Back To The 80s-Chapter 98 - 97: Surprise_1

Gu Xiaobei felt that even the heavens were on her side — it rained five days after she planted cabbage and radishes.

But when the rain subsided and she went to see her vegetable patch, she was dumbfounded! How could this be? Everyone else’s crops were planted about thirty to forty centimeters apart, rows of bright green young shoots, but her patch was a thick carpet of verdant green.

While she was still in a daze, she saw a group of well-dressed soldiers coming around the corner at the far end of the country road. They marched in strict formation, full of grandeur.

Gu Xiaobei instantly spotted the figure that haunted her dreams and, overwhelmed with excitement, dashed towards him like a little firecracker.

As soon as Lu Zhanguo made the turn, he saw his wife standing in the field. He was delighted.

Seeing Gu Xiaobei’s animated gestures as she ran towards him, he knew she must be up to something out of the ordinary.

Sure enough, Gu Xiaobei lunged at him, her whole body hanging on Lu Zhanguo. Her arms tightly wrapped around his neck, she squealed with excitement, "Ah, Lu Zhanguo, you’re back, this is wonderful!"

Lu Zhanguo felt awkward, a blush creeping over his face. The soldiers were surprised too. The leader’s wife was bold! Who would dare to embrace someone in public during this era? Even holding hands was done covertly.

Lu Zhanguo coughed lightly, hurriedly pulling Gu Xiaobei down by her arm, "Get down now."

Gu Xiaobei glanced at Lu Zhanguo’s cringe, giggled, and let go, standing by his side with a foolish smile on her face.

Lu Zhanguo looked at Gu Xiaobei, his eyes crinkling with laughter, and said, "Wait for me here, I’ll come back for you." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Okay." Gu Xiaobei, her heart filled with joy, her round eyes now crescents from the force of her smile.

Gu Xiaobei stood in front of her vegetable patch again, admiring the dense sea of seedlings. How beautiful it looked.

Lu Zhanguo led his team back. After issuing a few brief orders and dismissing the team, he came to find Gu Xiaobei.

From a distance, he saw Gu Xiaobei staring at the vegetable patch with a wide grin on her face. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but look at the vegetable patch too. What on earth was this?

When Gu Xiaobei saw Lu Zhanguo approaching, her eyes roved over him, noticing his increased tan and weight loss. She couldn’t help but ask tearfully, "Are you injured?"

Lu Zhanguo gazed at her with deep-set eyes, "Silly girl, if I were injured, would I be standing here right now?" He then looked at the vegetable patch and changed the subject, "What did you plant here?"

"This part is cabbage, and that part is for radishes. Did I do a bad job?" Gu Xiaobei pointed at the vegetable patch, her voice filled with uncertainty.

"It’s quite good." Lu Zhanguo forced himself to say as he thought, ’I’ll have to do some thinning later.’

Gu Xiaobei immediately felt a surge of pride, "I thought our vegetables looked pretty good too. Look, they’re even more vibrant now that you’re back!"

Lu Zhanguo remained silent, but his gaze softened as he watched Gu Xiaobei chatter away. This feeling brought him a sense of comfort.

That day, the entire residential compound seemed to be immersed in an aura of happiness. It felt as if even the smell of the food wafting from the kitchen was more fragrant than usual.

Only Li Juan was quietly weeping behind closed doors, reading Wen Dong’s suicide note over and over again. There were many characters she didn’t recognize, but after Guo Huaqiang had read it out for her once, she remembered every word and every sentence.

With the doors closed, Gu Xiaobei stuck to Lu Zhanguo like glue, following wherever he went.

Even when Lu Zhanguo went for a bath, she would wait for him at the entrance of the residential compound.

After dinner, Gu Xiaobei quickly washed the dishes and started to stick to Lu Zhanguo again.

Lu Zhanguo, out of options, could only sit down with Gu Xiaobei in his arms, "It’s fine, I’m back now. Don’t worry anymore."

Gu Xiaobei, her arms around his neck, buried her face in his collarbone and mumbled, "Lu Zhanguo, I was scared this time. Wen Dong is gone, I’m really scared."

Upon hearing about Wen Dong, Lu Zhanguo fell silent. His eyes reddened, and it took him a long time to respond in a hoarse voice, "Girl, you have to learn to be strong."

Gu Xiaobei lifted her face, defiance in her voice, "If this is what being strong means, I’d rather stay ignorant forever," and with that, she kissed Lu Zhanguo’s lips.

.......................

She had seduced him again.

Gu Xiaobei, her arms around Lu Zhanguo’s neck, said, "Lu Zhanguo, let’s work hard to have a son."

"Okay." Lu Zhanguo agreed, leaning down to whisper in her ear.

Gu Xiaobei loved it when Lu Zhanguo called her "Silly girl." That mollycoddling sweetness spread like yeast, infiltrating every pore.

..................

Suddenly, Gu Xiaobei exclaimed, "Wait a minute."

Lu Zhanguo froze, "What’s the matter?"

Gu Xiaobei, her hand over her mouth and tears welling in her eyes, pointed at the scars on Lu Zhanguo’s back, "What are all these?" How did she not notice before?

His back was splotched with lumps of various sizes, the largest about the size of a one-yuan coin. Some had turned white, possibly pus-filled, with inflammation evident around the edges.

"I was bitten by an insect, it’s no big deal," Lu Zhanguo said nonchalantly.

"It’s a huge deal! You’re inflamed and pus is seeping out. Lie down now!" Gu Xiaobei glared at him, her eyes flushed with fury. After shouting, she got dressed, climbed out of bed, and fetched the iodine solution, needle, and tissue paper that the doctor had given her during her last visit.

"Lie down!" At the sound of Gu Xiaobei’s stern voice, Lu Zhanguo obediently did as he was told.

Gu Xiaobei carefully popped the pus-filled sores on Lu Zhanguo’s back with a needle, drained the pus and blood, cleaned it up, and then applied iodine. She decided to visit the sanitary battalion the next day to check for other antiseptics.

After treating the lumps on his back, she checked if there were any elsewhere on his body. She found a few more on his leg and asked tearfully, "Didn’t it hurt?"

Lu Zhanguo waited until Gu Xiaobei was finished with the iodine before he sat up, reached out to wipe away her tears and said, "Girl, this is nothing compared to dying in battle."

Gu Xiaobei was reminded of Wen Dong again and began to cry even harder. She buried her face in Lu Zhanguo’s chest and fell silent.

For the next two days, Gu Xiaobei happily spent her time tending to her vegetable patch.

Every day, during the cool hours of the early and late day, she thinned her seedlings. While other people’s seedlings were left to grow a bit larger before thinning as they were to be used for sour soup, Gu Xiaobei had no such luxury. There were simply too many, too dense, and it seemed the plants would be stunted. She had to ensure that the rows were forty centimeters apart. But she also feared stepping on and damaging the seedlings. She worked diligently for two days but made little progress.

During naptime at noon, Lu Zhanguo and Zhang Lijun squatted in the field, using small shovels to remove the excess seedlings.

"I wonder what the heck our sister-in-law was thinking, planting crops like this." Zhang Lijun marveled at the patch, it was so dense and disorganized, did she just randomly sow a bunch of seeds?

Lu Zhanguo remained silent, and after removing the seedlings, suddenly said, "Later, pick some pig manure and spread it in the field."

"Why do I have to do it?"