"That's quite a coincidence," Zhang Wenming said with a smile, looking at Xing Zhaozhao with a hint of doubt in his eyes. "However, I heard that Sister-in-law Xing's eldest brother is in the same unit as the second brother of the Gao family, and they are currently on the front lines in the south. Sister-in-law Xing should be with the army, so why did she go back to Beijing?"
He glanced at Xing Zhaozhao's stomach.
He had heard about why Xing Zhaozhao was sent back to her hometown by Gao Mingcheng.
"Is she like Sister Xing?"
“No, not at all,” Xing Zhaozhao said. “However, my brother also has two mischievous boys at home. With my brother away, my sister-in-law can’t take care of them all by herself, so she went back to her parents’ home in the capital.”
She gave Zhang Wenming a perfunctory reply, then looked at Hao Xiuning beside her and said, "You two have fun. The kids are waiting for me at home. I'm going back now."
"Okay," Hao Xiuning replied with a smile, "Take care on the road, sister-in-law."
"Okay," Xing Zhaozhao replied, waving her hand at them, then quickly waving again.
Zhang Wenming watched Xing Zhaozhao's departing figure and narrowed his eyes slightly.
For some reason, he felt inexplicably uneasy.
Hao Xiuning suddenly nudged him lightly with her elbow.
Zhang Wenming snapped out of his daze and looked over with a smile: "What's wrong?"
Hao Xiuning glared at him and said, "From now on, don't mention her sister-in-law's family in front of Sister Xing."
Zhang Wenming raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's wrong? Are you two not getting along?"
Hao Xiuning pursed her lips, considered for a moment, and said, "Well... it shouldn't be that bad. However, that sister-in-law comes from a good family. Before, when Sister Xing had just married Brother Gao, she came to the village once, and she seemed a bit difficult to get along with."
Upon hearing the words "of noble birth," Zhang Wenming immediately put all his doubts aside, his mind filled with thoughts of whether there was a chance to establish a connection since they were both from the capital.
Then he kept pressing Hao Xiuning for details.
Hao Xiuning didn't know much either.
Zhang Wenming gave up regretfully because he couldn't get anything out of them.
Back home, Xing Zhaozhao gave the small wooden gun and toy airplane that Hao Jianguo had made to Hongfei and Hongyu.
The two little ones were overjoyed. Each of them took one and chased and played around in the yard.
"Mommy, can we go out and play?" Hongyu's little face was flushed as she ran up to Xing Zhaozhao, looking at her with bright eyes, and asked.
Xing Zhaozhao could tell from the expression on his face that he had a new toy and wanted to run out and show it off.
Back when he was in the army, he often did this kind of thing, and inevitably he would get into a group fight.
Hongfei stood to the side, not saying a word, but looking at Xing Zhaozhao with anticipation.
Before Xing Zhaozhao moved from the Gao family to the mountain with her two children, the two little ones had plenty of playmates, whether in the army or in the village, so they were probably lonely.
"Go ahead," Xing Zhaozhao said, waving her hand. "If anyone dares to hit you, remember to fight back. Don't lose and embarrass your father."
"Okay," Hongyu replied, took her brother's hand, and quickly disappeared from sight, her cheerful laughter still audible from afar.
Xing Zhaozhao couldn't help but smile upon hearing this.
The two little ones went out and played all day, and didn't even come back for dinner.
Judging that they had probably gone to the Hao family for a free meal, Xing Zhaozhao didn't go out to look for them, since they certainly wouldn't go hungry.
It was getting dark when the two little ones returned. Sure enough, they had eaten at Hao's house. They both had some bruises on their faces, so it looked like they had been fighting. But they only had minor scratches. Judging from their smug expressions, they probably didn't lose.
Xing Zhaozhao brought them water and used it to wipe their faces.
"You fought?"
The two little ones nodded in unison.
"You won?"
The two little ones nodded again.
"How many did you hit?"
Both little ones held up one finger.
Xing Zhaozhao raised an eyebrow slightly: "Just one? Who is it?"
"Gao Jiabao," the two little ones said in unison.
Gao Mingzhi's eldest son.
Xing Zhaozhao learned that the other children in the village had been beaten into submission by Hongfei and Hongyu before, and this time they brought fun toys, so they all lined up to play with them, except for Gao Jiabao.
Gao Jiabao had never fought with the two boys before and didn't know how tough they were. When he saw that they had brought some fun toys, he got jealous and tried to snatch them. No one would agree, so he surrounded them and gave them a good beating.
At home, the Gao family, whose eldest grandson Gao loved the most, were still detained by the police for causing trouble. His mother, Chu Hongmei, had just gone back to her parents' home. His father, Gao Mingzhi, was nowhere to be found. Gao Mingyi and his wife, the third son, were there, but since it was just a children's fight, and Gao Jiabao had always been favored by his mother, they pretended not to know anything.
No one stood up for him, and the chubby boy cried loudly at home, but no one paid any attention to him, and things have remained peaceful until now.
Xing Zhaozhao thought that the Gao family had learned their lesson after the previous two experiences and that was why they hadn't come, so she didn't take it to heart and took her two children inside to have dinner.
The Gao family.
When Chu Hongmei returned from her parents' home, she saw that her beloved son's face was covered in red and blue marks, and his voice was hoarse from crying. She felt both heartache and anger: "What happened to you, Jiabao? Who hit you? I'll go and settle the score with him."
Although he was beaten up by a group of people, Gao Jiabao held a grudge against two of them: "It was Gao Hongfei and Gao Hongyu. They had toys but wouldn't let me play with them, and they bullied me with the others."
Chu Hongmei's expression stiffened for a moment.
She had witnessed Xing Zhaozhao's fierceness firsthand.
However, women are inherently weak, but become strong when they become mothers.
She is Jiabao's mother. If she doesn't stand up for her son when he is wronged, does she deserve to be a mother?
Chu Hongmei, her face grim and seething with anger, quickly went to the kitchen, grabbed a fire poker, and rushed out the door.
Gao Mingzhi happened to be coming back from outside and bumped into him.
"What are you doing? Rushing to be reborn?" Gao Mingzhi glared at Chu Hongmei.
When Chu Hongmei saw her husband return, she seemed to have grasped at a straw and immediately grabbed him: "Your son has been bullied, aren't you going to do anything about it as his father?"
Gao Mingzhi was furious upon hearing this: "Which bastard dares to bully my son?"
“It’s Gao Hongfei and Gao Hongyu,” Chu Hongmei said.
"Gao..." Gao Mingzhi's initial enthusiasm vanished instantly, and he shoved Chu Hongmei away. "Have you lost your mind? Mom and Dad and the Liu family are still in jail at the police station. Are you going to cause trouble for Xing Zhaozhao because you're not comfortable staying at home?"
Chu Hongmei's heart skipped a beat, but after glancing at her son who was looking at her expectantly, she quickly regained her composure: "You coward, you can stand by and watch your son suffer, but I can't."
After saying that, she stormed up the mountain.
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