“I came back last night,” he said, gently stroking Shen Fenghua’s messy hair, his tone slightly indulgent. “You were sleeping soundly then, and I didn’t want to wake you, so I just lay down next to you and slept for a while.”
Shen Fenghua was overjoyed, "Why didn't you call me?"
"Didn't I already say I couldn't bear to part with it!"
Qi Ye tightened his grip on Shen Fenghua, his hand sliding down her waist and onto her stomach. "Don't move, let me touch my precious daughter."
"Daughter?"
Shen Fenghua wanted to laugh. His daughter was not even three months old yet, barely the size of an egg. What could he possibly find by touching her?
"Hmm," Qi Ye glanced at Shen Fenghua, "You don't dislike your daughter, do you?"
Shen Fenghua frowned. "What, are you saying that you won't like me if I give birth to a son?"
Qi Ye was stunned. Did what he just said have this meaning?
"Say something." Seeing that Qi Ye didn't move, Shen Fenghua pushed Qi Ye. "What's wrong? Are you feeling guilty because I said that?"
"Not really. I think both my son and daughter are great, but look, we already have two boys. If we have another boy, wouldn't they team up and tear the house down?"
Given Shen Fenghua's physical condition, it's a blessing from heaven that she can have a child of her own in this lifetime; there's no need to expect anything more.
But whether it's a boy or a girl can't be decided by the two of them arguing now.
After figuring it out, the two looked at each other and laughed.
Shen Fenghua: "Alright, I'm not going to waste my breath arguing with you. How was your trip back?"
“The harvest is huge,” Qi Ye said with a smile. “For our family, I got two pig legs, a piece of lean meat, and more than five pounds of fat. Grandma said she’ll render it after you wake up, and then our whole family will eat pork cracklings.”
"so much?"
Shen Fenghua was somewhat incredulous, "This is too outrageous."
"What's the big deal? Your man also hunted a roe deer, but he didn't kill it. The brigade leader took it back and found a place to keep it."
There's plenty of meat now, and it would be such a waste to eat it all at once. It's better to feed it some tender grass first, and then slaughter it for meat when the lean season comes.
"Oh, by the way, I also brought back a baby hen, intending to leave it for you to nourish your body."
"You..."
Shen Fenghua sat up, hugged his slightly stubble-covered face, and kissed him three times. Her eyes were bright as she exclaimed, "My God, you're amazing!"
Shen Fenghua showered Qi Ye with compliments as if they were free, making Qi Ye feel like he was about to ascend to heaven.
Grandma was outside and heard them talking. She wanted to laugh too. This naughty girl was saying nice things again, and she was being coaxed into thinking she was all over the place.
At noon, they started rendering lard. As for the remaining pork, Grandma was in a dilemma. It was impossible to eat it all, but she could sell it. The family wasn't short of money.
Qi Ye remained calm. "Let's just pickle it and make it into salted meat. Let's just waste it for now. I'll think of another way later."
Shen Fenghua also felt it was a pity, muttering, "It would be nice if there was ice."
Qi Ye laughed. In this late summer and early autumn, even if there was ice, it would have all melted away. Therefore, he didn't respond to Shen Fenghua's foolish words.
Shen Fenghua herself started to think about it. She didn't like pickled salted meat; it tasted too salty.
But there really is no other way but to do it this way.
In the late afternoon, Li Yanran hurriedly arrived at the Shen family. Upon seeing Li Yanran, Shen Fenghua initially smiled and asked, "How was it, Sister Yanran? Did Brother He bring back quite a few things?"
Li Yanran looked at the innocent Shen Fenghua and didn't know what to say. "Oh my, my little darling, this is not a matter of eating meat or not."
"What's wrong?" Seeing Li Yanran's serious expression, Shen Fenghua instantly wiped the smile off his face. "Did something happen?"
Li Yanran had run all the way here without even having a sip of water. Seeing that Li Yanran's lips were dry and chapped, her grandmother quickly poured her a bowl of cool boiled water and handed it to her. Li Yanran gulped it down before taking a deep breath.
"It's not just an accident, it's a major accident, an absolutely huge accident."
Shen Fenghua: "What?"
“We’ve had a missing person at our factory. A while ago, there was a guy named Li who worked in another department. He was working overtime until 7:30 last night. After he left the steel plant through the gate, he just vanished into thin air. We can’t find him anywhere.”
Can't find anyone?
For some reason, upon hearing this news, after extracting the key words, two words immediately popped into Shen Fenghua's mind.
kidnapper.
She was still shaken. "Was it a misunderstanding?"
"No, Xiao Li's family called the police yesterday. This morning, the news spread throughout the factory. The security guard who spoke to Xiao Li yesterday was also called in for questioning. It was confirmed that Xiao Li didn't run away. He just rushed home for dinner after work."
Li Yanran sighed, "Who knew that we would have an accident on the way home?"
“It wasn’t an accident,” Shen Fenghua thought of Wang Xingda again, her eyes filled with complex emotions. “It might not have been an accident at all; it might have been a kidnapping.”
"You mean, human traffickers?" Li Yanran was taken aback. Looking at Shen Fenghua's serious face, she felt a little uneasy. "That can't be right. It's pretty peaceful here."
"Sister, it's hard to say. Do you still remember Shen Huixiu?"
How could I not remember that? Shen Fenghua said softly, "She might have been abducted, otherwise, there wouldn't have been no news for so long."
This caused Li Yanran to fall silent as well.
"Then, what do we do now?"
Shen Fenghua didn't know that all they could do was make sure they weren't alone at night and didn't give unscrupulous people an opportunity to take advantage of them.
Li Yanran had originally intended to give Xu Fenghua a heads-up, but who would have thought it would end like this? Her heart was in turmoil. "Should we still tell the factory manager about this?"
"It definitely needs to be said; at the very least, overtime work must not happen again."
Speaking of this, Li Yanran couldn't help but complain, "This child is too honest. If she can't finish it, she should just leave it for tomorrow. She has to waste her own time. Now, by some twist of fate, she has created a huge mess."
Shen Fenghua wanted to invite her to stay for dinner, but Li Yanran had no appetite and left in a hurry.
Grandma watched Li Yanran's retreating figure with some worry, "Fenghua, I'll go pick the child up from school later."
Before Shen Fenghua could refuse, Qi Ye spoke up, "Grandma, let me go. I'm young and strong, so it's safe for me. Even if someone is targeting our child, they'll have to think twice about whether they're tough enough."
That makes sense, then let him go.
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