Back To The 80s-Chapter 177: Air Raid Shelter (Vote for monthly ticket)_1
Gu Xiaobei went home and called Li Fengmei to the field. Once they arrived and saw two clusters of cabbages covered by green canvas, they were stunned. The cabbages underneath were well-protected and definitely wouldn’t be spoiled by the frost. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
Li Fengmei looked at Gu Xiaobei and said, "This must be your husband Lu’s doing. My husband, Zhang Lijun, never bothers with anything at home. He’s a hands-off type."
Gu Xiaobei was uncertain if it was Lu Zhanguo’s doing, "Didn’t see him step out last night at all, did we?" Although her comment hinted at some doubt, she was a heavy sleeper. Besides, she was really tired last night.
"Never mind who did it. Now we don’t have to worry about it. I’ll borrow a cart, and we can move the cabbages into the cellar." Li Fengmei suggested cheerfully.
"Should we harvest the radishes today as well?" Gu Xiaobei asked.
"Radishes taste better after a frost. We can harvest them a few days later." Li Fengmei explained to Gu Xiaobei, with her experienced insight.
Gu Xiaobei, having learned these valuable skills, felt confident that wherever she’d go with Zhanguo in the future, they could be self-sufficient.
Li Fengmei arrived with the cart. The ground was muddy due to the recent rain, making it hard to push the cart inside the field, so they ended up parking it on the roadside.
They picked the cabbages one by one and stacked them onto the cart. There were around a hundred cabbages that took them two full carts to transport.
Li Fengmei suddenly asked, "Are you planning to deliver these cabbages to Sun Aiqin’s place now or put them in the cellar together?"
Gu Xiaobei thought for a second and said, "Let’s deliver them later."
"That’s right, there are only ten of them. She can store them in her corridor." Li Fengmei also thought it was a good idea to deliver them later.
Once the cabbages were arranged in the cellar, they were neatly placed against the wall to allow for airflow and prevent the leaves from rotting.
After setting up the cabbages, Gu Xiaobei looked around the entire cellar and noticed one area blocked by bricks, resembling a tunnel.
Curiously, she walked over to take a closer look and found that the bricks were moulded together with mud, forming a structure that was half a person tall and about one metre wide.
Two young soldiers nearby who were handling the pickled veggies, upon seeing her, one of them with two cute fangs laughed and said, "Aunt, this used to be an underground escape tunnel dug by some wealthy landlord."
"Oh? So, a big landlord used to live here? Did he build that city wall too?" Gu Xiaobei asked with interest.
"No, during the period of the Republic of China, the Ma Warlord’s faction seized control of this area, built the city wall, and constructed underground forts through this tunnel." The talkative soldier with the fangs responded, while the other just grinned and opened a jar of pickles to check if there was any mold.
"Do you mean that there are a lot of tunnels underground?" Gu Xiaobei suddenly thought of guerilla warfare.
"Yes. In 1949, the Central Government led the First Field Army to wipe out the Ma Warlords. They surveyed this land and thought it was a good location, so they stationed a battalion here. That’s how we got our Second Special Forces. They thought it was a waste to keep these tunnels unused, so they expanded them and turned them into vegetable cellars." The young soldier explained briefly.
Gu Xiaobei, not being very good at history, especially China’s modern history, had no idea who the Ma Warlords were. But guessing from the soldier’s words, they must have been some form of local evil forces.
Seeing Gu Xiaobei’s keen interest, the fanged soldier continued, "Even though these now seem like vegetable cellars, there are still many hidden traps within." He added with a mysterious smile.
Gu Xiaobei joked back, "So you are telling military secrets to me?"
The fanged soldier responded while waving his hands, "Auntie, these things I’m telling you aren’t secrets. Many people know about them. I wouldn’t go around blurting out the real secrets." After saying that, he laughingly covered his mouth in a gesture of staunch secrecy.
Li Fengmei, having watched the two chatting and laughing, walked over and said with a grin, "Right, we all know about these things. They aren’t secrets."
Gu Xiaobei suddenly had an idea, "But what if some bad guy also knows about these and sneaks in?"
The fanged soldier laughed, "Auntie, there are still secrets I cannot reveal. No outsider can get in."
Gu Xiaobei felt embarrassed. Indeed, why did she ask such a stupid question?
There were ten cabbages left on the cart. Gu Xiaobei and Li Fengmei began to push it back to the residential compound, planning to deliver them to Sun Aiqin.
Just as they entered the main gate of the residential compound, they saw Wang Ping angrily staring at Sun Aiqin, who was holding her baby.
Upon seeing Li Fengmei and Gu Xiaobei, Wang Ping immediately walked over to them and said, "Sisters, you’re here at the right time. I merely went to the town hospital to visit Xiangmin. How did that make me a sycophant?"
Turns out that Wang Ping visited Xiangmin in the town hospital yesterday and also brought ten eggs and a bag of brown sugar. Chang Yuan casually mentioned this to Sun Aiqin when he came home last night.
Today when Sun Aiqin saw Wang Ping in the compound, she was acting resentfully to Wang Ping and even called her a "sycophant" when Wang Ping entered her house.
On hearing this, Wang Ping was sure to counter back and a dispute started brewing between them in the compound.
Hearing about the incident, Gu Xiaobei, unable to help, thought that Sun Aiqin was really someone who couldn’t get the bigger picture and loved to stir up trouble.
Seeing Wang Ping seeking sympathy, Sun Aiqin also wanted to present her case, "Everyone knows that Xiangmin cheated Aunt Fengmei. That day, Aunt Fengmei got into trouble because of us, and you go visit her in hospital. Isn’t that sycophantic?"
Li Fengmei originally wanted to intervene, but hearing that her case was also included, found herself in an awkward position. Siding with Wang Ping would look like she was ungrateful, siding with Sun Aiqin would seem as an acknowledging Wang Ping as a sycophant. Siding neither would seem like avoiding the issue.
Seeing all three staring at her, Gu Xiaobei somewhat helplessly said, "Enough, we all live in the same compound, who gets along with whom is a personal matter. Stop squabbling over petty things. Aren’t you afraid of becoming a laughing stock?" Saying so, she gave Sun Aiqin a meaningful glance.
Sun Aiqin wanted to respond, but seeing the stern look on Gu Xiaobei’s face, she dared not utter a word.
Seeing Gu Xiaobei put it that way, Wang Ping also refrained from saying more. Besides, she didn’t want everyone to know that she had visited Xiangmin at the hospital. Now that everyone was aware, she felt somewhat embarrassed.
"That’s enough, let’s all go home and prepare lunch." Li Fengmei attempted to defuse the situation further.
Sun Aiqin snorted and was about to go home with her baby when Gu Xiaobei called her, "Aiqin, we’ve got your cabbages. Where shall we put them?"
Already turned around, Sun Aiqin, hearing this, cheerfully turned back and said, "Why don’t we keep the cart here for now and have Chang Yuan return it in the evening?"
"Sure, but it belongs to the Signals Squad, make sure to return it." Gu Xiaobei replied. She noticed that it was almost noon and she still had to prepare lunch, so she really didn’t feel like taking another trip to return the cart.
"Signals Squad?" Sun Aiqin’s smile paused for a moment before she nodded and said okay.
Only then did Gu Xiaobei remember that Xiangyang was now the logistical officer of the Signals Squad, and he did not get along with Chang Yuan.
