Back To The 80s-Chapter 236 - 246: Wishing Happy New Year (Recommendation votes 2000 plus updates)_1
After Lu Zhanguo finished speaking, he dismissed the team to enter the dining hall, leaving a couple outside to set off the firecrackers.
Watching the soldiers lining up and filing in, Gu Xiaobei got up and stepped aside, unsure how the seating would be arranged. Where were she and Lu Zhanguo supposed to sit?
Once everyone was seated, Lu Zhanguo and Guo Huaqiang entered. Lu Zhanguo waved at Gu Xiaobei, inviting her over to sit with him and the new soldiers.
The rookies, seeing their leader’s wife sharing a table with them, became somewhat restrained.
Most of the rookies were seventeen or eighteen-year-old young men who blushed at the sight of Gu Xiaobei.
Picking up his chopsticks, Lu Zhanguo casually suggested, "Alright, it’s the New Year today. Let’s all eat heartily. If we don’t finish everything, it means the cooks didn’t make it delicious enough, and we should make them run five kilometers as punishment. How does that sound?"
Hearing their normally serious squad leader making jokes, the rookies also echoed loudly, "Good!"
The more they ate, the more relaxed the atmosphere became, and the rookie soldiers began to devour their food with gusto. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
After lunch, they took a two-hour break, followed by an all-hands dumpling-making session.
During the post-lunch nap, concerned about Gu Xiaobei’s condition, Lu Zhanguo said hesitantly, "Why don’t you skip dumpling-making this afternoon?"
"It’s alright. I’ll sit while making them. It’s very lively to celebrate the New Year together," Gu Xiaobei said, nestling against Lu Zhanguo’s arm.
She felt lucky, the little one in her belly was well-behaved, making her forget she was pregnant. She believed that once the baby was born, they would be an obedient child.
Making dumplings with so many people was fun and cheerful. There were soldiers from both the north and the south, some knew how to fold dumplings, others didn’t, resulting in dumplings of all shapes and sizes.
That wasn’t important. What mattered was the joyous smiles on every young face, seemingly diluting the sorrow of being away from home and family.
Gu Xiaobei was also amused. She loved this joyful New Year atmosphere, it was neither lonely nor gloomy. She looked over at Lu Zhanguo, who was making dumplings next to her, with a smile.
Believing that the divine arrangement for her to travel through time was to make up for the regrets of her past life, she felt content now, blessed with a lover and a child.
After dinner, when it was already dark, they all went to the parade ground to set off fireworks. The variety was limited, with tube fireworks being the most common.
To save funds, they didn’t buy many expensive fireworks, mostly tubes and skyrockets, for the kids to play with while the adults watched and enjoyed.
Fearing that the dark and slippery roads could pose a risk, Lu Zhanguo held Gu Xiaobei’s hand all along. After setting off the fireworks and watching the movie at the auditorium, Lu Zhanguo had to take his turn standing guard, so he couldn’t join the movie viewing.
This was an unwritten rule in the unit, with the duty of guard on New Year’s Eve falling to the senior officers.
Thinking it over, Gu Xiaobei felt there was no point in watching alone, so she asked Lu Zhanguo to take her home to rest first.
When Gu Xiaobei got home and just started stoking the fire, she heard Ding Guihua and Xiangmin returning next door.
They spoke from time to time, but Gu Xiaobei couldn’t make out what they were saying due to the low volume of their voices.
Gu Xiaobei brought out four plates and filled them with candy, peanuts, melon seeds, and walnuts because Li Fengmei had told her that there might be New Year’s Eve visitors once the movie was over.
After arranging these, she boiled some water and added jasmine tea leaves directly into it, setting it aside to cool. This way, if anyone came, she could serve tea immediately.
Once everything was sorted, she lied down on the small bed in the outer room, pulling a down jacket over herself for a nap.
While in a daze, she heard someone knocking at the door and a few people talking outside.
Opening the door, she saw Dadong and Xiaodong were the first to greet her," Aunt, happy new year." The adults followed suit, "Sister-in-law, happy new year."
"Happy New Year, Happy New Year. Come in quickly." Gu Xiaobei greeted them with a smile.
Li Fengmei, Ge Chunling, Wang Ping leading Nini, and Gao Qiaoyun with Tiedan had come to visit.
"Sister-in-law, your house is so warm," Li Fengmei said, finding a chair to sit down. Wang Ping sat down on the small bed with Nini, with Ge Chunling sitting next to her.
Gao Qiaoyun took a seat at the table, holding Tiedan in her lap.
"A few more people were supposed to come, but I asked them to come in the morning since this room is too small to accommodate all of them," Li Fengmei said, cracking open some melon seeds.
Gu Xiaobei served candy to the children. Tiedan, not used to strangers, leaned into Gao Qiaoyun’s embrace, eyeing the candy with a mix of longing and apprehension. Xiaobei grabbed a handful and shoved it into Tiedan’s pocket. Gao Qiaoyun quickly intervened, "Sister-in-law, don’t give him so much. Just one or two pieces will do."
"Isn’t the New Year all about making the children happy? Candy is supposed to be for kids to enjoy. Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more in case they run out," Xiaobei said, stuffing the candy into Tiedan’s pocket. Right away, Tiedan covered his pocket with his little hand, afraid that Xiaobei might have second thoughts and remove them. This made the adults laugh out loud.
Xiaobei then handed out the remaining candy to Dadong, Xiaodong, and Nini. Once done, she sat down and urged everyone to help themselves to the seeds and to feel at home.
Out of curiosity during their casual conversation, Wangping asked Gao Qiaoyun, "Qiaoyun, technically, you’re eligible to accompany the army. Why don’t you?"
"I don’t have a father-in-law, and my mother-in-law is not well. If I were to join the army, our land would go uncultivated," Gao Qiaoyun said helplessly. If there was any way to avoid it, she wouldn’t have kept her son in the dark about his father.
Ge Chunling sighed sympathetically, "In that case, the bond between Tiedan and Dacheng will inevitably weaken. Once Tiedan gets older, he’ll become even less close to Dacheng."
Gao Qiaoyun nodded, "True. Tiedan won’t even recognize his own father and insists that his father is the one in the photograph. When he just learned to say ’Dad,’ he would chase after any man in the village and call him ’Dad.’
