Chapter 17 : Home in the Family Compound

“What? The application for housing in the family compound was approved?”

Lu Fangfang’s eyes lit up, and she immediately forgot about Xiao Ting.

Xiao Ting and Zhu Haimei none of them were as important as a warm home.

“Yes, the application has been approved.”

Zhuang Mingcheng nodded, and seeing Lu Fangfang happy, a smile appeared on his usually stern face. Reaching into his military coat pocket with his right hand, he pulled out a key and shook it.

Lu Fangfang was so excited that she wanted to go and see the new house immediately.

As she was thinking about it, she suddenly saw a thin hand reaching out and grabbing her arm.

“Fangfang, stop washing. Come on, I’ll take you to see it now.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m almost done.”

Lu Fangfang suppressed her excitement.

She pried Zhuang Mingcheng’s hands apart and sped up the rinsing of the clothes.

Seeing that Zhuang Mingcheng wanted to intervene, she quickly pushed him aside.

“Your injured hand hasn’t healed yet, so don’t make trouble.”

Zhuang Mingcheng looked at his hanging left hand and tried to move it slightly.

“Mm!”

He raised his left hand slightly, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

When Lu Fangfang heard the noise, she turned around and saw Zhuang Mingcheng removing the bandage on his hand.

“Zhuang Mingcheng, what are you doing? Are you crazy?”

Not caring about the clothes in her hands anymore, Lu Fangfang threw them away and hurried to Zhuang Mingcheng.

Lu Fangfang slapped his hand away as he was removing the bandage and carefully tied it up again.

Looking up at Zhuang Mingcheng, she was very angry. “Zhuang Mingcheng, you don’t want your arm anymore? Why did you remove the bandage? Go to the medical room immediately. Don’t let it affect your recovery.”

The corners of Zhuang Mingcheng’s mouth curled up. It felt so good to be cared for by someone.

Seeing tiny beads of sweat on Lu Fangfang’s forehead, he took out a handkerchief from his shirt pocket and gently wiped it.

“Fangfang, it’s okay, don’t worry, my arm is almost healed, look, I can move it now.”

As he spoke, Zhuang Mingcheng raised his left hand with difficulty.

He didn’t want to get married with a bandage on, as that would be too ugly. He wanted to give Lu Fangfang a wedding as perfect as possible.

“Zhuang Mingcheng, stop doing that. I tell you, if your left hand suffers any sequelae from what you did, I won’t want you.”

Lu Fangfang was nearly furious.

After glaring at Zhuang Mingcheng fiercely, Lu Fangfang quickly and carefully re-bandaged his hand.

Suddenly realizing that she had said something wrong, she hastily spat a few times, “Pooh, pooh, pooh, you’ve really pissed me off.”

“Don’t move it anymore. When you get back, go see a doctor. If the doctor disagrees, you can’t have it removed.”

Zhuang Mingcheng nodded silently.

Lu Fangfang glared at him again, then went back to rinse the clothes.

But she kept looking back from time to time, worried that Zhuang Mingcheng might do something foolish again.

After a while, the clothes were rinsed clean. Lu Fangfang picked up the basin and returned to the regiment headquarters with Zhuang Mingcheng.

After hanging the washed clothes on the clothesline, Zhuang Mingcheng took Lu Fangfang to the staff quarters.

“How about you go to the medical room and check your arm first?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Zhuang Mingcheng repeated the same two sentences.

Seeing Lu Fangfang hesitate, he grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the staff quarters.

“Mm?”

Lu Fangfang looked at her clenched hands.

Looking at Zhuang Mingcheng again, she noticed that both of his ears were red.

Lu Fangfang’s eyebrows curved, and she couldn’t help but laugh. “Comrade Zhuang Mingcheng, is it too cold? I see both of your ears are red from the cold.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit cold.”

After replying to this sentence, Zhuang Mingcheng’s ears turned even redder.

Lu Fangfang looked at him and laughed lightly.

However, not long after the two of them walked out, they met the soldiers from the regiment. Zhuang Mingcheng quickly let go of her hand, took a few quick steps, and moved away from Lu Fangfang.

In this era, let alone unmarried couples, even married couples don’t hold hands in public, so you have to be careful.

Lu Fangfang felt a little regretful.

Seeing that Zhuang Mingcheng was getting farther and farther away from her, she hurried to catch up and walked side by side with him.

After leaving the regiment headquarters, the two quickly arrived at the family compound.

As soon as she entered the gate, Lu Fangfang saw five or six sisters-in-law in front of the first row of houses, holding their children and basking in the sun.

It was still the same familiar place. Lu Fangfang had seen it before, so it didn’t seem strange.

However, Zhuang Mingcheng had seldom come to the family compound before, and he felt a little uncomfortable being watched by so many sisters-in-law.

“It looks like there will be new people coming to our family compound.”

“New people are welcome. The family compound is so remote, the more new people come the better, otherwise there will be no one to chat with.”

“Captain Zhuang, are you going to move into the family compound with your fiancée?”

“Yes, Captain Zhuang, when are you getting married? Will you invite us?”

A group of sisters-in-law asked at once.

What happened at the riverbank just now had already spread among the sisters-in-law. They were not surprised to see Zhuang Mingcheng and Lu Fangfang coming over.

Zhuang Mingcheng’s scalp tingled. He said a few perfunctory words and hurried away with Lu Fangfang.

The sisters-in-law were not in a hurry. They happily looked at the two of them and walked toward the first row of houses, the last one on the east side.

—

“Comrade Lu Fangfang, this will be our home from now on!”

Zhuang Mingcheng stood in front of the house, feeling a little excited.

From now on, he and his lover will live in this place, and their future children will be born here!

He took the key from his pocket, handed it to Lu Fangfang, and said solemnly, “Comrade Lu Fangfang, go open the door.”

“Wow!”

Lu Fangfang covered her mouth and was also very excited.

After wandering for more than a month and fleeing famine in five provinces, she finally found a home in this new world!

Her hands were shaking a little.

She walked forward, unlocked the door with the key, and pushed it open.

“Squeak.”

As the door opened, a small courtyard came into view.

No one had lived here for a long time, and the yard was covered with a lot of withered weeds, making it look very messy.

Lu Fangfang suppressed her excitement and looked back at Zhuang Mingcheng.

He waved at her, and when Zhuang Mingcheng came over, they walked into the yard together.

The houses in the family compound are roughly the same size. This small compound is about 20 to 30 square meters.

The yard was empty, with nothing but weeds, but Lu Fangfang was still very excited looking at it.

Zhuang Mingcheng looked around and said, “I’ll go borrow a hoe and clean up the weeds in the yard later.”

“Let’s go inside and take a look.”

Taking Lu Fangfang’s hand, Zhuang Mingcheng pulled her into the north room.

“Ahem.”

Lu Fangfang narrowed her eyes and covered her mouth and nose.

The house had been closed for a long time, and no one had lived there. She wasn’t sure where all the dust came from.

She looked around carefully and found that the house was similar to Political Commissar’s, divided into two rooms, one inside and one outside, separated by a wall in the middle.

She walked into the inner room and saw that the windowsill was also covered in dirt. If she wanted to move in, it needed cleaning.

“Let’s put a bed by the window in the inner room and sleep there. We can put a dining table in the outer room and eat outside. Mingcheng, what do you think?”

Lu Fangfang excitedly started planning the house.