CHAPTER 140: CHAPTER 135 TROUBLE ARISES

Carpenter Zhang burst into laughter upon hearing they needed to use wooden boards to create partitions inside the house. "No need to measure; all the dormitories in your military unit are the same. I’ve done several of these partitions before. I know the measurements and roughly how to do it."

Then, he rummaged through his things and pulled out a rough sketch to show Pingying, "Military wife, take a look at this design, will it work for you?"

After inspecting it, Pingying thought that the carpenter’s design was adequate. It involved using a complete template to serve as a wall with a door on the far side to divide the bedroom into two.

She nodded, "Alright, no need to measure then. We’ll do it this way."

Carpenter Zhang, finding Pingying easy to talk to, readily agreed, "Okay, this is simple. I’ll have it done today and install it at your place tomorrow afternoon."

"Alright," Pingying agreed, handed over the deposit to Carpenter Zhang, and walked off with Qiu Lian.

Qiu Lian wasn’t in a hurry to take her back; instead, she took Pingying for a stroll around the village near the military unit, and then into the unit, explaining where everything was.

Actually, Pingying still had some memories of the military unit since she had spent a considerable amount of time there in her past life and had even worked in the unit’s canteen.

However, Pingying found Qiu Lian to be quite nice. She was straightforward, generous, and much easier to get along with than Luo Chun, who appeared easygoing.

Qiu Lian was also very attentive and enthusiastic.

Thanks to Qiu Lian’s guidance, Pingying accomplished many things in one day. She took care of the wall construction in the morning and bought coal in the afternoon. In her spare time, Pingying made some pastries and even sent some over to Luo Chun and her neighbor.

After tasting the pastries, Luo Chun came over that evening with her children to ask how they were made, saying her children liked them and she wanted to try making some herself, just like the potato pancakes from the night before.

Pingying was somewhat displeased in her heart. She thought it inappropriate for someone to ask for the recipe right after enjoying the dish, not considering if it was convenient for others.

After all, these pastries were meant to be sold eventually, so the recipe couldn’t be shared carelessly.

Pingying frankly told her, "I learned this recipe from someone back home who uses it for business, so I cannot share it randomly."

Luo Chun’s smile paused upon hearing this, then she chuckled and said, "No worries, I was just asking casually."

After chatting briefly, she took her children and left.

Zhiyong had seen Pingying chatting with Luo Chun outside earlier and stayed in the bedroom reading, without coming out. Seeing Luo Chun leave so quickly, he came out smiling and asked, "What were you talking about that she left so soon?"

Pingying just shook her head and said, "Nothing much, Chun’er was just asking about something."

Zhiyong didn’t pry further about women’s matters, just remarked, "Oh well, no harm in hanging out more with Luo Chun; she’s quite nice."

Pingying arched an eyebrow but didn’t say much.

There’s a saying that men can never tell which women are genuinely good and which are cunning.

Take Luo Chun for example, she seems very honest on the surface, speaks softly, and is cordial.

But deep down, she’s somewhat selfish—bluntly put, she doesn’t know how to maintain boundaries in relationships and can be somewhat overbearing.

Whether she’s good or bad isn’t the question for now; it’s just that people generally don’t enjoy interacting with her as she seems to have her own motives for doing things.

Pingying stayed at the military unit for a few days, sorting out household affairs, only to discover that life as a military spouse could be extremely dull.

It felt like aside from waiting for Zhiyong to come home from work to eat, there was absolutely no purpose.

The other women seemed accustomed to such monotonous days, leading highly regular lives.

In the morning, they would take care of their husband and children’s breakfasts, then busied themselves with house chores. Those who worked in the city would go to work, while others stayed in the unit chattering away.

Women gathered to chat about their attire and then drifted to gossiping about others.

Day in and day out, they just grew accustomed to it.

But Pingying couldn’t get used to it. She figured she should start the pastry business she ran at home, earning whatever she could, which was certainly better than chatting endlessly downstairs with other spouses.

If conversations went awry, it might stir up a lot of unwanted gossip.

Although it was a military residential area and not strictly managed, trouble could still potentially alert the military officials.

So, Pingying pondered what she could do.

She decided against using seasonal fruits like she did at home, since locally sourced ingredients were not available here, and everything had to be bought with money, sometimes not even available for purchase.

She planned to create pastries with ingredients that were available all year round.

After much consideration, she decided to go to the city the next day to buy some glutinous rice flour.

Glutinous rice flour was an excellent base for tasty delights, allowing for various styles and flavors.

Moreover, this ingredient was always available for sale and was more common than seasonal fruits.

But before Pingying could start making the pastries, Luo Zhiming, who had been working in the provincial city for only a few days, caused some troubles.

That day, Zhiyong left early for work, and seeing the good weather, Pingying decided to buy a lot of radishes with Qiu Lian and Luo Chun from a nearby farmer. They planned to wash, cut, and dry them to make dried radishes, while the rest could be fermented in brine to make pickled radishes.

This was a cost-effective and appetizing snack.

The three women pooled their money together to buy a large basket of radishes for just several cents. Knowing they were military wives, the local people even gave them some extra radishes.

Radishes grew well and were plentiful in the countryside; for rural folks, they weren’t considered valuable and were hardly worth much in the market.

While washing the radishes at Pingying’s home, they chatted, but suddenly, a guard came knocking, saying a young man was looking for Camp Chief Luo, claiming to be his brother. He asked Pingying to come and see.

The military was strict with external visitors, not allowing entry without proper identification.

Hearing the young soldier’s description, Pingying immediately guessed it was Luo Zhiming.

She had always suspected Luo Zhiming wouldn’t settle down and work peacefully in the provincial city, but she didn’t expect him to cause trouble so soon.

He had barely been at the job site for ten days.

Pingying set down her work, letting Luo Chun and Qiu Lian continue washing the radishes, and went to see what was happening. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote and support the author. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com.)