Chapter 144 The same trick won't work the second time.

Zhizhi gritted her teeth, "I'm going to beat my big brother to death!"

We could have sat down and discussed a better solution, but he insisted on leaving!

"Sweetie, you don't want to."

Deng Qiu cruelly rejected her daughter's request.

They brought back the old Su people from the past, not went on a picnic, so why are they joining in the fun?

Su Xuetong secretly went to see her husband. She actually wanted to go too, but she wasn't sure if A Jing would let her come along.

“Ah Jing... If I go over there, at least I can help break up the fight.”

"No, you need to rest now."

Su Xuetong lowered her eyes, looking very disappointed.

Zhizhi clenched her fists, her eyes darting around. She quietly pulled her aunt and slipped away from the crowd while everyone was discussing what to do next.

Deng Qiu quickly made up her mind. She entrusted Zhenwei and Zhizhi to Cuiping's care, hurriedly put out the fire, and prepared to leave.

Jiang Anchao started the car and quickly drove out of Suzhou city.

Deng Qiu sat in the back seat, her eyes tightly closed as she began to think about what to do next.

Just as her mind was racing, she suddenly felt something warm under the back seat.

She suddenly opened her eyes, leaned down to look, and unexpectedly met a pair of big, round eyes under the car seat.

"Zhizhi?! How did you sneak onto the bus?!"

With a fawning smile, Zhizhi looked slightly embarrassed. "Mom... I didn't expect you to find out after all."

Deng Qiu frowned. "You're being very naughty."

The little one pretended to be obedient and ingratiating, calling out, "Mommy~"

"I'll take you back right now."

"No!" Zhizhi quickly called out to her mother, pointing behind her without hesitation, "I'm reporting that my aunt came with me too, you can't send both of them off at once, can you?"

Su Xuetong, who was desperately hiding: "? Zhizhi, you!"

We're doomed! We've been exposed!

Hearing his wife's voice, Ji Yanjing turned around abruptly. "Xuetong? Didn't I tell you to wait at home?"

Now that she'd been discovered, Su Xuetong decided to stop hiding under the car. She crept out and sat in the back seat, her belly protruding.

Her tone held a hint of reproach, "I wanted to come and see, but it's because I can't live without you."

Ji Yanjing's cold, icy eyes froze for a moment because of his little wife's coquettish words, then he pursed his lips slightly.

He sighed helplessly, "You're pregnant, and the journey will be bumpy..."

Before she could finish speaking, Su Xuetong cut her off, saying, "Baby misses Daddy and can't be without him for a moment."

Xue Tong gazed at her husband with bright, clear black and white eyes, a charming smile on her porcelain-white face.

She reached out and quietly grasped Ji Yanjing's fingers, giving them a slight shake.

"Please take me with you, please, please, you're the best!"

What seemed like playful teasing was actually a sweet and charming act that melted Ji Yanjing's heart.

Seeing her aunt's expression, Zhizhi began to imitate her, blinking her big eyes at her mother and speaking softly, "Zhizhi misses Mommy too, she can't be without Mommy for a moment, so please take me with you, please, please, let's go~"

Deng Qiu helplessly reached out and covered the baby's face. "Your mother doesn't fall for that trick. The same trick won't work the second time."

She's never seen Zhizhi so clingy when she's on vacation at home.

Zhizhi was eager to dominate the military dependents' compound with her friends, but she never thought about keeping her lonely old mother company at home.

"Ouch!"

Zhizhi covered her face and sighed softly.

Undeterred, she turned to her father, trying to appease him, "Daddy... you don't want Zhizhi to be so anxious at home, crying all day, right? Please bring the nest, please bring the nest, Daddy's the best~"

Jiang Anchao was driving very fast, and when he heard his daughter say that, he just calmly glanced at the rearview mirror.

"Now you're thinking about your old man? Too late. Why didn't you think of me when you were whining to your mom?"

The daughter just thought her mom was the best one and she was at best the second best, but he doesn't buy that!

The little cub clasped its hands together, looking pleading, "Daddy is the best in the world! Don't send me away!"

Ji Yanjing felt his palm being tickled by his wife, a tingling sensation.

A slight thought crossed his mind, and he quickly covered his mouth and coughed lightly.

"Forget it, since we're already out here, let's just bring everything with us to save ourselves the trouble of running back and forth."

"yeah!"

"Long live Uncle!"

Xue Tong and the little cub smiled at each other and raised their hands to give each other a high five in perfect unison.

Both of them had a triumphant smile in their eyes; anyone who didn't know better would think they were mother and daughter.

Deng Qiu chuckled briefly, then shook his head helplessly. "You little rascal. Behave yourself on the road. We have a lot of things to take care of when we find your older brother."

*

Xishan Village

"Screech—!" The military vehicle drove into the village entrance, and as it braked, the tires kicked up dust on the dirt road.

Jiang Anchao rolled down his car window and asked the old man walking towards the village entrance, "Is Ma Jianhua home?"

"Ma Jianhua? They all went to the village committee today, making a scene and demanding land allocation. Why are you here beating them?"

The old man had gray hair, but his hearing was very sharp.

He pointed to the row of bungalows behind the village committee building not far away and clicked his tongue, saying, "Are you curious, huh? Even the military officer is here to oversee the land distribution. Are you afraid they'll start a fight?"

“Ma Jianhua’s nephew is back today, did you see him?” Jiang Anchao took out a photo and handed it to the old man for identification, gesturing with his hands, “A five-and-a-half-year-old boy named Gansu.”

"There's no one here named Gan Su, and I've never heard that Jianhua has a nephew?"

Jiang Anchao was a little disappointed when he couldn't find out where Gan Su was, but he was not giving up and asked again, "Do you remember Ma Jianguo? He died in the line of duty a couple of years ago. This boy was his son."

"Jianguo?" Upon hearing the familiar name, the old man's cloudy eyes cleared a bit. "He was the first martyr in Nanmen Village. If it weren't for him, how could Nanmen Xishan Village have been recognized as an advanced village? He had a son? Didn't Jianhua say that his son died several years ago?"

"He's not dead, he's back."

"Oh dear! You should go to the village committee and see. A whole bunch of people are making a scene there. They've probably asked the kid to go and sign some papers and put his fingerprint on them."

Jiang Anchao frowned, his expression becoming very serious. "Okay, I'll go over now. Thank you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped on the gas and drove straight to the entrance of the village committee.

... ...

Village Committee Office

A group of burly men in cotton-padded coats sat around a stool, some with cigarettes in their mouths, others cracking sunflower seeds like crazy.

"Nan said that the land should be divided according to the number of people. My family has five little girls and one boy, so we should get eight mu!"

"Guo the Cripple, don't be so greedy! Only boys are considered laborers; girls won't get any land when they get married!"

"Yes, yes, our production team is now preparing to contract out the land to individual households. Everyone knows why your family has so many girls. It's all because you want a boy. You can't possibly cultivate all that land. If you want to talk about it, you might as well stick to the old system."

"Shut up, all of you. After six months of discussion, you still haven't reached a conclusion."

The village chief spoke with a stern face, his gaze turning to Ma Jianhua, who had remained silent all along. "Jianhua, you are the production brigade leader, and your brother is a great contributor to our village. Your words carry the most weight. So, how do you suggest we divide it?"

Seeing everyone looking at him, Ma Jianhua cleared his throat. "I think we can put the farmland aside for now, but the homesteads should be divided properly. Take the Nan family as an example. Nan Di is gone, so logically I should inherit the homestead. The Nan family has two boys, so they should each get two more homesteads. This is the fairest way to divide them!"

"I disagree!"