Chapter 155: The Wives’ Circle, Also a World of Its Own

“Really?”

The tall and thin wife’s words left the petite wife stunned.

Then, the short and stout wife chimed in.

“I know this! Battalion Commander Chen has been married for five years, and he never told anyone he was married.”

“Think about it, he’s been married for so long, and he even has such a big child, yet he doesn’t talk about it.”

“What does this mean?”

What else could it mean?

He must not like her!

Hearing this, the petite wife smiled.

“Looks like Qian Sanni is flattering the wrong person!”

“My Jianguo said that the Staff Officer Wang in their department likes Battalion Commander Chen.”

“He even said that if he hadn’t gotten married early, they would have definitely ended up together.”

“I think this woman won’t be here for long, Qian Sanni’s flattery is basically a waste!”

What?

Wang Yuying, the staff officer from the training department, likes Battalion Commander Chen?

This news was a bombshell, instantly making the eyes of several wives widen like lanterns…

Seeing everyone so surprised, the petite wife was quite proud.

“But don’t go spreading this outside, if Staff Officer Wang finds out, it’ll be a big problem.”

What kind of problem?

Who knows where it came from?

The tall and thin wife scoffed: “It’s a fact that Battalion Commander Chen doesn’t like her, it’s not like we made it up, what are we afraid of?”

“But I heard she’s also from the countryside, just don’t know what kind of person she is.”

“I don’t know, she just came, we don’t know her.”

The petite wife shook her head.

The short and stout wife rolled her eyes: “We’ll know soon enough, anyway, she’s come to join the army, she won’t be leaving anytime soon.”

That’s right!

The tall and thin wife nodded… If this woman is smart, then she’ll remind her, if she’s not, then she’ll just watch the show!

Where there are women, there is gossip.

A bunch of women were chattering away, although it was unclear what they were saying, Qian Sanni knew they were talking about the two of them.

“Xinyue, you don’t know those people, right?”

Li Xinyue was battling with the potatoes, looking up: “Are they important figures?”

“Pfft!”

Qian Sanni laughed: “I really like your personality!”

“Not important, but these few are big shots among the wives!”

What?

Li Xinyue’s gossip heart was piqued: “Tell me?”

“Alright.”

Qian Sanni smiled and began: “That tall and thin woman is called Liu Guilian, she’s the wife of Xu, the political department’s officer.”

“This woman, she gave birth to three daughters in a row, she’s the most jealous of women who give birth to sons.”

“But her family is in Duyang Town’s Red Flag Brigade, she’s the daughter of the brigade leader, so she looks down on us who came from small counties.”

“She likes to ‘unite’ rural wives, but she looks down on rural wives from other places, she loves to bully people.”

“See the two next to her?”

“These two are women from her village, she introduced them to the two old soldiers from the engineering battalion as wives.”

“Now in her brigade, she’s a big shot.”

“Because they curry favor with her, their daughters might have the chance to marry a soldier!”

Soldiers are in high demand these days!

Li Xinyue was curious: “Did those two join the army?”

Qian Sanni curled her lips: “They did join, but these two old soldiers couldn’t find wives so they accepted her introductions.”

“The petite one is called Liu Xiao, her husband’s family was poor, he got married in his late twenties.”

“The short and stout woman is called Liu Acui, her husband’s previous wife had an affair, and she insisted on divorcing him.”

“Plus, he never had children with his previous wife, they dragged it on for a few years before getting divorced.”

No wonder Liu Guilian is so proud in front of these two women!

One reason was that her husband was a cadre, and the other was that he was in his first marriage, with conditions far superior to those of the sisters in the same village.

“Where is Secretary Xu from?”

“From S province. He has seven or eight brothers, and he’s the only one who went to middle school and joined the army.”

“This man used to be a public servant for a leader in the military region. He’s very smart, but a little bit petty.”

A man being petty is truly unacceptable!

Li Xinyue was very grateful to Qian Sanni. She was reminding her which people could be befriended and which couldn’t.

In the future, she would be living in this military compound for a long time, and she would inevitably interact with these military wives. Understanding them would be beneficial to her.

“Thank you. I don’t know anyone when I just arrived.”

Qian Sanni laughed heartily: “What are you thanking me for? Wasn’t I the same when I first arrived? These are all told to me by my fellow villagers.”

“I’m telling you so you can have your own judgment.”

“But you don’t have much to do with them anyway. You won’t have any problems if you have less interaction with them.”

In the army, the closest relationships are with fellow villagers.

As long as you leave the province, everyone from the same province is considered a fellow villager.

Within the province, people from the same region or county are considered fellow villagers.

Whether these fellow villager relationships are good or not depends on how close their work relationships are and whether their personalities are compatible.

If you’re not a fellow villager, unless you’re in the same company or platoon, or have fought together before, you won’t have much interaction.

“That’s true, but with your reminder, I have a better understanding.”

Taking advantage of the good weather, the two prepared to dig up all the potatoes. They talked and worked, and a whole morning passed in a flash.

Qian Sanni was a generous person, and she gave Li Xinyue a full basket of potatoes, at least 50-60 kilograms (approximately 66-79 lbs) in weight.

Since she offered, Li Xinyue accepted.

Without a cellar, Li Xinyue planned to dry the potatoes.

She would wash out the starch and keep it for making potato noodles later.

Potato noodles are perfect for hot pot.

Winter here is extremely cold. When she gets the chance, she’ll go get another wild boar. Then she’ll make braised pork in a jar, pickled ribs, and meatballs.

She’ll also get some fish and make fish meatballs.

She’ll plant some vegetables for hot pot. Once winter comes, she’ll be able to eat whatever she wants!

As a modern person, there’s no reason to deprive herself of delicious food.

Just as she finished washing the potatoes, Chen Mingchuan returned.

He brought back a pig head, pig feet, pig stomach, and pig intestines!

In addition, he bought a bunch of star anise, cinnamon, and Sichuan peppercorns.

Li Xinyue’s jaw dropped: “He bought so much, can he even carry it all?”

Chen Mingchuan carried the things down from the car: “Don’t worry, he doesn’t bring anything else, just some food, so it’s definitely no problem.”

“Where did you get so many potatoes?”

“Qian Sanni gave them to me. She insisted on giving them to me. I was helping her dig potatoes this morning.”

This woman is quite good at building relationships!

Good!

“Just put them there, I’ll wash them. Why wash them yourself? There are so many, what are you going to do with them?”

Li Xinyue simply said: “Slice them, wash the starch, and dry them.”

This is quite a bit of work.

Chen Mingchuan nodded: “Okay, I’ll do it later. I’ll wash these first. We can braise them early tonight and let them cool down.”

Hot food wouldn’t be good to bring, and the weather hasn’t cooled down yet.

Li Xinyue felt a little regretful: “If I had known you were going into town, I would have asked you to bring back some saltpeter.”

Bring saltpeter?

Chen Mingchuan was curious: “What do you need that for?”

He’s really a country bumpkin, he doesn’t even know something so simple!

Li Xinyue’s teeth ached: “To make ice packs. Then we can put it under the braised meat to keep it from spoiling.”

Make ice packs?

Chen Mingchuan was even more shocked: “You know how to do that?”