First Night with the Army: The Stoic Big Shot Is Done Pretending

"Huh? Why can’t you accept them?"

Wen Ci didn’t understand. Then she thought of a solution and said with a smile, "How about this? You can come over to my place some other day, and I’ll make them for you. That should be okay, right?"

Zhang Cheng: "Oh, I think that’s okay."

They had clear regulations against accepting things from the families.

But being invited to a meal by a family was allowed.

-

Wen Ci returned home and glanced up at the clock on the living room wall. It was just past nine. She turned on the TV, only to find there weren’t many channels.

She couldn’t help but sigh.

’Even in the apocalypse, there were signals to help pass the time.’

’The eighties are a bit too boring.’ She walked into Huo Jingyuan’s study, where a blank notebook and a pencil lay on the desk.

She took the paper and pencil and sat on the steps by the inner room’s doorway.

She sketched the entire courtyard on the paper. The yard was currently bare, and Wen Ci wanted to take this opportunity to renovate it.

After all, she would be living here for a few years.

She drew a pavilion for drinking tea and chatting, sheltered from the wind and rain. A path of crushed stone led to it, and to the left, she sketched in some vegetables.

In her past life, Wen Ci had been a design student and was skilled at sketching. It took her half an hour to draw out the effect she wanted.

She planned to build the pavilion herself using wooden planks.

She would just need some help.

Wen Ci pursed her lips, planning to show the finished design to Huo Jingyuan and ask for his opinion. This house was their shared home.

She idled around until ten-thirty when a knock sounded at the door. Xue Li’s voice followed, "Sister-in-law, I’m here with your groceries!"

Wen Ci, who was sitting on the sofa, shot up at the sound of his voice. She walked to the inner room’s doorway, then remembered she needed to grab money from inside. She called out to the front door, "Coming! Just a second."

After getting the money, Wen Ci hurried to the door to let Xue Li in. Seeing him carrying bags of vegetables and meat in both hands, she said apologetically, "You’ve gone to so much trouble, Xue Li."

"It’s no trouble, no trouble at all."

Wen Ci asked, "How much is it? Let me pay you."

"No need, Sister-in-law."

Wen Ci frowned, her expression turning serious as she looked at Xue Li. "No," she said firmly. "You have to take the money for today’s groceries."

She had seen pig’s trotters and a pork knuckle.

These were real big-ticket items. Xue Li’s monthly salary wasn’t high, and buying these from the kitchen staff must have cost a fair bit. "Come on, how much?"

"Three yuan."

Wen Ci gave him three yuan.

Instant noodles were a bit of a luxury in the eighties. A single pack cost fifty cents, which was the food budget for an entire day for an ordinary family.

Wen Ci wasn’t the type to spend money like water.

But since she was new here, she couldn’t let the "sisters" treat her, could she?

Xue Li asked, "Sister-in-law, do you need help carrying this stuff?"

Wen Ci quickly refused. "No, no, you go on and do your own thing. I can manage by myself."

With that, she lifted the two bags of groceries from the floor.

"Are you sure you can manage?" Xue Li asked, concerned.

"Who are you looking down on?"

Wen Ci carried the items in both hands and walked for seven or eight minutes to the building where she had met Sister Jing and the others, placing the bags on a bench.

She sucked in a sharp breath.

She knew Sister Jing lived in this building, but she’d forgotten to ask for the specific apartment number and floor. After a moment’s thought, she called out, "Sister Jing, I’m here!"

The words had barely left her mouth when the door to the first apartment on the second floor opened. Zhu Jing stood in the hallway and waved at Wen Ci. Her eyes widened when she saw the vegetables and meat on the bench.

She had thought Wen Ci would buy a piece of meat at most.

But to see so many main-course ingredients... Zhu Jing suddenly broke into a cold sweat and forced a smile. "Little Ci, just wait for me a moment."

She went back inside and took out the few yuan she had left from a drawer. Her husband’s monthly salary was around thirty yuan, and half of it had to be sent to his parents.

Zhu Jing couldn’t help but sigh.

Hearing Wen Ci’s voice, Xiang Qin and the others also came out of their rooms. When they came downstairs and saw the pig’s trotters and pork knuckle on the bench, they were dumbfounded.

"Little Ci, you..."

Wen Ci beamed. "When I treat my sisters to a meal, of course we have to eat well~"

Zhu Jing’s mouth twitched. "This is too... it must have cost a lot, right? Why don’t we all split the cost for this meal? We can’t let you spend so much by yourself."

Wen Ci refused. She took a step back and said seriously, "No way. I said it’s my treat, and it’s my treat. If you guys insist, I’ll just take my things and leave right now."

Seeing they couldn’t win against Wen Ci, Zhu Jing said helplessly, "Alright then, we’ll set up a table and eat down here."

Wen Ci said sweetly, "Thanks for your hard work, Sister Jing~"

She was only providing the money; the one doing the real hard work was Sister Jing.

The others didn’t stay idle either. They helped Zhu Jing, and the group squeezed into the building’s communal kitchen, chatting and laughing cheerfully.

Zhu Jing teased, "Your man must have some real pull for the kitchen staff to sell you so much. How much did you spend on all this?"

"Three yuan."

Hearing this, Zhu Jing stopped chopping the meat and looked up at Wen Ci, raising an eyebrow. "Whoa. They were actually fair and didn’t overcharge this time."

The kitchen staff in the military compound were also accompanying family members. They were good cooks and made delicious food, so their job was one of the few lucrative positions available to the families.

They usually charged others a markup on the groceries to make a profit.

For scarce items like pig’s trotters and pork knuckles, they would have to add an extra charge.

Wen Ci didn’t understand. "You have to pay extra when you buy groceries from the kitchen?"

"You do," Xiang Qin complained. "Last time my husband’s parents came to the Northwest to visit, we didn’t have enough food at home. I went to them and had to spend an extra yuan."

"Parents can come visit here in the Northwest?"

Wen Ci had never heard of such a rule.

"The Northwest Military Region is different from other military regions. Especially for ordinary soldiers, they only get marriage leave and annual leave all year, and the annual leave has to be taken in batches.

"Marriage leave is only five days, and annual leave is eight. For soldiers whose homes are far away, if they take the green-skin train, their entire vacation is spent on the road.

"So, the Northwest Military Region allows soldiers’ direct relatives to visit, and the military region will cover half the cost of a sleeper ticket for them. You just need to apply."

After hearing Zhu Jing’s explanation, Wen Ci’s eyes curved into a smile.

’That’s a really nice rule for the Northwest Military Region.’

Wen Ci said, "I had Xue Li buy it."

"No wonder. Captain Xue often travels to Sea City on business and is on very good terms with the kitchen staff."

Wen Ci suddenly needed to use the restroom. "Sister Jing, where’s the toilet?"

Zhu Jing pointed her in the right direction.

Wen Ci had just left when Hou Li couldn’t help but say, "How come my husband never told me Captain Xue was married?"

Xiang Qin smiled and said, "With soldiers, there are quite a few who don’t reveal whether they’re married or not."

"That’s true."

By noon, Zhu Jing had finished cooking all the dishes. The others helped carry the food to the table, and the aroma of the large pork knuckle filled the air.

The quiet Miao Ling suddenly said, "I’m going back to my room."

Wen Ci and the others sat and waited for her. Two minutes later, Miao Ling came downstairs carrying two bottles of soda in each arm, with another bottle clenched between her teeth.

Seeing this, Wen Ci hurried over to help her put them on the table.

Miao Ling said, "Soda left over from the New Year. A big feast needs soda."