After sending the children out, Wu Qiaoqiao mentally reviewed what she needed to do over the next two days. Just as she was doing this, she saw Zhao Xiuxiang walk in briskly.
Seeing the sprightly old lady, Wu Qiao smiled and stepped forward to help her.
"Mom, why are you back at this time? Weren't you at the chicken farm on the mountain with Third Aunt and the others?"
Over the years, Zhao Xiuxiang, Wu Qiaoqiao, and Lin Yuwei have become like mother and daughters. One day, when Wu Qiaoqiao called Zhao Xiuxiang "aunt," she directly called her "mother," and Zhao Xiuxiang burst into tears.
When Wu Qiaoqiao and Lin Yuwei saw Zhao Xiuxiang like this, they exchanged a glance. From then on, they called Zhao Xiuxiang "Mother". Zhao Xiuxiang was overjoyed to see Wu Qiaoqiao and Lin Yuwei like this. Although she didn't have her own children, she now had two filial daughters, and her life was getting better and better. She looked younger and healthier.
Both Liu Ercheng's and Liu Sanqian's families were happy to see Zhao Xiuxiang like this. Although Wu Qiaoqiao and Liu Mingfeng had said they would take care of Zhao Xiuxiang in her old age, they were afraid that people's hearts would change. Now, seeing how the three of them got along, they felt relieved.
The children of both families also see Wu Qiaoqiao and Lin Yuwei as sisters, calling them "Auntie." They would never guess that Wu Qiaoqiao is their cousin's wife. Lin Yuwei's daughter, being so young, directly calls Hu Xiaocao "Mom" after her two older brothers. When others ask, "Wow, do you have two mothers?" she says she has two mothers and no matter how much they teach her, she won't change.
As for Wu Qiaoqiao's claim that Zhao Xiuxiang came down from the chicken farm on the mountain, this chicken farm was a hilltop leased by Liu Ercheng and Liu Sanqian's families. The hilltop was planted with fruit trees and medicinal herbs, and they had fenced off a plot of land specifically for raising poultry. Earlier this year, Wu Qiaoqiao handed over the land allocated to her family to Liu Ercheng and Liu Sanqian's families. The two families wanted to pay her rent for the land, but Wu Qiaoqiao refused, only asking them to give her some of the produce grown on their land each year, as she really enjoyed eating the food grown on this black soil.
Now that the family no longer had land, they only cultivated a small plot of land. But how much work could they do on the plot? Most of the work was done by Wu Qiaoqiao, so Zhao Xiuxiang felt a bit bored. Every day, she would go with her second and third sisters-in-law to the chicken farm on the mountain to feed the chickens and ducks, collect eggs, and occasionally pick some fresh wild vegetables from the mountain.
Sometimes she would stay on the mountain for a whole day, even having lunch in a shed set up on the mountain. Now that she was back so early, Wu Qiaoqiao was a little puzzled.
"I overheard the two boys and Niu Niu talking. They said Mingfeng sent a telegram saying that everything is ready over there and they want us to go over, so I came back to ask if there's anything else we need to prepare."
“Mom, you know we started preparing in the first half of this year. There’s no need to pack anything more. Besides, we have our own transport fleet. If we really need to bring something, even if we can’t deliver it to their troops, we can deliver it to the nearest location and then pick it up.”
"Then we don't need to prepare anything. Do we need to prepare any food? By the way, you said there's a transport fleet. Should we take one of your factory's vehicles or the train?"
"Let's take the train. It would be too much of a hardship for the children to take a transport vehicle. I'll go to the county town tomorrow to take care of the follow-up matters and see when I can buy enough sleeper tickets for all of us."
"But Mother, are you really not coming with me to Mingfeng's side?"
"No, I plan to go with you to Mingfeng first, get everything sorted out there, and then return to Beijing. You know Weiwei is pregnant, and your aunt can't manage everything by herself, so I'll go and lend her a hand."
When Wu Qiaoqiao heard Zhao Xiuxiang say that she would go with her to Liu Mingfeng's current unit first, she knew that Zhao Xiuxiang was not being thoughtful and wanted to take care of herself first before going to take care of Lin Yuwei. Looking at this old lady who, although not her biological mother, did no less than her biological mother, Wu Qiaoqiao stepped forward and hugged Zhao Xiuxiang.
Wu Qiaoqiao knew what Zhao Xiuxiang was thinking, and she didn't say anything. No matter how much you said, Zhao Xiuxiang wouldn't agree. She planned to wait until they arrived in Beijing and see who among Feng Mingran and the others was convenient to go with her. Wu Qiaoqiao also knew that Zhao Xiuxiang was mainly worried about taking care of four children alone on the train. If a young person went with her, Zhao Xiuxiang would feel at ease, and the old lady wouldn't have to make the trip with her again.
As for Lin Yuwei's pregnancy, it turns out that Liu Mingfeng and Feng Minghao used their abilities from their previous lives to train a powerful and mysterious military unit for the country over three years. After the unit was completed, the two of them wanted to transfer to another unit to avoid suspicion.
During training with that mysterious unit, the leaders also discovered that these two men were suitable to be instructors, so this time they were separated and each transferred to a different unit.
Leaving aside Liu Mingfeng's situation, let's talk about Feng Minghao. He's been transferred to a military region not far from Beijing, and everything is already arranged there. Once Feng Minghao moves there, he can apply for military dependent status. After confirming that she can accompany him, Lin Yuwei will occasionally take Niu Niu to visit Feng Minghao. Of course, for a couple reunited after a long separation, things are bound to happen, especially since Lin Yuwei is also planning to have another child, as Niu Niu alone is a bit too few. And this time, just a few days after sending Niu Niu to Liujia Village, Lin Yuwei discovered that she was already pregnant.
Why did Wu Qiaoqiao only notify her now that she could go? It's because Liu Mingfeng's unit is newly established, and it only has dormitories for soldiers like them. There are no training grounds or canteens, and if they want people to accompany them, they would have to build family housing.
Liu Mingfeng first received news last Chinese New Year that he could join the military, and with less than half a month left before the start of the new school term this summer, he was constantly busy with these matters. They not only had to train, but also help with whatever they could. After six months of this busy work, now that his family compound has been completed, they received new information asking them to join the military.
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