Chapter 122

Shuangshuang and her mother sat at the table, preparing to send the first letter in their lives.

She has never sent a letter.

My good friend Juanjuan and her family have been away from the army for three months, and Shuangshuang thought that she should write to her like her mother did.

"Mom, is one page enough for me?"

Jian Lu is currently writing a letter to Cai Xiujuan, discussing the meeting with Hong Kong businessmen at the end of the year. In recent years, the influx of Hong Kong capital has become a hot commodity, so naturally they also want to open up this market.

The Hong Kong businessman that she met this time was introduced by Zong Zhaoqi, Jian Lu's college classmate who now works at the S City Economic Development Bureau.

How can I put it? This group of college students are truly shining in every walk of life.

Jian Lu thanked her university classmates and immediately began to plan a cooperation strategy with Hong Kong businessmen. She prepared to confirm a time with Cai Xiujuan and then take people to the pearl farm for a tour and explanation.

Hong Kong businessmen are not as easy to fool as foreign businessmen. No, it should be said that they cannot be impressed by the same packaging method because they share the same origin and the mysterious oriental color is greatly discounted. They need to be shown something real.

This is called treating the disease with the right medicine.

Just after writing a few hundred words, Jian Lu heard the lady asking questions and looked at the few words written on her letter paper. Juanjuan, it's nice to see you in person.

Wow, you’re pretty good at it.

"It's all right. This is your letter. You can write as much as you want. It's different from writing an essay. There's no word limit."

"Okay." Both of them were happy and decided to just write whatever they wanted.

Swish, swish, swish, Shuangshuangyi accidentally wrote two pages, which was more than when he usually wrote an essay.

"Mom, I need to put stamps on!"

The mother and daughter went hand in hand to the post office on the island to buy stamps. Shuangshuang didn't want her mother to pay for the money this time. She had saved a lot of New Year's Eve money and birthday money in the past eleven years, so she took out eight cents to buy the stamps.

The post office staff took the money and handed her an eight-cent landscape painting stamp. She both carefully pasted it on, making it perfectly square. Only then were they satisfied.

"Mom, how long will it take for Juanjuan to receive my letter?" It was Shuangshuang's first time sending a letter to someone, and she couldn't wait to receive a reply!

It turns out that waiting for a letter is such an exciting thing!

"It should take more than a week."

"Ah, that's been long."

In the following days, whenever Shuangshuang saw the sentry uncle delivering letters, she would poke her head out to see if there was any letter for her.

The sentries on guard duty in the family compound had long recognized Deputy Brigade Commander Cheng's daughter, the prettiest girl in the family compound. Recently, she had been asking them every day if they had any letters from them, which made them, who were always so serious on duty, almost unable to hold back their laughter.

"Both."

"Uncle Sentry, is there a letter for me?" Shuangshuang heard the sentry calling her as she passed the gate after school today.

"Has your brother Dunzi come back? I have a letter from him."

Dunzi has been out for a while and hasn't come back. Shuangshuang heard that he went to sell semiconductors. It seems strange.

She shook her head. "He hasn't come back yet."

"Then this letter..."

"I'll take it to Aunt Xiuhui." Shuangshuang was happy to help.

"Okay." The sentry remembered that Dunzi loved Shuangshuang the most, so he passed the letter directly to him.

Shuangshuang took the letter with envy. Why hadn't she received the letter yet? She had been looking forward to it for a long time, but she still received the letter even though her brother Dunzi was not at home.

Then I looked at the letter. There was a stamp worth three cents stuck on the yellow rectangular envelope. Wow! What an expensive stamp.

Shuangshuang has been very interested in stamps recently and learned that the larger the face value of a stamp, the farther the letter is going.

Who sent a letter to Brother Dunzi from far away?

Looking down, they both saw the following words written on the envelope:

Sender: Wu Xiangchen

Mailing address: First Brigade of Border Defense Force, W City, X Province

Hey, who is Wu Xiangchen?

Why does it sound familiar?

This problem did not bother Shuangshuang for too long. After she gave the letter to Aunt Xiuhui, she forgot about it because she was still thinking about going home to cook noodles for her mother!

Today is Mom’s birthday. Originally, Grandma was going to cook longevity noodles for Mom, and Shuangshuang also wanted to join in.

We brought a small stool and stood on it together. This way we were much higher than the stove. We waited for the water to boil and started cooking under the guidance of our father.

After grabbing three handfuls of noodles, Shuangshuang began to direct his father again.

"Dad, go to the vegetable garden and pick some lettuce leaves. Make sure you pick the tenderest ones. And green onions, too."

Shuangshuang has seen her mom and grandma cook noodles, and they both do it this way.

"Dad, wash them and cut the green onions into short pieces."

Deputy Brigade Commander Cheng was ordered around by the young lady, and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law sitting in the dining room couldn't help laughing.

Aunt Wang and Jian Lu were both strongly requested to sit in the dining room. She wanted to show her determination to cook noodles independently, so she drove the two best cooks in the family out of the kitchen.

Of course, my dad, who is not very good at cooking, was asked to stay and help.

Cheng Zheng: "..."

I didn't know whether it was an insult or a compliment to myself.

Help the lady to fetch and boil water, and help prepare vegetable leaves and green onions.

"Let me do it. This is soy sauce, and this is lard..." Shuangshuang carefully identified each seasoning bottle, poured soy sauce, lard, and a little bit of chili oil into the bowl, and took out the shrimps and clams first when they were cooked.

"I'll pick it up for you." Cheng Zheng looked at the young lady picking up the colander and was worried that she would burn herself, but was ruthlessly rejected.

"Dad, I can do it without your help."

After a busy period, the longevity noodles for both of them were cooked.

Cheng Zheng placed the bowl of noodles on the dining table, and both of them walked out in a formal manner wearing adult aprons. "Mom, try the noodles I cooked and see if they are delicious."

Jian Lu looked at the lady who seemed to be wearing a long dress, and a warm feeling surged in her heart, "It must be delicious, I think it smells good! It tastes better than what your father cooks."

Cheng Zheng touched his nose and thought, it would be fine if his wife used it to appease her daughter.

But how could the noodles I cooked myself not be as good as Shuangshuang’s?

I don’t know who I’m looking down upon?

Jian Lu smelled the noodles cooked by her young lady and found them really delicious. The chewy noodles were swirling around in the bowl. Three shrimps and seven or eight clams were cooked inside, and even the noodle soup had a savory flavor.

"Mom, you and Brother Cheng should try it too."

Aunt Wang repeatedly waved her hands to refuse her daughter-in-law, "You eat yours. It's your birthday today. How can we compete with you for this bowl of noodles?"

The whole family had dinner together, and this bowl of noodles was a midnight snack.

Jian Lu picked up the first mouthful of noodles and ate the noodles that her daughter had cooked for her mother for the first time. She felt that these were the most delicious noodles in the world.

Next to her were a pair of clear and bright eyes, staring at her mother motionlessly, and she couldn't help but ask, "Mom, is it delicious?"

"It's delicious. This is the best noodles mom has ever eaten."

"Wow! Am I so awesome?" Shuangshuang stood up excitedly, and her two braids twirled, almost reaching the sky.

After the excitement, Jian Lu washed up and lay down on the bed. She couldn't help but sigh to Cheng Zheng, "Shuangshuang has really grown up."

Cheng Zheng flipped through the newspaper, feeling a little jealous, "Let's see if she will cook for me next year."

"Of course she does. She misses dad." Jian Lu came over and took a look at the newspaper he was reading. It was all military news. She turned away without any interest. "Every time you go home and don't have dinner, she will eat with you. Doesn't your daughter miss you?"

Thinking of the little girl who would always accompany him for dinner when he came home late, and saying that she felt it was pitiful for him to eat dinner alone, Cheng Zheng felt warm in his heart again.

"You and mom have taught her well." There is no child more caring than one's own daughter.

Cheng Zheng knew that he had been busy with his work in the army and often went out to sea on missions over the years, and it was all thanks to his mother and wife that his two children grew up so well.

"That's our good genes. And, thanks to mom, I wouldn't have the time to go to school."

The couple talked for a long time while lying in bed. After a busy and bustling day celebrating her birthday, Jian Lu gradually became sleepy and her eyelids were drooping.

She fell asleep in Cheng Zheng's arms in a daze.

Over the years, she no longer attached so much importance to birthdays, but after going back and forth, it seemed as if these days were also a kind of testimony.

=

A year older, Jian Lu has some awareness of her age crisis. She worries that she is out of touch with the fashion trends in this era. In addition, she is about to meet Hong Kong businessmen, so she plans to dress up with new clothes. She immediately takes Feng Xiuhui and Cui Yuhe to a department store in the county town to buy some of the most popular clothes and pants.

"What kind of pants are these?"

"Have you heard of jeans?" Jian Lu introduced them to the two. "Nowadays, bras are not so popular anymore. Jeans, look, bell-bottom jeans are the most popular."

Jian Lu pointed to a beautiful movie poster posted on the wall outside the County Cinema.

The Hong Kong actress on the poster has shoulder-length wavy curls, fiery red lips, majestic eyes and eyebrows, a pair of brown sunglasses on her forehead, a bright red short-sleeved shirt on the upper body, and sky blue denim flared pants on the lower body. She looks youthful, bright, and casual. She just stands there casually, exuding confidence and beauty.

Feng Xiuhui and Cui Yuhe rarely saw her dressed like this, and couldn't help but murmur, "She looks so pretty, she's indeed an actress."

"Lulu, I think you can definitely look as good as her in this outfit."

"You try it, maybe it will look better!"

"You guys try it too." Jian Lu winked at them, "Look, there are so many people wearing this on the street, they are all young people, it's very popular."

Jeans and bell-bottom pants have become all the rage recently and have become a hot topic among many young people. There are many young people wearing bell-bottom pants and holding semiconductor radios on the streets, and they can attract a lot of attention just by walking on the street.

"How can I compare with young people at my age? No way." Feng Xiuhui shook her head like a wave drum.

Cui Yuhe also rarely had the slightest thought of backing off, "This is so awkward."

I always feel embarrassed when I wear those strange pants.

"You'll know if you try it!"

At Jian Lu's persuasion, the three of them finally bought some clothes each and changed in the restroom of the department store. Feng Xiuhui and Cui Yuhe felt extremely uncomfortable. It was the first time in their lives that they wore jeans. They felt awkward, as if they couldn't even walk.

"You two look really good in these clothes, but you're not used to them yet. Just try them on more often. Show them to Political Commissar Liang and Chief of Staff Xu when you get back. They'll definitely say they look good."

When Jian Lu put on the jeans, she seemed to have found a familiar feeling again. These were the jeans she had worn countless times before.

In order to match their outfits, Jian Lu put sunglasses on Feng Xiuhui and Cui Yuhe at the door of the house. The two of them instantly became "trendsetters" and were at the forefront of fashion.

"Come in and let them have a good look!"

Feng Xiuhui walked into the room wearing somewhat awkward clothes and saw Liang Haisheng sitting on the sofa talking to his second son.

Hearing the noise at the door, the father and son looked over and saw a woman wearing sunglasses that covered half of her face and dressed in strange clothes. "Who are you looking for, lesbian?"

Feng Xiuhui: “…?”

"Look carefully at who I am?!"

Jian Lu and Cui Yuhe laughed when they heard this in the back, then quietly left and went back to their homes, preparing to tell their husbands about how Political Commissar Liang couldn't recognize his wife.

This incident was enough to make Cheng Zheng and Xu Lang laugh at Liang Haisheng for three years.

After returning home, Jian Lu pushed the door open while humming a little tune, and happened to meet the young lady who was running out in a hurry, and the two bumped into each other.

"Are you hurt?" Jian Lu felt sorry for her daughter.

"It's okay, thank you auntie." Shuangshuang was in a hurry to go out and play, and she saw a strange auntie in a flash, and then she ran away.

Jian Lu: “…?”

Who should I call Auntie?!

Hearing the noise, Cheng Zheng, who came over later, looked at the scene with a smile on his face.

Jian Lu looked at the man staring at her without saying a word, but she made up her mind silently. If he also admitted that she was wrong, she would run away from home tonight out of anger.

"Why are you standing at the door?" Cheng Zheng grabbed his wife's hand and pulled her into the house. "What kind of pants are you wearing? Why do your legs look like eggplants?"