This sounds quite like the dialect from her hometown.
However, Li Xia knew that the dialects in some places were quite similar, and she couldn't conclude that the child was from a certain place just because of one sentence in the dialect. She had to ask more.
"Little boy, do you still remember what was the most common dish you ate at home when you were there?" Li Xia asked.
The child shook his head timidly. At his mother's signal, An An walked over and said, "Little brother, don't be nervous or afraid. We are all good people."
Li Xia opened the bag they carried with them to store their food, took out a piece of peach cake and handed it to them: "Are you hungry? Eat something to fill your stomach first."
The child saw the chili sauce in the bag, his eyes lit up, and he volunteered, "Spicy! The food at home is always spicy."
He always thought the food at home was very spicy, but now he actually began to miss that spicy taste.
Li Xia saw someone in the carriage brought steamed buns, so he asked the person for one and spread the hot sauce they brought on the bun.
When I saw the child taking the steamed bun with hot sauce and eating it with relish and not feeling it spicy at all, I knew what was going on.
"This child is probably from Sichuan or Hunan. I'm from Xiangcheng, Hunan. We call 'eating' 'seven meals' in my hometown. People in Sichuan and Hunan generally eat spicy food, so this child can eat spicy food. If it were another child who doesn't eat spicy food, he wouldn't be able to eat the steamed bun dipped in hot sauce even if he was very hungry."
Everyone thought what Li Xia said made sense, and the old conductor gave up his seat to let Li Xia ask the child.
After Li Xia asked the child a few more questions, she confirmed that the child was from Hunan, and from near the south.
The location becomes smaller and smaller. Even if the child cannot give a more specific location, it is still much easier to find it than looking for a needle in a haystack at the beginning.
The old conductor nodded to Li Xia with satisfaction and said, "You are really good, female comrade! You have a very flexible mind!"
If she wasn't just a passenger, he would have wanted her to take over his job. At least she was smarter than the apprentice he had now.
The 'not so smart disciple' felt the master's disdain and scratched the back of his head embarrassedly: "Hehe..."
…
Gu Weicheng greeted the troops in advance, and when they got off the train, Xiao Li drove to pick them up.
When An An saw Xiao Li, she took out some candy from her pocket and handed it to him: "Uncle Xiao Li, I'll treat you to some candy! My aunt works in a sugar factory, and the candy they make is delicious."
I still remember when Li Xia first brought An An to join the army last year, the little guy was a little timid and was a little shy when he saw Xiao Li. It was Xiao Li who gave him candy.
Now, in less than a year, his personality has become much more cheerful, and he even takes the initiative to give candy to Xiao Li!
Xiao Li touched the back of his head and chuckled. He did not reject An An's kindness and accepted the candy. He also took out the candy he had prepared for An An: "Thank you, An An. Uncle also prepared candy for you."
"Thank you, uncle. This is called reciprocity." An An also smiled.
On the other side, at the home of Captain Ma in the family compound, Ma Aidang cried rhythmically.
"I have clearly written all this. Why should I write it again? I won't write it!" Ma Aidang cried and howled.
He felt sad when looking at these homework assignments.
After returning to his hometown, he didn't want to do his winter homework at all without An An's supervision. When he saw the sheep in the sheepfold, he thought he had come up with a great idea, so he secretly instructed his youngest cousin to feed his winter homework to the sheep.
He thought that he would not have to do winter vacation homework and had a carefree time during the entire winter vacation in his hometown. However, just a few days ago when he returned to the army, his father, Captain Ma, went to the primary school of the agency to find the teacher, got a new set of homework, and asked him to start from the beginning.
Ma Aidang felt like the sky was falling at that time.
Mrs. Tao held a broom in her hand and warned: "Ma Aidang, you dare not write it! The New Year is over. This is the army, not your hometown. Your grandparents are not here to protect you. I will beat you if I want to!"
After hearing his mother's threat, Ma Aidang howled even more sadly, and shouted, "I want to eat mutton tonight, the mutton I brought from my hometown!"
Blame it on the sheep for eating his homework! He wants to eat it back!
The military vehicle stopped at the door of the house. Ji Feng jumped out of the car first. Gu Weicheng helped Li Xia get out of the car, and then they heard Ma Aidang's wailing and Tao Saozi's scolding.
I haven't heard Sister Tao's voice for more than 20 days, so I felt very familiar when I heard it again. She and An An looked at each other, and both mother and son couldn't help laughing.
An An said, "Mom, I want to go see the Ai Dang."
"Go ahead, after mom and dad have cleaned up the house, come over too." Li Xia said.
She hasn't seen Sister Tao for such a long time and she misses her too.
Sleeper berths are better than hard seats and are not crowded. Gu Weicheng also brought hot water for them to wash on the train, so their train rides were fine both times. An An didn't look old and could meet people directly.
Gu Weicheng glanced at her and said, "I'll take care of the house. You can send the things you prepared for Captain Ma's family first."
Anyway, they had been sitting on the train for such a long time, and he was reluctant to let Li Xia clean the house again, it was too tiring.
A bag of candy and bacon was stuffed into Li Xia's hands. She no longer insisted on arguing with Gu Weicheng. She took the things and followed An An into Mrs. Tao's house next door.
"Hello, Auntie. Why are you crying, Aidan?" An An stood at the door and asked Ma Aidan, who was crying.
When Ma Aidang heard An An's voice, he immediately looked up. When he saw An An standing at his door, he even thought it was an illusion.
He rubbed his eyes with his hands, and when he opened them again, he found An An was still there. He couldn't hold it in any longer, and immediately ran over and hugged An An: "An An, you're finally back! The days without you are simply unbearable!"
An An looked at Ma Aidang who was crying so hard that snot bubbles came out of her nose: "..."
He took a step back without leaving a trace, avoiding Ma Aidang's affectionate embrace.
Mrs. Tao couldn't help but roll her eyes at her dirty son: "Ma Aidang, wipe your snot bubbles for me, don't dirty An An's clothes! You can wash them when the time comes!"
Li Xia also came in at this time and said with a smile: "I heard Ai Dang crying from a distance, what happened?"
Mrs. Tao was also very happy to see Li Xia. Not only did Ma Aidang miss An An, she also missed Li Xia.
Mrs. Tao smiled and said, "Don't pay attention to this brat. If you don't howl a few times, he'll get itchy. Xiao Li, you guys are finally back."
"Sister-in-law, when did you come back?" Li Xia asked, and handed over the candy and bacon in her hand, "This is the candy and bacon we brought from our hometown, you can have some."
"Lao Ma's home visit leave is not as long as Chief of Staff Gu's. We will be back on the tenth day of the first lunar month." Mrs. Tao replied. Seeing that Li Xia had sent a package, she accepted it without hesitation and handed a piece of lamb chop to Li Xia.
"Here, the mutton from our hometown. Even though there isn't much meat on the lamb chops, it tastes the best. If you guys don't come back, I'm afraid it will go bad."
Li Xia naturally knew that what Mrs. Tao said was true. The meat on the lamb chops was indeed very fragrant and was also her favorite.
An An looked at Ma Aidang's winter vacation homework and asked in confusion: "Aidang, why do I remember that you seem to have done these? Why do you have to do them again?"
It would be fine if you don’t mention it, but as soon as you mention it, Ma Aidan will want to howl again.
Mrs. Tao explained, "This silly boy wanted to give his homework to the sheep instead of doing it. His father got him a new set of homework as soon as he returned to the army, so he had to do it all over again. Don't you think he's stupid? Isn't this just stealing a chicken but losing the rice?"
Mrs. Tao felt that she seemed much more knowledgeable since she started interacting with Li Xia.
Ma Aidang glanced hatefully at the lamb chop in Li Xia's hand, and said to An An, "An An, eat more lamb and avenge me!"
Fortunately, An An is here, Ma Aidang is much more efficient in doing his homework than when he is alone.
Actually, it’s not that he can’t do it. His grades have improved a lot this semester, and he can do all the questions. However, An An usually supervises him when he does his homework. Without An An by his side, he feels like there is a thorn on his butt and he can’t sit still and feels itchy.
"The building of the family compound was completed, and at the beginning of the year, Commander Jiang and his family moved in. In fact, Commander Jiang's family came to our unit a few years ago, but they cried and wanted to go back on the first day. This time they finally agreed to come.
Not only did she come here, she also brought her divorced sister here, saying that she wanted her sister to find another man in the army as well.”
Mrs. Tao was indeed the one who knew all the gossip in the family compound. As soon as Li Xia came back, she started telling him gossip about the army.
Not only Captain Jiang's family, but also Captain Zhao's family: "This time Captain Zhao's family went back to celebrate the New Year, and Captain Zhao's mother also came to the army with them. Originally, there was nothing wrong with following her son to the army to enjoy the good life, but Captain Zhao's mother...tsk tsk..."
When Li Xia saw Mrs. Tao making two "tsk tsk" sounds, she knew that things were not simple.
Sure enough, Mrs. Tao continued, "Didn't Captain Zhao and his wife get married last year? It's only been half a year at most. Aside from the rare ones who get pregnant right away, isn't it normal for someone to get pregnant after six months to a year of marriage?"
Li Xia coughed lightly, she felt like she was being called out.
"Guess what happened? Captain Zhao's mother went through the garbage at home and saw that Captain Zhao's wife was still menstruating, so she started to quarrel with her. Captain Zhao's wife was not a pushover either, so she naturally quarreled with her. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had a fierce quarrel, and Lao Ma even went to mediate.
I thought everything was fine, but then, at night, Captain Zhao's mother went straight to sleep in their bed, saying that her daughter-in-law wasn't going to have children anyway, so the three of them might as well sleep together.
Li Xia: “?”
This is too explosive!