Chapter 166 Want to borrow my beehive coal? No!

"There are many people living in the family compound, but no one is willing to help us. My brother and sister-in-law have all gone to the battlefield..." Zhai Qingsong was not making this up, but rather expressing his personal feelings after living in the compound for two days.

Zhuang Jiahan, who was at his wit's end, suddenly had tears in his eyes.

Cheng Xueru is also a military wife. Although she and her husband have just obtained a marriage certificate, they have not yet officially held a wedding.

But she came to the army every few days and was responsible for collecting food from every nearby village for the army, so she more or less understood the women in the compound and they really liked to form small teams and cliques.

She looked at the farmer in front of her. He looked nervous, thin and hungry, and his navy blue clothes had several patches on them. He didn't seem to be lying.

"But, you just got here, where are the child's parents? Didn't you buy food for them before you left?" Cheng Xueru understood the situation and took the child to her with great concern, "Come on! I'll take you to the kitchen to find something to eat first."

Cheng Xueru had also finished handing over the food, so she said to the soldiers, "Then be careful when you drive on the road."

The soldiers were very familiar with her and greeted her. Then they packed up the Dongfeng vehicle and prepared to set out to transport food to the battlefield.

Cheng Xueru, holding a child who looked aggrieved, brought Zhai Qingsong to the canteen quickly. She saw the people from the kitchen still cleaning up in the stove, "Hey, Xiao Zhang, do you have anything else to eat?"

The soldier called Xiao Zhang from the kitchen team saw Cheng Xueru and hurried over. "There are still steamed buns and porridge. Why, you didn't eat?"

"No! Hurry up and serve me two bowls of porridge and some steamed buns for them. They haven't eaten for several days!" Cheng Xueru hurriedly ordered the kitchen staff to quickly bring out the porridge and steamed buns for the uncle and nephew.

"Sister Xueru, this is a public canteen, we have to pay."

"I have money! Comrade, give us five steamed buns and two bowls of porridge..." Zhai Qingsong hurriedly took out a handful of change from his pocket and was about to count it out to the young comrade in the kitchen.

"We don't accept cash here. Soldiers have to keep a record of their meals, and the meal expenses will be deducted from their wages."

"Please put it on my brother's account."

"What's your brother's name?"

Bao Er's eyes suddenly sparkled as if she had regained strength. "My father's name is Zhai Ximo, and he is the deputy head of the group."

"So they are the family members of Vice Colonel Zhai! Please sit down and wait for a moment. I will go get some food."

Several comrades in the kitchen squad heard that Deputy Colonel Zhai's family had come to the unit and that both adults and children had been hungry for several days, so they specially packed some steamed buns and porridge with pickled vegetables for them.

There was also a little comrade who liked Bao Er so much that he gave the little guy a bag of biscuits from his collection.

Zhai Qingsong didn't care about being stared at by a strange girl, and he gobbled down five steamed buns in one breath.

"You're really hungry." Cheng Xueru felt so distressed when she saw this.

Fortunately, she met them today. If something happened to them at home, what would happen to the child’s parents when they came back?

Seeing that Zhai Qingsong had also eaten his fill, he asked, "Haven't you gone to town to buy a stove and beehive coal yet?"

Zhai Qingsong then told the kind-hearted girl about the house they were staying in. "There is a brazier in the house, but we still need to buy some matchmakers."

"There are some idle stoves in the kitchen. You can use them first. After you buy a new stove, return it to us." Xiao Zhang said when he remembered that there were a few idle stoves in the kitchen.

"Okay, I'll lend it to them for a while. I'll take them to the town tomorrow to catch up and buy everything they need. But did the children's parents leave you money when they left?"

Zhai Qingsong nodded and said embarrassedly: "My brother left me some money, so it shouldn't be a problem to spend these days."

"Let's go, take the stove, I'll take you back." Cheng Xueru liked this little baby very much. After feeding him, the baby sat in her arms and looked around without crying.

Zhai Qingsong was filled with gratitude. He carried the stove and took Cheng Xueru back home.

Walking into the family yard, every household was having dinner.

Many people were still playing the radio in their homes, and it seemed very lively.

Zhao Cuilan, who lived next door to the Zhai family, came out of the house after finishing dinner with her family. She saw Cheng Xueru holding the child next door. "This child is so lucky. Even when his mother is not at home, he still has his aunt to hold him."

"Sister-in-law, you've already had dinner!" Cheng Xueru greeted Zhao Cuilan with a bright smile on her face.

"It's already so late and you haven't eaten yet!" Zhao Cuilan responded casually.

Zhai Qingsong suddenly felt a surge of anger in his chest, but he didn't say a word. He walked to the door of his house, opened it with his key, and turned on the light switch.

The room suddenly became bright.

"Auntie, can you please not go home tonight?" Baoer refused to let go and hugged the strange kind-hearted auntie and begged her to stay.

Cheng Xueru kissed the boy's cheek before putting him down. Her eyes were full of gentle smiles as she said, "Don't worry, Auntie will come to see you tomorrow and take you to the town to meet up."

After comforting the little guy, Cheng Xueru walked out and helped put the stove in the corridor at the door.

"No beehive coal, eh?"

Zhai Qingsong placed the borrowed stove on the corridor at the door, looked up at the pretty girl, and said, "Is there anyone selling beehive coal in town?"

"Yes, but you have to prepare food and boil water tomorrow morning." After saying this, the girl looked at Zhao Cuilan who was standing there washing dishes, and asked with a smile: "Sister-in-law! Can we make a deal?"

Zhao Cuilan guessed without asking that she wanted to borrow the beehive coal.

However, her cheerful expression suddenly turned cold. "I don't have any extra coal to lend to others! Don't even think about taking advantage of me."

"I'll just lend you two. They'll buy some tomorrow and return them to you. It's not like they won't return them. Sister-in-law, you can't just sit there and watch them go hungry."

"They are not my relatives. What does it have to do with me whether they are hungry or not?!" Zhao Cuilan sneered.

I have never seen the hearts of these women in the compound being so cold and hard before.

The girl restrained her hot temper and walked over to discuss with Zhao Cuilan to help Zhai Qingsong borrow two honeycomb coals.

However, Zhao Cuilan knew that the family that had just moved in had a lot of good things in their home. When the old couple left, she wanted to get some cooking utensils over, but the two old guys were completely clueless.

"If you want to be a good person, then go and be one yourself, instead of bringing harm to our family." Zhao Cuilan shouted.

Cheng Xueru turned around and saw the boy standing timidly at the door, looking at her eagerly, feeling very guilty.

However, she did not lose heart. She turned around and walked into the house and said to Zhai Qingsong, "I will pick you up early tomorrow morning!"

"Auntie, is there a steamed buns shop in town? Is there a rice cake shop? We can go there to eat steamed buns." The young man had already regarded the girl in front of him as a living Bodhisattva, and he pulled her hand and looked up and asked.

Cheng Xueru nodded slightly, "We have buns. Let's go to the town to eat buns tomorrow morning and make some people angry to death."

After seeing the girl off, Zhai Qingsong felt warm in his heart. There is always a way out. Finally, someone was willing to help them.

Early the next morning.

Zhai Qingsong dressed his children and washed their faces early, and heard that every household in the compound outside was preparing food.

They just sat at home, waiting for the girl from yesterday to pick them up.

"Uncle, could the auntie from yesterday have cheated us?" Baoer was getting hungry from waiting, and from time to time he ran to the door to look outside, but he could only see some unfamiliar aunties cooking in the corridor outside.

Cheng Xueru did not keep the uncle and nephew waiting for long. She went straight to the military compound after leaving home.

When she appeared at the door of Zhai's house, covered in dust, the people sitting in the living room, both big and small, felt as if they had seen the dawn.

"Baoer! Let's go. Auntie will take you to the town to meet up."

"Auntie, you are so beautiful." The boy quickly climbed down from the rattan chair, ran to the girl, and held her slender white hand very naturally. He was as happy as holding his mother's hand. Despite his young age, he knew how to coax people.

Cheng Xueru smiled brightly and picked up the cute doll. "Let's go. Lock the door. Don't let anyone miss so many things in the house."

She knew that Zhao Cuilan next door was a bad person who would not even save a child, so she deliberately said it loudly for her to hear.

Zhao Cuilan watched Cheng Xueru and Zhuang Jiahan go downstairs, her mouth already full of curses.

Seeing this, the wives of the soldiers living nearby started to mock her, "Hey, Cheng Xueru is still sensible. Look, she can even flirt with a peasant from the countryside. I just don't know if her husband will beat her up if he finds out."

"If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten that she had gotten married to a man..."

A group of women were gossiping about Cheng Xueru's marriage with great interest.

Of course Cheng Xueru also heard these women talking behind her back, but she didn't have time to pay attention to them.

She was very familiar with everyone in the army, so she took Zhai Qingsong and rode in the army kitchen team's car to the town to gather.

He led the farmers to buy a stove, beehive coal, rice, flour and oil.

"Brother Zhai, the clothes you are wearing are too old. Buy another one." After a pause, she said nonchalantly, "There are many women living in the compound. They think you don't have money to buy clothes."

Zhai Qingsong was originally a little afraid to go out because his attire was different from the people here, but when he heard the girl's reminder, he quickly went to buy a navy blue jacket, which was just right for this season.

But he still couldn't bear to throw away the patched socks he had taken off.

After buying so many things, Cheng Xueru sent them home.

"Auntie, can you help me take a bath? I'm itchy." The boy hadn't taken a bath or changed clothes for many days, and his body was already itchy.

Cheng Xueru had never expected that the young man treated her as his mother. Since there wasn't much to do at home, she stayed and helped to light the fire and boil water for the child to bathe and change clothes.

The news soon spread throughout the compound.

All kinds of rumors were spreading widely.

Even the wives of soldiers living in the building next door heard that Deputy Colonel Zhai's eldest brother was very close to Cheng Xueru.

I don't know who spread the news, but it even reached the battlefield - Baiteng Town.

Since no conflict broke out the night before, everyone was nervous all night.

The atmosphere in the local office was also extremely tense.

Xu Changhe had just called his troops, and he took the opportunity to call his wife.

I learned from my wife that when Deputy Commander Zhai’s elder brother came to the military compound, he actually went to the streets with his young military wife Cheng Xueru, bought groceries together, and took care of the baby together…

"Deputy Captain Zhai! I heard your elder brother is here?"

Such rumors would spread throughout the compound, and Xu Changhe knew that it was just a group of women who had too much free time.

After he finished the call, he happened to meet Zhai Ximo on his way out and asked casually.

Zhai Ximo was stunned for a moment. "I applied to the army. My eldest brother's left hand was injured and he couldn't grow crops for the time being. Then I brought him to live in the army."

"Oh, I kind of remember it now." Xu Changhe tapped his head, his eyes twinkling, "I heard that your elder brother and Cheng Xueru, the young and beautiful military wife in our army, you know, they are going to the town together to meet up."

"Oh no! I completely forgot about this. We just arrived at the army that night and set out here. We didn't have time to buy a stove and other things. I don't know how my brother and the children have been getting by these days." Zhai Ximo didn't realize the strange meaning in Xu Changhe's words. He patted his head and went to find his wife Wang Ziru.

It was just after lunch and there were no new casualties overnight, so Wang Ziru was happy to have some free time.

Just as she was about to go talk to the man and ask him to call the army, the couple met at the door of the hospital ward.

"Zi Ru! There's something we forgot." Zhai Ximo told his wife about the things at home.

Wang Ziru came out of the sickroom and heard the man say that he hadn't bought a stove and beehive coal for her brother. "Without a stove and beehive coal, they can't cook, right?"

"yes!"

"Hurry up, call the army and ask someone to go check on my brother and the children." Wang Ziru hadn't thought about this for a few days. Suddenly, when she heard the man mention the children and uncle at home, she became anxious and the two of them hurried to the local office.

At this moment, Duan Yanzhi was leaning back in his chair and answering a call from Han Suijing, who was calling from one of the four towns in Heshuo.