Chapter 51

Yan Lei didn’t expect Captain Zhao to chase after him asking if he was in financial difficulty, or if something had happened at home.

Yan Lei: “?”

“Isn’t this… why are your younger siblings all wearing coarse cloth?” Captain Zhao said, “Last night when I entered your yard, I thought some old lady from another family had come to visit.”

Yan Lei: “…”

Although Yan Lei knew that Qiao Wei had truly turned over a new leaf after that incident and wanted to live a steady life with him, he didn’t quite understand the direction of her aesthetic change.

It was very puzzling.

But, they were a couple.

“There isn’t any financial difficulty,” he straightened his hat and said, “It’s just that recently, she and I… have been communicating and learning well. The two of us… have been progressing together.”

Close-distance communication.

In certain aspects, they were making rapid progress, exploring a new world together.

Indeed, Comrade Xiao Qiao used to have a strong petite bourgeoisie ideology. How could Captain Zhao, who had such a good relationship with Yan Lei, not know?

Upon hearing this, he was genuinely happy for him.

“It’s about time. She is also from a staunch proletarian background, so why was she raised so delicate?”

“No worries, as long as she’s improving. You scared me, I thought something had happened at your place, seeing them dressed so simply. Tell your younger siblings, they don’t have to be so hard on themselves, as long as it’s decent. After all, we’re from cadre families, these good days were hard-earned through our blood. Eat and dress appropriately.”

“Her progress, how do we… what’s the phrase, ‘have eyes to see’? No, ‘witnessed by all’?”

Yan Lei: “…’witnessed by all’.”

He was quite sure it was ‘witnessed by all’. He had read it more than once recently in the books he’d been reading. Actually, reading it once was enough to remember it. After reading it two or three times, it became solidly ingrained.

Speaking of which, his vocabulary had indeed improved recently.

“Yes, yes, tell Xiao Qiao, her progress is witnessed by all!” Captain Zhao said with great emphasis, “If she could avoid washing dishes, she’d have no faults.”

When he got home, he first told Sister Yang about the salary increase.

Sister Yang was extremely happy.

Then he told Sister Yang about Captain Fan not getting a salary increase.

Sister Yang was happier hearing that Xia Hehua’s man hadn’t gotten a raise than hearing her own man had.

“Deserved it!” she laughed and scolded.

Captain Zhao also mentioned that Captain Pan wanted to launch a rectification campaign, urging cadres to restrain their family members: “No names mentioned, but everyone knows it’s aimed at Fan Shigui.”

“I heard that when we left last night, he was called over and scolded. Fan Shigui went home looking like he had just been scolded by his wife.”

“Although Xia Hehua deserves to be scolded, it’s still better to let me do it,” Sister Yang spat, “Men who hit their wives have no backbone.”

Finally, Captain Zhao said, “Yan Lei’s side is fine, he’s not short of money.”

As fellow men, although Yan Lei washing dishes was particularly unpalatable, Captain Zhao had to save face for him. He put his hands on his hips, “Yan, finally acting like a man, and taming Xiao Qiao. Now Qiao, she’s changed her appearance, like a true proletarian daughter, emphasizing simplicity and austerity.”

“So that’s it. Ah, I was worried.” Sister Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

The couple felt quite pleased.

Qiao Wei used to feel distant and cold, but now she wore a simple coarse cloth outfit, with layers of cloth shoes, making her feel particularly approachable.

“You know what, nobody in the village can dress as nicely as her.” Sister Yang praised, “Clearly it’s almost the same clothes, but when she wears them, it’s different.”

And, even dressed like this, nobody would think she was from the village.

It’s strange, no matter how she dresses, she’s always a city person. Others can’t emulate that.

“Oh, how to thank Xiao Qiao for this.” Sister Yang pondered.

If it were just her alone, she’d probably end up having a big fight with Xia Hehua, scratching each other’s faces. How could it be as enjoyable as the result now, making people genuinely happy from the bottom of their hearts?

“Saturday! Let’s call Yan and his wife, let’s go to the restaurant!” Captain Zhao had just received a raise and was in high spirits.

“Okay!”

Gangzi ran to Yan Lei’s house. “Uncle Yan, Uncle Yan.”

Yan Lei came out and saw him. “Gangzi, come in, have some fruit.”

“I don’t want any.” Gangzi waved his hand. “My dad and mom told me to tell you that tomorrow night you don’t have to cook. My dad wants to treat you and Auntie to dinner at the restaurant.”

“Why?” Yan Lei chuckled. “To celebrate his raise?”

“I don’t know, anyway, going to the restaurant is good.” Gangzi was also happy. He lifted the one yuan in his hand. “I’ll go over to the restaurant to make the reservation and pay the deposit now.”

Going to the restaurant was a luxury. Although there were many military families in the small town, the big compound had a canteen, so going to the restaurant wasn’t very common.

Especially when there were many people, you had to make a reservation in advance so the restaurant could prepare. Otherwise, they might run out of food.

Gangzi informed Yan Lei and happily went to make the reservation with his one yuan.

Yan Lei turned to tell Qiao Wei, “Old Zhao is treating us to dinner tomorrow.”

“I heard, I’m not deaf.” Qiao Wei smiled. “With the raise, it’s worth celebrating.”

Captain Zhao and Sister Yang had talked about a lot of things, and Yan Lei told Qiao Wei about most of it when he got home.

He also took the opportunity of discussing Captain Zhao’s raise to educate Qiao Wei about some internal military matters.

For example, even though they were both captains, there were still regular and irregular captains.

“It’s not as obvious since the abolition of ranks.” He said, “Before, when there were still ranks, the ranks of irregular officers were lower than regular ones, and it was clear at a glance.”

Of course, there were many complex historical reasons behind it.

In short, both Yan Lei and Captain Zhao were regular captains. Captain Fan was an irregular captain, and he had tried to narrow this gap through this salary rating, even making some arrangements, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out in the end.

“Captain Pan is right. If cadres can’t even control their family members, they might as well not do it.” Qiaowei said.

In the news of the future, she had seen too many instances of cadre’s family members taking bribes or such, with the cadres crying and blaming their wives. It’s hilarious, was the wife making money while he was blind? Did he not notice the sudden increase in money at home?

Yan Lei said, “We can rest assured.”

They had always been assured before.

Although she had a bad reputation in the past, she never bullied or took advantage of anyone. She was just cold and aloof, not liking to interact with people.

Now, since he brought her back, in just half a month, Yan Lei had developed a strong sense of trust in the person in front of him, feeling that she was reliable.

He thought, maybe she had always struggled with the idea of marrying a rural man, so she lived passively.

Now, she had figured it out, and started to actively face marriage and live a good life, and her qualities and abilities as a cultured person began to show.

Yesterday at Captain Pan’s house, she was clearly dressed very simply, even simpler than Sister Yang, who was wearing a floral shirt. She wore a plain coarse cloth outfit, but when she explained things to Captain Pan, she was articulate, calm, and composed.

At that moment, Yan Lei felt amazed.

In this moment, the cultured woman he had imagined was embodied in her.

It wasn’t some pseudo-fashionable appearance created by fancy clothes and accessories, but a kind of attractive aura emanating from within.

At that moment, Yan Lei quickly glanced around at the crowd.

He saw admiration in Captain Pan’s eyes, not to mention the security guards.

Old Zhao and his wife also showed expressions of “indeed a cultured person”.

At that moment, Yan Lei felt a great satisfaction within his heart.

Old Zhao was still nagging him about washing dishes or not.

It’s ridiculous, if anyone’s wife was like this, everyone would be fighting to wash the dishes.

Feeling pleased, Qiaowei said, “I need to talk to you.”

Yan Lei: “?”

When he went over, Qiao Wei pointed to the cot and asked, “Do you always have to put that blue mat in the middle every day?”

Yan Lei immediately realized, surprised, “You moved it to the side?”

He had thought it was Yan Xiang.

He thought it was a child who didn’t understand the need for neatness. With three mats, two of the same color and one different, of course, the different one had to be placed in the middle.

Sometimes Yan Lei’s old-fashioned demeanor really amuses Qiao Wei.

Yan Lei was puzzled. “Isn’t it right to put it in the middle? Why put it to the side? That’s not tidy.”

Qiao Wei thought for a moment, feeling she had to start from the beginning. “Actually, in China, we’ve always emphasized the harmony between nature and man-made objects. For example, in gardens, the scenery is arranged to look as natural as possible…”

Qiao Wei explained to Yan Lei for almost ten minutes, making him understand that aesthetics weren’t just one-dimensional.

Yan Lei seemed pensive as he held his chin, looking Qiao Wei up and down.

Qiao Wei: “…What are you looking at?”

“Your outfit,” Yan Lei said, “When I first saw it yesterday, I thought it was something a village elder would wear. But actually, when I look at it now, I feel like it’s different from what the village elders wear. What’s different, I can’t quite say.”

Qiao Wei listened with great interest.

Encouraged, Yan Lei expressed his feelings: “Listening to you talk about these things, looking at it now, I feel very comfortable with how this outfit and this mat go together.”

Even the straw sandals hanging on the wall, which he had always found displeasing, now, when he looked at them, with Qiao Wei sitting on the cot, leaning against the mat, with the straw hat and sandals on the wall above her.

The straw hat was even adorned with a circle of indigo cloth ribbon tied into a bow.

All the things that he couldn’t understand individually when placed together in one scene, Yan Lei suddenly felt like it was a painting.

The theme of this painting was comfort and relaxation.

Looking at it made people feel…

He said, “It’s easy on the eyes.”

Yan Lei didn’t know yet that under Qiao Wei’s guidance, his ideological tolerance had taken a step forward faster than this society.

Before, he only knew that steamed buns were edible, now he knew that rice was delicious too.

Of course, Qiao Wei understood.

This matter is so important because the world is about to become a place where everything is either black or white, beneficial or harmful. Monolithic thinking and ideologies will pervade every corner, leaving no place to hide.

No matter how carefully she hides and integrates, she cannot completely erase things about herself that do not fit this era.

Being with someone like her in such a situation would be too suffocating.

Qiao Wei’s eyes sparkled as she happily stood up, grabbed Yan Lei’s shoulder, and tiptoed to kiss him on the cheek.

The old-fashioned man panicked and quickly turned his head.

Fortunately, their son was busy playing with the sand pit and didn’t look up.

Yan Lei whispered, “Don’t be crazy, let the child see!”

Qiao Wei glanced at Yan Xiang.

Yan Xiang, an extraordinary child, currently lacked the conditions to study knowledge but showed interest in the simplest, most mundane, repetitive tasks.

For example, digging holes. While other children might be interested for a moment and then throw it aside after a few shovelfuls, Yan Xiang meticulously planned his daily workload. When he was “working”, he would be extremely focused and dedicated.

Nothing could distract him unless it was a major event.

Since he was delayed by Sister Yang’s incident yesterday, he had been catching up on yesterday’s workload today.

He still needed to dig for a while.

Qiao Wei withdrew her gaze, raised her eyebrows at Yan Lei, and gave him a challenging look.

Dare he?

Yan Lei felt it wasn’t appropriate.

It wasn’t dark yet.

The old-fashioned man looked at the sky, then at the eaves, then at the wall.

He looked at his wife, who was leaning against the wall with folded arms, with a smile that was not a smile. Her arms were white against the indigo cloth.

The old-fashioned man stared at her arms, then turned to look at his son.

He bit his lip, his eyes becoming fierce.

Turning back, he quickly grabbed her waist and carried her into the house with one arm, closing the door behind them with a slam…

It wasn’t dark yet.

The child glanced up but didn’t pay attention.

Digging and digging and digging.