Back To The 80s-Chapter 234 - 244: Before the New Year_1

As everyone was preparing to leave, Lu Zhanguo led a few officers over to inspect their work. Gu Xiaobei saw a woman with a child nudge the youngster forward. The child ran up to a soldier standing next to Lu Zhanguo, shouted, "Uncle!", and promptly dashed back to his mother’s side.

Gu Xiaobei recognized the man standing next to Lu Zhanguo as Zhang Dacheng, a member of the battalion staff.

Zhang Dacheng scratched his head awkwardly and chuckled, "Silly boy, calling me uncle when you can’t even recognize your own father."

Zhang Dacheng’s wife, Gao Qiaoyun, blushed. The child had been with them for several days and still refused to call him dad. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

This little incident caused a noticeable dip in the spirits of some of the visiting army wives. On their way back, the group clearly split into two, with one group heading towards the family quarters, and the other toward the guesthouse.

Li Fengmei and Gu Xiaobei were the last to leave. Li Fengmei sighed, "It’s tough. When Gao Qiaoyun gave birth to Tiedan, Dacheng went back once and since then, he never returned. Tiedan is already three years old and still doesn’t recognize his own father."

Gu Xiaobei paused. Sure enough, there were many families in the camp who were separated and could hardly see each other once a year. They were already very lucky. From now on, no matter where Lu Zhanguo went, she decided to follow him with their child. If the conditions didn’t allow her to accompany him, she would rent a house in a nearby city. She couldn’t let their child grow up without a father’s love.

Now that it was freezing cold, there was no fear of the meat spoiling. Gu Xiaobei decided to take a plumper piece, mince it, and make some steamed dumplings to freeze. During the New Year, if she didn’t want to cook, she could easily heat them up.

After the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household started to steam buns, stew meat, fry meatballs, and prepare for the New Year celebration.

Gu Xiaobei remembered that she hadn’t yet given Qin Li the down coat.

At dinner, while she was serving food, Gu Xiaobei asked Lu Zhanguo, "Are you going to the city before the New Year? I haven’t given Qin Li her down coat yet."

"There’s a gathering on the 28th. The higher-ups are coming and we have to attend. You can come with us," Lu Zhanguo thought for a moment and said.

"Okay," Gu Xiaobei nodded.

Lu Zhanguo furrowed his brows and pondered for a moment before saying, "Why don’t you go and see her first, and don’t take the coat yet. Jin Cheng..." He trailed off, but Gu Xiaobei understood. How could she be so stupid as to buy a bright red coat?

"Right, I forgot about that at the time," Gu Xiaobei said in remorse. Was this the ’pregnancy makes you foolish for three years’ phenomenon?

Lu Zhanguo didn’t say anything else. When they had bought the coat, he was worried that if he mentioned it, Gu Xiaobei might not even buy her own.

"Maybe I won’t go for now. I’ll visit during the New Year." Gu Xiaobei thought for a moment. It was close to the New Year, every family was busy preparing for it, and there were most likely a lot of people coming and going at Qin Li’s house. She was pregnant and didn’t want to get in the way.

Chinese people take the New Year very seriously, often spending all the money they saved up during the year.

Gu Xiaobei also had an unhealthy obsession with the New Year.

In her previous life, ever since she moved out of her uncle’s house, she spent every New Year alone in her tiny rented room. Every time she saw the uncontainable joy on the faces of people buying goods for the New Year on the streets, she was filled with envy. She would also buy lots of lanterns, couplets, firecrackers, and fireworks to spend a lonely New Year all by herself.

But this year was different. Although she was in a different world, she had the person she loved most and a warm home.

So Gu Xiaobei made a long list of things for Lu Zhanguo to buy, including peanuts, sunflower seeds, firecrackers, and so on. She also specifically instructed Lu Zhanguo to buy new bowls and chopsticks to symbolize that they were going to have a new addition to the family.

Seeing her small superstitious manner, Lu Zhanguo couldn’t bear to refute her and agreed to everything.

"Oh, and get some mutton as well. We can have hot pot." Gu Xiaobei thought about it and picked up the pen to add more items.

Mutton alone was not enough, they also needed black fungus, tofu, noodles... The list became longer.

Watching her, Lu Zhanguo’s eye twitched. It looked like she was planning to hibernate with all this food.

"Alright, we’ll just buy this much for now. It should be enough for the New Year," Gu Xiaobei said as she checked the list again, not wholly satisfied.

Lu Zhanguo was speechless. This was a huge amount of food and she was calling it ’barely enough’ for the New Year.

On the morning of the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, Gu Xiaobei was cleaning the corridor, stove, and bathroom, scrubbing everything thoroughly, including the door frames.

While she was cleaning, Guo Huaqiang, Xiangmin, and Qu Yan returned home. Xiangmin was heavily pregnant and Qu Yan was helping her.

Seeing Gu Xiaobei, Xiangmin huffed and turned her head away, while Qu Yan gave Gu Xiaobei a smile. They then entered the house.

Gu Xiaobei just shrugged and carried on cleaning the door frame. Once it was cleaned, she could stick up the New Year’s couplets tomorrow.

Li Fengmei opened the door and popped her head out. "Sister-in-law, are you done? When you finish, come over to my place for a while."

"Sure, I’ll be over as soon as I dump the dirty water," Gu Xiaobei nodded in response.

Li Fengmei was frying festive food, such as twisted doughnuts, oil cakes, meatballs, and crispy pork. Seeing Gu Xiaobei come in, she said while frying the doughnuts, "I’m making extra, so I’ll give you some, then you won’t have to make it yourself."

Looking at the delicately twisted doughnuts, Gu Xiaobei smiled and said, "Great, since I don’t know how to make them, I won’t be polite."

"There’s nothing to be polite about. We get along so well, it’s only natural to share food," Li Fengmei chided Gu Xiaobei for being too formal.

"I saw Xiangmin just came back. She’s about to give birth, right?"

"Going by the due date, she’s supposed to give birth around the end of the first lunar month or the beginning of the second. But with her current state, giving birth early is possible," Li Fengmei commented with a snort.

"Just watch, their New Year celebrations are bound to be eventful," said Li Fengmei as she took a golden doughnut out of the oil.

While they were talking, Ge Chunling came over, looking gloomy.

"What’s the matter now?" asked Li Fengmei.

Ge Chunling sighed, "You have no idea, my mother-in-law said she wants me to give each of my two sisters-in-law ten yuan as their New Year’s allowance. When have you ever heard of a sister-in-law giving money to her sisters-in-law for New Year’s, especially sisters-in-law who are already married off?"

"Your mother-in-law sure favors her daughters," Li Fengmei said indignantly.

"Isn’t that the truth! It must be those two sisters-in-law of mine stirring things up behind my back. They definitely told her that since we are living far apart, she will have to rely on her daughters for her care in her old age," grumbled Ge Chunling.

After listening to this, Gu Xiaobei couldn’t help offering her advice, "Why don’t you talk to your mother-in-law privately? Tell her that it’s better to leave the money with her than to give it to your sisters-in-law. After all, they are now part of their husbands’ families. Even if you give them the money, who knows who will end up using it? Then, you don’t have to say anything else. In the end, I bet your mother-in-law will not let you give the money to your sisters-in-law."

From the earlier pig meat distribution, Gu Xiaobei could tell that Mrs. Wu was a miser and wouldn’t let anyone profit off her.

Li Fengmei also nodded in agreement, "Yeah, do it like sister-in-law suggested. Your mother-in-law can handle your sisters-in-law. That way, your sisters-in-law won’t hold it against you."

Ge Chunling had been so angry that she hadn’t thought of this. Once Gu Xiaobei pointed it out, she nodded in agreement, "In my anger, I had totally forgotten about this. I should discuss things with you guys more when I have trouble, rather than stewing in my own anger at home."