When the three men surrounded her, Xiao Gengwu stepped in front of Yao Tongjia. Yao Tongjia stuck her head out and asked, "What are you going to do?"
One of the men waved his hands repeatedly: "We mean no harm. This is my military officer's ID."
Yao Tongjia looked at the man's identification; he was a battalion commander named Zhou Jin!
Yao Tongjia stepped out from behind Xiao Gengwu: "Battalion Commander Zhou, what's the matter?"
Battalion Commander Zhou blushed slightly: "Could you exchange some of the stuff you have for us?"
“It’s almost Chinese New Year, and we went to the supply and marketing cooperative but didn’t buy anything. Given our status, it’s not appropriate for us to go to such places, and it’s not right for the three of us to go to someone’s house empty-handed!”
"I see you have quite a lot of stuff in this bag, could you exchange some of it with us?"
Yao Tongjia didn't care: "What do you want to change? I have chicken, pork, flour, and vermicelli!"
"Can we have half of this bag? Half of everything, and you name the price!"
Yao Tongjia was a little excited. The supplies in the space were all consumed by their own family members, and she had never sold any of them.
Now that the opportunity was in front of her, she nodded and said, "Okay, I have 5 catties of chicken and 5 catties of pork. I'll calculate it as 1 yuan per catty, which is 10 yuan. Is this price acceptable?"
"Sure, sure, I still have meat tickets here, I can give you the rest!"
Seeing how generous the other party was, Yao Tongjia didn't haggle over the price. In the end, she sold half a bag of goods for 30 yuan, and both parties happily said goodbye!
Yao Tongjia found another spot and took the items out of her spatial storage: "You scared me to death! I thought you were going to rob me!"
Xiao Gengwu suddenly asked, "Have you practiced martial arts?"
Yao Tongjia nodded: "I've trained for five years, but I've never actually fought anyone, so I don't know what it would be like to actually fight someone!"
"Shall we practice in the mornings from now on?"
"Why do you suddenly want to learn martial arts?"
"Those three people really tried to capture us, and we had no way to fight back!" Xiao Gengwu's heart jumped when the three people surrounded them.
Although he shielded Yao Tongjia behind him, he knew he couldn't stop them if they really went for it, and he couldn't just stand there helplessly and wait for them to let him go.
Yao Tongjia nodded: "Practicing martial arts is good too. Let's invite A-Xu to practice together. The three of us can protect the two adults together."
When they got home, the door was open, and Yao Tongxu was standing behind it. When she saw them come in, she quickly took over from her sister and carried the things into the kitchen.
Yao Yanxin asked worriedly, "Why did it take so long?"
"Long? No, right? The road was covered in snow, so I walked a little slower!" Yao Tongjia was worried about coming back too early, so she walked a bit further before picking up her things.
"It's okay to walk slowly. There's so much stuff, and even rice noodles? That's great! This kind of stuff is perfect for hot pot. I'll go pick some vegetables. We're in for a treat tonight!"
None of the five of them slacked off. Xiao Gengwu went to wash the vegetables, Yao Tongxu added some hot water to wash the pork, and Yao Yanxin and Xiao Yan were killing the chicken and plucking its feathers.
Yao Tongjia took out the medicinal herbs, added water and pork bone soup. An hour later, the whole courtyard was filled with fragrance. Fortunately, it was a detached house, so the smell didn't travel that far.
But it still caused trouble for the neighbors on both sides, as the child immediately cried out, "I want to eat meat! I want to eat meat!"
Unable to buy meat, the adults flew into a rage upon hearing their child crying: "Who doesn't want to eat meat? If you cry again, I'll beat you to death!"
Seeing her mother look around, Yao Tongjia quickly reassured her, "It's alright, we'll wash the food and close the doors and windows tightly, then they won't be able to smell it!"
An hour later, the five people sat around the stove, each holding a bowl, taking meat out of the pot. Xiao Yan first put some meat on Yao Yanxin's plate, saying, "Thank you for cooking for us every day!"
Yao Yanxin also put food on Xiao Yan's plate, saying, "You have to work in this cold weather, you must be tired!"
Yao Tongxu couldn't stand it anymore: "I'm telling you two, that's enough! You're always arguing or flattering each other! We're still babies, what if you corrupt us?"
This made everyone laugh. Xiao Yan laughed until tears streamed down her face, and she casually tugged at his ear: "You, you can cover your ears and not listen!"
"Actually, we can also learn how to get along with each other!"
Yao Tongxu quickly put down his bowl and touched his ears: "Don't stretch my ears out, or I'll look like Pigsy from Journey to the West!"
"What's wrong with it?" Yao Yanxin asked curiously!
"Pigsy is so ugly! If he stretches my ears out, what will I do if I can't find a wife? You guys should have raised another girl in the first place, so I could be like Brother Xiao and marry someone close to me!"
These words prompted Yao's mother to put a piece of food on his plate and laugh, scolding him, "Even eating can't shut you up, hurry up and eat!"
Yao's mother picked up a piece of food for her son, then picked up another piece for her daughter. Unexpectedly, her daughter had help, and the bowl was already overflowing. Yao Yanxin then placed the food into Xiao Gengwu's bowl.
"Don't just focus on Tongtong, eat some too. This chicken is so tender, it's delicious!"
"I don't know how you guys bought all this stuff, it's so delicious!" Xiao Yan exclaimed, feeling like she had wasted her life after eating this meal!
On a cold winter night, a family of five gathered around the stove eating hot pot—it's a scene so beautiful even immortals wouldn't want to be alive!
While everyone was enjoying themselves, Ruan Shengpeng in Beijing was devastated when he saw Sister Huang wake up: "Sister Huang, do you still remember me?"
Sister Huang shook her head: "I don't know you. Who are you?"
Ruan Shengpeng's body stiffened, and his hands and feet turned cold: "Do you still remember Dr. Xiao Yan?"
"Of course I remember Xiao Yan, but she's been away from the hospital for a long time. Why are you talking about her?"
"Did she correspond with you before?" Ruan Shengpeng stared intently at Sister Huang, who shook her head: "Did I correspond with her? I forgot!"
Ruan Shengpeng didn't get any information from Sister Huang and returned to the ward dejectedly. Grandpa Ruan could tell from Si'er's expression that things hadn't gone well.
"The army is urging you to decide on your path. Is your injury still damaging your body? Do you want to transfer to civilian work or take a clerical position?"
"Dad, if I change careers, can I choose my own path?"
"Are you really going to leave the military? You've made a huge contribution this time, you deserve a first-class merit. It would be such a waste for you to leave the army!"
"After I took a clerical job, things remained the same, and it was difficult to get promoted. I don't want to become a burden!"
"So what do you want to do? Be the head of the security department at the factory?"
"I want to be transferred to a local post, even if it's a small place!"
"Become an official?" This was something Old Master Ruan hadn't expected: "You really want to become an official?"
"Yes, I'm going to become an official!" Ruan Shengpeng didn't want to stay in Beijing and see his mother's ugly side. After he found Yao Yanxin, he would take her to live in another place.
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