Chapter 31 : The first day Zhuang Mingcheng was away, I missed him

Seeing the cavalry team walking away, Lu Fangfang sighed slightly.  

She hoped that Zhuang Mingcheng would have a safe journey and return soon.  

Looking back, she saw smoke rising from the houses in the housing estate. The faint fragrance of rice reached her nose, making her feel even sadder.  

After calming herself down, she turned and walked back to the group.  

From now on, she would live in the staff quarters. She needed to retrieve her belongings from the regiment’s guesthouse and check out of the room.  

—

“Bang, bang, bang.”    

Zhu Haimei pushed open the door and was a little surprised to see Lu Fangfang standing outside.  

“Why are you here so early?”  

After taking a closer look at Lu Fangfang, Zhu Haimei suddenly laughed.  

“Why are you laughing?”  

Lu Fangfang frowned, looking puzzled.  

“Tsk, it seems nothing happened between you and Comrade Zhuang. After all, you’re still so thin. If something had happened, it would have been a joke.”  

Zhu Haimei’s sarcasm was subtle, but Lu Fangfang understood her meaning. She glanced at Zhu Haimei with disdain and walked into the room without a word.  

After gathering her things, she neatly folded and tied up her bag, preparing to leave with it on her back.  

At the door, Lu Fangfang suddenly thought of something. She turned around and said  

“Comrade Zhu Haimei, you’re actually quite pitiful. When you’re ready to leave, come to the family compound and let me know. I’ll see you off.”  

“You… What did you say? I’m pitiful?”  

Zhu Haimei pointed at herself in disbelief.  

Lu Fangfang’s eyes were filled with sympathy. “Comrade Zhu Haimei, the world is vast, and our meeting is fate. I forgive you for what happened before. After all, life hasn’t been easy for you either.”  

Right in front of Zhu Haimei, Lu Fangfang shook her head and sighed, then pushed open the door and left.  

“Forgive me? Not easy? I… I…”  

Zhu Haimei’s expression changed dramatically.  

I am a noblewoman from Shanghai, yet today I was pitied by a little girl.  

Usually, others envy and resent me. When have I ever been pitied?  

This… This is even more unbearable than being scolded.  

“Lu Fangfang, don’t be so proud of yourself. You want to send me off? Ha! Maybe in your next life! You can just wait for me in the family compound!”  

Zhu Haimei dressed up and prepared to go find Second Battalion Commander Xu Jinbu.  

That big liar, Li Dajun, was about to be punished. If she and Xu Jinbu didn’t work out, she would have to beg for mercy and ask the regiment to spare Li Dajun.  

Otherwise, if he were stripped of his position as deputy battalion commander, all her efforts would have been in vain.  

—

When Lu Fangfang left the guesthouse, she felt much better.  

She looked down at herself and realized that she was indeed too thin and needed to eat more.  

In the next two months, she had to work hard to gain 20 kilograms.  

By then, her face would have more flesh, making her look healthier and more attractive.  

Back at the staff quarters, the water on the coal stove had just boiled. Lu Fangfang quickly poured it into a thermos before placing the pot back on the stove.  

She still had leftover pork and cabbage stew from the day before, so she heated it up and managed to finish her breakfast.  

Alone at home with nothing else to do, Lu Fangfang cleaned up after her meal and started tidying the house.  

Zhuang Mingcheng had bought so many things that, even after sorting them out all day yesterday, the place still looked cluttered.  

After working until noon, Lu Fangfang went to visit Political Commissar at his home in the back.  

Tomorrow is the day to go to the county town, and she had to discuss with Sister Shufen what to buy, there could be no delays.  

—

“Sister Fangfang, please sit down.”  

Wang Shufen poured a glass of water for Lu Fangfang and continued, “I’ve been looking into it these past few days. The most common crops grown here are rapeseed, wheat, and potatoes. Corn is also planted.”  

“Rapeseed…”  

Lu Fangfang seemed to be deep in thought.  

She was familiar with rapeseed. In her previous life, she had seen pictures of the vast rapeseed flower fields in Qilian. They were breathtakingly beautiful.  

Oil was extremely precious in this era, so growing rapeseed to press into rapeseed oil seemed like a great idea.  

“Oh, I’ve heard there’s barley here too, but I’ve never actually seen it.”  

Lu Fangfang knew about highland barley. She smiled and said, “Highland barley is quite similar to wheat. Sister Shufen, let’s plant corn and rapeseed on the land we reclaimed. And since potatoes are a vegetable, let’s plant some of those too.”  

Wang Shufen nodded in agreement.  

The newly reclaimed land was not very fertile, so she figured they could plant some corn and harvest whatever they could. They wouldn’t eat it themselves, just use it as chicken feed.  

“Then I’ll go with you to the state-owned seed store to buy more vegetable seeds,” Wang Shufen said, counting on her fingers as she calculated.  

“I need to buy extra cabbages and radishes for winter. Also cucumbers, eggplants, kale, and green beans. Oh, and I need to get chive seeds. I’ll plant them in front of the yard so they’ll be easy to harvest for cooking.”  

After thinking for a moment, Wang Shufen realized that her fingers weren’t enough to keep track, there were just too many types of vegetables to buy.  

“Wait a moment, girl. I’ll grab a notebook so you can write it all down.”  

Wang Shufen went into the inner room and returned with a notebook and a pencil.  

Lu Fangfang took the notebook and noticed some childish handwriting inside, it was a copied version of Li Bai’s poem Quiet Night Thoughts.  

Examining it closely, she smiled and asked, “Sister Shufen, did Tiedan or Daya write this? The handwriting is quite good.”  

“It was Daya,” Wang Shufen said. “My husband teaches her now. We really have to thank Captain Zhuang for that.”  

Lu Fangfang was taken aback. “What does this have to do with Zhuang Mingcheng?” she asked curiously.  

“The book Daya copied from was a gift from Captain Zhuang. He also told my husband that Daya should study hard. So now, whenever my husband has free time, he makes her recite poems and practice writing. Daya gets so nervous whenever she sees him now,” Wang Shufen laughed.  

“What a silly child! If I had the opportunity to study back then, I would have been overjoyed.”  

Lu Fangfang: “…”  

Giving books? Encouraging Daya to study hard?  

Daya was only four or five years old, was there really a need to be this eager?  

Why did she have the feeling that Zhuang Mingcheng was deliberately making things difficult for the little girl?  

After all, just two days ago, she had fallen asleep in Zhuang Mingcheng’s arms and was woken up by Daya…  

‘How petty.’  

Lu Fangfang chuckled to herself.  

She never expected that this man had such a childish side.  

Shaking her head with amusement, Lu Fangfang flipped to a blank page in the notebook and began writing carefully.  

There were indeed a lot of vegetable seeds to buy. After noting down everything Sister Shufen listed, she added a few more of her own.  

For example, tomatoes since they could be eaten as both a fruit and a vegetable, it would be good to plant more of them.  

She also added pumpkins. Since there were no other residents to the east of her house, she could plant them along the wall and let the vines climb up.  

Speaking of which, this was actually an excellent area for growing vegetables.  

The high-altitude climate created a significant temperature difference between day and night, which meant fewer pests and diseases, saving them a lot of trouble.  

The vegetables grown in these conditions were also of high quality. They were known as plateau summer vegetables. Lu Fangfang had eaten them in her past life, and she remembered they tasted quite different much better, in fact.  

Once she finished writing, Lu Fangfang counted the list and was shocked to find nearly twenty different types of vegetables.  

‘This is too much,’ she thought.  

How much land would they have to reclaim just to plant all these?  

For a moment, Lu Fangfang felt as if she was preparing to open a vegetable shop.