In the evening, Buling hummed a song and returned home in a good mood.
Pushing open the door, she was momentarily surprised to see the person in the courtyard: "Chen Ci, what are you doing here?"
Shen Ci stopped in his tracks when he was called: "Comrade Bu, you're back?"
Before Bu Ling could speak, he explained, "Brother Sangzi said I should come back and celebrate the New Year together."
"Oh, okay." Bling nodded and parked her bicycle. "You just arrived?"
"We've been here for a while now."
"Let's go inside and talk, it's quite cold outside," said Buling, leading the way into the house.
Shen Ci smiled and followed Bu Ling into the house.
Inside, Auntie was knitting a sweater for Little Star. When she saw Buling return, she stopped what she was doing and said, "Lingling, you're back so early? How are your colleagues?"
Bling took off his hat and gloves and put them aside: "It's fine."
She poured herself a glass of hot water, then poured one for Chen Ci as well, placed it in front of him, and then said:
"I went back to the courtyard this afternoon and rented out that room," she explained simply.
"Why did you suddenly think of renting it out?" Auntie asked.
“It’s not sudden. Sangshen and I don’t live there anymore. The house is just sitting empty anyway, so we might as well rent it out, collect some rent, and have someone help maintain it. Otherwise, the house will fall into disrepair quickly if it’s always empty,” Buling explained.
The aunt nodded: "It's up to you to decide." It was Bu Ling's house before her marriage anyway, so they had no say in the matter.
Bu Ling smiled slightly and didn't continue the topic. She turned to Chen Ci and asked, "Are you staying here tonight? Is the house ready?"
“I’m not staying here, I’m staying at Sangzi’s place.” Shen Ci quickly said, “There’s a spare room at Sangzi’s place, it’s perfect for me.”
After thinking for a moment, he added, "Anyway, I won't be staying for long, so let's just do whatever is convenient for me. No need to trouble Comrade Buling."
Bling: ...
For some reason, she felt that this explanation was somewhat superfluous and illogical.
Is she overthinking it?
"That's fine then." In the end, Bling only said this one sentence dryly.
After a moment of silence in the room, Auntie spoke up and asked, "Lingling, are you going to the market tomorrow?"
"Yes, I've already told Sister Yuanyuan." After saying that, Buling realized, "Auntie is also planning to go?"
"I won't go. There's no one to look after Little Star. When you go tomorrow, buy some more tofu. I'll freeze some; it'll be great for soups and stir-fries. Tofu at the market doesn't require coupons, so stock up and we can eat it slowly," Auntie gently instructed.
“I’ve got it.” Bling nodded. “Is there anything else you want to buy?”
Aunt chuckled and said, "Buy whatever you think is best, just remember to bring enough money."
“Okay.” Bu Ling didn’t refuse: “I’ll buy more meat then, since the meat at the market doesn’t require coupons, and I’ll also buy more peanuts and sesame seeds. We’ll press more oil so that we don’t have to sneak around to eat oil when the supply is so limited each month.”
Actually, there was oil in her storage space, but with a large family living together, she had very few opportunities to tamper with it. In particular, the oil in her storage space was different from the oil in the present, and the difference was very obvious when they were taken out for comparison.
When she first transmigrated, she thought she would have to rely on her space to survive, but after living there for a while, she found that her quality of life was already top-notch in this era, even without her space.
Over time, the space became dispensable, especially after she married Sangshen. Apart from saving money, she hardly used it at other times.
After all, she had stepped into a military camp, the kind where everyone was extremely vigilant; how could she dare to be careless?
Bu Ling felt a slight pang of regret. Then, Shen Ci, who had been silent since entering the room, spoke up:
"Hmm~ No need to buy meat, the bamboo basket I brought is full of meat. I collected quite a lot in the village before coming here, take a look?"
As he spoke, Shen Ci stood up and walked to the bamboo basket he had brought, lifted the lid, and revealed that it was full of meat.
Good heavens!
Aunt and Buling both crowded around, craning their necks and bending down to peek inside.
Aunt Sang: "Little Shen, did you bring all the meat from the village?"
Bling pointed to the exposed long strip: "Could this be snake meat?"
Shen Ci looked in the direction Bu Ling was pointing: "It's snake meat. Uncle Yu said that Dragon and Phoenix Soup is very nourishing and good for our health."
At this point, he suddenly remembered something and took out a piece of paper from his bag: "This is the recipe for Dragon and Phoenix Soup. Uncle Yu changed it into a medicinal soup and said that we must drink more of it."
The aunt accepted the meat with reverence, saying, "Look how polite his master is. It must have cost a lot of money to prepare so much meat. How can we possibly accept this?"
Shen Ci smiled shyly: "It didn't cost much. It was pooled together by me, Uncle Yu, Professor Zhang, and Professor Tao. It didn't cost much when split among us."
“That still cost money. How much? Your aunt will give it to you!” the aunt insisted.
Shen Ci was not good at arguing with people and could not withstand her aunt's offensive, so she looked to Bu Ling for help.
And Buling was indeed very helpful. She tugged at her aunt and said, "Aunt, Aunt, this is a token of our appreciation from Uncle Yu and the others. We can't measure it with money."
Before her aunt could speak, she quickly offered her solution: "How about this, when Shen Ci goes back, we'll bring them more daily necessities, and that'll be fine, right?"
Auntie suddenly realized: "Lingling, you're so quick-witted! Let's do it this way!" This way, there will be give and take and the relationship won't be hurt.
Shen Ci didn't object. In any case, even without this incident, he would still bring back plenty of things when he returned.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
