Chapter 43: On the Road with the Army

The next day, when Qian Xiaolan woke up, it was already 9:30. Luckily, no one was home, otherwise she would have been so embarrassed that she would have wanted to disappear. After washing up and eating a bun that Gu Yanqing had kept warm in the pot, she hung a bamboo basket on the back of her bicycle, put a piece of coarse cloth in it, and went out. She was about to leave home, so she had to buy some things to make some of the items in her space legitimate. However, she didn’t check the almanac before going out, and when she was halfway there, she ran into Wang Jinhua, who looked pale.

“Qian Xiaolan, my child is gone, are you satisfied?” The hatred in her eyes left Qian Xiaolan confused. She didn’t seem to have done anything to her, did she? Seeing her reaction, the hatred in Wang Jinhua’s eyes intensified. She yelled hysterically at Qian Xiaolan, “It’s all because you wouldn’t help me, because you wouldn’t ask your family to arrest Chen Zhiming. He beat me until I had a miscarriage. You’re a sinner!”

Qian Xiaolan: !!! “Wang Jinhua, if you’re sick, go see a doctor. Don’t come to me. I’m not a veterinarian!”

Wang Jinhua screamed, “Qian Xiaolan, you’re calling me an animal?”

Qian Xiaolan rolled her eyes at her, “There are so many idiots in the world, but you’re the best of the best.”

“What do you mean, Qian Xiaolan?”

Qian Xiaolan’s face turned cold, “What I mean is, get out of my sight! If you keep nagging at me, I’ll go report you for adultery.”

Wang Jinhua panicked and yelled in a threatening voice, “Qian Xiaolan, stop slandering me. Be careful, I’ll report your family and have them sent back for reform.”

Qian Xiaolan was really amused. She stopped her bicycle and walked step by step towards Wang Jinhua. Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped her twice. As Wang Jinhua screamed, Qian Xiaolan pulled her aside, got on her bicycle, and left.

Wang Jinhua was furious. She yelled at Qian Xiaolan’s back, “Qian Xiaolan, you just wait! I won’t let you get away with this!”

“Alright, I’ll wait.” Qian Xiaolan replied loudly, pedaling as fast as she could. In the blink of an eye, she was far away from Wang Jinhua.

In the past, Qian Xiaolan would have been a little afraid of confronting the female lead in the book, but after observing her for a few months, she realized that Wang Jinhua, without the help of the dimensional mall, was just an ordinary person. She had nothing to fear.

When she reached the supply and marketing cooperative, Qian Xiaolan walked around the counters, bought two pieces of coarse cloth and a bag of fruit candies as a formality, then changed her clothes and slipped away to the black market to greet the people there. She left another thousand pounds of rice, twenty bolts of cotton cloth, twenty bolts of coarse cloth, three large bags of cotton, and a large barrel of rendered lard. When Han Xiangdong arrived with his people and saw so many rare supplies, he was overjoyed.

After the transaction was completed, before Han Xiangdong could say anything, Qian Xiaolan said directly, “Brother Dong, I have to leave for a while. I can’t do this business for now.”

Han Xiangdong was disappointed, “Auntie, do you really have to leave?”

Qian Xiaolan nodded. “I’m going somewhere far away.”

This sentence made Han Xiangdong’s worried heart settle. As long as she wasn’t supplying goods to people around An City, he didn’t have anything to worry about.

On her way back, Qian Xiaolan met Gu Yanqing at the entrance of the meat processing plant. She was startled. Luckily, she had finished the transaction early. Otherwise, she would have been exposed.

Gu Yanqing was happy to see her. He hung a piece of pork and a few pounds of bones on the handlebars of her bicycle and said to her, “Wife, sit in the back. I’ll take you home.”

Qian Xiaolan smiled at him, turned around to grab the bamboo basket on the back seat, and moved a full basket of supplies from her space.

Gu Yanqing didn’t notice Qian Xiaolan’s actions. He took a long stride, got on the bicycle, and took his wife home, chatting and laughing along the way.

Gu Yanqing had gone to buy tickets today. They would leave in two days. That night, after they had been intimate, Gu Yanqing touched Qian Xiaolan’s head with some worry and said, “Wife, actually, life in the military is not easy either. The environment there is much harsher than at home. Can you handle it?”

Qian Xiaolan nodded firmly, “Of course I can. You don’t know me? I’m the best at overcoming difficulties.”

Gu Yanqing thought about it. His wife had always been a hard-working, ambitious, and fearless person.

Time flew by, and soon it was the day they were leaving. Gu Da borrowed a mule cart from the brigade and took Gu Yanqing and Qian Xiaolan to the county to take the bus. Gu Yanqing’s military unit was on the South Island, and there were no direct buses from their county. They had to transfer in An City, then transfer again in the provincial capital, and finally take a train from the provincial capital to the South Island. At the fastest, it would take two days.

Qian Xiaolan had only transferred twice, and she was almost shaken apart. The roads were really bad. After leaving the county, they were almost all dirt roads. If the car drove slowly, the swaying motion could be hypnotic. But if it drove a little faster, their butts would almost separate from the seats. If they weren’t careful, they could fly out. The diesel smell in the car was also very strong, and Qian Xiaolan felt nauseous several times.

Gu Yanqing had prepared in advance. He had asked his mother for a jar of pickled ginger. It was just right for Qian Xiaolan to eat some to suppress the sour water in her stomach.

It was only over two hundred kilometers from the village to the provincial capital, but they had to wait for the bus and transfer, which took almost a whole day. When they finally got on the train, Qian Xiaolan was completely numb. In this era of inconvenient transportation, taking a long trip was truly a hardship. Luckily, Gu Yanqing had used his connections to buy two soft sleeper tickets. Otherwise, the train would have taken fifteen hours, and she would have been skinned alive.

Qian Xiaolan had been so uncomfortable on the way here that she fell asleep soon after lying down. She didn’t know how long she had slept when she woke up hungry. She opened her eyes groggily, and it was still pitch black outside.

She sat up, clutching her stomach. Gu Yanqing immediately leaned over, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m hungry.” Qian Xiaolan said in a pitiful voice. Gu Yanqing chuckled and handed her a water cup, “Drink some warm water first. I’ll go get some hot water to warm up the food.”

Qian Xiaolan took the water cup. After drinking a cup of water, she wanted to go to the bathroom. When Gu Yanqing came back with the water, she ran to the toilet. Unfortunately, both toilets on the soft sleeper car were occupied. She walked a little further and reached the hard sleeper car. There were more people on the hard sleeper side. Several men were smoking at the junction. When she came out of the toilet, someone stepped on her foot. She thought it was an accident and didn’t notice that after she left, the man who had stepped on her foot exchanged glances with another man, with a suggestive look in their eyes.

It was already four in the morning. Gu Yanqing used a lunchbox to soak two packets of instant noodles for Qian Xiaolan. The moment he lifted the lid, the aroma instantly spread, waking up people in the nearby compartments. Not to mention the people in their compartment.

The woman in the lower bunk opposite Qian Xiaolan was in her fifties. She looked at Qian Xiaolan with resentment, “Comrade, you guys are so inconsiderate. You’re eating something so fragrant so early in the morning. The smell is keeping me awake.”

Qian Xiaolan could only apologize to her with a smile. She didn’t expect Gu Yanqing to make instant noodles for her. A packet of instant noodles at that time cost 0.125 yuan, almost the price of a pound of rice, so many people couldn’t afford to buy it. Gu Yanqing even soaked two packets. Qian Xiaolan ate under the gaze of two pairs of longing eyes, feeling extremely uncomfortable. She quickly ate a few bites and handed the lunchbox to Gu Yanqing.