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

"Sister-in-law, I'll leave here for you now!"

Xue Man carried a large pile of things, huffing and puffing as he followed An Ning home, then piled everything up by the door.

"Don't rush, look at you covered in sweat, have some water before you go."

"Okay, thank you, sister-in-law! I was a little thirsty."

If someone else had said that, Xue Man definitely wouldn't have stayed. But since it was An Ning, his company commander's wife, he had no choice but to stay and have a few more drinks.

He can even brag about it to his company commander later.

perfect!

Anning took a bowl, added two spoonfuls of sugar to it, poured warm water from the kettle, and stirred the sugar with chopsticks until it dissolved before handing the water to Xue Man.

"Drink up, I'll pour you more if you need more."

Xue Man tasted the sweetness of the water as soon as he took the first sip, and his eyes couldn't help but squint.

Sweet soup is something that everyone likes.

It's just that soldiers aren't that particular on a daily basis; they're content as long as they have water to drink, so why would they bother to make any sweet soup?

Moreover, sugar is not cheap, and it is usually only served when entertaining distinguished guests.

But today, his sister-in-law specially added sugar to his drink.

No wonder she's his company commander's wife; she's so generous and magnanimous in her dealings with people!

It's just that his wonderful sister-in-law was targeted by someone as soon as she arrived at the army, and not just once.

He has to find out who's behind this!

With this in mind, Xue Man strengthened his resolve, drank the rest of the sweet soup in one gulp, and stood up: "Thank you for your hospitality, sister-in-law. I have something to do later, so I won't stay any longer. See you next time!"

In fact, Xue Man also made significant contributions in this battle.

When he returns from his vacation, it will be time to prepare for his promotion.

However, before going home, he had to fulfill his promise to the company commander, preferably by directly resolving this potential problem so that his sister-in-law and niece could also have a peaceful and happy New Year.

After Xue Man left Anning's residence, Aunt Wu sneaked out of the house, stared at his departing figure for a while, and then went back inside.

She was unwilling to accept this after she returned, and kept thinking about what had just happened, which finally led her to find a flaw in her plan.

The place where she had her conflict with that vixen was so far from the town, how could An Ning and Zhao Xuemei have called the police so quickly and even caught up with her?

It was mostly just something he said to her.

She just wanted them to say a few words for her, and not only were they unwilling, but they also scared her like that and caused her to lose so many things.

That’s all money!

Even a few cents is enough for them to eat for several days!

Zhao Xuemei is no good, and that newcomer Shen Anning is no better!

He caught a four-pound crab, sold it for money, and then didn't care about the lives of other people.

Aunt Wu grew angrier the more she thought about it. Seeing another group of military wives returning from beachcombing in the distance, she rolled her eyes and went out to greet them.

Before she could even figure out how to start the conversation, the group of military wives mentioned enviously that Anning's big crab not only sold for ten yuan, but the director of the supply and marketing cooperative also said that if she brought a large quantity of seafood to sell in the future, he would buy her other seafood at a price one cent higher than the normal price.

Aunt Wu felt a sudden heart attack and almost fainted from anger.

Inside the house, Anning was unaware that she had become a thorn in Aunt Wu's side. Instead, she opened the bag that Xue Man had brought and began to examine its contents.

The largest bag contained a set of clothes made of Dacron, the most popular material of the time, and the latest style from the department store.

An Ning glanced at the brand; it was the same brand as the outfit Chen Hai had bought for Xiao Ni'er last time.

She reasonably suspected that the other person bought them together, but just didn't dare to give them away at the time.

If Chen Hai had been honest with her about his thoughts back then, would she have made the same choice after her application to accompany him to the military was approved?

An Ning didn't know.

She opened the other bags, which, as usual, contained a bag of food for the child, such as formula and candy; some non-specific snacks, such as cookies and pastries; a schoolbag; a pretty pencil sharpener; a pencil; and a tin pencil case, also for the child.

There were no books this time, but there was a thick stack of letter paper.

Anning remained silent.

This stack of letter paper was clearly bought specifically for her, because the letters she received before were torn from notebooks for Xiao Ni'er to practice calligraphy, and Chen Hai obviously had a lot of complaints about that.

However, he didn't dare mention it in front of her; he just used this method to express his protest in a roundabout way.

Anning roughly estimated that these things would cost at least a hundred yuan in total.

Although we don't know how much Chen Hai earns, considering his age, even if he earns extra money by working on the ship, a hundred yuan is not a small amount.

This presented her with a dilemma—how should she return the favor?

In the evening, Zhao Xuemei invited An Ning to have dinner together.

The two worked together to wash vegetables and cook, chatting idly in between.

Zhao Xuemei: "Who was that young soldier just now? He seemed to know you quite well, but I've never heard you mention him before?"

Anning: "I met a friend of a friend when I first came to the island by boat. I had met him twice before, but I didn't know he was also a soldier at the time. I only found out when we met later."

"Oh! So you had your friend buy all those things for you?"

“Yes.” An Ning readily admitted, “He is a crew member at the port, and he often travels between the two sides of the strait. He has access to many things that we don’t have here, so I asked him for help.”

Based on Chen Hai's behavior these past few times, she'll probably have to deliver things to him quite often in the future.

As Zhao Xuemei is her neighbor, she certainly can't hide it from her, so it's better to give her a heads-up first.

"I see." Zhao Xuemei didn't ask any further questions, but instead said, "I asked around this afternoon, and Wang Xiuying didn't go beachcombing today. She came back early, but she spent the whole afternoon working at home and didn't go to see Tang Qiuqiao. Is she really planning to suffer this in silence?"

"I don't know what she's planning, but the fact that she came back immediately after leaving shows that she still cares. You see, she's been following me for so long without asking the questions she wants to know, which means she's not the type to make decisions immediately. There are still two weeks until the New Year! Even if the army wants to forcibly remove someone, it won't be before the New Year. Let's just wait and see!"

When Zhao Xuemei thought about Wang Xiuying's stubborn personality, she realized that it was indeed true.

Because of one sentence from Anning, she followed Anning for several days. If the two of them hadn't deliberately orchestrated that conversation, she probably would have followed her until she was fully prepared before coming out.

She pouted.

"Tsk! I really don't know what she's thinking. What's the point of dragging this out for so long? If it were me, I would just go and ask her directly. Asking sooner is better, and I'll have an answer instead of keeping guessing."