Another half month passed.
Along with the supply ship came five scientific researchers.
Gu Qingqing has been trying to cook for herself recently. The pepper seedlings have grown into pepper trees. They bloomed a week ago and recently produced peppers the size of fingernails. She stares at this piece of soil every day when she comes back from school.
The pak choi is also green, but neither of them is as good as the green onions that were casually sprinkled some time ago. They are lush and green. Gu Qingqing plans to make noodles for her man later.
During this time, the two of them just let things take their own course when it came to having a child. Chu Dai had a lot of responsibilities, so when he first arrived on the island, he would go to the cafeteria to get his meals and come back at 6pm. Now, it's getting later and later.
The day before yesterday it was 8:30, yesterday it was 10:00, her face and arms were often covered with scrapes and bruises, she felt so distressed that she went to Zhao Ze to get some medicine powder to keep at home.
At around ten o'clock, the canteen was filled with meals prepared in the afternoon, heated in the steam stove. That night, Chu Dai was afraid that she would get hungry after waiting too late, so he brought some back for her.
They were all seafood, and they had been kept in the stove for too long and the taste was quite weird. She didn't know how to describe it, but it was definitely not as delicious as fresh ones.
The men who go to the hidden caves do strenuous work every day. She heard from Zhao Ze that Chu Dai is always at the forefront exploring the caves every day and his work is extremely hard.
But this man was stubborn and said nothing when he came back. He never complained about how hard it was and even took out some wild fruits from his pocket for her.
She felt so relieved.
That day, Chu Dai came back at around seven in the evening, carrying oil, rice, noodles and two coconuts picked from trees. The supply ship came once every two weeks, and each family could get a fixed amount of supplies based on the number of people.
It is also a special compensation from the army to the wives of soldiers. In order to build the national coastal defense, the military has brought their families to this deserted island, so they will naturally take more care of their daily necessities. Moreover, if the ration of rice, flour, oil and salt is not enough, you can give money to the captain of the supply ship and ask him to help you bring supplies without a ticket.
This is also the reason why many military wives are willing to come.
There was a small orange light in the kitchen. A woman was kneading dough. Her hands and face were covered with flour.
Chu Dai placed the two coconuts he brought back today on the stove. He leaned against the door frame, took out a White Rabbit candy from his pocket, peeled off the candy wrapper and stuffed it into his mouth, his eyes lazily following her movements.
Gu Qingqing knew he was behind her, and she kept mumbling, "I put the two pairs of cloth shoes I made for you under the bed in your bedroom. Go and try them on later to see if they fit you. I'm a little regretful that I made so many clothes for myself at the tailor shop and didn't make two more for you. You come home sweaty every day and often don't have a change of clothes."
The man chewed the candy and said slowly, "I still have my military uniform. Girls who love beauty need to make more clothes. I am a grown man. Who would I wear these for when I go into caves every day?"
As he said this, he smiled to himself: "But it's not a problem for me to wear it for you to see."
"How can you find the time to wear it for me?" Gu Qingqing patted the flour off her hands and raised her hand to scrape the tip of his nose: "The quilt next to me gets cold early in the morning, you're nowhere to be seen at noon, and you don't come back until 12:00 in the evening. Today is still early."
She didn't dare to bother him at night.
Afraid of delaying important matters.
This man also had a light sleep. Sometimes, when she got up in the middle of the night and crawled over him to go to the bathroom, her wrist would suddenly be grabbed, and when she turned around, she would meet the man's dark eyes.
Gu Qingqing felt that this man had this problem from fighting in the jungle. He saw enemies everywhere and would raise his eyelids at the slightest movement.
The man shyly took out a candy from his pocket and gave it to her, coaxing her, "In another month, the second batch of soldiers will arrive and we won't be so busy. I'll take two days off to spend time with you."
"You want to go to the back hill to transplant some flowers and trees and plant them in the corners, right? I can help you. How about taking care of the teacher?"
Gu Qingqing didn't refuse. "Don't let anything else hold you back. Move aside and don't block the door. I'll go pick some green onions."
"You are making noodles here." Chu Dai stopped her, "I'll go, how many do you want?"
"Two or three will be enough. Can you help me take a look at the cabbage? It looks like there are small green caterpillars on the leaves. It's a pity that there are no chickens on the island, otherwise the chickens would have pecked the bugs." She was quite afraid of these soft little things. The weather had been warmer recently, and there were many bugs outside.
"Okay." The man responded and pointed to the boiling water in the pot: "Remember to watch the fire."
"I know, I know." Gu Qingqing pushed him out impatiently, and when she saw the white handprints on the back of his navy-gray military uniform, she withdrew her hand guiltily.
After the man left, she picked up the dough and started to cut it into noodles like her third uncle. As she was not familiar with the technique, some noodles were thin and some were thick. She stirred them in the pot with chopsticks and pretended not to see anything.
When the man came back, he saw that she was doing it in a very professional manner. He chuckled, peeled the green onions, washed them in a basin of water, and placed them on the chopping board.
He took the knife at the side, pressed the green onion leaves with his white fingers, and cut them into chopped green onions in an orderly manner.
The man's hands were white and slender, with distinct joints, which looked particularly pleasing to the eye. No one knew what he had eaten as a child, but his skin was exceptionally white, and the blue veins on the back of his hands were clearly visible.
Gu Qingqing also noticed that the veins on his wrist were purple, which were more obvious under the sun.
She couldn't help but look down at her hands, wondering why hers were green and not very noticeable.
"Brother." She suddenly spoke.
"Hmm?" Chu Dai scraped the chopped green onions stuck to the blade with his fingers, "Anything else you want to say, wife?"
"How are the Chinese cabbages I planted growing?" She asked him with some pride, with one hand on her waist and the other hand stirring the noodles with chopsticks.
She knows best how the cabbages are growing. She goes back and forth between the school and the vegetable garden every day, treating the seedlings like treasures.
This is just to show off to men.
She specifically asked Lao Zhu to keep the rice water and rotten vegetable leaves and pumpkin peels in the cafeteria, squeeze out the fat and use it to water the vegetables. She had already gained experience in this in the Corps.
"Not bad," the man knew what she wanted to hear, "better than the vegetables grown by the old man in the Corps."
"Yeah, yeah, but we can't finish all the cabbage. I thought of making some pickled cabbage for Sister Anian. She likes sour food recently."
At this point, Gu Qingqing couldn't help but add one more sentence: "Mrs. Zhou told me that sour boys and spicy girls are good, so Sister Anian is most likely to have a boy this time."
When the man heard her mention Zhou Mazi's wife, he couldn't help but think of the time when this woman didn't take a bath at night and didn't let him take a bath. He smiled and said, "It's not completely true. You listened to her before. What about our son?"
As he spoke, he glanced at her hands supporting her waist, with a hint of doubt in his eyes: "Have you had your period recently?"
Zhao Ze told him that they didn't know Xu Nian was pregnant until more than two months later. There were no signs before that. Nowadays, girls' menstruation is not very regular, and they often use menstrual blood to wash clothes in the cold winter, which damages their foundation.
Seeing her holding her waist in a similar manner to what Xu Nian often did, I couldn't help but think too much.
"... Just for a few days." Following his gaze towards her, she put down her hand in anger and said, "You came home in the middle of the night, and you don't even know where your son is."
Chu Dai couldn't help but laugh, "Blame me."
Gu Qingqing glared at him angrily, added salt for seasoning, then added a handful of shrimps and chopped green onions, then turned off the heat.
Chu Dai took two white porcelain bowls from the cupboard. When Gu Qingqing was serving him noodles, she caught a glimpse of a transparent glass jar next to it, which was filled with red chili oil.
She paused holding the spoon in her hand, unable to believe it: "This is spicy oil?!"
The man smiled and nodded. He stretched out his hand to twist off the bottle cap and put it under her nose for her to smell. "Aren't you used to eating spicy food? Last time I asked Lao Wang to bring me two bottles. He happened to deliver them today. Try it and see if it tastes like this. If it tastes good, ask him to bring it again next time."
Gu Qingqing sniffed the aroma of sesame oil, chili peppers and fried peanuts, and almost drooled. She nodded repeatedly: "Yes! This must be delicious! Brother, you are so nice!!!"
During the time she was on the island, she steamed, braised, and boiled food every day, and she felt like she had really become a Nanyang daughter-in-law.
I didn't expect that the man would actually remember this and let someone bring it to her without saying a word. Gousheng is the only one in her family who is so thoughtful.
Her elder brother is very similar to Chu Dai, both of them talk less and do more. During this period of time, Xu Nian was pregnant and ate a lot of wild fruits to stimulate her appetite. Her husband also picked various wild fruits for her to satisfy her hunger. Her sister-in-law often said to her -
"I originally thought that a man like Captain Chu, who comes from a good family background, would not love others and would just wait for his wife to serve him. Many men in our military families have bad tempers. I didn't expect Captain Chu to love you so much."
Gu Qingqing also felt very lucky. If Goudan hadn't been keeping an eye on her in the Construction Corps, she might not have found such a good man.
Although Brother Zhao was good to Sister Anian, she also observed for a while and it seemed that he became so considerate only after Sister Anian became pregnant.
At first, Chu Dai was worried that she would not be able to adapt to the island and thought about having children later. Later, because she became a teacher, he was afraid that she could not cope with it. Many pregnant sisters-in-law on the island were not so delicate. Every day they held a baby in their left hand and another in their right hand, and had another in their belly. Not only did they have to wash clothes for so many people with their big belly, but they also had to cook and wait for their men to come back for food.
She thinks she is really lucky.
Sometimes she even felt that she was not a good daughter-in-law. Most of her clothes were washed by her husband after he took a shower. When she had her period, he would not let her do anything with cold water. She even asked Zhao Ze to make her some brown sugar and ginger syrup to drink.
Seeing her lost in thought, the man put the chili oil aside and hugged her, "Do you miss home? The next time the supply ship comes, there should be a letter. You are unlucky to follow me."
The man said self-deprecatingly: "Others live a good life with their wives, but you have to marry someone far away and live with me through hardships."
He rested his chin on her head and couldn't help but sigh: "Qingqing, do you regret it?"
Gu Qingqing put down the spoon, hugged his thin waist tightly with her backhand, and rubbed his chin, "No, I'm very glad to have joined the Corps and married you."
"Following you, I am happy every day."
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