Chapter 9

"Sister-in-law, I'm back."

A deep voice suddenly came from behind, and Jiang Nian was startled.

Turning around, she saw Lu Yu putting a slaughtered chicken on the chopping board and wiping the sweat from his head with his sleeve. Jiang Nian realized that his breathing was a little heavy and his head was also covered with sweat. She asked, "Did you go to the food station?"

It takes more than an hour to go back and forth from here to the food station.

No wonder he didn't come back after waiting for a long time.

Lu Yu nodded: "Yeah, so I came back a little late."

He walked to the well to get water to wash his face. Jiang Nian took out the cooked dishes and glanced at Lu Yu who was bending over to wash his face. The man had a hunched back and grabbed both sides of his clothes with both hands and was about to take them off. He seemed to remember that she was still there, so he pulled his clothes back on.

Although the light from the light bulb in the yard was not very bright, Jiang Nian still saw the man's thin waist and abdomen.

Broad shoulders, narrow waist, and tight abdominal muscles.

Jiang Nian quickly looked away, silently saying in her heart: Don't look at anything inappropriate.

She cooked porridge in the evening, fried a plate of minced meat and eggplant, scrambled eggs with cucumber, two corn cakes and three steamed buns. She knew that Lu Yu had a big appetite, so she fried more dishes.

Lu Yu sat on the bench, eating the meal made by Jiang Nian, and suddenly felt a sense of belonging in his heart.

- It was a feeling of home that he had not seen for a long time.

Before Jiang Nian came to the army, he went to the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and went back to the dormitory to sleep after eating. He repeated the same life every day and sent his salary back home.

After Jiang Nian came, he suddenly had an extra responsibility on his shoulders. He no longer had to go to the cafeteria to eat. Like Captain Song, he could have a hot meal when he got home.

The food she cooked was delicious.

Lu Yu glanced at Jiang Nian across from him, sitting on the bench with his legs crossed, still lowering his head as usual, eating quietly.

After dinner, Lu Yu put the dishes in the kitchen and said to Jiang Nian who came in: "I'll wash the chicken and cool the meat with well water, and take it out when I leave tomorrow morning."

Jiang Nian stood by the stove washing dishes and nodded gently: "Okay."

Refrigerators were not popular in that era, and it was hot in summer, so people basically used old-fashioned methods to preserve meat.

When Lu Yu walked out with the slaughtered chicken, he saw Jiang Nian standing on tiptoe to clean the inside of the stove. She was petite and it was a bit difficult for her to clean there. It was a corner with walls on both sides.

He walked out with the chicken, fetched well water to wash it, and chilled it with the pork in the well water.

Jiang Nian swept the floor of the kitchen and heard a "dong dong" sound from outside. She put down the broom and walked out, and saw Lu Yu standing in front of her window, knocking with a hammer in his hand, and there were four long thin sticks on the ground.

"What are you doing?"

Jiang Nian stood at the door of the house, grabbing the corner of her clothes with both hands, and asked awkwardly.

Lu Yu hammered the last nail in: "There are many mosquitoes in the summer, it's better to install a screen."

He casually pointed to the thin stick on the ground: "Install the screen, and I'll install a mosquito net on your bed."

Jiang Nian couldn't help but admire in his heart: How thoughtful.

There was still not much expression on his face. He lowered his head and tugged at the corner of his clothes, and said a word in a low voice.

"Okay."

After finishing the screen, Lu Yu took the thin stick and went into the room.

Jiang Nian also followed in to help. Lu Yu was about to ask her to go out and have a rest in the cool breeze, but then he turned around and thought that his sister-in-law would think too much and think that she was a burden, so he said: "Sister-in-law, pass me the pliers on the table."

Jiang Nian obediently picked up the pliers and passed them over, and then handed him the wire as he said.

Lu Yu was tall, so he didn't need to step on a stool to install the mosquito net. It only took a few seconds to finish it.

Jiang Nian took two candies from the iron box and held them in her palm. She followed Lu Yu out of the house. When he turned around, she lowered her head and stretched out her hand to him, saying in a voice as soft as a mosquito: "You have some too, they're sweet."

Lu Yu was stunned for a moment, looking at the two candies in the woman's palm.

She pursed her thin lips for a few seconds, reached out to take them and held them in her palm, her voice a little hoarse: "Thank you."

Jiang

Nian boiled a pot of water, took a bath, put on her clothes, waited for Lu Yu to help her pour out the bath water before taking off her outer clothes and lying leisurely on the bed.

The head of the bed was against the wall, and the foot of the bed was against the window. She folded her hands and placed them under her head, crossed her legs, looked at the bright moon outside the window, listened to the cicadas outside, and fell asleep soon.

Without mosquito bites, Jiang Nian had a rare good sleep.

In the middle of the night, Jiang Nian was awakened by the urge to urinate. She opened her eyes in a daze, sat on the bed for a while, and then put on her cloth shoes and walked out. Although it was dark outside, fortunately she could see the road clearly under the moonlight.

Just as she was about to go back to the house after going to the toilet, she suddenly heard a woman crying outside the yard.

It was emotional, sometimes high and sometimes low.

In the dark sky, Jiang Nian listened to the woman's plaintive crying, and thought she had seen a ghost in the middle of the night. She was so scared that her scalp was numb, and she ran to Lu Yu's door screaming.

She thought that Lu Yu was a man with a strong masculine energy, and ghosts would definitely be afraid of him.

Before she could knock on the door, the door in front of her opened first, and Lu Yu ran out in a vest. Seeing Jiang Nianming's pale face and fear in his eyes, his eyebrows immediately wrinkled, and he didn't care about the identity of uncle and sister-in-law. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her in, asking in a deep voice: "What happened?"

Jiang Nian hid behind Lu Yu, trembling with a finger pointing to the gate of the yard: "Yes, there is...someone crying, I heard a woman crying."

She wanted to say ghost, but this word is a taboo in this era.

Lu Yu: ...

He looked back at Jiang Nian and saw that she was lowering her head and hunching her shoulders. She was only wearing a small white vest with patterns and shorts. The vest was a little short, exposing her belly. Her hair was draped over her shoulders, making her skin look even whiter.

Lu Yu's ears suddenly turned red. He quickly looked away and walked towards the gate: "You go back to the house first, I'll go out and take a look."

Jiang Nian didn't dare to stay in the house alone. She always felt a shadowy feeling behind her, and she was afraid that a miserable white hand would be on her shoulder.

Thinking of this, she began to sweat coldly and chased after Lu Yu.

As soon as Lu Yu opened the gate, he heard footsteps behind him. He frowned, but didn't dare to turn around. He said, "Go back to the room and put on your clothes first."

Jiang T? Nian stopped and was stunned for a moment. He

looked down at his clothes and felt that they were fine.

But she didn't dare to refute Lu Yu, and said to his back: "Then, then don't leave yet, I'm scared to be alone."

Lu Yu grabbed the door bolt and said after a while: "Okay."

Jiang Nian quickly ran back to the house, turned on the light, put on her clothes and pants, and ran out again, fearing that she would be caught by the ghost if she ran a step slower.

She ran behind Lu Yu and took a breath: "Okay."

Lu Yu walked out of the yard, and his sharp eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, but did not find any suspicious people.

"Who is it? It's so scary to scream in the middle of the night!"

"If you don't sleep, we will sleep, why are you screaming!"

Jiang Nian's scream just now woke up several neighbors around, and several military wives were walking and putting on clothes, wanting to come over to see what was going on.

Feng Mei and Song Zhiwei from next door also came out. Feng Mei rubbed her eyes and saw Jiang Nian standing outside the door and hiding behind Deputy Colonel Lu. She was stunned for a moment: "Did you all hear a woman screaming just now?"

Jiang Nian:...

She whispered: "I screamed."

Feng Mei raised her voice a lot: "Why are you screaming so late at night and not sleeping?"

Jiang Nian:...

She clenched the corner of her clothes and lowered her head. Just as she was about to explain, Lu Yu spoke first: "My sister-in-law just heard a woman crying outside the door, so she was scared."

When Song Zhiwei heard it, he looked towards the yard of Battalion Commander Liu.

Feng Mei also glared at them and said unhappily, "Who else could be the one crying and howling outside most of the night besides Xu Yan?" She

became even angrier and shouted at Captain Liu's yard, "You are not sleeping at night when others are still sleeping. Don't disturb others with your family affairs. Cry, cry, cry. Next time, cry in your own home and don't scare others!"

Lu Yu: ...

Jiang Nian: ...

They just moved here in the past two days and didn't know that Xu Yan had the habit of squatting at the door of her house crying most of the night.

If Jiang Nian had known it was Xu Yan earlier, he wouldn't have been so scared.

Captain Liu came out wearing a shirt and saw several people gathered outside, including Captain Song and Deputy Captain Lu. He suddenly had a severe headache.

When he ran out of the yard just now, he heard the conversation outside. He knew that it was the sister-in-law of Deputy Regiment Lu next door who was frightened, so he said to Jiang Nian: "Deputy Regiment Lu's sister-in-law, I apologize to you on behalf of Xu Yan for scaring you."

Seeing that Captain Song had a sullen face, he quickly said: "Captain Song, I will definitely keep a good eye on Xu Yan in the future and prevent her from disturbing everyone again." He

also said to the several military wives who ran out in the middle of the night: "It is our fault for disturbing everyone. Let's go back to sleep."

Song Zhiwei pointed at Battalion Commander Liu and was a little angry: "Govern the country by governing the family. Look at you, you can't even manage your own wife, how can you manage the soldiers under you! I tell you, Liu Qiang, if it happens again, you will write a self-criticism to me!" After that,

he left with a cold face.

Feng Mei glared at Captain Liu and said to Jiang Nian, "It's nothing, go back to sleep."

Jiang Nian nodded gently, "Okay."

The other wives also complained a few words and went home.

Captain Liu looked at Lu Yu and saw that his face was a little cold. He rubbed his face irritably and sighed, "Deputy Regiment Lu, I'm sorry."

Lu Yu said, "Xu Yan is your wife after all, and the mother of your two sons. If she doesn't think about it and does something stupid, you will regret it one day."

After saying that, he didn't even look at Liu Qiang's face and went back with Jiang Nian.

After everyone left, Liu Qiang also went home. He walked into the room and saw Xu Yan sleeping facing the wall. He gritted his teeth in anger, stepped forward and grabbed her shoulders and pulled her out. Xu Yan was forced to turn around and stared at him with red and swollen eyes: "You want to hit me again?!"

Liu Qiang clenched his hands on the bed, and suppressed his anger to beat her up. He stood up and gritted his teeth and said: "I'm going to sleep with my son!"

He was afraid that if he stayed with Xu Yan any longer, she would make him lose his mind.

"Okay, you are going to sleep in a separate room from me now, right!"

"Liu Qiang, if you have the guts, never get into my bed!"

Xu Yan sat up and hit Liu Qiang's back with a pillow. Liu Qiang ignored her and left without looking back. She was so angry that she hugged her legs and buried her head in her knees and cried.

The two sons of Liu Qiang's family saw Liu Qiang coming in, and heard their mother crying through a wall. The two of them lay next to each other on the bed. Seeing Liu Qiang taking off his clothes and lying beside the bed, the two looked at each other.

The eldest son Liu Jianye couldn't help asking: "Dad, Mom is crying."

"If she wants to cry, let her cry enough, don't bother her!"

Liu Qiang turned over and faced his two sons, his eyebrows wrinkled into a "川" shape.

The youngest son Liu Jianwu is four years old this year. Since he was born and can remember, his parents have been arguing almost all the time. He crawled into his brother's arms and wiped his tears with grievance. Liu Jianye wiped his tears for him and whispered in his ear: "Don't cry, be careful that Dad will get angry again."

Liu Jianwu sniffed and pursed his lips, not daring to cry anymore.

He envied Song Xiangdong and Song Xianghong because their parents didn't quarrel every day.

After

the farce, Jiang Nian couldn't sleep at all.

She tossed and turned in bed until she heard footsteps outside at dawn and knew that Lu Yu had woken up.

Jiang Nian also put on her clothes and shoes, turned on the light and looked in the mirror. The wound on her head had almost healed. She combed her hair and tied two small braids before opening the door and walking out. She saw Lu Yu washing the chicken he bought yesterday.

Seeing Jiang Nian wake up, Lu Yu walked into the kitchen with a basin: "You sleep a little longer, I'll cook."

Jiang Nian shook her head gently: "I slept well."

She went to the well to get water to wash her face and brush her teeth. She heard the sound of burning fire and cutting vegetables in the kitchen. She quickly washed her hands and walked into the kitchen. She saw Lu Yu had already poured the cut vegetables into the pot and stir-fried them.

So she sat in front of the stove and lit the fire.

Lu Yu glanced at Jiang Nian who was adding firewood to the stove. The firelight from the stove flickered on her face. She lowered her head as usual, and he could see that the wound on her forehead had almost healed.

Lu Yu didn't expect that Jiang Nian looked thin and small, but her voice was quite explosive.

He woke up instantly when he heard her scream last night.

In the morning, he fried a dish, heated four steamed buns, boiled porridge, and steamed a bowl of egg custard.

Breakfast was served on the table. Jiang Nian looked at the bowl of egg porridge in front of her, blinked, and looked up at Lu Yu in surprise. Lu Yu took a mouthful of porridge and swallowed it, saying, "Eat it."

Jiang Nian pursed her lips and lowered her head, feeling very uncomfortable.

If the original owner had insisted on waiting for Lu Yu to come back for a few more minutes, she would not have traveled through time, and the original owner could have followed Lu Yu to enjoy the good life in the army, so that she would not have to be separated from her family.

I don't know how my parents, grandpa and grandma are doing now.

Jiang Nian sniffed and couldn't help crying.

So she ate in small bites while sobbing softly.

Lu Yu froze while eating. He looked up and saw Jiang Nian crying with her shoulders shaking. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why are you crying?"