Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 715: Chapter 705 Don’t Be So Flustered

It was just past two in the afternoon when Li Hongxing pulled up to the old house with his donkey cart, parked it, and went inside to help his younger brother carry the luggage.

"Big brother, it’s not much, Hongjun can handle it," Shen Yunfang was folding blankets, gathering the duvet cover and sheets she’d brought with her. The blankets and such weren’t hers, so after she woke, she folded them neatly and placed them back in the cabinet.

"No problem, just this one bag?" Li Hongxing had become increasingly silent over the years under Wang Dan’s scrutiny.

"Yes, just this one." Only one big bag—it, along with some smaller miscellaneous items, had been stuffed into a net sack, ready to be carried off in a moment.

Li Hongjun returned from the other room, having already said his goodbyes to the old Li man, picked up the net sack, called to his wife and children, and headed out.

Outside, Wang Dan, with her kids Goudan, Erdan, and Sandan, stood at the door to see them off, then the whole party got on the donkey cart and set off.

Along the way, the braying of the donkey went clip-clop, clip-clop. Manman and Pangpang ran along beside the cart through the snow, giggling foolishly.

Shen Yunfang, the mother, watched with interest rather than concern.

Around three o’clock, Li Hongxing drove straight to a hostel in the county, where Li Hongjun presented his military officer’s identification and the family checked in.

Worried about traveling at night, Li Hongjun didn’t ask Li Hongxing to stay for dinner in the county. Once they arrived, they urged him to hurry back home.

The next morning, the family bought their tickets. After a bumpy ride, they finally returned to Z Province on the thirteenth day of the first lunar month.

Since they were back early, before the fifteenth, Li Hongjun was bound to take his wife to pay late New Year’s respects to his superiors—it was the proper thing to do.

One cannot simply visit superiors empty-handed to wish them well for the year, so Shen Yunfang was at pains to think of what to give, something that wasn’t too expensive yet showed sincerity.

They hadn’t brought anything significant back from their hometown, nor did it have any presentable local specialties. It was out of the question to give beans wrapped in dough to the officials.

In the end, Shen Yunfang rummaged through everything, weighed her options, and managed to put together four gifts.

One was a small jar of homemade liquor, which Li Hongjun treasured dearly. Not to boast, he thought, but the liquor his wife brewed was top-notch. In all his drinking years, he’d never tasted anything better than what came from his own home. Ever since his wife started living with the military, he mostly drank their homemade liquor. However, when Hongjun was to drink it himself, Yunfang would add Essence of Life to the beverage. Each time he had a small cup, he felt it soothe and revitalize him, a warmth spreading in his stomach and throughout his body, as if he’d had a sunbath.

Whenever he expressed this, Yunfang would say he was exaggerating, but he knew what he felt, and he knew whether it was an overstatement or not. Thus, the enhanced liquor was for his consumption alone; he never shared it even with his closest comrades. This wasn’t a matter of stinginess, but of protecting himself and his family.

Now, watching Yunfang take out the non-enhanced liquor, he was somewhat reluctant to part with such a fine thing.

The second gift was mushrooms, ones Yunfang had picked herself from the mountains. With abundant time while tending sheep, she had filled a compartment in their space with hazel mushrooms. Over the years, the family of four had consumed some, but there was still a lot left in that space—enough for another twenty years at their current rate of use. Yunfang had selected some of the larger, cleaner ones and portioned them into bags weighing roughly a pound each, to offer a taste of the local produce to whichever superior’s home they’d visit.

The third gift comprised salted duck eggs and goose eggs, also prepared by Yunfang herself. Drawing from a skill honed over two lifetimes, the quality of the preserved eggs she made was particularly high—moderately salty, oily, and delicious. With a poke of the chopsticks, the yolk oozed out buttery oil, layered with varying shades of yellow, each layer darker as it approached the center, and exceedingly tasty.

Originally, Shen Yunfang kept quite a few chickens, ducks, and geese at home, so she had an abundance of chicken, duck, and goose eggs stored in her space. At home, she always had two large urns specifically for pickling salted duck and goose eggs. Usually, once a batch was pickled, she would cook the leftovers that they couldn’t eat and store them in her space—over time she had amassed quite a few cooked ones.

This time, Shen Yunfang took them out to supplement the gift, packing eight duck eggs and two goose eggs into a bag, and prepared several bags like this.

The last item, originally Shen Yunfang wanted to bring some fresh vegetables, but the greenhouse vegetables produced by the farm before the New Year had already spread throughout the market, and these high-ranking military officials certainly had their fill of them, so bringing more wouldn’t stand out as anything special.

After much thought, Shen Yunfang chose to bring out an item to give Li Hongjun quite the surprise, wolf meat.

It wasn’t fresh or frozen; it was glazed meat in honey sauce.

Bringing this out, of course, Shen Yunfang had to explain the origin of the wolf meat to Li Hongjun.

After hearing the explanation, Li Hongjun’s deep, tranquil eyes fixed on Shen Yunfang without moving. He truly hadn’t known about this dangerous encounter. If he had known that his wife had faced such peril, he would never have allowed her to go, especially not alone. She really had kept him in the dark.

Feeling her husband’s gaze on her, Shen Yunfang slowly began to feel a bit in the wrong, and coughed unconsciously in defense, "Don’t be so shocked; with my skills, not to mention fighting a wolf, I could even knock down a tiger."

Seeing Li Hongjun’s increasingly intense stare, Shen Yunfang somehow felt the more she explained, the worse it seemed.

"I mean, at that time, I was very strong, and Taxue was with me. When the wolves came, I didn’t let them get close. I just grabbed a wild boar from my space and hurled it at them. It was basically one shot, one hit, really. I took those wolves down with hardly any effort. Besides, I won’t go up to the mountains anymore, so there’s no chance of encountering wolves again, so don’t be mad at me."

This was why she had never brought out the wolf meat over the years; she feared exactly this sort of reaction. However, during her free time, she had researched how to cook wolf meat. Wolf meat is tough with coarse fibers, making it unappetizing if not prepared well whether it is fried, sautéed, or roasted. So, after much study, she made this honey-glazed wolf meat.

First, she braised the meat, then brushed it with honey, and finally baked it. The process was complicated, but the result was uniquely flavorful.

"You better remember what you just said," Li Hongjun finally forgave her with a bit of reluctance.

After the gifts were decided on, starting in the afternoon, Li Hongjun and his wife began making house calls one by one with their gifts. Almost every family was very happy to receive their presents.

The old chiefs were particularly interested in the small urn of white liquor and the modest piece of wolf meat. They heaped praise on Li Hongjun and Shen Yunfang.

From the day they returned until the sixteenth of the first lunar month, they spent their time giving and receiving gifts.

After the couple had given a gift to each leader’s home, they wiped the fine sweat from their foreheads—it had not been easy. However, they felt satisfied that their efforts were not in vain, as the gifts were unanimously well-received.

Li Hongjun wasn’t just a leader; he was also led by others.

Yet the things others brought to his home didn’t seem to be selected with the same care as Shen Yunfang’s preparations.

No matter who it was or what they brought over, Li Hongjun would treat them warmly and sincerely. But, in the end, when guests departed, he would insist they take back whatever they brought, saying that everyone has their struggles and he couldn’t accept his comrades’ belongings.

Of course, if someone was particularly stubborn, then Li Hongjun would ask his wife to prepare some return gifts, finding it much better to have an exchange.