NOVPUB
Chapter 617: Chapter 607 Another Visitor Comes
Shen Yunfang got home with the kids a bit late in the evening, and Li Hongjun had already returned and prepared dinner. 𝓃ℴ𝓋𝓹𝓊𝓫.𝒸𝓸𝓂
It wasn’t the lavish meat and fish dishes that Yunfang could make, but just a pot of plain rice porridge, some cornmeal steamed buns from the cafeteria, and a big bowl of cold cabbage salad and another big bowl of egg custard that he’d made himself.
Simple as it was, Yunfang was still very happy to have something to eat as soon as she got home.
"Where did you go today? You didn’t buy much," Li Hongjun asked while eating, glancing at the large bag his wife had brought back and judging by its size that she probably hadn’t bought much.
"I just visited the biggest department store. The quality of the salespeople there really isn’t as good as in the Capital," Shen Yunfang complained about her quarrel with the salesperson and her attempt to report them, "Oh right, besides the things I brought back, I also bought a refrigerator and a washing machine. But I couldn’t bring them home, so you’ll have to pick them up next time you’re off work."
"Okay, sure." Li Hongjun wasn’t too concerned about money, not feeling the least bit embarrassed about spending his wife’s money. His wife had said what’s his is hers and what’s hers is his, so as long as the money wasn’t wasted, it didn’t matter how it was spent.
"Also, I’ve made arrangements for the furniture as well—they said we can inspect it in half a month. If there’s no issue, we should be able to get all the furniture within a month," Shen Yunfang said, serving her daughter and son some food, gesturing for them to eat more.
"That slow, huh?" Li Hongjun thought of the bed that creaks every night and immediately felt that custom-making a bed was taking too long. If it were up to him, as long as it was durable and well-constructed, it didn’t matter what it looked like.
"It’s not slow, we’ve ordered a lot, and they sped up the process specially for us," Shen Yunfang knew his thoughts well, but she believed they might live in this home for many years and it deserved a proper setup.
"I was also thinking, if we have the time, we should find someone to repaint the house before the furniture arrives. After all, this is a second-hand home and it doesn’t look too clean," she said, explaining that there weren’t many other options for renovation besides painting the walls to brighten up the place.
"Don’t worry about that, I’ll find someone to do it when the time comes," said Li Hongjun.
"Mom, my sister and I are done eating. Can we go watch TV?" Pangpang seized the moment while his parents were talking to make his request.
The TV had been moved here since the fifth day of the lunar new year, and he hadn’t watched his cartoons for several days.
"Daddy, daddy, Manman wants to watch TV," Manman directly started to act spoiled while tugging on Li Hongjun.
"Alright, alright, daddy will turn on the TV for you, okay?" Li Hongjun had no chance against his little princess’s coquettish behavior and surrendered without a struggle.
Seeing Li Hongjun gulp down the remaining porridge in his bowl and then leading the children to the living room, Shen Yunfang couldn’t help but murmur behind him, "Just spoil them."
Li Hongjun pretended not to hear.
Shen Yunfang also finished her meal and started washing up in the kitchen. Before she could finish washing a few dishes, there was a knock at the door.
She poked her head out from the kitchen and, in silence, asked Li Hongjun who it could be. Li Hongjun shook his head, but got up and went to open the door.
"Commander Li, we heard that your wife and kids have come over, so we thought we’d come to see you this evening when we had nothing else to do. Is your wife at home?"
Li Hongjun could tell that this was a group of military wives from the city coming over for a visit.
"Here, please come in," Li Hongjun moved aside from the door, and then called out to the kitchen, "Yunfang, a few sisters and sisters-in-law from our second battalion have come to see you."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yunfang understood and hurriedly rinsed her hands under the tap, dried them with a towel, and moved the curtain aside to step out, "Oh, all my sisters and sisters-in-law have come to visit me, what a welcome, please come inside."
She then repeated the morning’s actions, taking out several stools from the veranda and serving everyone a cup of boiled water.
Li Hongjun, very observant, took the two reluctant children out for a walk to digest their food, leaving the house to these senior ladies.
This time there were fewer visitors, just three, which included the wife of the second battalion commander, Fang Yan, a saleswoman at a certain provincial city’s sidestore.
There was also the wife of the second battalion’s deputy commander, Qu Fanhua, a petty official from a certain street office in the provincial city.
The last one was the wife of the first battalion’s deputy commander, Zhang Ping, a teacher at the military district’s affiliated primary school.
"Xiaoshen, I heard you came from the Capital, just graduated from college there. Moving so suddenly from such a big city to our secluded place, are you getting used to it?" asked Fang Yan with the tone of someone caring for subordinates.
Shen Yunfang smiled; she knew that the urban military wives looked down on the rural ones, but these women seemed to not take her seriously at all. After all, her husband was the battalion commander, the very one in charge of their husbands.
"If I’m not used to it, there’s nothing I can do, right? It’s Li Hongjun who insisted on being this battalion commander, so whether it’s following a chicken or a dog after marriage, I have no choice." Anyone could pretend.
"Hehehe, Fang Yan, you forgot, Xiaoshen is from the countryside. Compared to her hometown, our place is quite prosperous," Qu Fanhua joked, revealing Shen Yunfang’s background, "Oops, look at my big mouth, Xiaoshen, don’t take it to heart, I didn’t mean anything by it, it just slipped out."
Shen Yunfang laughed along, "What’s the big deal? I think what Sister Qu said is absolutely right, let’s not even start counting back eight generations, just one or two, and we all come from mud-legged roots. Who knows, Sister Qu, your ancestors might have been poorer than mine. If they weren’t utterly destitute with nothing at all, how could they have such good class status and end up moving to the city, right?"
Qu Fanhua’s face soured at Shen Yunfang’s words, but she knew better than to make a scene right then and there.
Zhang Ping was a more amiable person; seeing that the conversation was becoming uncomfortable, she hurriedly tried to change the subject, "Xiaoshen, you and Battalion Commander Li have just moved in. We were wondering if you might need any help with anything, but looking around, it’s clear we have nothing to worry about. You even have a big color TV."
She looked enviously at the now switched-off color television across the room. She had seen it earlier when they first came in; Li Battalion Commander’s kids were watching cartoons. It was only because they had visitors that the TV had been turned off to make room for conversation.
Thinking about Li Battalion Commander’s children, who didn’t cry or fuss despite not being allowed to watch TV, she secretly admired the couple’s child-rearing.
"This TV, you bought it in the Capital, didn’t you?" Fang Yan also glanced a few times towards the television.
"Yes," Shen Yunfang admitted frankly.
"I knew it. Only a big place like the Capital would have such good color TVs for sale. You can’t find this brand in our area," Fang Yan said, showing a bit of envy. "It’s not easy to buy one in the Capital, right?"
"Well, not really, if you have the coupons, they are available in the stores." But hers were bought with Remittance Coupons.
"Oh, if we had coupons, we wouldn’t be discussing this. Although our families aren’t the wealthiest, we would bite the bullet and buy one for our children to watch," Qu Fanhua rolled her eyes. It was obvious, wasn’t it? If she had coupons, would she be envying others?
