Back To The 80s-Chapter 232 - 242: Coming Home (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1
As they were approaching the provincial capital, Tong Yu kindly left Gu Xiaobei with their home address, inviting them to visit whenever they had the time.
Upon reaching the provincial capital, Liu Hongbing was there to pick them up and had already bought the night trip’s tickets back to T City.
The two of them arrived at T City early in the morning, caught the first bus back to their town, and managed to catch the supply truck back to the military base too.
By midday, they finally arrived at the family compound. Gu Xiaobei started to feel a bit unwell after the last couple of bus rides, feeling some unease in her stomach.
Lu Zhanguo took her to Zhang Lijun’s house first, as their home hadn’t been heated in a while and was freezing like an ice cellar.
"Finally, you are back. I was worried you wouldn’t come back until after the New Year." Li Fengmei greeted them heartily with these words as she ushered the pair inside.
Dadong and Xiaodong had already begun their winter break and were laying on the small bed in the outer room, drawing squares on a notebook page and playing a game of Gobang.
When Gu Xiaobei walked in, without any formalities, she said, "I need to rest a bit inside your house, my stomach feels unwell."
Li Fengmei expressed her concern, "You must be exhausted from the journey. Go lie down on the heated bed. Oh, lie on the western side, the eastern end of the bed is hotter and that’s not good for pregnant women." Li Fengmei had also only found out about Gu Xiaobei’s pregnancy after the New Year.
Hearing this, Lu Zhanguo grew anxious, asking, "Are you okay?"
Gu Xiaobei waved him off with a smile, "I’m fine, it’s just that the long bus ride has made me a little restless."
Lu Zhanguo was still worried: "You rest first, then. I’ll go and heat the house. If you’re still not feeling well later, let’s go to the hospital."
Gu Xiaobei nodded, "Okay. Come back later and bring the things we brought for them."
Once Lu Zhanguo left, Gu Xiaobei took off her coat and shoes, and lied down on the heated bed.
Li Fengmei sat down and said, "The relationship between you and Old Lu is blooming, envy fills my heart."
Gu Xiaobei teased with a smile, "Your relationship with Old Zhang is also great."
"Oh, we’re an old couple; love is no longer a factor." Li Fengmei said, a bit embarrassingly.
"After you left half a month ago, our compound has become lively." Li Fengmei climbed onto the heated bed, excitement in her voice as she began to gossip with Gu Xiaobei.
"Xiangyang’s daughter-in-law also arrived; she got into a fight with Sun Aiqin. You wouldn’t believe it. Xiangyang’s daughter-in-law was so aggressive, she ripped Sun Aiqin’s earring, tearing her earlobe." Li Fengmei clicked her tongue, the fight between women can be so deadly.
"Moreover, Xiangmin and her mother-in-law were quarrelling two days ago. Xiangmin was admitted to the hospital again and hasn’t come back yet. Her mother-in-law refuses to leave, claiming that it is her son’s duty to take care of his mother. Poor Guo, he’s having a rough time managing everything right now."
Gu Xiaobei was a bit astonished. Since Xiangmin got pregnant, she has been continuously admitted to the hospital. After the child is born, she wondered what excuse she would use to go to the hospital.
"Also, Chunling and her mother-in-law cannot get along at all. Remember the time when we got a perm? Well, when her mother-in-law saw her permed hair, she scolded her for not acting like a proper woman. Now, she cusses at her at the drop of a hat." Li Fengmei said scratching her messy curls.
Seeing Li Fengmei’s unkempt hair, Gu Xiaobei fought back laughter. The quality of perming in their town was subpar. Plus, perming in this cold weather, if not maintained properly, will result in unkempt hair.
She remembers the time when both of them had just got their perming done. She was truly startled. Not even thirty yet, the perm made them look over thirty.
"And her two sisters-in-law lounging around on the heated bed all day, legs propped up, waiting to be fed and served." Li Fengmei added, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe how lazy married girls could become.
Lu Zhanguo lit up the furnace and briefly cleaned up the place. Recollecting Gu Xiaobei, he brought a bag of gifts for Zhang Lijun’s family and swiftly went back to check on her.
Seeing Lu Zhanguo come in, Li Fengmei quickly got up, "Why don’t you two eat lunch here? Let me make you some hot noodle soup."
Lu Zhanguo glanced at Gu Xiaobei, "Are you still feeling unwell?" and then placed a bag of items beside her.
That’s when Gu Xiaobei remembered. She was so engrossed listening to Li Fengmei’s gossip about the compound, she had completely forgotten about her stomach ache. She quickly laughed it off saying, "It’s better now. lying down for a bit helped."
"Then eat here. I need to go to the camp."
Gu Xiaobei nodded, "Sure, hurry up and go." She knew Lu Zhanguo couldn’t go to the camp earlier because of her. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
After Lu Zhanguo left, Gu Xiaobei took out the candy, dried fruits from Capital City, and a piece of cloth one by one from the bag and handed them to Li Fengmei, "These snacks are for the kids. As for the cloth, decide whether to make a shirt or pants with it."
"Why are you being so formal? Why the need to bring all these from so far?" Li Fengmei chided.
"It’s no problem, these candies aren’t sold here, let the kids try them." Gu Xiaobei shouted for Dadong and Xiaodong in the outer room to come and have some candy.
Li Fengmei quickly hid the remaining candies under the bed covers and said, "I can’t let them see all of them. If I do, they’ll eat everything up in one go."
Watching Li Fengmei’s actions, Gu Xiaobei found it extremely adorable and burst into laughter.
After having the noodle soup that Li Fengmei made for lunch, Gu Xiaobei decided to go back home and have a nap, figuring that the house should have warmed up by now.
When Xiaobei returned home, she took advantage of the warm room, wiped her body with a basin of warm water, then dressed in her autumn clothes and lay down for a nap.
After spending three to four days on the train, even though they had berths to sleep in, it was still exhausting due to the noisy environment and needing to sleep in clothes.
By the time Gu Xiaobei woke up from her sleep, it was dark outside. The door of the room was closed and she could faintly hear voices from the living room.
From the sound of it, the voice was of an unfamiliar man: "Squad Leader, I’ve been a soldier for four years now. If I can’t transition to being a volunteer soldier by next year, I’ll have to return to my hometown. Once I get back, there won’t even be land to share with me."
"Xiaowang, take the alcohol back. Being a volunteer soldier, as I’ve always said, depends on your capabilities and performance, which refers to how you perform during the training missions." Lu Zhanguo’s tone was very stern.
"Squad Leader, it’s just one bottle of wine. You can rest assured, even if I can’t transition to being a volunteer soldier, it’s only right to give you a bottle of wine during the New Year." Xiaowang, the solder spoke up humbly.
"Is this just a bottle of wine? This is a bottle of Maotai which costs eight yuan, right? You must have saved up for several months to afford this one bottle. Take the wine back, get a refund. Use that money. Send it to your parents in your hometown for them to have a nice new year." Lu Zhanguo was somewhat frustrated.
Xiaowang took the bottle of wine, hesitated, and left feeling embarrassed.
When Gu Xiaobei heard the door close, she assumed the man had left and got up from the bed.
Seeing Lu Zhanguo sitting at the table with a stern face, she knew he wasn’t one to appreciate such underhanded maneuvers.
She walked over, bent slightly and gently touched Lu Zhanguo’s face, "Alright, he’s gone now. Don’t keep that stern face."
"Where did these kids learn these sneaky tricks from?," Lu Zhanguo frowned, bitter about having such soldiers under his command.
