A stunning beauty arrived on the island; she invented everything from childcare to babysitting.

Anning is very interested in seafood, but she has been at the military base for several days. She can buy fish and pork here, but there are no shrimp, crabs or octopuses, which makes her want to go beachcombing.

Of course, it's also possible that she arrived at the wrong time.

The ship, laden with cargo, sailed right into her heart.

Around four or five o'clock in the afternoon, not long after Anning finished teaching Xiaonier to write, Zhao Xuemei came to call her.

Before the boat even docked, a group of military wives were already waiting there with baskets in their arms. Anning even recognized several familiar figures.

Those people also saw her, but they all turned their heads away in unison, pretending not to see her.

An Ning ignored them and chatted with Zhao Xuemei while standing in the line.

"Sister-in-law, how often do we get a seafood giveaway like this?"

"It depends. If nothing happens, we can have one every ten days or so. But if they encounter problems at sea, we might not have one for several months."

Before long, a huge warship sailed in, and a commotion began to rise in the crowd.

"I'm coming!"

"I wonder if my husband is on this ship. If he is, he's in for a treat today."

"Your husband has only been gone for less than half a month, right? He probably won't be back for a long time. My husband should be back by now."

As the warship docked, baskets of seafood were quickly unloaded by the soldiers. There were all sorts of fish that Anning couldn't name, as well as shrimp, crabs, squid, and other seafood.

The soldiers in charge of counting arrived immediately, and the seafood was quickly distributed.

Anning took two jin of shrimp and then asked for one hundred jin of squid.

Zhao Xuemei originally wanted to persuade her, but after hearing that Anning said she was going to make snacks for the children, she hesitated for a moment and ordered 100 jin just like her.

The soldiers who were registering asked them for their addresses, saying they would weigh the items and have someone deliver them to them.

An Ning turned around and took Zhao Xuemei to buy the necessary seasonings. Not long after they returned home, the soldier who delivered the squid arrived with the squid.

Moreover, they only picked the big ones, with the small ones weighing more than two pounds and the big ones even weighing three pounds, which greatly saved Anning a lot of trouble.

Anning told Zhao Xuemei how to make squid strips. One person was responsible for removing the internal organs and separating the body from the tentacles, while the other person was responsible for tearing off the thin membrane and mouth, and then throwing them into the marinade.

Working together, the two hundred pounds of squid were processed in no time.

The rest is simple: marinate the squid strips, then smoke them quickly to dry them, and hang them indoors for long-term storage.

When you want to eat it, take a piece off and slowly roast it over charcoal, or use other cooking methods.

Anning made two kinds: one sweet and savory grilled squid strips, and the other spicy and numbing squid strips. Both adults and children enjoyed them immensely.

"Little sister, how did you come up with such a clever idea? How can you make something so delicious?" Zhao Xuemei exclaimed as she ate.

An Ning dared not take credit: "I've seen others make meat jerky this way before, and I felt it would work similarly with squid, so I gave it a try, and it actually turned out great."

"It's a good thing you didn't dig up the yard to grow vegetables, otherwise we would have to find a place outside to smoke them out," Zhao Xuemei sighed. "But the weather here is hot, so we can grow vegetables even in winter, which can save a lot of money! Otherwise, I'll come and help you dig up the ground tomorrow, so you won't have to go to buy vegetables every day."

"No, no!" An Ning quickly refused. "Sister-in-law, you said it yourself, if I soak up the water in this little yard to grow vegetables, then there won't be a place to grill things, right? I'd like to have some barbecue every now and then!"

Just kidding, it's uncertain how long she can stay here. She'll get a divorce as soon as Song Wenyuan comes back. Why bother with all this effort?

"Okay, you young people really know how to enjoy life."

"Sister-in-law, what are you saying? You're not that much older than me."

"You have no idea how much trouble my son causes me. One year of worrying about him is equivalent to ten years of worrying about him before I had him!"

The rich aroma of grilled squid filled the entire residential area, and soon people came following the scent.

They had obviously heard that Anning and Zhao Xuemei had each bought 100 jin of squid today, but they didn't expect that the snack Anning mentioned for the child would be so delicious.

Someone who had previously dealt with Zhao Xuemei shamelessly asked, knowing the answer already, "Xuemei, what are you doing? It smells so good."

"Squid, didn't you guys hear? This afternoon, Anning and I each ordered 100 jin (50 kg)."

"I've heard about it, hehehe!" the military wife laughed. "I just didn't expect it to smell so good!"

They had eaten squid before, but only boiled. They didn't think it tasted as good as shrimp, so they always went for shrimp. Who would have thought that this thing could be eaten like this?

Anning came out of the house with the squid strips she had just made: "Since the sisters-in-law are all here, please have a taste!"

"That's so embarrassing!"

The person speaking had their eyes darting around.

"It's alright. Although the squid has shrunk a lot after being smoked and dried, since none of us have tried it before, we can share some with everyone to let them taste it."

"Then I'm not welcome!"

The person who spoke took a small piece from An Ning's hand and put it directly into their mouth.

good to eat!

To be honest, they had the same thought as Wang Xiuying before: if Anning didn't have some connection with the people above, how could she have been arranged to live here?

Moreover, because of her, Wang Xiuying and Wei Hong had a very unpleasant falling out, and many people harbored resentment towards her.

But looking at her now, she seems like a very nice person, at least compared to Wang Xiuying, she's much more magnanimous.

Several of them had spread rumors about Anning, and they all received their share, without exception.

"If you like to eat them, I can also share the recipe with you, so you can make them yourself if you want. You can also make dried anchovies using the same method."

Despite past grievances, An Ning shared the squid strips she had made with everyone and even taught them how to make them, winning the favor of most of them.

People started to view her more positively and stopped mentioning how she was taking a house that was supposed to be allocated to a battalion commander without proper authorization.

The next day, Anning wrapped six packages of squid strips in oil paper, two large packages and four small packages.

Today was the day she and Chen Hai had agreed to pick up her bicycle, and Yan Fei needed to meet her at the door when she returned.

Two small packets of dried squid were given as a token of gratitude for his care during this time, and two large packets were entrusted to him to deliver to Commander Li.

If there are no problems with the bicycle, we'll give the remaining two packs to Chen Hai to try.

If Chen Hai ran away with her money, she would go to the factory workers' dormitory in the county town to see if anyone was willing to buy it.