Chapter 142: The Gift-Giving Storm at the Commander’s House

“But I still think you’re lucky,” Xu Hongqin insisted.

“Battalion Commander Chen goes up the mountain more often than you do,” she said.

“But he hasn’t found any wild boars that have been beaten up and injured in all these years! And he found three at once!”

Well, well, it seemed she was lucky after all!

Li Xinyue burst into laughter. “Hahaha, sister-in-law, you have to curry favor with this lucky woman, then I’ll pass some luck on to you!”

Xu Hongqin also laughed foolishly.

She hugged Li Xinyue tightly. “Let me get a little of your luck now, so I can be full of good fortune later!”

“No problem, rub it in all you want!”

“Hahaha…”

The two women laughed together…

In the evening, they were going to the Commander’s house for dinner, so Li Xinyue didn’t chat with her anymore.

Back in the house, the soldiers had already cleaned up the kitchen.

Xiao Nan and Li Jianshan had left, and Chen Mingchuan was flipping through something at the table after having a few drinks.

“We’re going to the Commander’s house tonight, what kind of gifts should we bring?”

Chen Mingchuan looked up. “Didn’t we already send some? We sent all the food we just ate, what else do we need?”

“No need, the Commander is a casual person, he’s not that particular.”

Li Xinyue: “…”

Was that really okay?

The Commander might not be picky, but what about the Commander’s wife?

Li Xinyue, being a woman herself, understood women better than men. “That… going empty-handed isn’t very good…”

“What does your sister-in-law like? I could make something?”

He had some herbs, so he could make some hair care products or facial products.

Chen Mingchuan thought for a moment. “The Commander’s wife’s hair is turning white, you could give her some of that hair dye you make.”

Gray hair?

Li Xinyue was curious. “How old is the Commander’s wife?”

“Fifty-one.”

It was normal for someone to have gray hair at fifty-one.

People in this era had lived very hard lives when they were young, their bodies were depleted, and many people had gray hair by forty.

“Okay, I understand!”

She didn’t know when Chen Mingchuan went out.

Li Xinyue was busy until five o’clock when he came back from outside.

“Can we go? We should get there early.”

It was always polite to arrive early when visiting someone.

Especially when visiting a Commander’s house, they couldn’t let the Commander wait for them.

Arriving early was a matter of courtesy.

“Everything’s ready, I’ll just comb my hair.”

It was too hot earlier, so she had all her hair pulled up.

In this era, women with long hair either braided it or cut it into a short, ear-length style.

Li Xinyue wasn’t very good at combing her hair, so she reached behind her head, gathered her hair together, and braided it into a big braid.

Her hair was originally very long, but she had cut it in half, and now it reached her back.

After combing her hair, her long neck was revealed.

Chen Mingchuan swallowed, quickly averting his gaze. “Let’s go then.”

The family of three went out, with Li Xinyue carrying a small bag.

“Oh, where are you going? You’re carrying so many things, are you going to give gifts?”

Auntie Sun acted as if nothing had happened, as if the events in the courtyard over the past few days were nothing.

Her eyes were fixed on the small bag in Li Xinyue’s hand, as if she wanted to pry it open and take a look.

Chen Mingchuan nodded faintly. “Going out for a bit.”

Li Xinyue didn’t want to talk to the old woman, so she took her son and walked forward.

It was just after work, and the families of the people who worked at the paper box factory got off work early. They happened to run into the family of three as they went out.

“Where are they going?”

Li Chunmei, the wife of the Communications Battalion Commander, looked curious.

Wang Lijuan, who was walking beside her, heard this and rolled her eyes. “Carrying things, where else could they be going? They must be going to give gifts to some Commander!”

“Gifts?”

“Did that Chen couple go to give gifts?”

As soon as those words left her lips, Li Chunmei’s face became mysterious: “Hey, did you hear? The division is about to have a special mission.”

“Special mission? What kind of mission?”

Li Chunmei’s husband was the battalion commander of the communications battalion. He had access to a lot of information, which immediately piqued Wang Lijuan’s curiosity.

“I don’t know. Special missions are always very secretive. My husband wouldn’t dare talk about it.”

That was true.

Wang Lijuan felt a burning itch in her heart. Every time someone participated in a special mission, they would be rewarded with merit, as long as they didn’t die.

But her husband was in logistics, working as a production assistant. It was impossible for him to participate in special missions.

She was so annoyed!

If her husband was as lucky as Chen Mingchuan, and was the commander’s favorite, she could at least become a regimental commander’s wife in the future!

There was a huge difference between a regimental commander and a deputy battalion commander!

Wang Lijuan knew those wives of high-ranking officers very well. Although they all seemed polite, that politeness was just a facade for their aloofness.

Most of them didn’t even look at these battalion-level officers’ wives!

Just like Li Chunmei.

Her husband was the nephew of the former deputy commander, and he couldn’t get into those circles of high-ranking officers’ wives either!

Thinking that Li Xinyue might become a regimental commander’s wife in the future, Wang Lijuan was filled with jealousy.

“They must be going to pull strings!”

“I heard that several deputy regimental officers in the division are going to be transferred at the end of the year. Battalion Commander Chen must be acting in advance.”

“Director Li, your husband is also qualified. Don’t let someone else pull strings and get the position first!”

“This time, you must let your husband go.”

“As long as he goes, promotion next year is a sure thing! Don’t you want your husband to get promoted?”

Who wouldn’t want their husband to get promoted?

Li Chunmei wanted her husband to get promoted even more!

But she couldn’t let anyone know about it.

“Let him be. These special missions aren’t easy to complete.”

“If there’s no danger, you can’t get a big merit. If there’s a mission that can get you a big merit, you could die at any time.”

“I’d rather grow old with my husband. I don’t have such big aspirations.”

If a special mission wasn’t dangerous, it wouldn’t be called a special mission.

But Chen Mingchuan had been on so many special missions, and he was still alive and kicking!

Humph!

Growing old together? I bet if your husband’s half-life could get you a regimental commander’s wife, you would do it without hesitation!

Wang Lijuan looked down on Li Chunmei.

If she wasn’t her supervisor at the paper box factory, she would have rolled her eyes at Li Chunmei!

Besides, her goal wasn’t that. She wanted to make Li Chunmei dislike Li Xinyue and prevent her husband from getting promoted.

Whether Li Chunmei would let her husband compete was none of her business!

“Sister, I’m going to pick up the kids. See you tomorrow.”

Li Chunmei also had things on her mind, so she waved her hand: “See you tomorrow.”

However, Li Xinyue didn’t know that rumors about her and her husband going to the commander’s house to give gifts quickly spread throughout the family compound…

“Who’s spreading this nonsense? Battalion Commander Chen is a person who pulls strings?”

Xu Hongqin was very angry.

Qian Sanni also said: “If Battalion Commander Chen knew how to pull strings, he would have been promoted long ago.”

“He’s the kind of person who gives up opportunities to gain merit to his comrades.”

Xu Hongqin immediately chimed in: “That’s right. He won first place in the entire army in the individual combat competition, which is held every three years. Would he go to give gifts?”

“These people, they’re just jealous because they’re incompetent!”

“Who is spreading these rumors?”