Chapter 151 Routine Exercise
The ringing of the phone was like a sharp needle, piercing the tranquility of the early morning.
Gu Qiuyue's heart skipped a beat, and her fingers unconsciously clenched the curtains. The ringing was particularly harsh in the empty room, ringing one after another without stopping. She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, walked barefoot across the slightly cool concrete floor, and answered the phone.
"Hello?" Her voice trembled slightly.
"Sister-in-law, this is Xiao Liu." The familiar voice of Xie Shiyu's subordinate came from the other end of the line, "Has Deputy Commander Xie set off yet? The division headquarters just called to urge them to leave."
Gu Qiuyue's tense heartstrings relaxed slightly: "He has been gone for about half an hour."
"Okay, okay. I'll bring breakfast over later." Xiao Liu's tone was respectful but hurried, and he hung up the phone without waiting for any further questions.
Hearing the busy tone on the receiver, Gu Qiuyue slowly put down the phone, confirming at least one thing - her husband did have urgent military business.
The morning light filtered through the gaps in the curtains into the house, casting long, thin strips of light on the ground. Gu Qiuyue began to prepare breakfast for the children, but her mind was wandering far away.
When heating milk, I lost my focus and the milky white liquid overflowed from the edge of the pot and splashed all over the stove.
She wiped it hurriedly, but the string in her heart became tighter and tighter.
At seven o'clock sharp, Xiao Liu knocked on the door and brought breakfast: three steamed buns, two side dishes and a small pot of millet porridge. Gu Qiuyue noticed that the little soldier was particularly silent today, his eyes flickering, and he didn't dare to look her in the eye.
"Xiao Liu, is there any urgent task in the division today?" She asked casually, but her hands slowed down in arranging the lunch boxes.
Xiao Liu's Adam's apple rolled, and his voice was tense: "Sister-in-law, I'm just an orderly. I don't know the specific mission. The deputy division commander has ordered that you and the children try not to go out these few days."
This sentence was like a small stone dropped into her heart, creating ripples. Before Gu Qiuyue could ask more, Xiao Liu had already saluted, turned around and left quickly.
After seeing Xiao Liu off, Gu Qiuyue turned around and her eyes fell on the desk. Several military theory books that Xie Shiyu often read were still spread out, with something seeming to be sandwiched in the middle. She walked over and found it was a brown paper file bag with a corner exposed and a red seal with the word "confidential" on it.
Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Xie Shiyu never brought confidential documents home, let alone left them on the desk. Was this an unintentional omission, or was he leaving them there intentionally?
The children's laughter coming from the inner room interrupted her thoughts. Gu Qiuyue quickly stuffed the file bag back into the pile of books, put on a relaxed expression and went to help the two children dress and wash.
After breakfast, Gu Qiuyue sent the children to kindergarten as usual.
Along the way, she noticed that the atmosphere in the garrison was indeed different from usual. There were many more soldiers patrolling than usual, and all of them had serious expressions.
At the kindergarten gate, she ran into the political commissar's wife, Sister Zhou. This Shandong lady, who usually loved to joke around, frowned slightly today. She took Gu Qiuyue's hand and whispered, "Qiuyue, if you have nothing to do these two days, stay home with the children. Lao Zhang didn't come home all night last night. He said..."
Sister Zhou suddenly fell silent, looked around warily, and then lowered her voice: "They say things are not peaceful over there on the border."
After saying that, he immediately changed his tone to a bright one, "Oh, look at my memory. I still have to go to the service center to buy some things. You go ahead and get busy!"
Gu Qiuyue stood there, watching Sister Zhou's hurried departure, her heart churning. The word "border" hit her like a hammer, and she suddenly remembered that three months ago, Xie Shiyu had gone to the border for a week under the pretext of conducting research. He had returned, looking much darker and thinner, but he hadn't mentioned a word about his trip.
Arriving at school, Gu Qiuyue was restless all morning, frequently saying the wrong things during lectures and making two mistakes on the blackboard. During break, the guard brought a letter from the publishing house.
She opened the letter and her brows furrowed. The publisher said in the letter that the publication of her translation, Modern Military Logistics, would be delayed due to "sensitive content" and that the specific time would be announced later. This made her even more convinced that something big was happening.
When picking up her child from school, Gu Qiuyue discovered that the kindergarten's security had been significantly strengthened. Not only were there two more armed sentries, but there were also two military officers she didn't recognize patrolling the scene, carefully checking the identity of every parent who came to pick up their child.
On the way home, she saw several military vehicles driving out of the base from afar. The dust they raised glowed golden red in the setting sun. The direction was the same as the one Xie Shiyu left in the morning.
After dinner, after putting the two children to bed, Gu Qiuyue sat alone at the desk. The desk lamp cast a warm glow, but she felt cold all over.
Taking out her diary, she flipped through the pages, trying to find clues from past records.
The page from three months ago read: "Shi Yu has returned from a business trip. He has lost a lot of weight and often wakes up in the middle of the night. When asked about his itinerary, he simply said it was routine research. But there was unconcealable fatigue in his eyes, so it must be more than just research."
Closing the diary, Gu Qiuyue took a deep breath.
She couldn't let her imagination run wild any longer, so she spread out the manuscript paper and began to write the novel for which she had already made an outline. It had nothing to do with the situation or politics, it was just an ordinary person's coming-of-age story.
The pen tip rustled on the paper and thoughts flowed like a spring. At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door outside the yard.
Gu Qiuyue was startled, and the pen left a long mark on the paper. She walked to the gate of the courtyard, carefully opened it a crack, and saw two unfamiliar soldiers standing outside the door. The logo on the armband showed that they were from the division headquarters. She had seen one of the young officers at the division headquarters commendation meeting.
"Excuse me, are you Comrade Gu Qiuyue, Deputy Division Commander Xie's wife?" the older officer asked in a serious but polite tone.
"Yes." Gu Qiuyue nodded slightly, "What can I do for you?"
The two officers exchanged glances, and the older one pulled an envelope from his briefcase. "This is for you from the deputy division commander."
Gu Qiuyue took the envelope, which contained only a thin piece of letter paper.
After seeing off the two officers, Gu Qiuyue couldn't wait to open the envelope. Inside was indeed a hastily written note from Xie Shiyu: "Qiuyue: I left suddenly this time to participate in the annual routine exercise. I expect to be back in three days. Don't worry, everything is fine. Shiyu will be here today..."
The handwriting was illegible, clearly written in a hurry. Gu Qiuyue's fingers trembled slightly. Was it necessary to rush through a routine exercise? Even if Huahua and Shuangshuang were told this, they wouldn't believe it!
At this moment, the sound of a car slowly stopping suddenly came from outside the yard. Her heart skipped a beat and she subconsciously turned off the desk lamp. She walked quietly to the gate of the yard in the moonlight and looked out through the crack in the door.
A military jeep stopped quietly at the entrance of the alley. The door opened and a familiar figure jumped out of the car nimbly.
But he was accompanied by two middle-aged men in plain clothes. They had a calm demeanor and an indescribable majesty in their steps. It was obvious that they were not ordinary soldiers.
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