Chapter 41 Family Courtyard

The woman was the wife of Deputy Regiment Commander Ma, Fu Chunmei. She was rather petite, wearing a dark red jacket and black cotton trousers, her black hair tied in a low ponytail, she looked capable and kind. She was holding a bamboo basket, and after introducing herself, she smiled and handed the basket to Shen Zhiyu, “You just arrived, you must not have any food at home, this is something we grew ourselves; you can stir-fry it and eat it tonight.”

 Shen Zhiyu took a look, inside was a cucumber and some string beans. They had been freshly picked this morning; they were still fresh and crisp. “How can I accept this?” “What’s there to be embarrassed about, we’re all in the same unit, your husband and my husband are comrades, as they would say, we’re all one family in the same unit, why be polite among family, take it.

” Fu Chunmei had said it like that, Shen Zhiyu couldn’t refuse anymore. She smiled and accepted it, then turned around and took a bottle of sauce from her luggage. This sauce was made by Chen Cuijuan herself. Chen Cuijuan learned how to make sauce from Shen Zhiyu’s grandmother. Chen’s grandma used to work in the kitchen of a wealthy official, her skills were famous. Later, when food became scarce, everyone was struggling to get enough to eat, so they didn’t pay much attention to making their meals elaborate. But Chen’s grandma’s skills in making sauce and pickling vegetables were passed down to Chen Cuijuan almost perfectly.

Whether it was chopped pepper sauce, pea sauce, or ordinary chili sauce, it was famous in their village, and people would come to ask Chen Cuijuan to help them make sauce. When they didn’t know what to eat, they would just dip potatoes in chili sauce and eat them dry, they could eat several potatoes like that. Gu Ye also loved to eat it.

 This time when they left, Chen Cuijuan specially packed several bottles of sauce for them, enough to last for several months. Shen Zhiyu and Gu Ye’s luggage was so heavy, it was partly because of these sauces. “Sister-in-law, we just arrived, we don’t have anything, this is something I brought from home, my mom made it herself, it’s delicious with anything.” As soon as the bottle was unscrewed, the aroma wafted out, it smelled delicious. Chili sauce was a good thing, you needed a ticket to buy it at the supply and marketing cooperative, and it wasn’t necessarily delicious!

Fu Chunmei swallowed, “It’s not easy to bring this over, how can I take it?”

 “It’s okay, we have a lot.” “Alright then!” Fu Chunmei wasn’t a petty person, seeing that Shen Zhiyu was genuinely giving it to her, she quickly said, “Then I’ll go get a bowl to put some in, you wait here for a while, okay?” She was worried that she wouldn’t find anyone to talk to when she first arrived, she didn’t know anyone. Now that Fu Chunmei had come as soon as she arrived, although she had only been here for two months longer than Shen Zhiyu, she was a very outgoing person, and she loved to visit people. In just two months, she had explored the family housing area of the unit.

She knew what new military wives liked to hear, so she picked topics that Shen Zhiyu would be interested in. Their unit was actually newly established, not many years ago, it was said to be a special unit, the people selected were all exceptionally talented, so the houses here were also relatively new. The few buildings that Shen Zhiyu had passed by when she first arrived were for officers below the rank of battalion commander.

 There were family housing units and dormitories. The single-family houses they were living in now were for officers at the rank of battalion commander and above. The houses were assigned by lottery. Gu Ye was lucky to draw this house, it was further inside, the terrain was flat and quiet, the lighting was the best, and the courtyard was also the largest, people wanted to swap with Gu Ye as soon as the results of the lottery came out. Gu Ye didn’t swap.

 Shen Zhiyu had always lived in the best rooms at home, they were spacious and bright, there was no reason for her to live in a worse place after marrying him. As he expected, Shen Zhiyu really liked this house. The lighting was amazing. It was humid here, she had seen several houses with green patches on the back when she came. Besides the general situation of the family housing area, Fu Chunmei also told her about the people who lived here.

The first row was all battalion commanders and deputy battalion commanders. There were more battalion commanders, so Fu Chunmei simply introduced a few people she was familiar with. When she spoke, she specifically emphasized who was from the city and who was from the countryside like them. In this row, besides Deputy Regiment Commander Ma, Regiment Commander Wang, and Political Commissar Zhou, the house at the very end was occupied by Gu Ye and Deputy Regiment Commander Ma’s leader, Commander Huang. When she mentioned Commander Huang’s wife, Fu Chunmei paused and looked at Shen Zhiyu. Shen Zhiyu was confused on the surface, but her heart sank.

 What was that expression, did Commander Huang’s wife already have some opinions about her before she even arrived? Gu Ye had told her when he came that Commander Huang was his leader, and they had to go to his house for dinner on their first night, which was today.

 Fu Chunmei hesitated for a moment, then squeezed out a sentence, “Anyway, we country girls are definitely not like those city women, they’re all flashy and unreliable, you just need to live your own life honestly.”

 When she said this, she looked at Shen Zhiyu’s clothes. She saw that her clothes were typical of what country girls would wear when they went out. Although she thought her appearance and skin didn’t look like a country girl, she still smiled and said, “Regiment Commander Gu is a good man, you mustn’t learn from those city girls who only know how to dress up, just live your life honestly.”