Chapter 5

Jiang Nian stayed in the house and didn't go out. The house was simply furnished with a bed, a table, and a small wooden wardrobe. She could see the roof beams when she looked up, but the environment was much better than in the countryside.

She took out the clothes and shoes from the cloth bag, folded them and put them in the wardrobe. The original owner only had three or four pieces of clothes, all of which were patches. It can be said that none of them could be worn out decently.

The noise outside gradually became smaller and finally returned to silence.

The door to the yard was pushed open. Jiang Nian heard the sound, walked lightly and crouched to the crack of the door. She saw Lu Yu walking towards her house. Thinking of her eating melon and being caught by Lu Yu just now, her heart was pounding with fear.

When Lu Yu was about to come over, Jiang Nian hurried back and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Sister-in-law, please come out for a moment."

Lu Yu's voice came from outside the door, and there was no joy or anger in his voice.

Jiang Nian suppressed the uneasiness in her heart, stood up and walked over to open the door, holding the door bolt with one hand, and tugging at the corner of her clothes with the other hand. She drooped her head, hunched her shoulders, and looked exactly like the original owner in her inferiority and cowardice.

Seeing her like this, Lu Yu swallowed the scolding on his lips and changed the subject: "It's time for lunch. I'm going to the cafeteria to get food. What do you want to eat?"

Jiang Nian looked down at her toes and said in a voice as thin as a mosquito: "Anything is fine with me. I'm not picky."

"Okay."

Lu Yu responded.

Seeing him turn and leave, Jiang Nian breathed a sigh of relief. She thought he was going to blame her. She raised her head and took a breath when she unexpectedly met Lu Yu's gaze who turned around and looked at her. She didn't know whether to lower her head or raise her head. The corners of her mouth stiffened and she uttered, "Is there anything else?"

Lu Yu looked at her and said, "It's not good to lean against the corner. If Xu Yan sees it, there will be another argument."

Jiang Nian: ...

She felt a little embarrassed. She lowered her head

and tugged at the corner of her clothes nervously with her hands: "I was just frightened by the quarrel, so I wanted to go over to see what happened."

After she finished speaking, she raised her head gently, her eyes filled with tears. Seeing Lu Yu's dark eyes, she lowered her head in panic: "I, I didn't mean any harm."

Lu Yu's heart ached because of Jiang Nian's tears. He knew best what kind of person Jiang Nian was. With her personality, she was not the kind of person who would just sit in the corner and watch the excitement. If she liked to watch the excitement, she would go with Aunt Zhao to see the small quarrels in the east and the big quarrels in the west. Everyone in the village knew that my sister-in-law stayed at home every day and didn't go out. She had been married for four years, and some people had hardly seen her.

Thinking of this, he lowered his voice: "Don't think too much, I don't mean anything else."

He went to the stove room to get the aluminum lunch box and walked out.

The yard was empty, and Jiang Nian was the only one left.

Seeing the gate closed, Jiang Nian changed her previous expression, wiped away her tears, turned back to the room and sat on the bed, blowing on her fingers that were hurt by her nails.

Alas, crying is also a kind of hard work.

In the future, she has to be more careful in front of Lu Yu, so as not to reveal her tracks again.

Thinking of Xu Yan and Captain Liu next door, Jiang Nian carefully recalled the plot in the book. There really is a farce in Xu Yan's family.

Captain Liu's name is Liu Qiang. He was the company commander before. At that time, the matchmaker introduced him to Zheng Hong.

Zheng Hong was from the next village. At that time, the two were very satisfied with each other. It was originally a happy event, but after a few days, the Zheng family regretted it and Zheng Hong married Captain Lu. After Liu Qiang knew about this, he went to Zheng's house to ask Zheng Hong what she meant. Zheng Hong did not come out to see Liu Qiang. Zheng's mother came out to tell Liu Qiang that the salary of the battalion commander was higher than that of the company commander. Their Zheng family was in a difficult situation. Only if Zheng Hong married well could she help her family.

After hearing this, Liu Qiang left. Later, he met Xu Yan through a matchmaker, married Xu Yan and had two sons.

Liu Qiang performed well in the team and was promoted from company commander to battalion commander in seven years. In contrast, Zheng Hong's husband, Lu Guosheng, had been sitting in the position of battalion commander all these years. Zheng Hong began to envy Xu Yan, thinking that if it weren't for Xu Yan, she would be Liu Qiang's wife now, and maybe in the future when Liu Qiang was promoted to regiment commander, she would be the regiment commander's wife.

Therefore, Xu Yan would always look for opportunities to get close to Liu Qiang, asking him to help with this or that. Liu Qiang didn't refuse because of his face as a man. After a while, Xu Yan misunderstood and made a fuss about this for two or three years. Zheng Hong didn't stop, and finally caused Liu Qiang and Xu Yan to divorce.

The book never mentioned what happened to Xu Yan again. It was just that the heroine and other military wives met Xu Yan on the way to the county. They heard that she married an old bachelor 20 years older than her and lived a particularly miserable life.

Jiang Nian recalled the plot about Xu Yan and felt deeply sympathetic to her experience. At the same time, she felt a strong hatred for Zheng Hong. This woman was definitely a green tea girl. If it weren't for her, Xu Yan would not have ended up like that.

She calculated the time. It was still half a year before Xu Yan and Liu Qiang divorced. Their marriage had reached a white-hot stage.

Jiang Nian fell into a struggle.

Before she entered the book, these people were just cold words in the book to her. Now that she entered the book, she watched helplessly as real people were harmed by the green tea girl and ended up in a miserable state. She couldn't just stand by and watch, and she was also afraid that if she intervened, the plot would be seriously damaged and she would be retaliated.

"Sister-in-law, it's time to eat."

Lu Yu's voice outside the house brought Jiang Nian back to her thoughts.

She replied, "Okay."

There was a small square table in the yard. Lu Yu took two small stools. Jiang Nian washed her hands and sat down, watching Lu Yu open the aluminum lunch box. The lunch box had three layers. The first layer was fried eggplant, the second layer was fried loofah, and the bottom was steamed buns.

"After dinner, take a nap. I'll take you to the hospital for a checkup in the afternoon. I'll just show you the way to the cafeteria. My vacation will end tomorrow. You can just go to the cafeteria to get your meals in the future. Don't worry about me."

Jiang Nian took a bite of the steamed bun and ate the rice tastelessly. To be honest, none of these were as delicious as the ones she cooked. She wasn't bragging. Her family made their fortune in dry catering. Her parents opened a small restaurant when she was just born. Later, it got bigger and bigger. After more than 20 years of influence, she could distinguish all kinds of seasonings with her eyes closed.

After thinking for a while, she said, "I want to open a stove at home."

Lu Yuxian glanced at Jiang Nian who was eating with her head down, and thought that she didn't like to go out: "Okay, I'll buy flour and vegetables this afternoon."

"You can come back to eat in the future, and you don't have to go to the cafeteria to get your meals."

After all, she ate his food and drank his drinks, and she felt embarrassed if she didn't take the initiative to invite others to come back for dinner.

Lu Yu nodded: "Okay."

After

finishing her meal, Jiang Nian dozed off for a while and only woke up when Lu Yu called her outside the house.

She put on her cloth shoes and walked out of the courtyard with Lu Yu. She heard Xu Yan's voice coming from the next courtyard. She was cursing Liu Qiang for being heartless, with red eyes and shameless thoughts about other people's wives. She was crying while cursing, and it could be heard through the wall.

When Xu Yan married Liu Qiang, she was also a gentle and smiling young lady.

Jiang Nian lowered her head and followed Lu Yu. On the way to the hospital, people who passed by would greet Lu Yu, and their eyes would stay on Jiang Nian for a few seconds. The

news that Deputy Regiment Lu went home to visit the funeral and brought Captain Xu's wife to the army spread during lunch time.

The weather in late July was very hot, but it was cooler to walk under the big trees with lush branches and leaves.

Jiang Nian followed Lu Yu into the hospital. She calculated the time and found that the heroine should report to the hospital in five days. She changed the medicine in the hospital. After the doctor examined her, he said that it was a mild concussion and the forehead injury would leave a scar. The wound was above the left eyebrow and was as wide as a finger from the hairline. The wound was not big, but it would definitely leave a scar. However, the scar would fade over time and would not be noticeable unless you looked carefully.

After leaving the hospital, Lu Yu took Jiang Nian to the supply and marketing cooperative.

The supply and marketing cooperative was not far from the hospital and only took half an hour to walk there.

The supply and marketing cooperative in the 1970s was not as good as the supermarket in the new century. Jiang Nian walked into the supply and marketing cooperative. There was a row of cabinets from the east to the west. There was also a lot of space inside, with cabinets on both sides.

Lu Yu took all the tickets with him when he came out, bought the seasonings commonly used at home, weighed a small pot of oil, and used the tickets to buy a box of milk candy and a bottle of canned food, as well as a bag of peach cakes. The salesperson packed them for him, glanced at the woman who came in with him, and smiled, "You are so good to your wife."

A box of milk candy and a bag of peach cakes, or canned food, are all rare items.

They are so expensive, but he really can't bear to buy them.