Arriving in the provincial capital, it was almost 9:30. Zhou Xiaozheng and his wife waited on the main road for a military vehicle to pass by. Usually, they would wait in uniform on the roadside, and passing military vehicles would automatically stop. After waiting for a long time, they saw a military truck pull up. The driver hurriedly got out and saluted, "Hello, Commander, are you from the military district? Get in the car."
After Zhou Xiaozheng returned the greeting, the two followed him into the car. "Comrade, are you going back to the kitchen or somewhere else?"
"Commander, I'm going back to the quartermaster's office to unload supplies. If you want to go back to the kitchen team, I'll take you there." The young soldier said with a smile.
Zhou Xiaozheng was delighted to hear this. There was no need to go back to the kitchen. "No need to go to the kitchen. Do you know Zhao Chuangguang? Just take us to find him."
"Okay, I just happened to be going there. What a coincidence! If you were half an hour late, I would have left."
The car drove very fast and arrived at the destination in just twenty minutes. After Zhou Xiaozheng showed his ID, the young soldier took them to the office and said, "Commander, I won't go in. The director is inside."
After Zhou Xiaozheng and Lin Lishan saluted and thanked him, he pushed open the half-closed door.
I saw my brother Zhao Chuangguang, whom I hadn't seen for many years, sitting behind his desk, drinking tea with his head down.
Zhao Chuangguang heard the door move, frowned, and looked up, then froze. His body trembled slightly, and his hand holding the hot tea slowly dropped. The hot tea in the cup slanted down and flowed onto his pants, causing him to shudder.
He didn't care about the burn on his thighs, rushed to the door, jumped on Zhou Xiaozheng and hugged him tightly, crying and laughing, "Brother Zheng, Brother Zheng, you are really alive. You are really back?" Such a big noise attracted the attention of everyone passing by, and all the colleagues in the next office came out to see what happened?
Zhou Xiaozheng quickly pushed him in and closed the door. "Are you taking a piss? Go change your pants. Ouch, brother, please be kind. I'm all wet."
Zhao Chuangguang walked over and hugged Zhou Xiaozheng tightly, resting his head on his shoulder. He rubbed his face against it a few times as if to vent his anger, slapped him hard a few times, and then let him go and laughed. "It's warm, really alive. Those guys in Beijing called a few days ago to say you were alive. The phone signal was bad, and it was crackling. I was just thinking of going to Beijing in a few days to see if you were a human or a ghost. I didn't expect to see it with my own eyes. Brother Zheng, I burn so much paper for you every year, but it's all in vain."
Zhou Xiaozheng kicked him. This guy was just not a decent person. He took off his military coat and threw it behind his wife's back, jokingly saying, "Look, it's all your snot. How am I going to face people when I get home? Why don't you change your pants? Your sister-in-law is here."
"What sister-in-law? It's my brother's wife. You are a few months younger than me. What's the matter? I call you Brother Zheng, do you really think I am my brother? Sister-in-law, you do it first. My brother Zheng and I will go change our pants first." After saying that, she dragged Zhou Xiaozheng towards the dormitory.
"Brother Zheng, have you completed your mission? You won't go out again, will you? You'd better not go out again, or retire? This life is unbearable. Damn, I haven't seen him for 17 years, and I don't know whether he is alive or dead. Brother Zheng, listen to me, don't take those life-threatening jobs even if you die, otherwise you will break a leg." Zhao Chuangguang hugged him and whispered in his ear.
Zhou Xiaozheng was both angry and touched, and patted his head, "Don't worry, they won't go out. Didn't you see me? You're such a tight-lipped guy."
"Oh, it's a promotion, it's quite good for you. Brother Zheng, you didn't take off your coat on purpose just to show off to me, did you?"
"Yes, I'm just showing off. Give me a coat, I'm freezing. Where do you live?"
Zhao Chuangguang laughed and said, "Are you old? Even the Siberian tiger is like a sick cat. It's almost there, damn, luckily I didn't burn my penis. Brother Zheng, you don't know, every time I burn a sack of paper money for you, it's probably because the King of Hell is moved and lets you come back."
Zhou Xiaozheng jokingly said, "Now that I'm back, there's no need to burn paper money. Just give me money directly. Your brother Zheng has a wife and children to support."
"Just brag. Do you still need to raise your child? Doesn't old man Lin know how to raise one? You haven't been around for more than ten years. Does your little girl still recognize you? Did she push you out of the house?" Zhao Chuangguang just pushed open the door and hurriedly pulled him in.
Zhou Xiaozheng had a cold face and did not respond. He put on the coat that Zhao Chuangguang handed to him.
Zhao Chuangguang changed his pants and saw that his cold face was not right. He said cautiously: "Brother Zheng, what's wrong? Your daughter really doesn't recognize you, right? The child is a little cold-tempered. Don't be impatient, take your time. The child is still young and has been with her grandparents since she was young. She will be sensible when she grows up."
Zhou Xiaozheng sneered and couldn't help cursing, "Pss, she grew up with her grandparents since she was little."
"That's not right. I went to the capital and made inquiries. She's indeed living with your father-in-law and mother-in-law. It's just that the old man's house is too high a barrier to entry, so I'm embarrassed to visit. I've seen the child several times. I heard that her father passed away, and she lives with her mother, and her sister-in-law hasn't remarried. But she's definitely living with her grandparents. Did you misunderstand?" Zhao Chuangguang looked at him suspiciously. The child was indeed living with the elderly, and while her standards were quite high, she still had the proper manners.
Zhou Xiaozheng rolled his eyes at him in anger. "Fool, that's my brother-in-law's daughter. You got it wrong. You forgot that I went on a mission with my brother-in-law."
Zhao Chuangguang looked at him in disbelief. After a moment, he said in amazement, "Where's this, this, that child? Where's our little princess? Where's the real Jiaojiao?"
Zhou Xiaozheng glanced at him with disdain. "I was wondering why you, a fool, have time to burn paper every year but never visit my daughter Jiaojiao. I even wanted to come up and beat you up. You're so foolish! How could my child be like that?"
"Where can I go to see him? Brother Zheng, where is the child now? Is he with his sister-in-law or somewhere else? He didn't give him away, did he? Damn it, no way?" Zhao Chuangguang said this, jumping up and down in anger. Damn, he had been fooled by a little girl for so many years.
Zhou Xiaozheng sighed, not knowing how this guy had gotten to the position of director. Helplessly, he asked, "Have you seen the old man bring his grandson-in-law here this month?"
"Yes, I saw him. That old man has several granddaughters, who would remember him? ...Wait, you said that boy is our son-in-law? Not our grandson-in-law but our grandson-in-law? That's not right. Our little princess is only 17 years old. You must be kidding."
Zhou Xiaozheng said to him seriously, "I'm not kidding, he really is my son-in-law. My daughter Jiaojiao was taken away by my father after I left. You should know the situation of my family. Otherwise, I wouldn't have run away at the age of 16. Ah Guang, I'm tired, and I can't blame anyone."
After saying that, Zhou Xiaozheng pulled a stool and sat down. He took a cigarette from the box on the table, lit it, and took a few quick puffs. He hadn't smoked for a long time, so he choked a few times.
Zhao Chuangguang patted his shoulder gently and sighed. It goes without saying that if the child was in the hands of his father, he would have suffered a lot. That was Zheng Ge's lifeblood.
Zhou Xiaozheng held a cigarette holder in his mouth, staring straight ahead. After pinching the cigarette holder with his fingers, he said quietly, "You don't know how hard my Jiaojiao's life was. Like an orphan, she was bullied by my eldest brother and his family and could hardly survive. The old man helped the old family, but the old lady couldn't protect her. Your sister-in-law never went to see her once in 17 years, let alone the Lin family. They only sent a little something every year, but it was all swallowed up by the eldest brother's family without her knowing. When my Jiaojiao was ten years old, she really couldn't make ends meet. She tried every means to call your sister-in-law and said she wanted to go find her mother. But your sister-in-law refused at the time.
My Jiaojiao, such a strong, proud child, she must have endured so much to seek help. But damn, she's just that, a child, dressed in patched clothes, skinny as a bag of bones, finally growing up like a weed. The older family even tried to trick her into marrying the scumbag from her own family. If she hadn't been clever and figured out how to marry Zhang Guoqing. Without Zhang Guoqing, my Jiaojiao wouldn't have been left with even a scumbag. You didn't see, my Jiaojiao was so thin, just a layer of skin, and yet she comforted my husband and me, so sensible and well-behaved, it broke my heart." Zhou Xiaozheng shielded his face with his hands, unable to continue. Since returning to see Zhou Jiao, he'd heard everything from Zhang Guoqing, from Zhang's parents, and from the villagers. A little piecing together revealed the kind of life his only daughter led. Cause and effect? Without cause, how could she have achieved the result? She had stumbled and learned it herself, step by step. The greater her present success, the greater her past suffering. She didn't say it, but she was his Jiaojiao, how could he not understand his own child.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
