Chapter 59

The chicken stewed in the iron pot over the wood-burning stove.

Yan Lei finally finished reading that agricultural technical guidebook after spending the whole morning on it.

He had been reading it intermittently for several days.

He seemed to really like it; the bloodline of the Chinese culture ran deep within him.

“We should buy more books like this,” he said. “Our country is an agricultural powerhouse, and we mustn’t forget our roots.”

He wanted to say that he would keep this book for Yan Xiang to read in the future, but the previous owner’s deep aversion to rural life stopped him; he swallowed the words about leaving it to Yan Xiang.

He didn’t know that Yan Xiang had already read it.

Qiao Wei didn’t let Yan Xiang read these books while Yan Lei was at home.

Genius baby, male lead, original female lead, cannon fodder supporting female, extras… These were all concepts from a different dimension. Qiao Wei didn’t intend to let Yan Lei know.

She discussed the matter of the house’s exterior walls with Yan Lei.

“Yellow clay?” Yan Lei was slightly surprised.

“You know, the kind of clay that turns light yellow after drying. Do you know?” Qiao Wei asked.

Yan Lei naturally knew: “You want a mud-brick house?”

In the countryside, especially in the northern countryside, mud-brick houses were everywhere. That was what Yan Lei had grown up seeing, no, it was the environment in which he had grown up.

And thus, he couldn’t understand it even more.

If one had the ability, who wouldn’t want to build a brick house? Who would willingly continue living in a mud-brick house?

The house they currently lived in was a traditional stone house of the local area. Although it couldn’t compare to brick houses with red tiles, it was much stronger than mud-brick houses. Even in the old society, only wealthy families could afford to live in such houses.

Regardless of whether it was the old society or the new society, mud-brick houses were chosen because of poverty, because of the inability to build brick houses.

Yan Lei tried to persuade Qiao Wei, “If you find the wall ugly, why don’t we just whitewash the exterior walls?”

Actually, if it were in the future, having a rural courtyard with whitewashed walls would look quite nice.

But that was in the future. In this special era, if the house’s exterior walls were all whitewashed, Qiao Wei was very worried that something would happen sooner or later, and they might end up with some big slogans painted on their walls.

Indeed, it was impossible to completely guarantee that such a situation wouldn’t happen. Qiao Wei even felt that if they really whitewashed the exterior walls, the possibility of them being painted with slogans was quite high.

That would be a heartache.

A huge one.

So, when Qiao Wei was brainstorming how to beautify the patched-up exterior walls of their house, she remembered a rural homestay she had visited.

That homestay was in an ancient village.

The exterior walls were all light yellow mud walls, mimicking mud-brick houses. The actual house was newly built, with modern interior decoration. Only the exterior facade was imitated.

But it was beautiful.

Very rustic, very beautiful.

City dwellers in the internet age could appreciate this kind of beauty.

Yan Lei was very conflicted.

Because when you grew up seeing something that represented “poverty” and “hardship,” it was hard to see it as beautiful.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

“Yeah!”

“Why can’t we just whitewash it? Look how nice it is inside the house after whitewashing.”

Qiao Wei thought for a moment and explained her concerns about whitewashing the exterior walls to Yan Lei.

Yan Lei said, “It’s not likely. This is our own courtyard…”

Qiao Wei interrupted, “You never know.”

She asked, “What if it gets painted with slogans? Can you paint over it?”

Yan Lei’s voice abruptly stopped.

If it were painted with slogans, it would have political significance, so of course he couldn’t proactively paint over it.

Unless they wanted to change the slogans, or if the walls were already weathered beyond recognition and needed to be repainted.

In any case, you couldn’t proactively and actively paint over slogans that had already been painted.

As a cadre at the level of a platoon leader, Yan Lei could certainly understand some subtle rules.

Qiao Wei recounted, “I heard about this incident once, where a female cadre, who was quite good, offended some petty people. They wanted to frame her. So they found an excuse to lock her in a room, deliberately locking the door but leaving the window open. The female cadre was locked up for a day and a night, starving, so she tore off the paper pasted on the window and climbed out to go home.”

“She couldn’t read, and the paper was printed with quotes from great leaders. Not only did she throw them on the ground, but some were also stamped with her footprints.”

“She was innocent, but this turned her into guilty.”

Yan Lei’s face became stern and serious. “Where did this happen? When did it happen? What’s her name?”

Actually, this was a plotline from a period drama that Qiao Wei had watched.

“You don’t need to know where or who. It has nothing to do with us. It’s not a recent event; it’s long over. It might not even be a true story,” Qiao Wei said. “I just want to say, I just want to make our home a bit prettier. I’m afraid that if we whitewash it and it gets painted with slogans later, it will be difficult to deal with. I choose not to have whitewashed walls to avoid any possibility of such incidents happening.”

“Alright, do whatever you want,” Yan Lei said. “You can even match it with your straw hat and straw shoes, right?”

Qiao Wei laughed heartily.

“Are you…,” Yan Lei hesitated for a moment, then decided to say it, “Are you trying to make our home look like the countryside?”

Yan Lei had vaguely felt this way for a while, but he found it absurd. It wasn’t until Qiao Wei mentioned wanting to make the exterior walls of the house mimic mud-brick houses that he finally confirmed it.

Qiao Wei was surprised for a moment, then smiled even brighter.

“There’s a word that’s much nicer than ‘countryside.'”

“Which one?”

“Pastoral.”

Pastoral. Yan Lei chewed on this rarely used word, savoring it.

“That word doesn’t sound quite right; it loses its simple essence,” he remarked.

But Qiao Wei countered, “If your idea of simple essence refers to poverty, hardship, and misery, then that essence is better off not being preserved.”

“Poverty is a phenomenon, an objective situation, but it’s not a goal.”

“In our socialist country, compared to Western countries, we are indeed still poor. But this is because we have endured a century of poverty and weakness. We’re just getting started, while Western thieves have been plundering for over a hundred years.”

“In our socialist country, we will eventually eradicate poverty comprehensively, extend the main roads to every village, ensure every child receives at least nine years of free education, and ensure that every citizen can afford medical care and food. Let all villages turn into pastoral landscapes.”

For the first time in their marriage, Yan Lei saw such a determined look in his wife’s eyes.

She seemed to have unwavering faith in the future she described.

Yan Lei had always thought that Qiao Wei’s petit bourgeois ideology was serious, but now he realizes he was wrong. Her unwavering faith in the motherland was no less than his.

Yan Lei was extremely gratified.

As a man, he could actually tolerate many aspects of his wife that conflicted with him.

But as a staunch communist fighter, having a spouse with backward thinking and low consciousness would truly disappoint and pain him.

“Okay, do what you want,” he agreed to Qiao Wei’s plan.

But he stepped back into the yard, hands on hips, looking up at the entire house.

“This is a big project. You can’t do it alone, and I can’t do it alone either. We need to find experts.”

“Ah, can’t you do it yourself?” The person who had just spoken profoundly and philosophically fell into his own knowledge blind spot. “Like whitewashing, can’t we do a bit every day?”

“No,” Yan Lei said. “The mud is applied wet, and it dries into the yellow soil you want. If we don’t finish it all at once, some parts will dry out while others are still wet, and over time, it will crack.”

“Got it,” Qiao Wei said without hesitation, “So where can we find people?”

“I’ll go. We’ll find a nearby commune; they all have their own mud and brick teams. For mud-brick houses, urban bricklayers won’t do; we need rural ones.”

“But not now, it’s time for double grabs. In a few days, if there’s heavy rain, the troops will be sent out to help the villagers.”

“After the double grabs are over, during the slack season, I’ll find someone for you.”

But Qiao Wei asked, “Won’t you find it troublesome?”

Because when painting the walls inside the house, Yan Lei only needed to help move some furniture, and everything else was done by Qiao Wei herself. The cost was also low.

But when it comes to the exterior walls, it’s a different story. The cost is definitely going to be higher. It’s no longer a DIY project for the family, but rather a major undertaking.

Yan Lei said, “Whether it’s troublesome or not, I’ll consider it, but instead of worrying about this, you might as well think about how to answer when others ask why you’re smearing yellow soil on the house in town.”

Qiao Wei laughed cunningly, “Whether it’s troublesome or not, I’ll consider it, but instead of worrying about this, you might as well think about how to answer when others ask why you’re smearing yellow soil on the house in town.”

Yan Lei praised her, “Well said. I almost believed it.”

Qiao Wei laughed heartily.

After laughing, she said again, “No matter what others guess, my pastoral aesthetic is invincible right now. Who dares not to praise me for my simple and down-to-earth style?”

Yan Lei recalled her set of earthy cloth clothes, so simple that even Captain Zhao was worried that their family might be having financial difficulties. No one would have guessed that she wore them because she thought they looked good.

Thinking of this, Yan Lei couldn’t help but smile.

Only Yan Xiang asked, “Dad, is the chicken ready?”

“It smells so good, I’ve been drooling the whole time.”

“I’ll take a look, hmm, it’s almost ready. Wait for Dad to make you some pancakes.” Yan Lei shouted, “Qiao Wei, Qiao Wei!”

Qiao Wei followed into the kitchen, “What’s up?”

Yan Lei served a bowl of chicken and chicken soup, “Let’s take a bowl to the Zhao family. Shall you go or shall I?”

Qiao Wei looked puzzled.

Yan Lei paused and explained, “It’s the custom in the village. When we have good food, we bring a bowl to our relatives or neighbors with whom we have good relations.”

His hometown and Captain Zhao’s hometown are in the same area, and the customs are the same.

“Relationships need to be maintained. If they’re not, even if you live close, people will drift apart,” he said.

Qiao Wei’s memories of refusing such things in the past were only now activated.

The ecology in the city is different, and there are no such customs. Qiao Wei also dislikes being too intimate with these people.

Yan Lei actually always hoped that his spouse wouldn’t be too slick, but at least could get along well with comrades and neighbors. Unfortunately, he had always been disappointed.

He had given up hope, but now, quietly in his heart, he had hope again.

“Got it, I’ll go,” Qiao Wei said cheerfully.

Although she had never experienced it, for her, this was a very lively traditional custom. This in itself was part of the “pastoral” charm.

Qiao Wei’s acceptance was good.

“I’ll go too,” Yan Xiang followed along.

So, Qiao Wei, with Yan Xiang, carried a bowl of chicken and went to Captain Zhao’s house.

It’s really interesting.

What’s even more interesting is that when they arrived at Captain Zhao’s house—

All members of the Zhao family, except for Wu Nier, including Junzi and Lin Xixi, were mobilized collectively. The whole family was busy painting their own house white.

Qiao Wei found it hilarious.

She shouted, “Sister-in-law—”

“I’ve come to share some delicious food!”