Chapter 30: “Sister-in-law, you don’t even know the company commander he…”

When Su Tangxue said she didn’t want it, Liu Qianqian looked completely indifferent, as if she didn’t care what Su Tangxue did—after all, it wasn’t her loss.

Since Su Tangxue refused to buy, Liu Qianqian even felt she didn’t know good goods when she saw them.

On the other hand, Ma Yuanyuan’s face changed drastically and looked like she was about to cry the next second.

She had worked so hard to land a big customer and was just about to close the sale when Liu Qianqian suddenly came over and interfered. How could she not feel upset?

Her father had gone through a lot of trouble to find this temporary selling spot for her.

If she could secure this stable source of income, her younger siblings at home would have a better life.

She really didn’t want to lose this opportunity.

“Comrade, I won’t sell you this bag of egg cakes, but I can weigh out some fresh ones for you instead—how does that sound?” Ma Yuanyuan quickly tried to recover the situation.

“Ma Yuanyuan, what do you mean by that? The director clearly said we must sell out the previous batch before opening a new one. Are you trying to go against the director’s orders?” Liu Qianqian said mockingly.

Then she turned to Su Tangxue and added, “Xiaoxue, I’m really sorry! That’s just how our supply and marketing co-op works. If you’re not okay with it, you can come back another time!”

Looking at Liu Qianqian’s smug, unconcerned face, Su Tangxue found her incredibly infuriating. One way or another, Liu Qianqian never seemed to suffer any losses, while she and the salesgirl were the ones being squeezed.

Unwilling to give up, Ma Yuanyuan clenched her fists tightly, as if she had made a firm decision. “Comrade, how about this? I’ll pay for this bag of egg cakes myself, and I’ll pack a fresh batch for you—would that be alright?”

Su Tangxue glanced sideways at Liu Qianqian and said, “Alright then, go ahead and pack it up.”

She was still happy to eat egg cakes. After all, in this era with very few snacks, some was better than none.

Once the price was calculated, Lu Qinglin pulled out a thick wad of money and ration tickets, counted them, and handed them over.

Watching Lu Qinglin with that stack of tickets, Liu Qianqian felt even more disdainful toward Su Tangxue, the girl from the city.

A woman like her, who didn’t know how to be frugal and only had a pretty face, would be dumped by Qinglin sooner or later.

And when that time came, all those tickets would be hers.

Thinking about the future as a military wife made Liu Qianqian feel a lot more at ease—even the grievances she suffered today no longer mattered.

After finishing up at the co-op, Su Tangxue stopped by the post office first to see if her father had written to her.

Although she had only recently arrived in this world and hadn’t had time to properly bond with Lu Yulong, she still felt deep down that he was the only one who firmly stood behind her. Strangely enough, that made her feel not so alone in this world.

“Su Tangxue, you have a package.”

Su Tangxue’s eyes lit up instantly. She knew it—her father still loved her.

The postal worker quickly brought out the package and a letter.

“This package just arrived today. We were planning to notify you at the village later, didn’t expect you to come on your own.”

Su Tangxue smiled and accepted it. “Thank you.”

“Serving the people!”

The postman grinned brightly, and that suddenly touched something in Su Tangxue’s heart.

She smiled softly.

In that moment, the slogan felt truly real.

Judging by the shape of the package, it was likely a bicycle. But more than the bike, she was more interested in the letter from her father.

After reading Lu Yulong’s letter, Su Tangxue frowned deeply. Lu Qinglin, seeing her expression, assumed something had happened with her family.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen to Uncle Yulong?”

Su Tangxue shook her head and put the letter away. “Dad says Ning Honglian is getting married in two months. Her fiancé is the son of the textile factory director. He’s asking if I’ll go back then. Also, he found someone to exchange a bike ticket and bought the bicycle for us—it’s in the package.”

Lu Qinglin’s brows furrowed slightly. Ning Honglian had met Liu Zhipeng on the day Su Tangxue left. They had hit it off quickly and started discussing marriage.

Not only that, Ning Honglian even personally asked Lu Yulong to have Su Tangxue attend the wedding.

Lu Qinglin was about to return to the military base soon, and Su Tangxue would be living alone in the countryside—life would be hard, filled with endless farm work.

When Su Tangxue returned to the city and saw Ning Honglian marrying the man she had once been set up with, how would she react?

Su Tangxue had always outshone her—this time, it was Ning Honglian’s turn to stand tall.

Just thinking about Su Tangxue’s regretful and devastated expression made Ning Honglian feel delighted.

Pushing the brand-new bicycle, Su Tangxue was as happy as a child.

Now that she had a bicycle, she could go to town whenever she wanted.

But thinking of something, she sighed—since they didn’t manage to buy any meat earlier, tonight they’d have to eat vegetarian again.

They’d arrived at the supply co-op too late; the meat was already sold out.

Carrying the goods, Su Tangxue followed behind Lu Qinglin and realized this wasn’t the way home.

“Lu Qinglin, where are we going?”

“To buy meat.”

Su Tangxue’s eyes flashed. Could it be what she was thinking?

The country hadn’t opened up the economy yet—if they got caught, they’d be in big trouble. And Lu Qinglin was a soldier; it’d be even worse for him.

She stepped forward and tugged at his sleeve.

“Lu Qinglin, maybe we should forget it. It’s not like we have to eat meat.”

Lu Qinglin stopped walking, turned to look at her, and immediately realized she’d misunderstood.

His thin lips parted slightly. “I have a comrade who works at the slaughterhouse.”

He had already predicted that Su Tangxue wouldn’t get up early the next day, so he had someone notify Zhao Bin in advance.

Su Tangxue followed Lu Qinglin to the slaughterhouse, surprised.

In the yard, a man sharpening knives heard a noise and looked toward the door. When he saw them, he excitedly walked over.

He first saluted Lu Qinglin with a standard military gesture, and Lu Qinglin returned it.

“Company commander, it’s really you! I thought Xiao Lin was joking!”

“Yeah, it’s me. How have you been these years?”

“All good. Thanks for asking, sir… And this is?”

Zhao Bin looked at Su Tangxue peeking from behind.

“This is my fiancée, Su Tangxue. Tangxue, this is my comrade Zhao Bin,” Lu Qinglin introduced them.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Bin immediately greeted her, “Nice to meet you, sister-in-law.” Then he glanced at Lu Qinglin, eyes full of mischievous delight, as if to say, You’ve finally met your match, huh?

Now that his sister-in-law was here, he couldn’t miss the chance to tattle a little.

“Sister-in-law, you don’t even know—back in the army, the company commander was super strict. He was cold and aloof. Even the lead actress of the cultural troupe batted her lashes at him and—” Seeing Lu Qinglin’s warning gaze, Zhao Bin immediately changed his words. “—and he completely ignored her. Who would’ve thought he’d fall for you instead?”

Su Tangxue could only smile awkwardly.

She already knew all this.

The author had created all sorts of romantic entanglements for the male lead to spice up the story. The village side wasn’t even sorted out yet—and now there were more from the military camp? Her head started to ache.

“Company commander, it’s been so long. Why don’t we have a drink? Bring sister-in-law too.”

Lu Qinglin glanced at Su Tangxue, then shook his head and declined. “No, we came by bike. Drinking wouldn’t be a good idea.”