Chapter 11: Delivering Meat

Lu Qinglin frowned deeply and only spoke after a while:

“Ning Honglian and I have only exchanged letters twice. The first time, she sent me a letter to greet me. I was too busy and didn’t reply. The second time was last month — she urged me to come back quickly, saying Uncle Lu had something important to discuss with me. So I submitted a request to my unit and brought my family leave forward.”

Su Tangxue stared directly into Lu Qinglin’s eyes, looking for any sign of dishonesty. But his eyes remained completely calm.

“Alright, since you’re being so honest, I’ll believe you. But from now on, stay away from Ning Honglian, you hear me?”

Lu Qinglin froze for a second, then nodded. “Got it.”

Su Tangxue continued her questioning. “So what’s your rank now? Platoon leader? Company commander?”

She didn’t believe someone like Lu Qinglin, who had been in the military for so many years, wouldn’t have a title.

“Company commander,” Lu Qinglin replied truthfully.

Though he’d probably be promoted soon — next time he returned on leave, he might be able to bring Su Tangxue with him as a military spouse.

Su Tangxue nodded. “Alright, I understand. You can go now, I want to get some sleep.”

“Okay.” Lu Qinglin obediently closed the door behind him.

Once he left, Su Tangxue lay on the kang (heated brick bed), staring blankly at the ceiling. Just the thought that she still had two more years left here made her feel hopeless.

Two more years…

Two years!

And she’d have to spend them in the countryside!

She didn’t have any of those spatial abilities like other female leads, nor did she have any cooking skills.

She didn’t even dare to imagine how miserably she’d survive these two years.

In the book, the author only briefly described Ning Honglian’s life in the countryside, then skipped directly to two years later.

Su Tangxue shut her eyes and opened them again — could she fast-forward to two years later too?

While thinking about it, she actually drifted off. By the time Lu Qinglin came to call her, it was already 3 p.m.

Waking up and seeing everything still exactly the same, Su Tangxue lay back down in disappointment.

“You’re still not getting up?”

Hearing the voice, Su Tangxue turned her head to look at the tall man standing by the kang.

She wasn’t afraid of him anymore — she could even look him in the eyes directly now.

Lu Qinglin’s eyes no longer had that icy coldness that used to send chills down her spine. Instead, they were deep and dark, like bottomless wells she couldn’t see through.

“Where’s Grandma?”

“She’s in the yard picking green beans. Aunt just dropped some off.”

“Aunt?” Su Tangxue sounded doubtful. Wasn’t Lu Qinglin’s aunt supposed to be a notoriously difficult person? In the book, Ning Honglian was constantly in conflict with her.

Why was she suddenly being so nice?

Lu Qinglin realized she was misunderstanding and quickly explained, “Not mine — yours.”

Her eyes lit up at that. Her father didn’t have a good relationship with her grandmother, but the three brothers had grown up together and were very close. Her first and second uncle’s families had good character.

In the book, during tough times, they would even secretly help the female lead from time to time.

Su Tangxue felt bored lying in bed, so she put on her shoes and headed out with Lu Qinglin.

Yun Xiangrui (Grandma) saw the two of them coming out together and looked at them with a kindly smile.

Lu Qinglin had already explained their relationship to her, and she remembered Su Tangxue as the little girl who used to follow her grandson around.

Meeting Grandma’s smiling eyes, Su Tangxue returned the smile and called out, “Grandma,” greeting her properly.

“Why did you buy so much meat?”

Su Tangxue noticed a large slab of premium pork belly on the kitchen table — looked like at least five kilograms .

It was hot these days, and if they couldn’t finish it in one meal, the rest would go bad by the next day.

“We’ll keep some for tonight’s meal and send the rest to First and Second Uncle. Dad said they helped watch the house while we were away — not easy for them.”

Su Tangxue understood now. So the clean house they had returned to was thanks to others stepping in on their behalf.

“Okay, you handle it. I’ll deliver it to them later.”

Lu Qinglin looked at her suspiciously. “You know where they live?”

“Of course I do,” Su Tangxue replied smugly. “There’s a peach tree at First Uncle’s house. Back then, the peaches weren’t ripe yet, but you took me to steal one anyway — it was bitter and astringent. I still remember that! And at Second Uncle’s, they have a persimmon tree. You also took me to steal from that and even broke their tree! I haven’t forgotten a single bit!”

Hearing her bring up his embarrassing past, Lu Qinglin coughed awkwardly twice.

“Alright then, go wash your hair. I’ve already boiled the water. Once I portion out the meat, I’ll call you.”

Su Tangxue took shampoo from the bag they’d brought back. She had wanted to wash her hair yesterday, but they didn’t have enough firewood. Now that Lu Qinglin had heated the water, she wasn’t going to miss the chance.

After washing, she sat under the sun drying her hair. By the time it was halfway dry, Lu Qinglin had already portioned the meat.

She loosely braided her damp hair into a side plait, then grabbed the bamboo basket and headed out.

Freshly washed and smelling good, she even walked more confidently.

At this time of day, most villagers hadn’t returned from the fields yet, but some older women still gave her judging looks as she passed.

Su Tangxue didn’t care — as long as they didn’t provoke her, they could look all they wanted.

She arrived at a small house and, after confirming the address, knocked on the door.

Her first uncle had two sons, the eldest and the third. The oldest, Lu Jiang, was already married and had a daughter.

Su Tangxue figured someone should be home.

Inside the house.

Feng Cuilan heard the knocking and quickly wiped her wet hands. “Coming, coming!”

When she opened the door and saw a pretty but unfamiliar girl outside, she instinctively thought it was the wrong house.

“Miss, who are you looking for?”

Su Tangxue smiled. “Um… is Lu Yuxiong home?”

“Oh… my father-in-law? He’s still out in the fields.”

“I see! Well, sister-in-law, I just came by to drop something off.”

“And you are…?” Feng Cuilan hadn’t met Su Tangxue when she got married.

“Sister-in-law, I’m Tangxue! My father is the third son in the family.”

After Su Tangxue explained, Feng Cuilan finally recalled her father-in-law mentioning Third Uncle and his daughter. She quickly invited her in.

Feng Cuilan even wanted to keep her for dinner, but Su Tangxue declined. She drank a bowl of water, left the meat, and got up to leave.

“Oh my! Xiaoxue, you didn’t have to bring anything!”

Feng Cuilan was stunned by the large piece of meat — it looked like at least two pounds. Normally, if they craved meat, they’d buy half a jin at most. When could they ever afford to buy this much?

Besides, such good meat cost a lot and needed ration coupons — you’d have to line up at the supply center early to even get it.

For Xiaoxue to bring such a gift on her first visit — it was really generous.

“Sister-in-law, keep it. You can use it to nourish the child. I’ve got something else to do, so I’ll go now.”

Before leaving, Su Tangxue spotted her cousin peeking out curiously. She pulled out a few pieces of sponge cake and handed them to her.