Chapter 51: The Base

Chapter 51: The Base

After obtaining the marriage certificate, Fu Zhengtu took Su Taotao on a major shopping spree, including various daily necessities, groceries, and Chenchen's food supplies—baby formula, milk candy, and malted milk.

Su Taotao picked out everything, while Fu Zhengtu was only responsible for carrying the bags. The only thing he insisted on buying was double happiness candy and cakes, since they had no wedding banquet at the base but still needed to distribute them.

This was probably the most socially savvy thing Fu Zhengtu had ever done.

Most importantly, they managed to buy the electric fan that Su Taotao had been longing for!

It's strange when you think about it—money these days doesn't seem to stretch far, yet a hundred yuan could buy a lot of groceries. A family of eight to ten in Qinglian Commune could get by for a whole year on less than a hundred yuan.

But when you think it does stretch, even with an industrial coupon, a small electric fan still cost seventy to eighty yuan.

Su Taotao winced at the price.

Before leaving the state-run restaurant, Chef Xu had given her a large envelope containing a full hundred yuan. She had thought it was a lot, but this one fan alone cost more than half of it.

Adding in miscellaneous items, they ended up spending nearly two hundred yuan in one go.

As the saying goes, you don't know the value of things until you manage them yourself. In these times, without engaging in speculation, it's hard to find ways to increase income, so you have to focus on cutting costs.

It seemed she would need to find a job; otherwise, she'd be too constrained to buy anything.

"How much money do we have in our savings account?" Su Taotao suddenly remembered to ask Fu Zhengtu.

Fu Zhengtu told her the amount.

Su Taotao exclaimed, "Wow, really that much?"

Did she just marry into money?

Fu Zhengtu gave her a strange look. Hadn't she already checked it herself? How could she forget?

Su Taotao rubbed her nose. She hadn't really paid attention that day and had forgotten to check later.

With quite a bit of savings at home, Su Taotao felt relieved and continued shopping freely, generously allowing Chenchen and Fu Yuanhang to each pick a gift.

Fu Yuanhang shook his head, declining. He knew his brother worked hard to support her, and every yuan counted.

Chenchen spotted a colorful slingshot and lit up. Although his younger uncle had given him a handmade black slingshot, it was too big for him to pull, and he preferred this one.

Su Taotao waved her hand and bought it.

The little guy received his gift with a beaming smile.

Su Taotao directly took out a yuan and handed it to Fu Yuanhang. "If you don't want a gift now, I'll give you this as cash. Starting next month, you'll get one yuan every month as pocket money, so you can save up for whatever you want."

"I, I don't want it!"

Fu Yuanhang was frightened, shaking his head vigorously.

He had never held more than a few coins before, and a whole yuan felt like too much to handle. He nervously pushed it away.

Without a word, Su Taotao stuffed it into his schoolbag.

Fu Yuanhang looked to his elder brother for help.

Fu Zhengtu nodded, signaling for him to listen to Su Taotao.

This was Fu Yuanhang's first time having a significant amount of money.

After getting in the car, Chenchen held his small slingshot, while Fu Yuanhang secretly took the one yuan bill from his schoolbag, put it in his pocket, and clutched it tightly, keeping touch it to make sure it was still there.

The vehicle drove along the coastline for a full hour before Su Taotao finally saw the legendary base.

Fu Zhengtu had said the base was mostly surrounded by the sea. Su Taotao had imagined it would be far from the mainland, perhaps requiring a boat to access.

But that wasn’t the case.

The island was surrounded by the sea on all sides, but a 200-300 meter long bridge connected it to the mainland.

Unlike the grand bridges built in later generations, this one was simple and unremarkable, an ordinary reinforced concrete structure.

It was important to note that in this era, industry wasn’t well-developed. There were no cranes or bulldozers. The soldiers built the bridge by hand—cutting paths through mountains, feeling for reefs underwater, and hauling bags of cement and stones, all while risking their lives.

Looking at this ordinary-looking bridge, Su Taotao felt deep respect for the heroes who built it.

The base operated under strict military control. There was a checkpoint at the bridgehead, allowing only base vehicles to enter and exit freely, while all other external vehicles and people were forbidden from entering the island. It felt like a fortress, with only one man needed to guard it against an army.

Fu Zhengtu’s identity was very mysterious. The original author hadn’t elaborated much on it, and she still didn’t know what exactly Fu Zhengtu researched. His work required a high level of secrecy, as he was a key protected and cultivated scientific researcher of the state. Not even his closest confidant could be told anything.

In the past, he didn’t have a permanent work location, let alone have family accompany him. He didn’t know where his next project would take place.

In later generations, Su Taotao had seen interview reports where scientists involved in national security and nuclear weapons hadn’t been able to contact their families for decades, truly dedicating their lives to scientific research.

This base had clearly just been completed recently. So much effort and resources had gone into building this base that occupied the entire island under military management. It seemed their stay this time wouldn’t be short.

They had arrived, so they would make the best of it.

Whatever his work was, she wouldn’t ask questions. It wouldn’t affect her life anyway. She would continue living her life as usual.

At home, he was just her husband, plain and simple.