Chapter 34 : Weird Sister-in-law, Going to the County Town

After Lu Fangfang and Wang Shufen left the hospital, they prepared to wait for the car at the gate of the staff quarters.

When they reached the first row of houses, Lu Fangfang saw her sister-in-law, wearing a blue floral cotton jacket, walking out from the west of her house.

Her sister-in-law was holding a child in her arms. When she saw Lu Fangfang and Wang Shufen, her eyes suddenly lit up.

“Sister Shufen, Sister Fangfang, are you two going to the county?”

Lu Fangfang took a look at the woman and felt that she looked familiar.

After thinking about it, she remembered.

She had seen this woman when she first came to the family compound. The woman was looking after three children and left a deep impression on her.

At that time, Sister Shufen seemed to have scolded the woman for being shameless.

When Lu Fangfang was hesitating whether to reply, she saw Sister Shufen grabbing her hand and pulling her forward quickly.

“Sister, don’t pay attention to her. This person is called Yang Yufeng, and she just likes to get close to you.”

Wang Shufen whispered, and her pace quickened.

“Sister Shufen? Sister Fangfang?”

Yang Yufeng seemed unaware that the two were annoyed with her, and she chased after them with the child in her arms.

She ran up to Lu Fangfang and said with a smile, “Sister Fangfang, my husband is the instructor of the first battalion. We have to get along well. By the way, are you going to the county town?”

“Ah… yes, we are going to the county town.”

Lu Fangfang nodded helplessly.

Lu Fangfang was a little surprised when she heard Yang Yufeng say that her husband was the instructor of the first battalion.

To be honest, the two families were indeed close.

“Oh, you can just go to the county town. I have three children to look after at home, so I can’t get away. Sister Fangfang, can you bring me a pound of salt? I’m out of salt.”

After Yang Yufeng finished speaking, she turned around and walked back without caring whether Lu Fangfang agreed or not.

“Um?”

Lu Fangfang was stunned for a moment, and then she saw that Yang Yufeng had already walked away.

Okay, it’s no problem to bring salt, but where’s the money to buy it?

After all, Yang Yufeng’s husband was the instructor of the camp, so it wouldn’t be nice not to help her out.

But her family was still struggling with famine and debt, and Lu Fangfang didn’t want to be used as a scapegoat, so she chased after her immediately.

“Sister-in-law, did you forget to give me the money for the salt?”

Yang Yufeng felt a little embarrassed.

She was surprised that Lu Fangfang would come after her. A pound of salt was only 1.5 cents. Was it really that big of a deal?

She slapped her head and said helplessly “Well, look at me, I was in a hurry to go out and forgot to bring money. Sister Fangfang, how about you pay for it first, and I’ll come back…”

Before she could finish, Lu Fangfang interrupted her with a smile, “It’s okay, sister-in-law, I’ll go back with you to get it.”

Yang Yufeng: “…”

Her face looked a little ugly. She didn’t expect that her trick would be ineffective.

Among so many new military wives, she could always trick them into giving her a bag of salt, but none of them was as shameless as Lu Fangfang, who even chased people for money.

Yang Yufeng rolled her eyes and muttered, “It will take so much time to go back. Can’t you just pay for it for me? You are really obsessed with money.”

Hearing her words, Lu Fangfang laughed.

Well, this is my fault.

With a turn of her eyes, Lu Fangfang said sincerely, “Sister-in-law, it’s not that I don’t want to pay you back, it’s just that I’m too tight on money. I don’t even have enough money to go to the county town to buy things.”

“Sister-in-law, our two families are so close, can you lend me some first? I’ll ask Mingcheng to return it to you later.”

“What? Borrow money? You want to borrow my money?” Yang Yufeng screamed.

She subconsciously covered her cloth bag and looked at Lu Fangfang as if she were the god of plague. “I have no money. I have no money. You don’t need to bring salt. Please leave now.”

After saying this, Yang Yufeng hurriedly ran away with the child in her arms.

“Tsk, who is it?”

Lu Fangfang rolled her eyes, turned around, and walked back.

“Sister, how did you get rid of her?”

Wang Shufen looked very surprised, because she knew how shameless Yang Yufeng was.

“I just mentioned that I was short of money and wanted to borrow some, and she ran away without even asking me to bring salt.”

Wang Shufen was stunned for a moment, then she laughed. No wonder Yang Yufeng ran so fast.

Lu Fangfang thought about it and laughed.

To deal with such shameless people, you have to use this method to avoid getting too close and looking annoying.

The two of them walked to the gate of the family compound, chatting and laughing.

At this time, there were already many sisters-in-law waiting at the door. Today was Sunday, and a lot of the sisters-in-law were going to the county town.

In addition to the sisters-in-law, there was also a group of children running around at the door, making it quite lively.

It was the first time for Lu Fangfang to see so many people gathered in the family compound.

She roughly counted and estimated that there were about fifteen or sixteen sisters-in-law, plus children, a total of more than twenty people.

She was worried that a military vehicle wouldn’t be able to accommodate so many people.

—

“Huh? Who are these two? Are they new to the army?”

“Yes, they look very unfamiliar.”

As soon as Lu Fangfang and Wang Shufen came over, they attracted everyone’s attention.

There were many sisters-in-law working in the family compound, but this was the first time they saw the two of them.

“The younger one is the wife of Battalion Commander Zhuang of the First Battalion, her name is Lu Fangfang, and the older one is the wife of Political Commissar of the First Regiment, her name is Wang Shufen. They both just came to join the army a few days ago.”

“Yes, I heard they both came from the countryside.”

A familiar sister-in-law introduced the two of them.

Lu Fangfang: “…”

Listening to a group of people talk about her, she felt so embarrassed that she could only face it with a smile.

“Fangfang? Fangfang?”

Hearing someone call her, Lu Fangfang turned around and saw it was Sun Manling.

She took Sister Shufen and hurried over.

After introducing the two to each other, Lu Fangfang pricked up her ears and listened.

The sisters-in-law next door discussed her and Sister Shufen for a while, and then talked about other things.

They were about to go to the county town, and what they talked about most was the things they were going to buy in the county town.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, Lu Fangfang breathed a sigh of relief.

It feels really bad to be talked about by others.

After waiting for a while, the car had not arrived yet, and the sisters-in-law in the crowd became anxious.

“Why hasn’t the car arrived yet? If we go too late, all the meat in the market will be sold out.”

“Yes, yes, I was thinking of going there earlier to buy some cloth.”

It was not yet eight o’clock, but the sisters-in-law could no longer wait.

In those days, supplies were not abundant, and even if you had money and tickets, you still had to go to the market and queue up to buy things. If you went too late and the things were sold out, you were just unlucky.

Fortunately, one of the sisters-in-law had a bicycle at home, so she could go to the county on weekdays.

If there was no bicycle at home, you could only take the military vehicle that the regiment provided once a month. If you didn’t buy anything, you’d have to wait until next month. No wonder the sisters-in-law were anxious.

“Zhao Guihua, your husband is in the regiment’s motorcade. When will the motorcade arrive?”

“It’s almost there, it’s almost there, don’t worry.”

As soon as the sister-in-law named Zhao Guihua finished speaking, a military vehicle drove over from the east, and the sisters-in-law immediately became excited.

After the military vehicle stopped, the sisters-in-law at the gate of the family compound climbed onto the vehicle one after another.

Lu Fangfang climbed up early, and she reached out to pull Sun Manling and Wang Shufen up.

Finding an empty corner, Lu Fangfang spread the sacks on the car, then asked her sisters-in-law to sit down and waited quietly for the car to start.