A well-behaved girl was deceived while searching for her husband; she married a childless military o

Staff Officer Lin had been following Qin Yuanzheng for quite some time, but he had never seen this side of Qin Yuanzheng before.

This man used to be a rigid old man, a living devil who worked with such boundless energy that he exhausted his subordinates.

As a result, he now leaves work on the last minute every day. As soon as it's time to leave, he stares at his watch and then at the food factory in the distance, like a statue waiting for his wife.

Actually, he had just gotten married, and it was a late marriage. The old man had been through thick and thin in the military, and had experienced all kinds of hardships, but he had never experienced a woman.

Now that he's thirty, and his comrades' children are old enough to run errands, he's finally married a young woman and is finally experiencing the joys of womanhood. With the old house burning fiercely, it's understandable that he wants to stay home with his wife.

However, while the superiors said they understood, they refused to grant them two more days off.

Qin Yuanzheng felt uneasy, but there was nothing he could do. He could only stay in the mining area and continue the meeting with the engineers, designers, and a bunch of other people.

As an engineering construction corps, they were mainly responsible for construction.

Managing construction projects will keep you extremely busy.

Moreover, Qin Yuanzheng not only oversaw the coal mining area, but also the construction of two highways.

After all, the original dirt road was too inconvenient for transporting coal.

So they have planned two new highways, which will begin construction next month. They will need a large number of workers, as the engineering corps alone is certainly not enough.

Therefore, their unit also had to coordinate with the municipal personnel department and labor bureau to receive a large number of educated youth and workers.

When Qin Yuanzheng saw that the meeting would last for another two hours, he sat down, propped his forehead with his hand, and sighed silently.

Staff Officer Lin, who was standing next to him, leaned over and asked, "Commander, are you going to pick up your wife from get off work? Or should I go pick her up for you?"

Qin Yuanzheng stared at Staff Officer Lin silently for a few moments, then asked, "Are you still not giving up?"

Staff Officer Lin: "???"

Before Staff Officer Lin could react, Qin Yuanzheng pointed at him and said, "Comrade Xiao Qiao is already my wife, so you'd better give up on that idea as soon as possible."

Staff Officer Lin: "..."

Staff Officer Lin was truly impressed.

I wonder who was it that was introducing potential partners to Xiao Qiao back then?

The unmarried young officers in their team have all met Comrade Xiao Qiao, especially Xiao Yang, who has been seeing Comrade Xiao Qiao for several days. Who doesn't know that?

Now you're bothered? Why didn't you think of that earlier?

For the first time, Staff Officer Lin really wanted to beat up Regiment Commander Qin.

But in the end, they endured it because they couldn't win and couldn't afford to be disrespectful.

……

Qiao Lanshu came out of the food factory, holding a package sent from Yangcheng in her arms. Wang Xue was wrapped in a scarf, breathing out hot air, and was jumping around in place because she was so cold.

When she saw Qiao Lanshu come out, she went over to her and asked, "What's wrong? Did your family send you something?"

Qiao Lanshu nodded, looked at the words on the package, and said, "I sent a telegram home when I got married, so this is probably from my dad."

Qiao Lanshu's father still loved her very much. After all, she was his child with his first wife and his first child. Qiao Lanshu was raised in his arms from a young age.

But later, she lost her mother, and then her stepmother came into the family, and then her stepmother gave birth to a son.

She couldn't stay at home anymore; if she didn't get married, she would have to go to the countryside.

Mr. Qiao trusted Sun Mingyong a lot, feeling that he was a child he had watched grow up, and he was at ease entrusting Qiao Lanshu to Sun Mingyong.

And then, this happened.

Qiao Lanshu didn't hide it from her father and told him everything about Sun Mingyong's marriage fraud.

Mr. Qiao must have been furious, which is why he sent a package so quickly.

Qiao Lanshu, carrying a package, asked Wang Xue, "Sister, where do you live? I'm coming this way."

Wang Xue took her arm and said, "I know you live in the military compound. We're going the same way. I'm going to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things."

The two then walked together until they reached the vicinity of the supply and marketing cooperative. Wang Xue asked Qiao Lanshu, "Xiao Qiao, do you want to buy anything?"

Qiao Lanshu was holding a small package in her arms, along with two loaves of bread she had bought from the food factory. She hesitated whether or not to go buy them.

The walnut shortbread Qin Yuanzheng bought for her last time was quite delicious, and since she was out of biscuits at home, she thought for a moment and said, "How about I go again tomorrow? I forgot to bring my food coupons. I'd like to buy some biscuits or walnut shortbread."

When she arrived, her father gave her a lot of national grain coupons, as well as some non-staple food coupons, though not many, and she was quite frugal with them.

When Wang Xue heard her say that, she lowered her voice and said, "Oh, don't you know there's a mobile market around here? You don't need a ticket to buy things there."

Qiao Lanshu genuinely didn't know. She looked around and asked, "Where is it?"

Wang Xue then grabbed her and said, "Come on, I'll take you there."

That mobile market was in an alley opposite the supply and marketing cooperative. When Wang Xue brought Qiao Lanshu into the alley, they indeed saw people carrying things out of the alley.

As they went inside, they saw people wearing tattered cotton-padded coats, carrying baskets or burlap sacks, and occasionally staring at passersby, clearly selling things.

Many people know about these kinds of places; it's just a matter of whether people want to manage them or whether anyone reports them.

A woman, bundled up tightly, came over as soon as she saw Wang Xue and Qiao Lanshu enter. She lifted a corner of the black cloth in the basket and said with a smile, "Girl, would you like to see this?"

When Wang Xue and Qiao Lanshu saw the small twisted dough sticks in her basket, they were immediately captivated.

Wang Xue was really craving it. She swallowed hard and asked in a low voice, "How much is it per pound?"

The woman held out her palm and said, "Fifty cents."

Nowadays, fried dough twists are made from grains and oils. They're deep-fried, so they're very oily and fragrant. Sweet fried dough twists also have sugar added, making them sweet, fragrant, and crispy—they're incredibly delicious.

Most families would only spend money to buy a couple of pounds during the Lunar New Year to give as gifts to relatives.

Or buy it for the children to eat, to improve their diet.

However, the normal price at the supply and marketing cooperative was 2 cents per pound, but you had to use grain coupons.

No food coupons are needed here, but the other party charges 5 cents per pound.

Wang Xue was a little reluctant to spend the money, but she really wanted to eat fried dough twists, so she gritted her teeth and said, "Give me five cents' worth."

The woman immediately took out a small scale, weighed it for her (about 500 grams), and said, "Here, shall I put it in your pocket?"

Wang Xue: "..."

Wang Xue was exasperated: "You really don't even have a newspaper?"

The woman said, "No, we've run out of newspapers."

Wang Xue could only pull down half of her scarf and say, "Wrap it inside for me."

She wasn't afraid of the oil at all; she actually wrapped a pound of twisted dough sticks in a scarf and turned to ask Qiao Lanshu, "Comrade Qiao, are you buying them?"

Qiao Lanshu also wanted to eat fried dough twists, and when she looked at these fried dough twists, she wondered why they looked exactly like the ones fried in their deep-frying class.

However, the food produced in the food factory has fixed sales channels, and it certainly won't end up in the mobile market.

Or perhaps she misread it?

Qiao Lanshu hesitated for a moment, then quickly said, "I want a pound too, it's fifty cents, weigh it for me."

As she spoke, she took out fifty cents from her pocket and handed it to the woman.

Then, she took out a folded newspaper from her pocket, put down the package and bread she was carrying, and folded the newspaper into a square bowl.

Wang Xue was stunned. She said, "Comrade Xiao Qiao, why are you carrying a newspaper with you when you go to work?"

Qiao Lanshu smiled and said, "I took this from the factory. I wanted to take it home to read, but I don't have any newspapers at home."

Wang Xue: "..."

Wang Xue said, "Your Commander Qin must have plenty of them in the army, just ask him to get them for you."

Qin Yuanzheng actually brought home quite a few newspapers. He wanted to buy her some books to read, but there weren't many books to read in the library these days. She had already read all the ones she could, and she didn't dare to read the ones she couldn't.

So she would read newspapers or magazines, and sometimes she would also read books on planting, raising pigs and ducks, just for leisure.

As the two women chatted, the woman weighed out a pound of fried dough twists and poured them into a bowl that Qiao Lanshu had made from newspaper.

Qiao Lanshu actually wanted to buy two jin (1 kg), but she was carrying a lot of things, and since the fried dough twists were deep-fried and didn't weigh much, two jin would be quite a lot. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to carry them all back, and if she lost a few on the way, she would be heartbroken.

Wang Xue was also carrying bread and couldn't help her with her hands, so she piled the twisted dough sticks on top of the package, then placed the bread on top of the dough sticks to make sure they wouldn't fall. Only then did the two of them carry their things out of the alley.

After Wang Xue came out, she still had to go to the supply and marketing cooperative, but Qiao Lanshu was too tired to carry anything, so she didn't go.

The two parted ways on the street opposite the supply and marketing cooperative. Then Qiao Lanshu walked a dozen meters further, turned a corner, and arrived at the military compound.

Everyone in the military compound knew Qiao Lanshu; they knew she was the wife of the famous commander of the 21st Regiment, so they quickly opened the door for her.

One of the guards saw her carrying so many things and even came out to ask her, "Sister-in-law, do you need any help?"

Qiao Lanshu recognized the guard as the one who had helped her and Huang Erling carry their things last time.

She immediately smiled and said, "No need, I can carry it myself."

As she spoke, she walked toward their guardhouse, intending to grab some fried dough twists for them to eat, but there were two pillow-shaped bread rolls on top of the twists.

She tried to grab it but missed, so she took a pillow-shaped bread, placed it on the windowsill of the guardhouse, and said to them, "This is a special-offer bread from our food factory. You two can share it. It doesn't taste very good, but don't mind it."

The guard hesitated to accept the bread, then chased after her, saying, "No need, sister-in-law. Our unit has rules; we can't accept your things."

He said the same thing last time; he's genuinely afraid of accepting her things.

She quickly said, "This is a thank-you fee. If you don't accept it, I won't dare ask you to help me carry things next time."

She took a few steps, then turned back and said, "Just consider it a gift from Commander Qin, take it to tide you over."

The guard hesitated for a moment, and after a long pause, finally accepted the bread.

They were guards in the mining area regiment, and happened to be Qin Yuanzheng's subordinates. Qiao Lanshu had recognized them in her previous life.

Qiao Lanshu returned home, but Qin Yuanzheng was not there, so she tidied up the house.

I'm going to slice the bread for dinner, cook some sweet potato and millet porridge, stir-fry some cabbage with vinegar, and stew some potato noodles.

She started cooking the porridge first, and then soaked the glass noodles in water.

Then she took the package, opened it, and found a letter inside, written by Qiao's father to her.

Mr. Qiao was shocked and very angry about Sun Mingyong's behavior.

Of the three pages of the letter, one and a half pages were filled with insults directed at Sun Mingyong, calling him a beast.

Then, he asked Qiao Lanshu carefully how she was doing. How could a regimental-level cadre like her be thirty years old and still not married? It was just lucky for her that she got married as soon as she arrived.

He asked tactfully if this Commander Qin had some kind of problem, or if he had a wife in the countryside that he was keeping from her. He also asked if this Commander Qin was a fictional character, and whether she was deliberately making up a person to deceive her old father.

A letter made Qiao Lanshu both laugh and cry.

At the end of the letter, there was also a hundred yuan worth of grain coupons. Qiao's father said that he had wired two hundred yuan to her savings account and told her that if she encountered any difficulties, she should take the train back immediately. He would find a way to buy her a job so that she wouldn't have to go to the countryside.

Qiao's father also regretted it; he had trusted Sun Mingyong too much, after all, he was a child he had watched grow up.

If he had known earlier that Sun Mingyong was unreliable, he would absolutely never have let his daughter go to the far north to look for her husband.

From south to north, thousands of kilometers away, even if his daughter was sold by someone else, he wouldn't know where to look for her!

Qiao Lanshu carefully put away the grain coupons and the letter.

Inside the package were a bag of dried salted fish, a bag of cured pork, a bag of sausage, a bag of dried squid, and two bags of dried radishes that the family had sun-dried themselves.

It's mostly meat; he's worried that Qiao Lanshu won't have any meat to eat here and will suffer from hunger and cold.

These things were probably sent to her secretly by Qiao's father, since his stepmother had some objections when he sent money to Sun Mingyong before.

Now they're sending her money again, and such a large amount at that.

Qiao Lanshu took the things to the kitchen and tidied them up. Just then, she heard the front door open, and Qin Yuanzheng returned looking travel-worn.

Qin Yuanzheng reeked of the cold smell of coal mines.

Qiao Lanshu quickly ran over, looked at Qin Yuanzheng, and said, "Brother Zheng, I've missed you so much all day."

Qin Yuanzheng took off his coat and overcoat, immediately picked up Qiao Lanshu, kissed her on the cheek, and said, "I missed you so much too!"

She misses him not only in her heart, but also in her body.

He was thinking about her constantly, so much so that he couldn't stand it. His chest felt bloated and uncomfortable, and his body felt bloated and uncomfortable.

In short, he feels uneasy if he doesn't see his wife for a day.

He put Qiao Lanshu down and wanted to kiss her again, but when he saw her eyes, he suddenly frowned, rubbed the corner of her eye with his rough thumb, and asked in a low voice, "Why are you crying? Did someone bully you again?"

The young wife, whom he hadn't seen for a day, had swollen eyes from crying.

She never cried this hard when he bullied her on the kang (heated brick bed) before.