At this time, Tang Cuihong, who lived in the mountains, was unaware that her younger sister had already arrived in Xishi.
Although Xiaojiu had written to tell her the good news that she had been admitted to the Fourth Military Medical University, the location where she was located was quite remote, and it was not easy to come and go. In addition, she had trouble adjusting to the local environment at first and had to grow vegetables, which caused Tang Cuihong to not contact her family for a long time.
She is currently in a remote suburb of Xishi. The surrounding mountains are not very high, and you can hear the sound of flowing water. There are also many small animals in the forest where the soldiers are training. The ecological environment should be quite good.
She couldn't understand what these older women were saying, neither the words nor the text.
She was speaking very loudly with her mouth wide open, and she tried hard to listen and look, but unfortunately, she couldn't make out what she was saying.
It's just that there are so many dialects in our country that she had no idea where to start learning them.
Fortunately, everyone knew about her situation and took good care of her. As soon as she arrived, someone brought them vegetables.
The residential compound where they live has a complex terrain, including single-story houses, pit-style courtyards, and cave dwellings.
It's not that the residential compound is very big, but everyone makes good use of every piece of land and doesn't allow any waste.
Moreover, being able to see such unique housing features in one place is a special experience.
Seeing her curiosity about the house, Niu Feng said with a regretful look, "It doesn't rain heavily here often. If it weren't for the fact that we're in a forest area, we might not even see light rain. I originally wanted to snag a pit-house, but I didn't get one. Since pit-houses are also cave dwellings, I decided to take this one."
Yes, Niu Feng's two-bedroom, one-living-room house is actually a small cave dwelling. When you enter, there is a main room, and there are stoves for heating the kang (a heated brick bed) on both sides of the entrance. After walking through the small passageways on both sides, you will find two spacious rooms. The two kangs in the house were all renovated and rebuilt by Niu Feng.
The windows are made of wood, with glass inside and translucent window paper on the outside.
There was almost no furniture; the kang cabinet and kang table at the head of the kang were specially made by Niu Feng.
Including a large iron pot, and some cooking utensils, all of which were bought on the spot.
“We can grow vegetables in the open space in front and raise two or three chickens. We have to collect firewood from the woods behind the mountain for daily use. The conditions are tough, and I’m sorry to have made you suffer with me.”
After Niu Feng slowly explained things to Tang Cuihong, the incredibly adaptable Sister Hong shook her head without a care.
"I'm getting used to it slowly."
This place is completely different from her hometown. There are very few forests there, and it's all plains. But this place is different. There are even mountains and forests to explore. Moreover, the soil doesn't look as fluffy as in the plains. For example, the place where they live now, which is called a cave dwelling, seems to be all clay.
Niu Feng then pulled Tang Cuihong to look at the water storage cellar in the yard.
"The terrain here is relatively low, and the rainwater can be used to irrigate vegetables. We still need to fetch our drinking water from two miles away."
After saying that, he looked at Tang Cuihong apologetically and said, "There is a well over at the bungalow, but it's not close. It's not suitable for us to dig a well here. Luckily, the flowing water from the mountain is only two miles away. From now on, whenever I'm home, I'll be responsible for fetching water."
The military camp occupies the best location. Although the family quarters are located within the camp, they are all cobbled together from various nooks and crannies and have not yet reached a significant scale. Because there are no schools here, only a minority of military spouses are willing to come.
After explaining the general situation, Niu Feng led Tang Cuihong to carry a shoulder pole and two plastic buckets to fetch water.
The path leading down the slope into the woods was not easy to walk; in fact, it was rugged and uneven, unlike the plains.
Cuihong had been observing the whole way. She didn't say much, but her bright eyes took in her surroundings. Her face didn't show any disappointment or annoyance, which made Niu Feng unconsciously breathe a sigh of relief.
To be honest, he wasn't used to it when he first arrived either. He thought that since they were newlyweds, if she really couldn't get used to living here, she could always go home.
However, he certainly wouldn't have brought it up before Tang Cuihong did.
The so-called "living water" flowing down from the mountain is a stream; the water is very clear, but it doesn't seem like there's much of it.
"It will be better in a while. The water flow will be greater during the rainy season. Of course, there will be times when there is no water, and then we will have to try our luck at the well in the bungalow area of the family compound."
No wonder there's no moisture here, even though there are woods. It feels very dry. So the place she came to is a bit short of water?
Because the water flow was relatively thin, they had to use a ladle to scoop water from deeper areas. So the couple carried the water back and forth four times, making sixteen buckets, before they could finally fill the large water tank in their home.
Having solved the water problem, Cuihong spent two more days cleaning up the cave dwelling inside and out.
Actually, there wasn't much tidying up. The house was empty and there wasn't much stuff. Most of the time was spent riding in the army's supply vehicle to go to the nearby local markets to exchange for some daily necessities.
Fortunately, this place is probably too remote and poor, so people just barter with each other. No tickets are needed, and you can even exchange things secretly with money. On the contrary, if tickets are given to ordinary people, they have nowhere to spend them.
After visiting the market a few times, Tang Cuihong gradually realized that although she had come to the West Market, she was probably very far away from her younger sister.
The place where my younger sister goes to school is in the city, but here, Niu Feng didn't even tell her the exact location.
Most of the people who come here are young or older military spouses.
Young women who are not pregnant live here, and when their children reach school age, they go back to their hometowns or go to school in the city.
The older women are military wives whose children are all studying away from home, so they only come to visit occasionally.
Or perhaps the child is older and works in the production team at home to support himself, so he doesn't need her special care.
But this only accounts for a minority. For the majority, the military spouses stay wherever their children are, leaving the men to eat in the canteen by themselves.
There were only three families around her cave dwelling, all of whom were battalion-level cadres. None of them looked very old, and the oldest was probably only in his thirties.
They were supposed to host a party when they first moved in, and Cuihong only learned about this custom after Niu Feng reminded her.
Commonly known as a greenhouse.
In those days, no family was well-off, and only four or five men came. Three of them brought their families and children, making a total of more than a dozen people.
After discussing it, the couple decided, "We don't need to follow their customs; do whatever is convenient for you."
Steam a big pot of multigrain buns that will fill you up, stir-fry a plate of vegetables with eggs, and then stir-fry a big bowl of meat dishes.
This is the basic set; if she can get more, that's a testament to Cuihong's skill.
The area is mostly mountains and forests, and there are plenty of wild vegetables in the mountains when they come, so they can manage to gather a few dishes.
After understanding the situation and finding out the exact time of the banquet, Cuihong carried a basket on her back and didn't even ask a nearby woman to lead the way.
She wasn't good at communicating and didn't like to bother others, but she remembered the general direction and went out to collect firewood every day. She had a basic understanding of the terrain and thought she could enter the forest on her own.
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