Back To The 80s-Chapter 90 - 89: Family Affairs_1

Lu Zhanguo, after drying himself, came over, lowering his gaze, which was fixated on Gu Xiaobei with an intense passion.

Gu Xiaobei seemed to see sweeping cosmic vistas in his eyes, and within their shining light, a gentle warmth radiated, making her deeply intoxicated.

It wasn’t until the sharp pain in her mouth brought her back to reality, she realized she had been seduced once again! But this seduction was something she relished.

Gu Xiaobei found that Lu Zhanguo turned into a rapacious wolf at night, every time leaving her completely devoured, even to the last bone crumbs.

The following day, Lu Zhanguo left early in the morning. By the time Gu Xiaobei woke up, it was already midmorning.

She got up and brewed some porridge, mixed in a cucumber, and had a bite to eat. As she was sipping her porridge, Li Fengmei arrived.

"When exactly did you eat this?" Li Fengmei, seeing the odd timing of her meal, casually asked.

For the first time, Gu Xiaobei felt some embarrassment, chuckling awkwardly "I woke up late. What brings you here?"

Li Fengmei didn’t seem to mind, unlike her family, who had two mischievous boys, who would create chaos every morning at a certain time.

"My children will be on summer vacation in a few days. I’ve decided to take them back to our hometown to see my parents and my in-laws. During this time, I’ll need your help to tend to our vegetable patch, grow some cabbages and radishes. Also, remember to buy some potatoes from Chenjiaping Village in a few days and store them for future use; freshly harvested potatoes are cheap," added she.

Gu Xiaobei was puzzled. She had no idea how to grow vegetables or what to do with the potatoes once she got them home, like whether or not they would sprout. Despite all these uncertainties, she agreed: "Okay, you can leave everything to me." She figured that she could simply imitate what the other villagers did. How hard could it be?

Indeed, Li Fengmei was uncertain and reminded her further, "When you buy the cabbage seeds, be sure to get Big Blue Band cabbage. This variety has ceramic-like solid hearts."

"Okay, understood." Gu Xiaobei kept that in mind.

"Also, when the cabbage and radish seedlings grow a little bigger, you can choose some to make pickled cabbage. This way, we can have sour vegetables in the winter," Li Fengmei carried on, further elaborating on the topic.

Gu Xiaobei felt overwhelmed, planting vegetables seemed complex.

After Li Fengmei left, Gu Xiaobei took a piece of paper and wrote everything down, point by point. This was, after all, the vegetables for the entire winter, it was better to be cautious. She forgot to ask about the line spacing and plant spacing for cabbages and radishes. Gu Xiaobei bit the pen, a light bulb flashed in her head, she had a brilliant idea—she can secretly measure the distances in other people’s gardens!

Gu Xiaobei looked with satisfaction at the planting methods and precautions she had written on the paper. Contented with her work, she then posted it on the wall of her bedroom as a reminder to herself.

When Lu Zhanguo came back that night and was changing clothes in the bedroom, he saw the list posted on the wall: 1. Regarding cabbage and radish planting methods, you can refer to other people’s gardens... 2. For cabbage’s and radish’s seedling spacing, you can refer to other people’s gardens... 3. As for how to make pickled vegetables, you can refer to other people’s gardens... 4. The method for storing potatoes, you can refer to other people’s gardens...

In short, everything was about referring to how other people did things. Lu Zhanguo couldn’t help but chuckle at this. Gu Xiaobei saw Lu Zhanguo standing in front of her notice and laughing. She thought his laughing was silly and said proudly, "How about that? I wrote it pretty well, right?" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Lu Zhanguo cleared his throat, pointing to the note, and said, "You don’t need to refer to other people’s gardens, you can just ask me."

Gu Xiaobei widened her eyes, he was laughing at her, not smiling silly, she poutingly said ,"I don’t know how, but I’m really anxious. You should be praising me."

"Alright, I’ll praise you. I’ll do the planting when the time comes; you can’t handle the heavy work," Lu Zhanguo said indulgently.

Gu Xiaobei was more satisfied hearing this, and she gleefully said: "Quickly wash your hands and come for dinner, I made potstickers."

Just as Gu Xiaobei had served the potstickers, the cold dishes, and mung bean porridge, Wen Dong arrived.

Lu Zhanguo asked Gu Xiaobei to fetch another pair of chopsticks and told Wen Dong,"Sit down and eat with us."

Wen Dong sat down and waved his hands, "My family has already made dinner."

Gu Xiaobei fetched an empty bowl and a pair of chopsticks, thinking that if the food was not enough, she could easily whip up a few more egg pancakes.

Wen Dong looked a bit hesitant and rather restrained while sitting there.

Lu Zhanguo knew that Wen Dong wanted something, he didn’t beat around the bush and said, "If there’s anything you want to say, just say it. Don’t be wishy-washy."

"Um... platoon leader, I’d like to borrow some... money." Wen Dong really didn’t want to ask for help, but lately, Li Lao’s fourth couple has been picking quarrels for no reason. They publicly scolded Li Juan for being incompetent. Weren’t their words meant for him?

Lu Zhanguo didn’t hesitate and directly asked, "How much do you need?"

"Fifty, or maybe less." Wen Dong really found it hard to bring this up. Even though they were part of the special forces, and their wages were a little higher than that of the regular forces, Lu Zhanguo’s monthly income was only fifty renminbi, and his was only thirty-eight renminbi.

Wen Dong used to send ten renminbi every month to his parents and five to his parents-in-law after he got married. What was left was barely enough to cover his daily expenses and social engagements.

Lu Zhanguo turned his head and told Gu Xiaobei, "Do we have any cash at home? Take out fifty for Wen Dong."

Gu Xiaobei was not stingy. It so happened that she had just withdrawn her manuscript fee and had not deposited it yet. She went into the room and counted out five ten-dollar bills and handed them to Lu Zhanguo.

Lu Zhanguo handed the money to Wen Dong and said, "Use it for now, if it’s not enough, just let me know."

After Wen Dong left, Gu Xiaobei started serving green bean soup for the two of them, and they began to eat.

"Why don’t they have any children?" Gu Xiaobei asked curiously.

Lu Zhanguo was silent for a bit before answering, "Wen Dong was injured in battle and can’t have children."

Hearing this, Gu Xiaobei felt a lump in her throat and suddenly empathized with Li Juan.

The topic was heavy, and the two of them stopped talking and just ate their food in silence.

After dinner, Gu Xiaobei thought of Li Fengmei’s plan to go back to her hometown and asked, "Li Fengmei is taking her children back to her family home. What should we give them?"

Lu Zhanguo took a sip of porridge and said, "Let’s give them some money."

Gu Xiaobei thought about it too, Li Fengmei’s two children weren’t living in great wealth. Giving them money would be more practical.

"So how much should we give?" she asked.

"What if we give ten Yuan?" Lu Zhanguo looked at Gu Xiaobei, recalling how stingy she can be. She talked about buying a fan last time, but when it came to spending money, she became hesitant. He wasn’t sure if she would agree.

"Alright, giving any less would look bad." Gu Xiaobei was reluctant to part with her money, however, she believed that it was far more important to find ways to earn more money.

Meanwhile, Wen Dong took the borrowed money and returned home sullenly. The layout of the family courtyard was all the same a couple of rooms, one on the inside and one on the outside. Li’s third brother and his wife were sitting at a table in the outer room, greedily enjoying their porridge. Li Juan was sitting in the inner room, wiping her tears.

Wen Dong walked in without uttering a sound and headed straight to the inner room. Zheng Chunhua sneered and said, "He’s always moping around. Who’s he trying to impress with that?"

Li Lao didn’t say a word, sipping his porridge in silence.

Zheng Chunhua, discontented, poked the cucumber strips on her plate with her chopsticks and exclaimed: "Look, cucumber and eggplant every single day. We only get to eat meat on special occasions."

Li Lao Si just silently endorsed his wife’s words, finishing his porridge, wiped his mouth with his hand, and started smoking.

Having gone into the inner room, Wen Dong sees Li Juan on one side of the tamped bed platform, wiping her tears. He sighs, and hands the fifty RMB note to Li Juan, "Take this, tomorrow you can take mom and dad to the town and buy them each a set of clothes."

Li Juan, seeing so much money, forgets to wipe her tears, surprised, she exclaims: "Where did you get this money?"