Chapter 1086: Chapter 37: A Packed Schedule Today
After sending off Yang Youxuan, the next step was of course to see the house allocated by the Navy.
If all goes as expected, this will be the marital home in the future.
Although Wang Yunxiao has not officially been commissioned yet, Yang Qiming told him that his treatment is at least on the level of a company commander.
After all, he could command a major company in the Army. If he still can’t get the treatment of a company commander when he returns to the Navy, that would be a joke.
The reason why he wasn’t promoted to battalion commander was mainly because of Wang Yunxiao’s age.
This battalion commander and company commander isn’t on the same level as those in modern brigades and divisions; like before, Wang Yunxiao commanded a major company of six hundred men, a full-strength battalion would have three thousand men, and above that is a corps commander. Above a corps commander is a war marshal (not really), who is the admiral.
Army Admiral, Navy Admiral, and the President who also serves as the Supreme Commander of the three services.
The organization of the Army and Navy is also different, due to very complex historical reasons, which will not be elaborated on here. Simply put, the Navy followed the United Kingdom’s system for officers and didn’t have subdivisions of regiment, battalion, and corps, replaced instead by the Southern Fleet and Northern Fleet.
To become the commander of a destroyer, at least a major military rank and twenty years of service record are required… Considering that the new Navy of Ming Country has not yet been established for twenty years, the conditions are relatively relaxed.
Generally speaking, the minimum standard is to graduate from the Naval Academy with outstanding results and then serve for at least three to five years.
So the great prospects drawn by Yang Qiming, Wang Yunxiao cannot immediately enjoy.
The ship may not be available anytime soon, but the treatment is quite high.
Although it is not an independent villa, it is still considered a very good house among the Navy’s family apartments.
On the second-floor facing the sun, three bedrooms and a living room, one hundred and fifty square meters.
The only drawback is that it’s not a sea view room, but most naval officers don’t care about that. After getting on a ship in the future, you’ll see the sea until you’re sick of it, and there’s no need to see it again when you go home.
The room is fully furnished with tables, chairs, and beds already arranged. Although simple, it is clean.
The house is kept spotless. It seems that Nie Xiaoyun often comes to clean. Except for the lack of human warmth, Wang Yunxiao couldn’t find any faults.
Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao appears.
Just as Li Mumu was inspecting each room like a little dog looking for a lamppost, Nie Xiaoyun pushed the door open and entered.
“Hello, Officer! Hello, Madam!”
This young woman is not only beautiful and has a sweet voice, but also nimble and outgoing, truly without a single unlikable trait.
But the more she is like this, the more Li Mumu feels a sense of jealousy.
Especially considering that this troublesome woman will be by Wang Yunxiao’s side serving tea and doing errands for the next three years, Li Mumu is not happy.
Too feudal, too decadent, how can the Navy be like this!
“Are you staying for lunch? I’ll go get some groceries.”
Faced with Li Mumu’s scrutinizing gaze, Nie Xiaoyun was unfazed and instead acted like she was the true mistress of the house.
Li Mumu felt a deep sense of pressure.
“No need to trouble you, we’re just here to take a look, and we have other things this afternoon…”
“It’s no trouble, and it’s already this time, you’d have to find a place to eat if you went out anyway?”
Wang Yunxiao hurriedly interjected: “Don’t bother cooking. Let’s go to the dining hall. It’s a good chance to show your sister-in-law around.”
“That works too! There are good dishes in the dining hall today!”
What the Navy dining hall calls good dishes usually aren’t seafood.
The way to cook seafood is actually very simple; you can’t add too many seasonings. Steaming or boiling is the best way.
If you add seasoning, the freshness of the seafood is lost. It’s okay once or twice, but eating it often becomes monotonous.
But daily steaming and boiling also aren’t feasible.
Items like crabs, prawns, sea cucumbers, scallops, are almost available in unlimited supply at the Navy dining hall, enough to make you have your fill.
What Nie Xiaoyun mentioned as good dishes refers to a local specialty, the yellow clam, also known as yellow mussel.
Its appearance is no different from a flower clam, just yellow and particularly large, with clam meat inside similar to quail eggs, plentiful and abundant with freshness.
This thing is different from other seafood and must be stir-fried with chili, the spicier the fresher.
In May and June, it is the season when local yellow clams are most fertile, but unless you’re from the coast, you probably haven’t heard of them. The similar clams available in seafood stores after the fact are like the abalone that costs seven or eight bucks each, purely to deceive inland people.
To be honest, this should be paired with barbecue, with some beer and the sea breeze, that’s what’s called enjoyment.
Nie Xiaoyun had already hinted to Wang Yunxiao to go for barbecue a few days ago, but they didn’t get to it.
Today, once again she wouldn’t let them leave, and ordered a big plate of stir-fried yellow clams in the dining hall.
It’s obvious she was craving it herself.
Women are like this; they want to eat something but are embarrassed to say it, afraid of being mocked for sneaking off to eat alone, often using dieting as an excuse to deceive themselves.
Nie Xiaoyun seemed carefree, even when Li Mumu waved a ring-wearing finger in front of her, she appeared indifferent, as if she didn’t care at all.
However, knowing what’s in a woman’s heart is as deep as the sea. Whether she cares or not is something only she knows.
After having lunch at the Navy Compound dining hall, Wang Yunxiao took Li Mumu to the Special Service Bureau in the afternoon.
First, they went to the Containment Department to bring some tribute for Director Xia, and to inquire whether a certain rotund Little Witch had been contained yet.
The work efficiency of the Special Service Bureau was still as slow as ever.
Then Wang Yunxiao found Director Lian from the Communications Department and borrowed two sets of telegraph machines… well, Net Path communicators.
In those days, wireless telephones hadn’t been invented, so to keep in touch from a distance, aside from the unreliable notebook, there were other ways.
Such as the Net Path communicator, which Wang Yunxiao had used a few times and, apart from being a bit cumbersome, didn’t have any other flaws at the moment.
Between two Net Path communicators, point-to-point information transmission could be completed. As to whether it would leak… Wang Yunxiao believed it most likely would, otherwise the Special Service Bureau wouldn’t have bothered to prepare a codebook.
If he and Li Mumu wanted to use public equipment for personal purposes, they’d have to come up with a private code themselves.
Otherwise, how would colleagues feel if they were showing public displays of affection?
While Wang Yunxiao went to collect equipment, Li Mumu also had to handle the suspension procedure.
Strictly speaking, her standing in the Special Service Bureau was higher than Wang Yunxiao’s, not as a contained object, but at the hospital side.
Resignation was impossible, Director Shen had already announced that Li Mumu’s personnel files were kept with him, and negotiations were not open.
Finally catching a doctor skilled in surgery, there was no way he would let her go. Whether or not there was a medical practice license was unimportant. If necessary, Director Shen could easily arrange one for her, it was merely a matter of stamping a seal.