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Tianyou is such a small person that he can't hide his thoughts on his face.
While Yang Qiujin was still racking her brains over how to ease the strained relationship between father and son, Chen Shengqing hugged Tianyou and swung him around. With a scream of surprise from Tianyou, he threw him onto his neck and walked forward, holding his little arms with both hands.
"Wow!" Chen Tianyou exclaimed: "Mom, look, I'm sitting on the horse's shoulders!"
"Ma Ma Jian" is a local name for the Pioneer Brigade, which means that a child sits on an adult's shoulders and rides the adult like a horse. "Ma Ma Jian" does not mean to be derogatory or insulting, but rather it is a sign of love.
Generally, children sit on the backs of their fathers, grandfathers, uncles and other men because they are strong and can carry the children for a long time.
When Chen Tianyou was young, he envied the children in his village who could sit on their fathers' shoulders because it looked so fun.
Now he finally sat on the horse's shoulders. It turned out that the scenery he saw when he sat on his father's shoulders was so beautiful and so different.
Is this what it feels like to have a dad?
That's great! If those bad kids dare to scold him again, calling him a bastard born by a mother but not raised by a father, he will make sure his father beats them until they admit their mistakes!
Chen Tianyou laughed happily, stretched his legs vigorously, pressed Chen Shengqing's head with one hand, patted his back with the other, and shouted: "Drive, drive, run!"
"Whisp, whisp..." Chen Shengqing imitated the flattery sound and made two long hoarse sounds. He grabbed Tianyou's little hand with his two strong arms and ran forward quickly.
The flowers, plants and trees were retreating rapidly. The evening breeze blew up clothes and made them rustle. Chen Tianyou seemed to be riding a real horse on the road between the fields. He could not help laughing happily and turned around to call Yang Qiujin: "Mom, come and catch up with us! You can't catch us, lelele..."
As the sun sets, the tall and short father and son merge into a long shadow that gradually moves away. Yang Qiujin looks at their departing shadows, gradually quickens her pace, with a smile on her face.
Seeing Tianyou's resistance to Chen Shengqing just now, she was worried that the father and son would not get along. After all, to Tianyou, Chen Shengqing was just a stranger who had never met him before. Suddenly he appeared in front of him and claimed to be his father. Not to mention that he was a child, even she would find it hard to accept if she put herself in his shoes.
Fortunately, she and her mother-in-law often mentioned Chen Shengqing in front of Tianyou. Although Tianyou did not have much feelings for Chen Shengqing, they were father and son after all, and the blood relationship was so magical. Chen Shengqing could win the child's favor with just a little trick.
After Chen Shengqing ran a long distance carrying his son, he stood by the roadside next to a cornfield half a person's height waiting for Yang Qiujin.
Tianyou was still laughing above his head, shaking his legs from time to time, urging him to run faster.
A strange feeling of joy welled up in Chen Shengqing's heart. It was a wonderful feeling of being a father, seeing his child so innocent and cute, jumping around and calling him daddy. It was an unreal yet particularly happy feeling.
This feeling was something he had never experienced before in his seven years of military service, during which he had endured countless hardships, suffered countless fatigue, and shed countless blood. It filled him with strength, and it was worth it even if he had to endure more suffering in the dark night.
The one who gave him this feeling was a woman walking from not far away.
Under the warm red sunset light, the beautiful woman wore the most simple azure cotton and linen long coat and trousers, with a long ponytail. She walked neither hurried nor slow, like a country morning glory swaying in the wind. She was not particularly outstanding, but had a unique charm.
Chen Shengqing gazed at Yang Qiujin as she gradually approached. This woman had taken care of him and the child for seven years and had never complained to him. As long as she was of one mind with him, he would compensate her double for the rest of his life, never leave her, and stay with her until old age.
The family returned home happily. Li Xiu'e had already prepared the meal and placed it on the table in the middle of the yard. "Tianyou is back, let's eat."
"Wow, so many delicious foods." When Chen Tianyou saw his favorite white flour steamed buns, fried bacon, cold cucumber, and fried shredded potatoes on the table, he threw away the cloth bag he was carrying and reached out to grab the steamed buns.
"Go wash your hands." Yang Qiujin slapped his piggy hands away. "Look at how black your hands are. They are so dirty, and you can eat the food you picked up."
"It's okay. It's not dirty. You won't get sick if you eat it." Li Xiu'e subconsciously defended her grandson. "People in our village don't care about that much."
"Mom, what did I tell you just now?" Yang Qiujin glared at her angrily, "Didn't I tell you that when I teach the child, you should not go against me. If I say Yang and you follow Yin, what will the child get used to?"
Li Xiu'e glanced at Chen Shengqing, who was calmly picking up the bowl and chopsticks, not interfering in the affairs between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Then she smiled awkwardly: "I'm sorry, Qiu Jin, Mom has such a bad memory, I forgot again."
Yang Qiujin didn't say anything, but just signaled Chen Tianyou with her eyes to go wash his hands quickly.
Her mother-in-law is a nice person, but she has a lot of bad habits that she can't change. If she doesn't give her mother-in-law a warning from time to time about this habit of unconditionally pampering her children, God bless her to the point of letting her get used to it.
Chen Tianyou was reluctant to wash his hands because he thought his mother was annoying. She always asked him to be hygienic and clean, which made him a "fussy person" by the mud monkeys in the same village. Because everyone was crawling in the fields, each one was dirtier than the other. If he had to wash his hands every day and keep clean, he would become a city dweller.
At this moment, his grandmother, who had always protected him, didn't dare to argue with his mother, and his father also kept silent. Chen Tianyou also realized that even if his father came back, his mother would still be the head of the family and have the final say.
Chen Tianyou sighed like a little adult, helplessly ran to the clay jar in the right corner of the yard, scooped water and washed his hands clean.
The family sat down at the table. Li Xiu'e was filled with emotion and said with red eyes: "It's been seven years. This is the first reunion dinner our family has had in seven years. It would be nice if the old man was still here..."
Chen Shengqing was silent for a while, and then he said, "Mom, let's go to bury Dad together tomorrow. I'll put a few more buckets of soil on his grave to let him know that I'm back safely."
"Okay." Li Xiu'e wiped the tears from her eyes and forced a smile: "Look at me, our family reunion is a great joy, why am I saying all this for no reason? Don't just stand there, eat your food."
Halfway through the meal, Li Xiu'e thought of something, "San'er, how long will you stay after your vacation this time?"
Chen Shengqing swallowed a mouthful of food: "Three days."
"Such a short time." Li Xiu'e sighed, "I finally came back, but I have to leave after staying for three days. It's true that a grown-up son is no longer under the control of his mother. You are the battalion commander now, I heard from Aunt Sun in the village that as long as an officer in the army reaches the level of battalion commander, his family can follow the army. You and Qiu Jin have been separated for so many years. Now that you have been promoted to battalion commander, you must take Qiu Jin and Tianyou to the army this time."
Yang Qiujin paused while picking up food. Join the army? This was something she had never thought of.
"Mom, what does it mean to accompany the army?" Chen Tianyou was eating his favorite meat dishes while listening attentively to what the adults were saying. When he heard the word "accompany the army", he asked curiously.
"It means living with the soldiers in the army." Before Yang Qiujin could speak, Li Xiu'e spoke first. She saw that her son's face looked a little strange and frowned, "Why, Third Brother, you don't want to take Qiujin with you to live with the army? You are not really like what outsiders say, still thinking about that evil-hearted woman named Shi!"
Li Xiu'e was so angry that she threw down her chopsticks, stood up and stared at Chen Shengqing with hatred and said: "Third brother, I don't care what you think in your heart, I will never allow you to divorce Qiu Jin, nor will I allow you to worry about Shi Fangfang! We can't be without conscience, and we can't forget everything Qiu Jin has done for you and our family! Today you must promise me to take Qiu Jin and her son to follow the army. If you don't agree, I will, I will..."
As she spoke, she looked around and suddenly rushed into the livestock house, took out a thick rope, and threatened Chen Shengqing, "If you don't agree, Mom will hang herself in front of you."
"Mom, what are you doing?" Chen Shengqing strode over, snatched the rope from her hand, and said with a headache: "When did I say that I would not take Qiu Jin and the others with me to join the army? Why are you making such a fuss?"
"What? You want to take them with you to join the army?" Li Xiu'e was bored. She looked at him awkwardly as he put the rope in place. Then she muttered, "I thought you were unhappy."
Chen Shengqing pulled her back to the dining table helplessly and said, "Mom, it's not that I don't want to, it's that the conditions at the border were very difficult in the past few years, and I didn't want to take Qiu Jin and her family there to suffer. The conditions at the border have improved a lot in recent years, and if Qiu Jin is willing to go with me to join the army, I would be happy of course."
His eyes fell on Yang Qiujin, "Qiujin, are you willing to go to the frontier with me?"
Yang Qiujin was stunned for a moment, feeling a little conflicted. She didn't have much affection for Chen Shengqing. In fact, she preferred to stay in the Vanguard Brigade and live her own free life.
However, she also knew that if a couple lived apart for a long time, there would definitely be problems in their marriage. Apart from anything else, just to let Tianyou have a father to love and teach him, and to feel his father's love all the time, no matter how much she didn't want to spend more time with this man, she had to agree to follow the army, so she nodded.
"Oh, this is great!" Li Xiu'e slapped the table happily, "After your father's burial tomorrow, Qiu Jin, you can pack up your things, take Tianyou with you, and go to the county to buy some supplies. Then you can enjoy life with the third brother!"
"Mom, you're not going?" Yang Qiujin keenly perceived the meaning behind her mother-in-law's words.
"Mom won't go." Li Xiu'e looked tenderly at a plum tree with lush branches and leaves on the left side of the yard. It was planted in the yard by Lao Chen when he was young. "Your father is buried in the back mountain. He must be lonely all by himself. I want to stay with him and not go anywhere."
"But..." Yang Qiujin thought that her mother-in-law didn't want to cause trouble for them, so she didn't want to go. She wanted to persuade her, but was stopped by Chen Shengqing, "Just do as Mom wants."
His mother and his father have a deep relationship, which cannot be explained in a few words. If she doesn't want to go, then she doesn't have to go.
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