On the last day of their wedding leave, Shen Xiao went to the city to do some work, and Qiao Baozhu was not idle at home either.
After boiling two pots of hot water, Qiao Baozhu began to wash her clothes.
She was sitting on a small stool, scrubbing clothes with a washboard, when Wu Meili came to visit her carrying a round basket.
Wu Meili was tall, only half a head shorter than Shen Xiao, and she walked briskly and imposingly. The courtyard gate, which was only one person tall, felt as thin and weak as a palm-leaf fan in Wu Meili's hand.
Qiao Baozhu was sitting in the house washing clothes when she heard the door slam. She subconsciously sat up and looked outside. She saw a figure flash by, and before she could see clearly, the door of the outer room was pulled open.
"Comrade Baozhu, I'm here to chat with you."
Wu Meili walked in enthusiastically, looking so familiar as if she was the master of the house.
Qiao Baozhu put her arms on her knees and smiled at Wu Meili, "Sister-in-law, you can just call me Baozhu, no need to call me comrade."
Wu Meili turned her head and waved her hands, "That won't do. Captain Shen is my Jiang Sen's leader, and you are my leader. I have to be polite when I speak to you and I can't call you by your name."
The truth was spoken too directly, and Qiao Baozhu couldn't be helped. I stared at Wu Meili blankly, not knowing what to say.
When Wu Meili saw Qiao Baozhu washing clothes, she threw the basket in her hand onto the kang.
While rolling up his sleeves, he said to Qiao Baozhu, "These soldiers roll around in the mud every day, and their clothes are terribly dirty. You can't wash their clothes unless you rub them hard."
"With your small body, there's no way you can rub these dirty clothes. Move aside, I'll help you rub them."
Qiao Baozhu didn't feel comfortable asking Wu Meili to help her wash her clothes, so she quickly declined, "I can wash them, I don't need your help."
Before she could finish her words, Qiao Baozhu was picked up by Wu Meili along with the small stool.
Wu Meili carried Qiao Baozhu to the kang, looked at her frightened expression, and proudly showed off her arms.
"Are you scared? Hehe, you've only known me for a short time, and I'm full of energy. Let me tell you this, even though my old Jiang is a soldier, his small body can't compare to mine."
"When I was in the production team, I could earn two work points. Whether it was hoeing the fields, building roads, or cutting trees, I could do the work of three or four people."
"It takes me less than half an hour to finish washing this basin of clothes."
As she spoke, Wu Meili picked up Shen Xiao's dirty training uniform and rubbed it with her hands.
Qiao Baozhu had seen Wu Meili cutting meat and cooking. Her movements were quick, decisive and extremely efficient.
Now when I see her washing clothes, her pair of iron hands leave afterimages, and the speed is faster than that of a washing machine. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Qiao Baozhu really wouldn't have believed that anyone could finish scrubbing a basin of dirty clothes in half an hour.
"This piece of clothing is so easy to rub. What did you put in the water? Wood ash?"
Wu Meili took a look at the soap in the soap box and her eyes lit up: "You educated youth are so particular. You spend money to buy soap to wash clothes. We all make pig pancreas ourselves. It's not as good as soap, but it's cheaper."
After saying that, Wu Meili stirred the water in the washing basin again and muttered in confusion, "This is soapy water, it feels slippery. The clothes are all softened by it, and it can remove dust."
Wu Meili is a person who says what she thinks and doesn't have any evil thoughts.
She is cute in her frankness and straightforwardness, and Qiao Baozhu likes her personality very much.
He smiled and explained, "It's not wood ash or soapy water. I just used boiling water and mixed some washing powder."
Wu Meili said with envy: "Washing powder? That stuff is one yuan per pound, you are really willing to spend it. Oh, you live a very comfortable life. You can buy whatever you want and use whatever you want."
Qiao Baozhu smiled and said, "We are both working people. Captain Jiang is the only one working in your family. When you make money in the future, you can buy whatever you want."
Wu Meili's eyes lit up, "That's right, once I finish sewing the soles, I can also make money."
Wu Meili became full of motivation when she thought about making money. In a short while, several pieces of clothes were washed.
Qiao Baozhu felt embarrassed to ask Wu Meili for help again, so she pulled her aside and carried some boiling water to wash the clothes again.
Wu Meili pushed Qiao Baozhu away and said, "Why do you need hot water to wash clothes? I can just rinse them twice."
Qiao Baozhu couldn't refuse, so she watched Wu Meili wash the clothes twice with cold water and hang them on the clothesline.
"Drink some water and take a rest."
Qiao Baozhu felt embarrassed to have Wu Meili help her wash half a basin of clothes. I quickly made her a cup of thick milk powder and took out the snacks I usually eat to treat her.
"Drinking milk powder and eating furnace fruit, Comrade Baozhu, your life is too good. I don't even want to go home."
Wu Meili pursed her lips and drank the milk powder carefully. She clenched the fruit in her hand again and again but never put it into her mouth.
Qiao Baozhu felt sad, smiled, stood up, found a cardboard bag, and put the furnace fruit in it: "This is a gift from relatives when we got married. Shen Xiao and I don't like to eat it, if you don't mind, take it back."
Wu Meili believed what Qiao Baozhu said, nodded repeatedly and said happily: "Don't mind, don't mind. I can't bear to buy it for my children. When they see it after school, they will be so happy that they fart."
Wu Meili carefully put a bag of fruit into her basket, and took out the soles and needle and thread from it.
"I'm worried that I didn't make it right at home, so I thought I'd stay at your house for a while. If there's anything I didn't do well, you can always point it out."
Qiao Baozhu pointed at the jacket in Wu Meili's hand and said incredulously, "Didn't you say you didn't have any white cloth at home? How did you make so many jackets?"
Wu Meili squinted her nose and made a face in embarrassment, lowering her voice and pretending to be mysterious: "I borrowed it from Sister Zhang. I worked on it last night and made it little by little. It was left cold overnight, so I cut it this morning."
Qiao Baozhu took the jacket from her hand, looked at it carefully, and nodded in appreciation.
Thirty-eight-year-old Wu Meili always makes a fool of herself when it comes to socializing, but she is truly an all-round master when it comes to doing her work.
"Yes, your jacket is really well made."
With Qiao Baozhu's affirmation, Wu Meili became more motivated.
"That's right. I made it last night with a kerosene lamp. Comrade Baozhu, I'm not afraid that you will laugh at me..."
"Just call it Baozhu..."
"Baozhu, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. In the past, when I did some work at night, I always used the light of the moon. If it really didn't work, I would just light a candle. Last night, my husband said that I was like a dog with horns growing out of it and making trouble."
He even didn't want to light the kerosene lamp, wasn't it just to save money?
Qiao Baozhu felt even more sad after listening to this. Life is so tiring for people in this era.
"Sister Wu, you are so frugal that you can't use up all your kerosene coupons every month, right? My family's kerosene lamps cost a lot of money. If you have any saved, please sell them to me. If you have other coupons, I want them too."
Wu Meili was surprised and delighted: "You still accept tickets? Will you accept coal tickets? My family heats the kang every winter, so the coal tickets issued by the company cannot be used."
Coal ticket?
Qiao Baozhu's heart was pounding. The price of coal tickets in the city was very high.
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