Zhao Yuanyuan was riding her bicycle back from the supply and marketing cooperative when she saw from a distance Zhang Guoqing, accompanied by a tall soldier, heading down a small alleyway, led by Grandma Wang from the neighborhood committee.
Zhao Yuanyuan was about to catch up when she suddenly realized it wouldn't be convenient for her to go forward as a girl. She rolled her eyes and came up with a plan. She went home to hand the things to her mother, and before she could react, she hurriedly rode her bike to the neighborhood committee.
After arriving at the location, she inquired and learned that Aunt Wang was with a father-in-law and son-in-law looking at a house at the Armed Forces Department. Zhao Yuanyuan was overjoyed and secretly pondered how to help them buy a house as soon as possible.
Zhao Yuanyuan rode her bike around slowly and didn't meet them, but she met her father Zhao Dashan.
"Zhao Yuanyuan, what are you doing? You look so shifty. Tell me, are you looking for me, your dad, or what are you planning to do?" Zhang Dashan was curious about his daughter because she usually didn't come to the workplace.
When Zhao Yuanyuan saw her father, she casually put her bicycle in the corner, rushed over and hugged him, complaining, "Comrade Zhao Dashan, you really make me sad. How can you say your daughter has shifty eyes? Have you ever seen such an excellent comrade as Comrade Zhao Yuanyuan, with her thick eyebrows, big eyes, and upright face?"
Zhao Dashan patted her forehead. "Okay, stop being so funny. What brought you here? Do you know anyone here?"
"Dad, I just saw Zhang Guoqing and the soldiers looking at a house. Before I could say a few words to him, he disappeared. I asked the lady at the neighborhood committee and she said it was a father-in-law and son-in-law looking at a house. They're in this house, so how can they not find it?"
Zhao Dashan thought about it and realized that Professor Liu's small courtyard was the only one for sale nearby. If he guessed correctly, Zhou Jiao's father, Zhou Xiaozheng, had already returned. He also happened to be looking for Zhang Guoqing.
"Do you want Jiaojiao to come live in the county? I can find someone by following your dad."
Zhao Dashan and Zhao Yuanyuan stood at the door of Professor Liu's house. After knocking on the door, Zhang Guoqing's voice rang out from inside, "I'm coming, I'm coming. Wait a moment."
Zhang Guoqing came out and looked over. "Hey, uncle, how did you know I was here? Come in quickly, my father-in-law is in here too."
Zhao Dashan nodded, and when he saw Zhou Xiaozheng inside, he stared at him excitedly and immediately stepped forward to salute.
Zhou Xiaozheng quickly returned the greeting. He narrowed his eyes, then suddenly realized something. He pointed at him and said, "Are you Zhao Dashan from the XXX Regiment? The bad boy under Commander Ma who always stole melons? When did you retire? And where's your closest friend, Da Niu? Zhao Dashan? Oh, right, are you the Zhao Dashan, the Minister of Armed Forces that Xiaowu mentioned?"
Zhao Dashan looked at him excitedly with a silly smile, "Brother Zheng, are you still alive? We missed you so much. It's great that you are still alive. Does the provincial capital know that you are back?" As he spoke, he walked forward and hugged Zhou Xiaozheng tightly.
"We missed you so much. I'm Dashan. I didn't expect you to remember me. I was wondering why Zhou Jiao's father was also called Zhou Xiaozheng. I thought you were from Beijing. Da Niu died. He never came back when our group went out that year." After saying that, he released his grip on Zhou Xiaozheng. "Brother Zheng, come to my house and have a drink this time. No one can take you away."
"I just arrived at noon today. I have to have a good talk with my daughter when I get home. My wife and I will come here for a drink after we finish cleaning up this place in a couple of days. How about that?"
"No, you're a serving soldier, how can you have so much vacation time? Brother Zheng, you're really efficient! In just this afternoon, you've already bought the yard. Are you preparing this for Xiaowu and his wife?
By the way, this is my daughter. She's a friend of your Jiaojiao's. This girl saw you buy a house and insisted on finding you to persuade you to buy it so she could visit Jiaojiao. Zhao Yuanyuan, this is Zhou Jiao's father. You should call him Uncle Zhou.
Zhao Yuanyuan stared at Zhou Xiaozheng with wide eyes, curiously saying, "Uncle Zhou, you are the soldier king my dad mentioned, and you are also Jiaojiao's father. So you are the same person?"
Zhou Xiaozheng smiled and nodded, then turned to Zhao Dashan and asked, "How is it? Still red pepper?"
Zhao Dashan laughed heartily. "Doesn't she look like her mother? If her mother sees you, you'll never be able to leave my house. Yuanyuan, ride your bike to Zhangjia Village and tell Jiaojiao and your Aunt Zhou that I took your Uncle Zhou and Xiaowu home. Come back later tonight."
Without waiting for Zhou Xiaozheng to refuse, Zhao Yuanyuan ran out and rode away on her bike. Zhao Dashan hurriedly asked them to put away their things and go to his house to meet Hong Lajiao first. If Hong Lajiao saw him, she would probably be overjoyed.
Zhao Dashan dragged Zhou Xiaozheng and Zhang Guoqing home. Before they even entered the yard, Zhao Dashan's loud voice called out, "Hongli, come out and see who's here?"
"Who's here? Look how happy you are." Before the figure appeared, someone responded loudly from the inner room. A middle-aged woman wearing an old patched cotton-padded jacket that had been washed white, and dressed neatly, came out in a hurry with a basket in her hand.
She looked up at the person who had come, wondering who could have made Old Zhao shout so happily? Suddenly, the basket in her hand fell to the ground. She didn't even notice it. She raised her finger and tremblingly pointed at Zhou Xiaozheng, "Zhou Xiaozheng, how are you still alive? Didn't everyone say you were dead? You're so hypocritical. If you were really alive, where were you? Why haven't you heard from me in almost twenty years?"
Zhou Xiaozheng stepped forward, picked up the basket, and handed it to her. "Red Pepper, you're still as charming as ever. You're not dead yet, and I'm younger than you anyway. I'll live a few more years."
Cheng Hongli wiped the tears from her face and happily pulled him inside. "If those people knew you were alive, they would peel your skin off. Don't you know that when the news of your sacrifice came, several girls in our female soldier company fainted from crying. Aren't you from Beijing? Why did you end up in this mess? Do you have a mission? And tell us what happened? Were you on a mission all those years ago?"
After saying that, she said to her husband Zhao Dashan who was following behind her, "Go buy some meat quickly, or even cooked meat. He loves meat, he can't live without it. Oh, go quickly. By the way, Xiaowu, are you here to see your uncle? Let's not talk about business today. Let's eat here first, and then we can talk. Auntie has a distinguished guest."
Zhao Dashan laughed heartily and said to Zhou Xiaozheng, "Look, my wife will hold you back and won't let you go. When the news of your sacrifice came, she cried her eyes out, and several other girls were crying too. Everyone said it would have been better if you hadn't returned to the capital. Brother Zheng, you must have envied a lot of your comrades to death."
After saying that, she looked at Cheng Hongli who was rolling her eyes and said, "You silly woman, you didn't notice anything. Think about what Jinwawa's father's name is. Xiaowu is his son-in-law. How is your man, okay? You dragged him to see you."
Cheng Hongli was completely stunned. She looked at Zhou Xiaozheng, then at Zhang Guoqing, and asked in disbelief, "Are you saying that the Zhou Xiaozheng here is the same Zhou Xiaozheng from our place? Pah, pah, are you saying that Zhou Jiao's father is this guy we know? How is that possible? This guy isn't from Beijing? We still have comrades going to the wedding."
Zhang Guoqing watched the scene with great interest. He wondered if he should talk to Jiaojiao about it. It seemed like his father-in-law was quite popular with women.
Zhou Xiaozheng said to the silly couple with a stern face, "I married a girl from Beijing, who said I am from Beijing? Guests are coming, Red Pepper, you don't know how to entertain guests, serve tea."
Cheng Hongli rolled her eyes at him. "Don't worry, I'll give you face as long as your son-in-law is around. Everyone knows that your stern face is just a pretense. When you caught Lao Zhao stealing melons, who secretly confiscated them? Several people ate them themselves, and they were just waiting for Lao Zhao to commit crimes again. If you don't have tea, just boiled water!"
After saying that, he took the money and hurried out, shouting, "Old Zhao, these are bad guests. We are out of meat, only white radish. You guys sit here for a while, I'll go out and buy some white radish."
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