Back To The 80s-Chapter 150: Progress_1

Ge Chunling glanced towards the water room door and said, "I heard that Xiangmin’s brother-in-law from her mother’s side can replace Chang Yuan. Chang Yuan has been transferred to the communications company to become the Chief Clerk. He won’t be in charge of logistics procurement from now on."

"Poor Chang Yuan, he must be upset now. This out-of-office procurement job is quite a good one." Li Fengmei lamented while wringing her clothes.

Xiaobei didn’t think it was a big deal after listening. He was thinking about finishing the laundry quickly and preparing dinner early because Lu Zhanguo was still hungry.

"Indeed that’s unfortunate. But I suspect that Chang Yuan might not know yet. There’s a high chance this is true, as Wang Ping mentioned seeing Xiangmin’s brother-in-law in the ward." Ge Chunling finished speaking just before she twisted the tap to fill the pot with water.

Xiaobei finished washing his clothes and went downstairs to dry them. As he was just hanging the clothes on the line, he heard a car honking in the courtyard and then a jeep pulled over. Curiously, he turned to look and saw Shen Heng hastily getting out of the driver’s seat.

"Sister-in-law." Shen Heng greeted hurriedly.

"Zhanguo’s upstairs." Xiaobei noticed that Shen Heng looked as though he was in a hurry.

"Sister-in-law, I came to see you, not him. Let’s talk in the car."

"Alright." Xiaobei rushed over and sat in the passenger seat after hearing him.

"Sister-in-law, can you tell me what’s written here?" Shen Heng handed a piece of paper to Xiaobei.

Xiaobei took the paper seriously and found it was filled with English phrases.

"’Shark to T, sixteen kittens test the water, twenty-five bones out of the mountain’, what does all this mean? I’m confused." Xiaobei didn’t understand.

Shen Heng frowned, pulled out his pen from his pocket, and quickly jotted down notes on another piece of paper.

"Is there more?" Shen Heng looked up to ask.

"No, that’s it. These phrases are long because the words in them have many letters." Xiaobei checked a few more times before confirming that she hadn’t mistranslated.

Shen Heng was deep in thought for a moment, then he turned to get a bag of things from the back seat. There was powdered milk, canned luncheon meat, and a slab of meat. He gave them to Xiaobei and said, "Sister-in-law, I have to rush back to T City now and won’t come upstairs. Can you relay this information to Zhanguo later?"

Xiaobei quickly took the items, nodded, and got out of the car. The moment her feet touched the ground, Shen Heng sped off with a screech of tires and made a stylish U-turn before heading off.

Xiaobei was dumbfounded. His driving skills were really impressive. She returned to the courtyard, put the bag of stuff in the basin, and went back to spread out the clothes on the line.

Sun Aiqin came over carrying her child, and her eyes were obviously drawn to the basin. "Sister-in-law, you’re washing so many clothes?"

"Yes, it’s a good weather day for washing. It wouldn’t dry easily if done on cold days." Xiaobei pretended not to notice her gaze.

Sun Aiqin simply put her child down and Xiaobei swiftly picked up the basin. She wasn’t going to be taken for a fool.

"Sister-in-law, why did you buy so many things?" asked Sun Aiqin, seeing her plan failed.

"A friend just sent them over. I don’t have anything else to do so I’m going upstairs. Oh yes, have you bought cooking oil for your home?" Xiaobei was just about to leave, but then she remembered that she had lent Sun Aiqin some oil. Seems like Sun Aiqin really had no intention of returning it.

"Yes, I did, I’ll bring it over to you tomorrow." Sun Aiqin pulled her wandering child along and replied vaguely.

"No need, I’ll come over and get it later. It would be inconvenient for you while you’re taking care of the child." Xiaobei immediately went upstairs after finishing speaking.

Sun Aiqin pouted and muttered, "She’s so stingy."

Xiaobei entered her room on the upper floor and took out the things that Shen Heng brought one by one. She was in a good mood because she had been worrying about what to prepare for Zhanguo when he got back. She wasn’t expecting Shen Heng to bring such a large piece of meat.

Zhanguo woke up due to the noises and saw a pile of stuff on the Eight Immortal Table, he asked curiously, "Where did all these things come from?"

"Shen Heng dropped by. He stopped by the door to let me look at a few lines and then hurried off. The paper mentioned ’Shark to T, sixteen kittens test the water, twenty-five bones out of the mountain’. Shen Heng asked me to tell you."

Zhanguo didn’t reply after hearing that. He sat down at the table. Xiaobei handed him half a-tankard water and asked, "What kind of code is this?"

"Presumably denotes time and events." Zhanguo explained succinctly.

Xiaobei didn’t ask any more questions, knowing that even if she did, Zhanguo wouldn’t reveal anything he couldn’t say.

"It’s just the two of us tonight, do you want dumplings or braised pork?" Xiaobei asked, holding the piece of meat.

"Where’s Jiujiu?"

"Jiujiu’s mother is ill, Chen Gang has taken her back to see her."

"Then let’s have dumplings." Zhanguo prefers eating flour-based food.

"Alright, let’s have pork with green onion." Xiaobei took the meat outside to wash and prepare the filling.

Zhanguo began thinking about the phrase that Xiaobei had just mentioned. The sixteenth was the day they were preparing for an exercise, and the twenty-fifth was the day they were preparing to inspect their guns. If the other party chose these two days to take action, then who leaked their internal army news?

Moreover, it was obvious that they would choose these two days to divert attention.

It was relatively quick and easy for two people to make dumplings. Xiaobei rolled out the dough while Zhanguo handled the wrapping. They worked very well together.

Xiaobei really liked the dumplings Zhanguo made. The dumpling wrappers in his hands, pinched in the middle and squeezed on the two sides, turned into a plump, round dumpling. Their adorable state was charming.

"Who did you learn how to make dumplings from?" Xiaobei asked curiously.

"We always make dumplings together during the New Year in the army. You get used to it over time."

"I make dumplings every year too. Why can’t I do it?"

"Because you didn’t put your heart into it."

"I intentionally have one or two weaknesses, or else people will be jealous because I have too many skills."

As they were making dumplings, they were chatting. The ambiance was very warm and harmonious.

"Xiangmin is in the hospital, should we go to visit her?" Xiaobei asked suddenly.

"No need." Zhanguo replied without any hesitation.

"Isn’t that a bit inappropriate? You and Officer Guo are such good friends."

"It doesn’t matter, you don’t have to care about these things." Zhanguo didn’t seem to care about it.

Xiaobei didn’t really want to go either. Since Zhanguo had already said this, it further reinforced her inclination not to go.

After dinner, Zhanguo had to go to the camp for a while. He asked Xiaobei if she would like to come along.

Xiaobei felt that she had eaten quite a lot in the evening and thought it would be good to take a walk.

Upon reaching the entrance of the camp, Zhanguo instructed, "You walk around here, I’ll go in to make a call and come right out. Don’t go beyond the warning line."

"Okay, you go ahead." Xiaobei waved her hand.

Zhanguo had not been gone for long before Cheng Qijia came out of the camp. He noticed Xiaobei and his eyes lit up, "Sister-in-law, are you waiting for the squad leader here?"

"Yes, I didn’t have anything to do after dinner so I decided to take a walk." Xiaobei replied with a smile.

"Well... Sister-in-law, I want to ask you something." Cheng Qijia scratched his head, looking rather shy.

"Go ahead." Xiaobei looked at his awkward appearance and had a vague idea of what he might say.

"Is your friend, Qin Li... Does she have a boyfriend?" Cheng Qijia’s face turned red as he asked in a quiet voice.

"I don’t think so." Xiaobei knew that, from the look of things now, Cheng Qijia didn’t stand a chance.

"Well, I..."

"You two aren’t suitable." Zhanguo interrupted Cheng Qijia before Xiaobei had a chance to speak.