As October approaches, the North City already has a hint of winter.
Although it hasn't snowed yet, the air has become very dry as the temperature drops.
Wen Nuan has been making nourishing soups such as Tremella, lily and pear for her family these days, and sometimes she would send some to Sister Guihua and Sister Juxiang.
After drinking it for a while, the two sisters-in-law felt that their complexions had improved. Afterwards, they specially followed Wen Nuan to learn a little bit so as not to bother her all day long.
Wen Nuan got up early in the morning and went to the vegetable garden to pick some tomatoes and vegetables and took them home. She planned to make a simple tomato, mushroom, vegetable and vermicelli soup for the little guy Lele as breakfast.
Tomatoes of this era were introduced from the Soviet Union. Even when ripe, they were not red in color, but had a strong tomato flavor. They usually ate them as fruit.
By the end of October or the beginning of November, it might snow in the north city, and then we will have to store vegetables, and we won’t be able to grow vegetables in the vegetable garden.
When Wen Nuan returned home, she heard Le Le calling for her mother, even though she was still sleeping soundly when she went to pick vegetables.
However, since Gu Qinghan was at home, Wen Nuan was not in a hurry to go into the room. Instead, she went to the kitchen first to wash the tomatoes and vegetables.
Before the food was ready, the little guy came to the kitchen barefoot and shouted loudly: "Mom."
"Hey, Lele, are you up?" Wen Nuan turned around and saw that she was not wearing shoes, so she said, "Put on your shoes first. The floor is so cold, don't you feel your feet are cold?"
When Lele heard Wen Nuan asking her to put on her shoes, she immediately turned around and left, not intending to listen to her.
But just after she turned around and took a few steps, Lele was caught by Gu Qinghan, who then carried her to a chair, swept the soles of her feet with his hands, and then put on her shoes for her.
"Your mother asked you to wear shoes, but you still ran away. You are becoming more and more naughty."
Lele giggled twice and tried to reach out to pull off her shoes, but was stopped by Gu Qinghan, "Don't take off your shoes anymore. It's a little colder today than yesterday. Your feet are all red from the cold just now."
"Oh." Lele responded dejectedly, then jumped off the chair.
Gu Qinghan quickly grabbed the little girl's arm and asked her seriously, "Dad puts shoes on you, what should you say?"
This time Lele said quickly and loudly: "Thank you, Dad."
"You're welcome." Gu Qinghan tidied her clothes and said, "Mom is busy, just sit on the chair and wait."
Who knew that when Gu Qinghan turned around and went back to her room, Lele ran to the kitchen again and hugged Wen Nuan's thighs from behind: "Mom, hug me."
"Wait a moment, I'll make breakfast for you." Wen Nuan poured the beaten egg liquid directly into the boiling hot pot and then covered it with a lid.
Lele kept pulling at her pants and coat. Wen Nuan put down the bowl in her hand, picked up the child, and asked her with a smile: "Is our Lele hungry?"
When the little girl heard her mother ask her this, she quickly reached out and patted her belly: "I'm hungry, I want to eat meat."
Wen Nuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Don't eat meat in the morning. Mom made egg soup for you."
The child is still young, so it’s better for him to eat more vegetables and fruits. Also, this little guy eats too much meat, so he needs to eat some vegetables to balance it out.
The little guy looked aggrieved, hugged the warm neck and acted coquettishly: "No, no, I want to eat meat."
Wen Nuan pinched her little nose and said unhappily, "Meat won't be served until noon. Come, mommy will wash your hands first, and you can eat it later."
Gu Qinghan on the other end saw Wen Nuan helping the child wash their hands, and they walked to the stove tacitly and filled a large bowl with the mushroom, vegetable, egg and vermicelli soup in the pot.
The family sat at the dinner table. The little one was in a bad mood at first and refused to eat. But after seeing her parents scooped up half a bowl and drank it, she started to shout that she wanted to eat that.
Wen Nuan planned to go back to the kitchen to have breakfast, so she just drank a few sips and only wiped the little guy's mouth occasionally.
Seeing that Gu Qinghan had put down the bowl in his hand, she asked him, "Is your flight team recruiting pilots?"
"Yes, there is such a plan." Gu Qinghan looked at Wen Nuan calmly and asked, "How did you know so quickly?"
Wen Nuan met her husband's gaze and smiled, "Oh, so it hasn't been made public yet? I just happened to hear Da Xiang mention it a few days ago. Can he attend?"
Gu Qinghan didn't ask any more questions, and said directly: "Yes, anyone under the age of 24 can sign up."
Then he added: "No gender restrictions."
Wen Nuan thought for a moment and then asked, "By the way, how old is Da Xiang this year? Who are the people in his family?"
Gu Qinghan didn't think much about it and said directly: "He is 23 years old. As for his family, it seems that there is only his mother. His father has passed away. He is the youngest of five brothers and sisters."
"Oh, so how is he doing in the army?"
Wen Nuan was not surprised to hear this. She had heard of many families with five or six children, and some with twelve. On the contrary, families with only one or two children were very rare.
"Not bad. He works diligently and meticulously, and completes all the tasks assigned to him very well." Gu Qinghan looked over in confusion and asked her, "Why do you ask about this?"
Wen Nuan was feeding Le Le a mouthful of soup and said with a smile, "Qing Han, have you noticed that Da Xiang treats Qing Lan differently?"
Gu Qinghan really thought about it carefully, and then said seriously: "Really? I don't think so."
"… "
Well, this man seems to be naturally not interested in this kind of thing.
Gu Qinghan thought about it and thought that since his wife said so, there must be something going on. Thinking that Li Daxiang was a good person, he asked, "What did Qinglan say?"
"Qinglan was just like you, she didn't notice it either."
Wen Nuan felt that it made sense if she put it that way; the two siblings were pretty much the same.
After Lele finished breakfast, Gu Qinghan cleaned up and washed the dishes, and Wen Nuan sent Lele to Sister Guihua's house next door.
Before leaving for the kitchen, Wen Nuan took a large bag of dried onions and chilies from the chest of drawers, intending to make some seasoning packets for Gu Qinghan, asking him to take them to Factory 112. Seasoning packets are similar to hot pot soup bases. Winter will soon officially begin in the north, and when the weather gets cold, you can directly use seasoning packets.
She also talked to Lao Zhong and the others and asked them to help chop some meatballs and have Gu Qinghan bring them over.
Gu Qinghan originally didn't want his wife to go through so much trouble to prepare so many things. After all, he had been in worse environments before, and the situation at Factory 112 was not that difficult.
However, these were all manifestations of his wife's concern for him. Although Gu Qinghan felt distressed, he still did not stop it and felt warm in his heart.
*
When Wen Nuan returned to the kitchen, there were some people gathered outside, as if something had happened.
However, Wen Nuan was thinking about making seasoning packets and meatballs for Gu Qinghan, so she didn't show any curiosity and went straight to the kitchen.
But before she even walked into the kitchen door, she heard someone behind her calling her name, "Comrade Wen Nuan."
Wen Nuan subconsciously turned her head and saw He Manqing and Zhou Yun standing not far behind her. The two of them pushed each other and evaded the question without saying a word.
Wen Nuan snorted coldly and asked them, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
It was early in the morning, and the two of them suddenly came to see me. They definitely didn't come to have breakfast, right
So, it must be because of what happened in the hospital last time.
He Manqing pushed Zhou Yun and said in a low voice, "You go."
Zhou Yun felt very aggrieved. It wasn't her who spoke ill of the kitchen staff in the hospital that day!
She was also led astray by He Manqing. It was He Manqing who first said that the other person's warm husband was also a member of the ratings panel, and then she said that.
This morning, she was caught by Captain Liao and scolded severely. She was already feeling aggrieved enough. She didn't expect that now that she came to the kitchen team with He Manqing, this woman actually wanted her to speak first.
But thinking that He Manqing still had a godfather who was a commander, Zhou Yun had no choice but to bite the bullet and took a step forward towards Wen Nuan, whispering, "Comrade Wen Nuan, we were wrong about what happened in the hospital last time. I apologize to you."
Wen Nuan smiled and asked in confusion: "What? Your voice was too soft, I didn't hear it clearly."
Wen Nuan looked at Zhou Yun. The other person's voice was so soft. It was completely different from what it was like before in the hospital.
And she just said "we were wrong", so what does the silence of the female comrade behind her mean
"You—" Zhou Yun got angry again. Wen Nuan knew what she meant, but she still wanted to act politely!
But thinking of the abuse from Captain Liao, Zhou Yun compromised, raised her voice, and said to Wen Nuan: "I'm sorry, I said something I shouldn't have said last time in the hospital, please forgive me!"
He Manqing took this opportunity to whisper, "I'm sorry too."
With such a light sentence, He Manqing seemed to want to clear herself of any responsibility, as if to say that she was not the one who started this matter.
Wen Nuan smiled gently, walked up to the two of them, and replied in a neutral tone: "Comrades, you should apologize to the comrades in our entire kitchen team who performed on stage, not just to me."
Regardless of why they suddenly felt guilty, they came to apologize to her a few days later.
But the last time these two people slandered the entire kitchen team in the hospital, Wen Nuan could not accept their apology on behalf of others.
Zhou Yun and He Manqing's faces changed. They both thought Wen Nuan would accept their apology. After all, it was just a verbal conflict. If Captain Liao hadn't known about it, they wouldn't be standing here now.
Zhou Yun wanted to say something, but He Manqing beside her grabbed her arm.
There weren't many people watching, but some people who knew about this couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect Wen Nuan to be so thoughtful. This matter really concerns the reputation of the entire kitchen team. If she is willing, other comrades may not be willing."
"It's these two people in the art troupe who are wrong. Do they really think they have to be the first place every year? They are jealous when others get the first place. They have no manners."
Someone knew He Manqing, so they whispered, "Stop talking. He Manqing's background is not simple. I heard that she has some relationship with Commander Lu, and Commander Lu specially arranged for her to join the art troupe."
Just at this moment, Lao Zhong and Xiao Zhu came out and heard everything the crowd said clearly.
However, Lao Zhong didn't seem to care about He Manqing's relationship. Instead, he shouted loudly to He Manqing and Zhou Yun: "I was wondering what was buzzing so early in the morning. It turned out to be two flies!"
Then he said to Wen Nuan: "Comrade Wen Nuan, please come back to the kitchen quickly. There are many things waiting for you to deal with. Don't waste time."
Wen Nuan knew the attitude of Lao Zhong and the others, and she didn't plan to waste words with them. She turned around and walked towards the kitchen.
When He Manqing heard what Lao Zhong said, she became even more angry as she had been irritated the whole morning.
She has never been treated like this since she joined the Air Force!
She frowned and couldn't help shouting at Lao Zhong: "Don't be so unreasonable. Who do you say is the fly?"
Lao Zhong scratched his ears and said with a smile: "Whoever finds the right seat is the right one. What? Do you also think you are a buzzing fly?"
"You..." He Manqing was so angry that she couldn't speak. Instead, Zhou Yun beside her pulled her back and said, "Forget it, Manqing. Don't forget that Captain Liao asked us to come here to apologize!"
Zhou Yun was still afraid of Captain Liao. After all, no matter how powerful He Manqing's background was, it had nothing to do with her.
She thought that she must complete the task today before going back, and she didn't want this matter to affect her literary career.
He Manqing was extremely annoyed, but when she thought of Captain Liao's abuse, she backed off and could only watch Wen Nuan and Lao Zhong walk back to the kitchen of the cooking squad.
The crowd watching nearby saw the people from the kitchen team going back to the cafeteria and stopped lingering. They looked at He Manqing and Zhou Yun with disdain and slowly dispersed.
He Manqing cursed: "Who is this? We have already apologized, what else do they want?!"
Of course Zhou Yun also felt aggrieved, but unlike He Manqing, she had a godfather to back her up and had the confidence to fight back.
After thinking for a while, Zhou Yun said, "Manqing, although we are also wrong in this matter, the attitude of their kitchen team is too bad. You are Commander Lu's goddaughter after all, how can they treat you like this!"
He Manqing thought about it and it made sense. After all, she had a godfather who was a commander. Why should she endure such humiliation
But when the two of them returned to the art troupe, Director Liao seemed to have received the news that the comrades in the kitchen team did not accept the apology of He Manqing and Zhou Yun.
So when the two of them returned to the art troupe, Director Liao said to them disappointedly: "You don't have to come back for training in the next month. Reflect on yourselves."
When Zhou Yun heard this, she felt like the sky was falling. Thinking that all this was caused by He Manqing, she became extremely angry and clenched her fists tightly.
He Manqing also found it difficult to accept this result and bit her back teeth hard.
*
Cooking class.
When Wen Nuan returned to the kitchen, Lao Zhong and the others had already pounded several kinds of meat into puree, including fish balls, pork balls, and mushroom balls. They had originally wanted to make some beef balls, but there was not much beef, so Wen Nuan planned to save it for Lele to eat.
Lao Zhong looked at the meat paste in the iron plate, then looked at Wen Nuan and asked her, "What should we do next?"
Wen Nuan took out some sweet potato flour and seasoning from a cabinet and said, "Adding some sweet potato flour can increase the stickiness and make it crispy and elastic when eaten."
Wen Nuan prepared the sweet potato flour when she got off work yesterday, and poured the flour into different meat pastes bowl by bowl.
Xiao Zhu watched Wen Nuan start to stir, and began to stir as well.
Because the amount of meatballs was not that large, several people quickly mixed the meat paste. Wen Nuan washed her hands and said, "Please boil a pot of water for me, but don't boil it, 60 to 70 degrees will be enough."
It was the first time for their kitchen team to make meatballs, and everyone gathered around curiously to see how it was done.
Everyone looked at the lumps of meat paste squeezed out from the warm palm of the fist. They were all round. Then they were put into hot water. The pink meatballs slowly turned into a sticky white color, which was a bit greedy just by looking at them.
Wen Nuan smiled and said, "Don't worry, there are plenty here. We can cut some celery and make meatball soup at noon."
Xiao Zhu smiled and said, "That's great. I want the fish meatballs fried in hot oil!"
Wen Nuan said, "That's called fish balls."
"Oh, yes, it's fish balls!"
After making the meatballs, Wen Nuan called sister Juxiang from the logistics kitchen to help.
She made a dozen packets of seasoning, which contained dried vegetables and dried chilies that were easy to preserve. When the time came, they could be directly put into hot water and used to cook dishes.
Someone saw Wen Nuan busying around and suddenly said with emotion: "If we were a state-owned restaurant, as long as Comrade Wen Nuan was here, our sales would be so good!"
"If it becomes a state-owned restaurant, I guess you won't want to run it anymore. Wouldn't you be too busy every day?"
Everybody was laughing, it was just a joke. Even though they cooked in the kitchen, they were soldiers after all, and it was definitely impossible for them to be cooks in a state-owned restaurant.
At noon, Wen Nuan chopped some celery and fried some minced garlic. She used these two things to make the soup base and cooked some meatballs.
The comrades in the kitchen were eating meatballs with gusto, which made the pilots who came outside the cafeteria to eat flight crew meals stare with wide eyes and become curious about what they were eating.
Seeing that the response was good, Wen Nuan planned to add meatballs to the menu. Winter would soon come to the North City, and it would be snowy and icy everywhere, so it wouldn't hurt to make a few more and keep them aside.
*
After finishing a day's work, Wen Nuan took half of the lunch box of meatballs home, intending to feed the little guy Lele. The rest was for Gu Qinghan to take to Factory 112 and was placed in the refrigerator of the flight crew kitchen.
I will give it to Gu Qinghan when he sets off. Although the weather is quite cold now, we still need to be careful about the storage of meat.
Wen Nuan rode her bicycle towards home. Le Le, wearing a small cotton jacket, was already waiting for her at the gate of the yard.
As soon as Lele saw Wen Nuan's bicycle, she trotted towards her. Wen Nuan was afraid that she couldn't stop the big bicycle, so she quickly got off the ground and said with a smile: "Lele, don't rush over next time. Mom is afraid of hitting you."
The little guy hugged her warm thighs, raised his head to look at her, and said with a smile: "I miss my mother."
Wen Nuan supported the bicycle with one hand, pinched Lele's cheek with the other hand, and said with a smile: "Mom misses you too."
Then Wen Nuan said, "Go back to Aunt Guihua's yard and wait for me. I've brought you some delicious food."
Lele repeated with a smile: "It's delicious."
Then he turned around and ran back to Sister Guihua's yard.
Wen Nuan pushed the bicycle back to her own yard, then took the meatballs to go to Sister Guihua's place.
"Sister Guihua, I brought you some delicious food, come and try it." Wen Nuan shouted loudly before she even walked into the door.
Sister Guihua had just washed rice. When she heard the warm voice, she walked from the kitchen to the living room and asked with a smile, "What's delicious? Lele just ran back to tell me that you brought back something delicious."
Wen Nuan placed the lunch box on the eight-immortals table in the living room and said, "It's some pork balls, fish balls, and mushroom meatballs. I don't know if you can eat them."
"It's all meat? I'm in for a treat!" Sister Guihua turned around and went back to the kitchen to get chopsticks.
Wen Nuan picked up Lele and went to the kitchen with Sister Guihua to wash Lele's hands.
After washing his hands, the little guy took the initiative to spread out his ten fingers to show Wen Nuan: "Mom, my hands are clean."
Wen Nuan touched her little head and said, "Yes, it's okay, dear baby."
Lele wanted to climb onto the chair by herself, but she didn't have enough strength and didn't know how to do it, so Wen Nuan simply grabbed her butt and pushed her onto the chair.
Lele finally sat up, took the fish ball skewered with chopsticks, and handed it to Zhang Guihua, "Auntie, eat it."
"Hey, Lele, be good. Auntie will eat first."
Lele watched Zhang Guihua take the meatballs, and she picked up another pair of chopsticks, intending to pick one up to eat. Wen Nuan quickly snatched her chopsticks and said, "You can't get down on the ground, okay? Otherwise, the chopsticks will easily poke your throat."
Lele nodded with a smile and agreed to anything for food.
It was the first time for Zhang Guihua to eat this kind of meatballs. They were round and bouncy, and tasted very good. She couldn't help but exclaimed: "Is this what you are going to make for Deputy Head Gu to bring to Shenyang?"
"Yeah, yeah, how is it? Is it delicious?"
Zhang Guihua hesitated for a moment: "Of course it tastes good, but I'm trying to lose weight recently, this..."
Wen Nuan smiled and said, "It's okay. These are all lean meats. You can eat them without worry."
“Did I really eat it?”
"Eat it, eat it." Wen Nuan thought for a moment, then said with a smile, "Leave some for Captain Zhou."
When Lele heard Wen Nuan say this, he handed the meatball he had bitten a small piece of to Sister Guihua: "Give it to uncle."
Wen Nuan and Sister Guihua both laughed.
Wen Nuan pulled her hand back and said softly, "This is the meat that Le Le has already eaten. You can't give it to your uncle."
Wen Nuan pointed at the meatballs floating in the lunch box and said, "Only those that haven't been eaten yet can be left for uncle."
Lele nodded and pushed the lunch box to Sister Guihua, "These are for uncle."
Sister Guihua ate just one, then pinched Lele's round face and said, "Okay, then leave it for uncle. Thank you, Lele."
Lele tilted his head and replied in a baby voice, "You're welcome."
*
Gu Qinghan set off for Factory 112. I heard he would be there for more than a month, and it would snow again when he came back.
Wen Nuan got up early with Gu Qinghan and made him a bowl of hot and sour noodles. After breakfast, the jeep that came to pick him up drove directly to the gate of the yard.
Gu Qinghan walked out the door carrying several bags of things. When others saw the luggage in his hands, they would say, "My wife prepared this for me."
It's more or less a bit of showing off.
Lele seemed to know that Gu Qinghan was going out again, so she woke up early today, but she was still yawning. She wanted Wen Nuan to hold her, and her little head rested on Wen Nuan's shoulder. She watched Gu Qinghan carry the luggage and get on the jeep in silence.
After Gu Qinghan put his things away, he walked over to his wife and children.
Lele stretched out his hand to him, "Daddy, give me a hug."
Gu Qinghan smiled slightly, hugged Lele, and said to her: "Dad is not at home, you can't just call others dad, understand?"
Lele chuckled twice and nodded heavily: "I know, Dad!"
Hearing this, Gu Qinghan kissed her gently on the cheek and said, "Don't forget about daddy even when he comes back."
The little guy didn't know if he understood or not. He hummed several times, then pointed at the jeep and said, "Take a ride."
Gu Qinghan smiled and stroked the child's soft hair which had grown a lot longer: "Okay, I'll take you to sit when Dad comes back!"
Wen Nuan looked at them and didn't want to keep the driver waiting too long, so she reminded them, "It's time to set off."
Wen Nuan took the child back, and Le Le happily waved to Gu Qinghan: "Bye, Daddy."
"Well, go back to the house."
However, Lele only started crying when Gu Qinghan got into the car and disappeared in the compound.
But he was soon coaxed back into good health by a piece of candy.
,
He Manqing was banned from training for a month by Director Liao. Although she couldn't go to the dance studio, she didn't slack off in the dormitory and insisted on stretching and dancing every day.
But seeing her roommates going to the dance studio every day, she felt very unbalanced.
This quarrel with the kitchen staff was obviously just a small matter, but Captain Liao punished them so severely. Who knows if she was deliberately making things difficult for them
When she first came to North City, she hinted to the people in the art troupe that she had some relationship with Commander Lu. When everyone first found out that she was from the countryside, they looked down on her. But later, when they found out that Commander Lu was her godfather, they all came to flatter her.
But only Director Liao never took her seriously. He kept her in the dance studio every day and did not allow her to go back to the dormitory until after nine o'clock.
Now that he has found the chance, he is planning to punish her again, right
And Wen Nuan, she was simply blind to the truth. Isn't she just the wife of a small deputy regiment commander? She really thought she was a big shot in front of the division commander!
But she is Commander Lu's god-granddaughter. What does a small role like Wen Nuan mean to her
Thinking that everyone seemed to be against her, He Manqing became angrier and angrier.
He Manqing felt that he couldn't just sit there and wait for death, so he went to the telephone room while he had nothing to do and called the Beijing Air Force Academy. "Hello, I'm He Manqing, I'm looking for Commander Lu."
The person who answered the phone was Xiao Zhang. When he thought of the name He Manqing, he immediately remembered that this person was Commander Lu's goddaughter.
But Commander Lu obviously didn't have time to pay attention to her at this time, so Xiao Zhang said, "Commander Lu is out and will not be in the army this month. What do you want to see him about?"
He Manqing was stunned for a moment, "Why don't you let me talk to Commander Lu every time? Do you know who I am?"
Xiao Zhang was also silent for two seconds, then asked, "Aren't you Comrade He Manqing? You just said it. Of course I know."
He Manqing was so angry that she yelled into the microphone, "Yes, I am He Manqing, I am Commander Lu's goddaughter. Why don't you let me talk to Commander Lu? Are you doing this on purpose? Why do you, a lousy assistant, stop me from talking to Commander Lu?"
Xiao Zhang was also angered by He Manqing's rudeness. He had worked with Commander Lu for five years, and no one had ever spoken to him so rudely.
He responded, "Commander Lu does have something to do. If you have something else to do, I can leave a message for you and I will tell the commander when the time comes."
He Manqing didn't believe that Commander Lu was not in the Air Force Academy, but she couldn't say those words to Xiao Zhang.
He Manqing was silent for a long time, then hung up the phone, his face turning pale.
She has been so unlucky lately. Why do bad things happen one after another
Even her only supporter disappeared at this time. Thinking of this, He Manqing's face became even darker.
At this moment, Commander Lu was indeed not in the empty courtyard in Beijing, but was on a train heading south.
Xiao Zhang showed him many photos of Wen Nuan and the children. He took the photos of the two of them and compared them with the photos he found deep in the cabinet.
Although the photos he hid were old, the portraits on them were a bit blurry and even had spots of blood on them.
This was the only relic of his youngest son. Even though he was seriously injured at the time, he held this photo tightly in his hand and never let go until the moment of his death.
It's a pity that in that turbulent era, he didn't even have the chance to meet his daughter-in-law and newborn granddaughter.
But when he finally had time, he heard that both of them had been washed away by a sudden flood and had never been heard from again.
Commander Lu looked at the similar faces in the two photos and suddenly had a strong premonition.
This warmth must have a special relationship with their family.