Chapter 308 It's Different
It was time for the team to hibernate again. After the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household received food rations, and those who had handed in their pig assignments began to slaughter their pigs one after another.
The same goes for Lu Mingjiang's family.
Every year, the end of the year is the time when money is most plentiful, and it is also the time when people are happiest and most relaxed. However, this year the couple cannot be happy.
At this time last year, there was a whole family at home. Now, there are only the old couple and the girl they brought back from the other side of the mountain.
After slaughtering the pig, I worked for two days. The things that needed to be pickled were pickled, the pork was refined in the pot and put into the jar, and then I started to get busy again.
We need to store firewood for next year, clean the pigpen, and tidy up the private plot. There are only a few days left at the end of the year when we don't have to work, so we have to hurry and do the housework.
Lu Chun'e and Zhou Mingli took a tractor from the county town to the commune, and it was already afternoon when they arrived at the team.
The sun sets early, and when the mountain wind blows, it is not as sharp as that in the capital, but it still makes people feel extremely uncomfortable.
Lu Chun'e had things in both hands and felt a little hot from walking. She stopped for a moment, put the things on the ground and pulled her scarf.
Zhou Mingli said: "Give me another pocket!"
Lu Chun'e didn't move. She took a deep breath and said, "How many hands do you have? This stuff isn't heavy at all. It's just that I haven't carried something this far in a while. When I was in junior high school in the commune, I had to go there early in the morning and carry a basket on my back. In the afternoons, when I came back from school, I had to pick pig grass as I walked and bring back a basket of pig grass."
Zhou Mingli said, "You need to exercise properly. If nothing else, your health will be better. I'll accompany you later."
Lu Chun'e chuckled and looked back at him: "Will you accompany me? How much time do you have?"
Zhou Mingli raised the corner of his mouth. Although his job was very busy, he still had time to spend with his wife.
If he moves up a level, there won't be many missions for him to take on. After getting married, he can follow the army. He can't stay in the capital compound all the time, but he can go to the base with him. His work won't be delayed, and the military hospital there is also a good place to go.
Apart from missions and training, he had nothing else to do, so he would spend the rest of his time with her.
Of course, this is just his personal opinion and he can't say it out loud now.
While her mind was spinning, Lu Chun'e pointed to the end of the path and said, "Just go up through the bamboo forest. It's right next to my house and my uncle's."
Her tone unconsciously became cheerful, and her eyes sparkled with a smile. Without her saying a word, Zhou Mingli could feel her joy at the moment.
On the other hand, he became nervous.
Although I had listened to Lu Chun'e talk a lot about family matters and had a general understanding of them, my inner emotions were still a little unstable.
He had no parents and had come into contact with countless people of all kinds, but the people he had interacted with from the Lu family were different. They were Lu Chun'e's parents, and they would be his elders in the future. He was going to kidnap the girl he had raised for twenty years.
Except that they are not sneaky, their nature is actually very similar to that of "human traffickers".
It looked a bit far away, but it seemed to be here in no time.
Lu Chun'e was walking in front, and just as she reached the top of the step, she called out, "Mom, I'm back!"
It was late, and Lu Mingjiang had not returned from the mountain where he had gone to chop firewood, but Zhang Hongying was at home.
Smoke was coming out of the chimney above the kitchen. Zhang Hongying was cooking in the kitchen. Helping to light the fire behind the stove was the girl that the couple had exchanged for, whose surname was Cui and whose name was Cui Qinghong.
Zhang Hongying has not felt at ease for a moment during this period. She has been crying at every turn since Lu Donglin ran away. It has been more than half a month and she is still like this.
He was frighteningly thin, with red eyes, as if he had some disease.
Hearing Lu Chun'e's voice, the spatula in his hand paused for a moment, then hurried out.
Looking at the person who had already entered the yard, she even reached out to wipe her eyes: "Chun'e? Why are you back?"
Seeing her like this, Lu Chun'e's nose suddenly felt sore. It felt like she had only been gone for a year, and the person before her seemed to have aged several years. The few white hairs she had were almost invisible, but now there were many more. She was skinny, as if she hadn't eaten a full meal in a long time.
"It's vacation now, so I'll be back soon."
After that, he introduced her: "Mom, this is my boyfriend, Zhou Mingli."
Zhou Mingli had his hands full, so he could only nod and say, "Hello, Auntie. My last name is Zhou Mingli. I'm dating Chun'e." He looked calm on the outside, but he was already beaming with joy in his heart.
This was the first time he heard Chun'e say that he was her boyfriend.
Zhang Hongying was slightly startled, then looked Zhou Mingli over and forced a smile: "Zhou, Zhou, Xiao Zhou! Very good, very good." As she spoke, she helped take the object from his hand and pretended to complain to Lu Chun'e: "You child, how can you be so ignorant? Why did you let Xiao Zhou carry so many things by himself?"
Carrying a big bag on his back, a bag on his shoulder, and holding something in his hand, it's quite spectacular.
Zhang Hongying took a look at the coat he was wearing and the leather shoes on his feet, turned around and took him to the room where Lu Dongping and others used to live. The outside of that room was similar to the main room, so she put the things on the table over there.
I wanted to greet Zhou Mingli, but I opened my mouth and didn't know what to say.
In fact, there is no need for her to ask, Lu Chun'e can do it on her own.
"Mom, are you cooking? I can smell the fragrance."
Zhang Hongying nodded hurriedly: "Yes, I'm cooking. I didn't know you were coming back, otherwise I would have slaughtered the pig a few days later. I have stewed heart and lung soup in the pot, just in time for you to come." She was actually not in the mood to clean up these things, but she couldn't let those things go to waste. They were delicious things that were hard to eat all year round.
Lu Chun'e smiled and said, "That's great. Let's go to the kitchen and warm ourselves by the fire. It's quite cold outside."
"Oh, yes, you ask Xiao Zhou to go to the kitchen and warm up by the fire."
The three of them left the house and went to the kitchen opposite.
Cui Qinghong stood up from behind the stove and looked at the person who came in. He was dressed in fancy clothes and she had never seen him before. She felt a little at a loss.
Lu Chun'e was stunned for a moment: "Mom, what is this?"
Zhang Hongying said happily, "This is Donglin's daughter-in-law, her surname is Cui, and her name is Cui Qinghong." After that, she looked at Cui Qinghong and said, "This is your sister, and this is, her boyfriend, Xiao Zhou."
Cui Qinghong pinched the corner of her clothes and shouted, "Sister!" Her eyes then fell on Zhou Mingli. She took a look and then quickly lowered her head.
Lu Chun'e didn't respond. The smile on her face faded little by little. She looked away from her and walked to the fire pit beside her. She sat down and said, "Donglin's wife? When did Donglin have a wife? He is only nineteen this year and not old enough to get married and get a marriage certificate!" It's not that she is making trouble for Qiao. Lu Donglin is her brother. If her brother doesn't acknowledge her and is unwilling, then she can't respond to the call of "sister".
Cui Qinghong called out to Lu Chun'e, but Lu Chun'e didn't respond.
Don't even mention what Cui Qinghong was thinking. Zhang Hongying herself was already feeling annoyed: "Qinghong called you, why didn't you respond? You're a kid who goes to school, but how come the more you study, the less polite you become?"
Lu Chun'e said, "I do want to be polite, but the problem is that it depends on who you are with. How old is Lu Donglin? How come he already has a girlfriend? I haven't seen you write a letter or send a telegram to tell me, but now that I'm back, people are calling me sister. If I don't come back this year, will people call me aunt when I come back next year?"
Zhang Hongying immediately became furious. "How can you talk like that, kid! You've gone to a big city, don't you know how far away it is from us? Your father and I, both illiterate and blind, how could we possibly write to you? You're talking about a lifelong event, and as your parents, don't our word count? Do we still need your approval? You're a university graduate, but I think you're different now?"
Lu Chun'e thought about her brother running out in the cold, and thought that there might not be any news from him yet, so she couldn't suppress the anger in her heart.
"Okay, I was wrong. Where's Lu Donglin? Did he go up the mountain to chop firewood?"
Zhang Hongying was suddenly speechless.
Lu Chun'e knew that the person had not returned yet.
It's been so long since they've been going back and forth. Where has this person gone? Has anyone in his family ever thought about it?
He ran away and left his own child alone, leaving someone from another family to live in his home. Is he possessed by a ghost or something else?
Considering Zhou Mingli's presence, she gritted her teeth and didn't argue with Zhang Hongying, pretending that she didn't know about it.
He stood up and said, "It's still early for dinner. I bought some things for my uncle and aunt. I'm going to take a look around over there first and take Zhou Mingli over to meet someone."
Zhang Hongying also stood up: "Ah, I'll go with you!"
"No, I'll take him there, you go ahead and do your thing."
Zhou Mingli also stood up: "Auntie, Chun'e and I are going out."
Zhang Hongying didn't say anything. She just stood there blankly watching them leave the kitchen. She always felt that Chun'e was different from before. In just one year, she seemed like a completely different person.
Lu Chun'e went to Wen Wan's room, and the tears that she had been holding back for a long time suddenly rolled down.
She has never lost her temper or said anything harsh to her family members since she was a child. Her personality can be said to be really good, which is rare.
But today, she couldn't suppress the anger in her heart.
"I haven't been back for a year. Even though I knew Lu Donglin ran away because of these things, I still wanted to come back and ask them slowly. But when I heard her call me 'Donglin's wife', I couldn't suppress my anger. Her son ran away and we didn't know whether he was dead or alive. Why did he run away? Doesn't she have any idea? How can she say that to others? If Lu Donglin really doesn't want this to happen, and they keep him at home, wouldn't that be equivalent to telling Lu Donglin never to come back in this life?"
Zhou Mingli sighed and reached out to wipe her tears. "Alright, there's no need to rush this. Take your time. You did a great job just now. We can go to your uncle first and maybe find out what's going on. Your uncle might know what they don't want to tell you."
"Hmm!" Lu Chun'e sniffed and sorted out the gifts she had bought.
Two bottles of wine for Lu Minghai, and some cloth for Gao Xiulan. I had a good relationship with Hu Qingqing when I was at home, so I brought her a pair of leggings. She can't wear them now, but in the spring, young female comrades in the capital all wear them, paired with windbreakers and skirts, which look particularly good.
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