Gu Qingqing felt a little sleepy, so the man accompanied her to bed and slept for a while.
After she fell asleep, he lay on his side with his head supported by one hand and stared at her sleeping face for a long time. He reached out to hook the hair on her cheek behind her ear, his eyes full of tenderness.
I couldn't help but want to put my hands on her belly, but after thinking it over, I covered her with the quilt and got up quietly.
Outside in the yard, Shen Sui was bundling the chopped firewood and piling it neatly against the wall for easy access. He moved very slowly for fear of waking up his sister.
Teacher Han gave him half a day off, so he didn't have to go to class in the afternoon. He piled up the firewood and took a knife, hung it on the bamboo tube on his body, and wanted to go to the back mountain.
"Ah Sui." The man's deep voice sounded behind him, "Come here, I have something to tell you."
Upon hearing this, Shen Sui took off the knife and bamboo tube from his body and walked towards the man.
Chu Dai grabbed his shoulder and carried him to the awning. He took him to sit down and looked at him with a blank expression: "Brother-in-law has something to ask you. Your sister is not here. Tell the truth."
Shen Sui hesitated for a moment and nodded.
"What did the man who beat you today say to you?" he asked.
"..." Shen Sui's face was a little shaky. Thinking of what Teacher Zhang said today, that soldiers don't lie, he finally said frankly, "She called me a bastard."
"Well," Chu Dai's veins popped up on the back of his white hands. There was rage in his eyes, but he suppressed it and continued to ask, "Anything else?"
"...She said you shouldn't have saved me, that my sister took me back to raise because she couldn't have children. My sister is such a vicious person and she deserves to not have children..." He closed his eyes and really didn't want to say the rest.
Even if he didn't say it, Chu Dai could guess it. He loosened his clenched fist and looked at him: "Did you hit her because she scolded your sister?"
Shen Sui nodded.
He didn't care at all when people called him a bastard or a disaster. He was used to being called that at his grandmother's house.
He just couldn't stand hearing people say bad things about his sister, so he wanted to tear her to pieces and kill her.
Chu Dai understood what he meant, raised his hand and rubbed his hair, pondered for a moment, and said: "I won't ask those unbearable words, I have something to explain to you first."
The boy couldn't help but stiffen, thinking that his brother-in-law would regret bringing him home and cause trouble for him and his sister.
When he heard today that his sister was pregnant, he felt particularly happy, but then he felt scared.
If his brother-in-law and the others had not arrived in time today, and he had not stopped the woman from beating his sister, he did not dare to think about the consequences.
When he heard that Zhao's brother diagnosed his sister with twins, he felt regretful and guilty.
Chu Dai had known him for such a long time that he could see through his thoughts. He chuckled and said, "What are you thinking? Do you think I will let you go? Stay home and help your sister after school. She is pregnant with your two nephews, so it is not convenient for her to do anything. Don't go to the mountains to chop firewood anymore. There is enough firewood at home. If there is no more, I will go."
Finally, the man said, "Don't listen to the nonsense those people say. Your name is on the household registration at home. Who can reject you?"
"Brother-in-law is not at home, and you are the only man at home. Protect your sister well."
The extinguished light in Shen Sui's eyes lit up again. His black and white eyes stared straight at his brother-in-law and he nodded slowly and solemnly.
He will definitely protect his sister and two nephews.
"Okay, I'm going to the camp. You go upstairs and take a nap. Your teacher has assigned homework, right? I'll check it tonight." Chu Dai stood up and patted his shoulder. "You will always be a part of this family. Don't think about anything messy."
Shen Sui's eyes sparkled. He was still a child after all. He was afraid of being abandoned and losing the warmth he had finally gotten. Now he felt at ease. He smiled, "I remember, brother-in-law. My sister and I will be waiting for you at home."
"And two little nephews," he added.
Chu Dai was overjoyed and ruffled his hair again, "Okay, I'll leave the house to you, little man."
Watching him stride out of the yard, his thin and tall figure disappearing at the gate, Shen Sui hung the paring knife back on the wall with brisk steps and went back to the kitchen.
He weighed the two kettles and found they were not very heavy, so he started putting firewood into the stove to boil water.
Gu Qingqing slept until about three in the afternoon when she woke up in a daze. She suddenly thought of the two babies in her belly and felt a little confused.
She leaned against the headboard and relaxed for a moment, she couldn't help but grin.
very nice.
After sitting on the bed and relaxing for a while, she took out the yellowed photo from under the pillow. Her second brother was smiling like a fool, and Chu Dai's hand was on his shoulder.
The man had sharp eyebrows and sharp eyes, with a look of unruliness and arrogance.
Now it's all smoothed out by warmth.
She brushed her fingers over the photo, smiled silently, and stuffed the photo back under the pillow.
Thinking that there were two pheasants at home that had not been fed yet, she got out of bed, put on her shoes, and wanted to go to the backyard to pick some vegetable leaves.
As soon as I walked out of the living room door, I saw the boy holding a pencil and doing his homework under the awning, his posture straight.
"Ah Sui?" She was surprised and walked over to ask, "Why are you doing your homework here? It's cooler upstairs. Open the window and let in the sea breeze."
Shen Sui shook his head. He agreed to his brother-in-law's request to watch over and help his sister. "I'm not hot."
Gu Qingqing touched the back of his clothes and found that there was no sweat or dampness on it.
"Okay, you continue writing. I have to go feed the chickens. What shall we have for dinner? How about scrambled eggs with chili peppers?" She still wanted him to try some chili peppers.
"Okay." The boy put down his pencil, stood up and said, "I'll go pick them, you take a rest."
Gu Qingqing was happy, ruffled his hair, and put her arm around his thin shoulders: "Let's go together, you go get a basket first."
The big and the small arrived at the backyard. Gu Qingqing was standing leaning against the white fence, with gorgeous wild flowers blooming at her feet, full of vitality.
Shen Sui squatted beside the vegetable patch, which was surrounded by a bamboo fence to prevent pheasants from pecking at the vegetables. He first peeled off a few yellow old leaves for the pheasants that were wandering around, and then began to pick peppers.
The boy turned around and asked, "Sister, do you want green peppers?"
"Pick some of them. It'll look good when you mix the green and red peppers together and cook them." Gu Qingqing said with a smile.
Shen Sui nodded, and his hands moved quickly.
The brother and sister chatted in a random manner. Shen Sui was cold to others and always answered questions in front of his sister.
Gu Qingqing was in a good mood. This place was close to the mountains and the sea, and a refreshing summer breeze blew over from time to time.
It's already early summer and the sun is quite strong. I don't know if it's because I'm used to living by the sea, but I always felt that the wind smelled like stinky socks, but now I can't smell anything.
Shen Sui picked a basket of chili peppers and pulled a few radishes. Gu Qingqing asked him, "What are the radishes used for?"
"Dry the dried radish." Shen Sui heard the hidden meaning: "How do you want to eat it, sister?"
"Let's make pickled radishes! Add some pickled chilies in it, it will taste better with a bit of spiciness." She said without hesitation.
Shen Sui didn't ask why, but just nodded and did as he was told. He returned to the yard, fetched a basin of water, washed the radishes, and then cut them into strips.
Seeing how skillfully he did these things, Gu Qingqing couldn't help but feel distressed.
"Ah Sui used to..." She asked cautiously, "What did you do at home every day?"
The boy did not think much about it: "Cooking, chopping wood, collecting grass to feed the pigs, working in the fields, and washing clothes." The pigs of many production teams were divided up, and each family raised two pigs and submitted a standard at the end of the year.
In a team like the Invincible Production Team, raising pigs is a unified task, and the kids don't earn many work points by cutting grass and feeding the pigs after school.
After hearing this, her heart ached even more, and she looked at the boy with pity in her eyes, "Did Yu Ruan say anything else bad to you this afternoon?" She didn't know that Chu Dai had already asked this question, she just wanted to know what the woman had said to make him so furious.
Shen Sui's eyes darkened, and he glanced at her belly, not intending to tell the whole truth: "You called me a bastard, my brother-in-law shouldn't have saved me, and my sister shouldn't have brought me back."
"It's not about right or wrong." Gu Qingqing's tone also turned cold. "You won't see such a disgusting person on the island again. Ah Sui, you are our child now. You have a family. If anyone bullies you, you can find someone in your family to support you. Do you understand?"
"Okay." Although Shen Sui's face showed no expression, his heart had already been touched.
His mother was not as nice to him as his elder sister was. She did not make new clothes for him or protect him in front of his grandmother.
He overheard his mother and grandmother say that he was a burden and it would be difficult to get married with him in the future.
He was sad about his mother's death, but it was only a temporary sadness. He had endless work to do at home and had no time to cry every day.
Looking at the woman with gentle eyes and brows in front of him, he secretly swore in his heart that he would be good to her and give her the best.
After the brother and sister finished talking, Gu Qingqing went to the kitchen and brought back a pot of kimchi with only a little sour radish left. She used chopsticks to pick out the last half bowl of sour radish strips.
The sour radish was crunchy and had a unique fragrance. She couldn't help but eat them one by one. Shen Sui put the cut radish strips and chili rings in.
"Qingqing!" Bai Tao stood outside the courtyard gate, holding a large bowl in her hand, and shouted.
Gu Qingqing saw the smile on her face and quickly went over to open the door: "Sister Taozi, you're here so soon. I thought you would wait a few days to finish your family affairs before coming here."
"Yu Cheng asked me to come here to apologize to you guys for not disciplining my sister well." She handed the bowl and the plastic bag in her left hand to Gu Qingqing, "This is an apology gift."
"Why are you doing this again?" Gu Qingqing shook her head and opened the plastic bag. She saw a large piece of blue cotton cloth.
"My family asked the captain to buy some cloth from the supply and marketing cooperative. You don't need this. You can take it back. It's just right to make two new sets of clothes for the baby in your belly."
"It's not for you." Seeing her refuse, Bai Tao shook her head and said, "This is for your Shen Sui. You must accept this piece of cloth, otherwise our Yu Cheng will be stabbed in the back by his comrades in the Southern Military Region."
Gu Qingqing was stunned for a moment, then she reacted and turned to the boy, "Ah Sui, take the bowl back to the kitchen, and go make a cup of sugar water for your sister Taozi."
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