Back To The 80s-Chapter 85 - 84: Travelling Together_1

Gu Xiaobei thought about it. The day after tomorrow was Sunday, so perhaps he could make some food for Qin Mei.

Because Gu Xiaobei was preparing food for Qin Mei the following day, he didn’t go to see Li Fengmei. He stayed at home and fried some sesame seeds, getting ready to make some sesame pancakes for Qin Mei to snack on.

After frying the sesame seeds, he mixed some dough with oil and eggs. After letting the dough rest for half an hour, he rolled it into thin pancakes and sprinkled the sesame seeds evenly on top. He made some sweet ones and some salty ones. He made twenty pancakes in total, each the size of a palm. As he was in the middle of rolling out the dough, Li Fengmei arrived.

"What are you making?" Li Fengmei asked, looking at the sesame pancakes arranged on the sorghum stalk mat.

"I’m going to see Qin Mei tomorrow, so I made her some snacks." Gu Xiaobei replied with a smile as he rolled out the dough.

"That’s really thoughtful of you. It’s much better than buying canned food or egg cakes. How did you make these?" Qin Mei asked curiously.

"It’s simple, just mix dough with oil and eggs. Make the dough a bit stiff. Add sugar for sweet ones, and salt for salty ones. Sprinkle a layer of roasted sesame seeds when you roll out the dough. The pancake needs to be thin, then fry it over low heat until it’s golden brown on both sides." Gu Xiaobei explained patiently.

Upon hearing how the dough was made, Qin Mei felt that it was quite troublesome and remarked, "I wouldn’t be able to make them myself." She continued after a light laugh, "I heard Xiangmin is pregnant. Old Guo must be thrilled."

Gu Xiaobei, who had been ignoring Xiangmin recently, naturally didn’t know about this. But he was curious, "I always thought they already had children and were staying in their hometown."

"Xiangmin and Old Guo have been married for nearly ten years without having any kids. The Guo family looks down on her because of this. Despite being a city girl and having a thriving business in town, it’s all in vain if she can’t bear a child." Li Fengmei spoke the truth. Any woman who didn’t show signs of pregnancy within a year of her marriage would become a subject of gossip in the village. This was especially true for someone like Xiangmin who had been married for seven or eight years.

"I heard she got pregnant after she took a secret recipe from Chi Xiaoyue." Li Fengmei said insinuatingly.

Gu Xiaobei felt nothing good could come out of anything related to Chi Xiaoyue. Could she actually have a secret recipe that would lead to pregnancy? He didn’t believe it.

"So recently, Xiangmin has been hanging out with Chi Xiaoyue again. I saw them yesterday, they were just like real sisters." Li Fengmei said in disgust; she had become increasingly intolerant of Chi Xiaoyue.

Gu Xiaobei couldn’t figure out what kind of scheme Chi Xiaoyue was plotting this time.

Early on Sunday morning, Gu Xiaobei was dragged out of bed by Lu Zhanguo. Gu Xiaobei glared accusingly at Lu Zhanguo, thinking him to be a lecher. When Lu Zhanguo didn’t resist, Gu Xiaobei argued that he was only responding to her advances, so how could she blame him?

After Gu Xiaobei casually cuddled and kissed Lu Zhanguo, taking advantage of him, she finally got up to brush her teeth and wash her face.

When the two arrived at the bus stop, they surprisingly ran into Chi Xiaoyue and Xiangmin, who were waiting for the bus under the shade of a tree.

Whenever Gu Xiaobei saw Chi Xiaoyue, she felt as though every hair on her body was standing on end, ready for battle. She chided herself for her recent combativeness—it really wasn’t a good thing, not at all!

Xiangmin saw Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei, and chuckled awkwardly, "Are you also going to the town?"

Lu Zhanguo just hummed in response, his face cold. Chi Xiaoyue, acting as if she hadn’t seen them before, smiled and said, "We’re going to the field hospital to see Sister Qin Mei. Are you coming?"

Gu Xiaobei found it peculiar that Chi Xiaoyue seemed to be everywhere she went.

Before Lu Zhanguo could open his mouth, Gu Xiaobei chirped in, "We’re going there too. Let’s go together."

Lu Zhanguo looked puzzled, but seeing Xiaobei’s fox-like grin, he kept quiet.

"Okay." Chi Xiaoyue agreed warily. She hadn’t fared well against Gu Xiaobei on their previous exchanges.

Gu Xiaobei did not look at Xiangmin once throughout. After all, she was a petty person who bore grudges easily. Let people think what they want.

Throughout the journey, Gu Xiaobei seemed to be in high spirits, chatting with Chi Xiaoyue and asking about her personal matters. She convinced Chi Xiaoyue not to set her standards too high for choosing a partner because a woman’s youth was precious and couldn’t be wasted.

Gu Xiaobei was so earnest in her persuasion that even the other military wives in the bus nodded in agreement. Chi Xiaoyue felt nauseated but still had to respond with feigned willingness.

After getting off the bus, Gu Xiaobei suddenly felt that teasing Chi Xiaoyue had lost its charm—it was too easy to win. She decided not to hang out with them, and to have breakfast first instead.

Lu Zhanguo didn’t have any objections, and Chi Xiaoyue let out a sigh of relief.

Watching Gu Xiaobei and Lu Zhanguo walk away, Xiangmin said, "Don’t worry about it. Gu Xiaobei tends to hold grudges. She started despising me just because I was once a peacemaker and accidentally let Li Juan scratch her face. I can’t understand why she can’t be more like Lu Zhanguo. Old Guo even lost his temper at me over this. Lu Zhanguo is incredibly protective of her now."

Chi Xiaoyue scowled, vowing to herself that she would teach Gu Xiaobei a lesson if she ever fell into her hands.

Gu Xiaobei and Lu Zhanguo went to have Wonton for breakfast. Why were these Wontons so tasty? From the first time she had them in this place, she fell in love with the taste. Gu Xiaobei shamelessly attributed the deliciousness to it being the first meal she had after crossing over, bought for her by Lu Zhanguo.

While having the Wontons, Lu Zhanguo refused to let Gu Xiaobei add any chili. Xiaobei looked at him forlornly, "My face has almost healed completely, hasn’t it?" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Your cheeks are still red, and with the current weather, you should be more cautious." It was a rare moment for Lu Zhanguo to refuse a compromise.

"All right, let’s eat slowly. We can go after Chi Xiaoyue leaves." Gu Xiaobei knew when to give credit where credit’s due—Lu Zhanguo was only looking out for her, after all.

"Hmm." Lu Zhanguo gave another Wonton from his bowl to Gu Xiaobei. This girl seemed to have an expandable stomach, as she could eat a lot of what she liked but barely touched what she didn’t.

Gu Xiaobei saw Lu Zhanguo’s bowl was nearly empty, and with a hint of concern, asked, "Should we order another bowl?"

"No need. I wasn’t very hungry to begin with." Lu Zhanguo said nonchalantly as he drank his soup.

Gu Xiaobei looked at Lu Zhanguo with admiration in her eyes. How could this man be so appealing?

The town hospital was run by the field army, the same hospital Gu Xiaobei was brought to when she first crossed over.

Gu Xiaobei felt affectionate towards this hospital, almost as if it was the hospital where she was born.

Upon reaching the second floor of the hospital, they surprisingly ran into Dr. Jin. Lu Zhanguo respectfully greeted Dr. Jin, who smiled back at them. When he realized that Gu Xiaobei’s stomach was flat, he looked surprised but didn’t ask further. Instead, he expressed his concern to Lu Zhanguo, "How have you been feeling recently?"

Gu Xiaobei was puzzled. Why did he ask ’how are you feeling’ instead of ’how have you been’?

Lu Zhanguo glanced at Gu Xiaobei from the corner of his eye and calmly replied, "Pretty good. We came to see Qin Mei."

Dr. Jin nodded, "Alright, you should go see her soon. She’s been rather moody lately."

Once Dr. Jin left, Gu Xiaobei asked, "Are you close with Dr. Jin?"

Lu Zhanguo nodded, "He saved my life."