Yu Jingqiu sat on the edge of the bed, took her daughter's hand and said, "Mom came here to see you and my grandson, not to disturb your lives, otherwise I, as your mother-in-law, would be annoying."
"Mom, if anyone dares to complain about you, I'll kick them out," Feng Mingshu said confidently, holding her mother's arm.
Yu Jingqiu tapped her daughter's pretty nose: "Look, you've developed a temper. It seems I made the right choice in choosing a son-in-law; he's spoiled you so much that you've become spoiled."
Feeling embarrassed by her mother's words, Feng Mingshu changed the subject and asked, "Mom, are you getting along well with Uncle Li? Are his family members easy to get along with?"
Although they corresponded every month, and the letters described the kindness of the Li family, including the three Li brothers whom Feng Mingshu met today as honest and lovable, Feng Mingshu still wanted to ask.
Just like she wrote in her letter that she was doing well and that her pregnancy and delivery went smoothly, her mother still rushed over immediately after receiving the letter, worried.
Seeing the worry in her daughter's eyes, Yu Jingqiu gently patted her grandson's blanket and replied with a smile, "Your Uncle Li is very good to me. Life over there isn't as hard as I imagined. It's a bit cold in winter, but the kang (heated brick bed) is very warm. Your Uncle Li and the others are good hunters, and they catch something every few days. We always have meat at home. Xiaoyu and Xiaoxue have both gotten quite plump. I was thinking of having them take some photos in the county and bring them to you. But after seeing the photos, they changed their minds, saying they've gotten too fat and they want to wait until they lose weight before taking new photos and sending them to you..."
Hearing this, Feng Mingshu couldn't help but laugh: "It's good that they're a little chubby, I don't mind. But we can't let them starve to death, otherwise they'll miss their growth period and be shorter."
Yu Jingqiu couldn't help but laugh: "You don't need to worry about that. With their grandma watching over them, they'll only be stuffed and never go hungry."
"What kind of person is Grandma Li? Is she easy to talk to?" Feng Mingshu asked again.
"Grandma Li, she is somewhat like your own grandmother, but she is more open-minded than your own grandmother."
The mother and daughter were chatting about their lives, while the four people who were kicked out for a walk caused a minor commotion in the residential compound.
"Commander Zhou, is this your nephew? He's quite robust."
Many of the older women couldn't resist pinching the arms of the three boys. The three Li brothers weren't shy at all, laughing and letting them pinch them, their little mouths sweetly calling them "Auntie" and "Sister-in-law".
It wasn't until a woman asked them how old they were and if they were engaged that they realized they had a daughter who was about the same age as them.
The three brothers were a little confused. Li Dapang, the eldest brother, waved his hand first and refused: "Sister-in-law, you misunderstand. I am only sixteen years old and not an adult yet. My second and third brothers are even younger and can't be married yet."
"You're all over 1.7 meters tall and you're still not adults?" The older women were somewhat incredulous.
Li Dapang scratched his head sheepishly, glanced at his brother-in-law, and said, "My cousin is only nineteen. I'm three years younger than her. You can calculate how old I am."
The older women burst into laughter, saying to Zhou Jinshan, "So Teacher Feng is so young! Commander Zhou, you're like an old cow eating young grass!"
Commander Zhou, who was being teased, didn't even blush: "I was lucky."
After saying that, he took the three boys away and went straight to Commander Tong's house.
Aunt Tong was also very happy to see the three boys. She took out the candies she had prepared for the New Year and offered them to them. The three boys politely declined and stood in the yard like three poplar trees, except that these poplar trees were particularly strong.
Commander Tong looked out the window at the three boys in the yard and nodded with a smile: "They look like soldiers, just a bit too young."
Zhou Jinshan quickly explained, "Commander, I didn't come here to ask you to open the back door. I just took the three boys out for a stroll, and they just happened to wander over here."
Commander Tong snorted: "You little brat, you're acting all innocent after getting the benefits. Believe me or not, I'll kick you out and make you stand at attention with them."
Zhou Jinshan, knowing when to stop, thanked them and led the three bewildered boys back home.
In the military, there's never too much good talent.
His mother-in-law brought the three of them to the island, perhaps just to let the Li family's children go out of the courtyard and broaden their horizons, but Zhou Jinshan couldn't just do nothing.
Within two days, the boys and girls in the family compound were gathered together for drills, and the three boys from the Li family were thrown in.
This training lasted for almost half a month. Relying on their strong bodies and the strength they had gained from eating meat all year round, the three boys from the Li family quickly stood out among the group of child soldiers.
Yu Jingqiu sent a telegram to the parents of the three boys, explaining the situation. They replied quickly, telling her, as their fourth aunt, to take charge of the three boys' affairs.
So the three brothers stayed on the island. In the following two or three years, the three brothers joined the army one after another, but in the end only Li Dapang became a navy officer and stayed on the island, while the other two brothers went to a certain army unit.
Of course, that's a story for another time.
Back to the present, Yu Jingqiu stayed on the island for about half a month before leaving.
When it was time to part, Feng Mingshu couldn't hold back and jumped onto the ferry to see his mother off to land and then to the train station, still reluctant to separate from her.
Yu Jingqiu took out a comb from her bag, helped her daughter redo her hair, and then placed the comb in her hand, saying, "Zhuzhu, go back. Your child and husband are still waiting for you on the island."
Feng Mingshu actually understood everything. She even figured out why her younger siblings hadn't come this time. It was just a constraint, leading them back to their own lives.
"Mom, please take care of yourself," Feng Mingshu said, hugging her mother tightly.
Yu Jingqiu's eyes also welled up with tears. She gently patted her daughter's back and said, "You too."
After the hug, Feng Mingshu stood on the platform watching her mother board the train, drive away, and until she could no longer see her, she turned and returned to the island.
The moment she arrived on the island, she saw Zhou Jinshan and rushed towards him without hesitation, but stopped in time. The two shook hands restrainedly and then let go.
After returning home, the couple looked after the child in the old lady's room, then went back to their bedroom, closed the doors and windows, and drew the curtains, as the wind and rain intensified.
...
When the train arrived at the station, Yu Jingqiu got off with her luggage and was immediately hugged by the twins.
A tall, slender man walked up to her, took her luggage, and smiled, saying, "You're back."
Yu Jingqiu noticed the bloodshot veins in the man's eyes, reached out and took his hand, smiling, "My wife and child are here, of course I had to come back."
The man's eyes lit up, and he opened his mouth to say something, but his son beat him to it.
"Mom, isn't my little nephew handsome? Does he look like his uncle?" Li Mingyu asked excitedly.
"My little nephew definitely looks like his sister. I look like my sister, so he must look like his aunt!"
"He looks like me! My nephew is a boy, so he'll definitely look like his uncle!"
"You're so stupid, if your little nephew is like you, your sister will cry her eyes out."
"Li Mingxue, your mouth is getting more and more venomous! I'm going to tell my sister!"
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