Reborn in the 1980s: Recapture My Devoted Husband

Chapter 471 - 469: Leave

While Lin Wan was busy at the winery, Shi Lan found a couple of palm-sized ceramic jars at the market, perfect for storing the homemade sauce.The opening was sealed with thick oil paper, tied off with twine.

Taking Lin Wan’s advice, Shi Lan went to the printing shop to have "Shi Fang Mushroom Sauce" printed on the oil paper, and it was the same printing shop that produced Lin Wanxin’s new wine labels. Lin Wan included Shi Lan in the process because the demand wasn’t high. If she had gone alone, the print shop probably wouldn’t bother with her.

Luckily, taking advantage of Lin Wan’s order, they printed a thousand labels, spending a total of twenty yuan. They even got a one-yuan discount.

Shi Fang was the name of Shi Lan’s father, and the sauce recipe was passed down from Shi Lan’s grandmother, who used to marinate it for the whole family.

So, Shi Lan used her family name for it.

There was no registered trademark, it’s just a small-scale operation. It won’t be too late to register a trademark once it expands.

Shi Lan bought hundreds of jars and spent an entire day alone packaging the sauce.

Once packaged, Lin Wan asked her mom to take it to the store and set up a table outside.

The sauce was sold for fifty cents a jar, sparing Shi Lan from biking around town every day.

Shi Lan didn’t want to inconvenience them further by asking them to look after her business at their place.

She went over at ten in the morning and returned at four in the afternoon.

This way she could help Lin Wan with the goddaughter in the evening, and Liang Hongmei could spend more time at the store.

During this time, everyone made their own sauce at home, so there weren’t many buyers, but she’d manage to sell five or six jars a day, earning over ninety yuan a month. Better than working in a factory, and with more free time.

On Sunday, her mother-in-law took the child home early in the morning.

Shi Lan didn’t want to consume everything in one go, so she needed to marinate another one or two barrels of sauce.

"Xiao Wan, I’m going back to the military to harvest mushrooms for two days, do you want to come?"

"Ah, two days?"

"Come on, we can catch some fish and shrimp in the mountains together."

"Alright, I’ll tell my mom." She wanted to see what the military home was like herself.

After Lin Wan talked to Liang Hongmei, she packed a couple of clothes, and on the way, Shi Lan bought some fruits and seven or eight big steamed buns.

Lin Wan thought for a moment and realized they might not have much at the military home, so she also bought seven or eight buns and some snacks.

Enough food for two days.

But when the car arrived, Shi Lan led her directly into the mountains.

"Ah, aren’t we going home first?"

Shi Lan smiled and wrinkled her brow, "Go home for what? We’ll be in the mountains during the day and return at night. I’m telling you, if we go to the compound now, there’ll definitely be people gossiping, do you believe it?"

"What’s there to say? Can’t I openly return to my own home?" Lin Wan paused after saying this. "Could Wang Guihua be gossiping again in the compound?"

Shi Lan gave Lin Wan a "you smart" look and said, "You have no idea, after we left, Wang Guihua would often gossip around the compound, causing trouble by not being discreet and losing her husband’s career. She was caught by a leader, and feeling upset, she started gossiping about how the officers going to military school were all climbing up through connections. She even talked about your family’s Han Yi possibly plotting something. But most of her gossip was about your family."

Lin Wan frowned, "She really never learns."

"Exactly, Instructor Feng has hit her a few times at home, yet she still doesn’t learn."

"Hit her?" They were the closest neighbors that day, and at night there were no sounds of Wang Guihua crying.

Lin Wan thought Instructor Feng, wanting to save face, wouldn’t hit his wife at such a time because if the leaders found out, it would add to his troubles.

"Yes, hit her. According to the sister-in-law next to Wang Guihua, it should have been at night, and Instructor Feng covered her mouth while hitting her, striking her in places that wouldn’t show."

Lin Wan suddenly felt pity for Wang Guihua. Who knew Instructor Feng, with his friendly demeanor as a guidance worker, was actually a domestic abuser?

But then again, it takes two to tango; Wang Guihua never learned her lesson and deserved it.

"Most people in the compound know what she’s like and won’t bother with her, but there are those just like her."

"People are different; we can’t control their mouths. Let them say what they want. We’re not gods; we can’t make everyone like us," Lin Wan joked.

"Well said. But Wang Guihua didn’t show off for long before getting taken to the department’s political office for education. When Instructor Feng realized it was hopeless, he threatened to divorce her. The report was already filed, which scared Wang Guihua. She took her daughter and secretly returned to her hometown the next day."

Shi Lan couldn’t help but laugh when she said this.

"She went back? Does that mean she won’t return?" Lin Wan, now in the compound, least wanted to see Wang Guihua.

She and Sun Yu disliked each other, but fortunately, they lived at some distance, so they didn’t meet often. However, Wang Guihua was right under her nose, creating daily trouble.

"Who knows? Chances are, she won’t return this year."

Lin Wan thought so too. If she really came back, Feng Xiaoxian might actually divorce her.

In this age, life wasn’t easy for divorced women. Wang Guihua wasn’t that foolish.

The two chatted along the way, reaching the mountain’s base.

Lin Wan didn’t come just to harvest mushrooms; she intended to catch some small fish.

The ones she bought at the small market were delicious, but such small fish weren’t sold in the city—a market dominated by big fish.

She craved fried small fish, so she especially brought a fishnet this time.

Shi Lan collected mushrooms around while Lin Wan took off her shoes and got into the water, casting her net a few times. Though not very skilled, she managed to catch seven or eight small fish at a time.

They were a bit smaller than her hand, and she didn’t want the tiniest ones—just the mid-sized ones.

After netting about half a basket, Lin Wan came ashore and cleaned the fish right by the stream.

By the time she finished, it was nearly noon.

The two had two buns with water for lunch.

"Only gathered this little in half a day, can we collect enough for a barrel in two days?"

"Definitely not enough. Let’s go further in, there’s more there."

Lin Wan knew this; the last time Han Yi had brought her, it was further in. She also wondered if the wild hens might have laid eggs by now.

If they had laid eggs, there should be quite a few, right?

"It’s not very safe inside."

"We won’t go too far, it’s fine. I usually venture in for mushrooms; otherwise, I don’t collect much. Haven’t run into any trouble a few times, right?"

Lin Wan hesitated a bit, then agreed. It’s just an afternoon, and they could leave when it got dark.

After resting for a while, they didn’t delay. Lin Wan put the processed fish with the basket into the shallow water, pressing them down with a stone to prevent them from being washed away.

They planned to retrieve them when descending in the evening.

Shi Lan was familiar with this area, having come with Han Yi last time.

Lin Wan carried a cloth bag and searched for mushrooms with Shi Lan. Passing by the wild hen’s nest from last time, Lin Wan made sure to check.

Sure enough, she found over a dozen eggs, and when she shook them, they were all fresh.

Happily, she quickly took ten eggs, giggling as she ran off, worried the wild hen might discover and come after her.

"Xiao Lan, guess what I found?" Lin Wan held the eggs in her clothing and showed Shi Lan.

Shi Lan smirked, raised her chin, and retorted, "See what I got?"

She lifted a wild rabbit from behind.

Lin Wan gaped, "How did you catch it?"

"Did you forget? Our family lives in the mountains; my brothers used to take me trap-digging as a kid. I randomly dug one here recently, can’t believe I caught one. This one’s been in there for a couple of days, nearly starved, see?"

They had a fruitful day, gathering nearly a full bag of mushrooms, ten eggs, a basket of fish, and a rabbit.

Moreover, nothing dangerous happened; they made their way back home in the dark.

Given the gossiping tongues, they decided to spend the night at Lin Wan’s, shutting the door so no one could peek at what they were up to.

Luckily, there was still some white flour and rice at home. It wasn’t much, but enough for them to eat.

Shi Lan laid the mushrooms out to dry in Lin Wan’s yard, while Lin Wan washed the fish again and marinated them, intending to fry the small fish.

Shi Lan cleaned the rabbit, and that evening, the two cooked half of it spicy style in a small clay pot.

Without Wang Guihua around, no matter how delicious the smell from Lin Wan’s house, no one would disturb them.

Lin Wan didn’t have to take care of Little Star these two days, so she could indulge herself with spicy food to her heart’s content.