When Uncle Zhou learned that Zhou Yi's father had half a jin of Yunwu tea, he decided not to leave that night.

If you don't give him tea, he'll stay at the old house and refuse to leave.

Zhou Yi's father was filled with regret, secretly cursing his eldest son, yet also relieved that his beloved treasure was hidden on the rooftop balcony and hadn't been discovered by his older brother.

The family had a big dinner together that evening. Chen Hong and her sister-in-law prepared a large table of dishes. After eating and drinking their fill, Uncle Zhou took three ounces of tea leaves from Zhou Yi's father and went home satisfied.

Fearing that the elderly couple might cause trouble again that night, Chen Hong also arranged for Yu Yang to stay overnight.

Nothing happened that night. The next day, Chen Hong went back to Houhai to tidy up and then hid in her family compound.

School started, and Chen Hong took the child to school in the military vehicle to meet the teacher, complete the enrollment procedures, and visit the environment where Yu Yang would be studying and living.

The children in the military don't go home for lunch; they eat lunch at school and also take a nap there.

After school in the afternoon, they would be taken home to their family compound in a special vehicle provided by the military.

In other words, the children were gone for the whole day, leaving Chen Hong alone at home at noon.

For the first week, Chen Hong would send her child off every day and then stay home tending to her flowers and plants.

The house wasn't very big, but after she came in and out several times, pretending to carry flower pots home, she filled the bedroom, living room, and balcony with them.

The curtains in the house were also changed, and Chen Hong bought the materials herself to re-lay the wooden floor, and even put linoleum on the kitchen floor.

Seeing the dramatic transformation of her home, Chen Hong felt a great sense of accomplishment! Look, she finally lived up to the reputation of being a carpenter's daughter; her carpentry skills are quite good too!

With little work to do in the corners, Chen Hong became very bored. Watching the soldiers go to morning exercises from the window became her daily habit.

Just when she was getting bored out of her mind, Zhou Yi finally came home.

After spending the weekend at home, the couple took Yu Yang to visit a music teacher, after which Yu Yang began learning other musical instruments.

This teacher is a retired professor from the music academy, and has expertise in both Western and Chinese classical musical instruments.

He is particularly skilled at the piano and violin, and Yu Yang will focus on these two instruments in the next few years.

This teacher rarely accepted disciples anymore, and Zhou Yi had to use his uncle's connections to persuade him to accept Yu Yang as a student.

On their first visit, Chen Hong and his wife brought generous gifts: two 2-jin bottles of honey from their space, two half-jin boxes of sea cucumbers, two ginseng roots from their space, and two bottles of Moutai liquor.

In addition, Chen Hong also prepared a gift box filled with red dates, longan, lotus seeds, red beans, celery and meat for the apprenticeship ceremony.

Seeing how polite the family was, Teacher Dong was very happy. He even asked his wife to order a table of dishes and invited the family of three to stay for lunch.

During the conversation, Chen Hong learned that Professor Dong's son had also served in the military, but retired after the military was downsized in 1997 and transferred to civilian work.

This is a regret for their family!

Upon meeting Zhou Yi, an active-duty soldier, Professor Dong enjoyed a hearty lunch, drinking half a jin of baijiu by himself.

After lunch, Professor Dong was quite tipsy, and Chen Hong and her family said goodbye early.

After they left, it was evening when Madam Dong discovered a large red envelope inside the apprenticeship gift box. Upon opening it, she found 20,000 yuan inside.

"Old Dong, this family is really generous. Not only did they give a very sincere gift for the apprenticeship ceremony, but they also gave us a red envelope with 20,000 yuan."

You know, this is a lot of money, we can't accept it!

Professor Dong looked at each gift and nodded, saying, "This family is nice, and they were introduced by a friend. Don't return them."

There's no point in passing the buck. Let's wait until the child comes to study, then treat him well and treat him like our own child.

Oh, by the way, I have a violin I brought back from France. It's a nice handmade instrument that I found at a flea market. I'll give it to my son when he comes so he can practice with it.

The next day was Sunday, and Zhou Yi sent Yu Yang to Professor Dong's house early in the morning.

From then on, Yu Yang had a true mentor, and he studied under Professor Dong for ten years.

By the time he turned eighteen, he was proficient in playing various Western musical instruments, and he also learned many classical Chinese musical instruments.

What's even more gratifying is that Professor Dong led him into the Beijing music scene, where he made many connections.

After arranging his child's studies and spending two nights at home, Zhou Yi left home again at the crack of dawn on Monday morning.

This time, he told Chen Hong about the schedule. Their unit had officially entered the period of selection for military regions across the country, and various exercises would follow one after another. He would be too busy to go home again.

After seeing her son off to school, Chen Hong finished washing the clothes and sat alone in the living room, lost in thought.

Alas! She hadn't expected that there wouldn't be much difference between accompanying the military and not accompanying them; she would still have to live alone in her empty house, quietly waiting as a military wife.

Chen Hong bought an electric bicycle, which will make it more convenient for her to take the subway and buses in the future.

After leaving the residential compound, she can easily and quickly ride an electric bike to the subway or bus station, saving her a lot of time.

She could spend most of the day at Houhai, tidying up the yard, planting vegetables, tending to flowers and plants in her space, picking fruit, and harvesting crops in secret.

Every day she can take some fruits, grains, seafood, poultry and eggs home from the space.

When other family members encountered this, they simply assumed that she had bought it outside or brought it back from her husband's family.

There weren't many people living in the family compound of Zhou Yi's troops. Due to some special reasons, apart from a dozen or so direct superiors, the rest of his comrades were basically all single.

Their soldiers have a high attrition rate; every year, many retire or change careers due to injuries, and of course, some are killed in action.

Zhou Yi never told Chen Hong about these things, but Chen Hong could always sense when he was feeling down. She didn't know how to comfort him, so she could only stay by his side and try her best to help him recover.

All she wanted was for him to come back safely every time he went out; she couldn't care less about anything else.

Zhou Yi probably knew that his wife had guessed the nature of his work, which he understood from her habit of bringing him large quantities of honey, sea cucumbers, and dried fruit to the military base.

The couple understood each other without saying a word, and although they spent little time together, their relationship only grew stronger!

In 2008, Chen Hong only had shares of Kweichow Moutai left; she had sold all her other stocks long ago.

She currently has over 3 billion yuan in cash, which has been deposited in more than a dozen banks.

In October, Chen Hong bought three more family cars. She knew that if she didn't buy them soon, the purchase restrictions would apply after 2010, so she acted quickly.

Among them were a BMW, a Porsche Cayenne, and a Volkswagen with letters on it.

Chen Hong also found things to do on her own, learning flower arranging, tea ceremony, and ballroom dancing.

She also frequently took her younger sister, Xiaoyun, to beauty salons and fitness centers, experiencing many fashion-related fields that she had never been exposed to before.

Chen Hong herself hasn't changed much, except that she's improved her taste in clothing. The biggest change is in her younger sister, Xiao Yun, who has learned to do makeup and dress up, and now frequently goes to the gym and beauty salons.

Now, she's become much more confident and poised. Walking down the street, dressed in high-end fashion, she exudes an aura of confidence and presence.