In the blink of an eye, Zhou Yuanyuan and her family have been in Kyoto for more than two months.
Zhou Zhixin's unit was stationed in a suburban area about thirty kilometers from Kyoto. The unit had family housing, and Zhou Zhixin was assigned a three-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. Unlike the housing in the countryside, the housing in Kyoto was all high-rise, five stories high, with six families living on each floor. Zhou Zhixin arrived late, so he was assigned the fourth floor. Fortunately, Zhao Qingshan's leg had healed; otherwise, climbing up and down every day would have been exhausting.
Every family living in the family building is an officer of the guard regiment, and the lowest level is company-level cadres.
When Zhao Qingshan and Zhou Chunping's family fell out, they transported all of Zhao Yunxiang's dowry and food back home.
This time, Zhao Yunxiang was planning to settle down in Kyoto. She had packed a ton of stuff, everything she could carry from home. This era wasn't like later times, where a bank card could allow you to travel the world. Even if you had money, you couldn't buy quilts and sheets without a ticket.
Zhao Yunxiang also checked in her sewing machine. Zhao Yunxiang didn't know what life was like in Kyoto, but making clothes was something she was used to. Even if she didn't make clothes for others, she still had clothes for her family of six!
Zhao Yunxiang's family of six naturally included Wen Ziqing. Ever since Wen Ziqing came to Zhaojiagou to learn martial arts from Zhao Qingshan, he had taken root in the Zhao family. If Wen Yiran hadn't called, Wen Ziqing would never have thought of returning to the Wen family.
Zhao Qingshan also revealed the engagement of Wen Ziqing and Zhou Yuanyuan to Zhao Yunxiang. Zhao Qingshan's excuse was that Zhao's martial arts should not be passed on to outsiders. Besides, Wen Ziqing's usual performance also satisfied Zhao Yunxiang. When playing with Zhou Jiasheng and Zhou Yuanyuan, although Wen Ziqing had no expression on his face, he was very patient.
Zhao Yunxiang and Wen Ziqing had been together for several months, and she saw in him the feeling of "the more a mother-in-law sees her son-in-law, the happier she becomes." Aside from Wen Yiran and Wen Yulun, no one in the Wen family seemed to care about whether Wen Ziqing's extended stay with the Zhao family was a good thing. Even Wen Ziqing's biological father, Wen Yulong, hadn't called once.
Zhao Yunxiang felt sorry for Wen Ziqing. She lost her mother at birth, her biological father was a careless, indifferent person, and now she has a particularly troublesome stepmother. It's no wonder the child was so quiet when she first arrived in Zhaojiagou. However, Wen Ziqing's relationship with Wen Yulong and the others was so-so, which gave Zhao Yunxiang a glimmer of hope. Zhao Yunxiang herself had suffered enough from her wicked mother-in-law, and she hoped that even after Zhou Yuanyuan got married, she wouldn't have to deal with her. Given the strained relationship between Wen Ziqing and Wu Xiuli, it seemed unlikely that Wen Ziqing would live with them in the future.
Zhao Yunxiang doted on Wen Ziqing like her own child. On one hand, it was because she was kindhearted and couldn't bear to see Wen Ziqing neglected. On the other hand, she had her own agenda. Zhao Yunxiang reasoned that her family came from the countryside, while Wen Ziqing was the child of a high-ranking official. In other words, Xiaojiu's marriage to Wen Ziqing was clearly a case of marrying above her station. As a mother-in-law, if she treated Wen Ziqing well now, who knew that Wen Ziqing would be even more supportive of Xiaojiu in the future?
So, pitiful is the love of parents in the world. Even someone as honest as Zhao Yunxiang becomes calculating when it comes to her own children. However, Zhao Yunxiang's calculation is not really a calculation, but rather a hope to exchange her sincerity for Wen Ziqing's sincerity towards Zhou Yuanyuan.
On the day of moving, Zhao Yunxiang and her family had to move all the large and small bags of things up to the fourth floor, which took some time.
Several military wives came over to help, cleaning the house and helping with moving things. Zhao Yunxiang sighed that the climate and soil of the army are what nourish people, and even the awareness of the military wives is much higher than that of ordinary people.
Zhao Yunxiang was with the army for the first time, and seeing so many people enthusiastically helping her, she felt bad. The day after the house was cleaned up, Zhao Yunxiang bought a lot of food and invited the wives of the soldiers who had helped and their husbands to come to her house for a meal, which was considered a warm home meal.
In Sanhe Town, it's customary to invite a host of relatives and friends over for a meal when moving into a new home. This is called a "warm house meal," or, as the saying goes, "burning the bottom of the pot." Zhao Yunxiang didn't know what the customs were like in Kyoto, but she followed her own traditions and prepared two large tables of dishes for a lively dinner for about twenty guests.
When Zhou Zhixin, a regular battalion commander, was transferred from City N, he truly surprised many. Several officers were curious about whether Zhou Zhixin's family had any particularly powerful connections, and several military wives immediately went to the Zhou family's house to offer their assistance, hoping to learn more about the family's background. Seeing that both Zhao Yunxiang and Zhao Qingshan came from rural areas, the wives secretly regretted their efforts to curry favor with Zhao Yunxiang, who also came from the countryside. They felt a bit embarrassed by the way they had tried to curry favor with her.
Zhao Yunxiang's treat made the other wives feel a little better. At least Zhao Yunxiang wasn't as stingy as the other wives from rural areas in the family compound, who wouldn't even bother to treat once a year. In this way, Zhao Yunxiang's generosity inadvertently earned her the friendship of many wives. However, not all wives offered help with ulterior motives. At least Zhao Yunxiang's new neighbor, Lin Weixiang, was a warmhearted person.
The meal ended in a lively atmosphere. Zhao Yunxiang's family had become quite familiar faces in the military family compound. It was summer vacation, and when school started in September, Zhou Jiasheng would be entering first grade. Just like in Zhaojiagou, Zhou Jiasheng would wake up every morning to practice martial arts and run, and study his elementary school textbooks at home during the day. However, in this new environment, Zhou Jiasheng also made sure to set aside an hour or two each day to play with the other children in the compound. Within a week, Zhou Jiasheng, with his exceptional martial arts skills and brilliant mind, had become a leader among the children.
After arriving in Kyoto, Wen Ziqing was called back home by Wen Yiran. Wen Yiran had been transferred to the Kyoto City Department of Energy as the Minister, and his family was still allocated a three-story house, just like in Aoyama City. His eldest grandson, instead of living in the spacious house, went to Zhou Zhixin's place, where six people were squeezed into three rooms. Wen Yiran couldn't bear to see this.
However, after staying at home for a day, Wen Ziqing used the excuse of learning martial arts from his master and ran back to the military family housing complex. Wen Ziqing would rather sleep on the floor in the living room of his master Zhou Zhixin's house every night than return to his grandfather's cold and lonely home. Wen Yulun and Wen Yuxiang were still working in Qingshan City and wouldn't be transferred back to Kyoto for a year or two. Wen Yiran was a new official and was busy with work every day. Only Feng Xueying was in the Wen family's small building. Feng Xueying always ignored Wen Ziqing, the eldest grandson. Wen Ziqing felt more comfortable living in that cold home than in Zhou Zhixin's.
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