A pot of dumplings, a plate of pancakes, and a bowl of pickled vegetable and tofu soup.
Zhou Lanqin also cooked a large bowl of egg soup for her daughter-in-law, brought it to her, and instructed: "Linglong, drink this bowl of egg soup to nourish your body."
"Mom, let's eat together. There's no need to prepare something special for me." Gong Linglong said hurriedly.
"We can just eat something else, and you can have the egg drop soup."
Zhou Lanqin thought about her son's physique. He must have tortured her a lot last night. Soldiers have strong physical strength and energy. Her daughter-in-law might have been injured by him. She must eat some nutritious food.
Although his mother didn't explain it clearly, Lu Jingchuan understood what she meant. Feeling a little embarrassed, he immediately picked up the chopsticks to pick up the pork dumplings for his wife.
"Auntie Zhou, have you finished breakfast?"
Just as everyone put down their bowls and chopsticks, Jiang Yaping's voice came from outside. Zhou Lanqin immediately got up and went to open the door, "Yaping, we just finished eating."
"We're going to the back hills to collect firewood today. Do you want to come?"
Jiang Yaping asked the family members to take action together yesterday afternoon, but they were very busy at the time and did not come to inform them.
Zhou Lanqin thought about the banquet at home yesterday, which had used up all the firewood her son had stored. The remaining firewood was only enough to burn for two or three days. She nodded and said, "Okay, we'll go too. Please wait a moment. I'll wash the dishes and leave."
He turned around and assigned tasks to his two sons: "Jingchuan, if you don't go to training today, then go to the mountains with Jingyang to collect firewood. Let's bring back more today. Spring will soon be here, and it will rain a lot, so it's better to collect more firewood and keep it at home."
"Okay." Lu Jingchuan responded and immediately stood up to clean up the dishes.
They went out to collect firewood, and Bai Shuixian and Gong Linglong, mother and daughter, also went. Zhou Lanqin didn't want them to go, but the mother and daughter were people who couldn't sit still, so they just took ropes and machetes and followed.
The team going to collect firewood was huge. Half of them were children, and there were two or three babies about one year old, all tied to their mothers' backs with straps.
The other children aged five or six all carried small backpacks and followed into the mountains to collect pine needles and leaves to use as kindling. As for the other children aged two or three, they just followed to play, rolling and crawling all the way and having a lot of fun.
When Gong Linglong went out, she brought a handful of candy and gave one to each child. She chatted and laughed with the military families along the way and quickly integrated into their group.
Jiang Yaping and the others originally thought that Gong Linglong was a female comrade who had never suffered hardship. After all, she had fair skin and was beautiful, and did not look like she had done farm work. But when she started working, everyone realized that they had misunderstood her.
"Linglong, let Jingchuan and the others do the tree-cutting work. You don't go." Zhou Lanqin was afraid that her daughter-in-law would be tired.
"Mom, it's okay. I'm strong and can do it." Gong Linglong went over to help with a machete.
Lu Jingchuan didn't let her chop down the trunk. "Linglong, stand aside. I'll chop down the tree first, and you chop the branches."
"You two brothers can work on this one together. Mom and I will go over there and chop it down."
Gong Linglong was an expert at chopping trees and collecting firewood, and the mother and daughter had been working together for many years, so she simply left him behind and left.
Seeing her chop down a tree as thick as an arm with just a few effortless strokes, the military wives looked at her with a changed look. Jiang Yaping smiled and asked, "Linglong, do you work normally?"
"Work. I grew up in the countryside and do this kind of work every day."
When she heard that she also grew up in the countryside, Jiang Yaping was slightly surprised: "You don't look like you grew up in the countryside at all. No girl in the countryside is as white as you."
All the military wives came from rural areas, and none of the new brides were as pretty as her. Not to mention them, even those from the art troupe could not compare to her in terms of appearance and skin color.
Gong Linglong laughed when she heard this, "My skin never gets tanned, thanks to my good mother."
Bai Shuixian was helping to chop the branches. She smiled faintly, didn't say much, and lowered her head to work silently.
Jiang Yaping and her colleagues noticed Deputy Commander Lu's mother-in-law at the wedding banquet yesterday. She was probably less than 40 years old, and her dress and conversation were very charming. She spoke softly and the military leaders all praised her. They guessed at the time that she must be a city person.
But now seeing her calloused hands, I am sure that these are the hands that have been used in farm work. They are as rough as theirs. It seems that she really lives in the countryside.
Zhou Lanqin was helping to bundle branches. Seeing that the mother and daughter worked just as hard as her two sons, she was deeply touched. "Mother-in-law, you've only just recovered. You should rest a little while and I'll do it."
"No problem."
Bai Shuixian smiled faintly and said, "I haven't done anything for the past half month while recuperating from my injuries. Every day I eat and sleep, and without any activity, my limbs feel like they're rusted. I still need to work."
"Then you can just work a little bit, don't do the heavy work, let Jingchuan do it."
Zhou Lanqin didn't forget to assign tasks to her son, saying, "A son-in-law is half a son too. From now on, you and Linglong shouldn't do the heavy, tiring, and dirty work at home. Let him do it. He's a man, and it's his duty to take care of his wife and respect his mother-in-law. You should rest more at home and take good care of your health. When Linglong gives birth to one or two children in the future, you can just take good care of them."
Seeing that she always considered them both, Bai Shuixian was deeply moved and said to her daughter, "Linglong, your mother-in-law loves you. You must be filial to your mother-in-law in the future."
"Mom, I will." Gong Linglong responded.
Zhou Lanqin continued working and said with a smile, "Mom is able to walk and move around now, and I have a job and an income, so you don't have to worry about me. You just need to live your own lives now, work hard, have children soon, raise and educate them well, and do what you should do at this age. When I'm old and can't walk anymore, and can't even cook a meal, I'll do the work for you."
"Mom, you are a role model for mothers-in-law all over the world."
Gong Linglong was speaking from her heart. A mother-in-law who was so sensible and caring about her children was extremely rare in this day and age. She was so lucky to have met such a good mother-in-law.
The sisters-in-law who worked nearby all envied Gong Linglong's good fortune. They all came from rural areas, and the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was hard to describe. When everyone talked about the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, they could probably tell a long story. In short, it was basically impossible to find a daughter who could get along well with her mother-in-law.
Zhou Lanqin smiled at her daughter-in-law's high praise and said, "There are many mothers-in-law like me. I can't really call her a role model. I also learned from your grandmother and your great-grandmother. Only when mother-in-law and daughter-in-law respect and understand each other can the family be harmonious and happy."
"Although my child's father and I have been divorced for many years, I get along very well with my former in-laws and sisters-in-law. Your grandparents treat me like their own daughter. They live not far away, and we still visit each other regularly."
"Mom and Jingyang are usually very busy with work, and we never eat three meals a day on time. Your grandma often brings us meals, and when she has time, she helps us with housework and laundry. She really treats me like her own daughter."
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