little Sisi alone at home, so he carried the children out as well. Now he was holding one in his arms and carrying another on his back. He had no time to take care of the two older ones. Seeing that they were not making any trouble, he just left them alone.

There weren't many people in the market at this time. In order to grab the meat, people usually lined up at dawn. It was impossible to buy meat at this time, but Lin Yue bought a few large bones without tickets. The bones were very big and couldn't fit in the basket, so the butcher tied them up with a rope for her and let her carry them in her hand.

In the past, the types of vegetables grown in the countryside were limited, and there were not as many varieties of vegetables as in the vegetable market. The two siblings were curious about everything they saw, and even begged Lin Yue to buy a bunch of red and green peppers.

Lin Yue's mouth twitched, and he confirmed again: "Do you really want to eat this pepper?"

The two siblings looked at each other and asked uncertainly, "Is this pepper spicy?"

“Not spicy, maybe a little sweet.”

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief. They had heard the salesperson say so, and that’s why they wanted Lin Yue to buy it. Now they heard their mother say so, and they all nodded.

Lin Yue: "Okay, but this is what you chose, don't waste it when you buy it back!"

In her memory, in the cartoons she watched when she was a child, it seemed that no child liked to eat green peppers. She didn’t like to eat them when she was a child. But green peppers are indeed nutritious, so she didn’t mind making them for the two children.

When they returned home, Lin Yue carried the dishes into the kitchen and first boiled the corn bones in a big pot.

The kitchen is shared by four families, but the couple next door, Dean Gu, both have jobs, so they only cook dinner at home occasionally, and the rest of the time they eat in the cafeteria. There is another family that is currently empty, with no one living there yet, so the only people cooking now are Lin Yue and Captain Lu's wife, Xu Xiaodi.

Lin Yue was not used to cooking in front of other people. For example, now, she habitually took the oil kettle and wanted to pour oil into the pot, but suddenly remembered that there was someone next to her. She quickly put the oil kettle down, hurriedly found a new brush bought by Zhang Yuandong, dipped it into the oil kettle, and carefully scraped off the excess oil with the bottle mouth before symbolically brushing the pot twice.

She turned her head and looked secretly, but found Xu Xiaodi standing behind her, tilting her head and watching her movements carefully. When their eyes met, Xu Xiaodi smiled generously at Lin Yue and praised: "Your team leader Xiao Zhang is really thoughtful. He even bought the brush in advance. When I first came, I lacked everything. I just used chopsticks to dip a little oil into the pot."

Lin Yue smiled, that was still good, the original owner used to never dip the brush in oil when cooking, he just symbolically brushed the pot once, which was just a waste of time.

There is almost no meat on the pig bones, and their only function is to make soup. Lin Yue used the broth from the bones to make a stew of cabbage and vermicelli, and also stir-fried a stir-fried egg with green pepper. Last month, Zhang Yuandong was allocated 20 kilograms of rice. She had never cooked rice in a pot before, so she asked Xu Xiaodi for advice on the spot.

Xu Xiaodi's hometown doesn't produce rice either, but she joined the army two years earlier than Lin Yue. The army has its own land, and has tried to grow some rice in the past few years. Her family has also been allocated some land, so they have some experience in stewing rice. She swallowed her saliva and explained the method in detail.

She and Captain Lu were both from rural areas and had been thrifty since childhood. They always kept their meals simple. Today, she stayed in the kitchen for so long just to satisfy her curiosity and take a closer look at this new military wife. Seeing that she had prepared such a sumptuous lunch, she had secretly labeled her as someone who didn't know how to be thrifty. She secretly swallowed her saliva again and hurried away with her own dishes.

Zhang Yuandong came back early for lunch at noon. Lin Yue poured everyone a glass of juice she squeezed herself, and took out a portion of pickled fish from the kitchen, filling the table with dishes to celebrate their family reunion.

She glanced at Zhang Yuandong and said to the two children with a smile: "Your father asked someone to send back a grass carp today. You want to eat fish, right? Eat more! But you can't eat it after you finish..."

The two siblings said in unison: "Don't tell anyone, otherwise others won't be able to eat and will do something bad!"

Zhang Yuandong just took a sip of juice and almost spit it out. He looked at Lin Yue, then at the children, and came to Lin Yue and whispered: "You are here, you can live your life however you want, and you don't have to be too careful!"

Lin Yue asked with a smile: "Is it okay for me to eat meat every day?"

Zhang Yuandong silently calculated his salary in his mind and said affirmatively: "I can find someone to exchange more meat tickets, it should be enough..."

He raised his head, looked at Lin Yue's half-smile, and lowered his voice: "I know you have a way. We can eat those secretly. I usually find more people to exchange meat tickets. We have many children in our family, so no one will notice anything wrong."

"Then do you know what Captain Lu next door had for lunch today? Cabbage stewed with potatoes and a bunch of other grains. This afternoon, she looked at me as if I were a spendthrift old woman."

Zhang Yuandong swallowed and whispered, "Then, let's do it your way!"

Lin Yue smiled and glanced at her, then looked up and asked the children to eat.

Little Mushroom, wearing the collar that Lin Yue had made for him, sat alone, using both the spoon and his hands to make food everywhere, and his body and face were covered with rice grains.

Zhang Linghan moved her seat in disdain, sitting further away from him, turned around and lowered her head to eat, her ears were actually erected high, her brows were wrinkled, and she wanted to hear clearly what her parents said, and she was in perfect sync with her twin brother sitting next to her. However, although Zhang Wanli's ears were erected, her hands did not stop moving, and soon the pickled fish in the bowl was empty, so she stood up to get a second bowl.

Zhang Linghan was so annoyed that she grabbed Wanli's wrist and looked into the bowl. Seeing that there was still a lot, she let go. She didn't dare to be distracted any more and lowered her head to eat the rice in the bowl quickly.

Lin Yue pretended not to notice the two people's little actions and lowered his head to eat his meal.