Chapter 213 Commander Zhao, who hasn't been home for months

Jiang Wanqiu was sleeping on her side, her brows relaxed, and she seemed to be holding something loosely in her arms.

Zhao Wenchang didn't want to wake her. He tucked the blanket around her, picked up his luggage, and quietly left the house.

The sun was high in the sky, and sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains.

Jiang Wanqiu groggily turned over, feeling a slight soreness in her lower back. She mumbled instinctively, "Wenchang, give me a back massage..."

He reached out and touched nothing.

The sheets my fingertips touched were ice cold; where was that person's body warmth?

Jiang Wanqiu suddenly opened her eyes, stared blankly at the empty space beside her for a long time before she realized—he had rejoined the team.

Days pass by like flowing water.

Three months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Le Yunyun's "gentle haven" business is booming, and the monthly dividends she receives are a thick stack of ten-yuan notes.

The Zhao family's standard of living was among the best in the entire capital city; their food, clothing, and daily necessities were all of the highest quality. Yet, the smile on Jiang Wanqiu's face visibly diminished.

Her family doted on her, afraid she would get tired, and wouldn't let her do this or that. She was like a bird kept in a gilded cage.

Every evening after dinner, Jiang Wanqiu would sit in the living room next to the mahogany telephone cabinet without fail, lost in thought.

The rotary dial telephone lay there like an inanimate object, covered with a thin layer of dust.

It's been three months, and there hasn't been a single sound from Zhao Wenchang. Sometimes, at the slightest noise, she jumps up as if she's been electrocuted to answer the phone, only to find that it's either someone trying to curry favor with Zhao Wenchang or a wrong number.

Fortunately, there were still small stones.

This child grows so fast! When he was first born, he was all wrinkled and looked like a little old man, but now he's all grown up, fair and tender. His arms and legs are like freshly dug lotus roots, segmented in sections, and anyone who sees him can't help but want to pinch them.

It was a sunny afternoon. Jiang Wanqiu was holding Xiao Shitou in the yard, basking in the sun, and playing with him using a rattle.

"Stone, look at Mommy, what's this?"

Little Stone's big, dark, grape-like eyes darted around, and his little hands waved as he reached for the rattle drum. Suddenly, his mouth opened, and without warning, he uttered a muffled sound: "Ba...ba..."

Although the pronunciation wasn't very accurate, the tone of voice clearly indicated that someone was being called out!

Sitting next to her, Zhao Xiaohua exclaimed in delight, "Oh my! My dear grandson! He can say 'hello' now? Quick, quick, say it again for Grandma!"

Jiang Wanqiu was also stunned. The soft little bundle of flesh in her arms could actually call him "Dad"?

"Plop...plop..." Little Stone seemed to have found it fun, and shouted twice more, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth.

Hearing the commotion, Ma Jinhua and Zhao Shan rushed out. When they heard Xiao Shitou speak, the whole family was overjoyed. Jiang Wanqiu laughed along, but as she laughed, her eyes suddenly reddened, and tears streamed down her face.

The child can already call him "Dad," but the father is nowhere to be seen.

Unable to suppress her longing any longer, Jiang Wanqiu, who couldn't keep things to herself, made a decision right then and there.

She asked her bodyguard, Xiao Zhang, to prepare the car, and they headed straight for the military compound.

The jeep sped along and stopped in front of the familiar large iron gate. Jiang Wanqiu rolled down the window, but before she could speak, she was stopped by the sentry standing guard at the gate.

The sentry was a stranger; he looked quite young, but his face was expressionless and cold.

Xiao Zhang quickly took out his ID and handed it over, saying politely, "Comrade, this is a relative of Regiment Commander Zhao Wenchang. They're here to visit. Please inform them."

The sentry took the ID, glanced at it, turned around, went into the guard post, and made a phone call.

Less than two minutes later, he came out, handed the ID back to Xiao Zhang, and said in a stern, businesslike tone, "I'm sorry, Commander Zhao is currently undergoing intensive closed training and has an important meeting to attend. There are strict orders from above that no one, including immediate family members, is allowed to visit him during the training period. Please leave."

"No, comrade, we'll just take a look, say a few words, and then leave..." Jiang Wanqiu eagerly poked her head out.

"That's an order!" The sentry saluted, his back ramrod straight, leaving no room for compromise.

Jiang Wanqiu had no choice but to stare longingly at the tightly closed door, and in the end, she could only tell Xiao Zhang to turn back.

She simply didn't believe in this superstition.

A week later, Jiang Wanqiu got up early and personally made pork and scallion dumplings, Zhao Wenchang's favorite, put them in a thermos, and had Xiao Zhang drive them to the military region.

This time, she specially changed into a smart outfit, thinking that as long as she could see him, even if they didn't speak, just delivering the dumplings would be enough.

The car stopped at the gate again.

Before Jiang Wanqiu could even get out of the car, the sentry came over again, repeating the same excuse: "Commander Zhao is still in a meeting and cannot receive guests."

"This meeting has been going on for a week already, isn't it over yet?" Jiang Wanqiu held the thermos container tightly. "Comrade, I won't go in and disturb him. I'll just leave these dumplings in the reception room so he can have a bite after the meeting, okay?"

"No, that's the rule. No outside items are allowed." The sentry coldly refused.

Just then, a vehicle with military license plates drove in from the side. The window was open, and inside sat a woman with curly hair, holding a child in her arms. She was smiling and greeting another sentry at the gate, who didn't stop her and let her pass.

Jiang Wanqiu could see clearly that they were family members of other regimental commanders.

She stared blankly as the car disappeared around the corner, a sudden pang of sadness welling up inside her.

After getting out of the car at home, she stood at the gate of the courtyard for a while, rubbing her somewhat stiff cheeks, and forced out a gentle smile before going inside.

At the dinner table, she fed Xiao Shitou rice cereal as usual, saying little but not much, and her expression didn't seem particularly unusual.

But things are different at night.

Ma Jinhua is a light sleeper. When she gets up to use the restroom in the middle of the night, she always sees a sliver of light shining through the crack in Jiang Wanqiu's door as she passes by. The light isn't bright; it's as if the lamp has been deliberately dimmed, and it stays on until late into the night.

The old lady stood at the door sighing, her eyes fixed on Little Stone's 100-day celebration.

This is a big day for the child; back in our hometown, it's a big celebration.

The atmosphere at home was a bit dull.

Ma Jinhua was sewing new clothes for her child when she chatted with Zhao Xiaohua beside her: "Does Wenchang really think he's some kind of god? He's been gone for almost half a year without a word. Has he vanished from the face of the earth?"

Zhao Shan was also somewhat dissatisfied, knowing he was busy, how could he be so busy: "I think he's forgotten he has a family!"

Hearing this, Jiang Wanqiu felt a pang of sadness. She walked to the mahogany telephone cabinet and dialed the number she knew by heart once more.

There were a few crackling sounds in the receiver before the call was connected.

"Hello, I'd like to speak with Commander Zhao Wenchang." Jiang Wanqiu tried to keep her voice steady.

The same operator was on the other end, speaking in a curt, reciting tone: "Sorry, Commander Zhao is not here."

"When will he be able to..."

No comment.

"Beep—beep—"

The dial tone after the call ended sounded particularly jarring. Jiang Wanqiu tightened her grip on the receiver, then slowly put it back down and turned to look at the calendar on the wall. There, she had drawn a heavy circle in red pen around the date three days from now.

She bit her lower lip, her gaze suddenly fixed. Fine, Zhao Wenchang, you're not here, but my son's 100-day celebration still has to be held, no matter who's there, and it has to be a grand affair, leaving no room for complaint!

Two days before the 100-day celebration, the postman delivered a letter.

The handwriting on the envelope was neat and strong, exuding a sense of composure, and the return address was "Special Class for Gifted Youngsters." It was sent by Ping An.

Jiang Wanqiu opened the letter, and the whole family gathered around.

Ping An is such a sensible child that it breaks your heart. In the letter, she didn't complain or say she was tired. She first greeted all the elders in her family one by one before starting to talk about her life in class. At the end of the letter, there was also a neatly folded piece of drawing paper.

Upon unfolding it, one finds a sketch of a strangely shaped yet technologically advanced airplane, with the words "A future airplane for my younger brother" written in childish but earnest strokes next to it.

"Good, good! Ping An is a promising child!" Zhao Shan looked at the painting, his old face crinkling with laughter.

During dinner, Zhao Shan was in a good mood, so he asked Zhao Xiaohua to heat up a pot of wine for him.

After a few drinks, Zhao Shan's face turned as red as a pig's liver, and he started talking non-stop. When he thought of his son, his anger flared up again.

He slammed his wine cup down on the table, spilling half the wine: "If you ask me, Wenchang is just ungrateful! So what if he's an official? Is he busier than the President of the country? He didn't even show his face for his own son's hundred-day celebration. I think he's become too ambitious! He's completely forgotten about his wife and children!"

Zhao Xiaohua chimed in with a complaint: "That's right, what kind of father is so heartless? I, as his mother, don't even know if he wants to keep this family."

Jiang Wanqiu was peeling eggs for Xiao Shitou when she heard this and stopped what she was doing.

"Father, Mother," Jiang Wanqiu spoke, and everyone at the table looked at her.

Jiang Wanqiu said, "Wenchang is a soldier, and the responsibilities he carries are different from ours. Military orders are absolute, are they a joke? If the higher-ups don't let him go back, he wouldn't dare to fly back even if he had wings."

She sighed, "He's guarding the nation's borders, and we're guarding our homes. He's risking his life on the front lines, and if we complain about him like this from behind, that would really break his heart. We can only talk about these things behind closed doors, but we must never mention them in public. If word gets out, people won't just say Zhao Wenchang doesn't care about his family; they'll just laugh at our Zhao family for being low-minded and a drag on our work."

Ma Jinhua nodded, thinking that Jiang Wanqiu was sensible, but in her heart she cursed her grandson again.

To prepare for the 100-day celebration, Jiang Wanqiu got up very early the next day.

Although she had both a nanny and a bodyguard at home, she was extremely reluctant to entrust the selection of the red rope for the child's longevity lock, the writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and abacus used for the first birthday celebration, and the return gifts for the guests to others. She insisted on choosing them herself.

This time, the Zhao family elders were quite proactive, volunteering to stay home and look after their grandson, allowing Jiang Wanqiu to go shopping without worry.

Unfortunately, just as the guard, Xiao Zhang, was about to get into the car, he was stopped by the Cui family next door, who said that there was an urgent document that needed to be sent to the confidential office immediately, and that the car had been requisitioned.

Jiang Wanqiu didn't stand on ceremony. She waved her hand, telling Xiao Zhang to go about his business, and then hailed a pedicab on the main road, heading straight for the department store.

Upon arriving at the department store, Jiang Wanqiu plunged headlong into the dazzling array of counters.

She picked out the sturdiest red rope from the gold cabinet, then picked out the finest wolf-hair brush from the stationery cabinet, and weighed out the best White Rabbit candies and fruit candies from the candy cabinet.

This shopping trip lasted for most of the day, with bags full of purchases and money flowing like water.

The exhilarating feeling of spending money seems to temporarily fill the huge hole in my heart.

By the time she came out of the department store, it was already getting dark.