Chapter 78
The next few days were busy for Yan Lei.
The Military District had lent out quite a few men to the surrounding areas. These days, one could see many soldiers working outdoors, sweating profusely and working with great enthusiasm.
Weeding, digging ditches, clearing channels, overturning jars and cans—they didn’t let any place where mosquitoes could breed go unchecked.
They cleared away the places where the masses naturally piled up trash; these days, one could often see smoke from burning garbage.
Some of the ruins left over from the war were troublesome to clear. The men were simple and rough; they swung sledgehammers to smash and push over the broken walls directly. They did, however, recover quite a few stone bricks, blue bricks, and old tiles.
These were good things, and since the work was done by the Military Unit, the recovered items naturally belonged to the Military Unit; the local authorities couldn’t dream of grabbing them. Individuals couldn’t just sit idle either.
Both units and individual families had to sign a sanitation pledge with the street and neighborhood committees. On the last Sunday before the mosquito extermination, the street and neighborhood committees organized personnel to come and inspect.
In the old residential area, a street official led five or six female volunteers, all wearing armbands, knocking on doors one by one to inspect. Some passed, some failed. After walking through, everyone knew who was fastidious and who was sloppy.
Sister Yang was one of the female volunteers. After the six or seven people inspected her home and then two other households, the next one was Qiao Wei’s home. Sister Yang said, “The Yan Household is fine; the couple are both fastidious people.”
The volunteers were all family members from the old district, some familiar to Qiao Wei and some not. Regardless, Qiao Wei welcomed them all with a smile, “Come in, come in quickly.” She exchanged greetings with Sister Yang.
“Where is Yan?”
“He’s been too busy to see these days; he’s been out the whole time.”
“Same with our Old Zhao; his regiment was seconded to Qingshan Town.”
The two of them were close, so they chatted first. The others, however, looked up at the house, a bit confused, “Why is there still an adobe house?”
The old residential area was originally renovated and rebuilt on the foundation of war ruins. Stone houses were worth repairing, but the adobe houses had been abandoned and had long since rotted into piles of dirt, with no value for renovation.
Therefore, the houses the military families lived in now were all stone houses. Some were neater, while others, like Yan Lei’s home, were patched up like they had been chewed by a dog. But there were no adobe houses. Looking at the adobe house in front of them, everyone was a bit confused.
Sister Yang had seen it before and was no longer surprised; she even explained for Qiao Wei, “She has a cold constitution and is afraid of the cold, so she added a layer of mud to make the house warmer.” This explanation was easier to accept. Everyone said, “I see.”
Someone couldn’t help but say, “The houses in the Residential Compound have good insulation.”
The Residential Compound was now full, and there had been no vacant rooms for a long time.
Those still living in the old district were either young battalion commanders who married late, and since the Residential Compound was full, could only be assigned houses in the old district. Or, they were people who hadn’t been assigned a house in the Residential Compound when they first moved.
But there was another special factor: all the regimental-level cadres in the old district had voluntarily stayed behind out of high moral character. In any unit, when distributing housing or benefits, the principle of rank priority was definitely followed; this was recognized by the whole society.
Regimental-level cadres certainly had priority for allocation and it was impossible for them not to get one. Therefore, those who stayed were all high-minded; they voluntarily gave up their quotas for new housing to those who needed them more, such as battalion-level cadres with more children. Yan Lei was one of them, as was Regimental Commander Zhao and Regimental Commander Ma.
They were all Division Commander Pan’s men.
The men were high-minded and had high awareness, so in this environment, the family members didn’t dare to openly object. The higher the rank of the officer’s spouse, the less they could do so, as it would hold their husbands back.
Even the original Qiao Weiwei, although she had a strained relationship with Yan Lei because of this matter, couldn’t speak recklessly in public.
But just because the family members couldn’t openly complain didn’t mean they had no grievances. Now that the small group was gathered in one courtyard, especially in The Yan Household’s yard, the fact that the house was so drafty it needed to be plastered with mud to keep warm really made one’s nose sore. Everyone inevitably complained a few words.
Qiao Wei quickly smoothed things over, “We receive higher wages and enjoy better treatment, so we have to give back a little, right? We can’t take all the good things for ourselves, otherwise, what’s the difference between us and the old bureaucrats of the past?”
That was true. Although the housing issue was unpleasant, the men in the family earned high wages, so everyone basically didn’t lack food or clothing and could even subsidize their maiden families, which was something to be proud of. The family members’ tempers smoothed out a bit.
The street official said helplessly, “Sisters-in-law, sisters-in-law, we have work to do, there are still many families we haven’t visited.”
Honestly, every time they arrived at a house, they had to chat and gossip with the woman of the house for ages before leaving. Only then did the family members stop chatting and took a turn around the courtyard first.
According to the sanitation pledge, the outdoors had to be “spotless,” with no trash, weeds, or stagnant water allowed.
“This courtyard is kept clean,” everyone praised.
The ground was clean, and two pebble paths were laid out neatly; one could imagine that it wouldn’t get muddy on rainy days. Even on non-rainy days, one would step on the pebbles when entering or leaving the courtyard or going to the latrine, so no dirt was tracked in, and the inside of the house could stay clean at all times.
Sister Yang was familiar with The Yan Household, so she didn’t inspect; she simply stood with her hands behind her back, leaned over to look closely at the vegetable patch, and praised, “This vegetable patch is well tended. Yan, one look and you can tell he is a good farmer.”
Qiao Wei laughed, “He treasures it; he doesn’t allow me to go near it.”
Sister Yang guessed it immediately, “It must be because you messed around and killed them, right?”
Qiao Wei was stubborn, “I wanted to learn. Learning takes a process; failure is the mother of success. Who can learn everything at once? He doesn’t even give me a chance to learn now.”
Sister Yang didn’t buy it; she pointed at her through the air, “City girl.” Very disdainfully.
“Oh!” Someone came out of the latrine, surprised and praised, “Your latrine is really clean.” The others heard this and flocked inside to look. They were all shocked after seeing it, “Why is it so clean?”
In a place like a dry latrine, being able to see the excrement piled up below with the naked eye wasn’t the most uncomfortable part. What was even more uncomfortable was that if your bottom shifted slightly, or if you had diarrhea, the two stone slabs you stood on would get covered in excrement. In any other family’s latrine, you could see this situation. When everyone inspected the previous households, they just held their noses and took a quick peek. Only when they reached Qiao Wei’s house did they actually squeeze inside to look.
The latrine wasn’t big; because it was built uniformly when the houses were renovated back then, every household was about the same. The size was about the same, and the structure was the same. But Qiao Wei’s latrine, first of all, had no dirt. A broom stood against the wall in the corner, which showed it was specifically for sweeping the toilet.
Near the pit, a small bench was placed against the wall, and on the bench were toilet paper, mosquito coils, and Dichlorvos. Dichlorvos was used to spray the toilet to kill insects. There were no flies or maggots to be seen. It must have been sprayed very frequently.
Qiao Wei said, “I spray it once every day before going to bed.” The next day it would be clean.
Someone looked up, “You even installed a light.” Qiao Wei reacted quickly and blurted out, “I fell in once.” Everyone burst into laughter.
“I was the same once; it was pitch black at night, and even though I clearly stretched my foot toward the pit, I don’t know how, but I stepped right into it. Oh my, I was tilted over it. I washed those pants for a long time.”
“Me too.”
“Maybe I should install one at my house too.” The military spouses chattered, their laughter endless.
The street official couldn’t help but ask, “Comrade Yan.”
Qiao Wei said, “My surname is Qiao.”
The military spouses said, “Don’t you know her? She’s the broadcaster from the Broadcasting Station, the one who speaks Mandarin.”
“Ah, so it’s you.” The official was surprised, “Comrade Qiao, how do you keep your toilet so clean? Do you have any experience you can share?”
Qiao Wei smiled with pursed lips.
“This isn’t experience.” Her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled, “It’s good luck. You have to marry a diligent man.”
This man knows you love cleanliness, and he is willing to clean the toilet for you day after day; whenever he sees it’s dirty, he carries a bucket of water to flush it. You have to know that the house uses a hand-pump well, which needs constant pumping to get water. After stopping for seven or eight seconds, the water stops flowing. It’s not like tap water that can flow continuously. There are also no rubber hoses to connect to a faucet for direct flushing. At this time, you must use a bucket to collect water, carry it to the latrine, and pour it out to flush. If one bucket isn’t enough to clean it, you have to carry another one.
The method is very simple; who doesn’t know it? Where is there any need for experience to be shared? You just need a person who is both diligent and has some strength.
Sister Yang burst into laughter and slapped the official on the back with her thick palm, “Did you hear that? Now you know what kind of partner to look for.”
The street official was a young girl who didn’t have a partner yet and was almost slapped onto the wall by Sister Yang’s big palm. She felt a bit like spitting blood internally.
However, looking back at this clean latrine, the young female official had a new standard for choosing a partner in her heart.
The Yan Household’s courtyard was all qualified. It was just that someone asked curiously, “Why is there a pit of sand here?” When they learned it was for the child to play in, they all clicked their tongues in admiration.
The outdoor area was “spotless” and qualified, so the group went inside to inspect. As soon as they entered, there were exclamations of “Whoa,” “Whoa.” “It’s a coincidence; the walls were freshly painted this month,” Qiao Wei said with a smile.
Sister Yang, Regimental Commander Ma, and a few other families also had freshly painted walls, so her white walls didn’t seem special. However, although the courtyard was clean, because it was an “adobe house” and everyone was from the countryside, they had stereotypes about adobe houses. Even in the village, only families with poor conditions built adobe houses; those who were capable would build brick houses if they could. Therefore, before entering the house, everyone naturally pictured the dilapidated scenes of adobe houses they had seen in the past.
Who knew that once they walked in, the walls were floor-to-ceiling, snowy white. The contrast with the light yellow adobe exterior was too great. This was exactly the effect Qiao Wei was aiming for. One year, she traveled to the Jiangnan region, and the mountain village homestay she stayed in had this style. The outside was faux adobe, and once you went inside, everything was painted snow-white. Of course, their interior was exquisitely decorated, so the contrast was even greater and more impressive. In this era, with limited resources and a desire to improve the living environment, Qiao Wei chose this style. Although she couldn’t copy it perfectly, she tried her best. The effect was not bad.
The interior was required to be “six-sided clean,” meaning top, bottom, left, right, front, and back—everything had to be clean. Just by looking at the living room, everyone knew that if The Yan Household didn’t pass, no one else could.
Yan Xiang came out of the study, “Aunt Yang~”
Sister Yang rubbed his head, “What are you doing?”
“Drawing.”
“Good boy.”
“Your child is also well-behaved,” someone praised.
“Yeah, the walls in my house are a mess because the little brats drew all over them.”
Even Sister Yang said, “I’ve spanked them several times already.” Her walls were painted even later than Qiao Wei’s, and several places had been scribbled on by her children; it was impossible to prevent.
Qiao Wei said modestly, “He’s still young; his destructive power hasn’t formed yet.” Everyone laughed. They also went into the rooms on both sides to take a look, and naturally, they were all qualified.
But there was a wicker cabinet behind the main room door that surprised everyone, “You even made a special cabinet for shoes?” The small wicker cabinet was a rural handicraft; handicrafts weren’t as valuable as industrial products, and they didn’t even require coupons. The military spouses weren’t unable to afford it, but they simply didn’t have the concept in their minds—did shoes actually need a special cabinet for storage?
This was the generation gap of the era. Qiao Wei said, “There has to be a place to put them; spreading them on the floor isn’t as good as getting a small cabinet to organize them; it’s much neater.”
“That’s true,” everyone agreed.
The men were successful, the family conditions were better, and it wasn’t like they couldn’t afford it. Looking at this, it was actually quite good.
“When is the next market day?”
“After the mosquito fumigation is finished.”
“When the market opens, I’ll buy a cabinet like this for shoes too. The children’s shoes at home are thrown everywhere.”
“I’m thinking, maybe I should paint my house white too.”
“Paint it! My family, Old Ma’s family, and Little Xue’s family all saw that Qiao Wei painted hers white, which is why we did it too.”
“Then I’ll paint it too. It really looks clean.”
