Chapter 23: Mo Haoyue Returns to His Unit

On the way to the grocery store, the little girl wanted to walk by herself. Mi Xia, seeing that there were no cars on the road, let her. Unexpectedly, the little girl kept heading into the alleys.

Mi Xia regretted it a little. The little girl had too much energy. Just as the little girl ducked into another alley…

Mi Xia saw several stalls. When they saw Mi Xia’s family coming, they quickly packed up their things and pushed them into the courtyard behind them.

One stall was slower to pack up. It belonged to an older woman. There was tofu on her cart. Mi Xia asked Mo Haoyue to carry the little girl back, while she went to the older woman.

She softly asked, “Auntie, is this tofu? Are you selling it?”

The auntie looked at Mi Xia. She was truly beautiful. In all her years, she had never seen such a pretty girl. She was wearing a pretty, stylish dress.

But she still cautiously said, “I’m not selling it. I’m waiting for my in-laws to pick it up. We agreed yesterday.”

Mi Xia said, “Auntie, don’t be nervous. I’m not a Red Guard, I’m not here to arrest anyone. I just want to buy some vegetables. It’s getting late at the grocery store; everything will be sold out.”

The auntie still wouldn’t budge. “I’m not selling anything. If you want to buy food, go to the grocery store.”

Mi Xia pointed to Mo Haoyue beside her. “Look, I’m with my husband and child. What Red Guard goes to work with their husband and child?”

The auntie thought about it. Mi Xia saw her expression soften a little.

She quickly asked, “Auntie, how much is your tofu per jin?”

The auntie felt that Mi Xia genuinely wanted to buy it, and she didn’t look like a Red Guard, so she replied, “Eight cents a jin.”

“Give me two jin,” Mi Xia said, handing over the money immediately.

Mi Xia said, “Auntie, what do the other families sell? We just moved to the county, and we’re lacking everything at home.”

The auntie said, “Just call me Grandma Dong. If it weren’t for poverty, who would take the risk to do this? The family next to me sells vegetables. They grow too much to eat, so they sell some.”

Mi Xia said, “Okay, Grandma Dong, I’ll go now. I’ll come back with my sister-in-law another day.”

After saying that, Mi Xia’s family left the alley. The people who had packed up their stalls gradually came out.

“Grandma Dong, are you alright? We thought it was the Red Guard just now, and we were too scared to come out,” said a ten-year-old girl with delicate features.

Grandma Dong said, “I’m fine, Xiao Jin. It was a family of three. Their daughter ran into this alley while playing, and they bought two jin of tofu and left.”

This alley was particularly secluded, and usually nobody came here, so they could sell things with peace of mind. Besides the residents, only a few people knew about the stalls.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t dare sell things in front of their homes.

Xiao Jin said, “That’s good. I was afraid it was the Red Guard.”

Meanwhile, the family of three walked home. When they arrived, Mi Xia’s brother’s family hadn’t returned yet. Mi Xia confidently took out some vegetables, a chicken, and some shiitake mushrooms and red dates from her space.

At noon, Mi Xia stewed a chicken soup, stir-fried a plate of vegetables and tofu, and steamed a pot of rice. She used seasonings from her space and put them back afterwards.

At 12:30 pm, Mi Qiu’s family finally returned. Besides some school supplies, they bought a jin of chicken cake, a jin of Great White Rabbit milk candy, and a jin of glutinous rice sticks.

After they washed up, only the chicken soup was left to be served.

Zhang Hongxia went into the kitchen to help. Seeing Mi Xia ladling out the chicken soup, she was full of questions.

If they were in the countryside, she wouldn’t have this question, because her younger sister could even hunt wild boars in the mountains, let alone a chicken.

But they weren’t in the countryside now. Zhang Hongxia was puzzled.

Mi Xia said, “Today, the little girl insisted on walking by herself, and she accidentally stumbled into an alley. Several families were selling things there, all food.”

“The tofu was bought there. Tomorrow noon, I’ll take you to see. The chicken was found on the roadside after we left the alley, and I secretly bought it.”

Zhang Hongxia didn’t suspect anything. She took the chicken soup from Mi Xia and went to the main room.

Everyone was there, and they started lunch.

Mo Haoyue gave Mi Xia a drumstick. Zhang Hongxia happened to look up and saw it, couldn’t help but laugh.

Mi Xia’s ears turned red with shyness, and she glared at Mo Haoyue before continuing to eat.

Actually, Mi Xia didn’t like eating drumsticks in chicken soup, but since it was Mo Haoyue who gave it to her, she didn’t refuse.

After the meal, Mi Qiu rode his bike to work.

Mo Haoyue was going back to his unit in a few days, and Mi Xia felt a little down.

Mo Haoyue also felt bad. He didn’t want to leave his little wife, but there was no way. There was still a lot of work to do in the army. He would spend the remaining few days with his wife and daughter.

For the remaining few days, Mo Haoyue spent his days with Mi Xia and his daughter, and his nights in the space with Mi Xia, studying together. Happy days always pass quickly, and the day after tomorrow was the day Mo Haoyue returned to his unit.

After moving their household registration, Mo Haoyue hadn’t gone back to Mojia Village, so tomorrow, Mo Haoyue had to go back. He needed to return his household registration booklet, and say goodbye to his mother.

Early the next morning, Mo Haoyue went back after breakfast. Mi Xia didn’t prepare anything for him. She had already cut ties with the Mo family, so she didn’t prepare anything, nor did she want to.

She let Mo Zhixia and Xiaohuan play together, and then went into the space. During this time, she prepared some food for Mo Haoyue to eat on the train, after all, he would be on the train for several days.

She took out several bags of beef jerky, opened them and put them in ordinary bags, took two bottles of peach canned fruit, beef sauce (the packaging was already removed), six bananas and six apples each, and some pickled garlic her sister-in-law made.

She boiled a dozen eggs, as well as tea eggs from the space, a jin of chicken cake, several large meat buns, and a lunch box of dumplings.

She didn’t know what else to bring. If it were the future, it would be much more convenient. Many things didn’t exist now, and there was the issue of packaging.

When Mo Haoyue returned, Mi Xia was cooking dinner.

“Auntie, Uncle is back,” Mo Xiaohuan ran over.

Mi Xia stopped what she was doing and walked to the door. Mo Haoyue had a gloomy face. Something must have happened at the Mo family.

Mi Xia didn’t ask. She told Zhang Hongxia, then took him back to their room and into the space. Zhang Hongxia certainly wouldn’t disturb them. After all, Mo Haoyue was leaving tomorrow, and it was unknown when he would return.

“What’s wrong? What happened at home?” Mi Xia looked at Mo Haoyue with concern.

Mo Haoyue’s eyes were filled with tears. “My mother said, ‘What’s the use of raising you for so long? Now that you’re successful and have grown wings, you don’t even care about your old mother. You don’t even stay at home when you come back to visit.'”

Mi Xia knew that Mo Haoyue’s mother must have said even more hurtful things, but she didn’t ask. She didn’t say anything, just gently hugged Mo Haoyue.

Mi Xia said, “Go take a shower. You’re leaving tomorrow. Let’s have a happy time together as a family, okay?”

Mo Haoyue nodded and went to the bathroom.

When he came out, Mi Xia had set a table of delicious food: yellow bean braised pig’s trotters, dumplings, braised pork, mapo tofu, roast duck, shredded chicken, hamburgers, cola, and steak.

A table of mixed Chinese and Western dishes.

Mo Haoyue said, “Thank you, wife.”

Mi Xia said, “Eat quickly.”

“Wife, you eat too.”

Zhang Hongxia didn’t come knocking that night, but she left them some food, warming it in the kitchen. Mo Zhixia didn’t come to sleep with them either. The two of them spent a real night of togetherness.

“Does anyone in your unit like you?” Mi Xia’s obsidian eyes stared straight at Mo Haoyue.

“Such a strong vinegar smell, it can’t be hidden. Where did it come from? Help me fan it away,” Mo Haoyue was very happy that his little wife cared about him.

“Annoying,” Mi Xia said coquettishly.

His wife wasn’t an angel, but a seductive little vixen.

Mo Haoyue gently kissed Mi Xia’s lips, and then it became unstoppable.

A night of passion.

The next morning, Mi Xia took her daughter to see Mo Haoyue off at the train station. No matter how reluctant she was, he had to leave.

On the platform, amidst their lingering farewells, Mo Haoyue finally boarded the train.

This was the most enjoyable train ride Mo Haoyue had ever had. When he ate, he made the children next to him cry with envy. Others were eating dry food and struggling to bite it with water. Finally, Mo Haoyue couldn’t bear it and gave an egg to a child.

This made Mo Haoyue sigh, “It’s good to have a wife.”