Chapter 90

Xu Wen didn't believe it.

"Don't use this as an excuse. With the new welfare policy, hasn't the number of people retiring decreased significantly? Is it still necessary to bring people home every week to do ideological work?"

As an ordinary citizen, she thinks the new welfare is really good and can make up for some of the spiritual losses of the soldiers.

Although there is no equal exchange, there are gains and losses.

You won’t be able to earn that much in any other industry.

Of course, the risk is not that high.

Lu Yuanzheng sighed: "Wife, you have to know one thing. Money is important, but when you live in a place where you are depressed every day, money will not be so tempting to you.

Soldiers with families all miss their wives and children.

The homeless soldiers, who have been lonely for a long time, also hope to find a girl to fall in love with, get married and have their own little family.

There is something I haven’t told you. We two are the inducement in this matter.”

"What do you mean?" Xu Wen turned his head from his arms and looked into his eyes.

Lu Yuanzheng played with her hands, "You are so nice! You are so nice to me too. We will be envied if we are together. Some warriors don't want to go home or find a partner, but when they see how happy we are, they will be tempted."

Xu Wen frowned: "You mean it's my fault? Then how about I go back to my hometown?"

As he said this, he was about to break free and set off on his expedition.

Lu Yuanzheng used a little more force to hold her, and said helplessly: "Excuse me, what happened to you today?"

Very sensitive, easily ignites.

Always misinterpreting what he meant.

"What's wrong? Do you mean I'm being unreasonable?"

Lu Yuanzheng: "..."

After a moment of silence, he moved his hand to Xu Wen's belly, "Wife, are you about to have your period?"

Every time before Xu Wen's period comes, she becomes irritable and unreasonable, but it only lasts for a day or two.

Xu Wen thought for a moment and said, "I think so!" Then he pinched Lu Yuanzheng's ear and said, "Don't change the subject. Tell me where Li Mao was forced to go. If you can't tell me, you can sleep in the living room tonight."

Lu Yuanzheng: "..."

He couldn't help but complain, "Why are you punishing me because Li Mao upset his fiancée?"

"Who told you that you are Li Mao's leader? It proves that you didn't manage him well. Not only did you not manage him well, but he treated his fiancée so badly, and you still felt that he had no choice. Do you want to be like him?"

Lu Yuanzheng: "..."

He took a deep breath and rubbed Xu Wen's lower abdomen with his big hand. "Do you know how excited we are every time a family member comes to the team? You also know that there is no privacy in our profession. So many people eat, live, come and go together 24 hours a day.

However, no matter how good the relationship is, people always want some personal space, right? No one likes to stretch the sheets until there is not a wrinkle, fold the quilt into a tofu block, and place all the items so that the deviation cannot be measured with a ruler.

This kind of neatness and tidiness would appear too cold and lack humanity and warmth.

Although the family building is only a temporary home, it is still a home. People can relax and feel a little relieved at home.

This is why everyone likes the family house. Now on the island, this feeling is even stronger.

Li Mao is an instructor. He can go less often or not at all if others call him, but he cannot ignore anyone when his family members come.

Should he call the company commanders and instructors who are at the same level as him? Their families are here to invite him as a guest.

He should call his subordinates the platoon leader or squad leader, right? As an instructor, he has several squads under him.

When the relatives of the class came to visit, he sent gifts and expressed his condolences. When Li Mao's family came, should others reciprocate?

The gifts have arrived, why don't you treat them to a meal?"

Xu Wen thought about it and realized that Li Mao had done nothing wrong. "But we don't have to invite them every week, right?"

"We have limited rest time. It's called the weekend, but in fact we only have one day off. We have meetings on Saturday morning and we have cleaning and meetings on Sunday afternoon. But with so many people to hire, we can only do it week after week."

"In the final analysis, Li Mao chose the job and Jiang Yiyi was wronged. Soldiers should not be neglected and should be treated equally. Where is the company that belongs to Jiang Yiyi? Just like what she complained, she, a girl, traveled thousands of miles to be with Li Mao. In the end, she was just a tool who provided a house for them to talk about their hearts, work and feelings. Who wouldn't feel wronged?"

If you ask Xu, she would also feel wronged.

"So, women who can become military wives are definitely extraordinary. Every military wife is extraordinary. They can endure loneliness, support the elderly and educate the children alone, and have to worry all the time, because they never know when their husbands will disappear completely. Even if they do hear from them, there is not much they can say.

Thousands of miles apart, every time I write a few words on a piece of paper, they are all about how are you? How is your family? How are the children? Are your parents still healthy? There are hardly any words about my daily life that can be written in a letter.

There are very few women who can stick with a man like this.

So even though Mrs. Huang often says things that are annoying, she is still a good person and she is not ambiguous about right and wrong.”

Lu Yuanzheng said this and glanced at Xu Wen, "I'm going to say something you don't want to hear. A girl like Jiang Yiyi who always clings to you and wants you to accompany her is not suitable for our profession. If Jiang Yiyi doesn't change, they may not be able to get married."

"Why did Jiang Yiyi change? Why not Li Mao?" Xu Wen stood up for Jiang Yiyi.

"It's not that Li Mao doesn't want to change, nor does it mean that he doesn't want to be a considerate and gentle fiancé. His career is here. Even if he wants to change his career for Jiang Yiyi, it's not easy to do. It's not easy for the army to train a cadre. He has just graduated from the military academy and has to go back to the local area a few years later. It's unfair to the army and other cadres who graduated from military academies. It's equivalent to him wasting such precious educational resources. So even if he applies for a transfer, it may not be approved.

Of course, from what I know about Li Mao, he will not change his job. He is already under enough pressure at work, and he hopes that Jiang Yiyi's arrival will give him a breathing space and a warm home, rather than being busy in the camp during the day and having to deal with Jiang Yiyi's crying when he comes home. After a long time, he will not be able to bear it.

At that time, the two of them will have no other choice but to break up."

"Then Jiang Yiyi can bear it? Yes, it's not easy for you. But it's easy for Jiang Yiyi? She graduated from a technical secondary school, which is considered a high level of education. She also gave up her job and ran to this isolated island despite her parents' anger of breaking off relations with her. She has nothing except Li Mao now, and she is not allowed to feel wronged? Who else can she complain to if not Li Mao?"

"So everyone has their own reasons. It's hard to be a military wife." Lu Yuanzheng pinched Xu Wen's waist, put her next to him, and asked her: "Xu Wen, do you feel wronged? Do you regret being with me? I also have the same reasons as Li Mao."

Xu Wen was stunned for a moment. When talking about Jiang Yiyi's grievances, she could empathize with them, but she herself didn't seem to be that wronged.

Perhaps because they had never separated since they confessed their love to each other, Xu Wen had never experienced the pain of a long-distance relationship.

Although Lu Yuanzheng would often bring her home for dinner, he would always spend some time with her no matter how busy he was.

Compared with what Jiang Yiyi did for Li Mao, she seemed to have given up more.

However, Xu Wen found that he had no regrets, even though he had felt wronged once or twice.

Lu Yuanzheng knew that she had figured it out. "This is the difference between you and her. You can be a military wife, but Jiang Yiyi is hot enough."

Without waiting for Xu Wen to refute, Lu Yuanzheng lowered his head and kissed her lips.

Xu Wen resisted at first. She felt that Lu Yuanzheng's logic was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what was wrong for a while.

Lu Yuanzheng held her neck with his big hand, leaving her no room to dodge, and deepened the kiss.

Gradually Xu Wen forgot to resist, and the hands that were pushing him turned to hugging his neck.

Gradually, their breathing became disordered.

Lu Yuanzheng picked up Xu Wen and went upstairs.

The next day, Xu Wen really got her period.

Lu Yuanzheng also breathed a sigh of relief.

She had her period, which meant that the sensible Xu Wen had returned and would not make him angry with every word she said.

Xu Wen had uterine cold and suffered from severe stomach pain every time she had her period.

Lu Yuanzheng heated some milk for her, brought her a hot water bottle, told her to have a good rest, and then returned to the camp to be on duty.

Xu Wen slept for a while, got up, sat on the bed, and started working again.

Whether it's the officers and soldiers or the sisters-in-law, they all have their own grievances and their feelings for each other are inseparable. What should we do?

Xu Wen thought there were two ways.

First, let the officers and soldiers understand the difficulties of the sisters-in-law. They should not only know about it, but also see it. The sisters-in-law should also understand the difficulties of the officers and soldiers. They should not only know about it, but also see it.

Second, let the sisters-in-law be busy, so that they no longer look like concubines waiting for the emperor's favor, and turn their eyes away from the men and return to themselves.

Work hard to improve yourself, become more beautiful and stronger, and become an independent woman of the new era.

Xu Wen snorted softly, thinking that by then she might become a shrew!

Isn't it just about being busier than someone else?!

Xu Wen asked Dongsheng to help run errands to tell Mrs. Li that she wanted to treat all the sisters-in-law and children on the island to dessert.

The date was set for the day after she left home, and she still needed another day to prepare the ingredients for the dessert.

There are dozens of mouths to feed from his sisters-in-law and children together, and Xu Wen is too troublesome to get rid of them.

I made a simple double skin milk.

I borrowed some small bowls from the kitchen, packed them up and sent them to the canteen.

Regardless of the reason, all the sisters-in-law arrived, including Huang's wife. However, as soon as she saw Xu Wen, she unconsciously turned her eyes away.

Xu Wen asked Dongsheng to distribute double skin milk to the children and to occupy a few tables in the corners so as not to disturb the adults' meeting.

Xu Wen waited until the sisters-in-law had received their own portions of double skin milk before he spoke: "Today, in addition to inviting all the sisters-in-law to taste the double skin milk I made, I also have a few things to tell you.

The first thing, I guess everyone has heard from the cadres or squad leaders at home, is the matter of the private plots..."

Xu Wen conveyed the specific distribution plan on behalf of Shi Lei.

Shi Lei just slightly improved the plan she proposed.

Although the sisters-in-law had heard about it before, they couldn't help but feel happy when they knew the land was really going to be divided, and they applauded.

"You can grow vegetables or grains in your private plots, depending on your own interests. If there are any sisters-in-law who are willing to help the sisters-in-law who are not on the island to manage their private plots, please come to me and sign up."

"The second thing is about a competition. Everyone knows how difficult it is for these soldiers. Your squad leaders or company commanders and instructors should have some small blisters on their feet. These small blisters will itch, which is the so-called foot odor. Most of the reasons are because they wear such non-breathable rubber shoes in a hot and humid environment for a long time.

So the camp wants to organize the sisters-in-law to make some shoes with thousand-layer soles for the soldiers. Before New Year's Day, the sisters-in-law who make the shoes quickly and well will be awarded certificates and prizes. If you want to participate, please sign up with me later."

Immediately, a sister-in-law raised her hand and asked, "What if I want to join in?"

Xu Wen smiled, "Don't be afraid, sister-in-law. I don't know how to do it either. We can ask Sister Li and the others to teach us for a few days, and then we can start the competition after we have learned it."

The sisters-in-law had no objection. Firstly, they didn't want to be idle. Secondly, their husbands all had foot odor, so they were more willing to participate when they heard that shoes with thousand-layer soles could improve foot health.

Lu Yuanzheng arranged for several soldiers to take turns to look after the canteen for Mrs. Li so that she would have time to teach Xu Wen.

Xu Wen knew that making shoes with thousand-layer soles was troublesome, but he didn't expect it to be so troublesome.

The first step is called tying the back knot.

This is what Sister Li learned from the other sisters-in-law when she was in the compound. Those sisters-in-law were uneducated, could not write, and had a strong dialect accent.

Mrs. Li only knew the two words "结背", but she had no idea what they meant, how to write them, or what the written language was.

But it doesn’t matter. Practice makes perfect. Everyone will understand what it means after doing it once.

Start by getting a bunch of unused rags.

The warriors provided them with a lot of these rags.

They were all clothes that were too worn to be worn out, patches piled on top of patches, or sheets and quilts that were torn from washing.

Mrs. Li said this was better.

Then they boiled a pot of thick batter and soaked the fabric in the batter like washing clothes. After taking it out, they laid it out layer by layer, about three or four layers or five or six layers of fabric to make a sheet.

The number of layers depends on the thickness of the fabric itself.

There were many warriors on the island, so the sisters-in-law simply took the torn sheets, quilts and tattered clothes they provided and tied them together into a knot.

After all, we have to make nearly a thousand pairs of shoes.

Then wait for it to dry.

It takes several days for ten layers of fabric to dry completely.

During this period, Mrs. Li led everyone to draw shoe patterns.

A shoe pattern is a drawing that consists of two parts: the upper and the sole.

The sole drawing is easy to draw, just draw it according to the insole, the only difference is the size.

The shoe upper is a bit troublesome. Xu Wen feels that the unfolded shoe upper image looks a bit like the front face of a girl with shoulder-length hair, but with only the hair part and not the face.

There is a groove on each side of the bangs, which is where the elastic band is tied.

Drawing the shoe pattern was a little bit troublesome, because the "girl"'s hair was slightly tilted, and the size of the indentations on both sides of the bangs was also very particular.

Because the shoe patterns need to be folded repeatedly, the best quality "waste paper" is used.

You need paper that is not too stiff and does not break easily after repeated folding.

This kind of paper is quite expensive, and the sisters-in-law are thrifty and don't want to waste it, so they asked the camp to help them find some unused waste paper.

Finally, Lu Yuanzheng found some New Year pictures that are distributed during festivals.

Although it is not very good, it is already the best paper on the island.

The shoe pattern is ready, and the next step is to cut the upper and sock clasp.

The upper of the shoe is usually made of black cloth, a color rarely seen on the island. In order to make their clothes look more coordinated, the sisters-in-law went to the central island and bought some army green cloth of the same style.

Then cut the hair into neat bangs along the pattern to create the "girls."

The sock strap is an inch wide, extremely elastic elastic bandage that is used in the groove of the shoe to make it easier for soldiers to lift their shoes after putting their feet into them.

After the pattern is cut, the edges must be hemmed first.

It just so happened that Xu Wen had received a sewing machine as a gift for her marriage, but she had never had the time to use it, so it came in handy this time.

Each step is very simple to say but very tedious to do.

And they didn't just make one pair. Since it was for warmth, they simply gave each soldier in the battalion a pair.

There are seven or eight hundred people!

Among these nearly seventy military wives, more than half do not know how to make this kind of cloth shoes. They are all apprentices. The real main force is Sister Li and her friends.

So for a few days everyone was cutting the shoe soles and hemming the socks.

After the edges are locked, the bangs girl becomes a beautiful shoe without a sole, and a layer of white edge is wrapped around the sole.

Mrs. Li couldn't explain why it had to be wrapped with so much edging, probably for the sake of aesthetics.

Xu Wen should be the most unscrupulous one among these apprentice sisters-in-law.

Other sisters-in-law made ten pairs of shoes, but she only made one or two.

It’s not that Xu Wen is lazy, but that she is too busy.

Her main job is to work with wind power generation. Every day she follows the construction team under the scorching sun and runs around the island.

After installing the windmill, cables and wires need to be laid and a machine room needs to be set up. Xu Wen memorized every step carefully. After all, he would have to hand it over to the soldiers in the future, and there couldn't be any mistakes.

After a busy day, I can't rest when I get home at night because I have to study the cake.

Dongsheng’s fifth birthday is getting closer.

Speaking of Dongsheng, Xu Wen also experienced in advance that a son is no longer under the control of his mother.

Dongsheng and Doudou's relationship grows better and better. The two children are inseparable and have a great influence on each other.

For example, if Dongsheng is being lazy and doesn't want to take a bath, all he needs to do is say "Doudou likes to take a bath, she said she doesn't like stinky kids."

Dongsheng would run to take a shower without saying a word.

According to Doudou’s mother, the same is true for Doudou.

At home, whenever Doudou is naughty, calling Dongsheng’s name is particularly effective.

Moreover, Xiao Dongsheng’s emotional intelligence is getting higher and higher, and he is very good at coaxing people.

Every time I would pick some beautiful wild flowers on the island and give them to Doudou.

Occasionally, I would ask.

Another time, it is said that when Dongsheng gave Doudou flowers, several sisters-in-law were there and teased Dongsheng: "Dongsheng, do you want to marry Doudou?"

Dongsheng nodded vigorously.

He didn't know what it meant to marry a wife, but he knew that Lu Yuanzheng Guan Xuwen called her a daughter-in-law.

He also knows that his parents are always together, and he also wants to be with Doudou.

The sisters-in-law pointed at Doudou's mother and continued to tease him, "Dongsheng, if you want to get married, you have to call her mother first."