Starting a new chapter in life

Besides eating herself, Ren Cuihua also had to take care of the two children. After eating for a while, Battalion Commander Gao and He Zhijun started drinking and exchanging toasts. Indeed, for people with a certain alcohol tolerance, it would be a pity not to have a drink when there is good food. How could He Zhijun let Battalion Commander Gao have any regrets today? No way. So, the two grown men started their drinking culture.

The women and children ate first. After they finished eating, Jingyan and the others sat on the side drinking sweet and sour water and listening to the two men talking about work, occasionally interspersed with their thoughts on the future. The men were having a great time and didn't stop for a while. Jingyan invited Sister Cuihua to take the two children to the front yard to pick vegetables and also to see the little... hen, which had already started laying eggs and could easily lay four or five eggs a day.

With the addition of earthworms, the wooden box containing them became very popular. Chickens would wander around there every day, occasionally taking a bite. Ren Cuihua, watching from outside the chicken coop, found it amusing: "I didn't expect you to come up with this method when you were being beaten. It's quite good."

"What Zhijun thought of, all I remember is that chickens need to eat insects to lay eggs," Jing Yan said with a smile.

After watching the chickens for a while, the two of them took a basin to pick cucumbers and tomatoes. The two children helped find the ripe ones very well. Having grown up in the countryside, the children were not unfamiliar with this kind of work at all. On the contrary, they felt more at ease because they had a vegetable garden.

"Are the children settling in well at school?" Jingyan asked casually.

“The eldest son fell behind before and was a bit behind when elementary school started. The kids here all have some foundation, but he had to start from scratch. However, Lao Gao tutors him every day when he comes home, so things should be much easier now. The second son is keeping up in preschool, so everyone is on the same starting line and Lao Gao doesn’t have to worry about him anymore.” Ren Cuihua said, quite satisfied with her current life.

After picking the vegetables to take with them, the group returned to the house. Those who had been drinking had almost finished. He Zhijun's face was flushed, and he was already tipsy. Battalion Commander Gao had a better alcohol tolerance than him, and at least he was clear-headed.

Battalion Commander Gao stood up to go home. When he reached the door, he held his two sons' hands. Seeing that he was walking steadily, Sister-in-law Ren felt relieved and picked up her shopping basket to follow behind them. He Zhijun and Jing Yan escorted the family of four to the gate. Battalion Commander Gao turned around and smiled, "You two go back. I know the way back to the unit very well, so don't worry."

He Zhijun agreed, and after watching them disappear, he and Jing Yan locked the door and went back inside. Looking at the few dishes left on the table, Jing Yan pulled He Zhijun, who was unsteady on his feet but was about to clean up, and said, "Alright, there's not much work to do. Go wash up and go to sleep. I'll clean up here."

He Zhijun kept looking towards the dining table: "I'll clean up, you can wash the dishes later. There's too much stuff on the table, let's do it together."

Jingyan pushed him helplessly: "You've had too much to drink, don't move around. If you break any dishes, it'll be even more tiring to clean up. Listen to me, go to sleep first. I'll clean up here and put it in the kitchen. You can do the rest tomorrow morning."

He Zhijun's head was already a little dizzy and he couldn't turn his head much, but he knew he had to obey. He nodded drowsily, wiped his face casually, and went to sleep in the second bedroom.

After sending him into the bedroom, Jingyan finally felt at ease and cleaned up the mess on the dining table. Most of the vegetarian dishes were either almost gone or only a small portion remained, so she threw them all away. The Dongpo pork in the casserole was also finished, leaving only a considerable amount of braised eggplant and pork ribs stewed with mushrooms. She put these two dishes in the kitchen and covered them with a vegetable cover to keep flies away.

Today, the meat and vegetables were cooked with a lot of oil, so it's rare for me to not wash them directly with alkaline water or plain water. Besides, it would be a waste to just throw away the oil and water in the casserole and plates. I scooped out a small basin of fine bran from the storeroom, first used the bran to wipe the oily bottom of the basin and plates clean, and then washed the plates twice in hot water. They were very clean.

The oil-stained bran was poured back into the bowl that had previously contained the vegetable base, mixed well, and then poured into the chicken feed bowl. The aroma spread, and the chickens in the coop had another meat meal that night.

Jingyan watched the chickens huddled together pecking at their food, then carried the basin back to the kitchen. She washed the basin with hot water, put it away in the cupboard, and that was it—the dining table and kitchen were finally cleaned up.

Jingyan swept the floor with a broom, restoring the house to its tidy state. Satisfied, she put everything back in its place, then washed up, locked the door, and returned to the second bedroom. He Zhijun was sleeping soundly. Looking at this man, Jingyan was very satisfied. This one was finally not the one who would cause trouble after drinking.

Battalion Commander Gao was taking his wife and children home. On the way, the two kids chattered excitedly about how happy they were with their meal that day, which dish was the best, and how fun it was to pick vegetables and raise chickens. Battalion Commander Gao rarely saw his children, and hearing this made him feel a little bittersweet.

“Cuihua, if you don’t like living in the dormitory, I’ll ask my sister-in-law to help us see if we can rent a courtyard. But we can’t rush this. Although housing isn’t tight here, there are still very few vacant courtyards. We’ll have to find one slowly.”

Ren Cuihua shook her head: "As long as we have a place to live, that's enough. I asked Jingyan about it today. This courtyard costs five yuan a month, sixty yuan a year. Add to that the water bill, electricity bill, and the money from selling coal in the winter, and it all adds up to quite a bit. But our dormitory is free. Even heating in the winter only costs a dozen yuan. We don't compare our family to others. I think our life is already excellent."

Battalion Commander Gao felt a pang of sympathy for his wife: "Alright, we'll be staying here for three years. After three years, there should be another transfer. We'll see where you want to go then, and I'll see if I can settle down. If I can, we'll find a house with a yard to settle down in. I've saved quite a bit over the years, about two thousand yuan."

You know me, I can't keep money on me, so I deposit it all with the military finance department. I only receive fifty yuan a month, I don't really know the exact amount. I'll ask when the subsidies are paid next month, and then I'll withdraw the money and give it to you. Now that you're here, I won't need to bother the finance department."

Ren Cuihua's eyes widened: "When I first came here, you gave me six hundred yuan. I thought that was all the money you had. How did you get so much?"

"When I was a platoon leader, I only had fifty yuan a month. I gave forty to my family and kept ten for spending money. I didn't spend much of that. I didn't smoke, and I only occasionally bought some alcohol, but it didn't cost me much."

Later, I was promoted all the way up, and my salary gradually increased from fifty yuan to sixty, seventy, eighty, and four years ago I was promoted to battalion commander, with a salary of one hundred yuan. Adding in holiday bonuses, it should be about that much.

“But you haven’t told your family about your promotion and raise since you became a platoon leader. Your parents still think you’re a platoon leader. If I hadn’t come here this time, I wouldn’t have known either. Why? Isn’t a promotion a good thing?”

"When I was promoted to platoon leader, I had a long leave to visit my family. I was happy because of the promotion, so when I got home I told my parents the good news and decided to give them 40 yuan a month as living expenses for the two of them. But after staying at home for a few days, I started to regret it."

I had no idea you had to do so much work at home. Later, when I chatted with the neighbors, they all implied that the brothers in the family were deliberately taking advantage of our family. In the village, a family can live quite well on two or three hundred yuan a year, and my forty yuan even included the household expenses of my eldest brother and youngest brother.

If it were just these things, I would accept it, but look at me, I'm still at home, and they're ordering you around so easily. It breaks my heart to see that. I later told my parents that you're neither the eldest sister-in-law nor the youngest daughter-in-law, so they can't give you all the work.

Although Mom agreed, I knew that your life at home wouldn't be easy. But at that time, my rank wasn't high enough to let you join me in the military. Plus, I was burdened by filial piety, so I could only save money. I didn't want you and your family to not have a good life in the end, and to have no money left.

I was actually quite surprised that Mom let us separate this time. I originally thought I wouldn't be able to bring you all out, since most families wouldn't agree to separate while our parents are still alive.

Ren Cuihua spoke gently: "My parents have been very good to me and have not mistreated me in the slightest. My eldest brother's family and my younger brother's family do have some ulterior motives, but they are still on the surface. My parents mentioned dividing the family property once before, but my sister-in-law disagreed because if the family property were divided, their family's earnings in half a year might not even be as much as the money you send home in a month."

The reason we were able to separate this time is because the eldest is eight years old and about to start elementary school. Dad said that if Xiaochen falls behind in school, there's no one in the family who can tutor him except you. Besides, if the child doesn't have much contact with his father for a long time, he might blame the family if he's not close to his father in the future.

Actually, even so, the older and younger brothers were unwilling. Their parents later said that as long as the two brothers were able to work, they wouldn't ask the other two families for retirement money. Plus, with the village chief and other villagers helping them, if they kept dragging it out, the gossip in the village would make them lose face. That's how they reluctantly divided the family property.

“From now on, we will only send twenty yuan back to our parents each month, and you can manage the remaining eighty yuan,” Battalion Commander Gao said.

"Okay, Lao Gao, our family's life will definitely get better and better."

"Yes, things are getting better and better."

Bathed in the glow of the setting sun, the silhouettes of the four people looked so...warm and cozy.

The next day, He Zhijun didn't wake up until late morning. He knew he couldn't hold his liquor, but he also knew his limits. When he got up, he saw porridge and salted duck eggs on the dining table.

"Jingyan, Jingyan." He called twice but received no reply. Looking towards the front yard, he saw Jingyan happily coming out of the henhouse with four eggs in her hand. He stood in front of the house and asked, "Did you go to collect eggs?"

Jing Yan proudly waved the eggs in front of him: "There are eggs every day, but I don't know which one is missing one day every few days. If it's not missing one, there should be five eggs every day."

He Zhijun nodded in agreement: "Then you observe it."

"Okay, right, hurry up and eat breakfast. After you finish, we'll go to the post office to mail some dried mushrooms home, and we also need to buy a barrel of liquor," Jingyan urged.

He Zhijun stopped dawdling, mixed the salted duck egg into the vegetable porridge, and slurped it down in no time. Jing Yan had already placed the four flour bags containing dried mushrooms at the front gate.

He Zhijun carried two bags on his shoulders like satchels, and two more in each hand. Jing Yan wanted to help him, but he refused, so she had to let him carry them himself. When they reached the fork in the road, Jing Yan suggested, "Your stuff isn't light either. Why don't you go straight to the post office and wait for me at the door? I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some wine and then come find you."

He Zhijun thought about it and had no objection, so the couple split up. When Jingyan arrived at the post office with the wine, she saw her husband leaning against the door with his hands in his pockets. Even with four flour sacks at his feet, his tall and upright figure still made a strong visual impact.

The young women and wives coming and going in the post office couldn't help but glance at him. Jingyan looked at him and felt very proud. Although He Zhijun's appearance wasn't particularly outstanding, he had a certain charm. Just standing there, he was handsome. The important thing was that she had already won him over.

He Zhijun stood there listlessly, his eyes darting around. When he saw Jing Yan, his previously emotionless eyes lit up with joy, and his smile made Jing Yan smile happily as well.

After the two reunited, the people around them slowly withdrew their gazes. Some of the bolder girls even showed regretful expressions. "It seems you're quite popular. I saw several girls looking at you with that interested look," Jing Yan joked.

He Zhijun ruffled her hair until it was slightly messy before stopping: "We're the legal ones. I'll let you talk nonsense. Come on, let's fill out the forms."

The two went to the counter, filled out parcel forms, and for safety reasons, the wine was in a separate parcel, while the dried mushrooms were in a large parcel. The post office clerk was quite envious of the large quantity of dried mushrooms and couldn't help but ask, "Where did you get all of these? There are so many!"

Jing Yan smiled and said, "I don't have a job, so I'm quite free at home. I often go up the mountain to pick mushrooms and dig for wild vegetables. I don't eat much on weekdays, so I save up and send it home to my family to cook for them."

The salesperson smiled and said, "You're so thoughtful. These mushrooms will take quite a few days to dig."

"That's right, but the rains have been good this year, and there are plenty of mushrooms growing in the mountains, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to bring back so many," Jing Yan said with a laugh.

After sending the package, the couple walked home hand in hand. Many people on the way covered their mouths and chuckled as they watched them holding hands. Some older people pursed their lips but didn't say anything. Jingyan noticed their attitude but didn't bother to take it to heart. He Zhijun didn't stubbornly let go of her hand either, and the two walked together in this relaxed manner.

After He Zhijun returned to his unit, Jing Yan had nothing to do at home, so she thought she would practice her old barbecue skills again. So she set up a grill in the backyard and grilled some tender corn and meat. Since it was hard to buy butter now, she had to use soybean oil instead, but the taste was still acceptable.

The aroma was so enticing that Chen Xinyue's family lived right next door. After three or four days of being lured by the smell, she started bringing her son over. Sometimes they would bring some meat, sometimes a few eggs. In short, they never came empty-handed.