Once you get to a place like this, there's simply no way you can go back.
Jiang Wenwan was half-reclined on a chair, basking in the sun. In the afternoon, Lao Xu brought her some adobe bricks.
Only then did she get a good look at Lao Xu; he was quite handsome.
He was tall and big, with a smile on his face, and his wife, Sister Xu, came with him.
"Jiang Meizi, we've come to deliver some adobe bricks to you."
Jiang Wenwan quickly got up to make room for them.
"Sister Xu, Comrade Xu, hello. Just put the adobe bricks here."
Sister-in-law Xu smiled sincerely and shyly.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to build a stove? These adobe bricks are enough. Let Old Xu build the stove for you.”
"Oh? If you put it that way, then I won't refuse."
Sister-in-law Xu smiled.
"Don't mention it."
Turning to her husband beside her, she said:
"You can do it, right? If you can't, I'm here for you!"
Old Xu looked down at her helplessly, his eyes filled with doting affection, and said with a smile:
"How could I say I can't do the job you found for me? Don't worry, I guarantee I'll do it well."
He then looked at Jiang Wenwan and said:
"Comrade Jiang, just leave it to me to decide where you need to build the stove."
Jiang Wenwan suspected that the two of them were showing off their affection, so she pointed to the kitchen and said:
"Build a small one next to the big stove."
I usually use it to steam rice and such; just enough for a small pot.
"That's easy."
He glanced at it and then went out to start moving the adobe bricks into the kitchen.
Seeing how efficiently and well he worked, Jiang Wenwan went inside to pour them some sweet soup.
"You two should have a sip of sugar water and then continue working. It looks like the stove can be built in half a day, which is faster than I expected."
The couple took the sweet soup and took a sip, both quite surprised.
"This really is sugar water, it's so sweet."
There are still some mud bricks left after building the stove. I'll put the rest in the yard for you, and we'll use them to build your kang (heated brick bed) once the mud bricks on my side have dried in the next couple of days.
"Alright! I'll do whatever you say, Sister-in-law Xu."
Sister-in-law Xu took the bowl of water from Old Xu and handed it to Jiang Wenwan, then, as if remembering something, exclaimed: "Oh dear!"
"Look at my memory, wait a minute."
As she spoke, she went to the carriage and took out a cloth bag, inside which was a small white flower with purple stamens.
"Hey girl, this is Tian Shan snow lotus. Old Xu picked it while herding horses on the mountain today. I just thought it was pretty, but I didn't know how to use it, so I thought I'd give it to you!"
Jiang Wenwan had encountered this in her previous life, so she remained quite calm and said:
"Thank you, Sister Xu. This snow lotus grows on snow-capped mountains and has very strong medicinal properties. I can't accept this one for nothing."
Seeing that she was about to get something, Aunt Xu quickly called her back.
"Oh, don't bother. Here you go, we don't need your stuff."
Jiang Wenwan was about to get the dried meat when she was stopped by her. She smiled and nodded.
"Alright, then I won't stand on ceremony with you. If you ever have a headache or fever in the future, just come to me if you trust me."
"Okay, I've got it."
Jiang Wenwan spent the afternoon building a stove. Occasionally, someone would come by to take a look, and she would stand in the yard and explain with a smile.
"Build a stove, and a fire platform. By the way, sister-in-law, is your house also a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove)?"
"Of course it is! Ours is too, it's very warm in winter."
Aunt Qi, who was talking to her, casually chimed in.
Then I realized that the new Battalion Commander Zhou's wife seemed quite easy to talk to and not difficult to get along with.
"You're even planting vegetables in your yard? Why didn't you open the car over there?"
Jiang Wenwan chatted with her intermittently.
"I'm thinking of raising geese!"
I just don't know if raising geese here will cause a stench. If it does, I'll have to think of another solution.
"By the way, in our residential compound, how many animals can each household keep?"
The auntie was surprised that she also raised geese, and suddenly felt that she seemed quite down-to-earth.
"As long as it doesn't exceed 10, it's fine; too many won't do."
But yours will definitely have a certain flavor; you can shovel it up and use it for the vegetable garden next door.
Hey, it was so satisfying to see you deal with Aunt Jiang today. That shameless woman even tried to extort two yuan from me; it still hurts to think about it now.
"If it weren't for how pitiful their little Yingzi is, I wouldn't have given it to her."
Jiang Wenwan glanced at her sister-in-law, who was talking to her, with surprise.
"I never expected that you, sister-in-law, would also be scammed."
"Of course, but she dares to extort money from you even though you're the division commander's daughter-in-law. I think she's just asking for trouble. She's an old woman who's eaten poison and doesn't want to live much longer."
"Now that's good, you've taught her a lesson, and she'll behave for a long time!"
Jiang Wenwan smiled. This year's heavy rains had indeed caused flooding in many places; she had only just remembered this herself.
Even if she had known earlier, there was nothing she could do. How could she explain it?
And at the time, she was on a train heading this way.
"Sister-in-law Qi, you're here too?"
Song Dandan came over carrying a rabbit.
"Oh my, Dandan, you went hunting again?"
You're really something, not stopping even after such a short time. Are you a pika or a rabbit?
Was it sent to Jiang Meizi?
You're truly a responsible wife to me, the instructor. You took good care of us when I first arrived.
"Oh dear, Old Su's family is here. I'm going back now; I get annoyed just seeing her."
As she spoke, Jiang Wenwan followed her gaze and saw a woman in unpatched clothes walking towards them from a distance.
Jiang Wenwan's gaze fell on the little leather shoes on her feet.
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