Chapter 172: Accompanying the Army

Chapter 172: Chapter 172: Accompanying the Army

Once Lu Cheng sat down, Jiang Moli handed him the other large chicken leg that was left.

Lu Cheng pushed it back dotingly. "You eat it. I bought it especially for you. Last time with the bamboo chicken, Tingting and Xiao Peng ate most of it. You barely got a few bites."

Jiang Moli brought the chicken leg right to his mouth. "Ah, open up!"

Lu Cheng opened his mouth and bit into the chicken leg.

’He’s being so obedient, and a little cute.’

"You won’t take the easy way, so I have to get tough, is that it?"

Lu Cheng happily took the chicken leg. "So I’ll eat it then?"

Jiang Moli said, "Next time I offer you food and you refuse, I’m feeding it to the dog."

Jiaojiao, who was engrossed in the chicken bones, lifted her chubby little head. "WOOF WOOF?"

Lu Cheng nudged her aside with his foot. "This has nothing to do with you. Scoot."

"WOOF! WOOF WOOF!"

"Shut up."

"WOOF!"

Lu Cheng turned to Jiang Moli to complain. "Look at this pup. She’s deliberately trying to tick me off. Why don’t we just give her away to someone else?"

Jiang Moli teased, "You’re a whole camp commander. You can’t even tolerate a single dog?" ℯ

Lu Cheng settled for the next best thing. "Then don’t bring her along when we go out in the future."

He hadn’t even gotten to go out and have fun with his wife, but this dog was already enjoying the privilege. It even ate the roasted chicken he had bought for his wife.

’So infuriating.’

After finishing the roasted chicken, Lu Cheng also went down to the river to catch river shrimp. Before long, the wooden bucket was full.

The four of them rode back in Lu Cheng’s car.

In the car, Jiang Moli looked at the puppy lying lazily at her feet and couldn’t help but say, "So it turns out you’re not a picky eater, you just only eat the good stuff."

She had eaten the entire chicken skeleton, and her little belly was round and full.

Jiaojiao gave a cute, silly wag of her little tail.

Lu Cheng huffed, "Don’t spoil her. Starve her for three days and three nights, then we’ll see if she still refuses to eat."

Jiang Moli thought for a moment and said, "Why don’t you see if anyone wants to adopt her? I’m going back home in a while anyway."

Lu Cheng hadn’t even spoken when the two young soldiers in the back seat started trying to persuade Jiang Moli, one after another:

"Ma’am, it’s rare for you to visit the base. Why not stay a while longer before you go back?"

"Ma’am, you should just stay and join the army as a dependent! We might be poor here, but there’s lots of wild game in the mountains and endless mushrooms to eat."

’Attaboys. I didn’t feed you that meat for nothing!’

Lu Cheng mentally gave the two a point in his good books. Turning to meet Jiang Moli’s teasing gaze, he blurted out a denial:

"I didn’t teach them to say that."

Xiao Tang said, "Ma’am, ever since you arrived, Camp Commander Lu has been happy every day. If you go back, he’ll be all alone again, sleeping in a cold bed."

Jiang Moli looked back and teased Xiao Tang, "Well then, after I leave, why don’t you move in? With a considerate young soldier like you to keep him company, your camp commander won’t be lonely."

Xiao Tang: "..."

"What are you planning to do with this huge bucket of river shrimp?"

Lu Cheng spoke up, changing the subject.

Although he desperately wanted his wife to stay, he would respect her choices and thoughts.

Jiang Moli replied, "First, we’ll take the river shrimp to Commander Zhong’s house and keep them in clean water for a while. Did you buy everything on the list?"

"Yeah, I bought it all."

When they reached the gate of the family housing area, Ge Dayong returned to the barracks first, while Xiao Tang helped carry the river shrimp to the Zhong family’s house.

「...」

After mailing a letter at the logistics department, Zhang Jia Ming ran into Ge Dayong, who was heading back to the barracks.

"Dayong, you’re covered in mud. Where have you been?"

"Camp Commander Lu had me and Tang Yuan help his wife catch river shrimp in the river at the foot of the mountain."

Zhang Jia Ming was puzzled. "What are you catching those for?"

"I don’t know. His wife asked us to. We caught a huge bucketful. Tang Yuan is helping Camp Commander Lu take them to Commander Zhong’s house, so I came back first. Oh, right, Camp Commander Lu also treated Tang Yuan and me to roasted chicken! Hehe!"

Zhang Jia Ming patted Ge Dayong on the shoulder, an indescribable feeling in his heart.

Just a few months ago, whenever Lu Cheng went out, he would always take him along and treat him to good food.

He hadn’t enjoyed that kind of treatment in a very long time.

「...」

Although Jiang Wenjuan didn’t think something like river shrimp was edible, she still did as Jiang Moli asked, clearing out two large wooden basins, filling them with clean water, and keeping the shrimp in them.

Lu Cheng still had to report back to the camp, so Jiang Moli led Jiaojiao back to the guest house first.

Under the large banyan tree next to the guest house, Yang Lijiong was directing members of the arts troupe as they rehearsed their performance.

It was a group composed entirely of young female soldiers, graceful and full of youthful energy. The way they swayed their slender waists was a true feast for the eyes.

’Might as well watch since it’s free.’

Jiang Moli found a shady spot and watched with great interest.

A short while later, Lu Tingting returned from her class.

Jiaojiao enthusiastically wagged her tail and trotted over to greet her on four short legs.

Lu Tingting happily scooped Jiaojiao into her arms, then suddenly caught the scent of meat on her.

"What did you feed Jiaojiao?"

"Oh, roasted chicken."

’You had roasted chicken and didn’t even call me!’

’Even the dog got to eat some, but I didn’t. Am I worse than a dog?’

Seeing Lu Tingting puffing her cheeks in annoyance, Jiang Moli said, "I did call for you. You were the one who didn’t want to go."

"But you didn’t say you were going to eat roasted chicken!"

Jiang Moli chuckled and pinched her cheek. "Alright, alright. I’ll treat you to something good tonight."

Lu Tingting slapped her hand away. "I’m not going!"

"Really not going?"

"Right, I’m not going!"

With that, she hugged the puppy and returned to the guest house.

’I’ve fallen for Jiang Moli’s tricks too many times. I won’t be fooled again!’

At noon, Jiang Qing went to the barracks gate to pick up her meal box as usual.

Seeing Zhang Jia Ming’s gloomy expression, she subconsciously asked with concern, "What’s wrong? Did you get scolded by a superior?"

Zhang Jia Ming looked like he wanted to say something but held back. "Forget it. It’s better not to talk about it. From now on, I’ll get you an extra portion of food at every meal. You should eat more. Don’t let our child go hungry."

Jiang Qing ignored the topic of the child and said, "Jia Ming, you have to tell me whatever’s on your mind. We can only make a good life for ourselves if we work together."

Zhang Jia Ming was already in a foul mood, and hearing her say that, he immediately poured out all the troubles that had been weighing on him.

Learning that he had been getting the cold shoulder from Lu Cheng for some time, Jiang Qing panicked.

"This is a huge deal! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?"

Before Zhang Jia Ming could answer, she asked impatiently, "When did it start?"

Zhang Jia Ming looked at her. "Before you came to the base, you wrote me a letter saying Jiang Moli was causing trouble at home. I told Camp Commander Lu, and he was quite unhappy at the time. Then, after you came to the base, you did so many annoying things. Camp Commander Lu must be completely disappointed in me."

Jiang Qing felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

Without Lu Cheng’s support, wouldn’t it be impossible for Zhang Jia Ming to be promoted to platoon leader?

What would she do then? Was she really going to work for the school for free for the rest of her life?

The sun shone brightly overhead, but Jiang Qing’s heart was frozen solid.

Her husband’s promotion, her dream of joining him as a dependent... had it all just gone up in smoke?

What she found even harder to accept was that she had indirectly ruined her husband’s future.

’No, it’s not my fault!’

’It must be Jiang Moli! She must have used her pillow talk to influence Lu Cheng and cut off Zhang Jia Ming’s prospects.’

’That vicious woman, Jiang Moli!’

「...」

After waking up from her afternoon nap, Jiang Moli went to the Zhong family’s home to process the river shrimp with Jiang Wenjuan.

Jiang Moli’s method was simple: just use a brush to scrub the mud off the shrimp.

As for the delicate work of cutting off the heads and deveining them, with two huge basins of shrimp, the two of them wouldn’t be able to finish even if they worked until dark.

Fortunately, the river was quite clean, not like the garbage- and sewage-filled rivers of later generations. There was no need to worry about heavy metal contamination.

While processing the shrimp, Jiang Wenjuan chatted with Jiang Moli:

"Xiao Jiang, why don’t you join the army as a dependent? It would be so nice to put down roots here and live with Xiao Lu."