Back To The 80s-Chapter 347 - 357: New Environment_1

Only when Bai Xiaolan and the others had left did Gu Xiaobei, still holding her child, enter the bedroom with Lu Zhanguo. She noticed that Lu Zhanguo did not seem well when he returned home splattered with mud. Holding back her concern throughout the night, she finally asked, "What’s wrong? Is there trouble at work?"

Lu Zhanguo, who had now gained his composure, played with Xiaopang, rubbing his nose against the child’s, who giggled in delight.

As Gu Xiaobei asked about his work, Lu Zhanguo responded with a relaxed expression while holding Xiaopang, "Nothing serious. Some slight mishaps occurred during training today."

Lu Zhanguo had been parachuted into a top special forces unit in G Province.

His arrival inevitably met resistance from many in the unit, particularly from the deputy commander, Zhong Zhi. Zhong had expected himself to be the natural successor of the previous commander. Instead, a younger and more inexperienced soldier was promoted over him, which he deeply resented.

Zhong Zhi was a shrewd man. He was always prepared and had the trust of the entire unit.

The arrival of Lu Zhanguo was a slap in the face for him. Having recently been the recipient of the unit’s congratulations, now he found himself inferior to a younger officer. This angered him.

If impeding openly was not an option, he would resort to underhand tactics. His old comrades, who were in good terms with him, now began to drag their feet in training, providing all sorts of objections and resistance.

Lu Zhanguo had a simple and blunt way of managing unruly soldiers. After a thoughtful evaluation, he proposed intensive training for everyone, including Zhong Zhi.

Despite Zhong Zhi’s age, he was still a capable soldier. Now in his forties, however, he found it hard to keep up with Lu Zhanguo physically.

Despite this, he refused to admit defeat. This stubbornness resulted in a failure during training, as he made a basic error while stumbling backwards, injuring his arm.

Without showing emotion, Lu Zhanguo ordered his soldiers to take Zhong Zhi to the infirmary.

For the subsequent training, Lu Zhanguo finished ahead of others in each exercise, and even alone, took on ten others during combat training.

With his exceptional performance, he managed to win over many people. But Zhong Zhi resisted even more stubbornly, blaming his age for his defeat and becoming pessimistic and resistant towards work.

This angered Lu Zhanguo. However, in such a high-risk profession, he would not engage in ideological work. If you’re competent, you stay; if not, you leave.

When Gu Xiaobei heard about the work matter, she didn’t ask further. After all, Lu Zhanguo’s work is highly confidential; he would not reveal anything even if asked.

"Dad mentioned buying a house. Are you free this Sunday? Let’s go together," said Gu Xiaobei, recalling what Lu Songyuan had mentioned earlier.

Lu Zhanguo raised his eyebrows: "So it coincides with your idea. Buying a courtyard house is indeed a good plan. But I’m busy this Sunday. I have a field training this Saturday. Why not ask my big brother to accompany you?"

Upon hearing about Ji Xiangdong, Gu Xiaobei laughed, thinking of Bai Xiaolan, "How about Bai Xiaolan becoming our sister-in-law?"

Lu Zhanguo blinked, taken by surprise: "I guess Aunt Bai would not let Xiaolan marry someone living so far away in Shule River."

Gu Xiaobei grinned, looking forward to the future.

They had agreed to go house hunting on Sunday. Gu Xiaobei conveyed the plan to Bai Xiaolan the day before.

When Sunday finally arrived, Lu Songyuan was holding Mo Wang, and Ji Xiangdong was holding Xiaopang. They all went together to look for houses.

Xiaopang was extremely reluctant to be held by Ji Xiangdong and kept calling: "No~Dada~no~Dada"

Laughing, Wen Xiuqing said, "Our Xiaopang loves his father so much, no one could ever take him away."

After finally seeing that her mother and grandmother were not going to hold her, Xiaopang reluctantly allowed this uncle, who looked like her father, to hold her.

To buy a house at this time, they could only ask around to find out who in the neighborhood was selling.

In recent years, conditions had improved. Among the few households they visited, two were selling. One was because their children worked in other cities and they planned to sell their house and move away.

The other was a family that had been assigned a new unit in an apartment building by their factory. They planned to sell their old house and move into the new one.

Both houses had the same layout: three main rooms and a side room used as a kitchen, plus a small garden of two or three fen. One of them had a grapevine trellis, the young leaves of which were just budding. There were also two peach trees blossoming.

Gu Xiaobei preferred the house with the grapevine. In the summer, they could set up a simple bed under the grapevine, lay back and drink tea as the kids played around. What a wonderful life!

Ji Xiangdong carried Xiaopang around the courtyard and asked Bai Xiaolan, "Which house do you like better?"

Bai Xiaolan, who was looking at the peach blossom, dreaming about eating the peaches in July and August, casually said, "This one is quite nice."

Lu Songyuan and Wen Xiuqing explored all the rooms in each house. Their only dissatisfaction was that this house had earthen floors, unlike the other house, where all the rooms had tiled floors. So Wen Xiuqing preferred the other house. As for the courtyard, they can always plant another grapevine and fruit trees.

Though Gu Xiaobei preferred the first house, she held her tongue since it was meant for the elderly couple, Lu Songyuan and Wen Xiuqing to live in. Their preference mattered most.

After walking around, Ji Xiangdong said, "Let’s buy this house. We can lay tiles on the ground and repaint the walls inside."

As soon as Wen Xiuqing heard this, she immediately agreed, and so, the house was easily decided.

Ji Xiangdong planned to pay for the house, but he could not access the money in his savings account here. He had only brought a few hundred bucks for his study trip. Therefore, he told Wen Xiuqing, "Mom, I will remit money to you when I go back. Consider the house a gift from me to you and Dad."

Upon hearing this, Wen Xiuqing rejected the idea, "Your money is yours. Save it for the future. You’ll need it to provide for your wife and children. Your dad and I have money."

Lu Songyuan also refused the offer, pulling out a stack of money and counting out five hundred for the homeowner as a deposit. The remaining two thousand five hundred would be paid in full once the transfer was complete.

The homeowner was delighted to take the money. It was five hundred more than he had expected.

With the house purchased, Lu Songyuan proposed buying bricks immediately. He and Ji Xiangdong could lay the bricks in the afternoon. In a day or two, they could start repainting the walls and move in by Labour Day.

Bai Xiaolan and Gu Xiaobei returned home with the children. Wen Xiuqing went shopping for groceries, preparing for a hearty lunch meal so that they would have enough energy to work in the afternoon.

The journey from the new house to their apartment building was quite short, just a fifteen-minute walk. On the way, Gu Xiaobei asked Bai Xiaolan, "How did you lose so much weight lately?"

Bai Xiaolan sighed and said, "Work has been stressful lately." She then told Gu Xiaobei about the recent events at her office. Then she mentioned Ji Xiangdong’s advice, "But I can’t do what he said. I would rather throw my stuff away than give it to people I don’t like."