Chapter 25 : The Other Side of Zhuang Mingcheng

Lu Fangfang held onto the military vehicle, looked at it carefully, and suddenly felt dizzy.

Seeing Zhuang Mingcheng carrying something and about to enter the courtyard, Lu Fangfang grabbed his sleeve and quickly pulled him back. “No, Comrade Zhuang Mingcheng, why did you buy so many bowls?”

Lu Fangfang pointed at the two large piles of bowls in the car and felt a little overwhelmed.

“Yes.”

“Yes? There are only two of us in our family, do we need so many?”

Lu Fangfang roughly counted the two large piles of bowls in the car and found that there were at least more than twenty of them. Add to that the small enamel basin next to it, and she became more and more frustrated the more she looked at it. It was enough for several squads of soldiers.

There are only two of them at home, so it will take forever.

Zhuang Mingcheng scratched his head and suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

When he was in the city, he got so carried away by shopping that he didn’t even notice how much he bought.

Seeing a group of sisters-in-law nearby laughing at him, he quickly whispered, “I’m just worried that if too many guests come, there won’t be enough. We…we’re getting married soon, and we’ll need them then.”

After saying that, he hurriedly slipped into the yard with his things in his arms.

Lu Fangfang felt a little powerless.

Nowadays, if you want to entertain guests, most people borrow some bowls and chopsticks from their neighbors. There’s no need to be so extravagant as to buy so many.

Alas, Zhuang Mingcheng has already bought them, it’s too late to say anything now.

“Comrade Lu, Captain Zhuang is such a spendthrift. You must keep his allowance carefully from now on.”

“That’s right, that’s right. How much does such a large cart of stuff cost? Captain Zhuang just said that the big wardrobe alone costs 150 yuan.”

The sisters-in-law gathered together.

While watching the excitement, they also looked at the things on the military vehicle.

“One hundred and fifty?!”

Lu Fangfang was very surprised when she heard the price of the wardrobe.

Such a big wardrobe is worth only one hundred and fifty yuan?

This era was not like the later generations. Money was hard to come by. A pound of snow-white flour cost only a little over 20 cents. The price of this large wardrobe could buy more than 700 pounds of flour.

Of course, if you wanted to buy food, you needed food stamps, but that was still shocking enough.

When the sisters-in-law saw Lu Fangfang’s expression, they all laughed.

One of the sisters-in-law quickly pulled Lu Fangfang aside and said, “Comrade Lu, you and Captain Zhuang will have many places to spend money in the future, so you can’t be extravagant.”

Lu Fangfang nodded quickly.

If she had known that Zhuang Mingcheng would buy so many things, she would definitely have stopped him.

She was thinking of saving them up slowly later, but now Zhuang Mingcheng bought them all at once, without caring whether he could use them or not.

“Look at that big wardrobe. It’s not worth that much money. We have to work hard, right?”

Lu Fangfang continued to nod, feeling that her sister-in-law was right.

“Ahem, um, Comrade Lu, look, the wardrobe in my house is broken, how about you give it to me?”

“Ah?”

Lu Fangfang looked at her sister-in-law in surprise.

“Don’t worry, sister-in-law won’t let you suffer any loss. I’ll add another ten dollars, a total of one hundred and sixty. What do you think?”

Hearing this, Lu Fangfang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Fortunately, she thought her sister-in-law was kind and wanted to teach her life experience, but it turned out that she was interested in the big wardrobe.

Shaking her head, Lu Fangfang said depressedly “Sister-in-law, this won’t do. Mingcheng bought that big wardrobe for me with great difficulty. How can I resell it?”

“Besides, this is speculation, and mistakes are inevitable.”

Originally, the sister-in-law wanted to speak up to persuade her again, but when she heard Lu Fangfang’s next words, she was immediately shocked.

Not daring to discuss the transfer of the wardrobe anymore, she hurried back to the crowd.

The sister-in-law next to them had already noticed the two of them. When she saw her come back, she immediately teased

“Sister-in-law Haomei, are you embarrassed? She doesn’t even take the daughter of the division commander seriously, let alone you, the wife of the deputy regiment commander.”

Sister Haomei felt a little uncomfortable. “Go away, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Lu Fangfang also heard this. She glanced at her sister-in-law who was saying strange things, and the smile on her face faded a little.

When she reached the military vehicle, she took down a pile of bowls, carried them, and walked back home.

When she got into the house, she saw that there were cupboards against the north wall, so she put the bowls in there.

“Sister-in-law, where should we put these two folding chairs?”

“Just put them wherever you want.”

Lu Fangfang felt a little embarrassed as she looked at the two busy soldiers.

After all, they were helping her family, so she wanted to entertain them. But when she looked around the house, she found that all kinds of furniture were there, but there was a lack of food and drink.

After thinking about it, Lu Fangfang realized it was too late to boil water, so she simply went to Political Commissar’s house in the back.

Sister Shufen is here.

Lu Fangfang talked to her, borrowed a thermos of water, and came back.

Wang Shufen was curious and followed.

When she arrived at the gate of the courtyard, she was also shocked when she saw the things on the military vehicle. “Sister, why did your family buy so much?”

“Who knows him? I’m surprised.”

Hearing this, Wang Shufen was happy. This Captain Zhuang was really interesting. He actually loved shopping.

She rolled up her sleeves and helped carry things from the car into the house.

“Sister Shufen, just leave it there and let Mingcheng move it.”

“It’s okay. I’m just sitting around doing nothing.”

Lu Fangfang hurried into the house carrying the thermos.

She took four bowls from the cupboard, washed them with clean water, and then placed them on the table.

Seeing that there was some white sugar that Mingcheng had just bought in the cupboard, she opened it and put some into the bowl, then poured hot water into it.

In this era, serving sugar water or tea to guests is considered high etiquette.

When Zhuang Mingcheng came in from outside, Lu Fangfang waved and called him over, “Mingcheng, let them rest and drink some sugar water.”

Zhuang Mingcheng nodded and shouted, “Come here, your sister-in-law has made you some sugar water. Please drink it before you work. Sister-in-law, you should take a break too.”

When the two soldiers heard this, they immediately put down their things and ran over.

In that era, sugar was a rare commodity. A pound of sugar cost 75 cents, and you needed sugar coupons. It was almost more expensive than pork.

The two picked up the bowl, took a sip, and praised “It’s so sweet, thank you sister-in-law.”

“No…you’re welcome.”

Lu Fangfang’s face turned a little red.

Picking up another bowl of sugar water on the table, she handed it to Wang Shufen.

After drinking the water, several people started moving again.

After working for nearly half an hour, everyone finally moved all the things from the military vehicle into the house.

Seeing that the two soldiers were about to go back, Zhuang Mingcheng stopped them and gave each of them a can of oranges.

“Captain, this…”

Zhuang Mingcheng waved his hand and said, “Take them all. You have worked hard all day.”

The two soldiers then took it.

Zhuang Mingcheng stood at the gate of the courtyard and saw the two men driving away in the military vehicle. Only then did he return home with peace of mind.

In the house, Wang Shufen was carrying her own thermos and also wanted to go back.

As usual, Zhuang Mingcheng gave her a can of oranges and took out a handful of fruit candies. “Sister-in-law, give this to the child.”

“I don’t want it.”

“Sister-in-law, you and the political commissar have taken good care of us, so just take it.”

“Yes, Sister Shufen, just take it.”

After much persuasion from Zhuang Mingcheng and Lu Fangfang, Wang Shufen finally accepted it.

The two men then sent Sister Shufen to the gate of the courtyard.

After Wang Shufen left, Lu Fangfang turned her head and saw a group of sisters-in-law looking over here not far away.

“Where does all this curiosity come from? It’s really annoying.”

She pulled Zhuang Mingcheng back to the yard, and then closed the gate with a “click.”