After everyone was seated and settled, Liu Mingfeng started the car. Looking in his rearview mirror, he saw seven people crammed together in the back. Luckily, the car was quite large, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough room. As for his wife, she was, of course, sitting in the front passenger seat.
Liu Mingfeng looked behind him and then asked Feng Mingyue and the other two if they had brought any clothes. Feng Mingyue and the other two replied that they had. Then he turned to look at Wu Qiaoqiao sitting next to him.
"Honey, did you and the kids bring any clothes this time? If not, I can get some from home for you, do you want them?"
Wu Qiaoqiao looked at Liu Mingfeng with some confusion, but still answered his question. Besides the food they brought on the train, they only had two suitcases of clothes for herself and the four children. As for Feng Mingyue and the others, they only had two or three changes of clothes in the bag they were carrying. After answering Liu Mingfeng's question, Wu Qiang asked him why he had asked if they had brought any clothes. Liu Mingfeng explained his reasoning.
"Because it's more than two hours' drive from here to my unit, I found a place here for you to wash up. You can wash up properly and then go eat. After we finish eating, we'll drive back to where the unit is."
They were all happy to hear Liu Mingfeng say that, since they were indeed feeling unwell. So Liu Mingfeng drove for about ten minutes and stopped the car in front of a farmhouse.
He parked the car and saw the people off. Two people came out of the open courtyard: a middle-aged woman and a little girl of about eleven or twelve years old. Liu Mingfeng introduced the woman and the girl to everyone in the car. The woman's surname was Hu, and her name was Hu Damei.
Hu Damei's husband was a soldier who died on the battlefield. Her in-laws wanted to seize her husband's pension and forced her to remarry, so they would take her daughter, Xiaocao, into their hands. Even before her husband died, her mother-in-law treated her and her daughter badly. Now that her husband has died, if she is forced to remarry, her daughter will be left in their hands. Wouldn't that be like living in a bitter pit?
Hu Damei's family was also unreliable and favored sons over daughters. Later, driven to desperation, Hu Damei secretly left home one night with her daughter. Because her mother-in-law was very strict and she had no money, she practically begged her way to the army unit where her husband used to be. After hearing about her situation, the people in the army helped her transfer her records there and found her a temporary job so she could take care of her daughter.
Liu Mingfeng knew her because Wu Qiaoqiao was coming over and opened a small supermarket here. She didn't need anyone to help her, so he was introduced to Sister Hu. Sister Hu had been doing all the cleaning and tidying up for the store lately. She also knew that Liu Mingfeng was going to pick up his wife today. Originally, Liu Mingfeng said he would open a guesthouse for them to use, but when Hu Damei found out, she said that Liu Mingfeng could just bring his wife and family to her place to use.
Upon seeing everyone's arrival, Hu Damei and her daughter Gan Xiaocao stepped forward to greet Liu Mingfeng and the others. Liu Mingfeng introduced the two of them to Wu Qiaoqiao, and also introduced Wu Qiaoqiao and the others to Hu Damei and her daughter.
"Wife, this is my brother's wife, Sister Hu, and her daughter, Xiaocao. Sister Hu, this is my wife. These are my four children. And these three are my cousins and their husbands."
After Liu Mingfeng introduced them and they greeted each other, the enthusiastic Hu Damei invited them inside.
"Now that you're here, come in quickly. I've already boiled two pots of water. You should take a shower. Traveling by train in this weather must be so uncomfortable, right?"
When Hu Damei called everyone in, no one stood on ceremony. However, no one just stood around doing the work for Hu Damei, since she wasn't their servant. So Liu Mingfeng and the two men in the family helped fetch and boil water, and let the women and children wash first. After Wu Qiaoqiao and the others finished washing, Feng Mingran and Tan Jing were the last to wash up.
It took more than an hour to wash up. After washing up, Liu Mingfeng took his wife, children, cousin, and cousin's brother-in-law to eat. Of course, Hu Damei and Gan Xiaocao were also dragged along to eat.
Hu Damei was initially embarrassed to go along, since she had been introduced to work at the small supermarket that was about to open, where she would earn much more than she did elsewhere. How could she possibly bring her daughter to dinner? Just as Hu Damei was about to refuse, Wu Qiaoqiao pulled her away. Wu Qiaoqiao's point was that since the two of them would be working together in the future, they should have a meal together now to get to know each other better.
Liu Mingyi took everyone to a private restaurant for a meal. During the meal, Liu Mingfeng mentioned that the two older children in the family would be attending the same school as Hu Damei's daughter, Gan Xiaocao. Everyone jokingly asked Gan Xiaocao to take care of her younger siblings. Gan Xiaocao blushed shyly and nodded, indicating that she would definitely take care of her younger siblings.
After dinner, Liu Mingfeng told Hu Damei that she didn't need to go to the supermarket for the next couple of days, and that they should wait until they had settled things at home before going. Hu Damei nodded and took her daughter home.
Liu Mingfeng drove directly back to his unit. After registering everyone who had come at the gate, he drove them to the house assigned to him.
As the car passed the square, everyone on board stared intently at the soldiers training, their eyes shining, especially the four children. The two boys, who had initially been a little shy around Liu Mingfeng, happily climbed onto the back of his driver's seat and started chattering away in his ear.
Liu Mingfeng was delighted to see his two sons, who had become quite distant from him since getting off the train, now talking to him happily. He said that starting tomorrow morning, he would bring all four of them to the military training ground to train and let them see his training posture.
Soon, two rows of buildings stood in front of the car. Liu Xiangguo looked at the two rows of buildings and asked Liu Mingfeng.
"Daddy, Daddy, do we live in this place?"
Seeing his youngest son, who had previously barely paid attention to him, now so happy, Liu Mingfeng knew the boy was an extrovert. He'd figured out that the four children were only a short walk apart. Liu Xiangjun was steady and reliable, but his only daughter, Liu Xiangqin, seemed mischievous; she could tell from the soldiers' looks. As for the two sets of twins? The elder seemed a bit sly, while the youngest was the most lively.
Upon hearing Liu Xiangguo's question, Liu Mingfeng shook his head at him.
"No, our house is behind that, in a small courtyard. After all, there are a lot of people in our family, and it would be a bit cramped if we lived in an apartment building."
Xiang Guo was a little disappointed when his father said they didn't live in an apartment building. He could only mumble an "oh" and sit back down in his seat.
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