There was no other way; everyone's attention was now focused on the "bathroom" in Li Xiufen's family's house.
It was said that this so-called "bathroom" was something only found in the homes of cadres in the city. Local masons didn't know how to build one. It was Gu Chunmiao, who grew up in a military compound, with her broad knowledge, who drew the blueprint for He Baoguo, and only then was this thing managed to be constructed.
The day the "bathroom" was completed, the entire production team came to watch the excitement.
Li Xiufen initially felt that spending fifty yuan to build such a bathroom was a bit of a waste of money.
But seeing the villagers coming in waves to "learn from experience" at their home, and hearing everyone's praise for her and her daughter-in-law, Li Xiufen felt elated for several consecutive days.
However, she still felt a heartache over that fifty yuan.
Coincidentally, this year the commune had released news that they would no longer limit the number of chickens, ducks, and geese each household could raise. Li Xiufen found someone to buy dozens of "breeding eggs," including thirty chicken eggs, thirty duck eggs, and twenty goose eggs.
The chicks and ducklings hatched this season would be raised until New Year's, just in time to be eaten.
The geese wouldn't need to be slaughtered by New Year's; they would continue to be raised. Li Xiufen now had a strong premonition that her daughter-in-law would definitely get pregnant next year. By then, the geese raised at home would also be laying eggs. She didn't plan to sell the goose eggs; they would all be kept to nourish her daughter-in-law.
..
Seven days later, Li Xiufen's family's new house was finally completed.
He Zhanjun's family visit leave also ended, and he had to return to the military unit tomorrow.
He Zhanjun was reluctant to leave.
He hadn't eaten enough of his mother's lamb noodles, steamed braised noodles, braised noodles with green beans, hutun noodles with sesame leaves, and baked flatbread wraps with vegetables.
It was a pity that the time he had spent at home had already exceeded three days.
For the first three days, Li Xiufen had still cherished him, bestowing a little motherly love upon him.
Starting from the fourth day, she found him annoying no matter what he did, wishing he would hurry back to the military unit.
He Zhanjun also wanted to return to the military unit, but he wanted his daughter-in-law to accompany him.
He had now been promoted to Deputy Battalion Commander, which was just enough qualification to bring family members to accompany him.
The main reason was that he still held a grudge in his heart.
Didn't that true daughter, Gu Sisi, snatch his wife's job in the Cultural Troupe?
Later, he would bring Gu Chunmiao to the military unit to accompany him. Then, he would find a way to arrange Gu Chunmiao's job in the military unit's Cultural Troupe, to infuriate Gu Sisi!
Unfortunately, his suggestion for Gu Chunmiao to accompany him was collectively rejected by his biological mother and his wife.
Li Xiufen almost pointed at her son's nose and called him useless.
"Your wife is boiling water, and you're too lazy to even help her get the thermos. If Miao Miao accompanies you to the military unit, do you expect me to serve her? It's more like she'll be serving you!"
He Zhanjun gasped.
Given his mother's vengeful nature, she would probably hold the incident of him not helping with the thermos when Gu Chunmiao was boiling water against him for his entire life...
Gu Chunmiao also didn't want to go with him.
How delicious was the food her mother-in-law cooked!
If she went to the military unit with He Zhanjun, she would only be able to eat at the canteen with him from now on.
The main reason was that Gu Chunmiao herself didn't know how to cook.
Li Xiufen made the final decision: "Listen to me! Miao Miao still has a formal job in the commune. If she goes with you to the military unit now, wouldn't this job be wasted? Besides, you two are planning to have a child in the next couple of years. If Miao Miao really accompanies you to the military unit and gets pregnant, you'll be busy at the military unit all day long, who will take care of her?"
He Zhanjun answered without thinking: "Mom, isn't there you? Then you can go to the military unit... Ouch!"
Before he could finish speaking, he was hit on the forehead with a feather duster.
Li Xiufen wielded "truth"—the He family's ancestral feather duster—and chased her son all over the courtyard.
"You little brat, do you really think of your mother as a long-term hired hand from the old society? If I want to stay home, I stay home. If I want to go to the military unit, I go to the military unit?"
"You wish! If I go to the military unit, who will earn work points for the production team for me? What about my annual rations? And what about the chickens, ducks, and geese at home?"
"I think you're just like your father, only thinking about your own happiness all day, and not caring about your wife's life or death at all! How can I rest assured and hand Miao Miao over to you?"
"Alright, your family visit leave is over, so hurry back to your military unit. Don't stay home too long; just looking at you is annoying!"
Hearing this, He Zhanjun's vision went black. He knew that his biological mother's patience with him had reached its lowest point. If he stayed home any longer, he would face another "fixed performance segment"—bringing up old grievances.
Go! Hurry up and go!
The day after the He family moved, He Zhanjun returned to the military unit.
Although Li Xiufen verbally expressed her dislike, when her son left, she still packed a lot of food and daily necessities for him.
She made a pair of cloth shoes and a pair of cotton shoes, and also a pair of warm wool socks. The wool was something Li Xiufen had casually plucked from the commune's sheep while herding them. She had saved for over two months to gather enough wool for a pair of socks.
Additionally, she prepared two large bundles of his favorite foods.
She made some of her homemade fermented bean paste, stir-fried it with chili peppers, and packed it in a canned bottle. It could be used to make sandwiches on the road or mixed with rice at the military unit; it was very fragrant!
She also packed pickled melon, pickled green beans, and pickled Jerusalem artichokes, filling three large canned bottles.
Gu Chunmiao brought back some beef. Li Xiufen braised it all, leaving one piece for her daughter-in-law to eat, and slicing the rest into thin slices of beef, filling a whole lunchbox.
He Zhanjun loved Li Xiufen's vegetable-stuffed flatbread. Li Xiufen went to the private plot early in the morning, almost stripping bare the two private plots belonging to her own family and Li Xiulan's family, and picked two full baskets of vegetables.
She made several kinds of fillings for He Zhanjun's vegetable-stuffed flatbread, such as chives and egg with noodles, Chinese selfheal and egg, shredded pumpkin with cured meat, and purslane stir-fried with egg. Gu Chunmiao sat behind the stove, helping her mother-in-law light the fire. As soon as her mother-in-law finished making one type of filling for the flatbread, she would give her a piece to taste. Just "tasting the flavor" for her mother-in-law, she ate until she was full.
He Zhanjun was so touched that tears welled up in his eyes: "Mom~ The next time I eat your homemade vegetable-stuffed flatbread will be after the New Year."
Their military unit was scheduled to change posts and guard the border region in the second half of the year, so they definitely wouldn't be able to go home for New Year's this year. Thinking about it, his mother was right; Miao Miao really couldn't accompany him for the time being.
Otherwise, if he went to the border region, what would happen to Miao Miao?
After eating the purslane and pork dumplings handmade by Li Xiufen, He Zhanjun shouldered his luggage and got on the production team's tractor to the commune.
"Mom! Miao Miao! I'm going back! I'll be back after the New Year!"
Gu Chunmiao linked arms with her mother-in-law and waved vigorously at He Zhanjun.
"Don't worry, I will take good care of our mother."
A wave of warmth flowed through He Zhanjun's heart.
At this moment, he truly felt like a man with a wife.
He wondered if his wife would miss him when he went to the military unit.
He Zhanjun's eyes became slightly moist. He raised his head again, wanting to say something to his wife.
However, when he looked up, no one was at the doorway of their home anymore.
Where did they go?
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