Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Xu Yuqing and Xie Junli had no idea what Lin Yumei was thinking. At most, they found her gaze somewhat strange.

The two returned home together. It was cold now, so they ate quickly, and once full, they felt drowsy. Before they even reached their doorstep, Xu Yuqing started yawning.

Once home, Xu Yuqing drank some water, rinsed her mouth, and headed straight for the bed.

However, today, Xie Junli followed her onto the bed. The large bed wasn't yet warm, as the fire hadn't been lit, but they covered themselves with blankets, shoulders touching. Xu Yuqing stared at the ceiling while Xie Junli looked at her.

Strange—she had felt so sleepy outside, almost ready to collapse, but now on the bed, she felt wide awake.

"Junli, do you know how to write reports?" Xu Yuqing asked, her big, round eyes gazing at Xie Junli in confusion.

Xie Junli was taken aback. "Yes."

Writing reports was essential for a regiment commander, and Xie Junli had attended military school for two years.

He did! This realization only made Xu Yuqing more alert as she sat up, recounting her conversation with Old Fang at noon. She finished by asking pitifully, "What should I do?"

Xie Junli hadn't expected this reason, but he couldn't ignore it now. To him, it was a minor issue.

"When you have time, think about what you want to report first. Write down each event clearly. When I return, I'll help you revise it."

With that problem solved, Xu Yuqing exclaimed happily and hugged him excitedly.

"Thanks, darling~"

Darling!? Xie Junli's expression faltered, his face cracking in disbelief as he looked at the person in his arms. How could she call him that, and so casually?

For a moment, Xie Junli felt like a helpless infant.

"Don't call me that," he said stiffly, determined to maintain his dignity as a man.

Xu Yuqing peeked out from his embrace, curiously observing his stiffened face before burying her head again and giggling. This proud ghost didn't even realize his ears were red.

Feeling playful, Xu Yuqing leaned against his chest and pouted. "Then what should I call you? Honey? Junli?"

As she spoke, she didn't blink, staring at his face. But Xie Junli seemed prepared; his expression remained unchanged, his face cold as he said sternly, "Comrade Xu Yuqing, I am your husband. We are revolutionary partners, not capitalists."

Disappointed at not seeing the reaction she wanted, Xu Yuqing pouted and turned over, returning to her pillow. "No fun. Goodnight."

Suddenly losing the weight on his chest, Xie Junli relaxed, but watching his wife pretend to sleep, he grew anxious. Had he spoken too harshly and hurt her feelings?

Thinking this, he tentatively reached out and gently wrapped his arm around her waist, but the person in his arms didn't move.

Xie Junli clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "You can call me whatever you want at home, but not outside."

Finally, the person in his arms stirred, trembling uncontrollably. Startled, Xie Junli thought she might be crying and hurriedly pulled her closer.

But she wasn't crying. Not only wasn't she crying, but she was laughing, her cheeks flushed with joy. Xie Junli was both exasperated and amused. In the end, he pulled her into his arms, pressing her head against his chest and pretending to sleep.

Before drifting off, Xie Junli felt the soft touch of lips against his.

When she woke up, the sky was overcast, without a trace of sunlight. Xu Yuqing glanced outside, then couldn't resist lying back down.

She nuzzled the blanket affectionately. If not for the report hanging over her, she wouldn't have gotten out of bed at all.

It was too comfortable.

Summoning great willpower, Xu Yuqing left the warmth of the bed, retrieved a notebook and fountain pen, and sat at her desk.

This fountain pen belonged to Xie Junli. As Xu Yuqing looked at it, she organized her thoughts.

First, she divided the points. Point one: meat. There was already successfully tested preserved meat and sausages.

These were dry goods that required no further processing. Xu Yuqing even wrote down the preservation methods and shelf life for the preserved meat and sausages.

Next came canned goods. She started with luncheon meat, noting that it had been successfully tested and tasted good, and that similar canned goods existed elsewhere. Therefore, she requested that the canned goods factory collaborate on research. She also mentioned fish-flavored pork and braised pork canned goods.

Xu Yuqing wrote for a long time, detailing everything except the recipes.

She also mentioned that the last two items were still under experimentation.

Additionally, there was the main food: non-fried noodles.

These were similar to instant noodle cakes found in many cities in later times, but not instant noodles. They were individual noodle cakes that, having been steamed and dried, only needed boiling water to soften them. Xu Yuqing included instructions for pairing the noodles with meat sauce.

Having not written anything formal in a long time, Xu Yuqing spent two hours sitting at her desk.

In later times, when writing scripts, she let her imagination run wild, creating something only she could understand. Now, she had to write formally and repeatedly check her word choice. It was exhausting.

Two pages filled with writing, Xu Yuqing set them aside and hurried back to bed to mend her wounded soul.

Lying in bed, Xu Yuqing sighed contentedly, then began to think about dinner.

Half the problem was solved, and the other half would be handled by her partner. She had to bribe him somehow. Rubbing her chin, Xu Yuqing considered the meat at home.

Perhaps she'd make braised noodles, pork rib braised noodles. Without green beans, she could use eggplant instead.

Since Xie Junli preferred noodles, she decided to go ahead with the plan. Xu Yuqing immediately put on her shoes and coat and fetched the meat to thaw.

Placing the frozen ribs in water, Xu Yuqing started kneading dough. Estimating Xie Junli's appetite, she used two large bowls of flour, added water, and formed a dough ball, covering it to rise.

She prepared two eggplants, cutting them into quarters and removing the seeds before slicing them diagonally into strips.

She also minced garlic and scallions.

Next came the ribs. Looking at the two large pieces of pork ribs, Xu Yuqing secured her apron and brought the knife down with force!

Clack, clack, clack – with a few chops, the ribs were easily cut into chunks. They had been soaked long enough that there was no need to rinse off the blood. Xu Yuqing poured some oil into the pan and started frying them. The pig wasn't very fatty, so she needed to use more oil. She fried them until golden brown on both sides, then added sugar, which she stirred until it dissolved. She mixed in minced garlic and green onion.

Next came soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and cooking wine, all poured in one after another. As the delicious aroma began to fill the air, Xu Yuqing didn’t stop. She quickly grabbed an eggplant and tossed it into the pan, mixing it with the other ingredients before adding boiling water.

Now it was time to cover the pot and start kneading the dough.

The noodles would be best if they were thin. Xu Yuqing divided the dough into three portions, rolling each out into thin sheets, folding them, and cutting them into noodles.

She wasn’t particularly skilled at rolling out the dough. When she opened the pot lid, the eggplant was already soft. At this point, she took a bowl and scooped out all of the broth from the pot, leaving none behind. Then she added the noodles, spreading them out evenly.

Using a spatula, she ladled some of the reserved broth over the noodles, spreading it evenly. She repeated this process, layering noodles and broth.

Stewed noodles were really simple but delicious. When Xu Yuqing first thought of making this dish, she knew Xie Junli would love it.

Sure enough, her intuition was spot-on. Xu Yuqing could barely finish a large bowl, but Xie Junli’s stomach seemed like a bottomless pit. He made several trips back to the pot, and soon it was empty.

Looking at the pot, Xu Yuqing couldn’t help but laugh. Xie Junli was truly a wonderful diner.

After dinner, as usual, Xie Junli took his bath while Xu Yuqing went first. When she returned, Xie Junli had already heated up the water for her.

Actually, taking a hot bath wasn’t difficult; it just required a bit of firewood. But everyone seemed to think it was wasteful, preferring to go to the public baths instead.

However, whenever possible, Xu Yuqing preferred to bathe at home. After all, even if she wasn’t embarrassed at the public baths, there were always some shameless military wives who asked questions that were impossible to answer.

Xu Yuqing: "I’m done washing. Did you go to the baths today?"

Xie Junli had just finished cleaning up the dishes and nodded. "I wasn’t busy this afternoon, so I went. I’ll just change clothes after wiping down."

Xu Yuqing nodded, intending to wash her undergarments, but Xie Junli stopped her. "The water is too cold. Let me do it."

Well, now. Her things were taken away, and Xu Yuqing could only sigh, placing her hand on her forehead. Ever since they had become a couple, Xie Junli had been doing the laundry, but these were her undergarments!

Didn’t she have any dignity?

But the man had already lathered up the soap, quickly washing everything and hanging them up to dry in the spare room.

...

Fine, she didn’t care about her dignity.

Feeling lonely, Xu Yuqing returned to her bed, letting her thoughts wander.

It wasn’t until Xie Junli entered that she snapped back to reality.

"Junli, on the table, I wrote something, but it’s a bit messy!" She sat up, looking innocently at Xie Junli and adding, "I spent over two hours writing this afternoon."

She looked so cute, as if she had worked very hard.

Xie Junli couldn’t help but smile as he walked over. The two pages were densely filled with writing, and he was surprised.

It did look like she had spent a lot of time on it.

Seeing how seriously his wife took her work, he naturally couldn’t slack off. He sat down and began carefully revising.

Xie Junli hadn’t practiced his handwriting much, but it was neat and tidy. He took out two more sheets of paper and started writing.

Xu Yuqing lay in bed, watching him work diligently until she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and fell asleep.

The next day, Xu Yuqing, as usual, didn’t want to get up. But something seemed different this time – her cheeks were itchy.

Annoyed, she reached out to scratch, but the itch persisted. Xu Yuqing opened her eyes in anger, ready to swat the pesky mosquito, but there was no mosquito. Instead, she saw her husband.

Xu Yuqing’s face darkened. "What are you doing?"

Xie Junli looked somewhat innocent. No matter how he tried to wake her, she wouldn’t budge, showing no reaction at all. In the end, he had no choice but to tickle her.

But seeing Xu Yuqing’s angry expression, Xie Junli raised his hands in surrender. "Honey, didn’t you plan to meet Old Yu at the department store today?"

Department store... right, she did make plans.

Xu Yuqing lay there in confusion. She remembered that it was his day off, looking at the motionless man. "Are you off today?"

"It’s Sunday."

Alright then. Rubbing her face to wake herself up, Xu Yuqing followed Xie Junli’s lead and sat up.

"When are we leaving?"

"In a bit. I’ve prepared breakfast. Once we’re full, we can head out."

Xu Yuqing gave Xie Junli an approving glance. He was great – warm, capable around the house, and a good provider. A dozen men like him wouldn’t be too many!