Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

Chen Xiaohui did a rough calculation. Oh my god, she is almost 40 years old. An advanced maternal age? She didn't live to 50 in her previous life. She couldn't live to her early 40s in this life just because of giving birth to a child.

"Will Mom agree if I don't find a partner?"

Ye Fan wanted to say that he would object because you are too troublesome. Comrade Tao Chunlan is eager for you to get married immediately. "She is not old-fashioned. The premise is that you can take care of yourself."

Unfortunately, Chen Xiaohui didn't understand: "I don't need her to take care of me."

Ye Fan: "If you are assigned to Dongcheng after graduation, which is more than ten kilometers away from home, and your parents, brother and sister-in-law are not with you, and Chen Kuanren and Zhao Ruping come to find you, how are you going to deal with it?"

Geng Zhiye: "If you don't want to sever ties with them yourself, then let someone else do it. Who can be with you every day?"

"I can't just marry someone just because of them?"

Ye Fan didn't want to talk, so Geng Zhiye said, "Fan Fan said to hurry up and look for it, not just look for it casually."

"Is it okay if I'm wrong?" Chen Xiaohui rolled her eyes at him and said to Ye Fan, "I know."

Ye Fan picked up his little niece and said, "I'll go to the bedroom to see if they have changed."

Geng Zhiye wanted to go to his father-in-law and mother-in-law's bedroom with Ye Fan, but if Chen Xiaohui was left alone in the living room, she would definitely follow them in because she was so tactless. So Geng Zhiye took out the things they bought and gave them to Chen Xiaohui, telling her to put them where they should.

Chen Xiaohui was so busy being ordered around by Geng Zhiye that she had no time to bother her mother and Ye Fan.

In the evening, Ye Fan's sister-in-law Li Mingyue came home, and Ye Fan asked her to help her cook. Tao Chunlan wanted to go to the kitchen to help, and Ye Fan asked her to take a rest.

Tao Chunlan said to Dabao and Erbao with great satisfaction: "Your mother knows how to be filial to me now."

Li Mingyue didn't think so. She sat by the kitchen door picking vegetables, one eye on the yard and the other glancing at Ye Fan: "Is there something wrong?"

Ye Fan nodded: "I told you not to be angry?"

"I'm still angry because you're thinking about me." Li Mingyue laughed, "If you're right, I'll listen to you. If you're not, I'll pretend I didn't hear you."

Ye Fan: "Don't let your parents take care of Jing Jing. I know your parents have been waiting for Jing Jing for many years - they are heartbroken, but pampering does not mean locking her up in the house. In my opinion, pampering means raising her in wealth both materially and spiritually. If Jing Jing were in ancient times, she should be a well-mannered lady from a famous family, not a stingy girl who is afraid of even her aunt and has never seen the world."

Li Mingyue actually realized that Jingjing's obedience was different from that of Dabao and Erbao when they were young. "I discovered it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given her to my mother. When I went back to my mother's house last night, my mother kept nagging me, asking why I should give Jingjing to my mother-in-law when I was here. I said that you're back now, and I haven't seen my aunt for more than a year and I don't recognize her anymore."

Ye Fan: "And Xiaohui, she doesn't know how to take care of children and she doesn't know how to control her words. Liangliang is not sensible and it will be hard to change if she learns a lot of bad habits from her."

Li Mingyue was surprised: "What did she say again?"

Ye Fan raised an eyebrow: "Have you said that before?"

"I didn't say anything unpleasant, it was just nonsense. He said he would buy a house for Jingjing in the future. If a girl has a house, she won't have to put herself in a difficult position when she has conflicts with her husband, and she won't have to worry about her parents-in-law." Li Mingyue couldn't help complaining when she thought of this. "What's the connection?"

"Don't pay attention to her."

Li Mingyue was startled, and turned around to see Geng Zhiye standing by the door. She was startled again: "When did you come? Have you been a scout before?"

Geng Zhiye: "When you said the last sentence, I came over from the other side. Don't worry, I'm alone. They are waiting to watch the "News Broadcast" in the house."

Li Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief: "How can I ignore you when we live under the same roof?"

Ye Fan: "She might be putting herself in this situation. When she was in the Chen family, she said that she had to share a small bed and wardrobe with her niece. How could she dare to divorce in this situation? She couldn't go back to her husband's family after divorce. Her eldest brother is here. She subconsciously thinks that it will be the same as in the Chen family in Shencheng. Once she gets married, she will be a guest when she comes back. She has no confidence to stay here forever."

"But we only have one Jingjing."

Ye Fan: "You said before that you didn't want to have children, and then you gave birth to Jingjing. Now you say that you only want Jingjing. She may think that you are just talking, and you still want a son like many people."

Geng Zhiye said, "How can she think of so many things? She just speaks without thinking. She forgets what she said, and you two are analyzing it over and over again. You are simply eating too much salt."

Ye Fan couldn't help but glare at him: "You are the one who has nothing to do! Come over and cook!"

Geng Zhiye turned on the faucet and washed his hands.

Li Mingyue exclaimed: "Isn't it cold?"

"It's not like you're taking a cold bath." Geng Zhiye came in after wiping his hands and told Ye Fan to go and rest.

Li Mingyue said helplessly: "As long as you are happy. What did Xiaohui say today?"

"She said that you and your elder brother didn't come back last night, so you don't want her anymore."

Geng Zhiye nodded: "That's bullshit!"

Li Mingyue was a little angry at first - how could she say that to a child? She couldn't help but want to laugh when she heard that: "Did she provoke you?"

"Even if she doesn't bother me, I still get annoyed when I see her." Geng Zhiye said bluntly, "Maybe she owed me something in her past life."

Could Chen Xiaohui be so stupid in her previous life? Ye Fan couldn't help complaining: "Don't talk nonsense. Hurry up and cook the dishes. I'll cook the noodles after you're done."

Geng Zhiye: "Isn't there rice in the rice cooker?"

Ye Fan: "After the water boils, steam the egg custard. I wanted to make a small bowl for Liangliang, and Dabao and Erbao also want some. I'll use a basin to make it later."

After dinner, Li Mingyue took her daughter to wash up, and then went back to the bedroom to play with her daughter. She didn't come out to wash up until the child was tired. She saw that Ye Fan was still awake, and couldn't help asking: "Fanfan, what are you doing?"

Ye Fan: "Erbao thinks the bed isn't warm enough, I'll fill her bottle with saline."

Erbao ran out wearing autumn clothes. Ye Fan asked her if she was cold. Erbao shook her head: "No!"

Li Mingyue was about to persuade Erbao to go back to the house, but Geng Zhiye came out and dragged his daughter in like she was carrying a bucket of water. Li Mingyue was so scared that she quickly said, "Be gentle!"

Erbao yelled angrily: "I'm definitely not your child!"

Geng Zhiye: "Your mother gave birth to me, and I raised me with my salary."

Erbao couldn't refute and stopped.

Ye Fan was worried that the father and daughter would have a big fight, so he filled the bottle with saline and went back to the house. "Geng Erbao, go to bed quickly. Your dad has to go to the station to buy tickets tomorrow."

Erbao: "Are you going back?"

Dabao glanced at his sister as if she were an idiot, and Erbao raised his arm: "Do you believe I will beat you?"

Ye Fan pulled her to his side and tucked her into bed: "Can you beat her? The school will distribute new books in a few days."

Erbao counted the days and immediately pulled up the quilt to cover his head, "Mom, turn off the lights!"

The next morning, Geng Zhiye bought a ticket and passed by a roast duck restaurant. He bought a roast duck and a roast chicken, had a big meal at his mother-in-law's house, and then went home with his wife and children.

The Geng family only had Yu Wentao, Geng Zhiqin, Huihui and Benben. Geng Zhiye asked her sister: "Do you want to spend the Lantern Festival at home or go to your second brother and his wife's house?"

Geng Huihui said: "The Lantern Festival is this Saturday. My parents are at work, so we have to prepare dinner for them. We won't go to my grandma's house either. My uncle, aunt, cousins ​​and sisters are all there, and they are giving me a headache with every word they say."

Ye Fan: "Get up early tomorrow, I'll buy you some food?"

Yu Wentao said no. Geng Huihui said happily: "Grandma gave me and my brother 20 yuan each as pocket money for this semester, and gave 500 yuan to my aunt, so we can buy it ourselves."

Ye Fan smiled and said, "Then buy it yourself. But don't keep so much money on you."

Geng Zhiqin: "Then I save it?"

Ye Fan asked Geng Zhiye to help her save 450 yuan. Geng Zhiye also changed the four ten-yuan notes of his nephew and niece into small change of 10 cents, 20 cents, 1 yuan and 2 yuan.

The whole bill turned into change, and one bill turned into many bills. The brother and sister shouted, "We've made a fortune!" Dabao took the opportunity to ask them to buy a piggy bank, take a bill when they needed it, and put the remaining change back.

This is what Ye Fan taught him. Ye Fan looked at his son like a little teacher, feeling helpless but wanting to laugh.

The next morning, the family of four took Yu Wentao on a train heading south. Yu Wentao was as excited as if she was going out for fun.

After a rest at night, she was at a loss as to what to do the next day, which was the Lantern Festival, as if she had no money in her pocket and no rice in her jar.

Ye Fan thought she was tired and didn't care.

The next day, the 16th day of the first lunar month, the same thing happened again, and Ye Fan had to take it seriously. But his mother-in-law had just lost her husband, and she must be feeling bad, so he couldn't take it lightly or seriously at this time, so Ye Fan waited for Geng Zhiye to come back.

On the evening of the 22nd day of the first lunar month, Geng Zhiye came home. Ye Fan asked him to go to the kitchen to help, and took the opportunity to whisper that his stepmother had been in poor spirits these days and was not like herself at all.

Political Commissar Liao was afraid to do this and made mistakes there, which caused Geng Zhiye to worry about food and supplies, and also to care about his soldiers. After doing a lot of ideological work, Geng Zhiye understood the reason after a little thought, "When she came here before, she would spend less and less time here, and she must have wanted to go out every day to walk around the island. Now she has to live here permanently, and the old man is gone, Xiaoqin is in school, Huihui and Benben have their grandparents, and no one needs her. She must feel empty and uncomfortable."

Ye Fan: "If it were my mother, I would ask her to find a partner who is a few years younger than her and has a pension."

Geng Zhiye almost got his hands burned by the firewood: "I didn't hear anything."

Ye Fan rolled his eyes at him and said, "You didn't say that. Can your father-in-law cut you into pieces?"

"If you put it that way, I won't be polite," Geng Zhiye asked directly, "Why do you have to be a few years younger?"

Ye Fan: "Everyone likes young people. Like you!"

"Be serious." Geng Zhiye is eight years older than Ye Fan and doesn't have the confidence to say that he doesn't like it.

Ye Fan said: "Women live longer than men."

Geng Zhiye paused for a moment: "——It seems that I need to go to bed early and get up early to take care of myself."

Ye Fan rolled his eyes at him and said, "What should we do about this? She is your stepmother, not our nanny, and we can't treat her like a nanny. Besides, Xiaoqin would be distressed if she knew about this."

Geng Zhiye: "Aren't you going to pick up Dabao? Let her pick up Erbao and prepare lunch. You are a little too cautious. My dad hadn't passed away suddenly. She had been mentally prepared three years ago. If he wasn't in poor health, would Xiaoqin have listened to him when she filled out her college entrance examination application for the first time?"

"Then let me try."

On the 24th day of the first lunar month, Monday at 11 a.m., Ye Fan asked her mother-in-law to steam rice in the rice cooker at 11:30 a.m., and then go to the school gate to pick up the second child, while she went to pick up the first child.

Considering that Yu Wentao would be the only one left at home after she left, Ye Fan added, "Prepare the dishes if you are busy enough. I will cook when I come back."

Yu Wentao went to the kitchen after she left the house, looked under the chopping board and in the cabinet, prepared onions, ginger and garlic, and went to the vegetable garden to pick a handful of green vegetables and garlic sprouts.

Yu Wentao had a watch. After washing the vegetables, she found that it was almost half past eleven. She washed the rice, turned on the rice cooker, and went to the village primary school located in the northwest corner of Shanxi Brigade.

Arriving at the school gate just in time for the students to finish school, Yu Wentao felt as if she had just picked up Huihui and Benben two years earlier. When Erbao came out, she couldn't help but ask with a smile, "Erbao, are you tired?"

"Grandma, are you here to pick me up?" It was very strange for Erbao to be picked up by his grandma for the first time.

Yu Wentao nodded: "Are you hungry? Grandma has washed the vegetables, we will cook them when we get home. It will be just in time for your mom and your brother to come back for dinner."

"I've been hungry for a long time." Erbao asked, "Do you want to eat rice cakes? Grandma, can we eat the sausages that mom made before the New Year? I want to eat fried rice cakes with sausages."

Ye Fan bought a lot of meat before the New Year and learned how to make sausages from the farmers on the island, intending to eat them after the New Year. Unexpectedly, by coincidence, while the sausages were well-seasoned, something happened in his hometown.

The Chinese sausage had been in the kitchen, and Yu Wentao saw it on the first day she arrived on the island. Because pigs were slaughtered on the island on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Ye Fan bought fresh meat, and then ate seafood, so he had no chance to fry the Chinese sausage.

Yu Wentao asked: "Does Erbao want to eat it? Then I'll go back and wash two slices and put them in the rice cooker?"

"Does mom agree?"

Yu Wentao thought about Ye Fan's temper and behavior: "If we don't waste, your mother won't scold us. By the way, Erbao, your mother has been doing some writing and calculations these days. Is she very busy at the factory? But I haven't seen her go to the office."

Erbao was stumped by the question and said he didn't know. When he got home and saw the book on the coffee table, Erbao understood: "Grandma, my mother is going to college."

Yu Wentao was stunned for a moment, and when Erbao asked her to cut the sausage, she almost cut her hand.

When Ye Fan came back, Yu Wentao looked at her with a complicated expression. Ye Fan thought, is this trick of picking up Erbao useless?

"Aunt Yu, light the fire and I'll cook." Ye Fan asked her what was wrong while he was about to cook.

However, Yu Wentao sat down in front of the stove and asked, "Do you want to go to college?"

Ye Fan breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that it was because of this matter. "I do have this plan, but I'm not sure where to take the exam. I'm afraid you and my parents will worry if they find out, so I plan to tell you in a few days."

"Your parents don't know either?" Yu Wentao felt relieved. "Does Xiaoqin know?"

Ye Fan: "I talked to Xiao Qin for a while, and Xiao Qin probably thought I would take the exam next year. My second brother and his wife know about it. My eldest brother's family doesn't know about it."

Yu Wentao asked again: "Where is Chen Xiaohui?"

Ye Fan shook his head.

Yu Wentao's worried face finally showed a smile: "Don't tell her. Xiaoqin said that she wanted to go to Peking University at first? You should apply to Peking University!"

Ye Fanxin said that she is really my mother-in-law and thinks so highly of me.

"I want to, too." Yu Wentao: "You'll definitely pass. From now on, I'll buy groceries, cook, and take care of Erbao, and you'll be responsible - take care of Dabao and yourself."

Seeing her high morale, Ye Fan regained her former vitality and said with a smile, "Okay!"

At night, before going to bed, Ye Fan told Geng Zhiye - done!
"Pick up Erbao? So simple?"

Ye Fan: "They found out that I was planning to take the college entrance exam, so they asked me to take the Beijing University, which Chen Xiaohui really wanted to attend."

Geng Zhiye was amused: "I'm not surprised at all. By the way, do you want to let Erbao live with her? Dabao can be separated from Erbao."

Ye Fan: "Even though they can fight three times a day, they will definitely be unhappy if we really separate them. Later, you go find Dabao and I'll find Erbao. Tell them that Aunt Yu is not used to staying in the guest room alone this time, so ask Erbao to sleep with her. You can take a nap and do homework in Dabao's room as you do now."

Geng Zhiye: "First ask Erbao if she wants to sleep with grandma. The little girl is still young and has her own ideas."

The next morning, Ye Fan took Erbao to the vegetable market, and Geng Zhiye took his son to the public toilet. They were each responsible for one. When they returned home, the couple looked at each other and knew that the matter was settled.

As soon as Dabao and Erbao left, Ye Fan told her mother-in-law about it. Yu Wentao thought Ye Fan was afraid that she would be lonely living alone, so she said she didn't need Erbao to accompany her. Ye Fan said that Dabao was old enough, and the brother and sister could try to separate.

Yu Wentao thought she was too particular: "Dabao is not even eleven years old yet. When my brother was this old, I was sleeping in the same bed with him."

"Isn't it because your family is poor and you don't have a quilt?" Ye Fan asked curiously.

Yu Wentao was so choked that she didn't want to pay attention to her and went out to watch her granddaughter and grandson practice Tai Chi.

Geng Zhiye suppressed his laughter and asked, "Do you want to piss her off to death?"

"Your stepmother is not as good as my mother in this respect." Ye Fan curled his lips, "My mother can arrange anything."

Geng Zhiye said unhappily, "You are your mother's treasure, how can your mother be willing to say 'no' to you?"

"Stop being so sarcastic." Ye Fan said, "Let's not talk about this matter. When they came to our house before, my mother said yes to whatever I bought. Except for worrying that I didn't have money and finding excuses to stop me from buying, she never said anything else. Your stepmother grumbled a lot, but she didn't eat less when we ate."

Geng Zhiye thought to himself, otherwise why would my mother-in-law complain that she is too troublesome?

If Geng Zhiye's father had not passed away, and Yu Wentao had been left alone at home after Geng Zhiqin started school, Tao Chunlan would never have agreed to let Yu Wentao and Ye Fan go to the island.

Geng Zhiye: "She was like this when she first came to our house. She hadn't eaten many good foods, so she wanted to try everything. But because our family was poor, she couldn't afford to buy anything, so she was torn. At first we thought she wanted to buy something but was afraid that we would think she was spending money. Later we found that she was like this even with her own salary, so we turned a deaf ear to her words."

"Why does she look a bit like Chen Xiaohui?" Ye Fan asked.

Geng Zhiye thought about it carefully: "It's different! None of her brothers and sisters dared to ask her for money. On the night of the wake for Dad, they thought I was asleep, and a few people were there talking about her future. She said that she had a pension and didn't need us to take care of her, nor did she need to trouble Xiaoqin. Then she said that she would keep the money for her retirement if she didn't have it in the future. How dare Chen Xiaohui say that to Chen Kuanren?"

Ye Fan couldn't help but say: "Chen Kuanren can't kill her!"

"Chen Kuanren is afraid of death and definitely doesn't dare to do anything serious. But Chen Xiaohui would think he dares! Her brain is actually better than Xiaoqin's!" Geng Zhiye was puzzled.

Ye Fan: "Put some noodles in."

Geng Zhiye put the wet wheat flour into the pot. This flour was rolled by Yu Wentao.

Before Ye Fan went to the market, she asked her mother-in-law what she wanted to eat, and Yu Wentao said anything was fine. It was cold in the morning and evening on the island, so Ye Fan said that she could cook some fine rice noodles with seafood and add a few slices of ginger. Dabao would feel warm after eating it, and would not feel cold when sitting on the bicycle.

When Ye Fan came back from shopping, Geng Zhiye winked at the kitchen in the living room and asked her to go to the kitchen. Ye Fan was curious and went to the kitchen to see her mother-in-law rolling noodles.

Ye Fan said there were noodles and thin rice noodles in the cupboard, so she didn't need to roll the noodles. Yu Wentao said it was a waste to buy and eat them, and then she quickly cut them and let Ye Fan make whatever she wanted.

When Ye Fan saw the noodles, she thought of her mother-in-law's cooking style, "Is she not used to eating fine rice noodles?"

Geng Zhiye: "It tastes bland to me compared to wheat noodles. Maybe that's why."

“But there are noodles.”

Geng Zhiye: "Dried noodles are also less tasty than hand-rolled noodles. Isn't your mother like that? She uses dried noodles because she doesn't want to cook?"

“She can just say it.”

Geng Zhiye said, "I'm afraid you think she's too much trouble. Since you don't have to roll it, and you can eat it more comfortably, just think she's being frugal."

Ye Fan: "Your stepmother has a good appetite, so you don't need to cook it until it's soft. Just serve it out when it's done. I'll go call Dabao and Erbao."

Dabao and Erbao came in after washing their hands and saw the wheat noodles and exclaimed, "Is it so delicious to eat in the morning?"

Ye Fan nodded: "Grandma rolled the noodles, and mom cooked the noodles."

Dabao immediately said, "Grandma, you've worked hard. Mom, you've worked hard too." Then she looked at her mother eagerly.

Ye Fan nodded, and Dabao picked up the chopsticks: "Let's eat!"

Erbao took a sip of the soup and said, "It's delicious! Grandma, can we make this again tomorrow?"

Yu Wentao thought to herself that her little granddaughter really gave her face.

"I like to eat what grandma makes every day." Yu Wentao saw that Erbao couldn't wait to eat noodles after drinking the soup, and thought to herself that it was a good thing that I was here, otherwise Miss Ye would have to go to work and review, and my eldest and second babies would be starving.

After taking a sip of the soup, Yu Wentao looked surprised. How come it tasted better than the last time she came here?

The last time I came here, rapeseed oil was limited in purchase, and pork required tickets. Ten kilograms of pork could be purchased at a time on site. Ye Fan bought five kilograms of fat pork to make oil a few days ago. Today, he used lard to fry eggs, and put in more oil than before. There were no poached eggs before, and only a little rapeseed oil was used. Naturally, it tasted better than last time.

Ye Fan had to prepare for exams, work, and pick up Dabao, so he had no energy to roll noodles. He had to make it twice a month on average, and Dabao and Erbao were not fed enough. But Ye Fan was reluctant to tire himself out, so he had to let them suffer. The two of them missed the seafood wheat noodles cooked with poached eggs more and more.

Otherwise, Dabao wouldn’t say “it tastes so good” when he saw the noodles.

Yu Wentao thought Dabao meant that the noodles were extremely rich with eggs, seafood and vegetables, so she asked if the noodles were difficult to make.

Geng Zhiye said: "It's not a big deal. Just fry the eggs, boil them in hot water, add the seafood and noodles, and finally the vegetables."

Ye Fan nodded: "It's troublesome to roll noodles."

Yu Wentao immediately said that she didn't mind the trouble.

Dabao couldn't help but say, "Grandma is so nice. My mom is just too much trouble."

Yu Wentao was so overwhelmed by his flattery that she didn't know which way was which.

In the evening, Yu Wentao took Dabao and Erbao out to play, while Geng Zhiye accompanied Ye Fan to do homework. When Ye Fan was tired and resting, he remembered that he would have another meal of wheat noodles in the evening, and couldn't help saying: "If Dabao is willing, he can get all the pension money from Aunt Yu."

"Fortunately, my son is kind." Geng Zhiye thought of something and felt that this was the right time, "I might be transferred soon."

Ye Fan: "Where are you going?"

Geng Zhiye shook his head. "A few days ago, a few people came to stay for three days. They were quite satisfied when they left. The higher-ups are planning to entrust me with important tasks, and they probably won't ask me to go to a big city for a comfortable stay."

Ye Fan was no longer tired: "No shrimp soldiers or crab generals this time, right?"

Geng Zhiye laughed, "I'm not stupid. They came here before the end of the first month of the lunar year, so they obviously didn't come for military supplies. It wasn't because of logistical problems, and no one had committed any crime. They could only be here for me. I asked the kitchen staff to kill a pig the next day after they arrived."

Ye Fan couldn't help but say, "Too smart."

"While eating, they hinted in their words whether I asked the kitchen staff to prepare extra meals because they were coming. I pretended not to hear them. After dinner, I took them to the vegetable field. What a coincidence, the vegetables planted after the New Year have sprouted in the past few days, the spinach and bok choy planted before the New Year are lush and green, and some of the garlic sprouts are dense, as dense as wheat seedlings." Geng Zhiye wanted to laugh when he thought about what happened that day. "When they came to me, they asked, aren't these from our fellow villagers on the island? I took them to the pigpen, where there were four fat pigs, which were left for the next month and the next month to eat. There were also seven or eight piglets and a few mediocre ones. The pigs were covered with mud and vegetable leaves, and it was obvious that I didn't ask someone to buy them and throw them in."

Ye Fan felt relieved: "Didn't they say anything?"

"They said they didn't expect that we could grow vegetables and raise pigs on the island. I said that the soil for growing vegetables was pulled from the mountain. Because there were a lot of rocks, we had to plant each vegetable by hand at the beginning, and we couldn't afford to damage them with a hoe." Geng Zhiye didn't say that because the clothes, shoes and weapons were all issued uniformly by the higher-ups, he couldn't make any changes without authorization, nor could he use the saved money to subsidize the officers and soldiers, so he asked the kitchen squad to buy chickens, ducks, meat and eggs from the production team.

If it weren't for this, it would be impossible for Geng Zhiye's guard to grow five centimeters in a few months.

Ye Fan: "I can grow my own vegetables without buying them. Where's the money in the account?"

Geng Zhiye said: "If you buy some books and read them in the study room, no one will fight over idle talk."

Geng Zhiye did not fool the people sent by his superiors. The army had two study rooms, one for books and one for table tennis. There were no table tennis tables available on the island, and it was too expensive to buy one in the city, so Geng Zhiye asked the carpenters of the production team to make six simple models.

Ye Fan: "They didn't expect it either?"

Geng Zhiye nodded: "If you don't know anything about these facilities, you might think you are in the best army and air force units."

Ye Fan wanted to laugh: "Did you forget that you are also a member of the navy?"

"I haven't forgotten." Geng Zhiye said, "I couldn't help but smile bitterly when I said that. But Lao Liao was not very happy and said that I shouldn't show off like that. What does he know? I have worked hard here for five years, and I didn't let the higher-ups know before I left, leaving it for others to find a chance to show off?"

Ye Fan nodded: "Even if these things were all your ideas, you wouldn't be able to do them without their help. The higher-ups can think of you, and they can also think of them. If the higher-ups let you eat meat, can they not let them drink soup?"

Geng Zhiye nodded: "If you pretend to be poor when you should be showing off your wealth, they will only be able to drink cold water in the future!"

"What did the Chief of Staff and Captain Niu say?"

Geng Zhiye: "They are a little worried that those people are not here for the rotation. But it doesn't matter if they are not. The treatment of the officials and civilians guarding the island is the same. Only ours was reduced. They can't explain it to the capital. Besides, they have always envied the treatment of the air force. They racked their brains to ask for money but couldn't get it. How can they take the initiative to reduce it?"

Ye Fan couldn't help but think of her father and brother, who couldn't drink alcohol on weekdays, but always drank a bottle during festivals. The wine stored by the Ye family could be sold in a few years to support Liangliang.

Geng Zhiye had been on the island for several years, and Ye Fan had never seen him bring wine home.

In terms of rank, Geng Zhiye is not much lower than her brother.

—

The couple made all kinds of preparations, but they never expected that another group of people would come in mid-May of the Gregorian calendar.

The nearest place to the garrison area was the family quarters, so the people got off the boat at the ferry behind the vegetable market. Although they were all in plain clothes, they were straight-backed and looked like they were from the army. The fishermen did not dare to approach them and watched them pass through the family quarters.

While the fishermen were secretly looking at them, they were also quietly looking at the surrounding situation.

There were seven people in the group, two of whom had been here six years ago. The family quarters had not changed much, except for the increase in flowers. One of them joked, "Captain Geng is worthy of being from the capital, he knows how to live better than us."

They passed the family quarters and arrived at the intersection leading to the Shanxi Battalion and the garrison. They stopped for a moment to listen to the islanders' impressions of the garrison officers and soldiers. They looked around and saw a large tombstone. There was a red five-pointed star on the tombstone. They could not help but approach it. When they got there, they found that the former mound of earth had been replaced by a mansion.

The comrade who had previously teased Geng Zhiye wanted to take back his words.

Vegetable fields and pig pens can be faked, but the Martyrs' Forest Park cannot be faked. Even this big tombstone could not be built overnight.

The group felt that there was no need to investigate openly or secretly, but since they were already here, they had to go in and take a look.

There were no sentries in the pigsty and vegetable garden because there was no need. The people in the production team would not steal pigs or vegetables. There were too many vegetables at home, so they would keep the good ones for themselves, keep half of the bad ones, and throw the rest into the army's pigsty to feed the pigs.

It was around ten o'clock, which was not the time to pick vegetables and cook, nor was it the time to feed the pigs. There was no one around, so the group went over smoothly and found that three big fat pigs were missing. They thought that the pork that was sent over to eat last time was not the pork that Geng Zhiye specially asked the kitchen team to kill.

The group was very satisfied.

Entering the defense zone, except that the road is flat, there is no difference from before.

Geng Zhiye was training at the seaside, the chief of staff was floating on the sea with his men, and only Captain Niu and Political Commissar Liao were in the office. Political Commissar Liao was writing materials, and Captain Niu was drinking tea and puffing like a veteran soldier.

When the group arrived at the door and saw this scene, they couldn't help but frown. The leader coughed in dissatisfaction. Captain Niu turned over, but Political Commissar Liao was a beat slower.

Several people did not notice this subtle difference, because Captain Niu's behavior made them doubt the low quality of the entire team. After they revealed their identities, they ordered Captain Niu to call everyone to assemble.

Captain Niu first secretly asked someone to find Geng Zhiye, and then ordered someone to blow the assembly whistle.

The officers in the dormitory rushed to the training ground. One person alone would not be noticeable, but hundreds of people gathered together, and they were obviously taller and stronger than these seven. When Captain Niu joined the team, the seven noticed the muscles on his arms and stared at him for a moment. It turned out that he was not a lazy soldier.

Among the seven people there was an instructor in his thirties who proposed to have a sparring match with Captain Niu.

Captain Niu was worried that his superiors would cut spending when they saw how well they ate, but last month's spending was the same as before, not a penny less, so Captain Niu felt that Geng Zhiye did the right thing.

In the past, people came for random inspections in the second half of the year. Now May is not over yet, and the seven people are definitely not here for military supplies. If they are being inspected, then they cannot be modest at this time.

Captain Niu knocked down a comrade who was nearly ten years younger than him in just a few moves.

The seven men's faces turned green - he was worthy of his surname Niu, he was full of energy, and they had thought he was a soldier who was taking shortcuts and not doing his job.

Since they are so disrespectful, don't blame them for being rude. In an era when the landlords had no surplus food, these people were also greedy. After looking around, they asked Political Commissar Liao if he would kill pigs today.

Political Commissar Liao wanted to say yes, but Geng Zhiye rushed over and said, "It's too late at noon."

If the group hadn't seen Political Commissar Liao nod, they would have said forget it. Geng Zhiye was so cunning that the leader of the seven said, "Then kill him in the afternoon and cook him in the evening."

Must we eat? Geng Zhiye muttered to himself, "It's too late at night. I'll find a few more people to help in the kitchen. Maybe we can finish it before two o'clock."

(End of this chapter)