Chapter 59

Shang Nanchen took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves to reveal his muscular arms, and squatted directly in front of the children, not forgetting to greet Xiaomao who was standing next to him.

"Watch out, the four of you. When your clothes get dirty, wash them yourself. When your mother sews clothes at night, watch her. This will prevent you from not knowing how to sew your own clothes when they get torn when you grow up and go to the countryside."

Shang Nanchen began to teach a few children how to wash clothes. After the demonstration, he stood by and watched. After the children washed the clothes, he let them squeeze water to clean the clothes themselves.

"Okay, your mom doesn't need to help you cook tonight. I'll teach you." Shang Nanchen knew that it was not easy for Jing Xian to teach the children, so he had to do it.

He just needs to let the children remember Jingxian's goodness.

When he dies in the future, his children will be able to be filial to Jingxian.

He did not do anything, but directed Da Mao to cut the vegetables, and the other children to wash them. Da Mao cooked the vegetables, and the other three children lit the fire and helped pass things around. Then he stood by and watched. Even though he could not do anything, he had to remember all the steps in his mind.

"You can't use too much oil, otherwise it will be used up this month, and then my parents won't get paid next month, and we won't have money to buy oil at home." Shang Nanchen was threatening.

In this era, for a dual-working family, 80 yuan a month is enough to support a family and live well. Not to mention that seafood is very cheap nowadays, so the children can basically eat as much as they want.

"Also, who washed the vegetables? They were not washed thoroughly."

Xiao Mao took the basin and went outside without saying a word. He washed the vegetables carefully with well water and placed them on the edge of the basin to drain.

"Put the hot oil in the wok, the food will be delicious." Shang Nanchen said standing by, "Okay, you can put it in the wok."

Da Mao grabbed a handful of greens and threw them into the pot. The children subconsciously stepped back. As the chef, Da Mao could not back down and stepped forward with a spatula.

“Can I stir fry it?”

When Shang Nanchen was serious, he looked like he was training soldiers in the army.

Damao dare not refuse.

Fortunately, he had seen his mother cooking before, and tried to recall how Jingxian cooked, and cooked the vegetables in the same way. It is basically not difficult to stir-fry vegetables, but whether the stir-fry is delicious depends on the chef's skills.

"If you're not sure when it's cooked, just pick it up with chopsticks and taste it." Shang Nanchen reminded Damao.

Damao tasted it with chopsticks and thought it wasn't as delicious as what his mother cooked, but it was edible anyway.

He stir-fried the vegetables for a few more times before taking them out of the pot.

"Okay, next dish." Shang Nanchen pointed at the shredded potatoes and said, "Shredded potatoes are easy to stir-fry. The steps are the same as before. You can try it yourself without me telling you."

Damao pours oil into the pot, waits for the oil to heat up, then puts the potatoes in and starts frying.

The potato shreds are taken out of the pot, along with salinated meat and chilled kelp shreds.

"Finally, make some soup."

Shang Nanchen asked Damao to scoop a few ladles of hot water into the pot, wait for the water to boil, and then beat an egg into it.

Da Mao didn't know how to beat eggs, so he followed Shang Nanchen's instructions. He was new to it the first time, but he finished it smoothly. He was a little clumsy in the first two times of beating the eggs, but it became smoother afterwards.

"This is the simplest egg soup." Shang Nanchen was very satisfied. He said, "It's ready. Let's serve it and have dinner."

Several children moved the table, took the bowls and chopsticks, served the rice and dishes, and waited for the meal.

The rice is ready. It was placed in the Westinghouse pot before cooking, and it is ready to be served now.

Jing Xian looked at the busy guys and gave Shang Nanchen a thumbs up.

Shang Nanchen took advantage of the children's inattention and walked over to quietly ask: "Are you okay?"

"Can."

Jingxian thinks this is great.

"I'll steam some more steamed buns and put more than half cornmeal in them. Then I'll steam them and put them in the vegetable cellar. If we can't come back for something, the children can cook for themselves at noon." Jing Xian took out a piece of pocket money and put it in the small box on the cabinet. The children all knew it.

She was preventing special circumstances so that the children could pay for their own meals and avoid going hungry.

Boys get hungry quickly, and if they eat like adults, they will definitely not be able to hold on.

It's good to teach them how to cook.

Anyway, eighty yuan is enough for our family to live a good life.

Jing Xian never lacked eggs and meat for the children, but cloth for clothes was hard to buy, so Jing Xian used the little money Shang Nanchen had saved and the cloth coupons she had secretly saved to buy cloth.

This time Song Ning brought so much fabric, most of which were Dacron, and there were also a lot of defective cotton fabrics. Jing Xian didn't mind the cotton fabrics and used them to make the quilt cover. For the outer layer, Jing Xian used Dacron.

Dacron is used inside, it will be cool and not stick to the skin.

In summer, it can be used as a mattress for children.

"Mom, it's time to eat!"

Fusheng ran out and called Jingxian to come over for dinner. The boy glanced at Shang Nanchen, turned around and went back without saying anything.

Shang Nanchen: “…”

He suspected that Fusheng was not his biological son and he was just a stepfather.

Jing Xian suppressed a smile and said, "Okay, let's go eat."

The salt in the dishes cooked by Damao was added by Shang Nanchen, so it was neither salty nor bland, and the taste was OK. The fried potatoes were also delicious. The children had big appetites, and with Shang Nanchen around, there was no food left on the table.

In the evening, Shang Nanchen had not returned yet. Many people asked Jing Xian when they saw her, "Has your head Shang not returned yet?"

"What?"

Jing Xian didn't react.

Ma Shufen felt a little uncomfortable when she looked at Jing Xian, but she also knew that promotion and wealth were not a one-sided affair.

Shang Nanchen is much more powerful than their old Zhang.

You can't help but feel unconvinced.

"Don't you know yet? Your business leader is now the leader of the group." Ma Shufen congratulated Jingxian with a smile.

Although Jing Xian already knew that Shang Nanchen had been promoted, there would be variables before the official transfer order came down.

"I haven't seen him yet."

Jingxian was very happy. Apart from anything else, the salary of being a group leader had increased, but she didn't know how much it would increase.

She and Ma Shufen talked all the way back home, and only when they got home did they see someone was home.

Jing Xian thought they were a few children, but when she went in she found out it was Shang Nanchen.

"You're back?"

"Our merchant group leader came back quite early today?" Jing Xian said with a smile.

Shang Nanchen's eyes were filled with obvious joy. Even though he had heard the news a long time ago, he didn't feel at ease until the dust settled that day: "My salary has increased by 48 yuan. If I hadn't made contributions, the higher-ups would have considered me an old revolutionary, and my allowance would probably have been reduced."

Jing Xian was surprised: "What's going on? Why is your salary going down even though you got promoted?"

"Last year, a batch of documents came down from above, promoting something like younger employment. The positions were promoted, but the allowances were reduced." Shang Nanchen was not the one who paid the wages. The only reason he could get so many allowances was because he adopted two children.

The father of Da Mao and Xiao Mao was a martyr who sacrificed his life for his country.

In addition, their situations are very special.

In addition to his military exploits on the battlefield and the nutritional recipe written by Jing Xian, after comprehensive consideration, he was able to receive the 128 allowance.

"No matter what, it's a good thing to increase the allowance." Jing Xian was in a good mood.

There will be many places to spend money in the future. The more money Shang Nanchen brings home, the richer their family will be. They live in the military compound and don't have their own house.

Four kids, four houses, plus their own house...

Jingxian felt that she really couldn't afford to be hurt.

If she gives birth to a child in the future, she must not give birth to a son, otherwise she and Shang Nanchen will be exhausted to death.

"Don't you have a house?"

Jing Xian knew that Shang Nanchen had a father, but his father had remarried and had a child who was no younger than Shang Nanchen.

I heard that Shang Nanchen's father is in Li City.

Shang Nanchen shook his head: "I have a house."

"What? How did you get a house?" If Jing Xian hadn't asked, she wouldn't have known about this. She half-closed her eyes and asked, "Is it because I didn't ask,

You're not going to tell me?"

"I have a comrade who is from Beijing. One year during the Spring Festival, I had nowhere to go, so I followed him to Beijing. I happened to meet a family who was going abroad and they were selling their yard, so I bought it." Shang Nanchen said, and took out a box. The box was filled with Shang Nanchen's documents. At the bottom was a piece of paper.

Jingxian took it and looked at it, and it turned out to be a real estate certificate.

"You really have a house in the capital?" Jing Xian suddenly felt at ease.

"Yeah, it's a big yard. When I retire, we'll live there."

Jing Xian said: "I am also thinking about saving some money and buying a few more houses before the children grow up, so that they can use them when they get married."

"Don't worry about them. It's good enough to raise them. Why buy a house for them? They are not girls. This doesn't make sense." Shang Nanchen didn't think Jing Xian was just putting on a show.

He knew that Jingxian was a kind person at heart.

"A few days ago, someone from Sheng City called me and said that Sun Wenxin couldn't find a job and was having a hard time. Her mother planned to let him come to see me. If you receive any calls or telegrams, just ignore them and wait for me to come back and deal with them." Shang Nanchen pushed the things to Jing Xian, "This is all my belongings, I'm leaving them with you."

Jing Xian: “…”

For a moment I didn't know whether to complain or be happy.

"Jingxian, you don't have to think too much. Think more about yourself and your future children." Shang Nanchen knew Jingxian was harsh, but she was very soft-hearted. He held her in his arms and patted her head. "You can be a little selfish, think about yourself and your children. You have done very well."

"I am like this now because I don't have my own children. I won't be like this when I have my own children. I will definitely be better to my children." Jing Xian said frankly.

Shang Nanchen nodded: "This is human nature."

Unless you are a saint.

Otherwise, people will be biased.

"No matter whether you have a son or a daughter, everything in the house will be left to him. I won't talk about Da Mao and Xiao Mao, they have their own families and houses. We don't need to worry about them in the future. Tiedan and Fusheng will have to work hard on their own in the future. It's not that I'm partial, it's just that boys should behave this way."

Shang Nanchen was not trying to coax Jing Xian; this was what he thought deep down in his heart.

It's not that he didn't feel sorry for Tiedan and Fusheng, but he had already considered their future. He sent them to the army, and it would depend on their luck whether they would become dragons or insects in the future.

The child Jingxian is going to have in the future will definitely be the youngest in the family.

The youngest child will have to grow up with him for another ten years. As for whether to send the child to the army in the future, that will be a matter for twenty years.

According to the current situation, the four children will join the army after graduating from high school.

It's just a blink of an eye.

"Okay, the child is still young. Besides, we have to help the child get married in the future. If they want to buy a house, we also have to help them. As parents, we can't just not prepare any money for them. It's not like that." Jing Xian remembered what Shang Nanchen said before and asked, "Are you going out?"

"I won't be back for a few days. If you have any questions, please find Captain Wu or Captain Zhang. If you can't find them, let Song Ning call Song Zheng and ask Song Zheng to help." Shang Nanchen was worried about Jing Xian leaving four children at home alone.

Jing Xian felt that Shang Nanchen was a little bit strange. Jing Er: "Aren't you going to be the leader? Do we still need you to lead the team out in person?"

"This is a military exercise, so I must lead the team myself. Besides, the regiment I am leading now is an independent regiment, which is different from other regiments." Shang Nanchen did not specify.

Jing Xian didn't ask. She helped pack up the things and sent Shang Nanchen away.

When Shang Nanchen's training results came out in the past six months, the leaders above him were delighted and immediately gave Shang Nanchen a new order. Commander Wei also wanted to make his resume look better before retirement, and wanted to help Shang Nanchen.

Under the activities of Commander Wei, the independent group emerged.

Even if Commander Wei retires, he will not be under the command of the new commander, but

Directly responsible from above.

Shang Nanchen had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders. Based on the experience gained in the past six months, he came up with a better training method. After he took office, he led the newly formed independent group to start training tasks.

Chen Baomin also became the battalion commander under Shang Nanchen, and the other two battalion commanders were both young battalion commanders.

There are age restrictions for the fighters selected this time.

Even the battalion commander is about the same age as Shang Nanchen.

Chen Baomin was a tough guy who didn't talk much. He cooperated with Shang Nanchen in training and trained both the new and old soldiers to death.

"Stand up!"

With a loud shout, the soldiers lying in the mud pit gritted their teeth and stood up, standing in military posture in the cold wind.

It's still very cold at this time.

The soldiers gritted their teeth and persevered; no one was willing to back down.

Shang Nanchen stood behind Chen Baomin, looking at the pale-faced little warriors, and ordered the kitchen staff to prepare more ginger soup so that everyone could have a big bowl of it when it was time to eat.

Jing Xian also cooked ginger soup.

She put brown sugar in it.

Brown sugar is not expensive. When I was a kid in the countryside, it was considered a treasure. Because there was not enough food to eat, who would have the spare money to buy brown sugar?

Jingxian cooked a pot of ginger juice and brown sugar, and when the children came back, she let them each drink two bowls.

"Da Mao, take a bowl to Grandma Wu next door. Tiedan, take a bowl to your aunt next door." Jing Xian said it was a bowl, but actually it was a basin, that is, the whole family could drink, and everyone could drink half a bowl.

The children went to deliver ginger and brown sugar water, and a guest came to the house.

Jing Xian looked up and saw Chen Yinghong, who was stunned for a moment, but a smile immediately appeared on her face: "Sister Chen, come in! I just made some ginger and brown sugar water, you can have some too."

Chen Yinghong was embarrassed, but Jingxian had already brought it to her. She had no choice but to take a sip while it was still hot. The ginger and brown sugar water was spicy and sweet, and it made her feel comfortable all over.

Older women are afraid of cold. She wants to hold on to this ginger and brown sugar water.

"I went to the train station yesterday and asked a fellow villager to bring some things to our home. I met a young girl there. She was fair and clean, and quite pretty. She asked people how she got to our unit. She also asked if they knew you."

"Know me?"