The troops are stationed here; joy for so families, sorrow for others.
At night, the n from each family who have been training return. Mo Junhua’s high-profile marriage is known to everyone in the camp, and they all warn their wives to stay out of trouble during this ti.
In the morning, Lan Tian woke up to find herself in a strange room, dazed for a while before rembering she was back at the army base, not in Shanghai.
The curtains in the room were drawn shut, making it dim inside. It must have been Mo Junhua who closed them to keep the harsh light out and let Lan Tian sleep. Through the gaps, she could see it was already broad daylight outside.
Lan Tian turned her head and didn’t see Mo Junhua; he must have woken up early for morning exercises. She faintly heard the sound of drills in the distance. After a restful sleep, her spirit was rejuvenated, and the pain in her Sea of Consciousness had subsided. Lan Tian checked and found her Divine Sense had grown slightly; enduring that pain was worth it.
Her Spiritual Energy in the Dantian had recovered thirty to forty percent. Since the Spiritual Energy was ample in the morning, Lan Tian decided to ditate on the bed and practice Cultivation in a full cycle. After restoring about fifty percent of her Spiritual Energy, Lan Tian ended her ditation, got up, took a set of clothes from the wardrobe, and went to brush her teeth and take a shower.
Passing through the hall, she saw a note left by Mo Junhua: "Girl, there’s warm rice porridge and buns in the big pot in the kitchen. Rember to eat."
She threw the note into the bin and, after washing up in the kitchen, saw a big pot on the coal stove covered with a lid. Lan Tian lifted the lid; inside was water with two bowls that filled two-thirds of each with water - enough to warm both the rice porridge and the buns and to boil water simultaneously. Killing two birds with one stone.
After glancing inside, Lan Tian covered the pot, went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and shower, then washed her clothes and hung them on the balcony, noticing Mo Junhua’s uniform was already hanging there. She hung her clothes next to his, ca back to the big pot, stared at it for a few seconds, took out the rice porridge and buns, and started eating with so spicy dishes made by her aunt.
After breakfast, Lan Tian changed into a beige plaid slim-fit trousers, a white long-sleeved shirt with a bow tie neckline, wore a sky-blue vest, brown riding boots, tied her long hair with a peach branch, and carried her small handbag as she left the house.
Visiting the old place felt different this ti; she needed to take a good look at the scenery of the army base.
The playground downstairs had beco a dedicated area for Military Wives to bring their children, who could always be seen playing together while the Military Wives gathered around, knitting sweaters, sewing shoe soles, and talking about the latest gossip from the base.
"Yesterday, you should have seen the Camp Commander’s Wife; she is so pretty," said one Military Wife, who chattered away happily.
"Didn’t they say that Nurse Zhou was beautiful? Compared to the Camp Commander’s Wife, she’s nothing. Plus, she always looks down on us from rural areas, despising our roughness and lack of education because we’ve toiled in the fields. I found out the Camp Commander’s Wife is also from a rural area, just like us."
Another Military Wife quickly added, "Yes, yes, coming from the sa rural background, yet they look more urban than those from the cities with their delicate hands and pinchable cheeks."
"Tian Xianghua, why bring up Nurse Zhou when we’re having a good talk?" another Military Wife objected.
"Ma Juanjuan, what does Nurse Zhou have to do with you? Is she your sister or sothing? Why do you care so much? You her mother or what?"
"You..." Ma Juanjuan shivered with anger, considering herself well-educated, she couldn’t lose her composure in public and curse like a fishwife; these rural people were simply unreasonable.
Tian Xianghua rolled her eyes at Ma Juanjuan, shaking her head and quipped sarcastically, "Oh please, even in our villages, no one would behave as shalessly as Nurse Zhou, chasing after n. The battalion commander doesn’t even spare her a glance, yet she keeps coming as if she’s never seen a man before. If it were in the village, the villagers would spit her to death, yet she still has the face to go out."
"Tian Xianghua, watch your mouth," Ma Juanjuan yelled as Tian Xianghua continued to talk indecorously.
"What? Want to fight?" Tian Xianghua puffed out her chest, raising her head to face her. Tian Xianghua, used to farm work, was rather robust, whereas Ma Juanjuan, who was more delicate, was no match for her.
"Sister-in-law Xianghua, stop quarreling, is that the Camp Commander’s Wife down there?" A Military Wife pulled Tian Xianghua’s arm, pointing downstairs.
"What is she wearing? It looks nice," another Military Wife asked Tian Xianghua.
Tian Xianghua shook her head, "I don’t know, but it does look nice."
Ma Juanjuan scoffed, "Of course, it’s nice. I saw it in a Shanghai departnt store; it’s not cheap, costing over a hundred! If anyone likes it, they can go buy it."
Hearing that it cost over a hundred, the Military Wives imdiately dismissed the idea of buying a set and sighed in admiration of Lan Tian, thinking how much the Camp Commander must cherish his wife to buy such expensive clothes; over a hundred was half a year’s living expenses for a whole family.
Lan Tian on the staircase overhead their argunt.
In her past life, Tian Xianghua didn’t get along with Zhou Yuwei either, later hearing that Zhou Yuwei tried to seduce Tian Xianghua’s husband at the health clinic. The seduction failed, and once Tian Xianghua found out, she constantly sabotaged Zhou Yuwei behind her back.
Tian Xianghua’s husband, a decent man who treated her well, usually sided with Tian Xianghua on most issues, making Lan Tian envious in her past life.
Among Military Wives, Lan Tian didn’t want to get involved in their trivial matters—it was troubleso. In her previous life, she couldn’t involve herself; in this life, there was no need to.
She glanced over that way and lifted her foot to walk forward along the path, slowly taking in the scenery as she went.
Actually, the scenery at the military base was just so-so, similar to Mo Village, apart from the mountains and woods, there was just the training field. Near the Military Building, the nearby wasteland—even the soil on both sides of the road—had been cultivated by the Military Wives into vegetable patches, with loofah vines bearing long and large loofahs, and chili peppers hanging in clusters of green and red, so areas had newly sprouted white cabbage and radish seedlings, glistening green and pleasant to the eyes.
The cut leeks had grown back, rows of flourishing green beans, and rows of tomatoes, almost as big as a child’s fist.
The Military Wives took very good care of these vegetable patches.
Lan Tian wandered around the nearby area and it was almost noon when she decided to head back.
Unlike in Mo Village, where her aunt and grandma never let her do any housework, and her only job was to stay cheerful every day making everyone happy. In Shanghai, she was a guest, naturally not needing to do any work, but now, only she and Mo Junhua were here, so cooking was up to her.
Downstairs, she encountered Tian Xianghua and a few Military Wives pulling their kids back ho and Lan Tian smiled and nodded her head.
"That..."
Tian Xianghua didn’t know how to address Lan Tian properly, looking at her attire, she couldn’t bring herself to call her ’Big Sister.’
Seeing her embarassnt, Lan Tian said, "Sister-in-law, just call Lan Tian!"
Tian Xianghua’s smile brightened, "Ah, then I’ll call you Lan Tian. My na is Tian Xianghua, my man is a colleague of Camp Commander Mo, next to is Lin Xiaofang, and behind is Chen Hong. Their n are all company commanders."
Lin Xiaofang and Chen Hong shyly smiled and greeted, "Nice to et you, Sister-in-law!"
Lan Tian smiled and nodded back at them, saying, "Nice to et you!"
"Lan Tian, are you really from the countryside?" Tian Xianghua’s personality was impatient, and she was used to speaking frankly, she couldn’t hold back her words and imdiately asked Lan Tian.
"Don’t I look like it?" Lan Tian chuckled, "Actually, I am from the countryside, it’s just that I was naturally fair and hard to tan. Before, I used to roam around the village every day, perhaps they got used to seeing around and didn’t think much of it, but after coming out here, people have asked this."
"You’re from the countryside!" Tian Xianghua breathed a sigh of relief, afraid that she had mistaken Lan Tian for soone else.
"You might not know since you just arrived, but among the Military Wives in the army, so are from the countryside and so are from the city. They might seem friendly, but those city folks look down on us country folks, always talking behind our backs about how uncultured we are. As ti goes by, you’ll see. They use their education to talk in circles, confusing you completely, and make fun of us behind our backs. I’ve suffered at their hands, so be careful when you see them."
Lan Tian glanced at her; they had t only twice, but regardless of Tian Xianghua’s reasons, it was nice of her to give a heads-up.
"I understand now. Sister-in-law, this is where I live, co visit whenever you’re free."
"What a coincidence, I live just above your floor, I’ll co visit when I have ti, just don’t find annoying then!"
Lan Tian looked towards the roof, "Indeed, what a coincidence."
After Tian Xianghua and the others went upstairs, Lan Tian entered her apartnt and closed the door, standing at the entrance for a while before heading to the kitchen.
The place where grains and oils were kept was still the sa, Lan Tian opened the rice container lid to see, there was still half a container of rice left, the cupboard had a bowl of stir-fried pork, beside it were so green beans, red chili peppers, and two loofahs.
She took the two sacks she had brought from ho, piled at the kitchen door, Lan Tian opened them to take out the dried goods and special products, storing them in the cabinet under the cupboard. She took out a handful of small bok choys from the Spiritual Vegetables and stored the rest into Sleeve Universe.
"I haven’t cooked in most of my life, and now I’m making soup again, cooking for you, Mo Junhua, you’re really lucky!" Holding the Spiritual Vegetables, Lan Tian murmured to herself and went to wash and soak the rice.
Cooking rice was simple, after washing the rice and setting up the water, she just needed to place it on the coal stove. Cooking the vegetables wasn’t as easy. Apart from stir-frying, Lan Tian could also stew.
Green beans stir-fried with pork, chili peppers stir-fried with dry-cured rabbit, another stir-fried green vegetable, and made an egg drop soup to finish.
Lan Tian stared at the four dishes she made, contemplative. Grandma and others had rarely tasted the dishes she cooked, why should Mo Junhua? Not knowing what she thought of, she smiled mischievously, taking out a bottle from Sleeve Universe, adding a drop into each bowl, stirring a few tis with chopsticks, adding two extra drops in the egg drop soup.
Reviews
All reviews (0)