"Dad is back!"

Lin Wei had just taken the fried clams and cockles out of the pot when she saw Mingming running in and calling out. She nodded and said, "Go wash your hands and get ready for dinner."

When not going out to sea, Zong Shao's daily schedule was relatively fixed. He went to the camp around 5:30 in the morning, had lunch in the army, and left the camp around 6 in the evening. He walked quickly and could get home in about ten minutes.

After getting used to his schedule, Lin Wei became more confident when cooking. Basically, she could start eating as soon as he got home.

Because they bought a lot of seafood today, dinner looked quite sumptuous. Lin Wei used all the plates at home and filled up most of the table.

But the plate looks like a lot, but in reality there are only a few kinds of seafood, and the quantity is not large.

She only bought two crabs, which are big and heavy. If she bought more, Lin Wei wouldn't have enough seafood tickets. I bought a small pound of sea shrimps, weighing them together with prawns, hair shrimps and mantis shrimps. Since they are not big, they don't look a lot.

Then there are various shellfish, such as clams, razor clams, and cockles, which are also mixed and weighed, and the amount is almost one pound. I bought four more oysters, and all together, it weighed almost four pounds.

Although there were not many varieties, Lin Wei divided them into two ways of cooking. One part of the shellfish and shrimps were fried in oil and put on two plates, one crab was steamed, and then added with garlic oysters, which took up two more plates.

As for the remaining crab, it was marinated together with shrimps and shellfish and put on another plate.

After all, it was a meal, so they had to stir-fry some vegetables. Seaweed was cheap and tasted good, so Lin Wei mixed another plate. All in all, it would take up half the table.

After the family sat down, Lin Wei slightly adjusted the placement of the plates, moved the raw and marinated food in front of herself and Zong Shao, and put wine in it.

Zong Shao followed her movements and looked at the bowl: "What is this?"

"Raw marinated seafood is raw seafood marinated with white wine, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and other seasonings," Lin Wei briefly introduced it and asked, "Have you ever eaten it before?"

Zong Shao shook his head: "No."

"Then you try it. I tasted it after it was marinated and the meat is quite tender." Lin Wei said as she picked up a prawn and put it in his bowl.

Mingming next to him saw it and immediately said, "Mom, where's mine?"

"There's wine in it, you kids can't eat it," she said as she picked up two prawns and gave them to the brothers, but this time she picked up the ones that had been fried in oil.

Although he was a little disappointed, he still picked up the shrimps in the bowl and started eating.

While the mother and son were talking, Zong Shao had already finished eating the prawns that Lin Wei had brought. They tasted really good, with the meat being a little more elastic than those that were stir-fried or steamed, and they were tender and fresh with a hint of sweetness, and the smell of alcohol was not very strong.

Zong Shao picked up another crab leg and cut it open with scissors while asking, "Why did you suddenly think of this way of eating it?"

"I just came from Shicheng. I haven't eaten much seafood before. I learned how to steam fish and make garlic oysters from the supply station. But I think although steamed seafood tastes good, I can't always eat it this way. The staff at the supply station have a lot of things to do. It's good enough that they can teach me a recipe. I can't always catch them asking questions, right? It will delay their work, right?"

Zong Shao peeled the crab legs, picked out the crab meat with chopsticks, put it in Lin Wei's bowl, and asked naturally: "Well, what next?"

"Then..." Lin Wei looked at the crab meat in the bowl, then saw Zong Shao pick up another crab leg and cut it with scissors. She said distractedly, "Just eat your own, don't worry about me."

Zong Shao hummed and continued to ask, "You haven't told me who you learned how to marinate seafood."

Lin Wei ate the sweet crab legs and continued, "When I came back, I happened to see Sister Deng sitting in the yard. I asked her about it because she had fried clams yesterday. Then we talked about raw marinated seafood. Sister Deng's hometown is by the sea, and this is their local specialty."

Precisely because it is so unique, people from other places may not be used to it, so Deng Xiangyun just mentioned it casually and had no intention of telling the recipe.

But Lin Wei was very enthusiastic about developing new dishes, so she immediately added raw pickled vegetables to tonight's menu. She asked Deng Xiangyun for detailed instructions and even asked her for some guidance during the process.

It turns out that both the couple can accept this dish.

Obviously, the Ruirui brothers also looked very greedy, but Lin Wei was watching them closely, so they could only sigh at the raw and pickled food, and then eat other things.

"So that's how it is." Zong Shao suddenly realized, "By the way, Lao Zhou told me something today."

Lin Wei asked while eating: "What's the matter?"

"The job at the hospital was arranged by the Military Dependents Placement Office for his wife."

Seeing Zong Shao's serious expression, Lin Wei thought he would tell her something very important, but it turned out to be just this... She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I already know about this."

"How do you know that?"

"I heard from Sister Chen and Sister Liu when I went to get my household registration this morning." Lin Wei looked up at the yard opposite and lowered her voice, "Not only did they tell me about this, they also told me who complained."

Zong Shao asked, "Is she the wife of Deputy Headmaster Zhao?"

Lin Wei looked surprised: "How did you know?"

"When you were talking just now, you looked over there." Zong Shao thought for a moment and asked, "Did she hear your conversation with Comrade Liu that night?"

Lin Wei: “…” As expected of a soldier, he always guesses right.

Just by looking at Lin Wei's expression, Zong Shao knew that he had guessed correctly. His eyebrows gradually furrowed and he said in a deep voice, "I'll talk to Zhao Feng again."

"How do you talk to him? Ask him why Gao Xiulian complained about me behind my back? Or ask him to give me a job?" Before Zong Shao could speak, Lin Wei said, "For the first case, Gao Xiulian's behavior was not righteous, but if you want to say she was wrong, that's not the case. If things really get out of hand, I will be wrong even if I am right. For the second case, if Deputy Captain Zhao could give me a job, would Gao Xiulian still have to complain about me behind my back with red eyes?"

Zong Shao certainly understood the truth, but he couldn't help feeling aggrieved when he thought about it, and said in a low voice: "When I chose the house, I shouldn't have only looked at the location." Now it seems that the character of the neighbor is much more important than the geographical location.

Lin Wei comforted him, saying, "We haven't really dealt with each other, so who knows what kind of person our neighbors are. Anyway, I like our house very much. Every morning when I open the window and see the sea outside, I feel a lot brighter." As for neighbors who you don't get along with, it's better to have less dealings with them in the future.

Zong Shao smiled: "You are quite open-minded."

"What's there to worry about? A happy day is a day, and a sad day is a day. Why ruin your mood for someone who has nothing to do with you?"

It is not always harmonious for neighbors to get along with each other. When Lin Wei lived in the cotton mill’s staff quarters, she often quarreled with others over trivial matters. She is young and thin-skinned, so she can't say anything that is too unpleasant to the ear. She always loses when arguing with others, and sometimes she gets so angry that she has no appetite.

If Lin Wei had been tricked by Gao Xiu Lian at that time, she would not have been able to swallow her anger so easily, not to mention running away to have a fight with the other person.

After confirming that the original work was true, Lin Wei thought about many things and learned to look at problems from another perspective.

Lin Wei said, "She went to complain for two reasons. One is that she wanted my job, but you saw the result. I lost my job, but it wasn't her turn to take it. The second reason was revenge. If she was really so petty, she would not want to see me living a good life. If I was worried about this matter, wouldn't that be exactly what she wanted? Otherwise, I would be happy, and who would be the one suffering?"

For Lin Wei now, nothing matters except life and death.

Instead of spending time arguing with Gao Xiu Lian, it is better to spend this time with your family.

Zong Shao was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "You've changed a lot since we met."

Lin Wei's heart skipped a beat, and she almost thought he had seen through her.

After confirming the authenticity of the dream, she was conflicted and hesitated whether to tell Zong Shao about it. It is said that three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang. He has a good brain and might be able to come up with a better way out of the situation.

But she was also a little worried because it was too bizarre.

Think about it from another perspective. If Zong Shao suddenly told her that this world is a book, she would probably ask directly, "Are you okay?" and suspect that there was something wrong with his brain.

Even if Zong Shao chose to believe her, what was the point of her saying this now?

She didn't die of illness, but of an accident, and her death is still more than a year and a month away. Telling him now will only add to the panic of their family, and no one will have a good life in the next year or so.

Thinking of this, Lin Wei smiled and said, "People always change. For example, Mingming used to cry easily, but now he doesn't cry that much. And Ruirui used to be lazy and didn't like to talk, but now he is willing to play with other children."

After hearing his mother's words, Mingming straightened his chest and said proudly, "I have grown up and become a man. I shed blood but not tears."

Rui Rui also said, "I have become a man, but I still cry when I bleed." Then he looked at Zong Shao and said suggestively, "Dad, I want to eat big crabs too."

Zong Shao paused in peeling the crab leg meat and reached out to pick a crab leg from the steamed crab and gave it to him.

But Ruirui didn't take the crab legs. She stretched out her two hands, which were shiny with oil from eating shrimp, and said confidently, "I don't know how to peel them."

Lin Wei was used to taking care of children. She reached out to take the crab leg from Zong Shao's hand and peel the crab meat. But before she touched the crab shell, Zong Shao blocked her hand and said, "I'll do it."

Mingming, who was biting the crab shell with great effort, rolled his eyes and cried out, covering his mouth and saying, "The shell is so hard."

Zong Shao had already quickly peeled the crab leg meat for Ruirui. Before Lin Wei could do so, he took the half-bitten crab leg from Mingming and said as he peeled it, "I'll peel it for them, and you eat yours."

After that, he handed the peeled crab meat to Ruirui. Mingming saw it and yelled again: "Dad, I want to eat crabs again!"

So continue peeling.

When Lin Wei saw this, she said, "Don't spoil them. Eat your fill first."

"One last one for each person. We can talk about the rest after I finish my meal." Zong Shao said, turning his head to look at Lin Wei. "By the way, Lao Zhou told me something today."

Lin Wei chewed the clam meat and asked, "What's the matter?"

"After his wife goes to work, there's no one to take care of the child. I want to ask if you're willing to help take care of the child. She takes care of her own meals. You just need to help look after the child in the morning and afternoon. Five dollars a month."

"You agree?"

"No, you just told me yesterday that the job was cancelled, but he came to me today and told me that his wife had secured a job at the hospital. I felt like there was something fishy going on, so I passed the matter on."

Although he didn't think it was Deng Xiangyun who made the complaint, as things had gotten to this point and he didn't know what Lin Wei was thinking, he didn't agree immediately. He thought about coming back and explaining the situation to Lin Wei first to see what she thought.

Zong Shao said, "If you think it's troublesome and you don't want to take him, I'll go tell him tomorrow and reject this matter."

Lin Wei shook her head and said, "Of course I can take care of him. Anyway, Xiao Shitou is a very sensible child and plays well with Mingming and Ruirui. But forget about the money. I don't have to worry about Xiao Shitou's three meals a day. I can just think of Mingming and Ruirui as having two more long-term playmates."

She had inquired and found out that military wives working in the family quarters could hire someone to take care of their children for only five or six yuan a month, and the mothers would usually provide lunch for the children. Although the tickets are provided by the parents, they are the ones who pay for the food and they just make the difference as their hard work fee.

For military wives who help take care of the children, the most stressful task every day is cooking. As for other things, they don’t have to worry much about them.

Children aged three or four, or four or five, can basically run and jump. Nowadays, even their mothers will not restrict their children too much. They can let them go wherever they want when they have nothing to do, and just go find someone to eat with.

The military wives who help look after the children only need to pay attention to whether the children play dangerous games, go to the water, and watch them when they go to the toilet. There is no need to watch over them all the time. Therefore, those military wives in the family quarters who want to earn more money usually have seven or eight children.

Lin Wei also raised her children in this way. At most, because they had just arrived on the island and their home was by the sea, she kept a close eye on the children and basically did not let them out of her sight.

But when taking care of the children, she can also do her own things, such as sewing curtains or farming, without delaying anything.

Because it wouldn't be a hassle, Lin Wei didn't want to take Deng Xiangyun's money.

It's free, she takes care of Xiao Shitou just to help, and she can feel more at ease when taking care of the child. On the contrary, if you get paid, it's a job.

People always have two sets of standards for people who help and people who work for them. If the person who helps does 50% of the work, he will be thanked, but if the person who works for them does 100% of the work, that is also what they deserve.

Otherwise, how could there be the concept of office workers decades later?

Now that it has become a job, she will inevitably feel restrained when dealing with Xiao Shitou. It would be better if she doesn't ask for money. This way, if the children get along well, she can help look after them, and if not, they can just break up.

"But with three children, won't you be too busy?"

"I'll tell them when I'm too busy." If she's really too busy, she will definitely take care of her own children first.

Zong Shao hesitated for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll discuss this with him tomorrow."

…

Zong Shao was going to talk to Zhou Jianhai about this tomorrow, but right after dinner, he came over with Xiao Shitou, saying that his son wanted to play with his two brothers, so his wife asked him to come over.

But when the three children were playing together and Lin Wei found an excuse to follow them, Zhou Jianhai told Zong Shao the main purpose of his visit: "During dinner, I told my wife about Comrade Lin."

As soon as Zhou Jianhai started talking, Zong Shao knew what he was going to say and said directly: "I just talked about this with Weiwei, and she already knows what happened." He explained the situation concisely.

Zhou Jianhai and Zong Shao were in the same battalion, he was the battalion instructor and Zong Shao was the deputy battalion commander. They saw each other every day and their relationship was deeper than that of ordinary comrades-in-arms.

He really didn't want this incident to cause any misunderstanding and affect their relationship of so many years, so after returning home he asked his wife in detail what happened. After making sure that she really didn't know the reason, he came to Zong Shao to explain it clearly.

Now that the truth had been revealed, Zhou Jianhai was relieved. However, he was also somewhat puzzled. He lowered his voice and asked, "Why did Gao Xiulian suddenly complain behind my back?"

“I don’t know the old story.” Zong Shao shook his head and said.

Zhou Jianhai asked again: "Does Zhao Feng know about this?"

"I don't know. I just found out about it tonight, and I didn't run into him today."

Zong Shao shook his head and looked at Lin Wei, who was playing with three children in the sand not far away. He said in a low voice, "I'll take some time out in the next two days to talk to Zhao Feng about this matter and see how he reacts."

If Zhao Feng didn't know about this, they could still save some face. On the contrary, if Zhao Feng knew about this, they would not show mercy to him if they met him in the future.

Zhou Jianhai understood what Zong Shao meant and nodded, saying, "Ask first. By the way, have you mentioned this to your sister-in-law about taking care of Xiao Shitou?"

"Yes, she agreed to help look after the little stone."

Zhou Jianhai asked in surprise: "Really? I said your sister-in-law is a generous person. Before I came, your sister-in-law was very worried and asked me not to mention this matter. I am smart..."

Even Zong Shao was such a calm person, but after hearing Zhou Jianhai's boasting, he couldn't help but be speechless and interrupted him, saying, "Weiwei said that since you guys are responsible for the three meals a day, then you can just treat it as Mingming Ruirui and the others having a new playmate, so you don't have to pay. But I have to say one thing in advance, Xiao Shitou doesn't get any special treatment in our family, and when the kids quarrel, Weiwei won't take his side."

"I understand." Zhou Jianhai had not thought about any special treatment. What he was hesitating about was, "We asked my sister-in-law to help take care of the child. Wouldn't it be bad if we didn't pay her?"

"If Weiwei takes the money, she will feel burdened, and she may not be able to help take care of the children for long. If a position becomes vacant, she will definitely go to work if it's suitable." Zong Shao thought it would be better to make things clear.

Zhou Jianhai and Deng Xiangyun hadn't thought about how long Lin Wei could help take care of the child. They just wanted to ask her for help as they couldn't find anyone they could trust for the time being. Hearing this, she smiled and said, "I understand. Xiangyun and I were thinking of taking advantage of this time to find out who in the family area is more reliable to take care of the child. When my brother and sister-in-law go to work, we can send the child to one of them."

Zhou Jianhai laughed again as he spoke: "I'm talking to you, you call me Weiweiwei in a very affectionate way, right?"

Zong Shao uttered "Oh" and said calmly, "We have a very good relationship."

Zhou Jianhai:?

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Second update at 6pm.

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