Chapter 137 News from the Army

Although they all lived in the same commune, Zhai Qingsong only found out the village where Hu Laosan lived.

After entering the village, Zhai Qingsong asked a fellow villager at a house at the entrance of the village and found out that Hu Laosan lived in an adobe house at the inner part of the village.

"Are you Zhaodi's father? I saw the child go to school this morning. You can come to my house and wait for her to finish school. The village primary school finishes early." The simple villager learned that the Zhuang Jiahan in front of him was Zhaodi's former father. He sympathized with Zhai Qingsong's situation and enthusiastically invited him into the house for tea and wait for Zhaodi to finish school.

These days, everyone in the village has been talking about Hu Laosan's second wife behind his back. He knew it would take at least two hours to walk from Hongmei Village. He looked at the net bag that Zhuang Jiahan was holding in his hand like a treasure, and knew that he must have come to deliver something to Zhaodi.

Since Liu Xiangqin divorced him, Zhaodi no longer studied in the private primary school next to Hongmei Village, but transferred to a village primary school very close to their village.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, brother..." Zhai Qingsong felt embarrassed to trouble his fellow villager at first, but seeing how enthusiastic he was, he had no choice but to wait for Zhaodi at his home.

It was already after noon, and the couple from the same village treated Zhai Qingsong as a guest.

At noon, we steamed some corn dumplings and boiled sweet potatoes at home and invited him to have lunch with us.

The enthusiasm of the couple from the same hometown made Zhai Qingsong feel a little warm in his heart.

Not long after lunch, a group of primary school students were returning from school with their schoolbags on their backs on the road at the entrance of the village.

"He's back!" The fellow heard the children chattering outside and hurried out to see if Zhaodi was there. He immediately saw Hu Zhaodi among a group of children and said, "Zhaodi, your father is here to see you."

When Zhai Qingsong followed him out of the main hall, his steps suddenly became stiff and his mouth trembled, "Zhao, Zhaodi..."

When he saw his daughter's original long braids, he found that her mother had cut them off at some point, leaving her with only a boy's hairstyle. She was still wearing the same old cotton jacket, and the outer coat was now shiny with dirt.

Zhai Qingsong felt uncomfortable. He strode into the group of children and went straight to Zhaodi.

"Zhao Di! Dad came here specially to see you. Look, Dad bought you some candy. You must be hungry. Eat one first."

With trembling hands, Zhuang Jiahan took out two candies from the net bag and stuffed them into his daughter's dirty little hands under his daughter's strange gaze.

"Dad, did Hu Laosan see you?" Zhaodi peeled a candy and put it in her mouth. In the expectant eyes of a group of children, she stuffed it into her mouth and wrapped it. Suddenly, the sweet candy overflowed her mouth. She raised her face that was a little chapped from the cold, and said, "Hu Laosan said I can't recognize you."

"Look, he cut off my braids. He also said that if I eat anything secretly in the future, he will beat me."

Zhaodi pointed at her boyish hairstyle and said with a numb expression.

"Zhao Di! Daddy is sorry for you. You have suffered so much..." Zhai Qingsong's eyes were moist. He slowly squatted down, hugged his daughter, and choked up, "Wait until Daddy and Uncle San go to the army and earn money, and then come to take you home."

When some children saw Zhaodi eating candy, they took two steps forward and asked, "Zhaodi, ...is the candy sweet?"

Zhaodi was a little proud, with a candy wrapped in her little mouth, "It's very sweet, my dad bought it for me."

Zhaodi's long hair was very beautiful when it was loose, and no one knew whether it was cut off by Hu Laosan. Looking at the hair on her head that looked like it had been bitten by a dog, Zhai Qingsong felt aggrieved. He was such a big man but he couldn't protect his daughter.

Zhai Qingsong felt it necessary to go to Hu Laosan's house and say hello to the two adults. If they dared to abuse his daughter, he would fight them to the death.

Holding Zhaodi's hand, Zhai Qingsong sent Zhaodi directly home.

Along the way, the men, women, old and young in the village saw this scene and realized that it was Zhaodi's former father who had returned, so they all followed to join in the fun.

Before reaching Hu Laosan's house, Liu Xiangqin saw Zhai Qingsong holding Zhaodi from a distance.

She immediately ran down the hillside, rushed in front of the father and daughter, and shouted: "Zhao Di! Who told you to recognize this man?"

She pulled Zhaodi away from Zhai Qingsong's hands and protected her behind her, as if her ex-husband owed her something, and her eyes were as big as cow's eyes with anger.

Zhai Qingsong suppressed his anger and said, "Liu Xiangqin, it was you who insisted on taking Zhaodi away. Now you've only been married here for a few days and you cut Zhaodi's braid?"

"If you can't take care of the child, let Zhaodi go back to Zhai's house with me."

"You're talking bullshit! Get away from me."

"…If I ever hear that you and Hu Laosan abused my daughter, I will not let you go." This was probably the first time that Zhai Qingsong had such a ferocious look in his life. He handed the net bag over and said, "Here are the candies I bought for Zhaodi. I tore off a few feet of cloth. You can use it to make her a new dress."

At this time, more and more villagers gathered around. Liu Xiangqin wanted the things in her ex-husband's hand, but she couldn't take them because of the relationship.

"Zhao Di, take it."

Zhai Qingsong walked over, handed the things to his daughter, gently stroked her tender little face, turned around with red eyes, and left without looking back.

Today is the farewell between father and daughter.

If he could follow his third brother to the army, he would not be able to see his daughter for a long time in the future. This was the child he raised, and it was natural for him to feel reluctant to see her being taken away suddenly.

On the way home, Zhai Qingsong felt hatred for his ex-wife Liu Xiangqin for the first time.

After Zhaodi followed her mother to remarry, she not only changed her surname to Liu, but that damned Hu Laosan even cut off Zhaodi's braid.

He didn't know how he got back to Hongmei Village. When he passed by the stream, he walked under the bridge, sat down and quietly wiped his tears.

Over the past ten years, he and Liu Xiangqin had laughter, quarrels, cold wars, and finally divorce... Despite the bumps along the way, his feelings for women have not changed.

Sitting alone by the river, looking at the endless flow of the water, thinking about every little thing that happened over the years, for a farmer like him who is not good at speaking, he finally couldn't hold back his tears and cried while sitting under the bridge.

Someone discovered the eldest son of the Zhai family sitting under the bridge crying, and soon someone ran to the Zhai family to inform the third son, Zhai Ximo.

"Didn't elder brother go to look for Zhaodi? Didn't he see Zhaodi?" Zhai Ximo was shocked. He could understand the pain of his elder brother missing his daughter, but the more so at times like this, the more he should be given some space alone.

The villager who came to tell the third boy the news suddenly realized, "No wonder your eldest brother was sitting under the bridge crying alone. Alas, Zhaodi's mother is also cruel. Zhaodi is not her child, but she insisted on taking the child away even after the divorce. Zhaodi is your eldest brother's life."

Zhai Ximo hurried out of the yard and saw from a distance a person sitting under the bridge at the entrance of the village. It was his eldest brother.

"Don't call him. Let him cry. Maybe he'll feel better after crying."

That evening, when it was already dark, Zhai Qingsong returned home.

I didn't see him go to the kitchen to cook. When he got home, he went back to his room, closed the door and went to sleep.

Seeing his elder brother in so much pain, Zhai Ximo became more determined to take his elder brother with him to the army. If he left him in his hometown, the villagers would gossip about him to some extent, and no one knew what he would do.

…

That night, Chen's house.

Chen Pingping was very angry. When she thought that Wang Zonghao might really not want her, she became completely panicked.

After all, in this era, if you sleep in the same bed with a man before the wedding banquet, you will be criticized by the villagers and you will never be able to hold your head up for the rest of your life.

"I will go to the city to find Zonghao tomorrow. I must ask him everything clearly and see if he dares to say in front of me that he will not marry me..." Chen Pingping cried bitterly at home. This matter also shocked her elder sister who was married in the town. She returned to her parents' home in the evening to inquire what was going on. Seeing that her younger sister insisted on going to the city to find Wang Zonghao to get to the bottom of it.

Her sister was also very angry, "Wang Zonghao just found a job in the county town. If you go there and make a scene like this, will the armed forces continue to let him work as a cook there?"

"What were you doing earlier? Are you anxious now? If you go to the county town and cause trouble, he will lose his job and you will be the one who suffers."

Chen Pingping's mother wanted to strangle Wang Zonghao, that bastard, for daring to say such nonsense as not getting married.

"Listen to my sister. As long as you have the green mountains, you will never be short of firewood. After you get married, no one will dare to help you if you take revenge on your man." Her sister gave Chen Pingping advice.

Because the Wang family refused to buy them a pig and even made a joke about not getting married, Chen Pingping's mother was so angry that she refused to eat or drink for three days.

On the fourth day, no one from the Wang family came to seek reconciliation or show any intention of saving the marriage.

She said to her daughter Chen Pingping: "That bastard Wang Zonghao, you won't buy us a pig, right? I'll make him pay on the wedding day."

"Mom, do we have to borrow money to buy a pig?" Chen Pingping was at a loss after being yelled at by her mother. In addition, her sister who went back to her parents' home also advised her not to go to the city to find Wang Zonghao and ruin their relationship. She and Wang Zonghao could not meet, and could not discuss the important matter of holding a wedding banquet.

"Just watch. I want him to return every penny of the money that our Chen family borrowed to me on the day of his wedding." Chen Pingping's mother swore with a distorted face.

Wang Ziru was too lazy to care about her brother's marriage, so she didn't go back to Longwang Village for many days, waiting for her man to follow the army.

After waiting for another two weeks, Zhai Ximo became anxious, so he went to the county armed forces department with Zhang Kang and made a long-distance call to the military cadre department.

Upon inquiry, Officer Liu from the Civil Affairs Department replied: "We have received your and Zhang Kang's applications to accompany the army, but the leaders are having a hard time now."

"Is there no vacant house in the family compound?"

"To tell you the truth, there is only one vacant house in the family compound that we have investigated. It is the one where Cadre Huang and his family lived before. It is a small suite with a living room and bedroom. However, if you move in, you will have to pay the army 3 yuan per month."

When Zhang Kang heard that there were no extra houses in the family compound, he immediately grabbed the microphone and asked, "If I bring my partner to the army, will there be no place for him to live?"

“That’s what I mean.”

Originally, when Zhai Ximo was promoted to deputy regiment commander, the army assigned him a separate dormitory.

Now that he intends to take his wife and children with him to join the army, he can only live in a small two-bedroom apartment in the family compound, which has two bedrooms and a living room.

This house in the family compound was originally occupied by a retired cadre and his family.

Last month, the old cadre couple returned to the countryside to retire. The house became vacant and became the target of several military wives in the family compound.

After discussion among the military leaders, it was decided to temporarily allocate the empty house to Zhai Ximo's family. However, due to the large area of ​​the house, the leaders stipulated that whoever moved in would have to pay an additional 3 yuan per month.

It can be regarded as a way to balance the dissatisfaction of other people in the family.

A few days later, when Zhang Kang was about to get married to Zhu Yan, Zhang Kang and Zhai Ximo officially received a reply from the army, allowing Zhang Kang to get married. However, as the army was temporarily unable to arrange for his new wife to accompany the army, he had to wait half a year to decide whether to do so or not.

Zhang Kang hurried to his father-in-law's house and told his fiancée Zhu Yan about it.

Hearing that there was only one house in the army's family compound available for military officers to live in, Zhu Yan envied Wang Ziru for being able to return to the army with a man.

Seeing Zhu Yan's depressed face, Zhang Kang was unwilling to part with his newlywed wife, so he took her hand and said, "Let's go to Hongmei Village to find Lao Zhai! Their family has been allocated a suite, why don't we live together for a while."

"It's not convenient for two families to live in one house. Besides, we just got married." Zhu Yan felt a little uneasy when she thought about meeting other men when she went to the army every day.

"What are you worried about? I'll take you to the army first, and then we'll apply for a separate house from the army depending on the situation." Zhang Kang took Zhu Yan to Zhai's house without saying anything.