Help others? It's better to help yourself - Chapter 55

When Zhuang Zhuang started his summer vacation, the other two children wanted to play with their older brother and refused to go to daycare.

Taking advantage of this, Xu Jing’an handed all the children over to Shen He. For the entire summer, Shen He took the three children on his bicycle to work and back.

There were already over ten children in their unit, and with their own three, it became even more lively.

Now, many couples in the family both worked. Sometimes they couldn’t handle everything, so it was common for employees to bring their children to work. Their colleagues understood this well.

Zhuang Zhuang, Mao Mao, and Dou Dou followed their father to the unit, where they quickly found good playmates. Within three minutes, they joined them, running to the playground behind the office building, playing on the grass like a swarm of bees.

…

In June 1975, the family housing area on the east side of the military compound was made up of a row of ten courtyards. Each household had two main rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a storage room. The yards weren’t big, but they were connected to water and electricity, with a sewage system. Behind each house, there was a small vegetable garden, so only some families bought vegetables from the service station, while many chose to grow their own.

When Gu Panpan first arrived, she didn’t know who to approach for help. She worried that she might run into people who would take advantage of her, and she didn’t want to be seen as someone easy to bully.

The house Shen Yue applied for was the one at the very end of the row.

In the morning, after seeing Shen Yue off to the military camp, Gu Panpan felt a sense of relief and accomplishment.

Five years! It had taken her nearly five years to get Shen Yue to agree to apply for her to accompany him with the military. Only then could she leave the countryside.

What woman doesn’t want to be beautiful and live a refined life? In her past life, she took good care of herself. The money Shen Yue sent her, along with the money she earned from working and the food she received, was all spent on herself.

She used face creams and clam oil for her hands, and avoided doing heavy chores. Her parents loved her, and even though her sisters-in-law had complaints, they still made sure to give her meat, fine grains, and cloth tickets.

She was afraid of getting her face tanned, afraid of her hands becoming rough, but the result was that when Shen Yue came back after his discharge and saw her for the first time, he frowned. He didn’t think the delicate girl in front of him was all that special!

At that time, she felt that her husband earned so much every month, but he only gave her five yuan. She always thought it was too little and felt dissatisfied.

In this life, Gu Panpan still felt that the money was too little, but she wouldn’t demand more. As long as she could make Shen Yue accept her in his heart, he would personally hand over both the money and the goods to her. When a man cares about you, you don’t have to ask. Whether it’s a big matter or a small one, if he can think of it, he will take care of it thoroughly.

When Shen Yue saw Gu Panpan at the train station, he saw her face slightly tanned and her rough hands, but he didn’t say anything. He just took the initiative to carry her luggage, get her meals, boil water, wash clothes, and give her the salary he had just received.

That night, the two of them lay in bed. Shen Yue touched Gu Panpan’s calloused hands, kissed her forehead, and repeatedly caressed her back.

Shen Yue’s hands were rough and strong, holding her waist, making love to her again and again. Afterward, he would hold her to sleep.

He was someone who could only be moved by sincerity and true feelings. She was very glad that she had made the right choice this time.

……

“Sister-in-law, this is the parcel Captain Shen asked us to deliver.” The young comrades, about eighteen or nineteen years old, placed the items down and were about to leave.

Gu Panpan quickly called out and took some hard candies from her pocket. “Thank you, young comrade. Don’t rush off. It’s not much, just a few candies to sweeten your mouth.”

“Sister-in-law, no need.” The young comrade quickly waved his hands.

“Take it! Don’t be so polite with Captain Shen’s family,” Gu Panpan said as she quickly handed him the candy.

The young man’s dark face turned red. “Sister-in-law, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going.”

“Alright, I’ll have your captain treat you to a meal next time.”

The young man quickly ran off.

Gu Panpan noticed that the parcel was from her hometown. Many items were inconvenient to bring, so she had them sent.

Turning around, she hurriedly began tidying up the room and organizing things. There were still many things to do that day. She also needed to take some time to ask Shen Yue and get a handle on the relationships here. This way, she would know how to get along with other military wives, or else things might go wrong.

She opened the parcel and placed the most important item inside—a used iron pot—into the kitchen. On the stove was a new pot that Shen Yue had prepared.

It took an hour to tidy up the house. Since both she and Shen Yue were from the north, they decided to have steamed buns for lunch; there was still enough time!

She got up and took out the old yeast and mixing bowl she had brought, beginning to prepare the dough. After kneading it, she covered the bowl with a lid and moved it to a sunny spot.

Taking the money and a basket, she turned and walked toward the military service station.

When Gu Panpan arrived, the place was crowded. She looked up at the clock on the service station wall; it was already 9:30.

“Lady, why are there so many people here now?” Gu Panpan asked the elderly woman in front of her, who was dressed in a gray top, black pants, and had her hair neatly combed.

Grandma Sun replied, “You must be new here, right?”

“Yes, I just arrived yesterday.”

“There are always many people, but today especially so. They say there’s some off-plan cloth today, without tickets, a special benefit for military families. They’ve been waiting a long time, but it hasn’t arrived yet!” Grandma Sun whispered, though everyone already knew.

“Grandma, I’m going to buy some vegetables first, my pot’s waiting to be filled!” Gu Panpan took the opportunity to buy vegetables while everyone was lined up to get fabric.

She bought two pounds of chives, one pound of fennel shoots, three pounds of cucumbers, three pounds of tomatoes, two pounds of eggs, and one pound of vermicelli, filling her basket to the brim.

Just as she was about to leave, she suddenly heard the vendor shout, “The cloth has arrived! Everyone, get in line! We also have pork today, available for ticket holders!”

Those who were far away couldn’t hear what was being shouted, while those closer hesitated between buying fabric or meat. Some wanted to buy but didn’t have any meat tickets, so they had to hurry home to get them.

The meat stand was right next to the vegetable stall. Gu Panpan was the first to reach the meat stand.

“I’ll take two pounds of pork belly and three pounds of fatty pork,” Gu Panpan was glad that she had brought all her tickets when she left home.

Opportunities to buy meat were rare. It wasn’t enough just to have a ticket—otherwise, how would Shen Yue have accumulated so many meat tickets? She had to take advantage of the situation while there was less crowd and more meat.

The meat vendor was clearly experienced. After taking the money and tickets, he quickly sliced the meat, each piece weighing exactly one pound. Gu Panpan grabbed the meat and quickly tucked it into her basket, then turned and hurried away. By now, the area was crowded with people.

She kept walking home without stopping; it was important not to slow down! What if she ran into someone who didn’t get meat and insisted she share?

She quickly closed the door when she got home.

First, she went to the kitchen and lit the stove to cook the vermicelli. After that, she made mung bean soup, cleaned and washed the chives and fennel shoots, and drained the water. Then, she took the fatty pork out to render the fat. She also opened the new pot (by adding a bit of water and slowly simmering the pork in small chunks).

She scooped out the oil residue into a large bowl and poured the oil into the oil container. Taking advantage of the hot oil, she fried two eggs, added the chives and vermicelli, and mixed them well in the pan. Then, she chopped up the fennel shoots and oil residue and mixed them in too. After seasoning with salt, she started kneading the dough. (When kneading the dough, she added a bit of baking soda to prevent it from becoming too sour.)