After lunch, Huo Haocheng accompanied Ruan Ruan for a nap before going to the military base to cancel his leave and write the mission report. The soldiers who participated in the rescue all looked somber as they wrote their reports.

Especially when the police relayed the death toll to the military in the morning, who could have imagined that the police learned from the victimized women that the bodies of those women who were tortured to death were simply dumped in the back mountain, and when the police went there, they found bones everywhere, many of which had been torn apart by wild animals.

After Huo Haocheng left, Ruan Ruan started thinking about what to eat tomorrow. As she thought, she wrote it down on paper, afraid she would forget. Pheasant and rabbit could be considered two dishes. Then she would go and buy some meat. There were plenty of vegetables this season. She would stir-fry two vegetarian dishes, make a cold salad with houttuynia cordata, and then buy a big bone to make a soup. Seven or eight dishes would be enough.

After finishing her work, Ruan Ruan stepped out of the yard and knocked on her neighbor's door. "Sister Xia, are you home?"

At that moment, Wang Xia was mending clothes for the child. Hearing Ruan Ruan call her, she immediately put down her work and came out, saying, "Yes, I'm coming."

"Wow, the cute girl's here! Come on in, have a seat!"

The two entered the house, and Ruan Ruan saw the sewing basket on the floor and assumed Wang Xia was making clothes. "Sister Xia, are you making clothes?"

"That's for mending clothes. My rascal, he slipped and ripped his pants yesterday after school while playing in the river with his classmates. That's why I'm mending them for him," Wang Xia said, her voice full of affection for her son, though she sounded a little annoyed.

“Kids of this age are all the same nowadays,” Ruan Ruan thought of herself when she was ten years old. Wasn’t she the same?

"Sister, our family is having dinner tomorrow night. You've always treated Haocheng to food and drinks for free, and I feel bad about it because you've taken care of him. So I wanted to thank you."

"What are you saying? Battalion Commander Huo has helped us a lot too. We're all from the same military camp, so we all help each other out when we can. Everyone needs help sometimes."

"Sister, you're right. I'm new here and don't know anything. I'll have to trouble you to take good care of me."

"Oh, sister, let me tell you this, the women in our compound all have a little quirk, but they're not bad people. It's just those few older women... if you see them, it's best to pretend you didn't, and try to avoid them if possible." Speaking of the older women in the compound, Wang Xia really had a lot to say.

"Hmm?" It seems there's quite a bit of gossip going on in the family compound. Seeing Wang Xia's complicated expression, Ruan Ruan was quite curious.

"You'll find out later," Wang Xia said. She wasn't one to talk badly about people behind their backs, so she didn't tell Ruan Ruanming.

"Okay," Ruan Ruan said, seeing that Wang Xia didn't continue, so she didn't ask any more questions. She'd only come to let her know. Seeing that it was getting late, and remembering that Huo Haocheng had said Wang Xia was going to pick up her daughter in the afternoon, Ruan Ruan got up to leave. "Well then, sister, you go ahead and do your work. I'll head back now."

"Okay, I'll come over earlier tomorrow to help you with this." Seeing that it was almost time, Wang Xia didn't linger with Ruan Ruan and left with her, taking the keys.

Back home, Ruan Ruan took a chair and sat in the shade of the yard, looking at the sky and the birds flying overhead, and sighed, "Sigh."

"What's wrong? Why are you sighing?" Huo Haocheng heard her long sigh as he walked out the door.

"I'm back. Nothing much, just looking at the sky, it's so blue!"

Huo Haocheng couldn't follow Ruan Ruan's train of thought and couldn't understand what she was saying.

"What are you holding in your hand?" Ruan Ruan didn't know how to explain. Was she supposed to say that it would be several more years before she could fly freely like a bird? People would probably think she was crazy.

"Dad's package for you has arrived. I ran into the postman on the way and brought it back for you," Huo Haocheng said, handing her the package.

He went inside, took the scissors and a stool, and came out to sit next to her.

The package was opened, revealing two books on mechanical manufacturing, both in English and requiring translation into Chinese. Huo Haocheng picked up one of them, flipped through it several times, and then silently put it back.

"Brother, do you want to learn English with me?" Ruan Ruan thought to tease Huo Haocheng as she watched his actions.

"Is it difficult?" Huo Haocheng's grades were among the best in his school. In the past few years, he had been reading military books in the army and had never been exposed to foreign languages ​​before, so he was not sure what to expect.

“It’s not difficult. It’s just like our Chinese Pinyin. Once you learn Pinyin, you’ll be fine.” Then, Ruan Ruan picked up a stick and began teaching Huo Haocheng the English alphabet on the ground.

For dinner, the two of them heated up the leftover braised chicken from lunch and each made a bowl of noodles. And I must say, the noodles soaked up the broth were really delicious.

Before going to bed, Huo Haocheng had already memorized the 26 letters of the English alphabet.

"Wow, my brother, you're amazing! How can you be so good? It takes others several days to memorize it completely, but you memorized it in just a few hours." Lying in bed, listening to Huo Haocheng recite the 26 letters of the alphabet perfectly, Ruan Ruan thought that Huo Haocheng was a real learning genius. If this memory existed in the 22nd century, he would definitely be a top student!

"Brother is so amazing, is there a reward?" Huo Haocheng looked at Ruan Ruan, who was so happy because he had memorized the 26 letters of the alphabet, and felt that it was all worth it.

"How about I reward you by having you learn a few more English words tomorrow?" Ruan Ruan suddenly remembered a joke she had seen online before: a high school student brought home a science test paper with a perfect score and asked for a reward. The next day, his older brother gave him a whole set of 5 years of college entrance exam simulations, which made the child cry.

"Since my sister won't give it to me, then I'll just have to take it myself." Before Ruan Ruan could understand what Huo Haocheng wanted, he leaned in and showered her with kisses.

..............................................(Imagining the scene)