Back To The 80s-Chapter 99 - 98: Doubt_1

Lu Zhanguo raised an eyebrow at Zhang and remained silent. Zhang was taken aback. It was just a little joke about his wife, and look how seriously he was taking it. The man seems to have become incredibly sensitive these days.

When Gu Xiaobei went to the field after it cooled down in the afternoon, he saw the lady snail in action. After his two days of work, there were still plants scattered all over the field, but just in the span of a noon, everything was neat and tidy already. There was a layer of pig manure added in the wide spaces between each row of plants. Satisfied, he couldn’t stop grinning.

When he returned to the entrance of his complex, he saw Li Juan carrying two large bags as if she was about to embark on a long journey.

Upon seeing Gu Xiaobei, she put down her bags and took a stack of ten yuan notes out of her pocket. "Sister-in-law," she said, "Here’s fifty yuan. I went to your house to give it to you earlier, but you were not home."

Gu Xiaobei was a little taken aback and quickly waved his hands. "You keep the money. You’ll have plenty of use for it later on."

"Just take it, please. Wen Dong’s will specifically instructed me to repay all the money we owed you." Li Juan’s face remained calm and emotionless.

Gu Xiaobei felt his eyes prickling. He reached out to take the money and suddenly, fifty yuan felt quite heavy in his hand.

"Sister-in-law, I apologize for any wrongdoings on my part in the past." With that, she bowed deeply to Gu Xiaobei. Wen Dong’s will instructed her to stop gossiping, reminding her that it would cause more harm than good in the long run. She remembered that.

Gu Xiaobei was taken aback and quickly said, "Don’t do that. Let bygones be bygones. Where are you off to?"

With teary eyes, Li Juan replied, "I’m going to Wen Dong’s house. I’m going there to look after his parents."

"There aren’t any buses available now." Gu Xiaobei noted that it was getting late. By the time she would have reached the town, there wouldn’t be any buses left to the city.

"I have already consulted with the team leader. He said he would arrange for a car to take me to the city. I would arrive just in time to catch the midnight train." Li Juan picked up a bag and slung it over her shoulder. Not even looking back, she walked away.

Gu Xiaobei stood still, watching Li Juan’s retreating figure. His heart felt heavy. He turned to find Xiangmin leaving the gate with an expression of disdain. It seemed like she had been eavesdropping the whole time. He gave her a stern look as they brushed past each other.

~

When Lu Zhanguo returned in the evening, Gu Xiaobei had already prepared dinner and was watching him with a big smile.

"What’s got you so happy?" He asked.

"Because I found the lady snail in our vegetable field today." Gu Xiaobei said with a smile.

"What lady snail? Whose daughter is that?" Lu Zhanguo was utterly confused.

Whose daughter? Gu Xiaobei almost burst into laughter. How could he forget that this man knew nothing outside of warfare?

Gu Xiaobei sighed and patiently explained, "When I went to the vegetable field today, I saw that all the seedlings had been cleaned out and fertilizer had been added. I thought that a fairy must have helped me."

Lu Zhanguo walked over, playfully patted Gu Xiaobei’s head and chuckled, "What on earth goes on in that head of yours?"

Because Lu Zhanguo was back, Gu Xiaobei began to cook with much more enthusiasm. She prepared green onion oil pancakes, stir-fried bitter gourd and eggs. She even had a chicken delivered home by the logistics officer in the morning. Half of the chicken was simmered into soup, and the rest was cooked into a red-braised chicken dish.

Lu Zhanguo noticed the lack of chili in the food and found it strange, "Why didn’t you add chili?"

Gu Xiaobei shot him a look, "You’ve got inflammation from rashes all over your body, and you still want to eat spicy food?"

"You could have made a spicy dish just for yourself." Lu Zhanguo was touched. He knew how much she loved spicy food.

Gu Xiaobei served a bowl of chicken soup for Lu Zhanguo, all the while saying with a smirk, "I didn’t want you to feel envious."

Lu Zhanguo’s eye twitched. This girl is cunning, he thought.

...

Shen Heng was startled with the sudden visit of Yuan Tan, "Why are you here again?"

"I came to see Lu Zhanguo." Yuan Tan responded like it was obvious.

Shen Heng narrowed his eyes when he heard the name. Lu Zhanguo had only been back for three days, and it takes Yuan Tan three days to travel from Capital City to the provincial city by train. And, she needed to catch the train to T city the next day. So, four days in total. This meant she had known Lu Zhanguo’s return schedule in advance. But, he deliberately misinformed her, "Lu Zhanguo has probably not returned yet from his mission." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Yuan Tan’s face seemed to stiffen for a moment before she replied with a smile, "I can wait for him here."

Shen Heng nodded and after a moment of contemplation, said, "Let me make a phone call to find out when Lu Zhanguo will be back."

Yuan Tan smiled and said, "That would be great."

Shen Heng concluded privately: According to Yuan Tan’s immigration records, she had only been to F Country. He couldn’t accuse her based on a bottle of wine alone, but now he was certain that Yuan Tan knew about Lu Zhanguo’s return.

Shen Heng stepped outside to make a call. He went to the post office and dialed Lu Zhanguo, "Yuan Tan is here. She seems to have known your return schedule beforehand."

Lu Zhanguo pauses before saying, "Bring her here on Sunday. The firearms expert sent from headquarters will arrive in a day or two."

"Are you planning on letting Yuan Tan in on this?" Shen Heng asked, puzzled.

"It’s not something we can keep a secret. If there really is something wrong with her, we might get some clues from this."

"Alright then. I’m stuck at a stalemate here."

"It’s a test of patience now. Whoever loses their cool first loses the game." Lu Zhanguo responded gravely.

After hanging up the phone, Shen Heng ran fingers through his hair, feeling vexed.

...

Lu Zhanguo returned home in the evening and informed Gu Xiaobei that Shen Heng and Yuan Tan were coming over on Sunday.

Gu Xiaobei thought to herself: Yuan Tan is so persistent. Well, let her come. She won’t be getting any sympathy or benefits from this household. She would just watch it unfold like a show.

"Then I’ll buy meat on Sunday. It would be fresh to cook for lunch." Gu Xiaobei noted that if she bought the meat a day earlier, it might spoil.

"Alright, I’ll go with you." Lu Zhanguo said after some thought.

It started to drizzle on Sunday morning. Gu Xiaobei was ecstatic because after the rain the cabbage and radishes in the field could be transplanted. At least, that’s what Lu Zhanguo had told her.

They only had one large black umbrella at home. Lu Zhanguo told Gu Xiaobei to take the umbrella, and he would go to the agency and get his military raincoat.

Upon hearing that, Gu Xiaobei raised her eyes at him and asked, "What am I to you?"

"My wife." Lu Zhanguo promptly replied.

"What’s wrong with sharing an umbrella with your wife? Look at your old-fashioned mindset." Gu Xiaobei said. She held Lu Zhanguo’s arm with one hand and handed him the umbrella with the other, "Here, hold this and open it."

Lu Zhanguo obediently opened the umbrella, glanced at the little woman hanging on his arm and found the feeling quite pleasant.

The soldiers and families walking past them were all speechless at the sight. Was this really the same man who always had a somber expression, cold as an icicle hanging from the eaves on a freezing winter day?

Actually, disco halls had already begun to appear in many big cities during this time. But this was a small town in the northwest and was relatively isolated and backward.

Chi Xiaoyue was sick with envy when she saw this.

Gu Xiaobei was surprised to see that Chi Xiaoyue did not approach Lu Zhanguo for conversation today. Instead, she just turned away, pretending not to see them.

When the bus was about to arrive, Xiangmin also turned up with an umbrella. After politely greeting Lu Zhanguo, she hurried towards Chi Xiaoyue.

A few of the military wives enthusiastically came over to greet Gu Xiaobei.

On a sudden whim, Gu Xiaobei turned towards Lu Zhanguo and suggested, "Let’s go to the photo studio and take pictures." This way, she could look at their photos when she missed him.

"Sure...."