Chapter 33
After a long while, Yan Lei’s voice suddenly broke the silence in the room. He said, “Qiao Wei…”
But he immediately followed up, “Never mind, it’s nothing.”
Qiao Wei kicked him and said, “Speak!”
Only then did Yan Lei say, “I think the smell of the soap is unpleasant.”
“Of course it smells bad, it’s soap, after all,” Qiao Wei agreed.
But there was no help for it; soap was the best thing available right now. Qiao Wei remembered very clearly that in the original story, by the seventies, Lin Xixi, as Yan Lei’s wife, was one of the first people in their area to use scented soap.
“Possessing what others lack” is a principle of power-fantasy novels. That’s why there was quite a lot of ink spent on the part where Lin Xixi used scented soap and was envied by others. That is why Qiao Wei remembered it so deeply.
“Plus, it burns the skin,” she said. “This stuff is highly alkaline, so it’s actually not good for the skin.”
Only after she finished speaking did she realize that Yan Lei was not the type to talk nonsense; any topic he brought up voluntarily must have a point.
“The soap smells bad, and then what?” she asked him. “What do you want to say?”
“Actually… honey locust pods smell very nice,” Yan Lei said cautiously. “I don’t know if you’d be willing to use them. If you are, I can boil honey locust water for you. It’s very comfortable to wash your hair with, and it doesn’t make your scalp itch.”
The original host longed for the big city and hated the countryside, along with everything associated with the word ‘countryside.’
Soap was something only city people used; in the countryside, even if people had it, they wouldn’t bear to use it, preferring to wash their hair with honey locust water, wood shavings water, or tea oil cakes. The original host naturally took pride in using soap, considering it advanced and high-class.
That was why Yan Lei had never brought up this suggestion before.
But now, the feeling his wife gave him had changed a lot. Some things he would never have dared to mention before now came out quite naturally.
“Oh, honey locust pods?” Qiao Wei became interested as soon as she heard that.
She had read about this thing countless times in historical novels, but she had never seen it in reality, and she was very curious.
“Alright, then get some back and I’ll try it,” she said. “Actually, things like soap are chemical products. While their cleaning power is strong, in other respects, they aren’t as good as all-natural things.”
Having his suggestion accepted, Yan Lei felt the distance between him and Qiao Wei shrink a little more. Even though there was no distance between them physically, he could still feel a distance mentally.
He hoped that this distance would disappear in the future.
“Oh!” Qiao Wei suddenly exclaimed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I forgot to show you the plan I made.”
“…What plan?”
“The one for the yard and the house.”
Qiao Wei gave Yan Lei a rough idea of what she had thought of today and asked him, “Should we fix up the yard first or the house?”
Yan Lei asked, “Are you really going to grow vegetables?”
“Yes,” Qiao Wei said. “But you are not allowed to use that kind of fertilizer. If you use that, I will really go crazy.”
That memory was particularly sharp. Even now, when talking about it, Qiao Wei could actually smell the stench of the fertilizer Yan Lei used to compost in her memory. It just showed how much the original host hated this matter.
You couldn’t blame her; even Qiao Wei couldn’t stand it just by smelling that scent from the memories. What city girl could put up with that?
Yan Lei actually muttered, “They won’t grow well like that…”
Just how strong was this farming bloodline?
Qiao Wei was almost amused to the point of anger and kicked him. Yan Lei agreed, “Got it.”
“Remember, we have a Farmers Market, we don’t actually rely on farming to eat,” Qiao Wei lectured him. “I’m giving you a vegetable patch in the yard, firstly to beautify the yard, and secondly as a hobby to pass the time and cultivate your character. Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
Educated people use so many four-character idioms when they speak. Their Political Commissar was the same; he loved using four-character idioms.
Yan Lei indicated he had been taught, “Okay, got it.”
But after a while, he asked again, “Then can I get some silt from the river?”
Qiao Wei: “?”
Look, even educated people have things they don’t understand. Yan Lei explained, “The silt accumulated in the river is very fertile; it can fertilize the land.”
“…” Qiao Wei asked, “Does it smell?”
“It doesn’t smell, not at all,” Yan Lei guaranteed. “If that mud smelled, the river water would be undrinkable.”
Qiao Wei agreed, but demanded, “If it smells, you take it back exactly how you brought it.”
Yan Lei became happy, “Okay!”
Qiao Wei asked, “Then should we fix up the yard first or the house?”
“If you’re not in a rush, fix up the yard first,” Yan Lei suggested. “You need to get the vegetable patch set up now while there’s still time. Farming is all about seizing the right time; other things can be done whenever.”
“That makes sense,” Qiao Wei agreed. “I don’t know how to farm, so I’ll leave the actual planting to you. What can I do first?”
“You don’t need to do anything.”
“But I’m bored, I want to find something to do.”
When Qiao Wei said this, Yan Lei’s heart skipped a beat. It was true that if Qiao Wei was too idle, he was afraid she would let her imagination run wild and get swindled by someone.
“Then you can loosen the soil first,” Yan Lei decided to arrange something for Qiao Wei to do.
He explained in detail how to do it and where the tools were.
The couple whispered to each other all night; there was no romance, only talk about farming and growing vegetables.
When they woke up the next day, it was Saturday. At this time, it was a single-day weekend system, so Saturday was still a workday.
Qiao Wei stretched and got out of bed, then took Yan Xiang out to have breakfast at the Residential Compound. After breakfast, they went to the Farmers Market and ran into Sister Yang, who was with Lin Xixi, followed by Junzi, with Wu Nier hanging onto Lin Xixi.
Qiao Wei naturally had to greet them, “Sister-in-law, buying so many vegetables?”
“Well, you see, Old Zhao’s subordinates are all coming over today for a study meeting.” Sister Yang was very enthusiastic toward everyone. Recently, having become close with Qiao Wei, who was famously proud, made her very proud, and she appeared especially warm. “That’s why I’m rushing to buy the vegetables; this group of young men could eat the bottom out of a pot.”
She also winked at Qiao Wei.
Qiao Wei glanced at Lin Xixi. Lin Xixi didn’t have any emotional fluctuation, clearly unaware that the so-called study meeting tonight was actually a blind date arranged for her.
Qiao Wei said, “If you need anything, just let me know.”
Sister Yang was very satisfied with the current state of her friendship with Qiao Wei and didn’t stand on ceremony, “I need to borrow a few stools.”
“Sure, I’ll send them over once I’m done buying groceries and get back.”
“No need. Why would I need you to do it? When Gangzi and Yingzi get out of school, I’ll have them go over and move them.”
“Alright then.”
And so it was settled. The two parties went their separate ways.
Regimental Commander Zhao and Sister Yang arranging a match for Lin Xixi was something Qiao Wei was happy to see. If Lin Xixi could have other options and give up on Yan Lei, then she and Lin Xixi could exist in parallel in this space-time, which would be for the best.
After buying groceries and returning home, taking advantage of the morning sun not being too harsh, she found the tools Yan Lei mentioned. She marked out a square area on the ground in the yard and called out to Yan Xiang, “Let’s go dig for earthworms.”
She didn’t know how to grow vegetables, but she could manage to turn and loosen the soil.
In the span of a morning, she loosened the soil of this reserved vegetable patch.
Yan Xiang, meanwhile, was looking for earthworms in the turned soil. The child was incredibly bold and dared to catch earthworms with his bare hands.
Qiao Wei took an empty canned food jar, put some soil in it for him, and kept the thick earthworms inside. She also told Yan Xiang, “Earthworms don’t have babies like mom and dad, but if an earthworm is cut into two, it will grow into two different earthworms.”
She even asked Yan Xiang, “Do you want to try it?”
She was even ready to cut the earthworm in pieces, but Yan Xiang shook his head, “It’s too painful, let’s not try it.”
Alright then.
On the coal stove, the small round pot used for cooking was simmering the tomatoes she bought today, and after simmering for the whole morning, it turned into sauce.
Qiao Wei felt a great sense of accomplishment.
She had never made it before, either. Although she heard her mother say her grandmother used to make it when she was little, that was ages ago. By Qiao Wei’s generation, no one made tomato sauce at home anymore. This technique hadn’t been passed down to Qiao Wei’s mother at all.
The reason Qiao Wei knew how to make it was because she followed a foreign girl from West Asia on a video website. The videos this girl made were all about daily life, and one episode featured her whole family working together to make tomato sauce. That’s how Qiao Wei learned it.
So many things were learned from online videos; thank goodness for the information age.
It was her first time making it, so it was hard to gauge the amount. After filling up a canned food jar, there was still some left over.
Qiao Wei chopped up a piece of meat, stir-fried it with scallions, ginger, and garlic, then poured the freshly made tomato sauce into the pot to make tomato meat sauce.
She boiled some dried noodles.
Dried noodles had to be bought at the non-staple food store and were considered fine grain. Because in this era, many people were actually still eating mixed flour instead of white flour, so dried noodles were a good thing.
Once the noodles were cooked, she fished them out, rinsed them in cold water, put them on a plate, topped them with the tomato meat sauce, and added two boiled green vegetable leaves; it was red and green.
It could barely count as a not-so-authentic pasta, after all, it used dried noodles.
Yan Xiang let out a “Wow.” “It looks so good.”
Almost no child could escape the appeal of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and pasta. Yan Xiang tasted a bite and was immediately conquered, “Delicious! Mom, what is this called?”
Of course, it couldn’t be called pasta. Qiao Wei said, “It’s called… cold noodles with tomato sauce.”
Slightly sour, with meat, and cool—it was just perfect for eating at noon in the summer.
Yan Xiang ate a whole big plate, his little belly was bulging, but he still wanted more.
Qiao Wei was frightened and took the plate away, “Don’t overeat.”
On the other side, at Regimental Commander Zhao’s house, after lunch, Junzi and Wu Nier were both taking a nap. Sister Yang and Lin Xixi, however, were not idle; the two of them prepared the dishes for the evening in advance.
After preparing the dishes, the two washed their hands, and Sister Yang said, “Come with me.”
She took Lin Xixi into the bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and took out several dresses: “Take a look, which one is suitable to wear? You pick one. The people coming today are all your uncle’s subordinates; if you dress a bit better, it will also give your uncle some face.”
The things you cannot obtain in your youth will haunt you for the rest of your life.
Lin Xixi stared blankly at these dresses. Weren’t these… what she had dreamed of wearing when she was young?
At that time, she thought that if she followed her educated-youth husband into the city, she could wear whatever she wanted. Who knew that fantasies were beautiful, but reality was harsh. Her husband and mother-in-law wouldn’t give her an extra cent to spend on dressing herself up.
The village beauty spent her days guarding the stove and kitchen counter, her face covered in cooking fumes.
The longing for the city she once had in the countryside had all been smoked greasy and dim.
She couldn’t help but touch one of them.
“This one?” Sister Yang swiftly and nimbly put the others away.
Lin Xixi didn’t even have time to stop her.
Perhaps her gaze was too obvious; Sister Yang said, “I’ll keep them, and when you need to wear them, I’ll take them out.”
Sister Yang felt that since she had to work every day, there was really no need to dress up flashily every single day, right? She could wear them when she went on the blind date.
Besides, it was safer if she kept them; she could preserve them well. If they were preserved well, Yingzi could continue to wear them when she grew up.
Lin Xixi was a step too slow and had no choice left, so she had to pick up this only one.
After she changed into it, Sister Yang clicked her tongue in admiration, “It really is true that clothes make the person.”
The clothes Lin Xixi brought were typical rural floral shirts and gray trousers; suddenly changing into this doudou fabric dress, her whole person looked stylish.
The heroine’s appearance halo manifested at this moment, leaving Sister Yang in endless admiration.
