Back To The 80s-Chapter 148: Homely_1
Li Fengmei puzzledly said, "Why did you only leave a few cabbages? There’s no way we can go through the winter without at least fifty of them and we also need to pickle some spicy cabbage."
"Xiangmin wanted a barrel of pickled cabbage, I had no choice but to pull them all out for that," Wang Ping said somewhat wronged.
Gu Xiaobei didn’t respond. In the first place, this was a case of one willing to beat and the other willing to endure.
Li Fengmei, straightforwardly stated, "Why are you so naive? Her own land lies vacant under the sun, and she doesn’t even know to sow some seeds. She’s just taking advantage of you."
Wang Ping, being soft-spoken, helplessly, replied, "What could I do when she put it that way, I didn’t have the heart to refuse her."
"You’re just like a ripe persimmon, easily squeezed by the whim of others." Li Fengmei voiced in frustration.
"Sigh, she said her husband, Old Guo, was going away for an educational trip next spring. I hope he leaves as soon as possible," Wang Ping heaved a sigh.
"An educational trip? My husband, Zhang Lijun, was saying that it was the squadron leader who was going."
Gu Xiaobei realized she was out of the loop when she heard this. She had not heard about what they were discussing.
"I’m not sure about that. When she was telling me the other day, it seemed like a done deal," Wang Ping then turned to Gu Xiaobei, "Sister-in-law, did you know about this?"
Gu Xiaobei shook her head, "I don’t know. Lu Zhanguo never tells me about his work."
Li Fengmei didn’t understand these matters either, "Well, it’s probably for the best if they move away; we can finally have some peace."
Wang Ping pursed her lips and said, "Isn’t that the truth? All day she’s playing the part of the officer’s wife. By the way, did you visit her while she was in the hospital?"
Li Fengmei shook her head, "I haven’t gone yet. I’m too busy here, and I have two kids attending school. We’ll wait until she comes back from the hospital."
Gu Xiaobei remained silent. Everybody in the unit knew she didn’t get along with Xiangmin. So she was not going to visit. She didn’t want to play pretend.
"My husband, Liang Shuisheng, suggested that I go to the city to see her. But I don’t feel like going alone. Maybe I will wait until she is out of the hospital. I can bring her some eggs then," Wang Ping thought that going when Xiangmin came back would be better.
Seeing that Gu Xiaobei stayed silent, Li Fengmei advised, "Sister-in-law, I know that you don’t get along with Xiangmin. But for your husband’s sake, you ought to visit her – maybe just bring her some eggs. Think about it, the squadron leader has a good relationship with the instructor. So you should visit when something happens in his family. But it would be improper for a big man like the squadron leader to go. So, you should be the one to go."
Gu Xiaobei had not thought about it in such depth. After hearing Li Fengmei, she realized it made sense and thought that she should discuss it with Lu Zhanguo when he comes back.
After a while longer of chatting, the three women decided to head back. Gu Xiaobei casually pulled up a few green onion shoots along the way. Every family’s land was limited. If you dug trenches for green onions, you wouldn’t be able to plant much because it took too much space. So everyone still had to buy larger onions to store for winter. Now all families would scatter some onion seeds around the edges of their vegetable patches in order to eat the green onion sprouts that grew.
Seeing it was cold outside, Gu Xiaobei made a pot of noodle soup, and considering Chen Gang ate a lot, she also baked two onion pancakes.
Li Fengmei, after glancing at the dish, said, "Sis, this noodle soup you made is mouthwatering, unlike mine which always tastes bland."
Gu Xiaobei made tomato-based soup, adding water to it and boiling it and then pulling small, uniform, thin slices from the noodle base. Lastly, she sprinkled some spinach leaves and cracked an egg in. The resulting dish webt beautifully, with its lightly red soup, jade-like noodle pieces, glisteningly green spinach, and the tender yellow egg - a feast for the eyes that would get anyone’s appetite going.
Gu Xiaobei laughed and said, "You can try making it like this next time."
"Sure. But there aren’t many tomatoes left now, hardly enough for the kids to snack on," Li Fengmei replied, laughing.
In the midst of the conversation, Chen Gang and Jiuer came back. Xiaodong, who trailed behind them, looked gloomy.
"What happened?" Li Fengmei asked hurriedly.
"He didn’t do well on the test and he didn’t score higher than your brother Chen Gang," Xiaodong replied nonchalantly.
"You scared me! If you didn’t do well on this test, simply do better next time," Li Fengmei was practical about the child’s academic grades. If the kid wasn’t book-smart, there was no point in forcing him.
"aunt, can you tutor me this afternoon? I want to pass the middle school entrance exam with Chen Gang next year," Xiaodong said ambitiously.
"Sure. Come over after lunch every day. You can study together with Chen Gang and compete with each other. I feel there’s hardly any difference between tutoring one kid or two," Gu Xiaobei felt it wouldn’t matter much.
"Alright, next time I am surely going to score higher than Chen Gang," Xiaodong said, with a hint of displeasure.
Chen Gang, however, calmly said, "Actually, you just needed to be a little bit more mindful, and double-check your answers after you finished, you could have scored a hundred, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah, Jiuer and I both scored a hundred this time in our tests. I did a review," Xiaodong excitingly blurt out.
"Sure, you should be bragging about scoring a hundred on a 1 plus 1 equals 2 question, as if failing would not be an embarrassment," Li Fengmei jokingly pulled the two kids back to her home for dinner.
After washing his hands, Chen Gang helped Gu Xiaobei bring the dishes inside.
While having dinner, Chen Gang said hesitantly, "Auntie, I want to take Jiuer home to see my mom this Saturday."
"Sure, I’ll steam some buns for you to take home," Gu Xiaobei replied, not making much of it.
"No need, auntie. My mom has been coughing a lot since autumn began, and she can’t eat dry food. She can only manage some liquid food now," Chen Gang spoke of his trouble with a hint of sadness.
Gu Xiaobei’s heart clenched at this. Given these circumstances, Chen Gang’s mom probably wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. With poor medical conditions and her family’s limited resources, a small illness had turned into a serious disease.
"You can take some rice back then and cook porridge for her."
"No need, auntie. My sister-in-law wouldn’t cook it for her. And I have no control over what happens at home," Chen Gang said, his eyes reddening.
"How could your sister-in-law behave like this, and your brother just let her?" Gu Xiaobei angrily retorted.
"It’s not easy to get a wife in our hometown, my brother gave up our only two cows to marry her. Her family is very influential," Chen Gang explained briefly.
Gu Xiaobei understood more or less. Chen Qiang felt that getting a wife was not easy and, on top of that, Lu Xianglan’s family was intimidating, so he dared not offend her. In the end, he was just a weakling.
"If you take Jiuer home with you, your sister-in-law wouldn’t beat her, would she?" asked Gu Xiaobei, concerned.
In the middle of eating her meal, Jiuer involuntarily shrank back a bit unsettled, and looked anxiously at Chen Gang.
"She won’t, this Saturday my aunt from Shaanbei is visiting and she wouldn’t dare mess things up," Chen Gang wasn’t entirely sure.
"Take two pounds of rice back with you. If she’s happy, she might stop picking on Jiuer," Gu Xiaobei didn’t have a better solution.
"Thank you, auntie, don’t worry. If she dares to hit Jiuer this time, I will stand my ground against her," Chen Gang said earnestly, but he couldn’t hide the childlike innocence on his face.
Jiuer quietly continued to eat. She longed to see her mother, but was afraid of her sister-in-law. However, if seeing her mother meant getting beaten, she was willing to bear it.
Just after finishing their meal, Xiaodong actually came over with his backpack. Gu Xiaobei quickly cleaned up the table and began tutoring the two children.
