Chapter 27: Late-Night Snack

What she was writing was a “red” story—not only promoting revolutionary spirit, but also perfectly aligned with the passionate, burning era she lived in.

“Excellent.”

Lu Jinyuan thought the theme was very meaningful; his wife was truly impressive.

Even if the other sisters-in-law’s performances weren’t particularly outstanding, the story itself carried a patriotic sentiment, making everything feel completely different.

“Let’s continue writing tomorrow,” Ran Jinnian yawned.

Lu Jinyuan held his wife close as they went to sleep.

Later that night.

Ran Jinnian woke up hungry. She looked at the sleeping man, got up, and took out some bread from her space. As soon as she tore open the bag,

the man’s sharp eyes opened. When they landed on Ran Jinnian, they softened immediately.

He got up. “Wife, are you hungry?”

“Yes, my stomach’s growling.” Ran Jinnian hadn’t eaten much that evening, and being pregnant made her get hungry quickly.

Lu Jinyuan was about to light the kerosene lamp. “I’ll make you some noodles.”

“Go back to sleep, you don’t need to. I’ll just eat some bread,” Ran Jinnian stopped him—he had work the next day, and she didn’t want to disturb his rest.

Lu Jinyuan refused to let his wife suffer. “Bread isn’t nutritious. I’ll make you egg noodles.”

Seeing he was insisting, Ran Jinnian had no choice but to take his hand. “Let’s go to the space.”

It was late at night, and any noise in the military housing compound could be heard easily.

Once inside the space, Lu Jinyuan said, “I’ll make you dumplings.”

“That’s too much trouble. Let’s just have noodles.” Ran Jinnian remembered that dumplings required fresh preparation.

“It’ll be quick.”

Lu Jinyuan selected a tender piece of pork. After washing it, he cut it into chunks and put it into the meat grinder.

He turned on the grinder, and in no time it became minced meat.

The space already had ready-made dumpling wrappers, so there was no need to make them from scratch.

Knowing his wife liked corn, Lu Jinyuan made a pork-and-corn filling.

In less than twenty minutes,

he had boiled a large bowl of dumplings.

“They smell amazing.” Ran Jinnian picked up her chopsticks and took a bite.

Lu Jinyuan prepared a dipping sauce and watched with satisfaction as his wife ate happily.

“Husband, let’s eat together.”

Ran Jinnian handed him a pair of chopsticks.

The couple finished the entire plate of dumplings.

“There are some left over. You can cook them anytime you want.”

“Mm.”

Lu Jinyuan cleaned up the kitchen. The couple left the space and went back to sleep.

The next day.

When Ran Jinnian woke up, Lu Jinyuan was already gone.

She tidied the sheets and, thinking about how delicious the dumplings had been, suddenly craved more.

She took the remaining dumplings from the space. After a full stomach, she went out into the courtyard to stretch her limbs.

Suddenly,

she noticed a green shadow in the vegetable patch.

Her heart leapt. Upon closer inspection, she realized the vegetable seeds had sprouted.

How wonderful!

At that moment, a voice called from outside the gate: “Is anyone home?”

Ran Jinnian quickly opened the door. A few young soldiers were carrying two wardrobes.

The lead soldier, seeing Ran Jinnian, wiped the sweat from his forehead. “These are the wardrobes Captain Lu ordered. I’ve brought them over.”

“Thank you for your hard work.” Ran Jinnian quickly opened the gate and let them carry the wardrobes inside.

Seeing Ran Jinyuan’s wife heavily pregnant and her husband absent, Shi Hai instructed his men to carry the wardrobes into the house.

“Here, everyone have some water.” Ran Jinnian poured a large bowl of water for each of them.

“Thank you, sister-in-law,” they said.

“Do you want to check the wardrobes?” Shi Hai asked.

“No need, brother,”

Ran Jinnian replied. She had no reason to check them.

“Then we’ll take our leave.” Shi Hai drank the water, feeling refreshed, and led the soldiers away.

“Jinnian, why did you get so many wardrobes?”

Zhou Hongying, carrying her youngest son in one arm and a bucket of clothes in the other, asked.

Ran Jinnian nodded. “After the baby is born, the cabinets won’t be enough.”

One of the wardrobes would also need to be converted into a shoe rack.

“Children’s things may seem small, but they take up space.” Zhou Hongying, having three kids, spoke from experience.

The two chatted a little more before Zhou Hongying went to the river to wash clothes.

Ran Jinnian closed the courtyard gate and went back inside to continue writing her script.

She first cut some vegetables, then sat at the table and began writing.

Her mind was overflowing with story ideas, and she wrote non-stop.

By the time her wrists ached, she realized she had written several long sections.

She read through them carefully, made some edits, and was very satisfied with her work.

“Sis! Sis!”

Someone called from outside.

Ran Jinnian got up and looked out the window, seeing the sisters-in-law who had visited yesterday. She was about to go out.

Suddenly, she remembered the vegetable seeds on the table—a rare variety she couldn’t buy.

She quickly put them back in the space before opening the courtyard gate.

Seeing what they were carrying, Ran Jinnian froze. “Sisters-in-law, what are you doing?”

“Sis, you’ve been writing scripts for us while heavily pregnant. We honestly didn’t know how to thank you, so we made some food,” one said.

“We can’t sing, dance, or write stories, but we can manage cooking a little,” another added.

They all spoke at once, pressing the food into Ran Jinnian’s hands.

She hadn’t expected such enthusiasm and smiled. “You’re not letting me refuse anything. I won’t hold back then.”

“Hahaha!”

Everyone laughed, finding Ran Jinnian’s words amusing.

Yu Xiuzhi, following a few other friendly military wives, came over. Seeing Ran Jinnian chatting animatedly, she rolled her eyes.

Ran Jinnian had only just arrived at the military housing compound, yet she had already met many families.

“Did you hear?”

A chubby woman nearby whispered mysteriously.

“Hear what?” someone asked.

“The woman standing at the gate—do you know her?” The woman glanced at her.

Everyone looked and nodded. “The cold-faced ‘Yama’ Lu Jinyuan’s wife.”

“Rumor has it she has a high school education. Even Principal Chen from the primary school came to ask her to teach.”

“She really is beautiful.”

Yu Xiuzhi heard this and was extremely annoyed. “Why dress up so flashy? Who are you showing off to? Military wives should act like military wives.”

There was a brief silence.

Ran Jinnian’s clothes were bright, but there was nothing improper about them.

“That’s not what I mean,” Li Yan said quietly, seeing the others didn’t understand. “This Mid-Autumn Festival isn’t about us performing. That script she wrote—it’s for those families to perform. I heard it’s… a… drama. Yes, a stage play.”

“What?”

“A stage play?”

“What’s that? How do you perform it?”

None of them had seen a stage play, so they had no idea.

Yu Xiuzhi sneered. “Completely clueless.”