Back To The 80s-Chapter 214 - 224: Invincible_1

When Lu Zhanguo came home in the evening and saw that Gu Xiaobei had already prepared dinner, he was a bit surprised: "Didn’t you sleep today?"

"Busy making money for baby formula." Gu Xiaobei sat at the table, waiting for Lu Zhanguo to wash his hands and have dinner.

Lu Zhanguo had already grown accustomed to her strange theories, so he didn’t ask much. He washed his hands, then patted Gu Xiaobei on the head: "Isn’t it uncomfortable if you don’t sleep?"

"Are you asking me or your son?" Gu Xiaobei asked with a squinting smile.

"Stop being cheeky, let’s eat." Lu Zhanguo avoided the question. This cheeky girl was cunning; no matter how he responded, there would surely be a barrage of bizarre arguments waiting for him.

"By the way, when will you go to the city? Chen Gang and I want to go see Jiujiu." Gu Xiaobei remembered what she had discussed with Chen Gang during the day and asked.

"I’ll be going there at the end of the month for a meeting and a performance report. You can come with me, but you guys may have to stay there for two nights." Lu Zhanguo calculated and responded.

"Okay, I’ll have Chen Gang take two days off then. We can buy what we need for the New Year, and I can also buy some fabric to make new clothes for our son. Oh, and buy some cotton for small quilts and pads." Gu Xiaobei said excitedly.

Lu Zhanguo almost choked. Make clothes for their son with the fabric? But he didn’t dare to oppose Gu Xiaobei’s enthusiasm, so he only grumbled in his heart.

"Right, diapers, we need to buy diapers." Gu Xiaobei suddenly remembered there were no disposable diapers, so they needed to buy cloth diapers.

"Aren’t diapers made from old clothes?" Lu Zhanguo was puzzled. Wasn’t it too luxurious to buy new fabric for diapers?

"How can old clothes do? The baby’s little butt is so delicate; we can’t use old cloth." Gu Xiaobei felt she should make a shopping list.

"Can’t we buy these things gradually? There’s no rush, right?" Lu Zhanguo gently reminded a completely excited Gu Xiaobei, who had forgotten that their baby wouldn’t be born until eight months later.

"Oh, yes, I will just buy some cotton and fabric to make new clothes at once." Gu Xiaobei nodded in agreement.

Lu Zhanguo raised his eyebrows, thinking that since Gu Xiaobei had plenty of free time at home, sewing could be a good way to pass the time.

Gu Xiaobei took off her clothes that night and sat in bed, touching her slightly rounded belly. It was soft, and she giggled, thinking about how it would soon become as round as a basketball.

Just when she was about to lie down, the neighboring house, where Xiangmin lived, became noisy again. There were shouting arguments, and the sound of furniture being moved.

Gu Xiaobei was curious and wanted to go out and listen to the argument. Just as she was about to climb out of bed, Lu Zhanguo gently held her down: "Just stay in bed. I will go see what is happening."

"I’m not going, I just want to stand in our hall to listen." Gu Xiaobei couldn’t miss the chance to eavesdrop on Xiangmin’s drama.

Helpless, Lu Zhanguo got dressed and put on his military coat to go out.

Gu Xiaobei stayed in the hall, listening to the shouting and quarreling from the neighboring house. She heard Xiangmin sobbing, "What’s wrong? It’s my house, can I not even eat a few pieces of meat?"

"You just say it as it is, is this about eating some meat? You are lying around doing nothing all day because you’re pregnant. I’ve been taking care of you. Fine, I’m fine with that. But for dinner, I cooked ten pieces of braised pork. You ate seven. I told you to stop eating so that we could save some for Huaqiang. Look at your unhappy face..." Ding Guihua fired back like rapid-fire cannon.

"I wasn’t unhappy. Did you really say it like that? Guo Huaqiang, let me tell you, life like this is unbearable. If you can’t afford a wife and child, you shouldn’t have married me." Xiangmin roared back in anger.

"From the looks of it, a woman like you who doesn’t care about her husband shouldn’t get married." Ding Guihua retorted. These two were like counterparts, neither willing to give in.

"That’s enough, both of you should cool down." Guo Huaqiang sighed helplessly.

Then she heard a knock at the door. It must have been Lu Zhanguo going in. Gu Xiaobei was amused, "All of this over a couple of pieces of braised pork!"

It seemed that Xiangmin and Ding Guihua stopped arguing because Lu Zhanguo entered. It was not clear what Lu Zhanguo said, but the voices of the people inside lowered.

Gu Xiaobei pressed her ear against the wall, trying to hear more clearly, but she couldn’t make out anything. She reentered her room and went to bed.

Not long after, Lu Zhanguo came back, really chilled. He first warmed his hands against the wall of the house.

"Did you mediate it?" Gu Xiaobei asked curiously.

"No, I just told them to stop arguing, as it’s late, and they should not disturb the neighbors." As Lu Zhanguo rubbed his hands together, he remembered that the outside temperature on this midwinter night was below minus twenty degrees Celsius. Being outside even for a brief moment could chilling to the bone. He also didn’t dare to get close to Gu Xiaobei since he was still so cold.

Gu Xiaobei no longer asked. In fact, she knew that the root cause of the argument between Ding Guihua and Xiangmin was not a couple of pieces of pork. They had disliked each other for a long time, hence the quarrels over small things.

In a blink of an eye, it was the end of the month. Only foreigners celebrate holidays like Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Gu Xiaobei, however, missed Christmas from her previous life. Due to her company’s operations, every Christmas was usually celebrated grandly, with a lucky draw at the end of the party.

Gu Xiaobei remembered the most memorable gift she had drawn: a set of figurines of a family of three, each wearing a marine soul shirt with blue and white stripes.

Looking back, it was truly a nice sign. Gu Xiaobei touched her flat belly, which felt a bit hard. She felt satisfied with her life.

Lu Zhanguo went to the city for a meeting and brought Gu Xiaobei and Chen Gang to see Jiujiu.

It was already the freezing season, and Gu Xiaobei felt like she was freezing as soon as she came downstairs, even exhaling white breath.

There were no heaters in the car. Lu Zhanguo took a small kerosene tin can and punched holes around it to make a stove. He filled it with flaming coals and placed it at Gu Xiaobei’s feet. Because the car wasn’t airtight, there was no need to worry about carbon monoxide poisoning.

He then covered her with a small quilt and wound the scarf around several times, finally cautioning: "Hold tight to the quilt, be careful not to let the fire underneath burn it."

Gu Xiaobei nodded, struggling to turn her head, and asked Chen Gang, who was wrapped in a leather coat, "Chen Gang, are you cold?"

"No, quite warm." Chen Gang quickly shook his head.

Due to the icy roads and the car tires not having snow chains, Lu Zhanguo drove very carefully all the way. He would also check on Gu Xiaobei from time to time, in case the small quilt fell on the stove and caught on fire.

They only got to the city by midday and Gu Xiaobei was surprisingly sweating.

Lu Zhanguo put the stove in the snow to put out the fire and dumped the charcoal into a trash can. He then took the empty kerosene tin and put it in the trunk.

Then he told Gu Xiaobei, "You and Chen Gang go on in. I have to hurry to the military district to report, so I won’t go in with you. If you go out shopping, remember to go with Qin Li. The roads are slippery, so be careful." Lu Zhanguo advised with concern.

Gu Xiaobei nodded like a pecking chicken, urging Lu Zhanguo to hurry up.

Lu Zhanguo looked at this little ungrateful girl, sighed, "Alright, you guys go on in. I’ll come back to pick you up the day after tomorrow."

Although it was noon, the sun seemed like a useless fixture, hanging in the sky but providing no warmth.

As soon as Gu Xiaobei got out of the car, she felt a gust of cold wind and shivered uncontrollably.