Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 101 - 96 Eccentricity

Zhou Yunmei nodded with satisfaction after hearing that, "That’s the right thing to say."

Then, she also spoke candidly to Luo Zhiming, "You know, your older brother has been in the military for years and hasn’t mentioned getting married. People my age in the village are already holding their grandchildren. Wherever I go, everyone asks how old my grandchild is, and it’s embarrassing not to have an answer."

"If you can get Xiu’er to carry a grandson for me by the end of this year, I’d be overjoyed and wouldn’t be afraid of people asking anymore."

"Alright, I’ll definitely get her pregnant with a grandson by the end of the year," Luo Zhiming responded quickly this time.

"That’s my good son."

"But mom, getting pregnant isn’t something that just happens, there should be some rewards involved," Luo Zhiming said, even making a gesture of counting money in front of Zhou Yunmei.

It wasn’t for nothing that Luo Zhiming suddenly agreed to give Zhou Yunmei a grandson.

In his heart, he really didn’t have the concept of having children. His quick response was just to make Zhou Yunmei happy, and to coax some money from her.

Zhou Yunmei knew what he was up to and slapped his hand away, scolding, "What are you doing? Didn’t you just take five yuan not so long ago?"

Luo Zhiming sat down next to Zhou Yunmei, smilingly coquettishly at her, "Mom, when I was single, you could give me about five yuan a month for pocket money. Now there are two of us, and soon there might be three. Five yuan is not enough."

Zhou Yunmei paused and then sighed, and told Luo Zhiming honestly, "Son, it’s not that mom is stingy, it’s just that we really don’t have any. You know the situation at home. There isn’t much left of this month’s money because of you guys."

"Not much left means there is still some," seeing Zhou Yunmei is more approachable than usual, Luo Zhiming changed his tune, "Mom, just give me three yuan then. If we two are to give you a grandson, we need to eat well and nourish ourselves, right?"

"What needs nourishing? I’ll buy it for you," Zhou Yunmei perked up again at the mention of a grandson.

"Mom, as you say, whatever you buy is eaten by the whole family, right? It’s not like we can exclude sister-in-law and Cui Lan when the time comes," Luo Zhiming saw Zhou Yunmei’s expression soften a bit and continued, "If the whole family is eating together, three yuan would not be enough."

"This..." Zhou Yunmei thought about it, felt that his words made sense, and got up to get the money.

She took out a handkerchief from the cabinet, drew out three yuan, and was about to hand them to Luo Zhiming. Then she thought three yuan was too much, and kept one yuan, giving only two yuan to Luo Zhiming.

Luo Zhiming, seeing that he got some money, didn’t mind and cheerfully walked away with the two yuan.

Sitting on the kang and smoking his pipe, Luo Dashan had been watching the mother and son back and forth without saying a word.

Now, watching Luo Zhiming’s retreating figure, he sighed and said, "This Zhiming, Zhiyong needs to find him a job soon. Otherwise, how long can the house support him? He never does any serious work."

As soon as Zhou Yunmei heard this, she was not happy, "What, just because the son took two yuan, you are unhappy?"

"I’m not unhappy, it’s just that he’s grown up yet always asks for money from home. Don’t forget, the money is not earned by us, it’s earned by his elder brother. Even Pingying never asked you for money like that," Luo Dashan spoke frankly.

"How has she not asked? She took five yuan the other day," Zhou Yunmei replied, and muttered under her breath, "Besides, she can earn her own money, why does she need to come to me for it."

Luo Dashan felt that his spouse was too biased towards their sons and could not help but speak up in advice, "Yunmei, both are your sons, you should treat them equally. Don’t forget, when you’re old, who can you rely on."

Zhou Yunmei was stunned, then couldn’t help yelling at Luo Dashan, "What? Am I not good to Zhiyong? When he asks for money at home, don’t I still give it to him?"

"But that’s different, that money is originally Zhiyong’s." Luo Dashan sometimes really couldn’t understand what his wife was thinking; she always talks about relying on Zhiyong to provide for her in old age, yet her heart always favored Zhiming more, and she was always upfront about it, never knowing what she really thought each day.

Seeing Luo Dashan put it this way, Zhou Yunmei had no way to argue logically, so she frowned and waited for Luo Dashan, her voice rising uncontrollably, "I’m his biological mother. Now that he’s earning money, what’s the harm in me using some of it?"

Luo Dashan didn’t want to argue with her, so he simply took off his clothes and went to bed, "Ah, forget it, let’s not talk about it anymore. Let’s get some sleep."

But after lying down, Luo Dashan sighed deeply and muttered softly, "When you have nothing to do, think it over for yourself. Now with Zhiyong not at home, you should treat Pingying better, otherwise when you get old, relying on this daughter-in-law will be difficult."

Perhaps Luo Dashan’s words had some effect, as Zhou Yunmei was somewhat nicer to Fang Pingying in the following days.

Originally, she was reluctant to spend money to buy dried tofu, but the next day she specifically took out money and instructed Luo Honglan to buy dried tofu for Fang Pingying to make dumplings.

Zhou Yunmei wasn’t causing trouble, and Fang Pingying naturally felt better, and the household enjoyed a few days of tranquility.

However, it wasn’t long before Fang Pingying became busy because the mud-brick house that Luo Zhiyong had helped her set up at home was now dry, ready for making cakes and such.

While Luo Zhiyong was at home, he pulled an electric line into the house for her; she only needed to pay a fixed electricity fee to the village’s brigade leader each month.

Then, while Luo Zhiyong was home, he helped her buy all the necessary supplies to spare her the trouble, so the house was directly usable.

The red dates they got from Sister Chen Rong had ripened after several days in the sun, turning a deep red.

Fang Pingying, along with Luo Honglan, picked out the ripened, red dates for use.

Fang Pingying mulled over it for several days; making red date jam wasn’t feasible, and based on her experience with selling hawthorn cake, hawthorn jam alone was far less popular.

She thought about it and decided to turn the red dates into some simple pastries.

Among the pastries, she was most skilled at making jujube cake and jujube flower cake, which she had personally made in her previous life.

Jujube cake is especially simple, not requiring too many ingredients, just some water chestnut flour and white sugar.

Water chestnut flour is not a rare ingredient; Fang Pingying had already bought some in the town earlier.

She and Luo Honglan first washed the red dates and removed the pits, then added water to a pot and boiled the dates.

After boiling for a while, they removed the dates, strained the water to remove impurities, and simmered it with rock sugar until completely dissolved.

They then mixed the water chestnut flour with water in a dish, stirring until the flour fully dissolved.

Finally, pour the boiling red date soup into the dish with the water chestnut flour mixture, stirring quickly in a clockwise direction until evenly mixed.

The prepared red date and water chestnut flour mixture was poured into bowls for steaming, layer by layer; once one layer was cooked, they would add the next, steaming a few layers until all were cooked. Then, they cut it into small pieces to make authentic red dates cake. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote or purchase a monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)