Chapter 7

After dinner, Lu Yu boiled another pot of hot water, poured it for Jiang Nian and went out.

After a day of rushing on the road yesterday and sleeping on the train for a night, there were crowds of people when getting off the train. She was sweating and uncomfortable. Jiang Nian took a good bath and felt much better.

She touched her hair and decided to wash her hair tomorrow even if the wound hurt.

Otherwise, it would be too uncomfortable.

After taking a bath, Lu Yu poured bath water for Jiang Nian as usual.

It was still a little hot at night. The door was closed, but the window was wide open. Jiang Nian lay on the bed, fanning her face with her hands. The buzzing of mosquitoes rang in her ears, and if she was not careful, she would get a lump on her arm.

From time to time, applause could be heard in the room.

Jiang Nian scratched the place where she was bitten by mosquitoes, buried her head and forced herself to sleep. She didn't sleep well after sitting on the train all night last night, and fell asleep in a short while. In the middle of the night, she heard the sound of water outside again.

Jiang Nian thought she was dreaming, and sat up in a daze. Just as she turned her head to look out the window, she suddenly remembered that Lu Yu was taking a bath in the yard the night before. She was scared and lay back on the bed.

What a close call.

I almost peeped at someone taking a bath again.

After a while, the yard became quiet, and then there were footsteps walking to the south room. Jiang Nian didn't dare to breathe until she heard the door closing. She closed her eyes and fell asleep again in a daze.

At dawn the next day, a loud horn broke the silence of the morning.

Jiang Nian frowned, climbed out of bed and looked out the window, and saw Lu Yu in military uniform, opening the door and going out.

She was bitten by mosquitoes all night, and there were several large and small lumps on her neck and arms. She simply did not sleep, got up and went to the yard to fetch water to wash up. When she was about to go to the kitchen to cook, she saw the hot breakfast on the table, a plate of fried eggplant, half a bowl of pickled vegetables sent by Mrs. Feng yesterday, two white flour steamed buns, and a bowl of porridge.

Jiang Nian hissed.

She thought the character setting for the male protagonist by the author was simply too good!

But even so, to her, all the people and things here were still illusory in her eyes, just stories in the book.

Jiang Nian had just finished breakfast and washed the dishes when Feng Mei came.

"Deputy Colonel Lu's sister-in-law, let's go."

"Coming."

Jiang Nian came out of the kitchen and walked out of the yard with Feng Mei. She followed Feng Mei quietly and listened to her introduce who lived in this house and who lived in that house. She talked about this house and that house, and then talked about something else. She was a typical chatterbox.

"Don't keep your head down. It's really bad for your neck after a long time."

Feng Mei was talking vigorously. She turned her head and saw Jiang Nian walking with her head down again. She touched her with her elbow: "You look good when you smile. Smile more when you have nothing to do."

Jiang Nian: ...

She didn't want to be like this every day, but the original owner had been like this since she was a child. She was afraid that if she suddenly changed her personality, it would arouse Lu Yu's suspicion.

She nodded: "I know."

After that, she smiled at Feng Mei.

Jiang Nian didn't expect to meet Zheng Hong today. She came over from the opposite side with her son, holding a bag of peach cakes in her hand. She walked normally, and didn't look like she had sprained her ankle.

Zheng Hong also saw Feng Mei and Jiang Nian. Her eyes stayed on Jiang Nian's face for a few seconds, and she was a little surprised. When she saw her yesterday, she lowered her head and looked poor. I thought she was just an old woman who was dark and earthy. I didn't expect that she was not only white, but also beautiful.

If someone who didn't know her saw her, how could they know that she was a widow, and they would think she was a virgin.

Zheng Hong thought about how she didn't follow the army after marrying Lu Guosheng. She listened to her mother and stayed at her parents' home every day. Lu Guosheng asked her mother to hide the monthly allowance she sent back, saying it was for her brother to marry a wife. She cooked and worked in the fields at home. Finally, she couldn't stand it anymore and went to Lu Guosheng. Lu Guosheng went to her parents' home to pick her and her son up to join the army.

Although she didn't have to work in the fields or sunbathe in the family building, her skin was only a little better than the previous two years. It wasn't that dark, but it was still far worse than Jiang Nian's skin.

Zheng Hong disliked Jiang Nian at first sight, and today she met him again, and she disliked him even more.

But she didn't show it on her face. She walked over with a smile and looked at Feng Mei: "Sister-in-law Feng, where are you going?"

Her voice was gentle and she was smiling.

Feng Mei smiled and said, "Isn't this Deputy Colonel Lu's sister-in-law here? I'll take her to see their private plots, otherwise it will cost them a lot of money to buy vegetables every day."

Zheng Hong smiled and said, "Sister-in-law Feng is just kind-hearted. Whoever gets to know you will be blessed."

After that, she looked at Jiang Nian and said, "Deputy Colonel Lu's sister-in-law, am I right?"

Jiang Nian saw the contempt and ridicule in Zheng Hong's eyes, and couldn't help but sneer in his heart, and nodded lightly, "Yes."

After hearing this, Feng Mei smiled even more, "It's not easy for us all to be military wives. I'll help if I can. I'm not as good as you say. If you ask me, it's not easy for you..."

She said to Jiang Nian : "You don't know, Captain Lu has to go out every now and then, and Zheng Hong is left alone at home with the child. It's not easy for a woman to take care of the child. She is only a little familiar with Captain Liu, so it's normal for her to ask Captain Liu for help with big or small things. Although Captain Liu had a blind date with Zheng Hong before, didn't it fail? It was all eight years ago. Xu Yan quarreled with Captain Liu every now and then because Captain Liu helped Captain Lu's family. It's a headache for Captain Liu."

Jiang Nian: ...

She found that Captain Song's wife was also confused and easily influenced. She was coaxed into losing her mind by Zheng Hong's few nice words.

Zheng Hong's eyes turned red, and she felt a little aggrieved: "Auntie Feng, it's my fault too. I caused Xu Yan to have a quarrel with Captain Liu. The main reason is that my husband Guosheng is always leading troops outside, and Captain Liu's home is close to my yard, and we know each other, so I wanted to ask him for help."

Jiang Nian: ...

She has never seen such a shameless

person. It was obviously her who caused the couple to quarrel every day, but she turned around and said that Xu Yan was making a fuss.

Jiang Nian didn't want to spoil the plot, but seeing Zheng Hong's face, she couldn't help it.

She looked at Feng Mei and saw her comforting Zheng Hong with sympathy. Her eyelids twitched: "Sister-in-law Feng, what you said reminds me of something. It's about two families in my village. Their situations are similar to those of Captain Lu and Captain Liu."

Feng Mei loved to listen to gossip. She immediately asked curiously, "What's going on?"

Zheng Hong frowned and looked at Jiang Nian, wanting to see what she could say.

Jiang Nian said: "Those two families live at the head of our village. They are neighbors across the street. The Li couple, like Captain Liu's family, go to the neighbor's house every day to help the wife. The husband of that wife goes to the mine to work and only comes back once a month. Because of this, the wife of the Li family quarrels with her husband every day, disliking that her husband goes to other people's houses all the time. No matter big or small, the wife of that family always asks the husband of the Li family to help. At first, the neighbors blamed the wife of the Li family for being ruthless..."

At this point, Jiang Nian saw Zheng Hong sneer, she glanced at Feng Mei again, and just heard Feng Mei say: "That's right, we are all neighbors, what's wrong with helping each other? If you say that, the daughter-in-law of the Li family is as unreasonable as Xu Yan."

Jiang Nian shook her head and sighed: "Sister-in-law Feng, I thought so at first, but who knew that these two families had big problems later."

Feng Mei stared: "What happened?"

Zheng Hong's face was not good, and she always felt that Jiang Nian's next words would not be pleasant.

Sure enough, she guessed right.

"The wife next door stayed at home alone every day, and the man from the Li family ran to the house next door every day. At first, no one said anything, but later rumors spread. People in the village said that the man from the Li family was having an affair with the wife next door. Someone even saw the man from the Li family running home naked in the middle of the night, and he was chased out by his wife. Later, the captains who made trouble went to the Li family's house to teach the man a lesson."

"At the end of the fight, the captain even called back the man from the wife's family next door. After the man found out about it, he beat his wife so badly. This matter has become an after-dinner gossip in our village. The children of both families can't even raise their heads because of the laughter in the village."

Feng Mei's eyes widened immediately: "Is this still a human being? Is he worthy of his wife? The wife next door deserves to be beaten. I think she should be beaten to death. She makes the couple quarrel every day and makes everyone in their family uneasy."

Zheng Hong's face became more and more ugly.

Jiang Nian shook her head, her eyes clear and frank: "I don't know whether it's true or not, after all, I didn't see it, but if you ask me, people should avoid suspicion, otherwise rumors can really kill people."

Zheng Hong glanced at Jiang Nian coldly. How could she not hear that Jiang Nian was secretly mocking her? She really underestimated this widow who killed her man!

Jiang Nian looked into Zheng Hong's eyes and saw the anger in her eyes that she couldn't put away in time. She smiled and pursed her lips and said, "Comrade Zheng Hong, I'm sorry, I don't mean anything else. I just heard Aunt Feng talk about your two families, and I happened to think of our village, so I said a few more words. Don't take it to heart."

Zheng Hong pursed her lips tightly, especially when she saw Jiang Nian's good appearance, she wanted to smash a bag of peach cakes on her head.

It would be better to smash her to death!

After listening to it, Feng Mei looked at Zheng Hong: "There is nothing wrong with what Deputy Regiment Commander Lu's sister-in-law said. I think you really take it to heart. Battalion Commander Liu helps you every now and then. What if rumors are spread by someone with ulterior motives about you and Battalion Commander Liu? Not only will it affect the reputation of our regiment, but it will also make both of your families uneasy. If Battalion Commander Lu believes the rumors again, not only will you be harmed, but even your children will not be able to hold their heads up in public."

Zheng Hong gritted her teeth in anger, but she still had to smile: "Sister-in-law Feng is right. I will avoid suspicion in the future."

After separating from Zheng Hong, Feng Mei took Jiang Nian to see the private plot.

On the way, Feng Mei looked at Jiang Nian with a smile: "Vice Colonel Lu's sister-in-law, I found that you are not as afraid of birth as yesterday."

Jiang Nian smiled embarrassedly: "Don't be offended, sister-in-law Feng, I am just a little slow to warm up."

"But after hearing what you said just now, I feel that it's really not a good thing for Zheng Hong and Captain Liu to continue like this." Feng Mei sighed: "I have to go back and tell my old Song to talk to Captain Liu, so that he won't run to Zheng Hong for no reason."

She came to her senses again, not knowing whether she was talking to Jiang Nian or to herself: "Zheng Hong is really something. Every time she wants to fetch water from the jar in the kitchen, she has to ask Captain Liu for help. Captain Liu fetches water for her family more times than for his own family. Zheng Hong is also from the countryside. Who doesn't have a lot of strength? I don't believe that she doesn't have the strength to fetch water?"

Jiang Nian walked with his head down, and didn't say anything extra.

Some things are better to be said in moderation. If you say too much, you will end up making things worse.

When we got to the private plot, we saw vegetables planted on both sides of the plot, and there was an empty plot of weeds in the middle.

Feng Mei said that the army was short of land, so each family was allocated two mu of land, but each family also had three mu of land in the yard, and they basically planted vegetables in the yard, leaving a few aisles for walking.

Food was also scarce in those years, and each family had a large population. The family with the largest population in the family building had eight people, including the parents-in-law, the husband and wife, and four children. Every year, they relied on the three mu of land in the yard and the two mu of private plot for food, and their life was hard.

There were a lot of weeds in the field. Feng Mei bent down and pulled out a handful of weeds: "Pull out the weeds, turn the soil over and plant the vegetables. It's hot now, and the vegetables will grow soon."

Jiang Nian also bent down and pulled out a handful of weeds, looking up at the two acres of land in front of her.

Although she had been in the city since she was a child, growing vegetables was not difficult for her. At that time, her father thought the vegetables in the vegetable market and supermarket were not delicious, so he planted vegetables in the backyard of the kitchen. The vegetables that their family eats every year are all natural. She also learned how to grow vegetables from her father.

It was almost time for lunch when she came back from the private plot.

Jiang Nian washed her hands and rubbed the mosquito bites, which had several lumps. Then she went into the kitchen to wash and cut vegetables and side dishes. Finally, she took some reeds to start a fire. When the fire got big, she stuffed corn cobs and firewood into the fire and cooked vegetables while the fire burned. It was her first time to cook in a stove, and she was in a mess.

Lu Yu bought cucumbers yesterday, so Jiang Nian made some noodles with mixed sauce. She cut the cucumbers into shreds and sprinkled them on the brine. She sniffed the fragrance and heard footsteps outside just as the rice was ready.

The light from the kitchen door was blocked by a tall and slender figure, and a deep and powerful voice came from behind: "Sister-in-law."