Chapter 30: Going to the City

The first stop for Lin Momo and Cheng Jinghao when they went to the city was the department store.

“Wife, how about buying this coat?” Cheng Jinghao pointed at a dark blue big cloak.

“……” Lin Momo gave him a speechless look.

This was indeed the best-looking piece of clothing in the entire department store, but it was very much from an older era.

“Am I supposed to wear this to dance folk dances?” Lin Momo muttered under her breath.

“Pfft.” Cheng Jinghao, not knowing whether he imagined the scene, couldn’t help but laugh.

“Please be mindful of your ‘cool soldier’ persona.” Lin Momo noticed several customers had already started looking at them.

“How about buying this cloth?” Cheng Jinghao then pointed to a piece of red fabric in the window. “We can make a red cotton-padded coat.”

“I’ll take this fabric.” Just then, a sharp voice appeared by their ears.

“This fabric is mine, I saw it first,” Cheng Jinghao said coldly.

“So what? My brother is an officer, and I want it.” The woman’s voice was sharp and sarcastic.

“Sister-in-law, hurry up and pay,” the woman shouted towards the back.

It turned out that the person was none other than Huo Yingchang’s sister-in-law, Huo Jiao, and she was accompanied by Huo Yingchang’s wife, Xu Guilan.

“I’ve already used all the cloth tickets at home to make clothes for Xiao Hu. There’s no more left,” Xu Guilan turned to say to Huo Jiao.

She had only come to the city to pick up her younger sister-in-law, but upon arrival, she was immediately dragged to the department store.

“Are you from my brother’s unit? Can you lend me some cloth tickets? My brother will return them to you later,” Huo Jiao said, looking at Cheng Jinghao with a flirtatious smile. She didn’t hide the fact that she thought he was handsome.

“Huo Jiao, you’re being rude,” Xu Guilan quickly apologized for her.

“Salesperson, I’ll take this cloth,” Lin Momo said, taking out her cloth tickets and handing them to the salesperson.

“Hey, I saw this fabric first!” Huo Jiao insisted.

“Well, then pay for it,” Lin Momo replied coolly.

“Cheng, Cheng Bro, can you lend me some cloth tickets?” Huo Jiao threw a flirtatious glance at Cheng Jinghao.

“……” Cheng Jinghao instantly felt goosebumps all over his body.

“You want to borrow cloth tickets from my husband? Trying to steal the fabric I’ve already set my eyes on? Are you here to joke?” Lin Momo said, placing the fabric into the backpack behind Cheng Jinghao.

“Wife, wait for a second. Let me take a good look at you and clear my eyes.” Cheng Jinghao pulled Lin Momo in front of him, giving her a thorough once-over.

“You’re his wife?” Huo Jiao asked, confused.

Xu Guilan immediately understood, “Why don’t you leave now? You’re embarrassing yourself!”

With that, Xu Guilan didn’t bother with Huo Jiao any longer and left the department store.

She was already planning to tell Huo Yingchang to send their mother and sister back to their hometown as soon as possible.

After the two left, Lin Momo and Cheng Jinghao continued shopping for a few more items.

Once they were done at the department store, they went to the grain station to buy some essential food supplies.

Then they went to the post office to send letters to both families.

“Should we go to the meat station?” Cheng Jinghao asked.

“We should. Some of the meat tickets are about to expire.” Although they still had plenty of preserved meats sent from Lin Momo’s family, they needed fresh meat too.

“Let’s buy more meat when winter slaughter season comes, and we can make dried meat and send some back to the family.” Cheng Jinghao said.

He knew Lin Momo had always wanted to send something back to her family, but due to the scarcity of resources in the Tibetan region, it wasn’t easy to send things from the supermarket.

“Really? Can we buy beef and lamb?” Lin Momo asked, knowing that the pastoral region was rich in those meats.

“Sure,” Cheng Jinghao nodded.

They bought some pork and a good amount of pork bones at the meat station.

“I’ll make braised pork bones for you tonight,” Lin Momo said, loading up more things from the supermarket until her basket was completely full, while Cheng Jinghao carried a sack of grain in each hand.

Once they got home, Lin Momo got busy in the kitchen preparing the braised bones.

Cheng Jinghao helped her by chopping the bones into manageable pieces.

Pork bones in this era didn’t have much meat on them, so Lin Momo grabbed a few meatier bones from the supermarket stash.

After blanching the bones, she first made a pot of broth — great for blanching greens or making noodles later.

As Lin Momo bustled in the kitchen, Cheng Jinghao stayed by her side, tending the fire.

“I’m thinking of making cotton jackets for the elders and for Xiao Jie, and sending them back with the dried meat,” Lin Momo said.

“Okay.” Cheng Jinghao pulled a letter out of his chest pocket. “My mom wrote you.”

“When did you get this? I didn’t even know,” Lin Momo looked at him in surprise.

“Uh… yesterday,” Cheng Jinghao avoided her gaze.

“What did she write?” Lin Momo sat down beside him.

Though the envelope was addressed to Cheng Jinghao, the letter inside was clearly meant for “Dear daughter-in-law Momo.”

In it, Mother Cheng asked how Lin Momo was doing at the military base, whether Cheng Jinghao was treating her well, and reminded her not to rush into having children — she was still young.

It turned out that Mother Cheng had suffered health problems from giving birth too young, which was why she only had one child — Cheng Jinghao.

She also said she’d be sending Lin Momo some clothes and ration coupons soon, and reminded her to take good care of herself.

“So… you thought the letter was for you, and you peeked?” Lin Momo burst out laughing. The only time Cheng Jinghao’s name even came up was to ask if he was bullying her.

“Don’t rub it in. It hurts my pride,” Cheng Jinghao grumbled, a little depressed. How come his mom, in both lifetimes, doted on Lin Momo more than her own son?

“Aww, Jinghao-ge, don’t be mad,” Lin Momo snuggled into his arms, giggling.

“You’ve got to make it up to me.” Cheng Jinghao leaned close, nuzzling into the crook of her neck.

“What are you, a dog? Why are you sniffing me?” she squirmed from the ticklish sensation.

“You smell good.”

“Your mom said I’m still young and shouldn’t have a baby too early,” Lin Momo teased, drawing little circles on his chest with her finger.

“I know.” They both came from the future — they understood these things well.

Every time, Cheng Jinghao was careful to use protection, and they still had the supermarket supplies.

“It’s broad daylight. Don’t tease me.” Cheng Jinghao caught her mischievous hand.

“Oh.” Lin Momo tried to sit up.

“Wait, on second thought… maybe keep teasing me,” Cheng Jinghao pulled her right back into his arms.

“Do you even have any self-control?” Lin Momo shot him a glare.

“My principles vanish when I’m with you.”

Cheng Jinghao leaned in and kissed her until she was breathless.

“Honey…” he looked at her again, eyes burning with passion.

“I haven’t even finished making the pork bones yet…”

But Cheng Jinghao wasn’t thinking about pork bones anymore. He scooped her up and carried her straight into the bedroom.

By the time they got up, the fire under the stove had long gone out.

Meanwhile, poor Zhao Zhigang — who also had the day off and was resting at home — suffered greatly.

The delicious smell had wafted over, making his mouth water.

Just as he was about to go over, the smell vanished. Over an hour later, it started wafting back again.