Chapter 124: Becoming a Delicate Little Flower

Li Xinyue walked back along the mountain path, while Chen Mingchuan carried the herbs and pears down the mountain ravine.

Fortunately, they were not far from the main road, and Chen Mingchuan was strong.

Soon, twenty-odd dry pine logs, each as thick as a bowl, and three wild boars slid down from the ravine.

Li Xinyue hurried forward: “Give me the herbs and pears, we should leave quickly.”

Chen Mingchuan knew what she was thinking.

“Don’t worry, they won’t come to the front mountain. I dealt with the bloody smell.”

Well, she was overthinking!

Being with a capable man, she might as well be his delicate little flower.

She had planned to gather some dry pine needles in the front mountain to use as kindling, so Chen Mingchuan had brought a few sacks.

But now, the sacks were used to carry the wild boars, and she couldn’t get the dry pine needles.

Looking at the huge pile, Li Xinyue asked, “Should we take it all back?”

Chen Mingchuan shook his head: “No, let’s take the firewood back first. I’ll have the soldiers come and haul these later.”

“Have them take them to the camp, keep one of the big ones for the soldiers to eat. What do you think?”

Of course!

Li Xinyue nodded immediately: “No problem, we can keep one of the smaller ones.”

“Good!”

Chen Mingchuan was in a good mood: “Keep this medium-sized one, and the smaller one can be butchered and divided. Send some to the division commander.”

Every battalion, company, and logistics unit had pigs, but they couldn’t raise too many.

In the army, the soldiers had heavy training tasks and couldn’t lack nutrition.

Even so, each soldier could only get three pounds of pork a month.

That meant only one ounce of meat a day.

One ounce of meat for three meals, divided into two slices per meal.

There was no way around it, the country was too poor, and the army had to rely on itself.

The pigs raised in the camp were slaughtered once a month to replenish the supply, otherwise the soldiers’ nutrition would suffer.

Li Xinyue was one hundred percent willing to reward these most lovable people!

“Then let’s go quickly, we can give the soldiers a big feast tonight!”

This woman is really good!

Ordinary women wouldn’t have such a high level of awareness.

Three wild boars, if taken to the black market in the city, would be worth a lot of money, but she didn’t hesitate at all!

Li Xinyue didn’t know that she had gained more points in Chen Mingchuan’s heart.

“Your foot can’t walk that far, get on. I’ll push you back.”

Is she really just injured on her toe?

Li Xinyue herself had some doubts!

She didn’t want to talk to him!

The herbs were placed on top of the firewood, Li Xinyue didn’t need to carry them, she walked ahead with a flick of her eye!

Looking at her thin back, Chen Mingchuan touched his nose: This woman, is she feeling sorry for him?

His mood instantly improved.

Pushing the cart, Chen Mingchuan quickly caught up…

When they returned to the troops, it was exactly twelve o’clock, and the army wives had just gotten off work and returned for lunch.

Seeing Chen Mingchuan pushing a large cart of firewood back, it was noon, and many people gathered around…

Xu Hongqin immediately stepped forward: “Battalion Commander Chen, this firewood is really good, it burns well.”

Chen Mingchuan smiled: “Yeah, I ran out of firewood at home, and I had two days left on my vacation, so I went and chopped some.”

“After the vacation is over and I return to the unit, I won’t have time.”

The battalion that Battalion Commander Chen led was the top battalion in the entire division, and the training difficulty and intensity were very high.

Xu Hongqin knew how busy they were because her husband was in his battalion.

They weren’t without days off, but no one could guarantee that the days off would be sunny.

J province didn’t belong to the northwest, but it was in the north of the east.

The winter here wasn’t too long, but there were still many rainy and snowy days.

They burned coal briquettes, but there was no fire to roast them.

In the mid-1970s, things like air conditioning hadn’t appeared here yet.

Xu Hongqin nodded. “Yeah, while the weather is good, we should cut some. We won’t be afraid of rain or snow in winter.”

Chen Mingchuan unloaded half of the firewood from the car and went to the office kitchen to get his meal.

Li Xinyue washed her face and was thinking about adding a dish when Xu Hongqin brought over four tomatoes.

“These tomatoes don’t look very good, but they taste pretty good.”

They were homegrown, mostly red with a little bit of green.

Li Xinyue immediately accepted them. “Oh, these are good. Perfect for a tomato and egg stir-fry at noon.”

“Sister-in-law, why don’t you eat with us at noon? You’re home alone anyway.”

Xu Hongqin waved her hands repeatedly. “No, no, no need.”

“I didn’t finish the noodles this morning, I have to eat them later, or it will be wasted.”

Li Xinyue didn’t like being too polite. “Then thank you.”

“No thanks, no thanks.”

Suddenly, Li Xinyue thought of something. “Sister-in-law, wait a minute, I picked some wild pears, you take some.”

Xu Hongqin refused. “No, no, no need. Keep them for Xiao Yier to eat.”

The pears she picked were really delicious.

Li Xinyue immediately grabbed a few from the basket by the wall. “Sister-in-law, look, I have a lot here.”

“If you don’t take them, I’ll have to send them over later.”

Hearing this, Xu Hongqin could only turn back.

“Oh, Xinyue, these pears are quite big! Where did you pick them?”

Actually, these yellow-skinned pears weren’t that big, they were only slightly bigger than her fist. They were an unbred variety, so they were considered rare.

“I don’t know what that place is called, but there’s a whole tree of pears. I only picked less than half.”

“In a few days, when they’re all ripe, we’ll go pick them again.”

Wild pears this big were rare in the mountains.

Xu Hongqin said, “Okay, okay, next time call me, I’ll go too!”

“No problem!”

Things from the mountains, everyone had a share.

Besides, she would also share what she picked with Li Jianshan’s family, so Li Xinyue agreed without hesitation.

Chen Mingchuan was going to take people into the mountains to hunt wild boars. After giving Xu Hongqin seven or eight pears, Li Xinyue immediately went into the kitchen.

Soon, Chen Mingchuan returned.

He brought back a dish of stir-fried string beans with meat and a dish of cabbage.

Li Xinyue brought out the tomato and egg stir-fry, and they quickly finished their meal.

“Some soldiers will come over to help saw firewood later, you just need to boil some cold water.”

He had to take people to hunt the wild boar, and he could also collect some dry pine needles.

Li Xinyue nodded. “Okay, you go.”

“I just dug some cool tea, I’ll put some in the water for them to drink later, and wash some pears for them to eat.”

“Okay, I’m leaving.”

Chen Mingchuan left. Li Xinyue cleaned up the dishes and washed them, then boiled some water and let it cool.

Sure enough, after a while, squad leader Xiao Wu and his men came over.

“Sister-in-law, we’ll take care of the firewood, you don’t have to worry about us.”

Oh, how good the army was!

Although everyone was poor, they were hardworking, selfless, and helped each other.

Li Xinyue put the boiled cool tea in the living room and washed a big pear for each of them.

Turning around, she went to Xiao Nan’s dormitory to take a shower.

There were still many pears in the basket, Li Xinyue took six for Qian Sanni. “Picked from the mountain, very delicious.”

Qian Sanni’s eyes lit up!

“These pears are so big! They must be very sweet!”

“Yes, they’re quite sweet. There are many pear trees on the mountain, we’ll go pick them together later.”