Chapter 161 Chapter 161 Three Children

Zhang Yuandong got four days off. He rested at home for two days, and on the third day he packed his things and went to Y City to pick up Lingling and Wanli.

There were many children of the same age in Luohe Brigade. Zhang was a child-friendly man, so he would take them to the mountains to catch pheasants and to the river to fish from time to time. He even went with Zhang Er and Zhang San to take a group of children to watch "blasting the river", which is ice blasting.

With so many people doing this, the two children had so much fun playing at their grandfather's house that they didn't even want to go home. When they were about to leave after lunch at Uncle Zhang's house, they were still reluctant to go back.

Zhang Yuandong called before coming and told them that he was coming to pick up the two children today. The two children had already packed their things. Now they said they didn't want to leave. Zhang Yuandong naturally wouldn't agree. He didn't have the good temper of Lin Yue. He just ordered in a cold voice: "There is a bus back at 3 pm. It's 1:30 now. We have to leave at 2 pm at the latest. You will be given 15 minutes. When the time is up, we will leave."

Lingling secretly looked at her grandmother, wanting to ask for help, but accidentally met her father's gaze. She was so scared that she trembled all over and immediately became obedient.

Aunt Zhang and Uncle Zhang were heartbroken. They stepped forward to hug the two children and said angrily, "Why are you so fierce? You haven't seen the children for so long. Why are you scaring them as soon as you see them? Can't you just talk it out nicely?"

Zhang Yuandong did not answer, but looked at the two children and urged: "Hurry up!"

Neither Wanli nor Lingling dared to make any more noise now. They quickly packed their things, each carrying a small backpack, and stood in front of Zhang Yuandong.

Zhang Yuandong's expression finally eased a little. He looked up and saw that it was almost time, so he said goodbye to Aunt Zhang and her family and was about to leave. Unexpectedly, before he even stepped out of the door, he was blocked by the eldest son of Brother Zhang.

Little Shitou is the oldest child in the family, and he is about the same age as the two siblings. He plays best with them. He just went to a neighbor's house to deliver something, and when he came back, he heard that Lingling and Wanli were leaving. He refused to agree no matter what, and clung to Wanli with his hands and feet, refusing to get down no matter what he said.

Wanli was also reluctant to part with Xiao Shitou. He looked at Zhang Yuandong pitifully, hoping that his father would have a change of heart or something.

Zhang Yuandong was now at a loss. If this was his own child, it would be okay for him to say a few harsh words, but this was not his child, and he didn't know what to do for a moment.

Mrs. Zhang tried to coax Little Stone to get off Wanli, but he refused to do so and insisted on following Lingling and Wanli. Mrs. Zhang would not let him do such nonsense, so she raised her hand high and was about to hit him.

Zhang Yuandong couldn't stand watching her beat the child because of this, so he quickly stopped and said, "Sister-in-law, why don't you let him stay at my house for a few days? When he's had enough, I'll send him back next time I'm off duty."

Mrs. Zhang quickly waved her hands and refused, "How can that be possible? You have many children at home, and this child is so disobedient. If he goes, he will only cause trouble for you!"

When Little Stone heard his mother say this, he immediately got angry and shouted loudly: "I didn't do that!" He usually didn't dare to do this and didn't dare to contradict his parents. However, during this period, because there were two more little guests in the house, the adults became much more tolerant than before, so he dared to make such a noise.

But it was obvious that his parents did not tolerate his plan. He wanted to make more trouble, but when he saw his parents' eyes full of suppressed anger, he shuddered and realized that he had gone too far. Seeing that he was bound to be beaten, Little Stone finally became afraid and got off Wanli obediently.

Wanli saw that he was shrinking his neck and knew that he was afraid, so he leaned over to whisper something in his ear. Xiao Shitou looked back at him with a bitter face, and his fingers kept scratching his pants.

Wanli pushed him and pushed him in front of his mother. He knew that if he stayed at home, he would definitely be punished, so he could only bite the bullet and beg: "Mom, please let me stay at my uncle's house for a few days. I will definitely be obedient and won't cause any trouble!"

Mrs. Zhang was about to refuse, but Lingling and Wanli came over to speak for Xiao Shitou: "Auntie, just let him go, otherwise we don't know when we will see each other again. Don't worry, it's safe in the army, and we will protect your brother!"

The eldest sister-in-law was a little at a loss, and turned to look at her husband. Seeing this, Aunt Zhang said, "Okay, just go, he is not someone else, it's good to go and get to know his uncle's house!"

Then he turned to his eldest daughter-in-law and said, "Hurry up and prepare two sets of clothes for him. If you delay any longer, he will be late for the bus."

Mrs. Zhang quickly agreed and prepared to go.

The ice and snow on the ground had melted, so the sled was definitely unusable. Brother Zhang and the team borrowed a cart pulled by a donkey and asked everyone to sit on it. The little donkey swayed and pulled the cart towards the bus station.

It was the first time for Little Shitou to go out so far, and he was very excited all the way. Brother Zhang repeatedly reminded him to be obedient and not to cause trouble for his uncle and aunt. Little Shitou responded readily, but it was obvious that he didn't take it to heart.

Seeing that the uncle was about to get angry again, Lingling and Wanli quickly came to his rescue and said, "Uncle, don't worry, we will definitely keep an eye on Xiao Shitou!"

Zhang was so angry that he forced a smile and said kindly, "You two are good kids. Keep an eye on your brother for me."

It was not the first time for Little Stone to see a bus, but it was the first time for him to ride in one. He was curious about everything in the bus and even wanted to sit on the ground, thinking it was cleaner than the ground at home.

Zhang Yuandong quickly pulled the child up and arranged for him to sit next to him.

After the car started, Xiao Shitou looked at the scenery outside the window and was excited for a while. Suddenly, he half-knelt on the back of the chair and asked the person sitting behind them: "Wanli, this car is so fast. Is this the one you took when you came from your hometown?"

Wanli shook his head and answered honestly, "No, we came here by train, which is faster than this one and is very, very long. You can't see the end at a glance."

Little Stone has always believed in Wanli's words. He did not disbelieve Wanli's words just because he had never seen it. Instead, his face was full of longing, and his jumping thoughts had brought him to a magical world and planted a tiny seed in his little heart.

Wang Tingting's stomach might beat at any time, and she needed someone to be by her side, so Lin Yue did not go to pick up the father and his two sons. Instead, Zhuang Jie went to pick them up in a carriage.

Lingling and Wanli have been living in Uncle Zhang's house for more than half a month, and Lin Yue really missed these two children. However, she really didn't expect that Zhang Yuandong would bring back another child.

There were many soldiers in the camp, and walking on the road, you would often meet soldiers on guard duty. They stood straight, and looked very imposing whether standing or walking. They even saluted Zhang Yuandong. Xiao Shitou was exactly the same age as Mu Qiang, and was overwhelmed by the imposing manner of the soldiers, so he walked stiffly.

He wanted to walk more imposingly, and tried to imitate the soldiers by holding their heads high and chests out, but he just couldn't learn it. Zhang Yuandong and Zhuang Jie were walking in front, chatting about the army, and didn't notice what was happening behind them, so when Lin Yue heard the sound and came out to pick them up, he saw Xiao Shitou hunching his shoulders, walking stiffly, and even holding his hands and feet together, which was very awkward.

When they got closer to the house, Lingling and Wanli had already run back and were now leaning in their mother's arms, one on each side, looking very clingy.

Lin Yue had already prepared the meal. She led the group into the house and kept Zhuang Jie at home to eat.

Lingling and Wanli finally came back, and they cooked almost all of their favorite dishes. She asked the canteen's purchasing staff to buy a lot of things for her, including chicken, fish, meat, and eggs. However, she didn't buy any vegetables. The entire H Province had just entered spring, and the vegetables in every household were cabbage and potatoes, and it was almost impossible to buy any other vegetables.

Due to the lack of vegetables, Lin Yue used soybeans instead of cucumbers to make a dish of Kung Pao Chicken, which tasted quite good, much better than she had imagined. She made braised pork with the pork belly bought from the cafeteria, and made fried fish fillets by deboning and dicing carp.

By the way, she also left a little surprise for her two children. The leeks and rapeseed they planted on the kang were edible. She used these vegetables to stir-fry leeks and eggs and stir-fried rapeseed. Although they were simple vegetarian dishes, they were rare green vegetables in this season.

Sure enough, when the two children saw the two green vegetables, their eyes widened and they asked Lin Yue excitedly: "Mom, are these the leeks and rapeseed we planted? Are they ready to eat?"

Seeing Lin Yue nod, the two of them couldn't help but stand up excitedly and wanted to go and see immediately. After being stopped by Zhang Yuandong, they could only sit back in their chairs in disappointment.

However, they had been eating stewed cabbage and stewed meat at their grandparents' house for more than half a month. When they finally got to eat the dishes cooked by their mother, they soon forgot about going to check the vegetables. The two of them and Xiao Shitou fought over the dishes.

Fortunately, the children had not forgotten the table manners that Lin Yue had taught them, so they just ate quickly and did not make a mess of the food.

Lin Yue was afraid that they would have food stagnation if they ate too fast, so he brought up a topic for them and asked, "What fun things are there at grandpa and grandma's house?"

When the three children heard this, they immediately perked up. Aunt Zhang and Uncle Zhang said that the two siblings had never been here and had never seen anything, so they asked Little Stone and a few older children to take them around to play. The adults at home would also take them out to play. Little Stone had seen a lot of things with Lingling and Wanli, so when Lin Yue asked about it, he was as excited as the two siblings and rushed to tell them all the fun things he found during this time.

When Lin Yue heard about the Jiang Zha, he asked curiously, "What is that? How come I have never heard of it before?"

Lingling rushed over and said, "Mom, you don't know, blasting the river is really spectacular. We also saw ice floes running in the river. Those big ice blocks flowed down the river very fast! But because the ice blocks were too big, they stopped flowing down at a certain place. A lot of people went there that day, including many police officers. They used a lot of explosives to blast a path through the ice in the river."

Wanli also said excitedly: "Mom, when the dynamite exploded, it was really loud. The ice and water flew very high. The police kept asking us to step back because they were afraid that the ice would accidentally hit someone."

Lin Yue smiled and said, "Wow, that's amazing! That's great! You can write it down in your diary and call it 'Zha Jiang'. Show it to me the day after tomorrow."

The two children immediately wilted.

Xiao Zhuang and Wang Tingting had been eating their food while the mother and her two sons were fighting. When they heard this, they almost spit out their rice.