Back To The 80s-Chapter 17: Show Goodwill_1

Before Lu Zhanguo left, he took Gu Xiaobei to the town again, bought some rice, flour, and oil. The vegetables were now in season, so they couldn’t buy too much since they wouldn’t store well. He could only tell Gu Xiaobei to buy from the meal team after eating, but she must pay for it.

After Lu Zhanguo left, Gu Xiaobei began to think about making clothes, little quilts and such for the child. She bought a piece of pure cotton cloth with a white background and blue flowers. She also bought a piece of finely woven gauze. The ones sold in the market were usually polyester fabrics, which were not suitable for children to wear.

After measuring for a long time, Gu Xiaobei was dumbfounded as she had never had a child in her two lifetimes. She didn’t know how big the clothes should be for a newborn or what style they should be.

After worrying for a while, she put the cloth away and decided to find a tailor shop in town to make them. As soon as she packed the cloth away, she heard a knock on the door.

When Gu Xiaobei came out of the inner room to open the door, it was surprisingly Li Juan, who had always looked down on her.

"Sis, are you home alone? I’ve dug up some wild vegetables. Thinking that it’d be inconvenient for you to do so since you’re bearing a child, I decided to bring you some." Li Juan indicated the basket of wild vegetables she was carrying on her arm.

Gu Xiaobei could only hesitatingly invite her in, as she needed to be polite in response.

"On the mountain slope behind this camp, because the villagers are prohibited from grazing their sheep, the wild vegetables there are unusually clean and orderly. Delightful indeed." Li Juan chuckled as she put down the basket and sat down.

Gu Xiaobei became interested and crouched down to examine it. Half of the basket was Chinese toon, and the remaining half was shepherd’s purse. The reason she recognized them was because eating wild vegetables had become fashionable in the 21st century, and they were even more expensive than ordinary vegetables. As a foodie, Gu Xiaobei had a taste for delicacies.

"This is really good, they’re so plump and yet so tender. Thank you."

Li Juan waved a hand with a chuckle, "Don’t be so formal, sister. These seasonal vegetables are just for freshness. Once the spring rain comes, they’ll start to age."

Although puzzled by Li Juan’s unusual warmth, Gu Xiaobei stayed silent and sat down on the small bed across from Li Juan.

"When are you due?" Li Juan asked, looking at Gu Xiaobei’s stomach.

"Not until October." Gu Xiaobei had estimated herself.

"Here, it gets cold early. One year, it even started snowing heavily in October. You need to prepare some cotton-padded jackets and trousers for the child, and some thick little quilts. You city people might not know how to make these. Luckily, I have some printed cloth and cotton left over from making a padded jacket for my daughter. I’ll make you a set when I get back." Li Juan offered enthusiastically.

"Oh, thank you then." Gu Xiaobei was caught off guard by the warm reception. She thought to herself, this woman must have an ulterior motive for showing such unwarranted kindness.

"Why so formal? We live in the same building. Besides, my son Wen Dong is a soldier under Captain Lu. If we aren’t friendly, wouldn’t it seem too standoffish?" Li Juan expressed with a face suggesting we’re all family.

Gu Xiaobei was clear in her heart, there had to be a motive, otherwise, this sudden warmness made no sense. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Li Juan stayed for a while and then left.

Although Gu Xiaobei still couldn’t figure it out, looking at the basket of wild vegetables made her feel excited. It seemed she could go digging for some wild vegetables herself when she had free time.

She took the basket to the water room and washed the wild vegetables. For lunch, she quickly blanched some Chinese toon in boiling water and made a cold dish out of it. She chopped up the shepherd’s purse, mixed it with eggs, and made an egg pancake. Gu Xiaobei herself found it extremely delicious.

The day after that, Li Juan came again. This time she brought a few apples in a mesh bag. Springtime apples were rare. At that time, there were no refrigerators to store them, so people would dig large storage pits at home. During the spring market days, they could fetch a good price. However, the apples had lost some water and were slightly wrinkled.

As Gu Xiaobei was seeing Li Juan out, she ran into Xiangmin who was about to wash the vegetables. When Li Juan saw Xiangmin, she didn’t show the usual friendliness and passed by with a huff.

Watching Li Juan go downstairs, Xiangmin asked in a low voice, "You didn’t agree to her, did you?"

"What?" Although Gu Xiaobei didn’t like Xiangmin, she was indeed curious about why Li Juan had been so nice lately.

Xiangmin looked left and right before lowering her voice, "She’s approaching you like this, probably because of her brother’s voluntary enlistment this winter. She wants you to ask your husband for help."

Gu Xiaobei didn’t understand what the benefits of volunteering were. Xiangmin continued, "She asked me a while ago to ask my husband, but I declined. Now I’ve offended her, she doesn’t even talk when we meet, what kind of person!" Xiangmin scoffed.

No wonder they had fallen out, Gu Xiaobei thought. She certainly would not interfere with Li Juan’s affairs, either. Even if she agreed, Lu Zhanguo, being an upright man, would definitely disagree. So she just smiled at Xiangmin and said, "Well, even if it’s true, I can’t do anything about it. I can’t make decisions for my husband."

"Exactly! But you’d better not accept any more of her things. If you can’t deliver, she’ll ruin your reputation by saying that you took advantage of her, even if you only took a clove of garlic from her." Xiangmin said in a low voice.

Gu Xiaobei thought to herself, she didn’t need her to tell her that, her reputation in the courtyard was probably not good to begin with. But she just nodded without a word.

Xiangmin felt like she had established a connection with Gu Xiaobei, "You’d better watch out. She will definitely come to see you often. Be careful not to give openings to others. By the way, come to our house for dinner tonight. My husband said your husband is going to be away for a month. If you need anything, just come to us." Xiangmin added formally before leaving.

Gu Xiaobei politely agreed and went back to her room.

In the evening, another visitor, Qin Mei, came to her house. Other than the one time at the hospital, they hadn’t seen each other since.

Qin Mei was not bashful, she picked up the jar on the table and gulped down several mouthfuls. She was sweating slightly from her forehead, looking as though she had run all the way here.

"I just finished training. The platoon leader called me. He asked me to come and check on you." Qin Mei didn’t understand why the ordinarily reticent man would call her and ask her to check on Gu Xiaobei. Was she not able to move or something?

It had been several days since Lu Zhanguo left. She did miss him. Hearing that he called back concerned about her, she was naturally very pleased. "Thank you, have you eaten? How about I make you something?" Gu Xiaobei thanked Qin Mei earnestly.

"No need, I just came to check on you, I’ll leave right away." Qin Mei said, and after waiting for a few minutes, hurriedly left again.

Gu Xiaobei tidied up the room briefly. She picked up the dirty clothes that needed washing and went to the water room. As it was just after dinner, the water room was lively with many military wives washing clothes and chatting.

Gu Xiaobei walked in and smiled amicably at everyone, before going to a corner to wash her own clothes. Although they didn’t interact, they still knew who the other wives were. So the women, seeing the now amiable Gu Xiaobei, also returned her smile with kind expressions.