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Life with the army might sound appealing to rural people, but Zhao Yunxiang actually found it a bit boring.
Zhou Zhixin was busy training his soldiers every day, and sometimes he had to take them out on missions. He could go home to rest at night for less than half a month, and he could go home for lunch less than ten days a month.
Zhou Yuanyuan and Zhou Jiasheng were worry-free, and with Wen Ziqing watching over them, the mischievous Zhou Jiasheng couldn't cause any trouble. Zhao Yunxiang felt that such a life was too idle.
There is an old saying from the older generation: The more you work, the more you have; the more you live, the lazier you become.
Zhao Yunxiang didn't want to become lazy, so she thought about finding something to do when she had some free time. As a rural woman, she was used to working at home every day, but suddenly she was eating and sleeping all day at home, and she felt like she was rusting.
Behind the military families' dormitories was a large expanse of wasteland. Most of the wives of the soldiers who accompanied the troops came from rural areas, and since they had some free time, each family cultivated a few plots of land and planted vegetables like cucumbers and cabbages. This gave them something to do, and also saved them from having to buy everything they ate.
While the military profession is admirable, its pay isn't much better than that of ordinary workers. Company-level officers earn only a few dozen yuan a month, while battalion-level officers earn a bit more, closer to 30 yuan. With such a small salary, they have to support their wives and children. Those with more difficult circumstances often have to squeeze out a portion of their salary to send back home to support their parents. Without careful budgeting, this little salary isn't enough for any family.
Zhao Yunxiang didn't know she could grow her own vegetables at first, so her family bought enough for over a month. It wasn't until Lin Weixiang, the daughter-in-law of the regimental political commissar, saw it and reminded her that Zhao Yunxiang realized the vegetables in the garden weren't grown by the young soldiers for the army cafeteria, but rather by the wives of the soldiers themselves.
Zhao Yunxiang's fish ball business earns her over a thousand yuan a month. While she's well-equipped to cover her groceries, she doesn't want to be seen as a fool. She's found time to plant two vegetable plots on the wasteland with her three children. However, she's late in the season, so many vegetables are no longer available. She's resorted to planting things like cabbage, cucumbers, and eggplant for the autumn harvest.
Seeing Zhao Yunxiang and her three children planting vegetables, a military wife who was harvesting vegetables in the neighboring vegetable garden came over.
"Sister Zhao, why did you think of growing vegetables? I thought your family liked to buy them!" A young woman with two short braids came over and greeted Zhao Yunxiang.
Zhao Yunxiang remembered her as He Lai Di, the wife of Captain Zhang, who had also just joined the army this year, three months earlier than Zhao Yunxiang and the others.
When Zhao Yunxiang was moving that day, He Lai Di was the first to step forward and help out. However, Zhao Yunxiang didn't like He Lai Di's personality. He Lai Di was efficient, but a bit talkative. She loved to pry into people's affairs, regardless of whether they were embarrassed or not. If she wanted to know something, she would get to the bottom of it.
It was He Lai Di who asked about Zhao Qingshan that day.
He Lai Di noticed that Zhao Qingshan didn't look like Zhou Zhixin, while Zhao Yunxiang bore a passing resemblance to him. This sparked a suspicion. He Lai Di, a stickler for inquiries, pretended not to notice Zhao Yunxiang and the others' fatigue after they finished moving their belongings, repeatedly demanding to know the relationship between Zhao Qingshan and Zhou Zhixin. Zhao Qingshan replied that he was Zhou Zhixin's father-in-law. He Lai Di's question then became: Why doesn't the father-in-law live at his own home, but at his son-in-law's? Could Captain Zhou be a live-in son-in-law?
He Lai Di had just helped move some things, so even if her questions were a bit off-topic, Zhao Qingshan felt embarrassed to confront her. He could only smile and say that his daughter and son-in-law were filial, so he was staying with them for a while.
He Lai Di finally stopped talking, but her eyes kept darting back and forth between Zhao Qingshan and Zhou Zhixin, clearly showing that she didn't quite believe Zhao Qingshan's words.
If Zhou Yuanyuan hadn't had a sudden inspiration and used her spiritual sense to make the fat boy next door, Zhang Xiaoshan, cry, He Lai Di would have wanted to continue staying at Zhou Zhixin's house to inquire about the situation. Only after hearing her own son crying did He Lai Di run away.
Zhao Qingshan felt awkward and somewhat uncomfortable being questioned by He Lai Di. He had always felt that living with his daughter and son-in-law was somewhat unjustified, but Zhao Yunxiang and her family had come to Kyoto with so much luggage that they couldn't carry it all by themselves. Zhao Qingshan was worried about the children, so he agreed to live with them in Kyoto after Zhou Yuanyuan's persistent persuasion.
Deep down, Zhao Qingshan was a proud man. Having just arrived at Zhou Zhixin's place, he was misunderstood by He Lai Di. Zhao Qingshan felt very upset.
In He Lai Di's eyes, Zhao Qingshan was just Zhao Yunxiang's father, who lived with Zhou Zhixin for free. Even though Zhao Yunxiang explained that Zhao Qingshan was a retired cadre and that she received a monthly salary, He Lai Di still thought Zhao Yunxiang was flattering her father. Which cadre these days doesn't retire at the age of sixty? After Zhou Yuanyuan's spiritual energy combed Zhao Qingshan's meridians, he looked much younger, and even his half-gray hair returned to black. Zhao Qingshan now looked like a middle-aged man in his forties.
After Zhao Qingshan went to work at Renhe Hospital, He Lai Di asked Zhao Yunxiang: "Did your father go back to his hometown in the countryside?"
After several interactions, Zhao Yunxiang already knew that He Lai Di was a person who liked to talk to herself, and she was too lazy to explain to her that Zhao Qingshan was going to work at Renhe Hospital.
In short, He Lai Di is a person who likes to watch the fun and doesn't care whether she is meddling too much.
He Lai Di lived to the right of Zhao Yun Xiang's house. Whenever there were guests, He Lai Di would always hang around the door. Zhao Yun Xiang was impatient, but she couldn't say anything. After all, no one had stipulated that He Lai Di couldn't walk around the hallway.
"Sister He, I like growing vegetables. I just found out that these vegetable plots can be used for planting!" Seeing He Lai Di approaching, Zhao Yunxiang didn't want to embarrass her too much, so she raised her head and replied with a smile.
If Lin Weixiang hadn't kindly told Zhao Yunxiang, she wouldn't have known that the military wives could use the vegetables in these plots for themselves. Every once or twice a day, Zhao Yunxiang would go to the market to buy vegetables, and she'd run into He Lai Di a few times. She didn't know what she'd done, but she kept it a secret. Based on these two points alone, Zhao Yunxiang considered He Lai Di an ordinary neighbor, and she wouldn't say anything to her without getting too personal.
"Hehe... hehe... I thought you didn't want to grow vegetables, so I didn't tell you about this. Sister, you won't blame me, will you?" He Lai Di felt a little embarrassed when Zhao Yunxiang said this in a veiled way.
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