"Qingqing, did Captain Chu tell you what kind of dowry he would prepare for you?" The ball of yarn that Sun Shufen had placed on her legs rolled to the ground. Xu Nian picked it up and quietly helped her untie the yarn.

Gu Qingqing stood up, took the boiling kettle on the coal stove, and poured all the boiling water into the military green kettle: "No, they are busy with training recently, so I can only see them at night, and I am too embarrassed to ask."

The steam from the boiling water in the kettle rose into the air, and the whole room suddenly became warm.

"And we are embarrassed." Sun Shufen really felt strange at this moment, and said with a wicked smile: "Then did you have any night..."

Gu Qingqing quickly interrupted: "Ah, auntie, don't talk about this! We are going back the day after tomorrow. Sister An Nian, will you come with us?"

"No," Xu Nian shook her head. She didn't want to go back. "Brother Ze doesn't have any leave this year. I will follow the army when he is transferred to Baisha Island after the New Year. I will stay in the Corps during this period."

In fact, there is not much time left. We will go to the island after the Lantern Festival, so there are only more than 20 days left.

The room was warm. Yu Tu and Yu Xu, a brother and sister, were crawling around on the bed. Because Chu Dai had hypoglycemia, there was always a supply of White Rabbit candy at home. Gu Qingqing opened the cupboard, grabbed two handfuls and stuffed them into the siblings' pockets.

Sun Shufen repeatedly stopped them: "My dear, don't get used to them. It's not easy for you to collect some sugar tickets."

Gu Qingqing shook her head and sat back.

In order to warm herself by the fire, she did not put the kettle back. Blue flames leaped out of the coal stove. Gu Qingqing stretched out her hand to warm herself by the fire: "He consumes too much sugar. The sugar coupons we have are not enough. Every month someone comes from the south to bring him sugar."

I heard from his brother that it was a man of similar age to him, wearing a military uniform.

Sun Shufen suddenly realized: "It should be a relative of Captain Chu's family..."

The three women chatted for the whole afternoon, and after eating in the cafeteria in the evening, Gu Qingqing hurried back to her room.

She was afraid of the cold, so there was always a charcoal fire in the house, which was bought by her uncle Yu and deducted from Chu Dai's allowance.

At around seven o'clock, the door was pushed open and the cold wind blew in.

There was still a hint of winter chill in Chu Dai's eyes and brows. He leaned aside to close the door, and his eyes fell on the girl warming herself by the fire, and they softened instantly.

"You're back?" Gu Qingqing quickly made him a cup of hot tea and pulled him to sit down by the stove. "The winter in the border town is too cold. Fortunately, we have to go back soon, otherwise we really can't stand it."

Chu Dai took the enamel cup, sat down next to the fire, and held the wall of the cup with his hands. "It won't be cold after a while. Wear something thicker recently. You are not used to it at first, so you may catch a cold easily."

"I know." During this time, Chu Dai used all his cloth coupons to make two sets of cotton shirts for her. Cotton was produced in abundance in this border town, so he didn't find a tailor shop and directly asked Aunt Yu to sew them. The cotton was stuffed tightly and it was warm to wear.

Gu Qingqing sat down next to him, resting her left elbow on his right leg to warm herself by the fire. Glancing at his thin clothes, she said distressedly, "You should do a few too. Aren't you cold?"

"It's not cold. I have a military cotton coat." Chu Dai's hands were warmed by the water cup, and then he held her hand. "Go and say goodbye to the comrades you are familiar with tomorrow. You can only come here to visit relatives in the future."

Gu Qinglie is still here. Logically, he can visit his relatives, but the situation on the island is still unclear, and it is not certain whether it will be troublesome to leave the island.

The closer it got to the end of the year, the more Chu Dai hesitated. Should he really take her to the island? It was okay for them, the masters, to suffer a little. But his wife was the pampered one in the family. Could she really endure it?

Seeing that he was distracted, Gu Qingqing held his hand instead, staring at him with her big, innocent eyes, as if she could see through his thoughts: "I'll follow you wherever you go, don't try to get rid of me!"

"No." Chu Dai came back to his senses, put down the enamel cup in his left hand, pulled her to sit in his arms, clasped her waist with his left hand, and played with her soft hand in his right hand: "I will take you wherever I go."

All hesitation disappeared, and he said firmly.

Gu Qingqing leaned on his shoulder and smiled, smelling the faint smell of tobacco on the man, and said, "Tomorrow I will go and say hello to Commander Guan, Political Commissar Xu, Director Zhang, Uncle Zhu, Uncle Yu, and the brothers in the Corps. I am so grateful for their care during this period. They always think of me when they have something delicious."

Chu Daian listened to her quietly, with a warm look in his eyes.

After talking for a while and seeing that the man didn't respond, Gu Qingqing poked the button on his military uniform with her little hand and asked, "Who is the person who brings you candy from the south every month?"

Chu Dai stretched out her legs and kicked the coal stove a little further away to prevent the sparks from hitting her cotton coat.

"Chu Zhao, we grew up together in the military compound. Usually, he would go directly to the market to hand over the things to Lao Yu and then go back. We never met. I will take you to see him when we return to the Southern Military Region."

"OK."

Gu Qingqing heard from Captain Guan that he grew up with Bai Rong's brother Bai Yan and another boy. That night, she hid in the dark and heard Bai Rong mention Brother Zhao, who should be this Chu Zhao.

Gu Qingqing was so happy that her man was going to take her home to meet his relatives and brothers.

There is a sense of solidity in walking into his life.

The wind was howling outside, but it was quiet inside the house.

After they washed up, Gu Qingqing plugged the air vent of the coal stove with a stopper, and the fire gradually went out.

She changed her clothes and went to bed. The man was already warming the bed under the quilt. When she climbed up, Chu Dai came out from the side and gave her the warm place.

Gu Qingqing quickly crawled into the quilt and slept next to him, her little hands restless in the quilt.

After her exploration over this period of time, she already knew what was irritating her in the morning, and...

The soft and boneless little hand reached along the man's smooth waistline and suddenly grasped it.

Chu Dai's Adam's apple rolled, and he groaned, looking at her sideways with some frustration and helplessness: "It's cold, sister."

Gu Qingqing's eyes were full of innocence: "But I can't sleep if I don't do this."

Chu Dai slowly exhaled a breath of foul air, "I can't sleep with you like this."

"Then you should go to bed later!" Gu Qingqing snorted.

This man said he couldn't sleep, but he closed his eyes at 11 o'clock on the dot and woke up at 5 o'clock in the morning, no matter what.

But it's just past nine o'clock now, and Chu Dai is feeling a little uncomfortable.

Her hands gradually became warm. Gu Qingqing felt the man's soaring body temperature. She smiled and lay on him to keep warm, without any sense of crisis.

Chu Dai was helpless. He held her waist with one hand and tucked the corner of the quilt tightly with the other hand to prevent any air from coming in.

Gu Qingqing lay on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, her eyes half closed, obviously feeling a little sleepy.

"elder brother."

"Um."

"Get up and wake me up tomorrow, otherwise there will be so many people in the corps and I won't have time to greet them all." Gu Qingqing yawned.

Chu Dai also admired her for her good interpersonal skills. She could get along with anyone. After spending a long time with Sun Shufen, she occasionally spoke in the Hanjiagou dialect, which misled the soldiers when she chatted with them.

The troops have always been required to speak Mandarin, and suddenly a soldier blurted out "Oh my god!"

Political Commissar Xu's face turned pale at that time.

The person in his arms rubbed his chin and soon began to breathe deeply.

Chu Dai has a soft jade in his arms. He is also a twenty-year-old man, full of vigor and vitality. She still doesn't restrain herself...

Whenever he threatened that he would not let her go on their wedding night when he returned to Datunzi Village, Gu Qingqing's big black eyes were full of expectation: "Brother, please don't be polite!"

Chu Dai had never felt so exhausted even when he led his troops to fight.

The person in his arms didn't know what she was dreaming about. She was mumbling something, but Chu Dai couldn't hear her even with holding his breath. He lowered his eyes and saw her slightly furrowed brows.

He raised his hand and gently smoothed the space between her brows.

Gu Qingqing didn't know what she dreamed about. She was talking incoherently and her hand around him suddenly tightened.

Chu Dai: “…” He looked up to the sky and sighed.

It took a long time to calm down.

In the morning, four fifty.

Gu Qingqing rubbed her body in his arms again. Her palms felt hard and she slowly opened her eyes.

Her almond-shaped eyes still had the haziness of just waking up.

"Brother?" she called out uncertainly, "Do you want to go to the bathroom?"

Chu Dai felt like he was going to die. He mumbled, “… Yeah.”

Gu Qingqing said "Oh", let go, turned to the side and continued to sleep with the quilt in her arms, mumbling, "Go ahead, don't wake me up."

The words of a certain girl last night were still fresh in my mind. She changed her mind in just one night. Fortunately, Chu Dai was used to it. He quietly lifted the quilt, got dressed, got up and went to the toilet in the backyard.

When he came back, he relit the coal stove in the house and placed two sweet potatoes next to it.

It was already past eight o'clock when Gu Qingqing woke up. She looked at the sky outside, jumped out of bed, and hurried to the backyard to wash up.

The water was too cold in winter and froze her teeth. She quickly brushed her face and ran back into the house, closing the door. The hot air hit her face.

It’s good to have a man.

She sighed with delight.

She picked up the kettle and poured a cup of hot water, then sat in front of the stove holding the enamel cup, the warm light from the flame reflected on her face.

Seeing two sweet potatoes by the stove, she reached out and squeezed them; they were already soft.

Chu Dai calculated that she would not be able to get up to go to the cafeteria for breakfast, so he gave her some food to fill her stomach.

"Hey Qingqing!" Sun Shufen was knocking on the door outside.

She quickly stood up and ran to open the door, stepping aside to let Sun Shufen in.

"Auntie, why are you here? Come in and sit down. It's too cold outside. I just went out to wash my face and almost froze." Gu Qingqing started talking and complaining non-stop.

"I'm bringing you lunch. You didn't go to the cafeteria to eat this morning, so your uncle Yu heated up the food for you and I just happened to bring it over." Sun Shufen carried the aluminum lunch box to the table, and Gu Qingqing quickly moved over with the coal stove.

"I got up late, hehe." Gu Qingqing felt a little embarrassed. She took the chopsticks handed to her by Sun Shufen, and her eyes widened when she saw the braised meat with beans and rice.

"Auntie, what good day is today?!"

"Today is the Little New Year's Day where we are, but yours is tomorrow. I heard that you bought tickets to leave early tomorrow morning, so everyone in the kitchen might as well celebrate the Little New Year together today. We will have dumplings for lunch. Your uncle Yu and the others are already rolling noodles." Sun Shufen sat down at the table and waved her hand to signal her to sit down and eat.