After Liang Guoan returned home, he saw a plate of minced meat and shredded radish and a plate of spicy and sour cabbage on the table. He immediately remembered the aroma of meat he had just smelled at Gu Qinghan's house.
When Mrs. Liang saw her husband coming back, she immediately ran to the kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks and served him a bowl of rice.
Liang Guoan hung his military cap on the hook behind the door, then washed his hands and sat down. He took the bowl and chopsticks handed to him by his wife and started to eat his meal.
Seeing that he looked like a hungry ghost, Mrs. Liang asked, "Why did you come back so late tonight?"
In winter, these pilots rarely have night training, probably only one night a week, and they usually return home early.
It was half an hour late tonight and the children had already eaten.
Liang Guoan made a perfunctory excuse, then suddenly thought of something and asked, "By the way, you said before that Gu Qinghan's wife can't cook. What's the matter? Do you know who spread the news?"
Liang Guoan is the captain of the flight team and he must put the overall situation first. Although the work of his family in the rear is not his responsibility, he cannot ignore it if it affects the flight training. The army is a big family and all parties must cooperate well whether on the front line or in the rear.
Mrs. Liang paused for a moment while holding the dish, then stammered, "I also heard people talking about it when I went to the vegetable market to buy vegetables. Many people are talking about it. As for your request to find the first person who spread the news, it's probably difficult to find him."
Then Sister Liang looked at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
Liang Guoan picked up a piece of cabbage and put it in his mouth, saying, "I passed by their house on my way back tonight. The meal cooked by Gu Qinghan's wife smelled delicious as soon as I opened the door. It was so tempting."
"Don't talk about other people's affairs in the future. I think Gu Qinghan's wife is not the kind of person that people say she is. She seems to be very family-oriented."
Mrs. Liang nodded. "I definitely won't gossip about others. I'm not the kind of person who talks too much. I just told you. It's not good to spread rumors like this. If you report it to the political commissar, I won't be able to explain myself."
"And I've also met Comrade Wen, he's very good-looking, speaks softly, spends the whole day with his daughter, doesn't do anything special, seems easy to get along with."
Mrs. Liang still cherishes her reputation very much, especially since her husband is the captain of the flight team and the next two years are also a critical period for promotion, so she would not gossip about him to other big mouths.
However, Gu Qinghan and Wen Nuan had just been transferred here, so they attracted the attention of other people in the family compound. I guess after a few months, no one would be so curious anymore.
Liang Guoan looked at the dishes on the table and murmured, "Then we can go back and forth."
After all, Gu Qinghan was also the pilot he favored the most, and both in public and in private, he hoped that they could get along in harmony.
After eating a few mouthfuls of rice, Liang Guoan couldn't help asking, "By the way, wife, do you know how to make clay pot rice? Make it for me tomorrow."
Sister Liang: “???”
"Whose son is this?"
"… "
*
Gu Qinghan changed his military coat after returning home and washed his hands with a basin of water.
After wiping the water off his hands, he first walked to the cart and picked up the little girl who was bending over and eating with her little feet. She had torn off her socks and threw them next to the cart.
Gu Qinghan also asked her: "Were you good today? Did you make your mother angry?"
The child naturally didn't answer him, so Gu Qinghan just carried her to the dining table.
Wen Nuan had already prepared a bowl of rice for him and enthusiastically pulled out a chair for him at the dining table. The rice in the bowl was topped with potato cubes, radish cubes, and particularly fragrant Chinese sausage, which glowed with an oily luster under the yellow light of the tungsten lamp.
Wen Nuan looked at him expectantly and handed him a pair of chopsticks, her eyes sparkling: "Try it and see if you like it."
Then she smiled and said, "Le Le ate half a bowl and burped. She ate a lot even though she didn't put soy sauce in her bowl. Ours has soy sauce, so it tastes better. There are also some peas in it, which Sister Guihua gave me."
Gu Qinghan really likes listening to Wen Nuan talk. Oftentimes, she even talks to herself, which makes her look a bit cute.
Gu Qinghan looked over, his eyes sparkling, and asked, "Have you eaten?"
Wen Nuan nodded: "I just ate. I thought you wouldn't come back for dinner. I heard the army's dinner bugle sounded for a long time."
Sister Guihua said that their flying corps sometimes trains at night, but it’s hard to say which night it will be, it depends on the weather.
Generally, if a man hasn't returned home half an hour after the dinner bugle call, it means he is still training.
So Wen Nuan ate first. She didn't have a big appetite, and now she had nothing to do, so she couldn't eat much, so she left some for Gu Qinghan.
However, when she was cooking, she deliberately cooked Gu Qinghan's portion as well, so there was quite a lot left, definitely enough for him to eat.
"Let me hold the child, and you eat quickly!" Wen Nuan was about to reach out to hold the child, but the child tilted his head and buried it in Gu Qinghan's neck.
Gu Qinghan felt a soft touch on his collar and couldn't help curling his lips: "It's okay, I can hold her while she eats."
Gu Qinghan picked up a piece of sausage that was baked with slightly raised edges and put it into his mouth. He could only feel a rich and mellow special fragrance spreading between his teeth, which made him unable to help chewing. He had eaten in the canteen of the army for so many years, but he had never eaten such delicious rice. The agate-colored rice was also particularly fragrant and chewy, like rice crust, but not as hard as rice crust.
It can be said that it was the best meal he had ever eaten.
I don't know if the little guy smelled the fragrance, but his little head was raised from Gu Qinghan's neck again. His dark eyes were staring at Gu Qinghan's hand that was picking up the food, with some saliva on the corners of his mouth. Then he stretched out his hand to grab the chopsticks in his hand.
Seeing this, Wen Nuan reached out and pinched the little guy's chubby face, "Still eating? No, you've already eaten a lot!"
Because the little one had vomited milk while sleeping at night before, Wen Nuan didn't dare to feed her too much at night, because she would have to drink milk to sleep later.
Gu Qinghan was about to pick up a piece of bacon for the child, but after being looked at by Wen Nuan, he took back his chopsticks.
"Your mother won't let you eat it."
The little guy didn't know if he understood or not. He looked at Wen Nuan, then pouted at her, looking extremely aggrieved.
Gu Qinghan held the rice in one hand and patted her back gently with the other hand to comfort her, as if he felt that Wen Nuan had bullied her a little.
But if Wen Nuan didn't let her eat it, Gu Qinghan wouldn't secretly give it to her.
Gu Qinghan glanced at her, stretched out his finger and touched the child's chubby face: "You can't eat anymore."
This little girl just likes to act like a spoiled brat. Wen Nuan takes her with her every day. The little girl also knows that Wen Nuan is very soft-hearted. As long as she cries, she will give her everything. She has no principles at all!
Seeing the aggrieved look on the little boy's face, Wen Nuan couldn't help but compromise. However, Gu Qinghan ate up the rice in the bowl in just a few bites in front of the child. The speed was so fast that both Wen Nuan and the child were a little surprised.
Because Gu Qinghan was still holding the child, she didn't eat very cleanly. Also, the bowl of Wen Nuan was not very big because she was afraid that the weather would be cold and it would get cold easily.
Gu Qinghan brought the empty bowl to the child and said, "No more, we've finished eating."
Gu Qinghan doesn't look like a good person. He has a cold face all day and never smiles. But after getting to know him, Wen Nuan knows that he is actually a very considerate person, but that doesn't mean he will compromise with children. Generally, if Wen Nuan doesn't allow her to do something, or if he doesn't like something, he won't indulge the child.
The child looked at the bowl and reached into it, only to grab two grains of rice and stuffed them directly into his mouth.
Wen Nuan smiled: "Do you want more? There's more in the pot."
Gu Qinghan has a big appetite, so Wen Nuan had about a bowl and a half of food left over, and she only ate a little bit just now.
"Well, give me some more." Gu Qinghan smiled: "It's delicious."
Before, he was worried that Wen Nuan couldn't cook. This year, when he heard Liang Guoan say that there were all kinds of rumors about the family compound, he was angry but also worried that she couldn't work or cook with the child alone, so he rushed home without stopping.
But now it seems that the warmth was really beyond his expectations.
This meal is really delicious.
No wonder Liang Guoan looked back every few steps when he left, as if he wanted him to stay for dinner, and his saliva almost fell to the ground.
I don’t know why, but when I saw that scene, Gu Qinghan felt inexplicably happy.
Wen Nuan was overjoyed and immediately walked over to the stove. She had put the rice on a piece of the stove to keep it warm because she was afraid it would get cold. When she opened the lid, it was still steaming.
She simply held the entire clay pot and asked Gu Qinghan to scrape up the rice crust and eat it so that it would not be wasted.
Wen Nuan was just about to ask Gu Qinghan to give the child to her so that she wouldn't get her hands dirty with the black ash at the bottom of the pot.
However, the boy's hand was faster than Gu Qinghan's and he had already touched the edge of the pot. Fortunately, the pot was not placed on the stove, otherwise his fingers would have been burned and blistered.
Wen Nuan grabbed her little hand and frowned: "Look, it's dark, so I told you to use more hands!"
The little guy was still smiling and wanted to put his hands on Wen Nuan's body, but was caught by Wen Nuan.
"I'll go help her wash, and wash her butt at the same time." After saying this, Wen Nuan took the child away directly to avoid getting another harlequin cat.
The ash at the bottom of the pot is very difficult to clean!
The little guy was babbling as if he was kidnapped by some bad guy, and Wen Nuan was so angry that she slapped her little butt.
After taking care of the child, Gu Qinghan had already washed the dishes and ate up all the clay pot rice without leaving a single grain.
After washing the dishes, he brought a basin of hot water into the room.
Wen Nuan looked at the enamel basin. It was hers. Gu Qinghan would make hot water for her to soak her feet in it every night these few days.
Although my feet were quite warm right after soaking, they became cold again after a while.
Wen Nuan took off her socks, rolled up her trouser legs, and put her white feet into the enamel basin. She asked him, "Has everyone made a kang?"
This is not the coldest time yet. If there is a blizzard, it will probably be even colder.
She went to sister Guihua's place to shell peas today and saw that her house also had a kang, which was warm and comfortable to sit on.
Gu Qinghan held the child in his arms and played with the airplane game, and the little guy laughed out loud with joy.
He turned around to look at Wen Nuan and asked, "Do you want to build a kang?"
Wen Nuan nodded: "It would be best if we have a kang. Can we apply for bricks?"
With the kang, she no longer has to rely on Gu Qinghan's little stove every night. She can sleep however she likes without having to hug each other.
They were all adult men and women, and Wen Nuan's face was flushed every night by Gu Qinghan's passion, but he never mentioned it.
Gu Qinghan paused for a moment before replying softly, "Usually it's done in summer, but the weather is bad right now, so the soil can't dry out."
Hearing this, Wen Nuan muttered, "Don't we have to wait another half a year..."
After hearing her words, Gu Qinghan silently carried the child out of the living room and took her to ride in the car.
*
The next day, Wen Nuan went to see Sister Guihua early in the morning, planning to go to the supply and marketing cooperative with her to buy some eggs and pork to satisfy her hunger, because Gu Qinghan said before he went out that he would come home for dinner tonight.
As the two of them pushed Lele out of the house, they saw a boy about ten years old squatting on a tree branch in front of the red brick house. The buttons of his blue cotton jacket were buttoned incorrectly, and the clothes were twisted into a ball.
The strange thing was that the boy kept staring at them. Wen Nuan was not afraid that there were any bad guys in this family compound, but she felt that the boy's eyes were a little creepy.
She asked Sister Guihua, "Whose child is that?"
Sister Guihua took a look at the little boy, then locked the door tightly and said to Wen Nuan, "That was He Dazhuang, the son of Li Qiuyan's family whom I saw yesterday."
Then she asked, "Are all the doors and windows of your house locked?"
Wen Nuan didn't know what Sister Guihua meant, so she nodded and said, "They are all locked."
Sister Guihua then took Wen Nuan and walked towards the supply and marketing cooperative, her steps a little fast: "That's good, that He Dazhuang is dishonest, I forgot to lock the door before, and he came into my room and took two steamed buns."
Wen Nuan frowned, "This..."
Sister Guihua sighed, her voice a little low: "How can you be fussy about such a young child? Besides, his father died at the beginning of the year, and now Li Qiuyan is the only woman raising three children and an old lady, so pitiful. That time, Li Qiuyan beat the children in front of me, and she was so cruel that I felt embarrassed. I also feel sorry for them, thinking that there are only two people in the family, me and my husband, Lao Zhou, and food and drink are not so scarce. Sometimes I feel sorry for them and occasionally give them some pancakes and steamed buns."
Then he said with a bit of regret: "But after that, He Dazhuang became more and more excessive. He knew that I didn't have any children, so he brought his brothers and sisters to wait for me at mealtime. Sometimes I felt sorry for them and would give them some food. But after so many times, I got annoyed and stopped giving them food. Then the child seemed to have a grudge against me, staring at people with strange eyes all day long, which made me feel uneasy."
Wen Nuan understood that some people are just like that. They are grateful for a little and resentful for a little.
When we help them, they act as if it is their right and never feel grateful; when one day they don't want to help anymore, it's as if others have done something wrong and we start to feel resentful.
Wen Nuan knows that Sister Guihua is actually a good person, but sometimes it is not easy to be a good person, just like He Dazhuang, it is better not to help!
It's not an exaggeration to say that he is an ungrateful person.
Wen Nuan comforted him, "Don't worry about him in the future. If he comes to take your things again, just ask him to return them!"
He Dazhuang's behavior was already stealing. If he was not so young, he would have been caught by the patrol team in the army long ago.
Sister Guihua nodded and said, "I really won't help you this time. I feel so disappointed."
"Besides, Li Qiuyan already has a job, and she also received a subsidy after her husband's death. Logically, she shouldn't be living in such a shabby state. I don't know how she ended up living like this. Poor children..."
For some reason, after hearing what Sister Guihua said, Wen Nuan suddenly thought of Gu Qinghan's salary passbook.
It seemed that Li Qiuyan was in the army of Province G before. Could they have lent them all to her
But on second thought, Li Qiuyan's husband had not yet died, so she shouldn't have asked Gu Qinghan for help.
Sister Guihua turned her head and glanced at Wen Nuan, then whispered: "I smelled the delicious rice you cooked last night. My Lao Zhou also said it was especially delicious. I couldn't bear to eat the sausage you gave me last time. Why don't you teach me how to make it? I'll make it for my Lao Zhou to try tonight!"
Not only Zhang Guihua smelled it, but almost all the family members of the two rows of red brick houses nearby smelled it.
When everyone saw Wen Nuan, they no longer whispered and laughed at her like before.
Along the way, Wen Nuan carefully explained to Sister Guihua the steps of making clay pot rice.
Sister Guihua also often cooks in the kitchen, so she roughly remembered the process after listening to it once.
In the end, she still couldn't help but remind Wen Nuan: "Your family's food is so delicious, you should also be careful of He Dazhuang, don't be so soft-hearted, once or twice is okay, but if you give too much, you won't get a good word from him!"
Wen Nuan nodded: "I know, thank you sister-in-law for reminding me."
*
After Wen Nuan found out about this, she checked the doors and windows after buying eggs and returning home. Because when she first came to the family compound, Gu Qinghan and Li Daxiang had already repaired them once, so there was nothing wrong with the doors and windows.
It's the vegetable cellar in the yard outside, and it's not locked.
However, the vegetables are supplied in unlimited quantities, no tickets are required, and the price is not expensive, so you shouldn't have to take them.
During this period of time, she didn't notice anything missing from the vegetable cellar.
Wen Nuan didn't think much about it and took her child to sleep. In the evening, she started preparing dinner.
Gu Qinghan ate up the whole pot of rice last night and said it smelled delicious several times. It seemed that he had been craving for rice for a long time, so Wen Nuan still planned to cook tonight.
Thinking of the eggs and pork she bought in the morning, she thought of an omelette rice, which she had seen an old lady make on Bilibili before. It was very tempting.
So cook the rice early, and then stir-fry it when it cools down to make omelette rice!
Before cooking, Wen Nuan specially found the leftover wood that Gu Qinghan had used to make the cart, and made a small toy, and put it on the cart for the child to play with.
The stroller is not too high, and the child cannot crawl around yet, so it is relatively safe.
As long as the little girl can see the adults, she will actually sit in the stroller very obediently and be very well behaved.
Wen Nuan sometimes feels that she is God's compensation for allowing her to travel through a book. She is so well-behaved and cute.
Before Wen Nuan started cooking, she kissed her child and said, "Le Le, mom is going to cook, wait patiently!"
The little guy smiled and said "Yeah", as if to tell her not to worry.
There weren't that many ingredients in that era, so Wen Nuan only prepared carrots, onions, potatoes, pork and eggs this time. Even the mushrooms were just dried mushrooms, two of which were given by Sister Guihua.
There is no curry, so I can only use soy sauce instead.
Wen Nuan first chopped the side dishes and pork into small pieces and set them aside for preparation. Then she cracked two eggs. Wen Nuan felt that two eggs were a little too few, so she hardened her heart and added another one.
After beating the eggs, Wen Nuan started to fry the side dishes. This time she deliberately used the pot in the kitchen. The rice fried in a large pot with steam would be particularly fragrant.
Because of the addition of diced pork, when the heat from the pot rose, a rich aroma immediately emerged, and the whole house was filled with the fragrance. Even Wen Nuan couldn't help but take a deep breath. It was so fragrant!
Lele heard the sizzling sound of cooking and looked towards Wen Nuan. Then he smiled and continued playing with his little feet.
After frying the side dishes, Wen Nuan directly poured the cold rice and green beans that had been cooked at noon into the mixture and stir-fried them together. Because the side dishes had already been added with sauces, the rice slowly turned into an attractive golden color as it was stirred.
Wen Nuan smelled the fragrant aroma and couldn't help but pick up two grains of rice with her hands and put them into her mouth. It was delicious!
The next step is the most important step of frying the egg. If the egg skin is not fried well, it will be difficult to make omelette rice later.
Fortunately, Wen Nuan was an experienced hand and for once she was not stingy with the oil. As soon as the eggs were poured into the pan, there was a sizzling sound, and the eggs at the bottom were heated and turned into a layer of membrane.
Wen Nuan carefully flipped the eggs and fried the other side. When everything was formed, she put the rice in and rolled it with her hands. The golden omelette rice was out of the pan.
Before Wen Nuan was put on the plate, she heard a noise coming from outside the yard.
Gu Qinghan must have come home. Wen Nuan quickly put the omelette rice on the plate, washed her hands, and went to open the door.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw Li Qiuyan dragging two boards and coming to the gate of her yard.
And opposite her was Gu Qinghan.
Li Qiuyan placed the board on a slightly frozen area, and then smiled at Wen Nuan, "Comrade Xiao Wen, have you cooked? It smells so good! I also smelled a very delicious smell last night. It must have been cooked by your family. You are really good at cooking."
An unfriendly thought flashed through Wen Nuan's mind, and then she smiled at her: "Sister Li, what are you doing..."
"Oh, this!" Li Qiuyan kicked the two boards on the ground with her feet and smiled sweetly: "I saw that your cart was well made before, and it is much more convenient to use. But I don't have a man at home, so I thought of coming to ask Deputy Head Gu for help and make a cart for me."
Then she smiled and explained, "Ah, I just don't know whether you like it or not, Comrade Xiao Wen, so I came to ask you first. If you find it troublesome, I can take it back immediately."
Li Qiuyan spoke very sincerely, as if she would not care if she was rejected and would take the things back home immediately.
But if she really thinks that others don't like it, can she just pull the board to their door? Isn't this forcing others to help her
Wen Nuan looked annoyed, glanced at Li Qiuyan and smiled coldly: "I don't like it, take it back."