Chapter 265 Neighbors
The wooden basin was quite deep, but it could only hold a limited amount of water, not enough for Song Lubai to wash herself properly. She decided to go to the door to fetch a bucket of water to keep on hand.
Wei Zhao was boiling water when he saw her carrying the bucket. He said, "Put the bucket here, and I'll bring it in for you when the water is hot."
Song Lubai thought that Wei Yang's third sister was a pretty nice person.
After Song Lubai finished washing, the ground was still wet and covered in mud.
The stove is very deep, and two pots can be placed in the front and back. The large pot with the gap in it is in the back stove hole, and the water inside is always running.
Song Lubai washed her hair outside.
While combing his hair, Wei Zhao put the stir-fried gourd into a plate and said, "I don't know where Shaohua and the others dyed their hair, but they have lice in their hair. They wash it every day, but it just won't get clean."
As they were talking, Chen Shaohua returned with his younger siblings and the neighbor's children.
The children were covered in dirt and looked dusty.
The ground at the regimental headquarters was very dusty, and the weather was extremely dry. Whenever anyone went out, whether adult or child, their trousers and shoes would be covered in dust.
"Where did you run off to again! I wash your clothes every day! From now on, you'll have to wash them yourselves!"
Wei Zhao grabbed Chen Shaohua and forcefully patted the dirt off his body.
Chen Shaohua saw Song Lubai standing to the side, smiling shyly, and called out "Auntie".
The second brother, Chen Jingwen, wiped the dust off his face and said, "There are small fish in the clear water ditch. Zhuangzhuang and I went to watch others catch them."
Although the water level in that ditch was very shallow, it was still something Wei Zhao couldn't do near it.
After brushing the dirt off each child, she said, "Next time we go there, come back and copy the newspaper."
Song Lubai's hair had grown to her waist, and after only a few minutes in the sun, she could feel that the outermost layer was already dry.
"Third sister, washing your hair with sulfur soap can get rid of lice."
The youngest girl in Wei Zhao's family stared intently at Song Lubai, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth.
Aunt Lu from next door came out with a plate of peaches, wiped the little guy's mouth, and handed him a pink peach.
"Hey, what are you looking at?"
Chen Dongyang mumbled, "She's beautiful, Auntie is beautiful."
Aunt Lu looked at Song Lubai and said, "Is this Commander Wei's wife? She's really beautiful, prettier than a flower."
A young, beautiful girl stood in the sun with her hair down. Her skin was fair with a rosy glow, and her face was so clean that you could see the fine downy hairs. Her eyes were bright and her nose was straight and delicate. This was the first time Aunt Lu had ever seen such a woman in this area. She was much prettier than the girls in the magazines.
It must be said that none of the members of Commander Wei's family are ugly.
Wei Zhao smiled and said, "We're having a banquet tomorrow, come and eat then."
Aunt Lu smiled and said, "Okay, I'll help you. Oh, where did you buy this beef?"
Wei Yang, who was carrying a basin back, said, "It's the Uyghur New Year, and they sell these at the bazaar. I came here with my wife, and we just happened to run into them."
Song Lubai greeted, "Auntie, have you eaten? Have something at my house."
Aunt Lu quickly waved her hand: "No, no, we have some at home. I just came to say hello when I saw you came. I'm going back to eat now."
Once the meal was ready, the whole family put down what they were doing and went inside to eat.
The entire living room contained only a table and a few stools, making it look quite empty.
The table was covered in scratches, and one leg was still lame, with a piece of wood underneath.
The cornbread on the table didn't look soft at all; the ginger-yellow outer skin had many dents.
The moment Song Lubai took her first bite of the cornbread, she swore it was the worst cornbread she had ever eaten.
If the dough isn't properly risen, it will hurt your throat when you eat it, and it will be difficult to chew.
The only dish on the table, gourd salad, was drizzled with soy sauce and looked quite appetizing.
After Song Lubai picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and swallowed it, she forced herself not to frown, because Wei Zhao looked at her with expectant eyes.
Song Lubai swallowed with a calm expression, and then said, "Third Sister's cooking is quite good. It has a light flavor, so it won't cause internal heat in the summer."
Although the gourd was overcooked and only tasted of soy sauce without any salt, making it taste strange, it was still barely edible.
Wei Zhao was delighted to hear this. She looked at the others triumphantly and said, "The food isn't salty today because I didn't put any salt in it at all. Don't leave any food uneaten, eat up!"
She always has shaky hands when cooking, and even though she doesn't want to add too much salt, she can't control the amount, which results in her cooking always leaving more than half of the food uneaten.
At this moment, she regained her confidence because of Song Lubai's polite words.
Before, Wei Zhao always ate at work or took food home from restaurants, so she rarely cooked. But now that she's here, she's the one who does all the cooking, and she's finally seeing signs of improvement in her culinary skills.
Wei Zhao smiled and said, "It seems I do have some talent; I'm starting to know how to cook."
Wei Yang glanced at Song Lubai, his eyes practically saying: How could you say that!
Song Lubai looked back innocently.
The three children looked at each other, wanting to say, "Mom, let's just forget about it."
After finishing the meal, Song Lubai washed all the pots and pans.
This meal was completely devoid of oil; it was cleaned simply by squeezing it a few times with dried loofah sponge and rinsing it with water.
While Wei Yang was taking a shower, Song Lubai put the cleaned and chopped beef ribs and meat into a pot to stew.
Boiling it in plain water doesn't taste very good, but luckily we still had some scallions at home, and Wei Yang also bought some chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns from the bazaar.
Wei Zhao had never cooked meat before, and watching her busy herself, she said, "I remember that braised beef is usually marinated in advance. Will it taste good if we cook it like this?"
Song Lubai said, "We have to cook it now. We bought it yesterday, and it will start to taste bad if we don't cook it soon."
Add salt and soy sauce, put the lid on the pot, and then just keep adding firewood to the stove.
When Wei Yang came out of the shower, he smelled the rich aroma of beef soup.
Both pots were stuffed full, steam rose from the sides, and the aroma wafted far and wide, attracting the surrounding neighbors.
"What kind of meat is being cooked? It smells amazing."
The aroma made her unable to eat her own food.
After taking a bath and changing into clean clothes, Wei Yang, feeling refreshed, said to the people who had gathered around with bowls, "I happened to run into a meat vendor at the bazaar and bought some bones. They'll be cooked in a bit, so everyone come and get a bowl of soup."
Wei Yang is the newly arrived regimental commander. Although not many people know him, the neighbors living in this area all know that he is the new regimental commander. In the territory of the 16th Regiment, there is only one secretary and only one regimental commander.
The fact that the troupe leader was willing to share the broth with them was already quite generous; normal people wouldn't covet the meat in the pot.
Wei Zhao disliked people who kept eyeing what good things were in other people's pots.
Living so close by, the aroma of frying an egg in a pan could waft far and wide, attracting neighbors to come out and see. But now, when cooking meat, it's impossible to capture all the flavor in the pot.
She smiled and said to her neighbors, "My brother and sister-in-law are having a banquet tomorrow. We'll need to borrow some tables, chairs, and benches from each of you. We also need to borrow some vegetables and food. We're new here, so we'll have to trouble you all to help us out."
Wei Zhao thought to himself, if you want to drink meat soup, you have to make some contribution. Although our family has meat, we are just like all your families, and we can't even afford to put together a few dishes for a wedding.
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