Chapter 1561 - The Gathering (Part Two)

This apartment was identical to every other Australian-style dwelling she had seen in Lingao: walls whitewashed, a gas lamp set into the wall, windows of bright glass, and a somewhat more refined floor—bamboo planking. The ceiling was low; the room itself was pitifully tiny.

This place is smaller than the pigsty we had at home! Back when she was the daughter of a small grain-trading household, her family's courtyard had been quite substantial. The threshing floor in front alone was nearly an mu in size. Each of the three north-facing tiled rooms was twice as large as this apartment, and even the side rooms for hired hands were bigger.

Her husband was forever boasting about how wealthy the "Chiefs" were, how well they treated the common folk, how everyone lived in peace and plenty, eating and dressing so well… He made it sound like paradise on earth. Yet, looking at this cramped little room, it was nothing to write home about…

Still, Lingao was a peaceful place—no roving soldiers or bandits everywhere, grain was cheap, every meal had rice and often fish or meat. Back in her hometown, even in a good year, a family like hers rarely ate refined grain more than a few times a year, never mind fish and meat—a bit of tofu counted as a treat.

To have even this small shelter was not so bad. After all, she and her husband did not even have a place like this—they still slept in dormitories. Who knew when they might have a home of their own? She truly had a bitter fate: her family destroyed, everything lost, and in the end, married off to a lowly soldier! The thought brought tears to her eyes. Hearing Zheng Yue'e call her to help set out the dishes, she quickly wiped them away with her sleeve.

Huang Ande invited everyone to sit. The guests set down the food and drink they had brought. Huang Ande was a bachelor with no one to cook for him, so he had bought two roast ducks from East Gate Market—proper oven-roasted Nanbao ducks from the Commercial Hall restaurant, their skin crisp and dripping with fat. He had also laid in plenty of rice beer and fruit wine.

The two women did not presume to sit at the table with the men, as female Chiefs reputedly did. Instead, they busied themselves in the kitchen preparing the food and drink.

"Big Brother Huang, this gas stove is so convenient—just turn the knob, light a match, and whoosh, fire!"

"That's the Chiefs' ingenuity—this stove is quite clever." Wang Bao'er peered cautiously at the stovetop. "There's gas coming out of here—maybe the Chiefs use biogas from fermenting manure."

"It's not biogas; it's coal gas." Zheng Yue'e was better informed. "Biogas is unreliable—sometimes on, sometimes off—not good for cooking." She pulled out a cloth apron, tied it on, rolled up her sleeves, and set to work. The food was ready-made; apart from slicing cold cuts and arranging platters, everything else just needed reheating.

Once everyone was seated, Huang Ande had them fill their cups to the brim. When all were ready, he raised his cup and said that everyone here was a brother who had been through life and death with him. If not for their support, his own hundred-odd jin of flesh might be rotting in Dengzhou city by now. With that, he drained his cup. Everyone sighed and drained their own cups. Drinking done, tongues loosened, the mood grew lively. Reminiscing about hardships past was the surest way to stir camaraderie.

"Back in the Dengzhou barracks, all I could hope for was one full meal before I died. Who would have thought—now I eat my fill every day! A shame about Brother Zhang: best rider, finest swordsman, decorated for merit—Steward Lu said he'd rise high. Then he went out scouting and took an arrow from a Liao soldier—just like that, he was gone!"

"Li the Giant, too—poor fellow. Healthy as an ox, yet the moment he reached Lingao, he fell ill. Dead in a few days. Never got to enjoy a single day of the good life."

"Even reaching Lingao doesn't guarantee happiness. Bi Dalu of the Naval Battalion—a cousin of mine—made it here, assigned to the Navy. The Navy's famous for good food. But his very first time at sea, he was helping the engineer tend the boiler, loading coal—the boiler exploded, steam scalded him to death! He was an only son; his whole family died in Dengzhou. We thought bringing him to Lingao would carry on my aunt's family line—and then, just like that, he was gone!"

Stories of friends and acquaintances brought sighs all around.

Then Cao Qing chuckled. "Among all of us here, besides Big Brother Huang, Fourth Brother Zhu has the most talent. In the midst of ten thousand soldiers, he managed to pull out his old sweetheart." The table burst into laughter. Zhu Si ducked his head with a sheepish grin. Zheng Yue'e poked her head out of the kitchen and spat, "Cao Qing, that foul mouth of yours never changes."

Zhu Si said, "It was Big Brother Huang who helped. Otherwise I'd never have managed it!"

"In the end, we owe it to the Yuan Laoyuan," Huang Ande said with feeling. "If Steward Lu hadn't sent me to the human market to buy slaves, how would Fourth Brother have run into his wife? How would I have been able to rescue her? It was Sister-in-law's fate not to die! And your destined union!"

Zhu Si chuckled, looking every inch the fool blessed by fortune. Zheng Yue'e brought out a large platter: the two roast ducks had been reheated in the oven and sliced into neat pieces, each with skin and meat. Alongside were sweet bean paste, scallion segments, cucumber strips, and thin pancakes—all bought as a set. Having trained as a cook's assistant at the cooperative restaurant, Zheng Yue'e had passable knife skills.

"Eat up, everyone—they're no good cold!" She wiped her hands on her apron and went back to the kitchen for more dishes.

Huang Ande watched Zheng Yue'e chat and laugh, her old spitfire spirit restored. He raised his cup with a smile. Then, turning his head, he saw his cousin Huang Xiong eating quietly, picking at his food in silence. Huang Xiong's wife also stayed hidden in the kitchen, saying nothing, just working.

"Big Brother, we're all family here—come, let's have a drink." Huang Ande could not help going over to urge him. Huang Xiong gave a small sigh and drank with him.

"Big Brother, why so glum?"

"I won't hide it from you, Brother. I've just been assigned to the General Staff Tactical Training Class. When I got there and looked around, most of my classmates enlisted after I did—and by seniority, I'm one of the oldest in the Security Regiment. Back at the Chengmai Battle… I missed the boat. One step behind, and I've never caught up." He took another swig of his liquor and sighed heavily.

Huang Ande knew his cousin's history all too well. Huang Xiong had missed the Second Counter-Encirclement; he had not taken part in the Summer Awakening either. When merits were tallied, he had lagged far behind his contemporaries. When at last a major operation like Operation Engine came around, his detachment—because they had failed to keep themselves in check—not only missed promotion but were sent to Jeju Island to train the White Horse Squad, missing the subsequent campaign against the Zheng family.

On the other hand, every one of them had picked up a wife. In a Lingao where men far outnumbered women, whether this was a blessing or a curse was hard to say. Huang Xiong's wife Wang Bao'er, hearing her husband speak of these things, hid in the kitchen and dared not utter a word.

Huang Ande tried to console him. "Big Brother, at least you got yourself a wife. And now she's expecting—once she gives you a son, that'll beat any promotion!"

"Brother, don't think I'm not grateful to have a wife. But without a promotion, without a housing assignment—I don't know how long I'll have to wait in line to buy a place. We're still stuck in dormitories. I can live with it, but with my wife pregnant, sharing a communal dorm makes people uncomfortable. And what about after the baby is born? We can't keep living in a dormitory…"

The Huang Xiong and Zhu Si couples were in much the same boat: living apart except on holidays. Once Wang Bao'er was pregnant, the dormitory became all the more inconvenient, and she had been bickering with Huang Xiong over it lately.

Buying land and building your own house was out of the question in Lingao. Except for a few plots belonging to original natives, nearly all land was Yuan Laoyuan property. The Planning Commission controlled all zoning and never sold residential land to individuals. Unless a native was willing to sell their plot—the price was beyond Huang Xiong's means.

Wang Qisuo said, "Can't Big Brother apply for housing? Our Security Battalion just allocated apartments to officers. Big Brother's seniority goes back to the old Security Regiment—that's longer than even our longest-serving company commander."

"We're a field unit—how can we compare with you Palace Guards? I did apply, but so did plenty of other officers. My seniority is high, but I haven't seen much action—my merit points aren't enough. I'm just waiting in line. According to Little Xie in Logistics, my turn won't come until next year at the earliest."

"Big Brother, you're one of the Security Regiment's old hands—the very first to follow the Chiefs. Surely there's some preferential treatment?" Wang Qisuo said between bites of food and wine.

"The Chiefs don't remember us. The Yuan Laoyuan has grown so vast, with armies to spare…" Huang Xiong had had too much to drink; his grievances spilled out. He had recently been attending the General Staff Training Class in preparation for promotion—a good thing, in theory. But seeing so many junior men now his equals or even superiors in rank… Though he had secured a wife, he could not help feeling a twinge of bitterness. And because of that wife, he had broken regulations and missed out on housing. Wang Bao'er, since arriving in Lingao, would occasionally grumble, "My husband did so much for the Chiefs—everyone else has a home, why don't we? We're still crammed in with everyone else."

"And there are no village schools here either," Wang Bao'er piped up from the kitchen—she had been silent until now. "How will the child ever get an education?"

"Schooling is easy enough. The Chiefs have their own schools. Since Brother Huang is an officer, the child's tuition is free. You can rest easy, Sister-in-law." Huang Ande knew that land in Lingao was expensive and housing tight. He did not dare pick up Huang Xiong's thread, so he steered the conversation toward the sister-in-law's concern. But once the lid was off, the brothers Huang Ande had brought out of Dengzhou voiced their own complaints.

(End of Chapter)