Chapter 253: Chapter 245: Bring Luck
Lu Yunfei retched for a while, and seeing that Lei Gang didn’t even glance in her direction, she felt incredibly stifled. If not for the chance of getting close to Lei Gang, she wouldn’t have bothered coming to such a desolate place.
"Yunfei, how are you feeling? Are you better? Do you want some water?" Han Zhifei was especially attentive.
Lu Yunfei felt inexplicably annoyed. She was well aware of Han Zhifei’s feelings for her, but aside from Han Zhifei being fat and silly-looking, even if he were handsome, his father is only the Deputy Chief of Staff in the military region, a rank lower than her dad. How could she possibly marry such a man?
Lu Yunfei intends to marry someone at least like Lei Gang, a man with power and background. Only a man like Lei Gang is worthy of Lu Yunfei! (Girl, aren’t you a bit too mature for your age, thinking of marriage at 15?)
In fact, Lu Yunfei had initially taken a liking to Luo Jun, but Luo Jun really didn’t give her any face, always wearing a stern look when they met. In contrast, Lei Gang was much better, always smiling when he spoke to her, making Lei Gang seem quite fond of her. (Lei Gang is dizzy, that was just politeness, Luo Jun chuckled, you are always so vague.)
Zhang Jie and Tian Sisi were also making fire together, Tian Sisi looked at Lu Yunfei and the others sitting far away, then glanced at her and Zhang Jie’s hands full of cow dung, and couldn’t help but chuckle.
"What’s wrong?" Zhang Jie looked up and asked.
"I was thinking whether they’d drink the stuff we boiled with this cow dung, if they really love cleanliness, then let them be hungry!" Tian Sisi said mischievously.
"Pfft, you’re really funny, I didn’t expect you to have such a bold personality, I thought you might be as pretentious as that Lu Yunfei!"
"Please, you can say I look pathetic, but never say I’m pretentious, it’s too tiring to deal with!" In her past and present life, Tian Sisi hated dealing with pretentious people the most, communicating with them was too difficult.
"Ha, if you think you look pathetic, what should people like me think?" Zhang Jie was amused by Tian Sisi’s laughter.
"Just like white tofu, Sister Zhang you look so tender and fair!" Tian Sisi playfully grabbed Zhang Jie’s face, like a little perv.
Zhang Jie was teased by Tian Sisi until she was shy and blushing, Tian Sisi found it amusing, thinking how innocent the girls nowadays are.
"Sisi, did you just touch cow dung before touching me?" Zhang Jie shyly asked after a while, recalling a serious concern.
"Uh?", Tian Sisi didn’t catch on immediately, and instinctively sniffed her hands, "Sister Zhang, it doesn’t smell, it’s actually quite fragrant, just consider it like applying scented powder."
"I’ll apply some scented powder for you too!"
The two girls giggled and frolicked together, becoming much more familiar with each other, and the initial awkwardness dissipated.
On the other side, the boys were attracted by the girls’ laughter sounding like silver bells, looking over in Tian Sisi’s direction. Luo Jun nudged Lei Gang, squinting and teasing, "Gangzi, look at your woman laughing so freely!"
"What do you mean my woman? Junzi, don’t talk nonsense!" Lei Gang’s face flushed red, visibly embarrassed.
"Ouch? It’s not your hubby. Why are you blushing? Everyone in this compound knows already that the Political Commissar’s wife and your mom are practically in-laws already, and I heard you two were betrothed as babies, your marriage was decided while you were still in the womb."
"Yeah, we all know about it!" Liu Datou said with an "everyone on Earth knows" expression.
"Go away! I don’t want to bother with you guys!" Lei Gang, embarrassed and angry, glared fiercely at Liu Datou, then turned to the always silent Tian Xinhua and Wu Tianfang and said, "Xinhua, Tianfang, let’s go catch some game and grill it!"
"Sure!"
Tian Xinhua stood up, went over to Tian Sisi and told her not to wander around. He also asked Tian Weihua and the others to take good care of his sister before walking towards Lei Gang. Tian Qinghua couldn’t sit still and insisted on following, so Tian Xinhua let him tag along.
Lei Gang left two guns with Luo Gang and Liu Datou; the guns were Type 56 semi-automatic rifles phased out by the army, usually used by the militia. It was surprising that Lei Gang and his group could get so many guns, but considering their identities, it wasn’t that strange.
"Sisi, Tian Xinhua really cares about you!"
"Mmm, he’s my brother!" Tian Sisi mumbled.
Zhang Jie, being older and more attentive, naturally noticed Tian Xinhua’s special treatment of Tian Sisi, overly nice even. As a sister, Tian Xinhua was utterly straightforward with Tian Lili, feeling that his behavior towards Sisi wasn’t at all like that between a brother and a sister. Zhang Jie was puzzled but didn’t show it and continued chatting and laughing with Tian Sisi.
Before long, Tian Xinhua and the others returned, their hunt quite successful with several hares and a gopher, and in Lei Gang’s hands were even seven or eight fluffy little creatures, looking a bit like squirrels.
"Brother Gangzi, are these squirrels?" Tian Sisi asked curiously.
"No, they’re voles. There are no squirrels on the prairie."
Voles can be this cute? And how come voles don’t look a bit like mice? With such short tails? And so big in size? The voles in Lei Gang’s hand overturned Tian Sisi’s previous notion that voles and mice were related; clearly, they weren’t from the same family. But surely they didn’t catch these voles to eat?
Sure enough, Luo Jun saw the voles in Lei Gang’s hands and was quite happy, "Not bad, Gangzi, managed to get a whole nest. These are good, tastier than rabbit meat!"
Tian Sisi silently walked away. Well, even though the voles didn’t look disgusting at all, she still found it hard to accept eating them. Just thinking that they were close relatives to mice made it hard for her to swallow.
Their camping spot was near a large pool. Tian Xinhua and Lei Gang took their catch to the pool to clean. Tian Qinghua excitedly sat next to them and said, "Weixin, Sixth Brother, it’s a pity you didn’t come along. The prairie is full of wildlife, with hares running all over the place and voles in bunches, much more than at our home."
"Can you eat these voles? I read in a book that mice carry many germs, and eating them can make you sick." Hu Weixin was skeptical about eating voles.
Tian Qinghua nonchalantly waved his hand, "What the books say is deceiving. Voles are delicious. Six Brother and I used to eat them all the time as kids, so tasty, you’ll know once you try."
"What the books refer to are rats. Rats and voles are different. Voles eat grass and are not dirty at all. Besides, our eating voles is also for protecting the prairie. If there are too many voles, they will eat up all the grass on the prairie."
As Luo Jun fetched a teapot of water from the pool side, upon hearing Tian Qinghua, he joined in the conversation, throwing a piece of broken tea brick into the pot, placing it over the fire to boil, soon filling the air with a rich aroma of tea, wafting everywhere.