Cannon Fodder Husband Ch.21-22

Chapter 21 – Luo Qiu’s Discovery

At this point, Luo Xia had already made up her mind and didn’t want to stay with them any longer. She directly put down her chopsticks and went inside the room.

Mother Luo wanted to say something when she saw that she still hadn’t done any work, but after thinking about it, she didn’t speak. Instead, she asked Luo Chun and Luo Qiu to work together.

Luo Chun had a face full of refusal but still did the work, while Luo Qiu didn’t feel anything strange about it. After all, she would often help out at home.

As usual, Luo Xia entered the space before going to sleep.

The food in the space was almost sold out, with only four to five hundred catties left. She planned to keep it for herself to eat.

After picking most of the vegetables from the field and leaving the chive roots to continue growing, she put the other vegetable stems and leaves into the ground as fertilizer. Then she started planting grains again, the same three types as before.

Since they matured at the same time as those outside, it would take several months to harvest. Therefore, she had to plant them as early as possible.

The only advantage was that there was no distinction of seasons in the space. Once the harvest was done, she could immediately plant again, allowing her to have two or three harvests in a year.

With five mu of land, although she had reserved a portion for vegetables, the remaining area was still substantial. So she definitely couldn’t finish planting it all in one night. She planned to finish planting before going down to the countryside.

After working for a while and realizing it was getting late, Luo Xia came out and went to sleep.

The next day, when she woke up, there were still people in the house.

At this time, Luo Qiu was sitting in front of Luo Chun’s vanity table, looking into the mirror.

Seeing her getting up, Luo Qiu directly said, “Second sister, you’re awake? You’re amazing, going to bed so early and sleeping so soundly in the morning. People have come and gone in the room, but you didn’t wake up.”

Luo Xia: …

Although she went to bed early, she slept late and worked all night, so she was a bit tired and it was normal to wake up late.

However, she didn’t say that out loud and instead asked, “Didn’t you go to school today?”

Luo Qiu was surprised, “Today is the weekend, we have a day off.”

“Oh!” Luo Xia nodded, and then there was silence.

But Luo Qiu wanted to talk to her, “Do you know where elder sister went?”

“I don’t know.” She wasn’t interested.

Luo Qiu knew it would be like this and excitedly said, “It seems like elder sister is seeing someone!”

Luo Xia finally looked up at her, raising an eyebrow, but still didn’t say anything.

However, seeing Luo Xia’s reaction, Luo Qiu knew she was interested. “Yesterday when I came back from school, I saw a guy coming to see her. When they separated, elder sister seemed reluctant to part.”

“Oh!” So there might be something going on.

“Do you think Mother knows?”

Luo Xia: “Don’t know.”

“I don’t think she knows either. If she knew, Mother wouldn’t stay quiet. She would investigate everything about the guy’s ancestors up to the eighteenth generation. If he has good conditions, she would agree, and if not, she would directly break them up.” As Luo Qiu spoke, she analyzed the situation.

Luo Xia: “…” Actually, she was referring to whether Mother Luo knew about it or not.

But what Luo Qiu said was correct. Mother Luo was indeed that kind of person. Although she didn’t explicitly say it, she had quite a few requirements for the future son-in-law. It was probably her way of riding on the son-in-law’s success.

Luo Qiu didn’t continue speaking, and after Luo Xia finished tidying up and having her meal, she was ready to leave.

Luo Qiu followed curiously from behind, “Where are you going, second sister? Can I come along? Xiaodong has gone out to play, and I’m bored at home alone.”

Luo Xia shook her head, “No, go find your little friends to play.”

Luo Qiu felt a bit disappointed but still didn’t insist, “Alright then, will you come back for lunch?”

“Not coming back.”

Luo Xia left after saying that.

Inside the house, Luo Qiu felt curious. She felt that her second sister had changed a lot these past few days and was no longer as easygoing as before. She probably figured something out.

*

Chapter 22 – Making Cotton Padded Jackets

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After coming out, Luo Xia headed straight to the black market. As expected, she saw someone waiting for her there. It was the same person as before. She learned from their leader, Jin Ming, that his name was Fanzi.

Fanzi was delighted to see her and whispered, “Big sister, you’re here. The things are all prepared for you.”

Saying that, he took Luo Xia to a nearby alley and brought out two large packages that were prepared earlier.

“Five cans of malted milk, five catties of brown sugar, and ten catties of cotton.”

Malted milk and brown sugar were fine, but Luo Xia finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw so much cotton.

She mentioned it briefly yesterday, and she didn’t expect them to actually prepare so much!

Knowing that she was going to the northeast for the countryside, she had planned to prepare more cotton to make thick clothes.

Mother Luo probably wouldn’t prepare these things for her. She had to figure it out herself. Now that she had enough cotton, she finally felt relieved.

However, even though there was plenty of cotton, it was still expensive. Coupled with the malted milk and brown sugar, it cost her quite a bit of money. But she was still very happy.

After giving the money to Fanzi, Luo Xia asked quietly, “By the way, can you get me some watches?”

Upon hearing her question about watches, Fanzi directly said, “Sure, if you want a watch directly, you’ll have to wait a few days. But if you want a watch ticket, we have it right now at our leader’s place.”

Luo Xia nodded directly, “Then give me a watch ticket. I’ll come to pick it up tomorrow.”

“Okay!”

After making arrangements with Fanzi, Luo Xia left with the goods. She put the malted milk and brown sugar into the space and carried the cotton while holding the fabric she bought yesterday, heading to the nearby state-owned tailor shop.

She didn’t know how to make clothes herself. Technically, it would be fine to wait until she reached the countryside to make them. However, it wouldn’t be convenient to bring out so much cotton and fabric at once. It was better to make them in advance.

After arriving at the tailor shop, the old tailor looked at her things and listened to her request. He glanced at her, probably finding it strange that she wanted to make cotton jackets in the middle of summer.

Luo Xia smiled and explained, “I’m also going to the northeast countryside where it’s very cold in winter, so I’m asking you to make them thicker.”

The old tailor understood and said, “With this much cotton, you can make three or four cotton jackets!”

Luo Xia thought for a moment and said, “Then make three jackets—one thickest, one medium, and one lined jacket. The same goes for cotton pants. If there’s any cotton left, can you make cotton shoes?”

The old tailor looked at her and replied, “Yes, but it will take some time.”

Luo Xia nodded and said, “Alright, let’s make an extra pair of cotton shoes. If there’s enough cotton, make two pairs. Just make sure they’re finished within ten days.”

The old tailor agreed upon hearing that there was enough time. He then took her measurements, collected a deposit, issued a receipt, and set a pickup time.

After leaving the state-owned tailor shop, Luo Xia couldn’t help but feel relieved. Thankfully, she had thought of this. The labor cost for making so many things was only 12 yuan, which was really cheap!

However, she had used up all the cotton and fabric she had prepared.

She didn’t need the cotton anymore since her mother agreed to give her two quilts. She didn’t want to waste them, but she ran out of fabric for making clothes. Fortunately, she had bought two sets of ready-made clothes in advance.

As for the cloth tickets, she wouldn’t need them for now.

Afterward, she went to the supply and marketing cooperative to see what else she needed. That’s when she noticed the absence of toilet paper.

She suddenly remembered what she was missing—oh yes, she hadn’t bought toilet paper yet.

These days, sanitary pads were hard to come by. You needed to go to foreign Chinese stores to buy them, and they required foreign exchange tickets, which she didn’t have. So she could only buy more toilet paper.

In her memory, although the original host was almost 18 years old, she had only started menstruating a year ago, probably due to malnutrition.

Moreover, her menstrual cycle was irregular. Sometimes she would have it every two to three months, and each time it was excruciatingly painful.

Her family was reluctant to give her good ones, so they gave her the cheapest toilet paper that didn’t absorb anything. The original host was also afraid to use too much because if she did, her mother would scold her for being wasteful. So she would only change it when she felt it was about to leak.

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