Chapter 125

Accompanied by the chirping of cicadas and birds, the footsteps of summer are gradually approaching, and the college entrance examination is coming with it.

This year, many children in the family courtyard are taking the college entrance examination, and their parents are naturally nervous as well.

They were sitting at the desk practicing calligraphy, looking outside from time to time. Seeing students who had just finished their college entrance examination passing by, they put down their pens and ran out.

"Sister Qingqing, have you finished the exam?"

Lu Qing looked relieved. No matter what, she finally finished the college entrance examination.

"The exam is over!" There was a smile on his pretty face, and his eyes were so dazzling that people couldn't take their eyes off him.

"Oh, you're going to be a college student in the future?"

Dunzi and Hengheng were just walking over. The voices arrived before they even showed up.

Lu Qing looked up at him, with a gleam in his eyes, "I will definitely be able to get into university."

"You're quite ambitious." Dunzi gave her a thumbs up.

Hengheng, as a person who has been through it, offered to help. “If you have any questions about estimating your scores or filling out your application form, you can ask me.”

"Thank you."

Since they were all from the same compound, they naturally had some revolutionary camaraderie, and a group of children clamored to go play.

Jian Lu stood at the gate of the courtyard and took a look at the half-finished calligraphy of the girl in the room. The breeze blew, making the homework paper rustle. The lonely pen lay quietly on the table, its little owner had already run out to play.

Aunt Wang went to the yard with a basket of vegetables, preparing to dry some radishes. She heard the noises of children outside and asked her daughter-in-law.

"Have you finished the college entrance examination?"

Jian Lu turned around and helped her mother-in-law to choose, "The exam is over, Shuangshuang went out to play with Dunzi and Qingqing."

"It will be soon. In a few years, we will both take the college entrance examination." Aunt Wang is looking forward to having another college student in her family.

"That's something we have to wait for." Jian Lu always felt that it was still a bit far away. "By the way, Mom, isn't Yuanbao taking the college entrance examination today? Can you give me a call and ask?"

"Oh, look at my memory!" Aunt Wang quickly put down the food in her hand and went to the living room.

This year, Yuanbao, the eldest son of Cheng Zheng’s second brother Cheng Liang, also took the college entrance examination. As the first grandson of the Cheng family to take the college entrance examination, he was naturally highly valued.

Uncle Cheng Zheng has promised to reward him with a pen and ten yuan if he is admitted to university.

The family's telephone was installed in the living room, and Aunt Wang already knew how to use this rocker phone.

"Hey, Nianjun, it's me, Cheng Liang is at work. How did Yuanbao do in the exam?"

"Yuanbao, it's grandma. How did you do in the exam? Was it okay? It's good! It's pretty good..."

The phone call lasted four minutes, and Jian Lu also chatted with her sister-in-law, mainly sharing her experience in estimating scores and filling out applications.

At night, Cheng Zheng came back from the army and thought about his nephew's college entrance examination. He listened to his mother's explanation of the situation.

"Yuanbao did well in the exam, you should prepare some rewards for others."

"Of course I will give it to them, no matter what their grades are." Cheng Zheng ate his food. "Lulu, when the time comes, you will go with me to choose. You will pick these. When they receive the acceptance letter, they will also receive the pens."

"Okay." Jian Lu agreed readily.

The couple went to a department store to choose pens and also prepared some special products to send back.

A month later, Yuanbao received a call from his hometown, saying that he was admitted to a university in the north.

"Great!" Cheng Zheng, as the eldest son of the Cheng family, was very happy to hear the news. His father would be pleased if he knew that Yuanbao could be admitted to the university. "Yuanbao, study hard in the university. Come here and talk to your brother Yuanbao on the phone."

Shuangshuang was lying on the side "eavesdropping". When she heard the words, she immediately reached out to take the receiver and congratulated him sweetly, "Brother Yuanbao, you are so great. You got into college!"

After hanging up the phone, they turned around happily and said, "Brother Yuanbao passed the exam, and Sister Qingqing must have received the acceptance letter as well."

Universities across the country send out acceptance letters at different times, and due to different distances, transportation times also vary.

Lu Qing's acceptance letter arrived two days later. The gatekeeper received the envelope from the postman, registered it, and then delivered it to the individual.

Lu Qing finally got the envelope with the sender written on it being the Admissions Office of S City University. He was overwhelmed with emotion and just as he was about to open it, the envelope in his hand was suddenly snatched away.

"My acceptance letter!" Lu Qing turned around and saw that it was some of the naughtiest boys in the family compound who took his envelope from behind and pretended to want to take a look at it. "Yang Dekai, give it back to me!"

When Lu Qingbao received the admission letter, he immediately became anxious and wanted to snatch his admission letter back from him.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Yang Dekai and two other teenage boys said nonchalantly, "We didn't pass the college entrance examination, so can't we enjoy the sight?"

As I was about to open the envelope...

"Don't open my envelope!" Lu Qing was worried that these people might be clumsy and damage the admission letter, which would affect his registration.

“Give it back to Sister Qingqing!” Shuangshuang couldn’t bear to watch it anymore. How could these people be so mean?

"No!" Yang Dekai was fat and strong, and he was a little overbearing because he was the son of the army chief of staff. "Will you die if you take a look? If you keep whining, I might tear up your acceptance letter because my hands are shaking~"

Two younger brothers beside him started to make a noise, "That's right, you guys should be quiet. If the acceptance letter is damaged, it can't be blamed on us."

"You!" Lu Qing's eyes turned red with anxiety. She looked at the opened envelope and saw her cherished acceptance letter being pulled out by Yang Dekai. Her heart tightened, fearing that he had damaged it.

"Oh, you were accepted by a university in S City. That's great~" There was a sour taste in his words.

"Be careful, don't ruin it."

"What are you afraid of? Let's just appreciate it carefully~" Yang Dekai held the thin acceptance letter in his hand with a sly smile on his face. He was even happier to see Lu Qing looking angry and anxious but not daring to step forward.

Lu Qing watched the flesh on his face trembling as he held his acceptance letter in his hand to torture himself for fun. The people he had met in the past appeared in front of him again. They were also like this, with ugly faces.

When Yang Dekai made a move to tear a hole, Lu Qing was so shocked that he took a few steps forward...

"Don't tear up my acceptance letter!"

Just as Lu Qing finished his words and Yang Dekai raised his lips in triumph, he felt a heavy kick on his butt, and he fell to the ground in pain.

With a thud, it hit the ground heavily.

"What did you eat to grow up? I didn't teach you enough before, did I?" Dunzi retracted his foot, strode towards him, picked up the admission letter from the ground, dusted it off, turned around and handed it to Lu Qing.

"Here."

Lu Qing looked at his acceptance letter, then glanced at Yang Dekai who was lying on the ground, his heart beating rapidly.

My throat was a little tight and I couldn't even say thank you.

"Liang Jingyi!" Yang Dekai was a little slow to react, and immediately yelled back, "It's you! What does it have to do with you if I look at the admission letter? Are you looking for a fight?"

"I think you are looking for a fight!" Dunzi glanced at him coldly. He had never seen such a disgusting thing. He was twenty years old, but he just stayed at home all day long, eating and waiting to die. He also liked to make trouble in the family compound and only knew how to bully others.

How could Yang Dekai stand such humiliation, he rushed over to fight with Dunzi, but he didn't know that he was an embroidered pillow that looked good but was useless, with a fat body but actually very weak. Dunzi punched him directly and knocked him down with his feet.

Lu Qing stared at the scene in front of him, almost terrified, "Dunzi, stop hitting me."

Shuangshuang beside them was also very excited, "Brother Dunzi is awesome! Great fight!"

The farce was eventually brought to the attention of the parents. After the three people involved finished speaking, each of them had their own reasons. Finally, the parents asked Shuangshuang, the only person who was present but did not participate.

Shuangshuang's writing has been getting better and better. She is good at telling stories. She immediately described the scene at that time in vivid detail, emphasizing that Yang Dekai wanted to tear up Qingqing's sister's admission letter.

Chief of the General Staff Yang has a high position, but he also has to maintain his dignity. Now that his three children all say that his son is not guilty, and he is well aware of his son's usual temper, he still took everyone to apologize to Lu Qing.

Liang Haisheng didn't agree with his son fighting, but helping others was another matter. For the first time in his life, he praised him, and Dunzi was so overwhelmed by what he heard.

"Dad, please stop praising me. My ears can't take it anymore."

"Virtue you!"

Lu Qing was in a state of turmoil today, not knowing whether to be happy about being accepted or worried about the farce.

She had just been asked by her mother, and she was worried about getting hurt in the conflict. Before she left, she was worried that Dunzi would be implicated by her. She still remembered that a few years ago, a group of boys in the yard had a fight and were beaten when they returned home. At that time, Shuangshuang told her that Dunzi's brother was beaten by his father.

Lu Qing plucked up the courage to find Liang Haisheng.

"Uncle Liang, Dunzi, he beat people up just to help me." Lu Qing held the admission letter in his hand, his nails digging into his palm, feeling the burning gaze from the side, and continued, "Don't blame him, it's my fault if you have to blame him."

Liang Haisheng didn't expect that the daughter of Captain Lu would come to him so seriously to plead for mercy. He laughed a few times, "Lu Qing, go home with your mother and prepare for college. Dunzi was brave and righteous in what he did. I won't blame him."

"Okay." Lu Qing finally felt relieved after hearing this, "Thank you, Uncle Liang."

She turned her head to look at Dunzi standing next to her, and her eyes met his dark eyes. She whispered, "Thank you."

Dunzi watched Lu Qing leave holding her mother's hand, and recalled how this person had just anxiously pleaded for him with Lao Liang. He raised the corner of his mouth and thought, how could this girl be so "stupid"? How old is she, and how could she still be beaten by Lao Liang?

A slap hit him on the back of the head. Dunzi cried out in pain and covered his head, "Dad, how could you be so cruel to your son?"

"How dare you say that? Look at the girl, she got into college!" Liang Haisheng sighed, "Why can't there be a college student in our family? I am so miserable. My only son is not doing well."

Dunzi looked at Lao Liang who was shaking his head and walking back to the house, "Dad, you are not a college student yourself, so we two grandfathers should just be the eldest brother and not the second brother!"

"You still call me brother, right?" Liang Haisheng turned around and was about to kick his son, but Dunzi dodged with a smile, ran upstairs and returned to the house.

Liang Haisheng stood downstairs, looking at his door, and cursed with a smile, "Little bastard."

=

After the excitement of the college entrance examination passed, several more children left the family compound. The college students all reported to school, and Shuangshuang also became a first-year junior high school student.

Junior high school is different from elementary school. The difficulty of each course increases sharply. Both of them are doing their homework at the table. They can only feel that it is fortunate that they are smart and can learn well.

Hearing this, Cheng Zheng, who was passing by, stopped in his tracks. He had never realized that his young lady was so narcissistic before.

"You are such a conceited person."

Shuangshuang looked up at her father and nodded at him, "Dad, please pour me a glass of water. I'm doing my homework and can't leave."

Cheng Zheng was being called around by his daughter-in-law at home. Sometimes the daughter-in-law was busy with her studies and wanted to drink some water, and sometimes she asked him to help pass her an egg cake. Her hands and mouth were never idle.

Holding the lady's enamel cup, Cheng Zheng made her a cup of maltose, "Come on, let's replenish our brains and learn better."

"Wow! Dad, how did you know I wanted to drink something fragrant?" Shuangshuang curved her eyebrows and happily took the enamel cup and drank it. Malted milk is the most fragrant.

Ding ding ding

The phone in the living room rang. Shuangshuang immediately put down the enamel cup in her hand, rushed to the sofa, bent one leg and pressed it on the armrest of the sofa, shouting, "It must be my mother calling." Then she answered the phone.

"Hello, Mom... Hey, are you looking for Captain Cheng?" Shuangshuang turned her head to look at her father, "Are you looking for Comrade Cheng Zheng? Oh, yes, you dialed correctly, he is my father, I'll let him answer the phone."

Cheng Zheng walked to the phone and listened to the lady confirming herself with someone and calling her Comrade Cheng Zheng. He raised the corner of his mouth, pinched her cheek, and warned her with his mouth - how disrespectful!

"Hello, this is Cheng Zheng." He put the receiver to his ear and then spoke.

They both returned to the dining table in the living room and continued to do their homework.

He wrote a few words, sighed, put down the pen and counted the days. In October, his mother went out of town with Aunt Xiujuan, saying that she was going to contract something. She didn't hear clearly, but she said she would be back in half a month.

On the calendar on the living room wall, they circled the date ten days ago and counted the days together, missing their mother.

"Okay, you arrange for Hu Tou to come over, and I'll send someone to pick him up then."

After Cheng Zheng hung up the phone, he returned to his study to prepare for the enlistment.

Three days later, Shuangshuang returned home from school. When they reached the door of their house, they suddenly found a strange boy in the house. He looked a few years older than them, and was estimated to be 17 or 18 years old.

"Come here, Shuangshuang. This is your brother Hutou." Aunt Wang raised her hand to greet Shuangshuang and then introduced Hutou, "This is your uncle Cheng's daughter, Shuangshuang, who is now in the first grade of junior high school."

"Hello, Brother Hutou." Shuangshuang didn't know this person, but she still greeted him obediently. Then she saw Hutou also greeted her shyly.

What surprised them even more was that this tiger-headed brother actually stayed in their home that night.

"Grandma, what is that tiger-headed guy doing? Why is he living in our house?"

Before going to bed, they knocked on grandma's door and slipped in like a little fish.

"Hu Tou is the son of your father's former comrade-in-arms. He lives in our hometown. He has joined the army now that he is old enough."

"Oh, so that's how it is." Shuangshuang remembered the appearance of the brother just now. It turned out that he was here to serve in the army. "Did he come alone? His hometown is so far away."

In the past few years, Shuangshuang has returned to his hometown several times with his family. However, due to the long distance, it takes six or seven days to go back and forth by train, which is really not easy. Shuangshuang has a deep impression.

"Yes, he came here by train alone."

"Didn't his parents send him here?"

Aunt Wang touched Shuangshuang's head and said, "His father has passed away, and his mother is in her hometown and it is not convenient for her to travel far away. Hutou is a very sensible child."

Sacrifice? Shuangshuang blinked, trying to understand the meaning of these two words.

——

In the study room on the second floor, Cheng Zheng and Hu Tou were sitting on the sofa and chatting.

"When I first met you at your house, you were only eight years old, right?"

"Yes, Uncle Cheng, I was young then, but now I'm grown up."

"Not bad. He's tall and strong." Cheng Zheng looked at the child. He was the son of his deceased comrade-in-arms. He lost his father when he was born, but he always wanted to be a soldier like his father.

"Live here for a while and treat it as your own home. Once you have completed the enlistment process, I will arrange for you to join the recruit company. If you pass the training, you will be under my command."

When Hu Tou heard that he could work under Uncle Cheng, his eyes lit up, "Uncle Cheng, I will definitely train well!"

"Yeah." Cheng Zheng patted the child on the shoulders twice.

——

Jian Lu returned home from City B. She arrived home exhausted but found that her home had changed a lot.

The little boy she had met that year actually passed the conscription test and came to find Cheng Zheng. She was surprised and happy.

"Tiger Head, right? Do you still remember me?"

Hutou patted her head and greeted her shyly, "Remember, hello Aunt Lulu."

"Oh, you are amazing. You will definitely be a great warrior in the future."

When Jian Lu and Cheng Zheng first returned to their hometown, they made a special trip to visit Hutou's family and gave them subsidies. Hutou's family was poor, so every year, they remitted money to them, saying it was a martyr's subsidy issued by the state. Hutou was also ambitious, and he wanted to inherit his father's legacy and become a warrior to defend his country.

At home, Jian Lu and Aunt Wang both felt sorry for the child. They cooked a lot of seafood for him and bought him two new sets of clothes.

Hu Tou was a bit shy, and after refusing several times, he could no longer refuse, so he had to accept it. When he signed up for the army and entered the recruit company, he received his first month's five-yuan allowance, and he went out to buy two pounds of pork and sent it to his door to express his gratitude.

Jian Lu looked at the fat and slippery pork on the chopping board and said to her mother-in-law with emotion, "Hutou lost his father when he was young, but his family taught him very well."

"That's not true. He's lived with us for a few days and has been very well-behaved. It's not easy for this child." Aunt Wang washed the pork and prepared to roast winter melon and braised pork.

As she spoke, Jian Lu thought again of Shuangshuang's behavior over the past few days.

I peeked out of the kitchen and found that the young lady was following Cheng Zheng like a tail again. What was going on?

"Mom, what's wrong with Shuangshuang recently? I just went out for a while, and she's been so attached to her dad."

Aunt Wang was stunned. "Ah? Is there?"

She didn't notice anything.

In the living room, Cheng Zheng was pouring water, holding the thermos and pouring boiling water into the enamel cup filled with tea leaves. After being soaked in the boiling water, the tea leaves gradually became soft, stretched out, and exuded a faint tea fragrance.

When he turned around, the lady was behind him again.

"Girl, why are you here? Aren't you going to do your homework?"

Shuangshuang shook her head, then nodded, "Dad, are you going on a mission soon?"

Since Cheng Zheng was promoted to deputy brigade commander, he has seldom been on missions, and at most he has participated in exercises in order to give young people more opportunities and experience.

"You haven't been out lately, what's wrong?"

"Oh, OK!" Shuangshuang smiled like a flower when she heard that her father was not going to do the mission. She was very happy and kept muttering, "It's good that he is not going to do the mission."

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Cheng Zheng looked at the girl who was happily skipping back to do her homework, and was confused. "What are you talking about?"

The couple both noticed their daughter's recent abnormality. After a conversation at night, they thought that the daughter was hiding something from her family.

Jian Lu was worried that her child was being bullied at school, so she immediately became unable to sit still. She lifted the quilt and prepared to go to the girl's room to ask. She even stopped Cheng Zheng and told him not to come over while the mother and daughter talked.

Shuangshuang was lying on the bed with her legs raised to the sky. She had been feeling very upset and tormented recently. When she heard the knock on the door, she asked, "Who is it?"

"Your mother~"

"Mom, come in..."

It was a rare occasion for the mother and daughter to lie on the same bed again. Jian Lu was relieved to see her daughter, who had grown a lot taller. However, she was a little worried because her daughter, who had always been cheerful, suddenly seemed a little depressed.

It is said that raising a child is not easy and you have to pay attention to it all the time.

"Shuangshuang, tell mom how you are doing at school recently."

"It's pretty good." Shuangshuang blinked her big eyes.

"So what's wrong with you recently? I feel like you're not very happy. Did someone bully you? No matter what happens, you can tell your parents and grandma. We'll always stand by you, okay?"

"Mom~" Shuangshuang heard what her mother said and suddenly threw herself into her arms, hugging her tightly with both hands. When she looked up again, her eyes were red.

Jian Lu was immediately startled. Could it be that something bad had really happened? She patted her daughter's back gently and said, "Bao'er, tell me what's going on slowly. Don't cry."

Shuangshuang sniffed, shook her head, and asked in a hoarse voice, "Is Dad in danger?"

"Dad? Why is Dad in danger?" Jian Lu didn't know why the topic suddenly turned to Cheng Zheng.

“Dad…” Shuangshuang twitched for a moment, then tried to speak, “Dad is a soldier. He has to go on missions and fight bad guys. It’s very dangerous… Brother Hutou’s father died. I asked Hou Xiaobao, and he said that many soldiers died in battles and missions. Sacrifice means death, and they will never come back. I’m afraid that Dad ...

The tears fell one by one like pearls from a broken string, and the fair little face was all tear-stained. The tip of the small nose was red, and the eye sockets were filled with tears. The crying made her throat unclear, and she spoke with sobs, which made people feel uncomfortable.

"Why did you think of this?" Jian Lu didn't expect that her daughter would be upset about this matter. Her heart ached and she hugged the child tightly and said softly.

"Dad will be fine, don't worry."

Shuangshuang had never heard of anyone sacrificing their father, nor had she seen anyone missing in the family compound. This time, when she saw Hutou who had lost his father, she realized for the first time that someone’s father could sacrifice himself and never come back.

She felt sorry for Brother Hutou, so she gave him a lot of food when he left. She was also worried about her father, asking him every day if he was on a mission. She was relieved when she heard that her father could not tell her the mission.

She was so scared, afraid that her father was missing too.

Cheng Zheng originally thought that his wife had gone to have a private conversation with the young lady, so he wanted to come over to see what was going on. After all, the young lady had been acting strangely recently.

As soon as he reached the maid's room, he heard a crying sound like a cat. What was going on?

"What happened?" Cheng Zheng thought of many reasons as he walked in. "Did someone bully us?"

No matter who it is, if he makes his daughter cry, he will definitely seek justice!

Jian Lu shook her head at him and explained a few words to him. Cheng Zheng listened to his wife talking about the topic of sacrifice and looked at the crying girl. His heart felt like someone had grabbed and rubbed it, and it felt sore and soft.

"Come, let daddy see." Cheng Zheng had been in the army for decades, but he never thought that a little girl would cry and ask him not to carry out the mission because she was worried that her father would not come back.

With her little face wrinkled and a tear falling from her eyes, she looked at her father who stretched out his hands and immediately held her in his arms.

Daddy’s chest was broad, and he lifted her up gently. She hugged his neck tightly with both hands and sobbed, “Dad, I don’t want you to go to war, I don’t want you to go on a mission… I don’t want you to not come back, wuwuwu.”

Because she had been crying, Shuangshuang's voice was nasal, but one of her words made Cheng Zheng's eyes red. He was a tough guy with a soft heart, and the little girl in his arms was holding his heart and rubbing it repeatedly.

"Dad will be fine. Did you forget how great he is? No matter what, he will come back."

"Really?" She looked at her father with wet eyes, and the tears on her eyelashes trembled.

"Really? Dad is a soldier. I promise you, I will never break my promise."

"Okay." Shuangshuang stretched out her hand and bent her pinky finger. "Then Dad, let's pull the hook and hang ourselves. Don't change it for a hundred years."

It was the first time that Cheng Zheng played a childish game, stretching out his little finger and playing hook with the girl.

"Okay, stop crying. Your face has become a stained cat." Cheng Zheng wiped the girl's cheeks, but the more he wiped, the stained cheeks became more stained.

Jian Lu looked at the father and daughter, and felt both sad and warm in her heart. She took out her handkerchief and said, "Come on, wipe your face."

"Mom, you have to stay with me all the time." Shuangshuang stretched out her hands again and was embraced by her mother. Usually she always said that she was a big child, but now she seemed to be back to the age of three or four. She couldn't help but act coquettishly with her mother. She had to confirm one by one, "And grandma."

"Okay." Jian Lu didn't expect that the young lady at this age would already be thinking about these things. Looking at the young lady's serious eyes, she smiled slightly and stroked her forehead gently, "Don't worry, Dad, Mom, and Grandma will definitely always be with you."

"Okay!" Shuangshuang nodded, now she felt relieved, her parents would not lie to her. After wiping her face clean, Shuangshuang blew her nose, and her father poured hot water to wet the towel, and she washed her face obediently. Her little face became red and puffy, and even when she spoke, she still had a nasal sound after crying. She tilted her little face up and patted the bed, "Mom and Dad, you can sleep with me tonight."

Jian Lu could no longer remember the last time the three of them slept in one bed.

The two were in the middle, with the father on the left and the mother on the right. Her thin arms were holding each other's arms, and she was sleeping peacefully.

At night, Shuangshuang had a dream. In the dream, they grew up, while their parents' hair turned gray and they became old.

I cook and pour water for them just like my parents did to me when I was a child. When I was a child, my parents held my hands and took me out to play. In my dreams, I support my parents when they go out.

As soon as I woke up, I immediately looked at my parents. It was great that I was still the same age and my parents hadn't grown old either.