Chapter 78

In the following days, Yan Lei was busy.

The military district had lent out many personnel to the surrounding areas. These days, you could see many soldiers working outdoors, sweating profusely, and working energetically.

Weeding, digging trenches, clearing channels, turning over barrels, and cans—everywhere mosquitoes could breed was not spared.

Naturally, places where the masses piled up garbage were cleaned, and smoke from burning garbage could often be seen these days.

Cleaning up the ruins left over from the war was quite troublesome. The men were rough and direct, swinging sledgehammers to directly smash and knock down the broken walls and rubble. However, they did recover a lot of bricks, blue bricks, and old tiles.

These were all valuable items, and since the work was done by the military, any recovered items naturally belonged to the military. There was no chance for the locals to snatch them.

Individuals couldn’t slack off either.

Both units and individual households had to sign sanitation agreements with the street committees and neighborhood committees. On the last Sunday before mosquito eradication, the street and neighborhood committees organized manpower to inspect.

On this side of the old residential area, a street official led five or six female volunteers, each wearing armbands, going door-to-door to inspect.

Some passed, some failed. After a round, who cared about hygiene and who didn’t was clear to everyone.

Sister Yang was one of the female volunteers. After inspecting six or seven households, they checked two more before reaching Qiao Wei’s house.

Sister Yang said, “The Yan family is fine; both husband and wife are clean.”

The volunteers were all residents of the old area, some familiar with Qiao Wei and some not.

Regardless of familiarity, Qiao Wei greeted everyone with a smile and said, “Come in, come in.”

She greeted Sister Yang as well.

“Where’s Yan?”

“He’s been busy these days, always out.”

“Same with our Old Zhao; their battalion was loaned to Qingshan Town.”

The two of them were familiar, so they chatted first when they met. The others, however, looked up at the houses, a bit puzzled. “How come there are still adobe houses?”

The old residential area was originally repaired and rebuilt on the basis of war ruins. Stone houses were worth repairing, but adobe houses were abandoned long ago, turned into piles of mud, with no value in repair.

So now the houses where military dependents live are all stone houses. Some are more neatly arranged, while others are patched up like they’ve been gnawed by dogs, just like the ones in Yan Lei’s home.

But there are no adobe houses. Everyone looking at the adobe houses in front of them is a bit puzzled.

Sister Yang had seen them early on, so she wasn’t surprised anymore, even explaining for Qiao Wei, “She’s sensitive to the cold, so she added another layer of mud to make the house a bit warmer.”

This explanation was more acceptable.

Everyone said, “I see.”

Someone couldn’t help but say, “The houses in the compound are better insulated.”

The compound is now fully occupied, with no vacant houses long ago.

Those who still live in the old area are either young company commanders who married late and couldn’t get a house in the compound because it was full, or those who didn’t get a house in the compound when they relocated.

But there’s a special characteristic: all the brigade-level cadres in the old area volunteered to stay because of their high moral standards.

In any unit’s allocation of housing and benefits, priority is certainly given to rank, a principle accepted by society as a whole.

Brigade-level cadres are naturally given priority, so it’s impossible for them not to get a house.

So those who stayed were highly conscientious, willingly giving up the new housing quotas to those in greater need, such as company-level cadres with more children.

Yan Lei, Captain Zhao, and Captain Ma are all like this.

They’re all under Mr. Pan’s command.

When men have high moral standards and consciousness, in this environment, their families dare not openly oppose them. The higher the rank of the military officer’s family, the less they can afford to do so, as it would hold back their men.

Even Qiao Wei, the original owner, although she had a big falling out with Yan Lei over this matter, couldn’t speak out publicly.

But just because families can’t openly complain doesn’t mean there’s no resentment.

Now, the small group gathers in a courtyard, especially Yan’s courtyard. The fact that the houses are leaking so badly they need to be plastered with mud for insulation is truly heart-wrenching.

Everyone couldn’t help but grumble a few words.

Qiao Wei quickly intervened, “We get higher salaries and better treatment, so we should give back a bit, right? We can’t take everything good for ourselves, otherwise, what’s the difference between us and the old bureaucrats?”

That’s true, although the housing situation is frustrating. With their men earning high salaries, most families are not lacking in food and clothing, and they can even support their natal families, which is quite satisfying.

The families felt a bit better.

The street office worker sighed, “Ladies, ladies, we still have quite a few households to visit.”

It’s true, every time they visit a household, they have to chat with the women there for quite some time before leaving.

The families stopped chatting and first took a walk around the courtyard.

According to the hygiene agreement, the outdoors should be “spotless,” with no garbage, weeds, or stagnant water allowed.

“This courtyard is kept so clean,” everyone praised.

The ground was clean, with two cobblestone paths laid neatly, so one can imagine it wouldn’t be muddy even on rainy days. Even on regular days, walking in and out of the courtyard and going to the outhouse, one steps on cobblestones, leaving no dirt, so the inside of the house can stay clean at all times.

Sister Yang was familiar with the Yan family, so she didn’t bother to check and instead leaned over by the vegetable patch with her hands behind her back, inspecting closely and praising, “This vegetable patch is well maintained. Yan, you can tell it’s the work of a good farmer.”

Qiao Wei burst into laughter, “But darling, he won’t let me get close.”

Sister Yang immediately guessed, “It must be because you messed around and made a mess of it, right?”

Qiao Wei insisted, “I wanted to learn. There’s always a learning process, and failure is the mother of success. Who can learn everything right away? He just won’t give me a chance to learn now.”

Sister Yang didn’t buy her story and teased her, “City folk.”

Quite disdainful.

“Oh!”

Someone came out of the toilet, surprised and admiring, and said, “Your outhouse is really clean.”

Others, upon hearing this, all went in to take a look.

After seeing it, they were all shocked, “How is it so clean?”

In a dry toilet like this, the most uncomfortable thing isn’t seeing the accumulated waste directly underneath.

What’s even worse is that if you sit crooked or if there’s a splatter, it can get waste on the two stones you’re standing on.

This situation can be seen in any family’s outhouse. When checking other people’s outhouses, everyone would just pinch their noses and quickly peek in.

Only when they reached Qiao Wei’s house did they all squeeze in to admire.

The outhouse wasn’t large, as it was built uniformly during the renovations years ago, so every household had more or less the same one. They were all about the same size and had the same structure.

But Qiao Wei’s outhouse didn’t have any mud. There was a broom leaning against the wall, obviously for cleaning the toilet.

Near the pit, there was a stool against the wall, with toilet paper, mosquito coils, and insect repellent placed on it. The insect repellent was used to spray the toilet and kill bugs.

There were no flies or maggots to be seen. This place must be sprayed frequently.

Qiao Wei said, “Spray it every night before bed.”

And the next day, it’s all clean.

Someone looked up and said, “And you even installed a light.”

Qiao Wei quickly responded, “It fell in accidentally.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

“I had that happen once too. It was pitch black at night, and when I stretched my foot toward the pit, somehow I ended up stepping right into it. Oh my god, I was all crooked up there. It took forever to wash my pants.”

“Me too.”

“Maybe I should install one at my house too.”

The military wives chattered and laughed incessantly.

The street office worker couldn’t help but ask, “Comrade Yan.”

Qiao Wei corrected, “My surname is Qiao.”

The military wives explained, “You don’t know her; she’s the announcer from the radio station, the one who speaks Mandarin.”

“Oh, so it’s you.” The worker was surprised. “Comrade Qiao, how do you keep your toilet so clean? Do you have any tips to share?”

Qiao Wei pursed her lips and smiled.

“It’s not a tip,” she said, her eyes and eyebrows curved with amusement, “it’s just luck. You have to marry a diligent man.”

This man knows you like cleanliness, so he’s willing to clean the toilet for you every day. When he sees it’s dirty, he grabs a bucket of water and flushes it.

You see, we use a hand-operated well at home, so you have to keep pumping to get water. If you stop for seven or eight seconds, the water runs out. It’s not like tap water that flows continuously. And there’s no hose to connect to the tap for direct flushing.

At times like this, you have to use a bucket to collect water and then pour it into the outhouse to flush.

If one bucket doesn’t clean it well, you have to fetch another one.

The method is simple; everyone knows it. There’s no need for any experience to be passed on. You just need someone diligent and strong.

Sister Yang burst into laughter and slapped the street office worker on the back, saying, “Did you hear that? Now you know what kind of partner you should look for.”

The street office worker was a young girl who didn’t have a partner yet and almost got slammed into the wall by Sister Yang’s hefty hand.

She felt a bit overwhelmed.

But looking at this clean outhouse, the young female office worker had a new criterion for choosing a partner in her mind.

The Yan family’s yard was all up to standard.

However, someone asked in surprise, “Why is there still a pile of sand?”

When they found out it was for the kids to play with, they all marveled.

The outdoor area being “spotless” was confirmed, so the group went inside to inspect.

As soon as they entered, there were exclamations of surprise.

“It’s a coincidence; we repainted the walls this month,” Qiao Wei said with a smile.

A few other families, including Sister Yang and Captain Ma, had also repainted their walls recently, so Qiao Wei’s white walls didn’t seem particularly special.

However, although the yard was clean, because they were “adobe houses” and everyone came from rural areas, they had a stereotypical impression of adobe houses. Even in the villages, only families with poor conditions built adobe houses, while those who could afford it built brick houses.

So naturally, before entering the house, everyone’s minds were filled with images of the dilapidated interiors they had seen in adobe houses.

But upon entering, they were greeted with walls painted white from floor to ceiling, in stark contrast to the pale yellow adobe exterior.

This was exactly the effect Qiao Wei was aiming for.

One year, she traveled to Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and stayed in mountain village guesthouses with this style. The exterior was imitation adobe, but the interior was painted completely white. Of course, the interior was also finely decorated, creating an even greater contrast and impact.

In this era, with limited resources and a desire to improve living conditions, Qiao Wei chose this style.

Although she couldn’t replicate it exactly, she did her best.

And the effect was pretty good.

The indoor requirement was to achieve “six sides of cleanliness,” meaning the ceiling, floor, walls, and everything else had to be clean.

Just by looking at the living room, everyone could tell that if the Yan family didn’t pass, then nobody else would.

Yan Xiang came out of the study, “Auntie Yang~”

Sister Yang rubbed his head, “What are you doing?”

“Drawing.”

“Good boy.”

“Your kid is also well-behaved,” someone praised.

“Yes, at my house, those little rascals just draw on the walls as they please.”

Even Sister Yang said, “I’ve spanked them several times.”

Her house was repainted later than Qiao Wei’s, and several places had been scribbled on by the kids, making it impossible to prevent.

Qiao Wei modestly said, “He’s still young; his destructive power hasn’t fully formed yet.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

They also glanced into the rooms on either side, and naturally, they were all up to standard.

But there was a rattan cabinet behind the living room door that surprised everyone, “Is this cabinet specifically for shoes?”

Rattan cabinets are rural handicrafts. Handicrafts don’t cost as much as industrial products, and there’s no need for certificates. It’s not that military wives can’t afford them; it’s just that they don’t have the concept—do shoes really need a dedicated cabinet?

This is a generation gap.

Qiao Wei said, “There has to be a place to put them. It’s better to have a small cabinet to tidy them up than to spread them out on the floor; it’s more neat.”

“Exactly,” everyone agreed.

Men have become more capable, and the conditions at home are better, so there’s no problem affording it. Looking at it now, it’s really quite nice.

“When should we have the next gathering?”

“After we finish mosquito fumigation.”

“When we have the gathering, I’ll buy one of these cabinets for storing shoes. The kids at home keep throwing their shoes everywhere.”

“I’m thinking maybe I should repaint my house white too.”

“Repaint! My house, Old Ma’s house, and Xiao Xue’s house were all repainted white after seeing Qiao Wei’s.”

“Then I’ll repaint too. It looks really clean.”