Back To The 80s-Chapter 161: Years (Asking for Monthly Votes)_1

Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Years (Asking for Monthly Votes)_1

Ling Yun didn’t say a word again, hanging her head low, she continued knitting her sweater. However, her usually skilled hands were repeatedly dropping a stitch today.

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At breakfast, Qin Li asked, "Sister Xiaobei, may I stay for another day?"

"Sure, feel free to stay. Whenever you have to work, you can return." Gu Xiaobei knew that as long as Jin Cheng didn’t come back, this child wouldn’t be in the mood to work.

"Hehe, good, Jiujiu, after a while when the meal is finished, I’ll take you to school." Qin Li turned his head and said to Jiujiu.

"No need, Jiujiu walks to school everyday with Dadong and Xiaodong. If you have nothing to do, you can wash the dishes."

"Alright, I know how to do that." Qin Li’s chores consisted only of washing dishes and sweeping the floor: "Right, at lunch, let’s make that noodle dish from last night, I want to learn."

"Okay, it’s simple, later you can make it for Jin Cheng, who knows, he might change his mind because of a bowl of noodles." Gu Xiaobei joked, hoping now that Jin Cheng and Qin Li would get together.

"Oh, that’s what I was thinking too. Jin Cheng is quite picky about his food. When we used to eat in the collective canteen, we all had cornmeal buns, which is ground together with the corn’s kernels, but he was too good for it. Even when he was so hungry that he couldn’t lift his head, he still wouldn’t eat. He said the buns made his throat hurt. Aunt Jin was so worried about him that she would give him some white flour every month, which only went into his stomach." As soon as Qin Li started talking, the conversation went off-track again.

"You probably weren’t easy to bring up when you were young either," Gu Xiaobei said with a smile.

"Yeah, when we were children, white sugar was rationed. I just loved drinking sugar water. My mom said that when I was little and we didn’t have any sugar at home, I would cry non-stop. My mom would console me by telling me to look at the sugar she put into the bowl, then pretend to stir it with chopsticks. When I tasted it and it wasn’t sweet, I would cry again. My mom would then say the sugar hadn’t dissolved yet and would keep on stirring."

"Later, after getting to know Jin Cheng, he would either yank my braids, or put dung beetles into my backpack, but every time his family got some white sugar, he would secretly scoop out a spoonful every day, wrap it in a page from his textbook, and give it to me. Afterwards, when Aunt Jin discovered that the sugar in the jar was disappearing without being eaten, Jin Cheng’s textbooks weren’t even out for vacation, but the previous pages were all torn. She was so frustrated that she chased him around the yard with a broom." Qin Li’s eyes curved into a smile as she spoke, lost in her memories.

Listening to Qin Li, Gu Xiaobei could almost see the adorable image of two childhood sweethearts. But how did they end up this way?

"The funniest part was when I was seven, and he was ten. That year during the New Year, he went to visit his granny’s house. Granny gave him a piece of stewed pork, but he refused to eat it, keeping it in his pocket to take back for me. Then his new clothes got oily inside and out. Aunt Jin was so pissed that she beat him up. Jin Cheng’s butt swelled up for a week..." As Qin Li reminisced, her voice gradually became softer.

Feeling sorry for her, Gu Xiaobei realized why Qin Li couldn’t let go of Jin Cheng. Watching the suddenly depressed Qin Li, she recommended, "Let’s go for a walk."

Qin Li blinked away the mistiness in her eyes and laughed, "Okay, otherwise I’d tell you stories about Jin Cheng and my childhood all day and you’d be sick of it."

Gu Xiaobei remained silent, sighing inwardly: Stupid girl, I’m not worried about being bothered, I’m worried that you’d be hurt.

There weren’t many places to wander around in the military compound, most of it was off-limits, so they could only stroll around the vegetable fields.

The two went to the fields, pulled some spinach, and a handful of scallions. Out of boredom, they circled around the vegetable fields, admiring whose vegetables were grown better.

After comparison, Gu Xiaobei was convinced that her family’s cabbage was the best-looking, then contentedly headed back to the residence with Qin Li.

From afar, they could see Yuan Ye in a maroon suit, her hair still neatly coiled up. She carries a piece of meat in her hand, standing there gracefully.

Gu Xiaobei wondered why Yuan Ye was there but still greeted her cheerfully, "Yuan Ye sister, are you here?"

Yuan Ye gave a slight smile, "We and Zhanguo are both from the same residential compound. Since I am in T City this time, I should come and visit."

Gu Xiaobei immediately replied politely, "Yuan Ye sister, you are too polite. Zhanguo and I should be the ones visiting Auntie Yuan, only Zhanguo recently has been too busy."

"That’s okay, my mom doesn’t mind, she can understand. Also, just call me Yuan Ye. Technically, Zhanguo is a year older than me." Yuan Ye laughed, feeling a bit awkward being called older sister by Gu Xiaobei.

"Alright, let’s not chat here. Let’s get inside quickly."

"I didn’t bring much, just bought some pork in town." As Yuan Ye spoke, she raised the meat in her hand a little.

Gu Xiaobei also didn’t stand on ceremony, and laughed, "Great, we’ve just run out of meat at home, why don’t we make dumplings at lunch?"

"Sounds good," Yuan Ye also responded with a laugh.

The three of them entered the house. Yuan Ye scanned the rudimentary furnishings with a single look, her face showing no change.

Seeing Yuan Ye maintaining her smile and showing no signs of disgust, Gu Xiaobei thought to herself that this sister was much more likeable than Yuan Tan.

"Sorry, our place is small, don’t be bothered by it," Gu Xiaobei said politely.

"It’s already pretty good. When we were kids, a family of five or six of us would live in a place like this." Yuan Ye replied, unperturbed.

Qin Li had nothing to add to the conversation and sat alone on a small bed, fiddling with the sweater Gu Xiaobei had knitted.

Yuan Ye also didn’t act formally, taking off her suit jacket and placing it neatly folded onto the bed. She rolled up her sleeves and said, "I’ll knead the dough for dumplings."

Gu Xiaobei looked at Yuan Ye. After taking off her jacket, Yuan Ye was left with just a high-necked white bodysuit. It accentuated her shapely upper body, particularly her bosom, which was high and pointed. It was clear that she wore a bra with steel underwire support. Otherwise, how could it be so protruding?

Feeling a bit possessive, Gu Xiaobei almost asked Yuan Ye to put her jacket back on. What if Lu Zhanguo saw her dressed like this when he came back?

But what she said was, "Okay, I’ll chop the fillings. And Qin Li, you wash the radishes." She figured that washing radishes was something Qin Li could handle.

"Alright." Qin Li was bored and set aside the sweater she had been studying for quite a while. She was so familiar with preparing radishes that she fetched the radishes and the washing basin, and headed off to the water room.

While helping Yuan Ye scoop the flour to knead the dough, Gu Xiaobei mentioned, "You’ve been living abroad for so many years, but your kneading skills are just as good."

Hearing this, Yuan Ye paused her hands for a moment before saying, "Even though I’ve been there for quite some years, I just can’t get used to Western food, I still cook Chinese meals every day."

Gu Xiaobei found it hard to understand, wasn’t that just making things difficult?

"Do you have a boy or a girl at home? They must be very adorable." Gu Xiaobei casually chatted while chopping meat on the other side of the table.

"The elder one is a boy and the younger one is a girl. Does the dough seem too soft or hard to you?" Clearly, Yuan Ye did not want to discuss the children, so she changed the topic quickly.

Gu Xiaobei found that Yuan Ye wasn’t like her colleagues from her previous life who would keep talking about their kids unasked. If you don’t ask, they’d keep telling you how much their baby ate today, what naughty things they did, basically every three sentences would be about their kids.