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Chapter 281: Chapter 271 New Home
Several military wives were chattering away inside the house, and Shen Yunfang even had a bowl of rice porridge. By the time it was after nine at night, Li Hongjun had moved everything from the car into the house. He came in to pick up his wife and kids to go home, there were a few men at the door; he called out, and the women inside dispersed, each returning to their own homes.
When Qiu Fengmei was leaving, she emphatically said she would come over for a chat tomorrow, but Shen Yunfang pretended not to hear and quietly left.
Was this woman really clueless, or what? Yunfang had just moved in, the house was still a mess. Tomorrow, besides watching the kids, she had to organize things, how could she possibly have time to entertain guests?
After exchanging a few words with Wu Guoqiang and his wife, the couple carried their child back to their own home. The large items in the house had all been put in order, but those bits and pieces were still enough to keep Shen Yunfang busy for a while.
Both of them were tired from the day, so they didn’t bother with the clutter. Li Hongjun boiled water in the outer room and also warmed up the kang bed. Shen Yunfang swept the kang in the room and laid out the bedding. When the water was hot, the couple quickly washed up, then cuddled with the child and went to sleep on the kang.
The next morning, Shen Yunfang was woken up by the sound of a bugle call from outside; opening her eyes, she saw that only she and her son were on the kang, Li Hongjun was nowhere to be seen, having left at some point in time.
She checked on her son, who was still pouting his little lips, sound asleep. After tucking him in, she got dressed and got off the kang to prepare breakfast.
To her surprise, when she got to the outer room, she found breakfast already prepared in the pot: millet porridge with white flour buns on top. The white buns certainly weren’t freshly steamed that morning but were frozen ones they’d brought from Gaijiatun.
Shen Yunfang smiled, certainly Li Hongjun had gotten up early to make it for her and the kid. Mm, this was a good habit; hopefully, he’ll keep it up. She looked around the house and couldn’t find Li Hongjun anywhere; hearing the muffled cadence calls, she wondered if he had gone to training that morning.
She looked at the breakfast in the pot without rushing to eat. In the hall against the wall, there was a row of jars of various sizes containing her brewed wine, her fermented bean paste, and various pickles she had made.
During the move, she had taken a bit of each and used a vehicle to transport them, but of course, most were stored in her space. These were brought over for appearances, to make everything official so that later on she wouldn’t have to hide when eating these things at home.
She made a thorough inspection of her small patch of home, both inside and out, confirming there was no cellar. However, the room opposite the hall didn’t have a kang and had quite a low temperature, suitable for storage. So Shen Yunfang tidied up the jars into her space, then went into the room she intended to use as a warehouse, did a bit of cleaning, and set up the jars against the wall. Having a space was so convenient.
Shen Yunfang looked at the row of jars on the ground and frowned. The room wasn’t very large, only about ten square meters or so. With the jars taking up half the space, the usage efficiency was too low. It seemed she’d have to build some shelves in the room.
Having made up her mind, she walked around the room again before going back to check if her son had woken up. Pangpang was adapting very well to the new home, indifferent to the disturbances from his parents earlier, still sound asleep.
Shen Yunfang fussed over her child a bit to see if he was awake, then went to stroll around the backyard. Taxue followed its mistress around the new home. In fact, after moving in yesterday, it had immediately urinated in the yard to mark its territory.
Each house in the military residential area was built with a similar layout, with each one having a small front and back yard. The front yard was only about ten square meters or so, and the back yard was slightly larger than the front yard but still limited – at most, it was no more than thirty square meters.
Shen Yunfang surveyed her own backyard, then looked over the fences at the neighboring yards to get a sense of them. She began to plan how to make reasonable use of the backyard.
Firstly, in such a small space, she planned to build a plastic shed for the quails, grow mushrooms, and find a spot to set up a pen since they had a ewe at home.
As she stood pondering in the backyard, Li Hongjun came looking for her. Only then did the two of them go back inside together.
Seeing Li Hongjun in his army-green uniform, covered in sweat, Shen Yunfang didn’t need to ask to know where he had been.
"I’ll get you some water; you should wash up quickly," Shen Yunfang hurriedly mixed a basin of warm water for him to wash his face.
"Mm," Li Hongjun entered the room, took off his coat, and started washing his head and face while wearing a tank top.
Having a crew cut is great; you can wash your head while washing your face.
"Aren’t you cold? Put some more clothes on," Shen Yunfang looked outside at the snow-covered world and felt cold just seeing how little he was wearing. 𝚗ovp𝚞b.𝚌om
"Not cold, I’m even sweating," Li Hongjun said as he took the towel his wife handed him and began wiping his face.
His head and hands were steaming as if he were an immortal.
When Shen Yunfang saw Li Hongjun about to go outside to fetch water, she quickly grabbed the basin, "I’ll do it. You go inside and put on some clothes. By the way, have you had breakfast?"
"Not yet," Li Hongjun obediently draped a cotton-padded coat over his shoulders.
"Then you better set the table quickly. We’ll eat soon."
By the time Shen Yunfang returned after fetching water, the food was already set out on the kang bed-stove.
The two of them sat cross-legged on the kang, eating and discussing what needed to be done in the next two days.
Shen Yunfang made her requests straightforwardly.
"You have another two days for repairs, right?"
"Mhm."
They had come back two days early, wanting to move in ahead of time to see what was lacking, so Li Hongjun would have time to sort things out. Otherwise, once Li Hongjun started working, Shen Yunfang would be left alone in an unfamiliar place with no one to turn to.
"I think the little room next door can be used as a storeroom, but it’s a bit small. We have so many jars that if we put them all on the floor, there’d be no place to step. Could you build some shelves today? Make it three tiers, with the bottom one taller so we can place grains or urns underneath."
"There’s also that spot against the west wall in the backyard. I want to put up a plastic shed. We have so many quails, and keeping them inside creates too strong a smell. Better to raise them outside."
"You’ll also need to find a place for our sheep. And Taxue can’t always be cramped in the main room. You’ve got to make a nest for her too."
"Alright, I got it. I’ll go borrow some tools later and then haul some wood back. Whatever you want to do is fine," Li Hongjun was easy to talk to and would do anything his wife asked, even if it meant bending over backward. Not to mention, there was plenty of wood in her space to make these things.
"Oh, right, I forgot to ask you last night. Tell me about the tempers of those military wives; I suddenly came here without knowing what anyone is like. You tell me, so I have an idea," Shen Yunfang remembered this matter. From her brief interactions the previous day, she couldn’t tell who to associate with or who to avoid because she wasn’t just representing herself but also Li Hongjun, so she wanted to ask for his opinion first. If there were people she should be wary of, it would be good to be prepared.
This put Li Hongjun in a difficult position, "This is my first time living in the family quarters too. I usually just nod or say hello to those military wives, so I don’t really know much about them." The one he was most familiar with was Sister Wu.
Shen Yunfang thought about it and realized it was true; Li Hongjun wouldn’t have had much contact with the military wives, so asking him was pointless.
"It’s alright, I’ll figure it out on my own. Don’t worry about it."
