Chapter 79: Neighbors

Lin Xiangnan knew that her standards for living were too high for ordinary people in this era, it was hard to find someone who was on the same wavelength.

But she secretly took care of the really extravagant things herself. She was so considerate, but Gu Zhenhua still had to make a fuss.

“Are you trying to torture yourself or torture me? There’s food at home, just eat it, why are you saying so much.”

Lin Xiangnan said loudly, “If you don’t want to eat with me in the future, then go eat in the canteen, I don’t care what you eat.”

“Hey~ That’s not what I meant.”

Lin Xiangnan got angry, and Gu Zhenhua immediately compromised, “I’ll eat with you, don’t be angry.”

“That’s right. You had to make me yell at you.” Lin Xiangnan immediately put on a smile, “I said during the blind date, I have a bad temper, don’t make me angry.”

Gu Zhenhua didn’t dare to speak, silently peeled the eggshell and handed it to Lin Xiangnan, “Eat.”

Lin Xiangnan snorted and took the egg.

She knew that reason wouldn’t work. Gu Zhenhua had his own logic, no matter how much she said, it wouldn’t be as effective as directly stating her attitude.

Because in Gu Zhenhua’s mind, there was another life experience, that you can’t be fierce with your wife, a man who is a bully at home won’t achieve great things.

After breakfast, Gu Zhenhua helped clean up the dishes and went out, just in time to meet Political Commissar Xu next door.

“What’s with that expression? Didn’t they say absence makes the heart grow fonder? Why are you still wearing a bitter face?” Political Commissar Xu asked curiously, “Did you have a fight? You were looking forward to your wife coming before.”

“We didn’t fight. It’s just that my wife is too good to me, she thinks of me whenever there’s something good, and I feel uncomfortable.”

Gu Zhenhua was both afraid that Lin Xiangnan would spoil him and touched by her affection for him, he was both happy and worried.

“You’re being deliberate, right? You’re deliberately putting on this expression so I’ll ask, so you can brag?” Political Commissar Xu lightly kicked him, laughing and scolding, “You rascal. You’re still playing this trick on me.”

He knew Gu Zhenhua was going to show off, so he wouldn’t have asked.

“You don’t understand. Our family…”

Not wanting to listen to Gu Zhenhua’s continued bragging, Political Commissar Xu jogged away.

“Hey, Political Commissar Xu, why are you running?” Gu Zhenhua chased after him and continued to say.

Under Gu Zhenhua’s unique advertising method, in less than half a day, his group of brothers knew that he had married a wife who was too good to him, who put him on a pedestal.

Lin Xiangnan didn’t know that she suddenly had a “love-brained” hat on her head. In the morning, she went to visit her two neighbors next door, carrying some things.

On the right, Battalion Commander Wang’s house had a son and a daughter. The older son was studying at school, and the younger daughter was not even one year old, just at the age of crawling around.

Battalion Commander Wang’s second wife was named Luo Caixia, she was in her twenties, looked very honest and simple . She was pregnant and had to take care of her little daughter, she seemed a bit flustered, and she was also introverted and didn’t like to talk.

Lin Xiangnan didn’t know how to take care of children, so she didn’t cause any trouble. She said a few words and left quickly.

Political Commissar Xu’s house was also empty during the day. His two daughters were at school, his wife was at work, and only his mother, Aunt Hua, was at home.

When Lin Xiangnan went to his house, she saw Aunt Hua sitting in a rocking chair, stroking the cat, with a small stove boiling tea next to her, and peanuts and dates were roasting on the iron net.

Lin Xiangnan envied this kind of life.

“Come in and sit down. I know you’re busy just moving in, I haven’t dared to disturb you these past two days.” Aunt Hua enthusiastically poured her tea, “If you’re missing anything at home, you can come to my place.”

“Thank you, Aunt Hua.” Lin Xiangnan took the tea, sat on the stool, and secretly beckoned to the orange cat. The cat lazily glanced at her and didn’t move.

“Where’s Xiaotian? I saw him the day I arrived, why isn’t he here today?”

“My two granddaughters took Xiaotian to school.” Aunt Hua smiled at her, picked up the cat on her lap and put it in Lin Xiangnan’s arms, “Play with it. You little girls all love to play with these.”

Lin Xiangnan stroked the cat’s head and said enviously, “Aunt Hua, your cat has such a good temper. If it had kittens, I’d want to raise one.”

“That won’t work. My cat is a male, it can’t have kittens.” Aunt Hua said, “If you like cats, just come to my place often.”

“As long as you don’t mind me being a bother, I’ll definitely come often.”

Lin Xiangnan didn’t stay at Xu’s house for long. After leaving, she rode her bicycle to the nearest street to look around, trying to buy a lounge chair.

Although their family compound was in the suburbs, there was a large military factory next to their base, so the surrounding facilities were quite complete. There were schools, hospitals, and a street selling grain, oil, cloth, and daily necessities, like a small town.

The street was only fifty meters long, and Lin Xiangnan finished browsing it in a few minutes. She didn’t see any lounge chairs.

No wonder Gu Zhenhua took her to the city to buy large items. The things sold on this street were really simple.

Seeing that the chickens in the grocery store were quite fresh, Lin Xiangnan took a round and bought a chicken to go back and make soup.

Because of the argument about eggs in the morning, Gu Zhenhua didn’t dare to say much while drinking chicken soup at noon. He silently tore the chicken leg and gave it to Lin Xiangnan.

“You eat the chicken leg. I like chicken wings.” Lin Xiangnan boasted confidently, “My chicken soup is really good. I’ve learned eight points from Uncle Pang, you should drink more.”

As they were drinking soup, a child’s cry came from next door.

Lin Xiangnan chose to live in the courtyard instead of an apartment building because she was afraid of noise. Who knew a child’s cry could travel so far.

The two looked at each other, and Gu Zhenhua said, “Don’t mind it. Wang Hu, the eldest son of the Wang family, is a crybaby. He cries for no reason, it’s annoying.”

Soon, the cry came closer and then slowly faded away.

“Wow, this little brat ran away crying.” Lin Xiangnan was a little surprised.

Gu Zhenhua took a sip of chicken soup, remained calm, and complained to Lin Xiangnan, “I’ve been living here for half a month. I’ve heard Wang Hu cry four or five times. The daughters of Political Commissar Xu are good, they’re tough and don’t cry easily.”

Wang Hu ran away crying, and Battalion Commander Wang couldn’t sit still either. He quickly went out to chase after him and pulled his son back.

When they pulled and tugged to the entrance of Lin Xiangnan’s house, Lin Xiangnan heard Wang Hu crying and scolding, “I’m not going back. I’m not eating food made by my stepmother. Stepmoms are all bad! Dad, you favor your stepmother, you don’t like me and my sister anymore.”

“I’ll beat you to death if you cry again. Can’t you just eat properly? How long has it been, you’re still making a fuss.” Battalion Commander Wang wasn’t a good-tempered person either. He finished speaking and patted his shoulder twice, scolding, “Your mother is pregnant. Can’t you be nice to her?”

“Why should I be nice to her!”

Wang Hu was unconvinced, he clung to the door frame and refused to go back. Battalion Commander Wang wanted to pull him forward by the waist, but he wailed and wouldn’t let go.

The drama was playing out at their doorstep, Lin Xiangnan and the others couldn’t pretend not to know, they had to put down their bowls, open the door and pretend to be concerned,

“What’s going on? No matter how big the problem is, you can’t hit a child.”

Lin Xiangnan reached out and pulled Wang Hu’s hand off the door frame, “Your hand is almost bleeding. Go home and put some medicine on it.”

As soon as her hand loosened, Wang Hu’s crying stopped for a moment.

Without a foothold, Wang Hu was soon carried away crying by Captain Wang. No matter how hard he struggled, it was useless.