Chapter 286: Eating Barbecue Around the Fire

However, Lizhan still adhered to the principle of not taking a penny from the masses. They got the horse meat themselves, so they only paid for the processing fee and money for seasonings such as salt and cumin. They also paid some money for baked potatoes, milk tea, firewood, cow dung and other heating expenses to the ranch.

The state-owned ranches here are different from those of the migrating herders. They are built with red brick bungalows.

It started snowing outside again in the evening, so everyone had dinner indoors.

It is New Year's Eve again this year. Although we don't eat dumplings like other places in the north, we have roasted horse meat, which is already a rich feast.

A group of people gathered around several large stoves. Above each stove, horse legs were pierced with red willow branches and put on the stove to be roasted. In addition, some people cut meat into small pieces with a knife and skewered them with fat and lean meat in alternating patterns like mutton skewers. An iron mesh was placed on the fire and roasted together with potatoes on the mesh.

After a short while, the meat was bubbling and the air was filled with a mouth-watering aroma.

The smaller horse meat skewers were grilled first and sprinkled with salt and cumin. Li Zhan took three skewers and handed them to Xia Juanjuan, Shen Wanxue and Rong Zhenbang respectively.

Xia Juanjuan didn't hesitate to take it and took a bite. All of a sudden, the aroma of meat filled her mouth and her taste buds were awakened almost instantly. It was so delicious that she almost cried.

Li Zhan looked at her enjoying the meat and couldn't help but laugh: "Don't worry, there's plenty more."

After a while, the roasted horse legs were almost ready. Wei Bin's hometown is in the northwest, so he was the one who cut the horse meat into small pieces with a knife and sprinkled salt and cumin on it. No one was too particular and just grabbed it with their hands, which was considered hand-pulled horse meat.

If you feel tired of eating, there are also delicious baked potatoes.

The milk tea was placed on another stove, bubbling and emitting a milky aroma. The method of making the milk tea was similar to the one Xia Juanjuan had drunk at the station last time, but this time, because there was enough horse meat, there was no beef jerky or other ingredients in it, only fried rice and milk tofu.

Although there was a blizzard raging outside, there was a fire in the house. Everyone had a bowl of milk tea with barbecued meat and sweet potatoes. It was quite happy.

Even the people on the ranch benefited from this opportunity. They could eat a hearty barbecue without any scruples. Their faces were flushed with joy.

In addition to the meal for everyone tonight, Li Zhan also had another horse roasted and distributed to everyone, and asked them to put it in the dry food bags. They still had to continue to rescue the trapped herdsmen and patrolmen, and they could only eat dry food outside.

Xia Juanjuan went to Li Zhan's ear and said, "Leave some more meat for me when you grill it. Dad and Mom will have to go back to the farm early tomorrow morning. Prepare some for them."

After hearing this, Li Zhan felt soft in his heart and said softly, "I know. You really worry about me..."

Bai Zihan came over and asked in a sly tone, "Sister-in-law, what are you whispering to Li Zhan about? Can't we hear it?"

Everyone started to cheer after hearing what was said.

Xia Juanjuan blushed and said, "Didn't you say anything?"

"What did you say? It couldn't be about tonight..." Bai Zihan continued to laugh.

Li Zhan took a skewer of horse meat and stuffed it into Bai Zihan's mouth, and said with a smile: "Even meat can't stop your mouth?"

Everyone else started laughing, and someone said, "Deputy Captain Bai, how can we listen to the couple's private conversation in public? Isn't that too corny?"

"That's right! Besides, don't you have a wife, Deputy Captain Bai? If you want to hear it, let's go back and let your wife tell you! Hahaha!"

Everyone finished dinner while chatting and laughing.

The ranch vacated two large warehouses for storing hay for Lizhan and the cavalrymen he brought with him to sleep.

Although it was a bit simple, we used straw as bedding and our own military coats as quilts. It was just a bit cold because we couldn't make a fire in the warehouse.

Xia Juanjuan saw that everyone had spread out the hay into a large pile, which was a bit tangled.

After all, she was a woman. How could she have such a big conversation with such a group of grown men? Even if Li Zhan was there, it would be embarrassing.

However, they were originally staying at the ranch, so they had no position to complain. They didn't say anything and planned to endure it patiently for the night.

As for Shen Wanxue and Rong Zhenbang, they naturally just stayed together for one night.

However, after a while, someone from the ranch came over and said to Li Zhan with a smile: "Captain Li, it's arranged. Sister, and Aunt Shen, come with me."

Xia Juanjuan was stunned for a moment.

Li Zhan laughed and said, "You are women. It's not right for you to squeeze in with a bunch of grown men like us. I'd like to ask the ranch owner to arrange a separate room for you. You can spend the night with... with Aunt Shen."

Xia Juanjuan was moved when she heard this.

This rough guy actually has a very considerate heart.

It's just... except for the time when Lizhan went back home during the wheat harvest in May, it has been more than half a year now. We finally see each other again, but we can't sleep together at night or talk to each other in private. I feel a little lost in my heart.

But it was difficult to say these words in front of so many people, so she could only look at Li Zhan deeply, pull Shen Wanxue and follow the people from the ranch.

Lizhan turned to Rong Zhenbang, paused for a moment, and then said, "Uncle... I'm sorry, please stay with us for one night."

Rong Zhenbang nodded nervously and said, "Hey! I'm already very grateful for this!"

The room that the ranch arranged for Xia Juanjuan and Shen Wanxue had a stove, so it was much warmer than the warehouse where hay was stored.

Xia Juanjuan secretly took out the extra roasted horse meat that Li Zhan had left and gave it to Shen Wanxue.

"Mom, these barbecues are specially reserved for you by Lizhan. You are going to leave for the farm early tomorrow morning, right? It will take several days on the road. These can be used as dry food on the way."

When Shen Wanxue saw it, her eyes turned red again, but she accepted it without much hesitation.

After a thrilling day, the two were extremely tired and fell asleep almost as soon as they touched the pillow.

No words were spoken all night.

The next morning, the sky cleared up and the sun even came out.

Lizhan and his brothers got up early, put the haystack back to its original state, and then got ready to go.

Xia Juanjuan woke up early because she knew that Li Zhan and the others had to leave early in the morning.

When I got dressed and went out, I saw Lizhan and the others standing in the yard. Everyone had packed their bags and rode out, waiting to set off.

When Rong Zhenbang saw Shen Wanxue coming out, he also went to greet her. The two of them stood aside, looking at Li Zhan in surprise.

I finally got to see my son, but for various reasons, I was unable to recognize him. Now, after just spending one night together, they have to be separated again.

I don’t know when we will meet next time...

Li Zhan came over and said, "I've arranged for two brothers to take you all the way to the farm. They will also explain to the farm why you've been delayed for several days."

After hearing this, Rong Zhenbang and Shen Wanxue nodded quickly and choked up a little, saying, "Hey!"

After this delay, they would have to return a few days later than originally planned. Although they could explain themselves, the farm might not believe them and might even suspect that they were fleeing for fear of crime.

But if there are soldiers from the army to testify, then the farm will definitely believe it.

After giving these instructions, Li Zhan walked towards Xia Juanjuan again, looked at her deeply, and then said, "We will send a team to send those horse thieves and the collected horses back to the base, and you will go back with them."

Xia Juanjuan was stunned for a moment, then her heart sank and she asked, "You... aren't going back?"

Li Zhan said, "We still have a mission to perform. You go to the station first, stay there obediently, and don't run around anymore, do you understand? We should go back for supplies in about three or four days, you wait another three or four days until I return to the station, and then I will take you to the county town to take a bus back home..."

Xia Juanjuan felt as if her heart was blocked by cotton and felt very uncomfortable.

But she also knew that this was the only way.

Li Zhan was already busy carrying out missions to save people, and if she asked for too much, it would just be causing more trouble.

Fortunately, Shen Wanxue and Rong Zhenbang were both fine, and Li Zhan's leg was not injured to the point of requiring amputation. She had come all the way here, and had already achieved the expected result, and she couldn't ask for more.

"Well... okay. You... you must return to your base in three or four days. You haven't had dumplings during the Chinese New Year this year. When you come back, I'll make some for you, and then I'll go back."

As they were talking, Bai Zihan came over and asked with a cheeky smile, "What's up? What are you two whispering about?"

Li Zhan rolled his eyes at him and said with a smile, "Don't make trouble."

Bai Zihan was innocent: "Who said I came here to cause trouble? I came here to tell my sister-in-law some good news."

Xia Juanjuan was stunned for a moment and looked at Bai Zihan in confusion.

Good news? What good news?

Bai Zihan blinked and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, do you think it's good news to have Li Zhan escort you back to your base?"

Li Zhan frowned and said, "Bai Zihan, what nonsense are you talking about! Didn't I arrange for Lu Xiangdong to take those horse thieves back to the camp, and by the way..."

"Well... Lu Xiangdong, I, and the rest of us have discussed this. We all agree that none of us are qualified to escort my sister-in-law. If something goes wrong along the way, how are we going to explain it to you, the leader?"

Li Zhan glared at Bai Zihan and said, "Bai Zihan, this is an order!"

As the head of the group, how could he not be out on duty and instead escort his wife back to her place of residence?

Bai Zihan interrupted him and said, "Hey, you can't say that. Although you are the head of the group, we still have to be democratic. We all think that your order is inappropriate. You can't stop us from raising the issue, right? Those horse thieves are also very vicious. We think that the task of escorting the horse thieves is much more important than the task of patrolling. It is better for you, the head of the group, to do it yourself."