Chapter 030 Moving and Sorting Out
The troops are in the suburbs and can be reached by bus.
They first went to the hotel downstairs to have breakfast, and were surprised to find that this restaurant actually had Okuya noodles.
Aoya noodles are soup noodles with a reddish soup base. This restaurant probably uses pork and fish bones to make the soup, and then uses soy sauce to brighten the soup color.
What about stuffed buns? There was only fried fish stuffed buns. Wen Jiajia had also tried halved duck, but the halved duck was cooked in white soup. In comparison, she thought the fried fish in red soup tasted better.
Logically speaking, this was the first time she had eaten Aobei noodles in her life, so Wen Jiajia did not act like she knew a lot.
Wei Dai ordered three bowls of noodles and handed the chopsticks to Wen Jiajia: "Try it, it tastes good, very different from what we have here, the fish on top is herring."
There were very few black carps in the small river in their hometown, but there were quite a lot of black carps here.
Wen Jiajia picked up a piece of noodles with chopsticks and pretended to be surprised: "Wow, it's Longxu noodles."
Wei Dai was really surprised: "You know longxu noodles?" It's not that there is no thin noodles in their hometown, but they are only called "thin noodles".
Wen Jiajia rolled her eyes naturally: "Read books. Read more books and newspapers. Books have everything."
Wei Dai immediately shut up and took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. Wen Jiajia had a bad habit of always holding a handkerchief when eating.
Eat a few bites, wipe your mouth. Eat a few more bites, wipe your mouth again. Wei Dai didn't understand.
Then he went to get two rice bowls and divided the bowl of noodles into two portions for Wen Chun and Wen Xuan to eat.
They are small people with small appetites, so one portion of noodles is more than enough for them.
The fried fish is really delicious. The herring is fried until crispy and then soaked in the soup. The skin absorbs the juice and becomes soft. It tastes sweet from the soup when eaten.
As for the noodles, they are very flavorful because they are thin.
The soup base is mellow and a little sweet. The locals love sweet food, even more than those in my hometown.
Breakfast was quickly finished, and Wei Dai went to the post office to check. When he found out that the mailed items had not arrived yet, he took them directly on the bus back to the army.
It’s really crowded.
Wen Jiajia felt like she was being squeezed into a can. She had never been on such a crowded train before. Even the morning rush hour subways in big cities decades later were not so crowded.
Fortunately, the train station bus station is the starting station, so they were able to barely cram their luggage onto the bus.
Half an hour later, the bus left the city.
There were still many people on the bus at this time. Wen Jiajia found an empty seat and sat down, holding Wen Chun and Wen Xuan. Wei Dai stood beside her, separating her from the crowd. Wen Jiajia's pressure was greatly relieved.
Without the concrete road, the car began to shake.
The rockiest stretch of road can even make a person vomit—not the kind of vomiting caused by motion sickness, but the kind that causes the breakfast in the stomach to be forced into the esophagus.
Fortunately, the road was shaking for only a minute or so. After we finally escaped from this stretch of road, the driver cursed: "We called for repairs a long time ago, but now the road is still this broken."
The cursing became quieter afterwards.
But Wen Jiajia could still vaguely hear him cursing: "One day sooner or later I will bring you leaders for a spin on this road."
Well, that's a good idea.
The suburbs were not far away, and it would take about 40 minutes to get there after leaving the city. There were not many people on the bus at this time, and they got off easily.
Wei Dai borrowed a cart from a fellow villager in the nearby village, put his luggage on the cart and pushed it away.
Wen Jiajia followed behind, holding one in each hand.
How should I put it? This is called the suburbs, but it's actually no different from the countryside.
There are large tracts of farmland on both sides. Compared with my hometown, the farmland here is flatter and wider. At this moment, sweet clover is blooming wildly in the farmland.
Occasionally, you can see a few old cows and flocks of sheep grazing in the fields.
Not far away were green mountains. According to Wei Dai, his troops were in that area.
Wen Jiajia observed carefully and said, "In fact, your troops are quite close to the nearby villages."
Wei Dai: "Yes, so sometimes there is a market nearby. You can come and have a look. I heard you can exchange a lot of things."
This place is in the north, and the temperature is lower than my hometown. The terrain here is wide and the wind is strong, which makes people feel quite cold.
Just when Wen Jiajia was thinking about whether to take out some clothes to put on, they finally arrived at the army.
After joining the army, he passed through the logistics department first. The person on duty obviously knew Wei Dai, and he smiled when he saw him through the window.
"Brother Wei, you're back." He ran out.
Wei Dai introduced him: "This is my beloved Wen Jia."
Then he said to Wen Jiajia, "He is Wang Xiangyang."
"Hello, sister-in-law!" Wang Xiangyang said enthusiastically, "I've heard Captain Wei mention you a long time ago. He's been looking forward to your visit."
Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "Hello, just call me by my name."
"That won't work." Wang Xiangyang was puzzled to see that she was still taking care of the two children. Didn't they just get married?
He felt his pocket and found that he had no candy in it today.
Wen Jiajia saw his look and said, "This is my niece."
Wang Xiangyang suddenly realized: "The little girl is really pretty." But he was puzzled in his heart, bringing his niece to join the army?
It’s just that Wen Jiajia didn’t explain in detail. After living there for a long time, everyone will know everything they want to know.
Because there was still a lot of luggage waiting to be packed, they didn't chat for long.
After a detour from the logistics area and heading north, we finally arrived at Beishan after more than ten minutes.
Beishan is relatively remote, but for Wen Jiajia, remote places are not bad.
Wei Dai pushed the cart to the house on the far left and said, "This is it."
As he said this, he parked the car, took out the key from his pocket and opened the gate.
With a "creaky" sound, Wen Jiajia saw the appearance of her new home.
The yard is small, and there is a jujube tree planted near the wall. Judging from the shape of the jujube tree, it was probably originally intended to be here.
The yard was also very flat, without any large lumps of dirt or gravel, and some tender green grass was poking out.
"Come in and see what it's like." Wei Dai was a little proud and wanted to hear Jia Jia praise him.
Wen Jiajia let go of the two girls and walked into the yard, her eyes moving around.
There is a bluestone road from the courtyard gate to the door of the house, so the soles of your shoes will not be covered with mud on rainy days.
After entering the door, there is a cement laundry sink on the left. The sink is not too big and has a faucet, which can fully meet your needs.
On the right side of the door is the bathroom and toilet, which are also not very big. When Wen Jiajia walked over to take a look, Wei Dai introduced: "The bathroom is more than 3 square meters, and the toilet is 2 square meters. There are doors inside."
He pushed it open, and Wen Jiajia saw that there was indeed a wooden door on the wall separating them.
Uh...pretty good.
It was actually quite good. It was beyond her expectations.
Wen Jiajia looked at the empty space next to her and said, "Can we grow some vegetables in our yard?"
Wei Dai nodded: "Of course we can, but we can't grow a lot because the logistics department has specially allocated plots of land for the families in the family compound to grow vegetables."
Wen Jiajia was delighted: "That's good, otherwise we wouldn't even have vegetables to eat."
Wei Dai laughed: "Not really, the logistics people are smart. The vegetable garden is on the slope behind the family building. There are terraced fields there. We have two plots of land, which is more than enough for daily consumption."
As they talked, the two children were exploring their new home.
They rushed into the house, and soon Wen Xuan ran out, shouting excitedly: "Auntie, come quickly, it's so clean here."
The floor is flat and there is no dirt yet.
Wei Dai also said, "Go and have a look. I have cleaned it up."
Wen Jiajia walked over quickly and came into the house.
This house is a very ordinary bungalow. After entering the house, the first thing you see is the living room. The sofa in the living room looks very familiar. It was painted by Wen Jiajia, and Wei Dai actually had someone make it exactly the same.
The dining table is also here.
The dining table is not very big, it is a long rectangular table that can only seat six people at most.
Wei Dai said: "I also built a table that can be folded up and placed it in the utility room."
Wen Jiajia couldn't help but give him a thumbs up: "Not bad." He would do many things without her telling him. The six-person table was fine for daily use, but once someone came to eat at home, there would not be enough tables.
The kitchen is on the left side of the living room entrance. The kitchen is really big and even has a stove inside, so there is another door in the kitchen that leads directly to the yard.
Wei Dai opened the door and said, "I built a small shed here. I chopped some firewood before going home. It's dry now and can be burned now."
Wen Jiajia poked her head out of the kitchen window. Wow, there were at least 200 kilograms of firewood.
There is not only a stove in the kitchen, but also a stove that burns charcoal. Wei Dai said there are also two baskets of charcoal in the utility room.
They also built a countertop and a cabinet under the countertop. It looks a bit like a kitchen in the countryside from the 1950s.
Of course, a cabinet is also indispensable. Wen Jiajia saw food in the cabinet.
Out of the kitchen, back to the living room.
Next to the kitchen is a utility room of about 15 square meters. It is called a utility room, but it is actually a warehouse. There are not many things in it, only some carpentry tools and two baskets of coal.
But Wen Jiajia thought the lighting in this house was good, and it could be converted into a bedroom if necessary in the future.
After looking at the left side, look at the right side.
The two sides of the living room are symmetrical, and there are also two areas on the right, which are two bedrooms.
The first room you enter is the master bedroom, which is slightly larger. Wei Dai said, "It's 20 square meters, oh no, actually 23 square meters, and it has a small balcony."
Wen Jiajia turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling: "Small balcony? Did you really build a balcony in the room?"
Then he asked Wei Dai to quickly take out the key and open the door: "Hurry up, I want to take a look."
Wei Dai opened the door, and Wen Jiajia exclaimed, "Wow!" and her eyes widened.
The layout of the room was exactly as she had drawn it.
The bed is a 1.8-meter-long bed. In fact, most beds nowadays are 1.5-meter-long. But Wen Jiajia is not honest when she sleeps, and a 1.5-meter-long bed is not big enough for her.
There are bedside tables on both sides of the bed, the window is opposite the bed, and the balcony is on the right side opposite the door.
There is a door on the balcony. When you push it open, a sweet-scented osmanthus tree with emerald green leaves comes into view.
The balcony has wooden railings, making it impossible to walk on the ground. Wen Jiajia thinks it is suitable to put a single sofa and a small table here, which is good for reading books and drinking tea.
After all, this place is not exposed to direct sunlight, but there is a lot of light, which is most suitable for reading.
There was also a desk in the room, right in front of the window, and next to it was a wardrobe, not small enough to fit a quilt.
Wei Dai leaned against the door: "Are you satisfied?"
Wen Jiajia walked up to him, held the back of his head with both hands, pressed her head down, and kissed him on the forehead, answering his question with practical actions.
Wei Dai blushed in shame: "Be more reserved, Chun'er and Xuanxuan are still here."
Wen Jiajia couldn't help but took another sip.
Wei Dai was completely defeated and raised his hands in surrender, simply closing the door and letting her kiss him as she pleased.
However, Wen Jiajia had to continue watching.
Next to the master bedroom is the second bedroom, which is slightly smaller, with only 18 square feet, and contains two beds and two closets.
This room also has windows. Outside the windows is a flat land, and further ahead is the mountain behind.
Wen Jiajia thought, it would be great if this piece of land could also be used as a vegetable garden.
But she could roughly guess that this should be a reserved land, and if the family compound was to be expanded in the future, it would probably be built here.
There was nothing in the house that she was dissatisfied with. Wen Jiajia turned around and sat on the sofa with her legs swung.
Well, wooden sofas are not bad, at least they are comfortable to sit on.
Wei Dai had to go back for his leave, and before leaving he said, "Don't move your luggage yet, I'll come back and we can sort it together."
Wen Jiajia nodded, but after he left, she couldn't help but unpack her luggage.
"Chun'er and Xuanxuan, come and help your aunt." She called out to the yard. The two girls were seeing a faucet for the first time and were turning it on and off.
"Okay." They rushed in again.
Wen Jiajia first opened the largest quilt bag, but she did not take it out for the time being. Instead, she went to the room to make the mattress.
Wei Dai had prepared a mattress and placed it in the closet.
The bed was also covered with a straw mattress, and there was no dust anywhere on the bed. It was obvious that all he needed to do was put the mattress on it.
She made the bed and put the quilt on. Seeing that the sun was shining brightly, she even took the quilt out to dry in the sun.
The sunshine in the yard is really good. Wei Dai was very foresighted and installed a few bamboo poles on the right side of the yard, which can be used to dry clothes and quilts.
Wen Jiajia thinks she has quilt-drying anxiety. As long as there is strong sunshine outside, she likes to dry the quilt. There is no other way. If she wants to get rid of mites now, the only way is to dry it in the sun.
Then some food.
For example, bacon and sausage, and a pot of pickled fish made by Wei’s parents.
The jar was quite heavy, but it contained more than just the pickled fish. They also brought a jar of wine lees, a jar of salted duck eggs, and a jar of pickled vegetables.
No one knows how Wei Dai managed to bring all these jar foods along the way. This man is so strong.
All the jars were placed in the storage cabinet in the kitchen, which was relatively cool and dry.
Then there are clothes.
Wen Jiajia didn't have many clothes, but Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had many. Wen Jiajia only kept a few pieces of clothes left by the original owner's family, and the rest were taken apart to make clothes for Wen Chun and Wen Xuan.
The two sisters needed to be fair, each of them had four sets of summer clothes, three sets of spring and autumn clothes, two sets of winter clothes, two sweaters and a cotton vest.
The sweater was synthesized by Wen Jiajia last winter. She obtained wool from Wei Xin bit by bit. After several attempts, she finally got 5 kilograms of red medium-thick wool yarn.
Wen Jiajia was so happy that day that she almost couldn't sleep, and she giggled when she thought of the five-pound sweater.
The next day, when Wen Chun woke up, the first thing he asked her was whether a chicken had sneaked into the house last night.
Wen Jiajia was speechless for a while.
Five pounds of wool only made five sweaters, but Wen Jiajia only had one.
It’s not that she doesn’t want to knit more for herself, but the two children will grow up slowly, and then their two sweaters can be taken apart and re-knitted into one, without having to buy new ones.
Wen Jiajia would like to synthesize a few more kilograms of white wool. In comparison, she likes white sweaters more.
All the clothes were hung in the closets in the two rooms, emptying the three packages.
The remaining packages mostly contained small items for daily use, some seasonings and various necessities.
For example, needles and thread, umbrellas, iron pots and cups, soy sauce, yellow wine, brown sugar, chopped pepper sauce, and all the spices that she took the trouble to collect.
Bay leaves, star anise, peppercorns, cinnamon, and even dried chili peppers.
What about dried goods? There are dried black fungus, dried mushrooms, dried bitter cardamom cakes, dried shrimps, dried kelp, etc.
She even brought a lot of dried honeysuckle with her. She would need it to sustain her life when she got a fever. However, Wen Jiajia was not sure whether she could pick honeysuckle here, so after thinking about it, she still brought it with her.
However, honeysuckle is prone to insects, so it needs to be placed in the sun every now and then.
All these dry goods are put in their places.
The last package was quite heavy. When it was opened, it was filled with a large bowl of lard.
The lard was stored in an enamel pot, and other people might be able to use it for a whole year. But for Wen Jiajia, it would be used up in half a year at most.
In addition to lard, there were also two pounds of peanut oil, half a pound of sesame oil, and two pounds of rapeseed oil. Wen Jiajia felt that the rapeseed oil squeezed in her hometown was indeed fragrant and very good for making chili oil.
Outside, she wasn't sure if she could buy two kilograms of oil at one time.
After all, fuel coupons are sometimes useless because of purchase restrictions.
If you buy several kilograms at once, the people queuing behind you will tear you apart.
As for the kerosene, because the army had electricity, Wen Jiajia left it to Wei's parents.
After cleaning up everything, Wen Jiajia collapsed on the sofa exhausted.
When I looked up and saw the hanging light, my heart couldn't help but jump with joy.
After a few months, we have electricity again.
noon.
Wei Daixu was busy with something and didn't come back until lunchtime.
He came back with a lunch box and said, "I'm late. This is the food from the cafeteria. We'll eat in the cafeteria today. I'll try to get someone to bring back some rice and flour in the afternoon."
The rice and flour haven't arrived at the post office yet. It will take at least another two or three days for them to arrive.
Wen Jiajia nodded. She also wanted to try the food provided by the army.
The standard of food in the army is undoubtedly better than that outside.
But it’s not that good to say that. After all, most people are in financial difficulty nowadays. If you eat so well, aren’t you waiting to be used against you?
Besides, there is no condition to eat too well.
If you have money and tickets to buy meat, you also need a place to buy it.
I opened the lunch box and found fried tofu and stir-fried meat with shredded potatoes.
This was pretty good. Wen Chun and Wen Xuan ate the food with big mouthfuls and it was very delicious.
——
Moving was really busy, even though Wei Dai had already finished the cleaning a few days ago.
Wen Jiajia needed to wipe the furniture again with a cloth, because if she looked carefully, she could still see a thin layer of dust on the furniture.
Then there is the need to wash the dishes.
Wei Dai did prepare a lot of bowls, chopsticks and spoons and put them in the kitchen cabinet, but he didn't wash them. He just washed them when he needed them. But Wen Jiajia couldn't stand this. She had to wash the bowls and chopsticks first, and then dry them until there was no moisture left before putting them away.
When you need it later, just rinse it with water.
In the evening, the things Wei Dai asked someone to buy arrived.
Wen Jiajia underestimated the army. She never thought that the army also served as logistics. The logistics department would send a car to the city every week, and the family members could tell them what they wanted to buy and ask them to bring it back.
Today they just happened to catch this week's bus into the city. Wei Dai took Wen Jiajia to the logistics department to move things, and it took them two trips to finish.
"Wei Dai, is this your wife?" someone asked on the road.
Wei Dai smiled and said, "Yes, my wife Wen Jia, she just came to our place, auntie, please help me take care of her from time to time."
This person was obviously an acquaintance, otherwise Wei Dai would not have asked him to take care of her.
Wen Jiajia greeted them generously. After the lady left, Wei Dai said, "She is Lan Hongying, the wife of Teacher Gao. She also manages the families in the family compound. If you encounter any problems, you can look for her. She has a good temper and is a very nice person."
Wen Jiajia glanced at her back and indicated that she would take note of it.
When they met other people on the way, Wei Dai greeted them one by one and introduced Wen Jiajia to them.
If you know each other well, chat a little more.
If they are not familiar with each other, they will have their own way after the basic introduction. It also allows Wen Jiajia to get a rough understanding of Wei Dai's network of relationships.
"I didn't expect you to be so popular." Wen Jiajia said.
The closer they got to Beishan, the fewer people there were. Wei Dai secretly held her hand, and their clasped hands swung in the air.
Wei Dai: "No, I am good at carpentry, cement work and electrical work. I don't do those jobs for nothing."
“…”
That’s great. Technical talents are welcome everywhere.
When they were almost home, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were rolling around and playing in the open space at the door, with two unfamiliar boys beside them.
"Those are the children from the Xie family next door, one is five years old and the other is only two years old. Both the Xie couple have good tempers." Wei Dai reminded him again, "Oh, Xie Jin, the father of the two children. His wife is a rare college student in the family courtyard. She is currently teaching at the military primary school. She usually likes people to call her Teacher Shen, and doesn't like people to call her Sister-in-law Xie."
Wen Jiajia's eyes widened: "College student? Teaching?"
Or elementary school? That's not appropriate.
Today's college students are of very high quality.
Especially since the Workers, Peasants and Soldiers University only recruited students in the 70s, the first batch of students has not yet graduated. Teacher Shen can only be admitted by looking at the exams, a genuine high-level intellectual talent.
Wei Dai saw her confusion and said softly, "Teacher Shen's family background is not good."
Wen Jiajia understood.
In this situation, it is actually not bad to have troops.
After all, there can be trouble anywhere except in the military.
"Aunt, uncle!"
The two girls saw them and ran over with smiles on their faces.
Wen Jiajia muttered, "Fortunately the grass is thick enough, otherwise our clothes would have been dirty." She felt that the two sisters had not been taught a lesson for a long time and were gradually starting to act naughty again.
"You guys go play." Wei Dai picked the grass off Wen Chun and Wen Xuan's heads and threw it on the ground. "I'll call you when it's time to eat. Don't go too far."
There is a lake next to the troops.
The two children who made new friends didn’t want to go home. They just said “Hey” and went off to play again.
When I get home, I have to sort out the things I just bought.
Wen Jiajia was numb from opening the packages today, until she saw the station light inside the package, then she became excited.
"You bought a lamp!"
Wen Jiajia got up in surprise and went to the kitchen to find Wei Dai. Wei Dai was thinking about how to hang the newly bought kitchen knives on the knife rack.
Wen Jiajia was actually very sorry that she didn't bring her kitchen knife. It seems that you can bring kitchen knives on the train, but when she saw that Wei's kitchen knife had a chip on it, Wen Jiajia, who had eaten many meals, was reluctant to leave the kitchen knife to Wei's father.
But later, Wei Chengcai stuffed two yuan and an industrial ticket into her pocket, forcing her to accept them.
Wei Dai came back to his senses, "Yes, you read books often. Although we have electric lights at home, the house is high and the light is dim at night. If there is no lamp, your eyes will be damaged."
Wen Jiajia gave Wei Dai three kisses, which made him dizzy again. He said dazedly, "I also bought you some books and past issues of newspapers."
After saying that, he looked at Wen Jiajia with expectant eyes.
Do I have to kiss you a few more times?
However, Wen Jiajia exclaimed "Wow", turned around and ran to open the package, ignoring him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com