Chapter 315: Commendation
Chapter 315: Chapter 315: Commendation
Early in the morning, Ma Hongmei was cleaning the living room.
When she heard the phone ring, she picked it up. Hearing Lu Cheng’s voice, she hurriedly called for An Hui to take the call.
"Hello, Lu Cheng? Have you made it to the base?"
"Yeah, I arrived last night. Where’s Moli?"
"She’s not up yet. Hold on, I’ll go get her—"
"Never mind then. Let her sleep."
As much as he wanted to say a few words to his wife, he couldn’t bear to wake her.
"When Moli wakes up, please let her know I’ve arrived safely."
Just as An Hui was about to agree, she heard the door to Jiang Moli’s room open.
She peeked over and, sure enough, saw Jiang Moli coming out of her room.
"Moli’s up! Moli, come take the phone! It’s Lu Cheng calling back!"
Jiang Moli yawned as she took the receiver. "Hello?"
Although it was just a single word, it sounded exceptionally pleasant and lovely to Lu Cheng’s ears.
His voice softened unconsciously. "Did I wake you?"
Jiang Moli yawned. "Mm, it had nothing to do with you."
She had been woken up by the sound of Disdain Value being credited to her account.
Zhu Huanghua’s performance today was a little less impressive than yesterday, but she had still earned Moli seven Disdain Value points so far.
"I just delivered the things you asked me to bring to our sister-in-law’s house. As for Tang Xiaoyue’s portion, I gave it to Xiao Peng to deliver himself. It’s rare for that kid to find a girl he genuinely likes, so we should help him out."
"He’s lucky to have a brother-in-law like you who thinks of everything for him."
Lu Cheng was overjoyed by his wife’s praise. "Xiao Peng earned a second-class merit this time. Once the official commendation is issued, I’ll have him transferred to my camp. With him under my watch, you and Dad can rest easy."
Speaking of commendations, a thought struck Jiang Moli. "What about you? What was your commendation?"
"I also received a second-class merit, same as Xiao Peng."
"And?"
Lu Cheng paused for a moment, then chuckled. "A second-class merit isn’t enough for you? Then I’ll work harder next time and aim for a first-class one, how about that?"
"Sounds good."
Jiang Moli agreed casually, but inside, she felt something was off.
’In the original book, Lu Cheng was supposed to get a promotion from this mission.’
’But her appearance had changed the plotlines for quite a few people. Maybe Lu Cheng’s was affected too?’
...
After the call, Lu Cheng headed to the logistics department, planning to mail home the two months of stipend he had just belatedly received.
Just as he entered the logistics department, he ran into Zhang Jia Ming.
"Camp Commander Lu!"
Lu Cheng nodded at Zhang Jia Ming. "Are you heading out?"
"We don’t have enough fertilizer and seeds allocated for the spring planting this year. I need to go to the town’s supply co-op to purchase more."
Zhang Jia Ming had previously volunteered for duty at the sentry post, and another soldier had taken over his original position.
Now that he was back, Lu Cheng had been on leave and hadn’t given him a new assignment, so Sun Jianhua had temporarily assigned him to help out in the logistics department.
"Alright, go take care of your business. Come find me when you get back."
"Yes, sir!"
After watching Lu Cheng walk away, Zhang Jia Ming lowered the hand he had raised in a salute, then turned and strode briskly toward the camp gate.
When Jiang Moli came out of the bathroom after washing up, Ma Hongmei had already placed her breakfast on the table.
"Moli, eat while it’s hot. These meat buns are only good when they’re hot."
"Alright, thank you, Auntie."
Jiang Moli picked up a meat bun and took a bite. The wrapper, made with a traditional sourdough starter, was soft and chewy, and the pork and green onion filling was wonderfully fragrant.
Ma Hongmei went back to cleaning while An Hui sat at the dining table, watching her eat.
"Is it good?"
Jiang Moli nodded. "It’s delicious. Mom, just save one for me next time. I don’t contribute much to the family, so eating two is too wasteful."
"Nonsense. You’ve made a huge contribution to this family."
After chiding her, An Hui explained, "The other one was originally for Tingting, but she insisted on leaving it for you. She said you’re too thin and should eat more. If you can’t finish it, just leave it."
’That silly girl. She must be afraid I’ll starve the ’little one’ in my belly.’
Just as she was thinking this, Lu Tingting returned by herself.
An Hui looked at her. "Where’s Great-Grandma?"
"She’s at the senior center. She wanted to go on her own and said to pick her up later."
The senior center in the compound was equipped with a reading room, a chess and card room, and a recreation room. When they had free time, the elderly residents of the compound loved to go there to chat, drink tea, play chess, or sing opera. It was always very lively.
Lu Tingting walked up to Jiang Moli. "Why are you up so early today?"
Jiang Moli waved the bun in her hand, her almond-shaped eyes curving into crescents. "Didn’t you leave a bun for me? I had to get up early to eat it."
’If it weren’t for my little cousin, like hell I would have left you anything to eat.’
Lu Tingting huffed haughtily and turned to go back to her room to catch some more sleep.
After breakfast, the workers arrived to continue their work.
They had finished tamping the ground yesterday, so today they started laying the bricks directly.
...
With workers in the house, it was inevitably noisy. Unable to sleep through the racket, Lu Tingting simply ran back to her own home to sleep.
When she woke up around noon, Fan Wenfang was just placing a large, steaming-hot basin of stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots on the table.
Lu Haoyu dashed out of the kitchen with a large bowl of rice, sitting down gleefully, ready to eat.
But before his butt even touched the stool, Lu Tingting snatched the rice bowl from his hands.
"Hey, what are you doing? That’s my rice! If you want some, can’t you go scoop it yourself?"
Lu Tingting placed the bowl in front of Lu Yuan and shot her brother a look. "Your rice? What in this house wasn’t earned by Mom and Dad? Don’t you understand the principle of respecting your elders and being a filial son? Go get four more bowls of rice. Quickly."
Lu Haoyu said angrily, "All you know is how to boss me around! Why don’t you go do it yourself?"
"If your sister tells you to go, then go. Cut the nonsense. Is scooping some rice going to exhaust you?"
Since Lu Yuan had spoken, Lu Haoyu didn’t dare to disobey. He went into the kitchen, fuming.
Lu Yuan asked Lu Tingting about Zhu Huanghua’s health. He had been at the military district for training the past two days and hadn’t had a chance to visit her.
After just a few sentences, Lu Haoyu came out with four bowls of rice and placed them one by one in front of Wenfang, Lu Nana, and Lu Tingting.
"Let’s eat first."
Seeing that everyone was there, Lu Yuan spoke.
The whole family picked up their chopsticks and began to eat.
Lu Tingting, however, didn’t start eating right away. Instead, as Lu Haoyu was picking up some food with his chopsticks, she swapped her rice bowl with his.
"What are you doing?"
"Nothing. Your bowl just looks tastier."
Unable to stand it, Lu Haoyu went to Fan Wenfang to complain. Why not Lu Yuan? Because, of course, Lu Yuan never coddled him.
"Mom, look at my sister! She hasn’t stopped causing trouble since she got back. It’s like there’s something wrong with her."
Fan Wenfang glanced at her older daughter. She also felt that her daughter was being particularly troublesome today, but she didn’t scold her. "Alright, just eat your food."
Lu Haoyu threw down his chopsticks. "I’m not eating!"
As he said this, he got up to leave, but Lu Tingting grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back. "Eat your rice before you go!"
Lu Haoyu struggled. "I won’t eat! What are you going to do about it?"
"Did you poison the rice? Is that why you don’t dare to eat it?"
Hearing this, the entire family looked over.
Lu Haoyu’s expression changed slightly. "Bullshit!"
"Then eat it!"