Dongfang Xiaoqing came to town to buy some food. She had to prepare a lot for the family dinner on Sunday. She bought a lot of candies, cakes, and fruits, as well as fresh pork, seafood, and peppers.

Yesterday at lunch, Dongfang Xiaoqing carefully observed Zhan Xinyue and found that she particularly liked spicy food.

Therefore, she specially asked the police officer to drive over today, and she immediately bought a big bag of peppers, including green peppers, red peppers, and spiral peppers. It was a pity that Huandao couldn't eat spicy food, and there were no chili peppers. She planned to go back to Xu Jinling and pick some from her vegetable garden.

"Aunt Xiaoqing, please treat me to lunch. You bought me pajamas last time and I liked them very much."

Zhan Xinyue politely declined, as she didn't want to owe Dongfang Xiaoqing any favor.

"There's no reason for me to ask you to treat me. Besides, it's just a small gift. You don't need to put it on the table."

Dongfang Xiaoqing handed the groceries she had just bought to the police officer, gave him ten yuan, and told him to go eat something.

The guard took the money and left with the bags.

Dongfang Xiaoqing held Zhan Xinyue's arm and said, "Let's go and eat first."

After saying that, she glanced at the rustic Xu Jinling beside her, curled her lips imperceptibly, but her tone was enthusiastic: "Sister Xu, you can join us."

Zhan Xinyue saw Dongfang Xiaoqing's fleeting look of disdain and pushed her away, saying, "Aunt Xiaoqing, I have an appointment with Aunt Xu to eat roadside baked buns at noon. Do you want to come with me?"

Dongfang Xiaoqing glanced at her snow-white dress, thought for a moment, and shook her head, "My stomach isn't very good, so I can't eat at street stalls. Xinyue, after you finish eating, come to the department store. The car is parked here, and I'll take you back."

The car was an off-road vehicle with a lot of space, but the eight-bar design of the 2008 model was too big and it couldn't be folded, so Xu Jinling had to ride it home.

Zhan Xinyue didn't want to go back with Dongfang Xiaoqing, but she was also afraid that after they bought the things, Xu Jinling would have to ride a bike to take her and the things, and she was worried that she would be too tired.

"Sister Xiaoqing, you don't have to wait for Xinyue, take her back. We have to go buy flower and vegetable seedlings later. The market is dirty and you are wearing a long skirt, don't get it dirty."

Just when Zhan Xinyue was hesitating, Xu Jinling spoke up. She didn't have any other intentions, she just felt that since they came out together, they should go home together.

"Okay." Dongfang Xiaoqing kept smiling. She didn't like going to the market. She would invite Sheng Tunan today and have him and Zhan Xinyue have dinner at her house on Sunday.

In the past, Li Xiangqiang often went to Sheng Tunan for dinner. As long as he was not busy, he would basically come. This time he would definitely not refuse.

Dongfang Xiaoqing pulled her long hair back, she was not in a hurry, she had her plan in mind, with Li Xiangqiang present, she was determined that Zhan Xinyue would recognize her as her relative even if it was for Sheng Tunan's career.

After all, not everyone can be the stepdaughter of a brigade commander.

Dongfang Xiaoqing maintained her brigade commander's loving demeanor and said goodbye to the two of them politely. She was too lazy to go to the state-owned hotel to eat, so she found the police officer who was eating a bun and urged him to finish his meal quickly and send her back to the compound.

"Xinyue, don't be fooled by the brigade commander's amiable appearance, he is actually a snob." Xu Jinling and Zhan Xinyue left the department store. She was a calm person, but she was not really stupid.

"What do you mean?" Zhan Xinyue asked curiously.

"Before, there was a division commander in our military region. There were so many military wives in the family compound, but Dongfang Xiaoqing only tried to curry favor with the division commander. She was only polite to them on the surface, but in reality she looked down on them at all."

"Later, the division commander retired. The man said that the higher-ups felt that this island was safer and there was no need to send another division commander-level leader here. After that, Brigade Commander Li became the most powerful person on the island."

The sun was strong outside. Xu Jinling fanned herself and Zhan Xinyue with the cattail leaf fan she had just bought, and kept saying,

"Brigade Commander Li is the leader of the island, and his wife is the boss among the women. She is becoming more and more arrogant, looking down on everyone. But she is quite good at pleasing Brigade Commander Li, and in front of him, she acts like a little girl."

Xu Jinling concluded: "Such a woman is smart and knows what she wants. She is lucky. Men will pamper her."

Zhan Xinyue smiled and said nothing.

As they were talking, they came to the steamed buns stall. The bun seller was Shi Hong, the wife of a battalion commander in the military region. When she saw Xu Jinling coming, she greeted her warmly, "Auntie Xu, what do you want to eat today?"

"Give me three dumplings," Xu Jinling said in a loud voice, and then asked Zhan Xinyue, "Xinyue, how many do you want to eat?"

"Two will do."

"Okay," Shi Hong asked the two to sit on the small stools first, and brought two bowls of kelp soup, which was cooked with pig skin and smelled very fragrant.

"You guys drink the soup first, and then go make some buns."

Xu Jinling asked Zhan Xinyue to sit for a while. She followed Shi Hong and helped to order kelp soup for the others.

Zhan Xinyue was just thirsty, so she blew on the kelp soup to feel the temperature and found it was not that hot, so she drank two liters.

"Hello, comrade." Suddenly, a male voice with a deliberately low breath sounded.

Zhan Xinyue looked up and saw a fair-skinned and gentle young man wearing glasses and dressed as a college student. He was pressing his stomach and said weakly,

"Comrade, I forgot to bring money when I went out today, and now I'm a little hungry. Can you lend me some money to buy two buns? I will return it to you tomorrow. I'm the principal of Huan Elementary School, Niu Zhijian."

"I'll lend it to you." Before Zhan Xinyue could answer, a delicate voice rang out, and then a green figure floated over with fifty cents in his hand.

"Comrade Niu, right? Hello. I'm the captain of the cultural troupe. Yan Moli, let me lend you some money. This comrade just got married and is from the countryside, so I'm afraid he won't be that generous. I believe you, so take it and buy some food."

Yan Moli took a break at noon, borrowed the leader's bicycle, and went straight to the post office to mail a letter without even changing into her military uniform. Just as she was about to buy two bags for lunch, she saw Niu Zhijian, who looked gentle and poetic, looking for Zhan Xinyue to borrow money.

She had already decided to destroy Sheng Tunan, so of course she had to find another employer. She had just heard clearly that Niu Zhijian's mother was the principal of an elementary school. Coincidentally, Yan Moli had performed at this school and knew that the principal was the director of the Education Bureau. It was good to be in a high-ranking official's family.

Yan Moli decided to take action. If she couldn't be the husband of the group leader, she would become the daughter-in-law of the director.