"Of course not. Hurry up and sit down. I'm just about to make lunch. Come and have some together." Su Mei called Yinglan into the bedroom with a smile, let her sit on the sofa at the door, and said:
"Just wait here for a while. I cook very quickly. There is only such a big place at home. I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to sit here for a while."
Intrusion or not, the visitor is a guest. Su Mei is still the hostess of the house in name. She still has to have basic hospitality for the guests who come to visit.
"How can I feel wronged?" Yinglan shook her head:
"Life in the frontier is inherently poor. Although this is a family home, everyone is not given much housing. You have opened a clinic, so it is normal that you can only entertain people in your bedroom."
"Comrade Yinglan doesn't mind. Then I'll cook and you can sit and rest." In fact, the bedroom is so private that Su Mei doesn't want to entertain people here.
But she saw Yinglan's exquisite clothes, and after thinking about it, she still didn't have the nerve to call such a foreign girl to the smoky and gray kitchen.
After settling Yinglan, Su Mei turned around and went out to the kitchen.
Seeing Su Mei leave, Yinglan couldn't help but let out a long breath and turned to look at the furnishings in the bedroom.
Although the bedroom is very simple, it is very elegant and warm.
The quilt on the bed was folded neatly, the table was covered with a tablecloth cut from a sheet, and neat books were placed on it. The chair in front of the desk was covered with a cloth cover, which should be the other part of the sheet on the table.
There are some dried dogtail grass stained on the wall, which adds an indescribable elegance to the empty wall.
It can be seen that the owner of the room is a very sentimental person who knows how to enjoy life.
And Yinglan knew that the Huo Jianguo she knew could not do these things, which meant that these were all done by Su Mei.
But Zhao Ying said on the phone that Su Mei was lazy and greedy. She didn't wash her hair or take a shower. The house smelled so bad that Huo Jianguo never slept with her.
Judging from the items placed in the house, the couple obviously slept together.
The Su Mei in reality and the Su Mei on Zhao Ying's phone are completely different people.
There was a huge discrepancy between what Zhao Ying said and the actual situation. As Yinglan looked at it, a big doubt arose in her heart.
She was wondering in her heart, and her eyes suddenly fell on the closed notebook on the desk.
The style of that notebook—so familiar.
After taking a closer look, Yinglan couldn't help but stand up, walked to the desk, and checked it carefully.
Yinglan saw the cowhide cover on the notebook and immediately determined that it was the notebook she gave to Huo Jianguo a few years ago.
The year she retired, Yinglan prepared notebooks as parting gifts for the entire special operations team.
Everyone else's notebooks are the same, but the notebook given to Huo Jianguo was sent back from Nanyang by her uncle.
The style is very unique, so Yinglan still remembers what it looked like.
Is he still using this notebook?
By some strange coincidence, Yinglan opened the notebook and saw some words that were so scrawled that they could not be read. This... this was not Huo Jianguo's handwriting...
"Comrade Yinglan, please drink some tea first!" Su Mei's voice came from outside the door.
Yinglan was so frightened that she jumped up, quickly closed her notebook, and looked back at Su Mei awkwardly:
"I'm sorry, I...I shouldn't have touched your things!"
"Oh, it's okay!" Su Mei felt a little uncomfortable, but after hearing Yinglan's apology, her courtesy allowed her to endure the discomfort:
"In there are the medical records I recorded. There's nothing to read. Come over and drink some tea to warm yourself up. You'll be ready soon."
Su Mei put down her tea cup, turned around and walked out.
Yinglan was left standing there awkwardly, her face flushed with embarrassment. She quickly walked to the sofa and sat down, not daring to touch anything in the room.
Because there were more people to eat, Su Mei had to give up eating sweet potatoes.
She steamed a small pot of rice, stewed a wolf leg, stir-fried a plate of bacon and a plate of hot and sour shredded potatoes, and finally made a soup.
Three dishes and one soup should be enough to entertain a guest.
After doing this, she entered the bedroom, moved the small table next to the kang to the sofa, smiled at the volume:
"The meal is ready. Do you need money to wash your hands? Can I get you some water?"
"No, no, I'll just pour the water and wash it myself." Yinglan said and stood up quickly.
Of course, Su Mei wouldn't really let her do it by herself, so she helped her get a basin and poured her half a pot of water from the thermos.
He also found some toilet paper and put it on the sofa, letting Yinglan finish washing and intervene.
Then Su Mei went next door and started serving dishes to the bedroom. Yinglan washed her hands, poured out the water, put the basin away, and then went to the kitchen to serve dishes with Su Mei.
The two quickly brought the dishes to the bedroom. Su Mei scooped up two bowls of rice and handed one to Yinglan. Then she held the bowl, took a small wooden stool, and sat down opposite Yinglan.
"Eat!" Su Mei looked at Yinglan with a smile.
Seeing Su Mei's polite attitude, the embarrassment on Yinglan's face immediately faded a lot, and she nodded to Su Mei with a smile.
After tasting Su Mei's dishes one by one, Yinglan's eyes seemed to flash with relief, and she suddenly smiled:
"Captain is very lucky. My sister-in-law cooks delicious food."
"Just ordinary home-cooked food, you can eat more if you like it." Su Mei did not explain what happened between her and Huo Jianguo. After all, it was a household matter between the two of them.
Because they were not familiar with each other, the two of them ate the meal very quickly, and both parties felt a little embarrassed. After putting down the bowls and chopsticks, Yinglan stood up and thanked Su Mei, and then left in a hurry.
Su Mei just said a few polite words, then got up and sent Yinglan out.
Yinglan walked directly to Zhao Ying's house after leaving the house. She couldn't wait to know why Su Mei was completely different from the person Zhao Ying said.
Soon, she walked to the door of Zhao Ying's house and knocked on her door.
Since she lost her job yesterday, Zhao Ying had closed the door to the yard and hadn't come out all day. When she heard the knock on the door, she couldn't help but curse in the room:
"It's broad daylight, mourning!"
When she went out and opened the courtyard door, she couldn't help but break into a cold sweat when she saw Chu Yinglan standing at the door with a frown on her face:
"Yinglan, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you!"
"No matter who you are, you can't start cursing people through the door. Here are either military families or soldiers. No one should be insulted by you, right?" Yinglan glanced at Zhao Ying disapprovingly, and then said:
"Don't forget, you are a teacher. Teachers should hold themselves to the highest standards, teach by words and deeds, and lead by example. How could you say such ugly things as soon as you open your mouth?"
