Chapter 31: Going into the City Alone

Night.

This place is situated on the side of a mountain. Because the temperature is lower than in her hometown, the forest isn’t as lush and green, and the bird calls aren’t as frequent as they were back home.

At nine o’clock in the evening, the lights went out on time.

The army restricted electricity use, and the power was cut off in the family quarters after nine o’clock, leaving only one or two dim street lights.

Wei Dai took out the candles he had asked someone to buy that afternoon and gave a flashlight to the two sisters next door.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were actually a little scared. This place was extremely unfamiliar to them, so they needed Wen Jiajia to accompany them before going to bed.

“Aunt, let’s sleep together,” Wen Xuan hugged her and said. “Uncle can sleep by himself.”

Wei Dai pushed the door open, put the flashlight on the bedside table, and firmly refused on behalf of Wen Jiajia. “No, I can’t.”

Wen Jiajia actually didn’t want to sleep with two children.

How should she put it? When a crow lands on the back of a black pig, it only sees the blackness of others but not its own.

Wen Jiajia knew that she didn’t sleep well, but she firmly believed that Wen Chun and Wen Xuan’s sleeping postures were not that good, and might even be worse than hers.

Wen Chun didn’t care; he often pressed his lower body against her, making her feel what it was like to be sleep paralyzed.

Wen Xuan was in such a bad condition that she practiced martial arts in bed almost every night.

When she was at home, Wen Jiajia once tried to sleep in the middle of the night but was knocked unconscious by a punch from Wen Xuan. Since then, Wen Jiajia went back to sleep obediently, leaving Wen Chun to torture each other.

Wen Xuan expressed disbelief at Wei Dai’s words, then glared at him. “Bad uncle!”

Wei Dai showed a sad expression. “Really? I was going to make new building blocks for you.”

The expression on Wen Xuan’s face froze for a moment, and she stopped talking. She looked deflated like a balloon that had been punctured by a toothpick. It was obvious that being controlled by others made her feel insecure.

Wen Jiajia covered her mouth and laughed.

The two sisters’ building blocks had been left in her hometown. They had cried about it for the past two days. Wen Zhu said she even cried in her dream one night, asking not to abandon her building blocks.

But there was no way around it; she had to make a choice. The building blocks really took up space, and she could completely make them again after coming here.

“Go to sleep,” Wen Jiajia patted the two girls. “Didn’t you make an appointment with Xie Yi to go to the sand pile tomorrow?”

Yes! The two girls quickly closed their eyes. Although their eyeballs were moving and their eyelids were fluttering, they were gradually falling asleep in the darkness.

Wen Jiajia waited until they fell asleep before leaving.

She gently lifted the quilt, got up on tiptoe, went to the living room, and called Wei Dai, who was playing with building blocks, to come over. “Carry Wen Chun to her bed.”

The two girls slept in separate beds and didn’t bother each other.

Wei Dai tidied up the building blocks a little, then washed his hands. After drying them, he went into the room, picked up Wen Chun from Wen Xuan’s bed, and carried him to the next bed.

The two girls’ beds were very close, with a bedside table between them.

The flashlight was placed on the bedside table, and Wen Jiajia had taught them how to use it after dinner.

Wei Dai carried Wen Chun back to the bedside, and Wen Jiajia carried the toilet to the corner of their room.

The toilet was a rare enamel toilet, small and suitable for children.

After settling the two children, Wen Jiajia was finally able to take a break and return to her room.

Wen Jiajia had already taken a shower in the evening. Now she changed into pajamas and hid in bed, feeling much more relaxed.

“Is there a nursery in the army?” she asked. She needed to send her two children to school as soon as possible.

Wei Dai half-hugged her and said, “Yes, there is a red education class in the military primary school.”

“You can accept three or four-year-olds, right?”

“I think so. I’m not sure. I’ll have to go and ask.” Wei Dai hugged her tighter.

He had a hot temper, and his body was like a furnace. In this season and temperature, Wen Jiajia liked to lean on him and use him as a large hand warmer.

Wen Jiajia frowned slightly, her eyes still glowing in the darkness. She sighed and said softly, “Only if they go to school can I free up my hands to find a job.”

Wei Dai rubbed her cheek and said, “Do you want to be a teacher? The military schools seem to be in great need of teachers. I heard from the principal of an elementary school some time ago that they should look for teachers among the family members. Unfortunately, there are not many educated family members.”

Wen Jiajia actually didn’t think much about it.

First, she had little patience and no passion to support her. She was fine with well-behaved students, but she would get very angry when she met naughty ones.

Secondly, the profession of teacher was quite dangerous nowadays. She was from several decades later, and who knew when she might develop some verbal habits and reveal ideas that went against this era? By then, Wei Dai would not be able to save her.

After thinking about it, Wen Jiajia shook her head and said, “If I don’t want to be a teacher, I can’t be one.”

Then what should she do?

Wen Jiajia couldn’t give an answer at that moment.

She was not familiar with the place yet, and she didn’t know what positions were available in the army or around the army.

“Well, let’s wait a little longer,” Wen Jiajia said.

Wei Dai leaned over her and said, “Work can wait, but some things can’t.”

Wen Jiajia: “…”

I’m talking to you about work, and you want to be nice to me?

Well, food and sex are human nature. After eating and drinking, I really want to do these things.

Wei Dai took out the condoms he had secretly picked up from the military hospital today from the drawer of the bedside table and started exercising until late at night.

The moon was high in the sky, and the dark clouds were drifting farther and farther away in the wind.

—

The next day.

Wei Dai had already woken up, and there was no sign of him at the moment. He had only left a small note on the bedside table:

[Breakfast is in the pot.]

The two girls also woke up, and Wen Jiajia heard their childish chatter while she was still in a daze.

“Sister, you take one, I take two, and the remaining two can be left for Aunt, okay…”

“No! I’ll add half a piece to each, and you add half a piece to each too. That’s fair.”

Wen Jiajia was woken up, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the curtains illuminated by the sunlight.

The curtains didn’t block out much light, so Wen Jiajia could tell that it was already noon.

“What are you arguing about?”

Wen Jiajia stretched, put on some clothes, and went to the living room.

Wen Chun sat on the chair and swung her feet. “Aunt! We are sharing the cakes, come and eat.”

Wen Jiajia leaned over to take a look. Wow! Where are the meat patties?

“Who made this?” Wen Jiajia asked. “We didn’t buy any meat yesterday.”

Wen Chun smiled and said, “It was given to me by Teacher Shen.”

Wen Jiajia understood that it was from the neighbor next door.

She wondered why the cake was so expensive, as it was made of flour and meat and fried in oil.

Wen Jiajia guessed that Teacher Shen might have had a very good family background in the past, and he was probably living a very good life now, at least materially better than others; otherwise, he wouldn’t be so generous.

“Okay, let’s eat.” She went to the kitchen. “Have you had breakfast?”

Without waiting for the two girls to answer, Wen Jiajia saw only one person’s breakfast left in the pot in the kitchen.

A bowl of egg custard and a bowl of rice porridge.

There was also a small dish of pickled mustard tuber next to it, and she didn’t know where Wei Dai had gotten it from.

Wen Jiajia brought the food to the dining table. The sunlight had already filled the open space at the door and was about to spread to the yard.

The orientation of this house was really good. The living room was bright, and sometimes the breeze blew in and then floated out from the windows on both sides of the living room door, leaving only the scent of spring.

Wen Jiajia sniffed and seemed to smell the fragrance of grass. She probably thought someone was cultivating grass not far away.

The first bite was the egg custard.

The egg custard was very fragrant, with soy sauce and a little bit of lard added. It was steamed without any holes and had just the right softness and firmness. This was how Wen Jiajia made it herself.

The zhacai^[1]is a type of pickled mustard tuber. It is made from the swollen stem of the mustard plant (Brassica juncea) and is known for its crunchy texture and savory, slightly spicy flavor. was also good, very similar to the zhacai from Fuling.

Upon tasting it, it was actually Fuling pickled mustard tuber, indicating that this pickled must have come from people from Sichuan and Chongqing.

Wen Jiajia finished her breakfast and ate half a pancake.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan had already eaten their portions and were staring at the one she had left.

Wen Jiajia had a stern face and covered the cake with a plate. “Don’t eat any more. Do you remember that day when you ate too much meat and had a stomachache? You were the ones who cried when you went to the doctor and took bitter medicine. What did your aunt say afterward? Have you forgotten it again?”

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan became depressed and said in unison, “Don’t overeat. Eat in moderation.”

Look, don’t you remember it’s quite tight?

Wen Jiajia felt that they had eaten enough this morning and their stomachs were obviously bloated. If she hadn’t brought dried hawthorns, she would definitely have made a cup of tea for them to help them digest the food.

The sun was shining brightly, so she drove the two sisters out of the house and told them to go out and play more to help digest the food in their stomachs.

“Don’t run around. Your aunt is going out. As for lunch… if your uncle doesn’t come back, you can eat the cakes on the table.” Anyway, they had eaten enough in the morning, so it wouldn’t be a big problem to eat less at noon.

“Got it!”

After saying that, they rushed out and ran next door to play with their new friends.

Wen Jiajia washed the dishes, left two bowls of cold boiled water on the table, and walked out of the army with her backpack on her back. There was a passage in the family compound that led directly to the outside of the army, but it took nearly 20 minutes.

She had heard yesterday that a bus would pass by the military camp gate every morning at 10:00.

As for the return trip, there was also a car that would depart from the city at four o’clock in the afternoon. Wen Jiajia recalled that Wei Dai had said that they needed to go to the entrance of the state-owned hotel on Shenglin Street to catch the car.

When Wen Jiajia arrived at the station, there were already quite a few people waiting there.

There were villagers from nearby and family members of the troops.

She was a new face and attracted attention as soon as she arrived.

“Are you Wei Dai’s wife?” someone asked. The man was carrying a child on his back in a sling. The child looked to be only a little over one year old.

Wen Jiajia nodded. “Hello, I’m Wen Jiajia.”

“Hey, you’re quite polite.” The woman smiled and said, “I live on the third floor of the building, Wang Fuhai’s family. You can go back and ask your husband, and he will know.”

Without waiting for Wen Jiajia to speak, she asked again, “You just came here in the past two days. Are you going into the city?”

“Yes, I’m going into town to buy some things.”

Wen Jiajia still felt that her home was lacking a lot of daily necessities, such as a thermos and rain boots.

The rainy season would be here soon, and you won’t be able to have an umbrella without rain boots.

Since they were not familiar with each other, they didn’t talk much.

Wen Jiajia arrived at the right time. A few minutes later, the bus wobbled to a stop, and a group of people swarmed on.

This is the second stop. There aren’t many people on the bus, and there are even some empty seats.

Wen Jiajia’s farm work of at least several months was not in vain. She was agile and, relying on the fact that she did not bring any bamboo baskets or backpacks, she squeezed to the front of the crowd. As soon as the door opened, she grabbed the handrail and got on the bus.

Coincidentally, when Wen Jiajia got on the bus, there were only the last two seats left. She acted quickly and took one directly.

The remaining seat was quite far away from her, so she couldn’t help the aunt with the child to occupy it.