Chapter 33

After a long time, Yan Lei's voice suddenly rang out in the quiet room. He said, "Qiao Wei..."

But he immediately said, "Forget it, it's okay."

Qiao Wei kicked him: "Say it!"

Yan Lei then said, "I think the smell of soap is not good."

"Of course it is not good, after all, it is soap." Qiao Wei also agreed.

But there is no way, soap is now the best thing. Qiao Wei remembered very clearly that in the original text, in the 1970s, Lin Xixi, as Yan Lei's wife, was the first person in their place to use soap.

"I have what others don't have" is the principle of Shuangwen. So the part where Lin Xixi was envied by others for using soap was given a lot of attention. That's why Qiao Wei was so impressed.

"And it burns the skin." She said, "This stuff is very alkaline, it's actually not good for the skin."

After she finished speaking, she came to her senses. Yan Lei was not the kind of person who would talk nonsense. He must have something to say when he took the initiative to bring up the topic.

"Soap doesn't smell good, then what?" she asked him, "What do you want to say?"

"Actually... soap nuts smell very good." Yan Lei said carefully, "I don't know if you are willing to use it. If you are willing, I can boil soap nut water for you. It is very comfortable to wash your hair, and your scalp will not itch."

The original owner yearned for the big city, hated the countryside, and hated everything related to the word "countryside".

Soap is used by people in the city. In the countryside, people are reluctant to use it even if they have it. They all use soap nut water, sawdust water or tea oil cakes to wash their hair. Of course, the original owner regarded using soap as an honor, advanced, and high-end.

So Yan Lei had never mentioned this suggestion before.

But now, the feeling he had towards his wife had changed a lot. Some things that he would never have mentioned before were said naturally.

"Oh, soap beans?" Qiao Wei became interested as soon as she heard it.

I don't know how many times I have seen this thing in ancient Chinese novels, but I have never seen it in real life. I am so curious.

"Okay, then you bring some back for me to try." She said, "Actually, soap and the like are chemical products. Although it has a strong ability to remove dirt, it is not as good as pure natural products in other aspects."

The suggestion was accepted, and Yan Lei felt that the distance between him and Qiao Wei was shortened again. Obviously, there was no distance between them physically, but mentally, he could still feel the distance.

He hoped that this distance would disappear in the future.

"Oh." Qiao Wei suddenly cried out.

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot to show you the plan I made."

"...What plan?"

"It's the yard and the house."

Qiao Wei told Yan Lei roughly what she had thought of today and asked him, "Should we build the yard first or the house first?"

Yan Lei asked, "Do we really want to grow vegetables?"

"Grow," Qiao Wei said, "but you are not allowed to use that kind of fertilizer. If you use that, I will really go crazy."

That memory is particularly sharp. Even now when talking about that matter, Qiao Wei can actually smell the stench of Yan Lei's fertilizer in her memory. It can be seen how much the original owner hated this matter.

Don't blame her, Qiao Wei can't stand the smell from her memory alone. Who can stand this, a city girl?

Yan Lei even muttered, "You won't grow well like that..."

How strong is the Hua family bloodline of this girl?

Qiao Wei almost laughed out of anger and kicked him. Yan Lei agreed, "I know."

"Remember, we have an agricultural market, we don't really rely on farming to make a living." Qiao Wei taught him, "I'll make a vegetable garden for you in the yard, one is to beautify the yard, and the other is to use it as a hobby to pass the time and cultivate your sentiments. Don't put the cart before the horse."

The intellectuals speak a lot of four-character words. Their political commissar is also like this, they like to say four-character words.

Yan Lei said he was taught, "Okay, I know."

But after a while, he asked again, "Then can I get some silt from the river?"

Qiao Wei: "?"

See, intellectuals also don't understand things. Yan Lei explained: "The silt accumulated in the river is very fertile and can fertilize the land."

"..." Qiao Wei, "Does it stink?"

"No, not at all." Yan Lei promised, "If the mud stinks, the river water will be undrinkable."

Qiao Wei agreed, but asked: "If it stinks, you should take it back the same way you got it."

Yan Lei was happy: "Okay!"

Qiao Wei asked: "Then should we build the yard first or the house first?"

"If you are not in a hurry, build the yard first." Yan Lei suggested, "Hurry up and build the vegetable garden now, there is still time. Planting is the best time, and other things can be done at any time."

"That makes sense." Qiao Wei agreed, "I don't know how to plant, I'll leave the specific planting to you. What can I do first?"

"You don't have to do it."

"I'm free, I want to find something to do."

When Qiao Wei said this, Yan Lei's heart skipped a beat. Indeed, if Qiao Wei was too free, he was afraid that she would have wild thoughts and be deceived by someone.

"Then you loosen the soil first." Yan Lei decided to arrange something for Qiao Wei to do.

He told her in detail how to do it and where the tools were.

The couple chatted all night, without talking about love, but all about farming and vegetable planting. When they

woke up the next day, it was Saturday. At that time, it was a single-day-off system, and Saturday was still a workday.

Qiao Wei stretched her lazy back and got up, and took Yan Xiang out to the courtyard to have breakfast first. After breakfast, I went to the farmers' market and ran into Sister Yang with Lin Xixi, who was accompanied by a soldier. Lin Xixi was wearing a Wu Nier.

Qiao Wei of course had to greet her: "Sister-in-law, why did you buy so many vegetables?"

"Well, today all of Lao Zhao's subordinates are coming to have a study session." Sister Yang was very enthusiastic to everyone. Recently, she had become close to Qiao Wei, who was notoriously arrogant. She was very proud and showed especially warm, "Look, I'll buy the vegetables quickly. These guys, big and small, can eat the whole pot."

She also winked at Qiao Wei.

Qiao Wei glanced at Lin Xixi. Lin Xixi showed no expression, and it was obvious that she didn't know that the so-called study session tonight was actually a blind date arranged for her.

Qiao Wei said, "If you need anything, just tell me."

Sister Yang was very satisfied with her and Qiao Wei's current relationship, and she was not shy: "We need to borrow a few stools."

"Okay, I'll bring them to you when I get the groceries."

"No need. I don't need you. I'll ask Gangzi and Yingzi to move them after school."

"Okay."

That was the deal. The two groups went their separate ways.

Qiao Wei was pleased to see that Team Leader Zhao and Sister Yang were arranging to introduce someone to Lin Xixi. It would be best if Lin Xixi had another choice to give up Yan Lei, so that she and Lin Xixi could exist in parallel in this time and space.

After buying vegetables and returning home, she took advantage of the fact that the morning sun was not so strong, found the tools Yan Lei had mentioned, marked out a square area on the ground in the yard, and called Yan Xiang: "Let's dig earthworms."

She didn't know how to grow vegetables, but she could still turn the soil and loosen it.

She spent the whole morning loosening the soil of the reserved vegetable plot.

Yan Xiang was looking for earthworms in the turned soil. The child was brave enough to catch earthworms with his bare hands.

Qiao Wei took an empty can and filled it with soil for him, and the big earthworms were kept in it. She also told Yan Xiang: "Earthworms don't give birth to babies like mom and dad do, but if an earthworm is cut in half, it will grow into two different earthworms."

She also asked Yan Xiang: "Do you want to give it a try?"

She was about to cut the earthworm into pieces, but Yan Xiang shook her head: "It hurts too much, don't try it."

Okay.

The small round pot on the coal stove boiled the tomatoes bought today for a whole morning and made them into sauce.

Qiao Wei felt a special sense of accomplishment.

She had never done it before. Although she heard from her mother that her grandmother did it when she was a child, it was a long time ago. By Qiao Wei's generation, no one made tomato sauce at home. This technique was not passed down to Qiao Wei's mother at all.

Qiao Wei learned how to cook because she followed a foreign girl from West Asia on a video website. The videos made by this girl were all about daily life. One of the episodes was about the whole family going out to make tomato sauce. Qiao Wei learned it.

I learned too many things from online videos, thanks to the era of information explosion.

The first time I made it, I couldn’t control the quantity well, and there was still some left after filling up a can.

Qiao Wei cut a piece of meat and chopped it, stir-fried it with green onions, ginger and garlic, and then poured the freshly made tomato sauce into the pot to make tomato meat sauce.

She cooked noodles.

Noodles can be bought at grocery stores and are considered fine grains. Because in this era, many people still eat mixed noodles instead of white noodles. So noodles are good things.

After the noodles were cooked, they were drained and rinsed with cold water. They were placed on a plate and topped with tomato meat sauce and two boiled green leaves.

It was a rather authentic pasta dish, after all, it was made with noodles.

Yan Xiang exclaimed, "It looks so good."

Almost no child can escape the attraction of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and pasta. Yan Xiang took a bite and was immediately conquered: "Delicious! Mom, what is this called?"

Of course it couldn't be called pasta. Qiao Wei said, "It's called... cold noodles with tomato sauce."

It's slightly sour, has meat, and is cold. It's so delicious to eat at noon in the summer.

Yan Xiang ate a large plate of it, and his belly was bulging, but he still wanted to eat more.

Qiao Wei was so scared that she took the plate away: "Don't eat it."

On the other side, at Captain Zhao's house, Junzi and Wu Ni'er took a nap after lunch. Sister Yang and Lin Xixi were not idle. They prepared the dishes for the evening. After

preparing the dishes, the two washed their hands. Sister Yang said, "Come with me."

She took Lin Xixi to the bedroom, opened the closet and took out a few bras: "Take a look, which one is suitable? Pick one. Everyone who came today is your uncle's subordinate. You should dress better and make your uncle proud."

What you can't get when you are young will trap you for the rest of your life.

Lin Xixi stared at these skirts in a daze. Isn't this... what she dreamed of wearing when she was young?

At that time, she thought that she could wear whatever she wanted after following her husband, an educated youth, into the city. But she didn't know that fantasy was beautiful, but reality was very skinny. Her husband and mother-in-law would not give her a penny more for her to dress up.

The village girl stayed by the stove all day, her face full of smoke. The

yearning for the city that she had in the countryside was greasy and dimmed.

She couldn't help but touch one of them.

"This one?" Sister Yang put away the others in a lightning speed.

Lin Xixi wanted to stop her but didn't have time.

Maybe her eyes were too obvious, Sister Yang said: "I'll keep it and take it out when I need it."

Sister Yang felt that she had to work on weekdays, so there was no need to dress up every day. Wear it on blind dates.

Besides, it's safer for her to keep it and keep it well. If it is well preserved, Yingzi can continue to wear it when she grows up.

Lin Xixi was slow and had no choice but to pick up the only one.

After putting it on, Sister Yang exclaimed: "It is true that clothes make the man."

The clothes Lin Xixi brought were typical rural floral shirts and gray pants. Suddenly, she changed into this shaky cloth blouse, and the whole person became fashionable.

The heroine's appearance aura was revealed at this time, which made Sister Yang praise it endlessly.