Chapter 60
Chen Shengqing woke up one morning when spring was in full bloom.
Yang Qiujin was so excited that tears were about to fall when she saw him wake up. "Shengqing, you finally woke up. Do you know how long you have been lying in bed?"
"Qiu Jin..." The man called her name weakly, struggling to get up from the bed, "What's wrong with me?"
"You have been lying in bed for nearly a year and a half." Yang Qiujin held back her tears and helped him up. "You were harmed by your Soviet enemies. Fortunately, Ji Mingchen and the famous doctors from the capital worked day and night to research medicine and treat you. Otherwise, you would have been lying in bed for the rest of your life."
Chen Shengqing finally remembered the scene before he fainted. His heart sank, and he asked hoarsely, "How are the Third Battalion Commander and his men? Have they captured the Soviet special forces?"
"The Third Battalion Commander and his men were slightly injured, nothing serious." Yang Qiujin put a pillow on his thin back, which was only a handful of bones left, so that he could lean against the headboard to get more comfortable. "The desperate criminals who wanted to kill you jumped off the cliff. They all had small parachutes on their backs. Commander Guo said that they were sent by your Miss Anna."
When she mentioned the word "Anna", there was an undisguised sour taste in her words.
"Qiu Jin, believe me, I have never done anything to let you down. When I went to the Soviet Union as a spy, I was just going through the motions with Anna. Nothing happened between us." Chen Shengqing coughed and explained.
He hadn't spoken for a long time, and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse and unpleasant, like a broken bell.
"I want to believe you, but when I think about you being affectionate with another woman, even if it was just a show, I feel uncomfortable." Yang Qiujin stood up, poured him a glass of warm water, handed it to him and said, "But I'm still happy that you woke up and didn't die in the hands of the enemy. Drink the water first, I'll call the doctor to check your body."
She strode out of the ward and went outside to call the capital doctor who was attending Chen Shengqing.
Chen Shengqing held the cup of water and tried to drink it, but found that he had no strength at all. His hands were shaking so badly that he almost spilled the water on the quilt.
He frowned and raised his hands, and saw that his once healthy and strong hands had turned into skinny and clumsy ones like chicken claws. His strong and muscular body had become extremely skinny due to long-term bed rest and relying on nutrient solution to survive.
Anna, Xenev...
He slowly clenched his hands. You want him to die, right? Then don't blame him.
Three expert doctors from Kyoto and Ji Mingchen arrived at the ward quickly. They were overjoyed to see Chen Shengqing. "Deputy Captain Chen, you are finally awake. How are you? Do you feel any discomfort?"
"No." Chen Shengqing shook his head and spoke with difficulty, "Thank you for saving me."
A gray-haired expert said, "Why thank you? You risked your life for the country and got injured. We saved you and we were just doing our job. If you want to thank someone, the one you should thank the most is the military doctor. He overcame all difficulties and insisted on operating on you. He cleaned and sutured your wounds in time. If he had been slower or a military doctor with immature skills had performed the operation, your life would have been in danger."
Chen Shengqing didn't expect Ji Mingchen to save him selflessly, and said sincerely: "Mingchen, thank you."
Ji Mingchen stood among several professors. He no longer looked as high-spirited as before. His hair was messy and his white coat was buttoned casually. His handsome face could not hide his fatigue.
He looked at Chen Shengqing who had regained consciousness and said without any expression on his face: "I'm just doing my job, no need to thank me."
Another expert said, "Deputy Head Chen, you are lucky to have met Professor Nie who studied in the United States. He is very knowledgeable about biomedicine. The injection in the back of your head is a drug that can slowly cause people to lose consciousness and paralyze the whole body. The other party may just want to take you away, not really want your life. Maybe your actions angered them, so they attacked you."
Chen Shengqing said nothing about this. He let the doctors take out a flashlight, pry open his eyes and shine the light into his pupils, check his body functions, and make sure that he had no major problems. Only then did they let him have a good rest.
As soon as the doctors left, Captain Guo, Political Commissar Liao, Li Zhiyong and other border defense officers who heard the news came and crowded the ward, talking to him happily one by one.
Guo Shengrong said: "I knew you were a lucky guy. You were seriously injured this time. You were shot and stabbed in many places. You were injected with drugs in your head. You were in bed for a year and a half. But you were able to wake up intact. You must have good fortune after surviving such a disaster."
Political Commissar Liao said, "Xiao Chen, you should take good care of yourself. During your bed rest period, your salary and allowance will be paid according to your deputy regiment commander's rank. You don't have to worry about other problems."
Li Zhiyong patted Chen Shengqing's thin shoulder and said, "Political Commissar Liao is right. You need to rest more now and don't think too much about other things."
Chen Shengqing knew what they were talking about, and asked with deep eyes, "What's the situation in the Soviet Union?"
All three of them fell silent.
On the contrary, the outspoken commander of the Third Battalion, Lu Heping, said: "The situation is not good. A few days ago, the Soviet Army in the north dispatched a tank armored unit, with the support of air force, to launch a fire attack on the border patrol team of a certain border area in the three northeastern provinces in the north. The two sides fought for more than five hours, and all the comrades of our patrol team died heroically. In our border areas, the Soviet Army is also ready to move. The superiors asked our border defense department to be vigilant at all times and make four "preparations". At the same time, all the corps in the border areas are ready to go and ready to fight at any time."
The four "preparations" are what the leaders said: prepare to hit the opponent hard, prepare to hit early, prepare to hit regularly, and prepare for the worst.
The Soviet army continued to exert military pressure on our country, and our country had long been mentally prepared for war. After the conflict on the northern border, our country has now entered a "state of war".
Many enterprises turned to military production, a large number of factories moved into mountainous areas, and many large cities, including the capital, began to dig underground fortifications.
In such a serious condition, Chen Shengqing could not sit still. As long as he was awake, he kept moving around and doing rehabilitation exercises.
In just one month, his body recovered by 70% to 80%. He no longer had to stay in the hospital and could go home.
On the day he returned home, Yang Qiujin specially prepared a table of delicious food and wine to welcome him.
Li Xiu'e saw her son coming back with a vigorous walk, and she pulled him up and down to look him up and down, tears streaming down her face. "May God bless you, it's good that you're back, and that you can walk and jump."
"Mom, I'm sorry to have caused you trouble." Chen Shengqing said as he reached out to wipe her tears.
"Well, I have to bear more worries and hardships, but not as much as Qiu Jin. You should thank your wife more. In the future, you should care for her more, give in to her, and be nice to her. If you two live a good life, Mom will be satisfied." Li Xiu'e said.
"Mom, don't stand in the yard. The food is getting cold." Yang Qiujin shouted as she walked out of the kitchen carrying the food.
"Hey, here I come."
The family sat in the yard and ate happily.
Today's dinner is very rich, with white delicious mushroom stewed chicken, a specialty of the frontier, fried duck with ginger, braised pork, cold diced rabbit, some vegetables, and a pot of tomato and egg soup.
This summer, all the chickens, ducks, geese and rabbits raised by Yang Qiujin were released from their cages, and she also sold eight pigs. After deducting the cost of feed and labor, the farm made a net profit of more than 10,000 yuan.
This amount of money is not a huge sum compared to a farm, but for a farm that has been open for more than two years, it is quite impressive to make so much money in the early stage.
Yang Qiujin had to take care of Chen Shengqing before and did not have enough energy to manage the farm. Now that Chen Shengqing is well, she plans to expand the farm, hire more workers, raise more livestock and poultry, and turn the small farm into a large one.
Currently, the livestock, poultry, chickens, ducks, goose eggs and other products produced by her farm are not enough to be consumed by the farm and nearby towns. If she wants to sell the various meats farther away, she must expand the farm.
However, this is just her current idea. She has not yet communicated with the farm secretary, Secretary Zhai. The farm belongs to Secretary Zhai, and she can only take major action with Secretary Zhai's consent.
Chen Shengqing, who hadn't been home for a long time, was especially welcoming. As soon as the table was served, he pulled a tender stewed chicken leg for Chen Shengqing, and gave him a large piece of braised pork with a rich sauce, a few pieces of spicy cold-mixed rabbit cubes, and some ginger duck cubes with a particularly strong ginger flavor. He filled Chen Shengqing's bowl with food and blinked his eyes and said, "Dad, eat some vegetables."
Li Xiu'e said to him: "Why did you give your father so many meat dishes? His stomach is still weak and he can't eat so much meat."
"Mom, it's okay." After more than a month of rehabilitation, Chen Shengqing went from barely drinking some porridge at first to gradually being able to eat whole foods and all his body functions returned to normal, which was not easy.
He gave Chen Tianyou face and ate a little bit of each dish. He squinted his eyes and praised, "The dishes Tianyou picked for Dad are really delicious. Of course, your mother's cooking is also delicious."
Chen Tianyou swallowed his saliva when he heard this, and reached out to pick up dishes for his grandma and mom one by one. After watching them start eating, he picked up the dishes he wanted to eat.
Ever since Chen Shengqing had the accident, he has been lying in the hospital. Yang Qiujin and Li Xiu'e were both worried and secretly wiped away their tears from time to time. After going back and forth between home and the hospital, Chen Tianyou seemed to suddenly understand something. He became extremely sensible and obedient, taking on the responsibility of being a little man and taking good care of his mother and grandmother while his father was away.
He no longer ran around in school, fought with others, or acted naughty. He studied hard in class every day. After school, he helped his mother and grandmother with housework, and went to the hospital to give Chen Shengqing massages.
He was no longer picky about food. In just one and a half years, Chen Tianyou grew taller and his academic performance jumped from the bottom three to the top ten in the class. He was also helpful, hardworking and studious.
His new class teacher and Principal Kong both found it incredible. They never expected that the naughty boy who used to cause them trouble would become so obedient and sensible, and his grades would be so good. Recently, they wanted him to represent the school in the district Mathematical Olympiad to see if he could get a place.
Yang Qiujin was also very pleased that the once naughty boy had grown up and become sensible. He was also recognized by his class teacher and Principal Kong, who recommended him to participate in the district competition. She fully supported him.
With so many delicious dishes cooked on the table, it was like Chinese New Year, so they naturally couldn't finish them. Fortunately, it is almost autumn now, and the weather is not so hot. The leftovers can be placed in a basin of cool water and will not go bad the next day.
After dinner, neighbors and family members of Chen Shengqing’s comrades-in-arms came one after another, carrying things, to visit Chen Shengqing.
Yang Qiujin entertained them one by one. Seeing her smiling face, Zhao Erfeng sighed and said, "Big sister, you finally made it. You have always been attached to Deputy Head Chen. Deputy Head Chen has returned home safely now. He will definitely treat you well in the future."
Sitting in the yard, Liang Xueqing sighed, "Sister Yang, I really admire you. If I were you, I would have been at a loss if I encountered such a big thing. I would have cried my heart out every day. How could I be as strong as you, busying around all day and supporting myself for a year and a half?"
"I have no choice." Yang Qiujin served them both hot water with brown sugar. "I have parents and children to take care of. They all rely on me. I have to be strong. Besides, I believe Shengqing can wake up. It's just a matter of time."
The two women laughed and said, "Deputy Captain Chen is lucky to have you as his wife. If it were someone else, she wouldn't be like you and take care of him every day, taking care of his food, drink, defecation, urination and sleep while he's unconscious."
Chen Shengqing was greeting guests in the house. When he walked to the door and heard their words, he paused and looked at Yang Qiujin in the yard.
Including the one and a half years that Yang Qiujin took care of him in bed, Yang Qiujin has been at the border for more than three years. Because she had to take care of him all night, go to work during the day, and take care of the children, Yang Qiujin, who has endured a year and a half, is now thin, her oval face has become a melon-seed face, her hair is no longer black, but slightly yellow, and the dark circles under her eyes are particularly severe. Although she is still handsome, she looks much older and tired than before.
Chen Shengqing felt a sudden pain in his heart. He had thought that bringing Yang Qiujin and her son to the army to live with him would make their life better than living in his hometown. He did not expect that because of his carelessness, she was seriously injured. Yang Qiujin became more physically and mentally exhausted than before and lived an extremely tiring life. It was all because of him, as a husband, who did not fulfill his responsibilities.
At night, when all the guests had left, Li Xiu'e took Chen Tianyou to sleep in the cabin. Chen Shengqing held Yang Qiujin tightly in his arms and promised her: "I will deal with Anna's matter as soon as possible and will not let you, Tianyou, and Mom fall into danger. After I deal with it, you can tell me what you want to do and what you want. I will never complain."
"How are you going to deal with Anna's issue?" The man's chest was very warm. Yang Qiujin leaned in his arms, listening to his strong heartbeat, and felt sleepy.
For nearly a year and a half, she had been running back and forth day and night, and was exhausted both physically and mentally. Now that her man had returned home in good health, Yang Qiujin just wanted to have a good sleep and relax.
Chen Shengqing was ready to go to the Soviet Union again to solve all the problems, but now was not the right time, and it was too dangerous to do so. He could not let Yang Qiujin worry, so he just said, "I will take care of it, don't worry."
After saying this, she didn't hear the woman's response. She looked down and found that the woman had fallen asleep while standing in her arms.
How tiring it must be to be able to fall asleep while standing.
Chen Shengqing felt very sad. He picked her up by the waist, gently put her on the kang bed, put slippers on her, covered her with a quilt, and lay down on her bed himself. He stayed beside her but did not sleep all night.
Early the next morning, Yang Qiujin woke up to the loud sound of a military bugle in the family courtyard. Li Xiu'e had already prepared water for washing her face and breakfast in the kitchen.
Since she came to the army, almost all the housework such as washing clothes and cooking was done by her. It was not because Yang Qiujin was lazy, but because Li Xiu'e saw that Yang Qiujin was too busy and took the initiative to take over the housework.
Sometimes she would get angry when Yang Qiujin took away her housework.
Seeing Yang Qiujin hurriedly coming out of the house combing her hair, Li Xiu'e brought the prepared meal into the living room and asked her, "What's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"There's a staff meeting at the factory today. It's getting late, so I have to hurry to the farm." Yang Qiujin hurriedly brushed her teeth and went to untie Benying's horse leash in the yard.
"Not eating breakfast?" Li Xiu'e asked.
"No more eating. There's no time." Yang Qiujin mounted her horse and was about to leave.
"You won't do if you don't eat. You'll get a stomachache from hunger." Li Xiu'e hurriedly took out two hot meat buns and stuffed them into her hands. "Mom made your favorite pork and scallion buns. Eat them while you walk."
"Thank you, Mom." It was hard to refuse the mother-in-law's kindness. Yang Qiujin held the reins with one hand, urging Benying to run forward, and held two big buns in the other hand and took a big bite.
Li Xiu'e is a very good cook. The dough for the buns was fermented just right, and the skin was fluffy and soft, soaked with the aroma of chopped green onions and fried pork. When you take a bite, the meat filling is still juicy, and it tastes so delicious. Yang Qiujin's hungry stomach was satisfied at once.
She ate the buns clean in no time, sighed with satisfaction, and thought, it is good to have a mother-in-law who loves and pampers her. In the past, she thought making buns was too troublesome, so when she wanted to eat buns, she would go to the state-owned hotel and buy two to satisfy her craving.
Since her mother-in-law joined the army, she knew how hard her mother-in-law worked, so she cooked different meals for her and Tianyou every day. With her cooking skills, Yang Qiujin felt that she could even open a restaurant.
But now all the hotels are state-owned, and private individuals are not allowed to open hotels. I don’t know when her mother-in-law’s cooking skills can be brought to the table and let everyone taste her cooking.
As soon as Yang Qiujin left, Li Xiu'e called Chen Tianyou, who was like a lazy pig, to wash his face and brush his teeth.
During the meal, she did not shy away from the children, and while serving food to Chen Shengqing, she said, "You are now a deputy regiment commander, with a monthly salary of more than 100 yuan, which is enough to support your family. There is no need to let Qiu Jin work so hard. I have been in the army for more than a year, and I see that she is busy every day and is almost fainted from exhaustion. It is time for her to have a good rest."
"Mom, she can't rest." Chen Shengqing put the big piece of chicken breast she had picked up into Chen Tianyou's bowl. "You know, Qiu Jin has always been strong. When she followed the army, she made three rules with me not to interfere with her work and life. She said that she didn't want to be like other military wives, staying at home all day to take care of children and do housework, and losing herself around men. She wants to work to realize her self-worth. You can also see that it is not easy for her to go from a temporary employee on a small farm to the current director of a breeding farm. Why should I break her wings and keep her at home to hate me every day?"
Li Xiu'e was confused by his repetitive words, but she understood that her son supported his daughter-in-law to go to work and his daughter-in-law was unwilling to stay at home.
"So you guys haven't thought about having a second child?" she muttered over a pickled radish stick.
"Mom, whether to have a child or not is up to Qiu Jin. I can't force her to have one." Chen Shengqing said helplessly: "Besides, with my current body, do you think it's appropriate for me to have a child now? We also have to consider Tianyou's feelings, right?"
Chen Tianyou, who was chewing chicken, immediately raised his hand and said, "Dad, I want a sister!"
There is a classmate in the class whose mother gave birth to a sister this year. The girl is so cute and well-behaved. Every day his classmates show off in front of the class how cute and obedient his sister is. He is very jealous and also wants his parents to give him a sister so that he can show off to his classmates.
"Silly child, having a child doesn't mean your mother will give you a sister just because you want one." Li Xiu'e smiled and touched his round head, then turned to look at Chen Shengqing and said, "I don't want to force the birth. This is not such a big thing that happened to you. Qiu Jin has been doing all the work alone. I thought, if you have another child, Tianyou will have a brother or sister to discuss with if you have any problems in the future. He won't be left alone with everything to deal with by himself.
You don’t know, you were lying unconscious on the hospital bed at first, Qiu Jin and I went to the hospital to take care of you, Tianyou was alone at home with no one to take care of him, when I went home at night, I saw Tianyou eating rice soaked in cold water alone, I was so distressed...”
As she spoke, she couldn't help shedding tears. "Tell me, if we grow old and die, and Godbless has a child living alone, what will we do if something happens to him?"
"Grandma, don't cry." Chen Tianyou reached out and patted her back gently, saying, "I'm fine on my own. I've been learning how to cook from you recently. Even if you're gone in the future, I can take care of myself."
Chen Shengqing rubbed his temples with a headache, "Mom, let's talk about having a child later. Don't force Qiu Jin. We will only have the child if she agrees. Otherwise, it will be useless to say anything."
Li Xiu'e sighed and said nothing more.
In fact, she had previously advocated that Yang Qiujin only need to give birth to Tianyou as one child. After all, when Yang Qiujin gave birth to Tianyou, she suffered a difficult labor and heavy bleeding and almost died.
It was not that something had happened to her son and he almost couldn't wake up. She had been busy in the hospital all that time. Tianyou was sensible and cooked, washed clothes and did housework at home. She felt very sad when she came back, so she decided to let her son and daughter-in-law have another child.
Now that her son is determined to obey his daughter-in-law's wishes, she will no longer ask them to have another child and annoy them.
If they don't want to have children, then don't have to. Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. It's actually pretty good if God blesses them with a grandson.
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