She dressed stylishly and elegantly, a style that was the first of its kind in the family compound. However, such sophistication was not unique; in the eyes of these people, Ning Shu belonged to a certain group.

“You see, you see, a beautiful young wife has come out.”

“I think she’s delicate, just like the one from Captain Zhang’s house.”

“She seems to have that air, like she’s from a big city, treating herself like a wealthy young lady.”

“Do you know what rank the man in this family is?”

“I don’t know, judging by how well the woman is dressed, he must be doting on her, so his rank should be pretty high.”

“I think this man is very young, his rank can’t be high.”

“He looks so good, if I were a man, I’d dote on her too, you guys don’t need to be so sour.”

The group of people spoke a bit away from where Ning Shu and her husband were, their voices low, so Ning Shu and Lin Guodong couldn’t hear them.

When the couple got closer, they stopped talking. After they passed by, they started talking again.

“Did you see that? The woman’s face is as white as a peeled boiled egg, so fair.”

“Do even the daughters of capitalists get this kind of pampering?”

“Who knows.”

“The man is handsome, the woman is beautiful, I think they match well.”

“Guess what, could this woman also be from behind? I think her skin looks quite tender, not like someone who has had three children, but the three boys who just got off the car, right?”

“If that’s the case, it’s possible. Look at the two boys who just got off, two of them are not small, indeed they don’t look like they could be born at her age.”

“You know, there are quite a few stepmothers in our family compound.”

“That’s right, the wife next door to Captain Zhang, she also came from behind.”

“Her, I heard she’s quite difficult to deal with.”

“I also heard that she’s like a fox spirit.”

“However, she’s quite good to the eldest daughter.”

“It looks like there’s going to be a wave of mischief in our family compound again.”

“Why worry? Auntie Yang is good at dealing with mischief, isn’t she?”

“The girl is thin-skinned, there will be a lot of fun in the future.”

The logistics department was located in the most remote corner of the family compound, a very large room, similar in size to a maternity ward, next to the army school.

Ning Shu and Lin Guodong went to the logistics department, first they got the keys from the administrator, then they went to open the warehouse door. When the door opened, they saw a pile of things inside, including beds, tables, chairs, and various wooden boards.

Perhaps because the warehouse door was often opened, there was not much dust coming out when it opened.

Lin Guodong said, “Let’s see if there’s anything you like, if there is, I’ll go get a handcart.”

Ning Shu took a rough look, “You go get the handcart, I think this bed is good, we need to take six of them.”

Lin Guodong was surprised, “Six? Why so many?” Even if they were sleeping five of them, it would be enough, right?

The bed was from the soldier’s dormitory, each bed was about 1 meter wide and 2 meters long.

So Ning Shu’s arrangement was, “The beds are a bit narrow, two beds put together can be used as one. We’ll put three beds in our room, two beds put together for us to sleep, and the remaining bed used to store clothes, since there’s no wardrobe, right? The three kids’ room will also be arranged like this, so we need six beds.”

Lin Guodong understood, “Okay, I’ll go get the handcart, you see if there’s anything else you need, look through it all, and we’ll take several trips to haul it away together.”

Ning Shu carefully looked around, there weren’t many things to choose from, but they were all big items.

Apart from the beds, she also planned to take three tables and nine stools.

One table and one stool would be placed in their room, another table and three stools would be placed in the kids’ room, so that the three kids could study and do homework together around a square table, creating a good study atmosphere.

The remaining table and five stools would be placed in the dining room.

However, whether it was the beds, tables, or stools, none of them were in perfect condition, and they did need some repair, but the problems didn’t seem too serious.

After Ning Shu made her decision, she started to pick out the better stools first.

When Lin Guodong came back with the handcart, he saw several stools with missing legs placed at the door.

The two of them were busy for a while, finally gathering all the things Ning Shu needed.

However, looking at the things at the door, it seemed they would have to make several trips.

Just having the things wasn’t enough, they also needed tools for the repairs. So, Lin Guodong went to the warehouse manager to borrow tools like screwdrivers and nails.

Next, Lin Guodong moved the bed up first. The army beds had an advantage – they could be folded up.

So, all six beds were folded and placed on the trolley. They could all be taken away at once, and there was still space left for several chairs.

The remaining tables and a few more chairs were left for the second trip.

The two of them registered the quantity and types of items with the warehouse manager before leaving.

Fortunately, the road in the family housing area was relatively flat, and Lin Guodong was strong, or else it would have been difficult to pull the trolley.

On their way home pulling the trolley, they met several people.

Their eyes followed them for a while, probably because there were so many things on the trolley that caught people’s attention.

“Did you see them coming?”

“What are they pulling? So many things?”

“It looks like beds and chairs.”

“These should have been pulled from the logistics warehouse. The things in there are mostly broken and need to be repaired by yourself. That lady looks delicate. I thought she was a rich girl who wouldn’t be easy to get along with. Don’t those rich girls have to use good things? I didn’t expect her to need these beds and chairs too.”

“It seems like she’s thrifty.”

“It does look good. It’s different from the wife of Captain Zhang. I remember when she first came, she bought a lot of things from the city.”

“Yes, yes, I remember too. She was scolded by Auntie Yang for a long time. Now both families haven’t made up.”

Ning Shu didn’t know if she should be glad or not.

With these discarded beds and chairs, many people’s opinions of her changed. When she and Lin Guodong returned home with the things, Li had already returned the cart and was playing with the three kids. Lü Hong was standing by, chatting and laughing with the three kids. Obviously, the room had been cleaned.

“You’re back. How is it? Can the things from the logistics department still be used?” Lü Hong asked when she saw them return.

“Not bad. None of them are complete. They need some repairs, but it’s not a big problem,” Ning Shu replied.

“That’s good. Take your time with the repairs. If you need to buy anything else, come find me. I’ll take you around the area to get familiar with the surroundings,” Lü Hong offered.

“Thank you, sister-in-law,” Ning Shu said gratefully.

“I’ll leave you to your work then. I’m afraid there might be something else at the office looking for me later,” Lü Hong said. “Thanks, sister-in-law. I won’t entertain you today. When everything at home is ready, I’ll invite you for a meal,” Ning Shu replied.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be waiting. You’re busy, I’ll go first. No need to see me off, I’ve left the cleaning cloth,” Lü Hong said as she left.

Li didn’t leave. He and Lin Guodong unloaded the things from the cart together, then they went to the logistics department together to get more things.

Ning Shu didn’t idle either.

She took out the things from the package that she could, using a sack as padding.

She wasn’t sure if the things had been crushed during postal delivery.

Shipping things in this era was really inconvenient, especially on the winding mountain roads.

The blankets and such didn’t need to be checked; they were definitely good.

She looked at the salted eggs packed in powdered milk cans.

Although they were tightly packed with dry grass, when she took them out one by one, she found that two of them were cracked.

Then she took out the cured chicken, dried meat, and fermented fish, smelling them to see if they had gone bad.

She thought for a moment, then went to the kitchen to look. The kitchen had a single stove, different from the double stove at home, and there was no iron pot in the stove.

If she couldn’t find an iron pot, would this stove be unusable?

With the army, do you have to bring your own iron pots from home?

However, even if she had an iron pot, it would be useless without oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, or even bowls, chopsticks, and spoons. So, cooking was really impossible.

Ning Shu sighed.

She ignored this and took a cleaning cloth, using the remaining water to start cleaning the bed.

Since the package had arrived, she could repair the bed and sleep at home tonight.

Seeing Ning Shu cleaning the bed, the two kids also picked up cloths to help.

Seeing this, Sanbao also wanted to help, but he didn’t have a cloth, so he could only squat beside Yibao and Erbao, watching them clean.

His participation was more symbolic.

One adult and three children worked diligently, creating a very warm scene.

After Lin Guodong and Li had brought all the remaining things, they began by repairing the beds.

Because iron was scarce in this era, the beds were made of wood, so it was easy to repair them.

If the bed frame was broken, they just replaced the frame.

If the wooden boards on top were broken, they just replaced the boards. Lin Guodong and Li repaired four beds by the time they were almost ready for dinner.

After they were repaired, Ning Shu immediately cleaned them.

With four beds, they spread the sheets they had brought over and had a place to sleep.

Since Lin Guodong’s dormitory still had a set of quilts, they only mailed one set of quilts and covers.

Anyway, it was time for dinner.

Ning Shu asked Lin Guodong to go to the dormitory first to bring the things over.

When Lin Guodong had brought everything from the dormitory, Ning Shu was somewhat surprised. “You’ve been away for two months, but the sheets and covers are still quite clean, not damp at all.”

Li Zao smiled kindly. “I knew the captain and sister-in-law were coming, so I washed and aired them a few days ago.”

Ning Shu said, “… Comrade Li Zao, your captain owes you a big meal.” In modern terms, he was a great secretary, making her jealous and suspicious.

They didn’t tidy up the things on the bed, fearing they would be late for the canteen and unable to buy food, so they went to the canteen first!