Witty Wife, Better Life-Chapter 623 - 613 Investigate Clearly

"I’m certainly not as good as the leaders say," Shen Yunfang obviously had to be modest.

"Hehe, Xiaoshen doesn’t need to be modest," the leader said smilingly. "Your achievements truly set an example for all the military spouses in our military region."

With a smile, Shen Yunfang chatted casually with the leaders for a while, and the room began to feel like a tea party.

After a short time, the stern-faced man came back, whispered something to the leader in the middle, who then whispered to the one next to him. Finally, the leader in the middle turned to Shen Yunfang and said smilingly, "We have verified the facts. The content of the anonymous letter does not match reality. We are sorry for taking up your afternoon."

Shen Yunfang quickly waved her hands. "Look at what you’re saying, leader. I am happy that the truth has been uncovered. Besides, chatting with the leaders this afternoon has been incredibly enlightening for me."

The leaders were very pleased with Shen Yunfang’s flattery and sent her off with smiles. They even told her that if she encountered any difficulties in the future, she should come to the logistics department, and they would certainly find a way to help her.

Shen Yunfang thanked the leaders over and over, then left with a smiling face. However, as soon as she entered the residential area, the smile on her face faded.

Being stabbed in the back, how could she genuinely be happy? Yet since the accusatory letter was anonymous, the logistics department didn’t know who the accuser was. As Shen Yunfang walked, she analyzed in her mind all the people she had met since moving there, but couldn’t pinpoint who it might be. She simply hadn’t had enough interactions to truly understand anyone. Besides, it was impossible to tell if the anonymous reporter was someone she knew—it might have been someone she didn’t know, acting out of envy. There really was no certainty.

However, this incident wasn’t entirely negative. Now, the army would definitely be aware of her family’s wealth. If anyone reported Li Hongjun for embezzlement or bribery, the leaders surely wouldn’t believe it.

"Yo, isn’t that Xiaoshen? What brings you from the military region? Is there something going on?"

Looking over, Shen Yunfang realized it was Zhou Hua. She was turning the soil with a shovel.

"Is it Sister Zhou? What are you doing there?" Instead of answering Zhou Hua’s question, Shen Yunfang asked her what she was doing.

"What else can I do? Seeing that spring is coming, and I don’t work, I took the opportunity to come and turn the soil to grow some vegetables. It helps save some money," Zhou Hua said as if she was quite aggrieved. "I saw you coming from the military region; what’s the matter?" she prodded again, not forgetting to dig for gossip.

Seeing her persistent questioning, Shen Yunfang deftly inquired back, "Nothing much. By the way, Sister Zhou, does everyone have a plot, or can you just start on any spot?"

"Who can start just anywhere? This is the army," Zhou Hua replied with a tone of instruction. "This land is divided among our families to farm. But for your family’s plot, you’d still need to check with the logistics department. You need their permission to start."

"Oh, I see. Thanks for letting me know, Sister Zhou. I need to get going now; you carry on with your work." After finding out what she needed to know, Shen Yunfang didn’t linger and walked away promptly.

"Hey, hey..." Zhou Hua called out twice, but she couldn’t stop Shen Yunfang, who was already far away. She looked in the direction of the military office building and then in the direction Shen Yunfang had gone before finally deciding to put the shovel on her shoulder and head back as well.

Once home, Shen Yunfang checked her watch and saw it was nearly four o’clock. She hurriedly put on her apron and went to the kitchen to cook.

The conditions in Z Province Military Region were quite good; they used gas cylinders to cook, which was clean and convenient. Shen Yunfang opened the storeroom to decide what to cook and then chose to make something delicious that evening.

She took out a piece of meat from the space, chopped it into small cubes, along with mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, and some greens that she had washed and diced. Then she scooped out some wheat flour and corn flour and started to mix them together.

In the pot, two large yellow croakers were being stewed; and two green vegetables were stir-fried. Once the dough was ready, she shaped it into the form of cups, scooped in the seasoned filling, and then placed them in the steamer to steam.

Finally, a persimmon egg soup was whipped up to complete the meal.

At five ten, Shen Yunfang could already see Li Hongjun, leading one child by each hand, slowly making his way home from the cool veranda.

Once the trio entered the house, Shen Yunfang immediately urged them to wash their hands, followed by the warm family moment of dining together.

"Manman, how has kindergarten been this year? Is the teacher nice, and have any kids bullied you?" Yunfang had already inquired about her son’s day at school at noon, and now as a mother, she was concerned about her little girl.

Manman opened her mouth wide, taking a small bite out of the half-open vegetable bun in her hand, "Don’t know about the teacher, but the kids are all pretty nice. None of them are as strong as me; if anyone dares to mess with me, I’ll beat them up." She stated quite domineeringly.

Shen Yunfang looked at her daughter, speechless, wondering if feeding her child Essence of Life from a young age was a mistake. How had she ended up raising a little bandit?

Li Hongjun, on the other hand, nodded in approval. That’s the spirit; his daughter shouldn’t let anyone bully her. If someone dared to strut around, they deserved to be smacked right back.

"Sis, if there’s anyone you can’t beat, just tell me and I’ll avenge you," Pangpang said from the side.

Manman nodded vigorously, clearly taking her brother’s words to heart.

The two children had always been together, and if there were troubles, it was always the brother who stepped in to handle them. Manman hadn’t really dealt with such things herself, so she was a bit lost when she first learned she was going to kindergarten. However, after today’s events, she realized the other kids were too weak, and she could handle them all by herself without her brother’s help.

But she had her points of discontent, "Mom, can I come home for meals?"

"Why?" Shen Yunfang asked.

The children of military personnel attending the Z Province Military Region kindergarten were not charged tuition fees, but were required to pay two yuan a month for food expenses.

"The food there is not tasty, there’s no meat, just a little bit of stir-fried cabbage that’s not good, and a bowl of egg soup. I asked the teacher for more after I finished, but she wouldn’t give me any," Manman said aggrievedly. "It’s not as good as at Auntie Mu’s."

Both Shen Yunfang and Li Hongjun frowned upon hearing this, exchanging a helpless glance. Even though life had improved compared to a few years back—with high-priced grains being available at the food store—most people’s living standards were still low, and many struggled to fill their stomachs, subsisting on corn paste every day.

Their family’s living standard was abnormal; it was the kindergarten’s meals that were normal.

But how could they explain this to a child? Shen Yunfang decided to leave this tricky question for Li Hongjun to handle, letting him soothe the children.

So after dinner, she shooed Li Hongjun and the kids inside while she cleaned up the kitchen herself.

Shen Yunfang didn’t know what sort of ideological work Li Hongjun had done, but when she emerged, the kids were already happily watching television.