A whirlwind marriage with a high-ranking official: Lights out, don't force me to take the initi

"Hello, Sister Wang," Ye Wenxi said, catching her breath. "I want to install a telephone. Do you know how?"

"I don't know how, but I can call someone for you, just wait a bit."

Wang Guifen walked out of the reception bungalow of the military dependents' compound.

He led Ye Wenxi into another room and shouted into the inner room.

"Old Chen! Come over and lend a hand!"

An old man wearing a dark blue work uniform came out.

"This is Old Chen. He used to be in the communications unit in the army. There's nothing he can't do, from installing telephones and repairing home appliances to making furniture!"

"Our military dependents' institute basically all depends on him."

"Hello, Uncle Chen," Ye Wenxi greeted him politely.

Wang Guifen turned to Old Chen and pointed at Ye Wenxi: "This belongs to Battalion Commander Lu's family!"

Upon hearing that it was Battalion Commander Lu's wife, Old Chen immediately understood and nodded in greeting.

The group explained the matter in a few words, asked for the address, and agreed on the spot.

"No problem! Your phone is readily available. The wiring yard has spares. I'll bring someone over to run the cable and install the phone for you in a bit."

Ye Wenxi wanted to bring up the application materials, but Old Chen waved his hand and said with a smile.

Ye Wenxi hadn't expected that the matter would have such an unexpected effect.

This made my life in the compound much more convenient.

She rode her bicycle for another two minutes along the road and opened a current account in her own name at the credit union's garrison branch.

Thinking that when settling royalties in the future, I'll have the food factory transfer the money directly to my account, which is much more convenient than mailing cash.

That afternoon, Ye Wenxi assembled a floor lamp in the courtyard, while Grandpa Chen led people and materials to install a telephone.

Once everything was installed, Grandpa Chen greeted Ye Wenxi in the yard.

"Xiao Ye! It's all packed."

Ye Wenxi hurriedly went inside.

Old Chen picked up the phone and tried dialing the military switchboard number; there was a clear ringback tone.

"It's done, it's connected."

"Remember, to make an outside call, dial 0 first; to make an inside call to the military, just dial the extension number."

As Ye Wenxi spoke, she took out two hundred yuan. She had heard that in those days, there were a series of fees, including an initial installation fee, to install a telephone.

"Uncle Chen, do you think 200 is enough? If not, I'll go to the credit union branch to withdraw it."

Old Chen waved his hand and pushed the money into her hand, his voice very loud.

"No, no!"

"According to the rules outside, the initial installation fee and wiring fee are both mandatory, but how can the outside compare to our military family compound!"

He grinned, revealing a small gap in his teeth.

"For families in the compound, there's no initial installation fee for installing telephones! They just deduct a real telephone fee. Long-distance calls are charged by the minute, and calls to military bases are completely free."

He patted the telephone casing: "This is a benefit the military provides to our families! Outsiders would fight tooth and nail for this kind of treatment!"

However, Ye Wenxi felt bad about letting someone come to install it for nothing.

Grandpa Chen refused to accept the installation fee no matter what, but in the end he couldn't resist Ye Wenxi's stubbornness and accepted the two kilograms of oranges and two kilograms of apples she brought.

"I'm so sorry... You don't need to give me anything else, it's no trouble at all."

"Please accept this, sir. I might need your help with something else in the future."

"Okay, thanks, girl. If you ever need anything, just call our military dependents' home extension, and we'll be there in no time!"

After seeing off Grandpa Chen and the other installer, Ye Wenxi's first reaction was to call Liu Xiuyun to share the good news with her.

Just as she picked up the phone, she suddenly realized that Liu Xiuyun was unaware of Xu Miao and Staff Officer Xu's affair.

Mentioning the origin of the phone call at this critical juncture would inevitably lead to the background and consequences, so it's best not to say anything for now, lest it upset her.

Then, she took out the number she had written down and dialed Lu Weihua's school.

Lu Weihua happened to be in his dormitory. After waiting for about ten minutes, he heard hurried footsteps on the other end of the phone, followed by his sister-in-law's clear voice.

"Feed? Who?!"

"Guess who I am?" Ye Wenxi deliberately dragged out her words.

"You... Second Sister-in-law?!" Lu Weihua's voice rose instantly, full of surprise.

"Haha, that's pretty impressive."

Ye Wenxi smiled and agreed, then told Lu Weihua everything about receiving a reply from the food factory, getting her royalties, and the phone being delivered to her home by Staff Officer Xu.

Lu Weihua on the other end of the phone didn't care about being a girl at all.

He exclaimed "Holy crap!" and "Really?" in quick succession, his voice so loud it sounded like he was shouting slogans.

"No way, I can't stand it anymore, I have to go out and brag about this!"

"What are you showing off for?" Ye Wenxi asked nervously. What was this sister-in-law up to now?

"You earn a month's allowance from just one cover!"

"Second sister-in-law, do you know how awesome you are?"

"Oh, it might just be a one-off deal, I just got lucky. What if it doesn't happen again?" Ye Wenxi said modestly with a smile.

"Impossible!" Lu Weihua shouted into the phone, startling Ye Wenxi into quickly moving the receiver away.

"Second sister-in-law, with your talent, you'll definitely have a constant stream of work coming your way!"

"Wait here, I'll go ask around at our school's literary society and the bulletin boards at nearby factories to find you some work!"

"Hahaha, no problem. If it works out, I'll buy you whatever you want." Ye Wenxi was amused by her sister-in-law's enthusiasm.

"By the way, could you please tell Mom about this when you have time?"

"But don't mention the phone call yet, lest she worry and get angry again."

"Okay! I'll handle it, don't worry!"

After hanging up the phone, Ye Wenxi called the food factory again.

The content that was originally supposed to be communicated in a letter was conveyed directly over the phone, much to the delight of the person in charge.

Ye Wenxi agreed to a long-term collaboration, even though it wouldn't be a formal job.

With her in charge, the factory's promotional materials had a backbone.

They then discussed the design requirements for the next month.

There are about six covers, including orange-flavored soda, fruit-flavored children's candy, scallion-flavored biscuits, and so on.

Ye Wenxi took notes while communicating and promised to finish drawing and send it out within the next week.

He then provided the other party with his bankbook account name, the full name of the credit union, and his bankbook account number, word for word.

With this, the two sides have reached a complete long-term cooperation agreement.

It was already dark when I hung up the phone.

Ye Wenxi glanced at his watch.

It should be dinner time now; I wonder if I can get in touch with them.

Ye Wenxi held the phone book with the military switchboard number on it, fumbled around on the dial a few times, and then dialed.

"Beep—beep—"

After three rings, a clear female voice from the operator came through: "Military switchboard, please speak."

Ye Wenxi tightened his grip on the receiver and spoke at a steady pace.

"Hello comrade, could you please provide the duty phone number for the camp where Ye Weidong of the 2nd Battalion of the Independent Regiment is stationed? I am Ye Wenxi, a family member of Battalion Commander Lu Weidong."

"Okay, just a moment." The operator paused for two seconds, presumably flipping through the encrypted extension list on hand.

"Battalion Commander Lu's frontline command post is on extension 512. If Battalion Commander Lu is not out on patrol, this number can be used to reach him."

Ye Wenxi quickly replied, "Thank you, comrade."

After hanging up the switchboard, she immediately dialed 512.

Two more long beeps followed by a male voice with a whistling, sandy quality coming through the receiver.

"Feed? I am Lu Weidong, please speak."