After picking some peppers and cutting some leeks, Gu Qingqing helped Xu Nian back to the kitchen and gave her a chair to sit on.

She raised her hand to check the time, then looked at Xu Nian's almost empty bowl, "Stop eating, Sister Nian. Eating so many sour radishes will make you feel sour. Don't you like spicy food? I'll fry you some spicy crab. That should be edible, right?"

"Sure." Xu Nian said without hesitation: "Your brother Zhao said it's okay to eat some seafood in moderation." She finished the two remaining radish strips in the bowl, put them on the stove, and sat on a chair to watch her wash rice and cook.

"That's fine. I'll make you some braised prawns, some steamed eggs, some stir-fried vegetables, and some chive pancakes." She figured five dishes would be about right, and it was just right for five people.

Xu Nian nodded and suggested, "How about adding some seaweed and shrimp soup? Your brother Zhao, you and I can all handle spicy food. Captain Chu and your husband are both born and raised in Nanyang. Can you handle the spiciness of the spicy crab?"

"Chu Dai is fine." After hearing what Xu Nian said, she broke off some dried seaweed and soaked it: "Ah Sui may not be okay. He once had a stomachache late at night after eating something spicy. In the end, Chu Dai took him to the health center for an IV drip before he got better."

"This child's stomach should be weak." Xu Nian used his hands as a fan to look at the rising sun through the glass window. "I won't accompany you to pick up Ah Sui after you finish cooking. It's too sunny."

"It's only the end of April." Gu Qingqing took the chopping board and kitchen knife hanging on the wall, washed the peppers and chopped them.

The pungent smell immediately overflowed, and Xu Nian wanted to eat it as soon as she smelled it. She stared at the mixed green and red pepper cubes and said, "I don't know if this baby is a boy or a girl. I like sour food and I also like spicy food."

Gu Qingqing thought of the old saying, "It's said that sour boys make spicy girls, but it doesn't seem to be that accurate."

"Zhao Ze said that there is no scientific basis for these things." Xu Nian shook her head and smiled, "You will understand when you get pregnant. You will want to eat everything you see. Sometimes, the things I used to love to eat make me want to vomit now. I used to love pork belly, but now I always feel that it is too greasy and tastes like cotton foam in my mouth."

Gu Qingqing glanced back at her with a smile: "That's perfect, I won't stir-fry pork belly for lunch."

"Okay, okay, I'll save some meat for you so that your husband can eat more. This child is too skinny. It makes me sad just looking at him."

Gu Qingqing agreed very much: "I have tried all kinds of ways to cook for him, and it took him half a month to grow a little fat on his face. I don't know how much this child has suffered in the past."

"In the countryside, they must be driven out before dawn to earn work points, and they don't have enough to eat or warm clothes. In my hometown, there was an orphan who lived with his uncle and aunt, and he suffered a lot. The children of that family played at home every day and could go to school, but for this nephew..."

The more Xu Nian thought about it, the more upset he felt. He shook his head and was too lazy to say anything.

After she became pregnant and a mother, she became particularly emotionally sensitive and sometimes couldn't help crying when she saw something that made people feel pity.

Gu Qingqing shook her head, unable to understand.

"We've never seen this kind of thing in our production team. Grandpa Xu is very strict. Some children who have lost their parents are allowed to live alone. The surplus food households in the team will collect some food so that they have something to eat. It's not a problem for them to survive."

In the past, because the uncles and aunts in the family were very harmonious and loved her as their own child, and the Gu family did not split up, she naturally thought that all families were the same and that the relationship between brothers and sisters-in-law was harmonious.

Later I found out that it was not the case. The relationship between Qian Guihua and her husband Zhao San's brothers was also colder than iron. They only started to get to know each other in the past two years.

Gu Qingqing was chopping vegetables and cooking skillfully. She opened the glass window a little to let in the smoke and oil. The two women chatted leisurely and soon it was twelve o'clock.

Five dishes and one soup were served on the table, including spicy crab, stir-fried cabbage, steamed egg, braised shrimps, and chive pancakes.

There is also seaweed shrimp soup.

Gu Qingqing also chopped some sour radish and put it next to the chive cake, which was refreshing and less greasy.

Xu Nian was a pregnant woman, so she was treated preferentially. Gu Qingqing had already taken a bowl for her to eat first, and washed the pot herself, pouring the water into the slop bucket to water the floor.

"Sister Anian, you stay home and eat. Chu Dai and the others should be back by now. I'll go pick up Ah Sui first."

"Okay, you can go and don't worry about me." Xu Nian bit into the chive pancake and was challenged by Xiang. "Qingqing, I really have to praise your cooking skills again. It's much better than Lao Zhu in the cafeteria."

Speaking of the canteen boss, Mr. Zhu, Gu Qingqing grinned: "I was too lazy to cook a few days ago, so I took Ah Sui to the canteen to eat. After Mr. Zhu finished cooking, he would patrol the canteen. Seeing that everyone was eating happily, he looked very satisfied and asked if we wanted more dishes. I always felt that we were his pigs."

Xu Nian was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help laughing: "I had the same feeling before!"

The two women laughed together. Gu Qingqing took off her apron and hung it at the door. "I have to go pick up Ah Sui now. This child is very thoughtful and sensitive. I have to ask him if he was wronged in school today."

"Okay, hurry up."

Gu Qingqing walked out of the yard and headed towards Building No. 1.

At this time, military wives are all at home cooking, and few go to pick up their children. It’s only a few steps away, and no one would bother to do that.

She thought that she would tell Shen Sui later that her sister had made the chive egg pancakes that he wanted to eat. The child should be very happy, even if he didn't show it on his face.

I used to think that her elder brother Gu Canyang had a very cold personality, but I didn't expect that she would find an even colder brother.

However, Shen Sui was a reserved child and he remembered all the kindness she had shown him. When she first came home, sometimes she forgot to do the laundry at night, and Chu Dai came back too late so he didn't do the laundry and just let Chu Dai throw the clothes in the basin in the bathroom.

When she woke up the next morning, she was stunned to see the washed clothes hanging on the second-floor balcony.

Later, he went to Shen Sui and told him to wash his clothes.

And because she has underwear, Gu Qingqing now washes her clothes right after taking a shower every day, for fear that Shen Sui will need her help again.

As she was about to reach Building No. 1, she became excited. The supply ship would arrive soon. When she got married, her mother, aunts, and brothers gave her a lot of cloth coupons, and she still had a lot of them left.

She also asked the captain of the supply ship to help her go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some brightly colored cloth, and then she could send it to Xiao Huanniang to have it cut.

If there is any extra cloth, I would give it to Xiao Huan to make her clothes. Otherwise, I would feel embarrassed to ask Xiao Huan's mother for help all the time these days.

Already seeing Building No. 1 in front of her, whose area was two or three times that of the other courtyards, she quickened her pace and just in time heard the bell for the end of class.

After entering the yard, she chatted a few words with the children she knew, then went upstairs to find Shen Sui with a smile on her face.

As soon as I got to the second floor, I heard a noisy sound, and then Yu Ruan's painful sound, which sounded very painful: "Shen Sui! What's wrong with you, child?! You hit me when I said hello to you. Is this how you teach your children?"

When Gu Qingqing heard Shen Sui's name, she ran to the classroom door. Yu Ruan was surrounded by two teachers and Yu Yang was crying.

Shen Sui was dressed in black, his thin white wrist holding the army green schoolbag strap. His face was pale and bloodless, and his sinister eyes were like a ferocious beast, staring straight at Yu Ruan.

Yu Ruan felt uneasy when she saw his eyes, but she felt a little more at ease when she thought of the two male teachers beside her. Besides, a mute boy who couldn't speak could not cause any trouble.

Besides, everyone present saw it just now. She was just talking to Shen Sui with a smile, and he suddenly became furious and hit her.

When Gu Qingqing saw the boy exuding a lonely aura, all the blood in her body rushed to her head. She quickly ran to Shen Sui, bent down, held him in her arms, and coaxed him in a gentle voice -

"Ah Sui, don't be afraid. Sister is here. Ah Sui, don't be afraid." She patted Shen Sui's back gently and could feel the boy's stiff body in her arms slowly relax.

The ferocity in Shen Sui's eyes gradually faded away. Just now his whole body was shouting to kill her, but now all he could hear in his mind was his elder sister's gentle voice. He didn't want his elder sister to know his true appearance.

Sensing his gradually weakening mood, Gu Qingqing rubbed his head, looked him in the eye, met his dark pupils, and said seriously: "Sister and brother-in-law will always stand on the side of Ah Sui. Always believe in Ah Sui. Don't be afraid. Brother-in-law will be here soon."

She didn't ask what happened, nor did she intend to listen to what others said. She just focused on comforting the boy in front of her.

It was so hard to get Ah Sui to open up to them, but was Yu Ruan planning to destroy him again? This was the first time that Gu Qingqing hated someone so much. She had never disliked anyone before, and everyone she met was very kind. This time, she was really turned off.

Just as Ruan calmed down, a male teacher wearing glasses paused for a moment and said, "Two female comrades, the children still need to go home, let's not block them here. If you have anything to say, go to the office downstairs and talk."

He was also wearing a navy-gray military uniform, and he exuded a gentle and bookish air. He and another teacher evacuated the students in an orderly manner, and took the four of them downstairs to the office.

Yu Yang wiped away his tears, his eyes moving back and forth between his aunt and grandmother, hesitant.

Gu Qingqing knew that this matter had nothing to do with Xiaoyang and guessed that he was just scared and crying. She rubbed Shen Sui's head, then walked up to Yu Yang and stuffed two candies into his hand.

"Don't cry, Xiaoyang. It's okay. Can you go home first? Your mother is waiting for you at home."

Yu Yang glanced at his aunt, thought of his mother who was alone at home, nodded, and ran out.

There were only two teachers, Gu Qingqing, Shen Sui and Yu Ruan left in the office.

Yu Ruan looked pitiful and was the first to speak: "Teacher Zhang, you saw it just now. It was Shen Sui who started it. I saw that he was young and didn't fight back."

The young teacher nodded, pushed up his glasses, and went to make tea for them: "Please sit down and talk slowly."

Another teacher brought the tea he had brewed to Gu Qingqing and Yu Ruan, and couldn't help but ask, "Comrade Yu, did you say anything bad to Shen Sui? He was attending class well and sitting quietly, never gossiping or fighting with other classmates. How come he got so angry that he wanted to hit someone after you said a few words to him?!"

He is the teacher who teaches Shen Sui's class and has a good impression of this child.