Skillful Wife of Military - C53
Lin Dingbei wanted to say there was no need for it, but the fragrance of the pickled stew was too enticing, he was only able to watch Xiao Da Yong laugh as he threw the things out.
Lifting up the lid, he smelt the alluring fragrance and the extremely fine food on the stove. Lin Dingbei could not help but grab onto his chopsticks, and after taking a bite, he could no longer stop, only eating the food while swallowing his saliva. The two guards looked at him and swallowed his saliva.
Lin Dingbei finished all of the bowl of pickled vegetables and stewed meat, he did not even miss the soup.
Rubbing his bloated stomach, Lin Dingbei burped and thought to himself that this wife of his, Xiao Dayong, was really good at cooking. He had a quick glance just now and thought that he looked pretty good.
It wasn’t easy for them to get to the Kepin’s Thousand Clubs and get a good night’s sleep on the brick bed. Everyone couldn’t help but wake up late, and only woke up when it was broad daylight.
Xu Hui stretched lazily and got up from the bed. She grabbed the cotton clothes beside him and put them on. Seeing the shadow on the other side of the curtain, she could not help but laugh.
There was only a long kang in the room, it was good that there was a place to sleep since they had just arrived at Guest House. However, there were both men and women, especially Xiao Xiuer and Gou Sheng who were not married yet. It was really not a good idea to not even sleep on the kang.
Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother found a way to sew together two big bags and tied them together with ropes at each end of the brick bed to make a simple separation. The man slept on the side while the woman slept on the other side, barely solving this problem.
Everyone who was sleeping was completely relaxed. Xu Hui put on her clothes and went down to the pit. She picked up the kettle that she had placed on the stove last night. The water in the kettle was boiling.
After washing his face and rinsing his mouth, Xu Hui added some charcoal to the stove, put some water in the pot on the stove, and prepared to boil some water. However, since they were already at Guest House, they couldn’t possibly eat together with such a stove.
Originally, they were going back for a vacation to celebrate the new year, but since they had already returned to the Guest House, they were prepared to sell their holiday.
She originally had a total of 530 + taels of silver at home. After buying the big carriage and using 43 taels of silver from the cow, Wang Changwang had spent another 2 taels of silver to buy the stove, sohe only had about 8 taels of silver left. Right now, she did not even have a fixed place to stay, he spent a lot of money.
Seeing that Xiao Da Yong and Gou Sheng had left, Xu Hui asked Xiao Xiuer and Mei Hua to take care of Niu Niu and Er Wa, while he and Gou Sheng’s mother went out to take a look at their surroundings.
When he opened the door, the wind had died down, but the snow was still falling. Xu Hui carefully stepped on the snow and tested it.
Seeing that the snow was still falling non-stop, Xu Hui asked Gou Sheng’s mother worriedly, “Aunt, if this goes on, won’t the door be sealed by the snow?”
“Shut the door and dig again. With Gou Sheng and Da Yong here, don’t worry.” Gou Sheng did not mind his smile at all. Xu Hui smiled bitterly, fine, she had made a big fuss, forgive her, a Southerner, for never seeing snow as heavy as this before.
Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother went out and looked around the place they were staying. It seemed to be the backyard of a building or a long row of houses. There were five of them in total, and they were staying in the easternmost house.
In front of the house was a two-meter wide alley. The alley was one-way, and following the alley was a door. No one knew where it led to.
Xu Hui looked around and found a small kitchen on the side of the house they lived in. The door was not locked, so Xu Hui hurriedly went in with Gou Sheng to take a look. Although the kitchen was not big, there were three openings for the stove.
Gou Sheng’s mother looked at the stove carefully and said, “The stove’s cover is good. Three pots are enough for now.
“Aunt, don’t be busy, we are currently living in the Lin Qianhu, we need to greet someone using the kitchen.”
“Right, right, right. Seeing my brain, we can’t even forget about it if we’re happy. Let’s wait for Gou Sheng and Da Yong to come back and let them talk to Lin Qianhu.”
Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother looked at the other four rooms. All of them were locked, and through the crack of the door, they could see what seemed to be warehouses, filled with bags of unknown items. The room they had stayed in last night might have been stocked with things, too, and had only been temporarily packed up after knowing they were coming.
Looking around, Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother prepared to go outside the alley. They did not know if there was anything for them to sell here. They did not have enough food for so many people to spend the winter, so they needed to buy other daily necessities.
Xu Hui reached for the door of the alley and pulled it open, only to find that the door was locked from the outside. They were locked inside!
Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother could not help but be shocked. What was going on?
Both Xiao Da Yong and Gou Sheng were not present. Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother looked at each other and felt uneasy. They could only wait for Xiao Da Yong and the rest to come back and ask.
Returning to the room, Xiao Xiuer took Mei Hua and Niu Niu to play on the brick bed, while Er Wa played with the string beside them. Seeing that Xu Hui and the rest had returned, they hurriedly asked about the situation outside. Xu Hui did not mention that they were locked inside, but only said that they had found the kitchen. The children were very happy to hear about it.
Since he didn’t know if he should let them stay here forever, he didn’t dare to pack his luggage. He could only put them in the wooden chest first.
It was snowing outside, and the house was still warm. The children were playing around on the brick bed carefreely, and Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother looked at each other, a little worried.
Afraid that they would cause trouble for themselves and let their imagination run wild, Xu Hui did her best to find some things to busy herself. She arranged her luggage with Gou Sheng’s mother, took out some commonly used things and put them into the wooden box. It was still early when Xu Hui remembered that there were some firewood in the kitchen shed. As they had not been set up neatly, some of the firewood had already been soaked by the snow, so she discussed to clean up the firewood with Gou Sheng’s mother. Since they were living here, they might as well wait for others to do everything for them.
Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother were also excited, they were busy all the way until noon. When Xu Hui heard the door open, she immediately walked out of the kitchen with Gou Sheng mother.
Gou Sheng’s mother and Xu Hui hurriedly walked over. Seeing how Xiao Da Yong and Gou Sheng looked so refreshed and happy, Xu Hui relaxed a lot. It looks like the situation outside is very good.
Gou Sheng glared as he asked her, “I was wondering why the door was locked so easily. Why did you lock us in when you went out?”
“Aiyo, my mother, listen to me,” Gou Sheng rubbed his arm as he tried to explain.
Hearing this, Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother could not help but sigh.
Because of the war, there were not many buildings in the city that were perfectly fine. They had come suddenly, and the only thing the Lin Qianhu could do was to create a warehouse for them to live in, because this was the place where they could live in the first place.
Furthermore, not far away from the alley was an old well, and the water inside it was the rarely-seen clean water from the well that Kepin used to own. It was truly not easy for Lin Qianhu to find a place for them to settle in in such a short period of time.
As for locking the door, that was because in the current Kepin, there were only Xu Hui and the rest of the women, and in the, there were more than two thousand men.
As the saying goes, “When you’re a soldier for two or three years, a sow will compete with a mink cicada.” Now, if Gou Sheng’s mother went out for a walk, it would probably be a mess on the outside, not to mention someone with such a physique like Xu Hui and Xiao Xiuer. Xiao Da Yong and Gou Sheng were really afraid that they would accidentally barge in and scare Xu Hui and the rest.
Xu Hui was speechless. Why did the Kepin seem to be even more unfree now? It was snowing heavily and she could not even leave her house, so how could she inspect the situation around the Kepin and recommend Xu Jingyao and the rest to the Lin Qianhu?
Xiao Da Yong saw that his wife’s face had darkened and said hurriedly: “My wife, don’t worry. After some time, when the Kepin is finished recuperating, the Army Camp’s people will not be moving around outside. When that time comes, Gou Sheng and I will accompany you out for a good look.
“Right, right, sister-in-law, mother, don’t be impatient!”
“How can I not be anxious?” We still don’t know if the food we bring will be enough to survive the winter? “From what you’re saying, I don’t think there’s any place that sells food nearby. If these people want to eat or drink, there’s no rice, noodles, oil, salt, or vinegar. What should we do?” Xu Hui frowned when he said this, and Gou Sheng’s mother nodded in agreement.
Xiao Da Yong laughed, and Gou Sheng laughed even more. Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother looked at them in confusion.
Gou Sheng cupped his hands towards Xu Hui, “Congratulations, sister-in-law. Dahuang-ge has been appointed as Master Flag! “Month after month, not only did I get my salary of silver and food, I also got my appointment as Little Flag. Although I don’t have any food or meat, my salary of silver is a little higher than before!”
Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother were overjoyed, especially Xu Hui. Although they knew that Xiao Da Yong would be promoted, they did not expect him to be appointed as Master Flag so soon. It seemed that the Lin Qianhu valued him greatly!
Xiao Da Yong scratched his head and said innocently: “Actually it’s nothing, we just fought here, and there aren’t many people around. Camp’s soldiers will be transferred back in the spring, as my Master Flag, I can only manage our two families.”
“As for me, I’m the only one in charge of my own clan!” Gou Sheng caught it quickly, causing Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother to laugh.
Although Master Flag was a very small officer, she was still an official. In the future, she would have rank, and the lowest number of military officials would be at the seventh rank, while Xiao Da Yong would only be twenty in the new year. As long as Lin Qianhu did not fall, it was only a matter of time before he could be promoted to the hundred.
Since there was a joyous occasion at home, they naturally had to celebrate.
Xu Hui hurriedly asked Xiao Da Yong about how to use the kitchen. When Xiao Da Yong heard Senior Qian Hu say that other than the four rooms that were locked, she allowed them to use the rest.
Xu Hui and Gou Sheng’s mother were overjoyed. The kitchen was connected to the brick bed, and heated it up while cooking. It could save firewood and make it easier to cook.
He had finished the meat and eggs he brought with him when he came. He had no meat or eggs for such a joyful occasion. He wanted to make something delicious, but there was nothing. It was an impossible task for a beautiful woman like Xu Hui, and she could not help but feel troubled. Xiao Dazong smiled and said, “My wife, as long as there’s food, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. We’ve just arrived here, there’s no need to be so particular.”
Xu Hui knew that Xiao Dayong was trying to comfort her, but she still felt that it was not right to stand together like this. Xu Hui knew that Xiao Dayong was trying to comfort her, but she still felt that it was not right to stand together like this.
Gou Sheng’s mother agreed upon hearing it as the two of them were busy cooking. Suddenly, they heard someone knocking on the door, and hurriedly told Xiao Da Yong and Gou Sheng to go over to open the door, Xu Hui frowned, who would come over at this time?