It takes most of the day to take a train from the military region where Gu Qingbei is located to the headquarters.
Gu Qingbei had already asked for leave, but he didn't expect Jiang Mengxue to come. Fortunately, it was not difficult for Gu Qingbei to buy a ticket on the spur of the moment.
There were two soft seats by the window. Since the journey was not far, we did not buy a sleeper berth.
When they got on the bus, there were already two people sitting opposite them, a middle-aged woman with short, capable hair and a little boy of three or four years old.
"Chenchen, sit inside. Grandma will give you some candy."
The middle-aged woman looked at the people coming and going outside and worried that it was not safe for her grandson to sit outside.
The little boy named Chenchen looked at Jiang Mengxue curiously, tilting his head and staring at her without blinking.
Through chatting, I learned that the child's grandmother was named Wang Zelan, and she was also going to the army to visit relatives. Her destination was the same as Jiang Mengxue's.
"That's a coincidence. I see your man is also a soldier. Is he here to pick you up to join the army?"
Wang Zelan was looking at her grandson while chatting with Jiang Mengxue. Gu Qingbei went to the restaurant to get some hot water and had not returned yet.
"Well, we're planning to spend the New Year with my in-laws. My husband's unit is in our recently-disturbed city. Are you guys coming from your hometown too?"
"That's right. My son and daughter-in-law are busy with work, so I went to help take care of the child after they got married. The child has never seen his grandfather since he was born. Now that he is older, I brought him here to see his grandfather."
"Sister, here's some candy for you."
Chenchen took the candy given by his grandmother in his hand, carefully placed it on the table in front of him and handed it to Jiang Mengxue.
Jiang Mengxue's heart melted when she saw his smiling face. Even though she didn't like children very much, she couldn't help but feel soft inside now.
"Thank you, Chenchen. I don't like candy, so you can eat it yourself."
Chenchen doesn’t understand why some people don’t like to eat candy, but they still have to peel off the candy wrapper and put it in their mouths.
When Gu Qingbei came back and learned that Wang Zelan and the other two were traveling with them, he looked at the child's face in front of him, and remembered that his surname was Li. He immediately thought of the military district chief of staff Li Jizhong. He had met him once a few years ago. At that time, his son had just been married for a few months, and his wife went to take care of his pregnant daughter-in-law. The person in front of him should be the one.
But after all, we just met on the train. Although we chatted for a few minutes, we didn't trust each other too much, so we didn't talk in detail.
Before dark in the afternoon, several people got off the train together. Wang Zelan had a lot of luggage, so Gu Qingbei helped carry it down.
From a distance, I saw a military vehicle waiting.
Several people walked to the military vehicle together and saw a soldier looking around, obviously looking for someone.
Seeing Gu Qingbei and his group coming over, he asked uncertainly, "Are you Gu Qingbei? I'm Commander Gu's guard. I'm here to pick you up, but you have to wait. Chief of Staff Li asked me to pick up his family as well."
Ge Huajun was in a difficult situation. Chief of Staff Li Can did not give him much information. He just said that his wife was taking care of her three or four-year-old grandson. How could he find him?
"Is the Chief of Staff Li you're talking about Li Jizhong? I'm his wife."
Wang Zelan, who was standing by, was very angry.
I haven't seen them for a few years. Not only did I not come to pick them up in person, but they also just rode other people's cars.
But this matter has nothing to do with others, and Wang Zelan certainly won't be ungrateful if she wants to take someone else's car back.
"Then I'll trouble you."
Ge Junhua felt very embarrassed, as this was what he should do.
"It's not a problem. Chief of Staff Li has been quite busy lately and had to go out for a meeting early this morning. He wanted to come pick you up himself, but he had to go to a meeting this morning, so he had to let me come."
Gu Qingbei helped put the luggage away, while Jiang Mengxue and Wang Zelan sat in the back seat with Xiao Chenchen.
Chenchen swayed all the way and fell asleep in Wang Zelan's arms.
Jiang Mengxue's back ached from sitting for nearly two hours before she reached the headquarters.
The conditions in the headquarters are much better than those in other military regions.
Although it is late now, the lights in the office are still on.
The soldiers on guard will check your identity before letting you in, and the management is much stricter.
The car drove inward until it stopped in front of a yard.
"This is the family compound for the headquarters leaders. The commander lives in the left courtyard, and Chief of Staff Li lives in the right courtyard. I wonder if they've returned yet."
He must have heard some noise outside, as footsteps were heard coming towards the gate.
"Xiaobei, Xiaoxue, you're here. I waited all afternoon and thought you wouldn't come today."
It turned out to be Luan Huiying, Li Cuiying, and Gu Zhenjiang. They were still wearing aprons and their hands were covered with flour. It was obvious that they were still preparing food. They came out when they heard the noise outside.
"Mom, Second Uncle and Second Aunt."
Luan Huiying walked over and happily took Jiang Mengxue's hand: "Okay, okay, come in quickly, the noodles have just been rolled out. Xiao Ge, come in and eat together, Lao Gu should be back soon."
As she spoke, she saw Wang Zelan getting off the car holding her child, obviously not knowing that she was there too.
"Lao Wang, you're here too. Let's go to my house and have something to eat. Lao Li should be back with my Lao Gu."
Luan Huiying was not very familiar with Wang Zelan. After all, Wang Zelan left the headquarters not long after she arrived.
In addition, although Gu Zhenhai is the commander of the military region on paper, he is mainly responsible for some secret experiments in the west. This is the main reason why he came here.
Otherwise, with his military rank, he should be holding an important position in the central government now.
Wang Zelan hugged Chenchen and smiled awkwardly. She felt too embarrassed to bother him anymore, but Li Jizhong hadn't come back yet and she didn't even have the key to the house.
Moreover, considering that Li Jizhong has lived alone for many years, he probably doesn’t even have cooking utensils at home. When he comes back, the canteen will probably be closed.
"Thank you so much for your help. Please come and pick us up when Lao Li comes back."
"Hey, what's the trouble? We're cooking right now, come inside first."
As soon as Ge Junhua entered the house, he went to the kitchen consciously. His usual duties were to protect and take care of Gu Zhenhai's daily life, including food and clothing.
However, Gu Zhenhai has more than one guard around him. Whenever he goes out, he is accompanied by several people to protect his safety.
According to Gu Qingbei's level, he should have a guard around him, but he had been on a mission before, and the previous guard had been transferred. The next guard would probably come to report after he returned.
After entering the house, Luan Huiying asked Wang Zelan to put the child on the bed first, as they were already tired after sitting in the car all the way.
"Xiaoxue, are you tired from the journey? The conditions at Xiaobei's unit are terrible, there's no family compound, and it's just a bunch of rough guys. Are you having trouble eating and sleeping there?"
As a military doctor, Luan Huiying has been to all the military hospitals in the western region, including the military region where Gu Qingbei is located.
Each military region has a slightly larger military hospital, but each brigade is also equipped with a military medical department with dozens of people. Patients will only be sent to the military hospital if there are major problems, and usually they can be handled in the military medical department.
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