Chapter 166: Red and Hot 166: Difficult to Merge the Clearly Distinct Lines...
1974, January 23rd of the lunar calendar.
Tuan Tuan and Niannian have been together for two months. Last night, the men were drunk and crying together. Gu Qingqing still feels upset by the sad atmosphere.
It was past six in the morning and the two children were still sleeping. Chu Dai didn't have to be on duty today, so he accompanied Gu Qingqing in the kitchen to cook breakfast.
The corners of his eyes were still red from a hangover, and he leaned against the kitchen door with his arms around his chest, his head slightly tilted up and his eyes lowered as he glanced at her.
It’s fine to eat anything in the morning, so Gu Qingqing cut some ginger and cooked some preserved egg and lean meat porridge.
Captain Xu Nian asked him to bring twenty-five preserved eggs. He brought ten back and there were five left.
I added some shredded cabbage to make it taste more refreshing.
Gu Qingqing sat by the fire, staring at the porridge in the earthenware pot.
The man didn't say anything, and neither did she. The only sound she could hear was the bubbling of the lean meat porridge.
Behind her was the man's long legs. When he put firewood into the stove, he bent forward and stood up again. The small stool had no back, so it was easy for it to hit his legs.
Chu Dai just looked on indifferently.
"Sister." Shen Sui came down from the building, carrying a schoolbag in her hand: "Would you like some water?"
He hung his schoolbag on the back of the chair, picked up the thermos from the table, poured a glass of water, and took a big sip of the water.
The boiled water from last night is now warm water, which is perfect for brewing tea leaves without loosening them.
"Okay, pour me a cup." Gu Qingqing thought of what Sister Anian had told her, and looked up at the man behind her and said, "I'll take Ah Sui to school later, and you stay at home to look after the babies. They've already been fed, so just make some milk powder when they wake up."
"Yeah." The man didn't ask why. He took the enamel cup handed to him by Shen Sui, took a sip and then gave it to her.
Gu Qingqing was indeed a little thirsty. She drank up the rest of the water and was almost done with the century egg and lean meat porridge.
"Ah Sui, take the bowl and chopsticks to eat the porridge. Sister will accompany you to school later."
Shen Sui was obviously stunned for a moment. There was no need to attend the parents' meeting today. His sister would only send him there every time school started.
Could it be that she heard something?
He looked at his brother-in-law with an inquiring look, but the man just shook his head.
Gu Qinglie forgot to tell Chu Dai about this. He was so angry that the blood rushed to his head and he wanted to rush to the front line immediately. He had forgotten everything else.
Gu Qingqing only had time to take care of this matter today. Chu Dai has been very busy recently, and it is not convenient for her to take the two children out at home.
The family of three was very quiet when drinking porridge. Gu Qingqing, who usually talks a lot, also drank the porridge silently.
After a long while, the man finally spoke: "My second brother said there are some bills under the pillow. They are for you."
"I saw it when I was drying the quilt. It was stored in the drawer of his room." Gu Qingqing put down her chopsticks and said, "Your allowance must be enough. I want to save the money they give me for them to marry wives."
"Okay." Chu Dai finally smiled for the first time today and said, "Second brother certainly didn't expect that it would be my younger sister who would worry about my life-long affairs."
Gu Qingqing sighed, "I don't think either of them has the heart to date or get married, and their family can't control them. You know my eldest brother, even if he says he will never marry anyone in his life, it's not easy to say anything to his face."
Chu Dai drank a mouthful of lean meat porridge and said, "They have their own plans. There's no need to worry about them."
There's no point in being anxious. Gu Qingqing is too lazy to care. Her two brothers have spent too much money on her, so she has to save it for them first.
After breakfast, Chu Dai looked after the two children at home, while Gu Qingqing put her arm around Shen Sui's shoulders and accompanied him to school.
When she passed by Xu Nian's house, she just came out to hang out the clothes. "Qingqing, you're out so early."
"Let's go to the school with Ah Sui. Where's Xiao Yu'er?"
"His father is also on vacation today, so he took him out to play." Xu Nian put down the clothes in his hands and walked to the gate of the courtyard. "Are you going to solve this problem?"
"Yeah." Gu Qingqing rubbed Shen Sui's head, "It's not good to let him be bullied silently. This child is afraid of getting in trouble for his brother-in-law. I know it."
Shen Sui's body stiffened. His elder sister really knew everything. He listened to his two sisters talking in silence, his heart already filled with warmth.
After talking with Xu Nian, she continued walking with Shen Sui, her voice very light: "I remember teaching you before, if you are bullied in school, you should tell your elder sister and brother-in-law when you go home. Did you do it?"
"I'm sorry, sister." He lowered his head and his voice was dull.
"Before, you dared to fight with Yu Ruan, she was an adult. Now, they are just a bunch of children. Why don't you dare to fight? Can't you beat her? Are you scared?"
"..." Shen Sui lowered his head and listened to his elder sister's words. He thought to himself that it was not like that. He fought with Yu Ruan because she said bad things about his elder sister. He did not fight with his classmates because he just scolded him. He knew that the fathers of these military children were his brother-in-law's comrades-in-arms, and he did not want to make things difficult for his brother-in-law.
It doesn't matter if he gets criticized a few times, he doesn't care.
I had heard enough about the death star and the sweeping star at my grandmother's house two years ago, and I didn't feel any commotion at all.
He didn't tell his elder sister before because she was already overwhelmed by taking care of two nephews, and she was also worried about her second brother who was on the front line, and he didn't want to make her worry.
But now he is happy in his heart. Sister cares about him and doesn't want him to be bullied. He can clearly feel that he is valued.
The junior high school is in Building No. 1 in the South District, which can be reached in fifteen minutes at the slowest pace. Gu Qingqing held her breath and walked quickly. Just as the little girl opened her mouth to say hello to her inside the fence, she had already walked to the front.
"Qingqing, what's wrong with you today..." She muttered a few words, and then thought of what Xiaohuan said when she came back a while ago. She let out an "Oh!", pushed open the gate, and hurried to the school.
There were a lot of people at the school gate, all of them were junior high school students, and most of them were children of the second batch of officers and soldiers who arrived on the island.
Gu Qingqing sent the people to the school gate and then remembered that he had no idea who the people who bullied him were. He felt a little upset. Just when he wanted to ask Shen Sui, he heard two children whispering beside him -
"He must be the unlucky one from the Chu family in the North District. My mother said that we should stay away from him if we see him. His father, mother, and uncle are all dead. Maybe the Chu family will be the next one..."
Before he could say a word, someone grabbed him by the collar.
The child who was talking turned around and met a pair of narrow, cold eyes. The boy said with a hint of ruthlessness in his tone: "If you keep talking nonsense, I will cut off your tongue."
It doesn't matter how you curse him, but if anyone dares to curse his sister and brother-in-law, he will do his best to kill them.
Gu Qingqing just reacted now. She didn't expect that the silent A-di would suddenly become so aggressive. She was not embarrassed: "Whose child are you? How did your family teach you? I think your parents' thinking is not up to standard. Ah Sui, don't go to class. Take him to the camp headquarters to let Instructor Jiang see whose child is so vicious."
The child, who was grabbed by the collar, couldn't move. He didn't know where Shen Sui got so much strength from. He couldn't understand why he was so angry today when he had pretended not to hear it before.
He stammered, "No... I'm not the only one who said that. Xiaoxu, Xiaohe and Yingzi all said that. I just followed their lead..."
Gu Qingqing was worried about where to find the person, but now it's easy. She can just ask the teacher for the name and she will know which class the person is from.
She winked at Shen Sui, who understood and grabbed the child by the collar and went to the classroom to find the teacher.
A military wife who was passing by saw what was happening and quickly went to inform people she knew. Soon, a group of parents gathered outside Building No. 1 in the South District.
When Gu Qingqing and Teacher Zhang came out, there were three more children around them.
This teacher Zhang was the teacher who was present when the conflict arose with Yu Ruan. He had heard some of the rumors in the school and educated a few children at that time, but he did not expect that they were still talking behind his back.
"Xiao Xu?! Where are you going if you don't go to school?" A military wife rushed over, grabbed her son's wrist and led him to her side.
Gu Qingqing raised her eyes to look at the burly woman in front of her, and curled her lips: "Sister-in-law, your child bullied my brother in school and said some unbearable things. It's a good thing that you are here. Let's go to Instructor Jiang and talk to him. Let's find out which military region or which corps or which battalion or company commander's family raised this child. Aren't you isolating my child in school?"
"It's just right. Today we have made things clear and see if it's the child's fault or the parents'. In the future, we can avoid associating with military families with ideological problems. Instructor Jiang should also be aware of this matter to prevent any military member from having ideological deviations when carrying out missions in the future."
Her words were really heartbreaking. My burly sister-in-law jumped up immediately like a cat whose tail was stepped on.
"How can you talk like that? You just said a few words. Why are you making such a fuss about it to Instructor Jiang?!"
Xiao He and Yingzi's mother, who came later, chose not to say anything and wait and see what would happen.
In their eyes, Xiao Xu Niang is a firecracker who gets angry easily and has no brains.
Seeing that her fingers were about to poke his face, Gu Qingqing frowned subconsciously, and Shen Sui stood in front of her.
Teacher Zhang was a civilian in the army. He wore a navy uniform and a pair of glasses and looked very gentle.
"Xiaoxu, calm down first." He said in a calm voice, "We just need to go to Instructor Jiang and talk things over. If we are wrong, apologize. Otherwise, it will affect the child's character in the future."
"What could we have done wrong? Teacher Zhang, you are too biased. Do you think that Captain Chu is in a high position and powerful enough that you dare not offend him? Let me tell you, Captain Chu is not the only one who has the final say on the island." Xiao Xun's mother was indignant.
More and more sisters-in-law gathered around, and Xiao Huanniang was getting anxious and worried that Qingqing would be bullied. Her small body standing next to Xiao Xunniang made a stark contrast.
Normally, she had almost no contact with the East and West districts. The sisters-in-law in the North and South districts had harmonious relations with each other. None of them were as gossipy as them and loved to gossip behind people's backs.
Seeing Zhao Ze coming over with his little Yu'er in his arms, and Chen Jiefang beside him, her eyes lit up, and she squeezed out of the crowd, grabbed Chen Jiefang's arm and dragged him over here.
"Hey hey hey sister-in-law, you are affecting my morals!!!" Chen Jiefang was pushed to the front without knowing why, and just after he finished speaking, he saw his sister and Ah Sui.
"What's going on?" This situation looked wrong. The woman whose saliva was about to spray on his sister's face seemed to be the wife of Captain Yu, who was one of the second group of people to arrive on the island.
"My dear!" Chen Jiefang ignored all that and stood directly in front of his sister to block the spit of the military wife who had one hand on her waist and the other holding her child. "Sister-in-law, what are you doing? Just talk properly, don't act like you want to eat me."
Some sisters-in-law couldn't help laughing after hearing this, and Xiao Huanniang also breathed a sigh of relief.
Many soldiers in the army have a ruffian air, especially those in the Construction Corps. They usually have a harmonious atmosphere and speak in a friendly tone, but now they look a bit ferocious.
The sisters-in-law still vaguely remember that it was he who told Captain Yu's sister that there was no rule in the Construction Corps that did not prohibit beating women.
Chen Jiefang was a man who looked very strong. His burly sister-in-law did not dare to confront him head-on, so she turned off the engine and finally followed him obediently to the battalion headquarters.
The people from the Construction Corps were all drunk yesterday, so today was a good time to rest. Some of them had just woken up and went to the cafeteria to eat. They saw another large group of people heading to the camp, so they curiously asked the people next to them, "Sister-in-law, what's going on up there?"
The sister-in-law who was being asked was from the South District. She patiently explained, "A child cursed Captain Chu's brother-in-law as a deadly person who brought bad luck to his parents and uncle. Who knows who will be the next bad luck in the Chu family? Your sister heard about it and asked the teacher to take her to the battalion headquarters to complain. Captain Yu's wife was not convinced and started a commotion."
"Hey!" The people from the Construction Corps were all from the battlefield. They had more tempers than each other and had no appetite for food.
Some people were so angry that their teeth were itching: "He didn't die on the battlefield, but now he is cursed to death behind his back. If my sister is bullied today, we will not be able to say that we are the brothers of Lao Chu and Lao Gu. We should just jump into the sea and die."
He rolled up his sleeves and ran forward angrily.
"What are you standing there for? Let's go!" The others woke up as if from a dream.
The camp headquarters was like a vegetable market today, bustling with people. Jiang Sheng glanced at Gu Qingqing, then at Shen Sui and Teacher Zhang.
He couldn't help but laugh at this familiar combination.
He personally made two cups of tea, placed them on the table, and said leisurely, "Tell me, sister-in-law, what happened today?"
After hearing her words, Jiang Sheng's face straightened a little, "This is no small matter, guard, go call Captain Yu who is on duty."
"yes!"
Today was the day for the second batch of soldiers stationed on the island to take up their shifts. Battalion Commander Yu was at the battalion headquarters and he arrived in just two or three minutes.
"Instructor Jiang." The battalion commander and the instructor are of equal rank, and their ranks will not change until the military base is built.
"Captain Yu, please sit down. Teacher Zhang, please tell him the whole story, otherwise if I let my sister-in-law speak, he will think that we are biased because we are from the Southern Military Region." Jiang Sheng kicked the ball to Teacher Zhang and went to make tea.
Teacher Zhang also figured out something. He said that in a small way, this was a matter between the children of the Chu family and the Yu family. In a bigger way, it was the secret discord and friction between the North and South districts and the East and West districts. It could even be said that it was the clear line between the first batch of soldiers stationed on the island and the second batch of soldiers stationed on the island that was difficult to integrate.
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