Back To The 80s

In this season, the water in the river was still too cold for anyone to go fishing, so there was no fish for sale in the market. The two of them went for a spin and bought a live rooster, some biscuits, and egg cakes.

Gu Xiaobei saw someone selling vegetable seedlings in the market and asked Lu Zhanguo, "Should we buy some seedlings?"

Lu Zhanguo looked at the seedlings and said, "There will still be cold weather for ten days after Qingming. If we buy now, they might not survive. Let’s go to the seed station later and buy some vegetable seeds. We can plant the seedlings in flower pots at home and transfer them to the ground when they grow bigger."

"Oh, I see." Gu Xiaobei learned another life skill.

The two put the rooster in the trunk of the car, then visited the seed company to buy seeds for chili pepper, tomato, eggplant, and green beans. After some thought, Gu Xiaobei proposed, "Why don’t we buy some pumpkin seeds? When we move to the new house, we can plant them below our window. By winter, our son can enjoy pumpkin porridge."

Lu Zhanguo nodded. Even though they might not live here after autumn, they would plant them anyway because Gu Xiaobei liked the idea.

Having bought the vegetable seeds, they drove home. It was already noon when they arrived.

Lu Zhanguo asked Gu Xiaobei to take a nap first while he prepared lunch.

Having spent the morning both astonished and delighted, Gu Xiaobei was now tired. She fell fast asleep in less than two minutes after lying down on the bed.

There wasn’t enough time to slaughter the chicken and prepare it for lunch, so Lu Zhanguo decided to roll out some noodles and cook hot noodle soup garnished with spring onions.

Li Fengmei was also preparing lunch in the corridor. Seeing that Lu Zhanguo was cooking, she asked out of concern, "How did the check-up go today?"

Lu Zhanguo cheerfully nodded, "It went very well."

"That’s good to hear. Actually, there’s no need for a check-up. With the food this good, the baby is definitely healthy," Li Fengmei said with a smile.

Having thought about the mix-up that had happened in the morning, Lu Zhanguo found it somewhat chilling. They had literally gone seeking thrill where there was none.

After preparing the food, Lu Zhanguo went to wake Gu Xiaobei. He found her lying on her side with a hand resting on her belly. Her mouth was curved into a contented smile as she slept deeply.

He sat down on the side of the bed, not wanting to wake Gu Xiaobei from her sweet dream. He couldn’t help but poke her cheek with his finger, thinking that in a few months there would be a soft little baby lying next to him. He couldn’t help but break into a grin.

The moment Gu Xiaobei opened her eyes, she saw her usually stoic husband smiling like a fool. She found it strange and rubbed her eyes, "What are you grinning about?"

Lu Zhanguo was taken aback. Wasn’t this what a happy smile looked like? He said gruffly, "Get up quickly, otherwise the noodles will stick together."

Gu Xiaobei pulled a silly smile, "Were you just fantasizing about the three of us together as a family?"

"Yes." Lu Zhanguo nodded in admission, then added tenderly, "It’s so good to have you both."

Gu Xiaobei feigned annoyance and said with reddened eyes, "You stole my line, what am I supposed to say now?" But inside, she was delighted.

After lunch, Lu Zhanguo had to go to the barracks, while Gu Xiaobei decided to plant the vegetables at home. Having learned from the failed experience of planting cabbage last time, Gu Xiaobei decided to seek advice from Li Fengmei first, to avoid making a fool of herself again.

Indeed, what Li Fengmei said was drastically different from what she had in mind. Li Fengmei suggested, "Just plant chili pepper, eggplant, and tomato seeds in flower pots. However, to make the seeds germinate faster, you need to soak the seeds in water for a while, then wrap them in a wet cloth, and leave them inside the house for a day before planting them in the flower pots. It’s okay to plant the seeds densely."

Gu Xiaobei nodded and agreed with relief. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard. Li Fengmei continued, "I have some cucumber seedlings. Once they are planted, there will be enough for both our families."

Gu Xiaobei realized that she had forgotten to buy cucumber seedlings. There was still much to learn about everyday life.

Having discussed the vegetable planting, Li Fengmei mentioned, "Dadong came back today and mentioned that Chen Gang hasn’t been going to school for the past few days. I wonder why."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiaobei became worried, "Has his mother’s 49th day mourning period not passed yet?"

"Not yet. He’s such a poor child," Li Fengmei sighed.

Gu Xiaobei wanted to go visit, but considering her big belly and the long distance, it wasn’t practical. She could only wait, or wait until Lu Zhanguo was free to check it out.

Chen Gang wasn’t in any trouble. The reason he hadn’t been to school the past few days was that Li Xianglan told him to turn soil in preparation for spring planting because their family didn’t have an ox to plow the land. If the land went fallow, the family might starve.

Chen Gang, only eleven years old, was not savvy enough to outwit the cunning Li Xianglan, so he could only stay home to turn the soil.

He was left alone to turn six acres of land. Chen Qiang had to work and dig sand from the river bank, earning some work points to offset the public grain contribution later.

When Gu Xiaobei got home, she soaked the vegetable seeds as Li Fengmei had taught her. Sitting on the small bed, she couldn’t help but touch her belly again. Her Mo Wang, the beautiful boy from her dreams, was back again.

When Lu Zhanguo came back, he saw Gu Xiaobei sitting on the side of the bed, touching her belly with a face full of joy.

"Why are you so happy?" Lu Zhanguo reached out and touched Gu Xiaobei’s head.

Thinking about our handsome Mo Wang makes me happy," Gu Xiaobei said with a beaming smile.

Lu Zhanguo felt uneasy. Mo Wang, the Demon King, was a terrible name, but he didn’t object. He pinched Gu Xiaobei’s face and said, "I’ll go slaughter the chicken and clean it up. Then we can go check out the new house to see what we need to buy. When the weather gets warmer on May Day, we can go straight there."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiaobei was even more delighted. She said eagerly, "Then you better hurry up and slaughter the chicken. I’ll boil the water."

Lu Zhanguo took the chicken downstairs to slaughter it and asked Gu Xiaobei to wait at home. He took the hot water downstairs, plucked the chicken clean, tidied it up, and then called Gu Xiaobei to go to the new house together.

The new residential complex was built next to the guesthouse, with two buildings standing side by side. Each building had four units on two floors, with walls painted white as lime. They stood there brand new, making Gu Xiaobei extremely happy. Compared to the house they were living in now, it was so much better.

Gu Xiaobei and Lu Zhanguo were assigned a unit on the first floor of one building. Gu Xiaobei, following Lu Zhanguo into the unit, curious, asked, "Who lives across from us and upstairs?"

Thinking for a moment, Lu Zhanguo replied, "Zhang Lijun lives above us, and Xiangyang lives across."

Hearing this, Gu Xiaobei felt uneasy. It was a twist of fate that they would become neighbors with Qu Yan. "Why is their unit opposite ours? Aren’t these houses assigned based on rank?" she wondered.

"Our place and Zhang Lijun’s are two-bedroom units, while the ones across are one-bedroom units. Wang Ping lives in the second floor unit across," Lu Zhanguo explained succinctly.

Gu Xiaobei gave Lu Zhanguo a sideways glance. Life wouldn’t be boring in the coming days with this unexpected twist. The quirkiness was set to continue.

Lu Zhanguo inserted the key and opened the door, standing aside to let Gu Xiaobei enter first. Stepping into the house, Gu Xiaobei was first taken by surprise with its simple and spacious layout. Yes, it was indeed simple and spacious.