Chapter 102
It was a chilly spring day, and the weather was still very cold.
After everyone finished picking wild vegetables, on their way back, it started to snow lightly, mixed with hail. The group hurried home, and Gu Xi carried the slow-moving Gu Tuantuan under her arm and took her home.
Gu Tuantuan let out a giggle.
Back home, apart from Gu Tuantuan who was well protected, the three sisters first changed out of their snow-soaked clothes, and then hurried to the kitchen to light a fire for warmth.
Several girls sat in front of the fire, first drinking a bowl of ginger and brown sugar water that they had boiled that morning to warm themselves, and then going to process the wild vegetables they had picked that day.
"It's so cold," Xu Huaisheng said, rubbing his hands together. "It's already March, why is it still so cold?"
"If you feel cold, wear more clothes so you don't get sick," Xu Yuansheng said. "If you get sick, we'll take you to the hospital to have Tuantuan's mom give you an injection."
Gu Tuantuan chimed in, "My mom can give injections."
Xu Huaisheng rolled his eyes at them, unfazed by their threats.
Gu Xi held the hot water bottle in both hands, feeling lazy and drowsy from the warmth of the charcoal fire in the hearth.
"Big sister, don't sleep yet, wait until we eat before you sleep," Xu Yuansheng said. "What do you want to eat for lunch?"
They went out to pick wild vegetables in the morning and returned around noon.
Xu Huaisheng said, "Second sister, I want to eat fried rice. Wild vegetable fried rice is delicious." She had this at her seventh uncle's house. Her second sister had made it for her once, and she had been craving it ever since.
Gu Tuantuan raised her hand, "I want fried rice too, and I want it with eggs!"
"We should also add some wild onions," Gu Xi said. "I just dug up a lot of wild onions; they smell wonderful."
Xu Yuansheng said, "Okay, there's plenty of leftover rice from last night, let's make fried rice today."
I cooked extra rice last night so I could make wild vegetable fried rice with it when I went to pick wild vegetables today.
All of them sisters like this kind of food.
At noon, Gu Xi and the others ate wild vegetable fried rice. The tender wild vegetables were blanched, chopped into small pieces, and mixed with rice and stir-fried together. It had the fragrance of wild vegetables, the aroma of eggs, and the aroma of rice. In addition, they were generous with the oil, making it oily and delicious.
Little Gu Tuantuan couldn't resist and ate two big bowls in one go, making her tummy bulge.
Gu Xi touched her belly worriedly, "Tuantuan, did you overeat? If you do, I'll have to take you to the hospital to see your mother."
Gu Tuantuan quickly said, "No, I can still eat!"
Xu Huaisheng laughed and said, "There will be shepherd's purse dumplings tonight. Can Tuantuan really still eat them?"
"I can do it!" Gu Tuantuan took a deep breath and tried to tuck in her little belly. "Look, my belly hasn't gotten bigger, it's still flat."
The sisters couldn't stop laughing at her ostrich-like little act of self-deception.
In the afternoon, Gu Xi woke up from a nap and saw Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng kneading dough and washing wild vegetables. Water was boiling in a pot next to them, preparing to blanch the wild vegetables to remove some of their bitterness.
Gu Tuantuan stuck her finger into the flour.
She yawned. "Why are you all so busy so early?"
“Since there’s nothing to do at home anyway, we might as well get some preparation done first,” Xu Yuansheng said while kneading dough. “Big sister, go get some pork cracklings.”
Gu Xi responded and took out the half bowl of pork cracklings from the cupboard.
The pork cracklings were leftovers from rendering oil before the Lunar New Year. During the holiday, there was fresh meat to eat, so they were left to keep, since the weather was cold and they would keep for a while.
Gu Xi chopped up the pork cracklings and added them to the blanched and chopped shepherd's purse.
She looked around and felt that there seemed to be too little meat, so she took out another piece of jarred meat, put it in a pot and steamed it to remove the oil sticking to it. Then she chopped it up and mixed it into the chopped wild vegetables.
After completing all the preparations, the three sisters began making dumplings.
After wrapping some dumplings, Gu Xi cooked two bowls and put them in a basket, asking Gu Tuantuan to deliver them to Ye Fenghua and Qiao Hui so they could try the shepherd's purse dumplings.
When Gu Tuantuan returned, she brought back gifts from both families in her basket.
Ye Fenghua gave them freshly steamed wild vegetable buns. The buns had very thin skins, and you could see the green vegetable juice seeping out, making them look very tempting. Qiao Hui gave them a large piece of fatty cured pork, very oily, saying it was for them to make wild vegetable buns for tomorrow.
Wild vegetables absorb a lot of oil, so they taste better when mixed with fatty meat that has been fried to render its own fat.
By the time all the dumplings were wrapped, it was already evening.
Gu Xi covered some of the dumplings with a clean gauze and placed them by the courtyard, letting the snow fall and freeze them to keep them fresh. This could be considered a natural refrigerator.
Xu Yuansheng was cooking dumplings when she asked, "Big sister, shouldn't your husband be back today?"
Gu Xi paused for a moment, then calculated the time. "I think so?"
"should?"
Xu Yuansheng looked at her speechlessly, wondering to herself if her sister was a little heartless.
My brother-in-law has been away for the past few days, and it seems like she hasn't missed him much. But to say their relationship is bad is impossible; anyone with eyes can see the tender affection between them.
Gu Xi said calmly, "He is a soldier and can't be by my side all the time like a normal husband, so I have to get used to his absence. Even if he's not here, I will live my life well."
She couldn't possibly lose her appetite and think about someone just because he wasn't around.
As long as I make sure he's alright, that's all that matters.
“When we finalized our marriage, I was already mentally prepared,” she told her sister. “This is the resolve I had when I chose to marry a soldier.”
Xu Yuansheng paused, as if he had realized something.
Admittedly, her sister was right, and it gave her a clearer understanding of her identity as a soldier.
Being a military wife is an honor, but you also have to bear the loneliness and helplessness of your husband not being by your side all the time. You have to be strong.
Later that evening, Ji Ya came to pick up Gu Tuantuan after get off work, but Gu Xi asked her to stay and eat dumplings.
Although it's the weekend, there's no such thing as a day off for doctors. She's still very busy, and you could say she's just as busy as Gu Yuanyang.
It's all thanks to Gu Xi in the family compound that Gu Tuantuan is here now; otherwise, she would be sent to the Zhao family next door or taken to the hospital by Gu Xi, just like before.
Now that her aunt is taking care of her, Gu Tuantuan is well-fed and warmly dressed, and she smiles more often.
She looks like a happy little girl.
Ji Ya came over today, bringing some canned fruit, red dates, longan, and brown sugar for Gu Xi. She said that a colleague at the hospital had given them to her. Since Gu Xi and her husband are usually not home, and their daughter often comes to visit her aunt, the fruit would just sit there uneaten, so she brought them over.
Gu Xi didn't stand on ceremony and accepted it directly.
After dark, the mother and daughter left together.
Gu Xi was washing the dishes with hot water when the courtyard gate opened, and a tall figure, exuding a chilling aura, entered from outside.
The dim light made it impossible to see the other person's face clearly.
"Big brother!" Gu Xi exclaimed happily, jumping up and down.
Shen Mingzheng responded and reached out to catch the person who ran over, saying, "I'm dirty, be careful."
He had just returned from a training exercise in the mountains and hadn't showered for days. He was filthy and looked very dirty. He was afraid of soiling her clothes and also worried that the chill on his body would make her feel cold.
Gu Xi stopped and pulled him into the kitchen. By the light, she finally saw what he looked like and her eyes widened in surprise.
Those who don't know the situation might think he's been living like a wild man these past few days, but considering he's been in the mountains for four or five days, isn't that exactly what a wild man's life is like?
Xu Yuansheng and Xu Huaisheng ran out when they heard the commotion, and were also a little surprised to see him like this.
In their memory, their brother-in-law usually paid great attention to his image and cleanliness, except when he was training, and it was rare to see him like this... looking so unkempt.
Gu Xi gently pushed him to sit down and asked, "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something first? Oh, right, we're having dumplings today. Wait a bit, I'll cook some for you..."
"Big sister, let me do it."
Xu Yuansheng deftly placed the pot on the coal stove to boil water, and then went to fetch the dumplings that had been frozen in the courtyard.
Shen Mingzheng took the ginger and brown sugar water that Gu Xi handed him and drank a cup. He told her not to rush and that he was going to take a shower.
He was covered in dirt and worried that she might brush against him and get her clothes dirty, so he decided to take a shower before eating.
"Okay, I'll go get you some clothes."
Gu Xi turned around and went back to her room, got him a set of clothes, and took them to the bathroom.
After Shen Mingzheng finished showering, the dumplings were cooked. There were quite a lot of them, a large bowl of them.
Shen Mingzheng glanced at them and asked, "You haven't eaten yet?"
“We’ve already eaten.” Gu Xi sat down next to him. Xu Yuansheng and her sister had already gone back to their room. She said, “These are all for you. They’re shepherd’s purse dumplings. We went to the countryside to dig for wild vegetables together today… By the way, have you been eating well these past few days?”
Shen Mingzheng picked up his chopsticks and said, "There's food."
"So what are you eating? Is it hot or cold? Is it enough to fill you up? Is there hot water to drink? You're not just eating dry rations, are you?"
"..."
Gu Xi urged, "Alright, hurry up and eat. I was worried you hadn't been eating well these past few days, so I made you some extra."
"I can't finish all of this either." Shen Mingzheng was both amused and exasperated. Even if he had a big appetite, it couldn't be this big, could it? How worried were they that he would go hungry?
"It's okay, if we can't finish it, we can just fry it up tomorrow and it'll taste good too."
Gu Xi circled around him. Although she didn't miss Shen Mingzheng much when he was away, she found herself missing him quite a bit after he returned.
Seeing him sitting there safely, I felt relieved, but I couldn't help wanting to touch him and make sure he was there.
Shen Mingzheng felt uneasy as she spun around, so he pulled her to sit down, picked up a dumpling, and fed it to her.
"I'm already full," Gu Xi shook her head. "The shepherd's purse dumplings were so delicious today that I couldn't resist eating until I was stuffed."
Upon hearing this, he put the dumpling in his mouth. Shepherd's purse dumplings are indeed delicious, mainly because they are generous with oil and meat, making it hard for them not to taste good.
After he finished eating, Gu Xi also got up to take a shower.
After taking a shower, she rushed back to her room, took off the coat she was wearing, and pounced on the man sitting on the edge of the bed reading a letter. He reached out and pulled her into the quilt.
She couldn't help but burst into laughter, thoroughly enjoying the splashing motion.
Hearing her laughter, Shen Mingzheng hugged her and rubbed against her, only to be pushed away by her in disgust.
"You haven't shaved, it hurts." She placed her hand on his chin, touching the stubble, and carefully examined his appearance under the light.
He only washed himself clean while taking a shower and didn't have time to shave.
Shen Mingzheng usually pays great attention to his image. He always fastens the top button of his military uniform tightly and keeps his face clean and tidy. He rarely has stubble like he does now.
A man with stubble has a wildness that is different from his usual restraint, making him seem even more handsome and sexy.
Gu Xi blushed and her heart raced. Her eyes darted around, feeling both shy and unable to resist looking at him, making her feel awkward.
Shen Mingzheng paused, realizing she was being disingenuous. He took her hand and deliberately rubbed it against her with his stubble, making her laugh uncontrollably until her cheeks flushed. Then he pulled up the blanket, covering them both...
Gu Xi went to bed much later than usual tonight.
Before going to sleep, she muttered, "How do you still have energy? Be careful you won't be able to get up tomorrow..."
Shen Mingzheng held her slender waist, pulled her into his arms, kissed her flushed cheeks, and said, "Your stamina is too poor. I'll train you when the weather gets warmer."
Gu Xi: "..."
Actually, he had this plan when she went to the station last year to pick up the Xu Yuansheng sisters who were injured and brought them back.
Strength alone isn't enough; if she encounters some vicious criminals and fails to subdue them immediately, she might get injured. It would be better to teach her how to subdue enemies quickly and avoid direct combat.
However, she was still recovering from illness last year, so she had to give up any ideas she had.
After recuperating for more than half a year, her health has improved significantly. Shen Mingzheng, as her husband, feels this most deeply. At least at times like this, she is still awake and has not fallen into a coma, which proves that her physical strength has improved.
When the weather gets warmer, I can find some time to give her some training.
Gu Xi looked speechlessly at the man who had already begun to figure out how to train her, and couldn't help but say, "I'm not your soldier, don't take it so seriously, I'll just train you casually."
She certainly wouldn't refuse to learn some self-defense skills, but she was also afraid that he would use her as a soldier to train.
Shen Mingzheng said seriously, "This kind of thing can't be done casually."
Gu Xi: "...Then just add a little water, no need to be so serious."
"No." Shen Mingzheng touched her rosy cheeks. "We need to take this seriously."
Gu Xi: "..."
Gu Xi felt she couldn't reason with him, so she turned her back to him, feeling a bit annoyed, to avoid being upset by the unromantic man.
Unfortunately, the man was completely unaware that she was sulking. He naturally turned her around, rubbed her limp body, and seriously planned how to train her so that she could improve her physical fitness and combat effectiveness at the same time.
Gu Xi woke up late the next day, unsurprisingly, because she had gone to bed too late.
She got up with a yawn and went to wash up, only to find that Shen Mingzheng was still at home, but Xu Yuansheng was nowhere to be seen. The guest room door was open, but no one was inside.
"Big brother, why are you still here?" Gu Xi asked in surprise. "Are you off today?"
Shen Mingzheng hummed in agreement, poured her hot water to wash up, squeezed toothpaste onto her toothbrush, and then went into the kitchen to bring out the breakfast he had prepared for her.
"Would you like to live?"
"She went to the cultural troupe and said that she had made an appointment with someone today. The female members of the cultural troupe asked her to come over and help make clothes."
Xu Yuansheng wasn't home, and it was just the two of them. Gu Xi became increasingly lazy, even needing him to help her eat.
Shen Mingzheng naturally indulged her. Although he was always serious and dignified in public and strict with himself, he would not demand that others be like him and always maintain a proper image.
He supported her waist as he watched her slowly eat the fried dumplings, then suddenly asked, "Xixi, do you have anything planned for today?"
"It's nothing," Gu Xi said casually. "What could possibly be wrong with me? I'm a freelancer now, or what you'd call unemployed."
"I'll take you to meet someone later."
Gu Xi paused with her chopsticks, then responded.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
