Witty Wife, Better Life
Chapter 239 - 229 Li Hongjun’s Call

Chapter 239: Chapter 229 Li Hongjun’s Call

Ultimately, Shen Yunfang decided not to keep the chickens at her place, not because she didn’t want them, but rather to have them fostered at Dashuan’s home for the time being. The weather had already turned cold, and if she kept the chickens, she’d have to build a plastic greenhouse for them, which was too much trouble. So she asked Dashuan’s wife to take them back. Whenever she needed chickens or eggs during her confinement, she could just get them directly from Dashuan’s home.

She had already thought it through; once the child was born, she would join the military life with her husband. She couldn’t bear the thought of her own child calling his father "uncle" because he didn’t recognize him. She wanted Li Hongjun to take part in their child’s upbringing. Besides, after someone sent that anonymous accusation letter, she felt it was safer to be by Li Hongjun’s side.

Having decided to join the military life, she had been making preparations. She sold all the livestock at home, except for one ewe, which was the stored "milk powder" for her child. She had already dealt with the adult earthworms in the western room, dried them, and stored them in a space, while the remaining earthworm eggs and juveniles were given to Dashuan’s wife.

So the bed in the western room was now empty. She moved the quails in there, and this year, there was no need to set up a plastic shelter.

She left the mushrooms untouched—she figured even if she was to follow the military, she could still take the fungus sticks with her.

Since the slaughter of the pigs at home, Shen Yunfang had truly shut herself off from the outside world to live her own life. She heated the bed to a cozy warmth and would sit on it doing little else but sewing clothes and diapers for her child. The soft, fine cotton fabric was something she had asked Xue Jialong to buy at a high price from the department store.

Sometimes Dashuan’s wife would come over to sit for a while. She would watch Shen Yunfang cut diapers from the new cotton fabric and scold her for being wasteful. Whose child’s diapers weren’t made from cut-up old clothes worn by adults? Nobody did it like her, cutting directly from new fabric.

Shen Yunfang was unperturbed. Her family didn’t have any old clothes to spare, and even if she cut up the two outfits she currently wore, it wouldn’t be enough for her child’s needs. So, she figured it was not worth the trouble and just used new fabric. As for asking for old clothes from others, Shen Yunfang felt she wasn’t ready to accept that yet. Nowadays, many families didn’t pay much attention to hygiene, and it was common to have lice. What if the old clothes she got had lice or something? The main issue was that she wasn’t acquainted with many families in the village—she wouldn’t know where to ask even if she wanted to.

Even though Dashuan’s wife felt it was a pity, it was too late to salvage the situation when she saw Shen Yunfang had already cut the diapers. Laid out, they were small squares, and any attempt at intervention was futile. She thus decided not to stress about it and let Yunfang do as she pleased.

Time flew by, and before she realized, it was already January.

Li Hongjun had also returned to the army with his troops. Just after reporting to his superiors about the recent exercises, Wu Guoqiang took the first opportunity to inform him about the complaint lodged against his wife regarding her past detention.

Upon hearing this, Li Hongjun’s face immediately darkened. After Wu Guoqiang finished explaining the whole story, Li Hongjun’s expression was so grim it seemed like he could drip ink.

"I think it’s best to deal with this matter as soon as possible. After all, being detained isn’t something that looks good on my sister-in-law’s reputation. So, I didn’t wait for your return and went straight to Jiang Dawei," Wu Guoqiang explained.

Jiang Dawei was Li Hongjun’s and Wu Guoqiang’s comrade-in-arms. Jiang Dawei and Li Hongjun were particularly close during their time in the military. Li Hongjun had even once saved Dawei’s life. Therefore, the two had kept in touch over the years and remained good brothers. After recovering from an injury, Jiang Dawei was assigned to a government department in the same province as Li Hongjun. Due to his youth, he was still gaining experience, but his father being the governor of Province J, it was only a matter of time before Dawei’s promotion. Even though he held a junior position, his words carried weight. When Wu Guoqiang phoned him about Li Hongjun’s wife, Dawei didn’t say much. He went above and beyond, even more diligently than he would for himself, and swiftly got it sorted out.

"Thank you," Li Hongjun said, his gratitude directed at Wu Guoqiang for promptly resolving the issue at home.

"Don’t mention those unnecessary things. If my family had a problem, you would do the same. Just calm down and give your sister-in-law a call to check on things. I heard that they’ve already made an apology to her there, but as you know, people in the countryside can be ignorant and unaware, so who knows if your sister-in-law has suffered any indignities at home these days," Wu Guoqiang suggested.

Li Hongjun nodded, knowing he definitely needed to make that call. He also had to apply for leave immediately to visit his wife. She was pregnant, and no one knew if she’d been hurt during her detention. He was aware of the lawlessness in those places and how brutally they treated those they considered wrongdoers. He couldn’t rest easy unless he saw for himself that she was alright.

Li Hongjun had been calling for three days before he finally heard his wife’s voice on the phone.

Since there was no phone in Gaijiatun, Li Hongjun could only call Wuxing Brigade. The operators at Wuxing Brigade took calls from the military very seriously. The next day, they specially sent someone to Gaijiatun to relay the message. After Uncle Shen received the notice and sent the messenger away, he went to inform Shen Yunfang. However, due to the recent heavy snowfall, the low outside temperatures, and difficult road conditions, coupled with Yunfang being eight months pregnant and unable to see her own toes when she looked down, she decided to prioritize safety. It was only on the third day that she got ready and took a borrowed horse cart to the brigade to return Li Hongjun’s call.

It was really hard work just to make a call due to the inconvenient communication.

"Yunfang, are you alright?" Li Hongjun asked on the other end of the line.

Even though his voice was still calm, Yunfang could hear the urgency in his words.

Li Hongjun was indeed anxious, wishing he could sprout wings and fly back to his wife’s side right away.

"I’m fine, nothing’s wrong. Have you finished your exercises?" Yunfang felt quite happy to receive a call from Li Hongjun. It was just that the process of receiving the call was so exhausting, and she found herself missing the mobile phones that would appear twenty years later.

"Well," Li Hongjun paused for a moment on the phone before saying, "I’m sorry!"

Yunfang understood. This was Li Hongjun apologizing because he couldn’t be by her side to protect her when she needed it.

Yunfang also fell silent on the phone, and suddenly, she didn’t know why, but her eyes became a bit moist.

It was also in this moment that she felt a retrospective fear. She realized how much she had hoped her husband could have been by her side when she was taken away.

Yunfang bit her lip hard to stop herself from making any noise, for fear that the person on the other end would hear and worry.

Li Hongjun took a deep breath and said, "I’ll apply for leave right away, wait for me at home." He wanted to see her immediately because only by seeing her with his own eyes could he truly be at ease.

"You’re coming back?" Yunfang asked, her voice tinged with happiness through its nasal tone.

"Mm."

"How long can you stay?" Yunfang was still afraid of giving birth alone, although even if Li Hongjun returned, there wasn’t much he could do, but having him by her side would set her mind at ease.

"About a month." Li Hongjun had performed outstandingly during the exercises, earning commendation, which allowed him almost twenty days of rest, and with his home leave, it amounted to nearly a month off.