Chapter 19 Chapter 19 He is a man after all
Not knowing what she was thinking about, Sun Juhua finally sighed deeply and even lowered her head with a guilty look on her face. "I'm going to the fields now. I'll leave this matter to Zhan Ming."
Wang Cuiping: "Mom..."
"Shut up and follow me to the fields."
“…”
Zhao Chengshi also sighed, "Alright, stop standing there. Get ready and get to work. Where's Zhan Ming? When are you two leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"Well, remember to pack your things in advance today, take good care of yourself outside, and send a letter home when you are okay."
"I know, Dad."
The dust has settled and the matter is resolved.
The Zhao family members went to the fields one after another with different thoughts, leaving the couple and their three children at the door at home.
"Qinghe, today I'm impressed by you again."
Packing up her things, Lu Qinghe was surprised and amused after hearing this: "Because I'm not afraid of what our mother said?"
Zhao Zhanming's expression was unclear, but his tone was serious. "Not only that, you're also very logical in what you say and do. If you could study systematically, you'd definitely excel."
Lu Qinghe pursed her lips and smiled, "I'm studying, I'm studying. But don't rush me. I don't like being rushed."
Zhao Zhanming frowned. "I don't mean to rush you. I just think you're great and want to give you some recognition."
"Why do you sound like I'm one of your soldiers? We haven't met many times. Maybe you didn't know me well enough before. Besides, I have shortcomings too. Don't let them scare you when you see them later."
"Can it scare me?"
Zhao Zhanming smiled when he heard that. "That's difficult. From the time I joined the army to the time I went to the front lines, there aren't many things that can scare me. You can give it a try."
"Just kidding. Is the hot water ready? I'm going to wash my hair while the sun is out."
"……Um."
No wonder Zhao Zhanming hesitated last night.
When he was rinsing his hair, Lu Qinghe finally realized that he had never done this before.
Lu Qinghe: "There's no room, just stand anywhere."
"Yes, carry the kettle, and if you see any foam later, just help me rinse it."
"Don't just wash the front, wash the back as well, so your clothes won't get wet."
Zhao Zhanming's voice was low, as if the words had been suppressed in his throat for a long time before they came out. "I know. I'm watching."
"That's fine." Lu Qinghe didn't notice anything and continued to rub the front ends of her hair.
Because she had to bend down to wash her hair, Lu Qinghe only wore a thin inner shirt. She tied the shirt up to prevent the front from getting wet.
But even so, it is inevitable that some water stains will still splash onto clothes.
Lu Qinghe has a beautiful figure, and her wet clothes only highlight her curves more clearly.
Seeing the water droplets flowing down her fair neck and dripping into her clothes, and the water stains blooming into small transparent circles in front of her body, Zhao Zhanming froze.
He is a man, and the person in front of him is his wife, how could he not react.
But his fingertips were getting hot, but Lu Qinghe didn't feel it at all.
"Finally finished washing, almost done, you..."
After washing, Lu Qinghe stood up holding her hair and looked at the man beside her.
Zhao Zhanming, who always spoke, acted and even walked in an orderly manner, now stood beside him stiffly like a piece of wood.
He was very tall, and Lu Qinghe tilted her head, so it was easy to see his nervous expression, and...his ears seemed a little red?
"Zhao Zhanming, is it too hot right now? I've already showered. Thank you. Go do something else."
Lu Qinghe picked up the towel beside her and wrapped it around her hair, then looked at the sun in the sky.
Well, it's a bit hot.
Zhao Zhanming put the kettle aside stiffly and hesitated again: "You go in first, I'll clean up the sink."
"That's great, I'll go in first."
Lu Qinghe nodded happily. When it comes to finding a man, besides being handsome and having a high salary, the most important thing is that he has to be diligent. Other factors are just trivial matters. Just look at their daily life. Zhao Zhanming didn't even let her take care of the water on the ground. That's enough!
But Zhao Zhanming waited until Lu Qinghe entered the house before he relaxed his tense body slightly, then scooped a bucket of cold water from the tub and splashed it on his face.
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"Zhao Zhanming, come and see, what is this?"
After he finished cleaning the pool, Lu Qinghe's clear voice was heard from the room again.
She and her two children had almost packed their things. Zhao Zhanming had just told her that they only needed to pack the small items in the drawer into the suitcase, but she unexpectedly found something else.
"It suddenly fell out from the gap between the drawers. The rope on it is a bit damaged. It broke like this after it fell."
Lu Qinghe showed it to Zhao Zhanming, and spread out her fair hand. On it lay a somewhat tattered and faded red rope, and three old copper coins with rusty round and square holes. The words engraved on them were already blurred and it was difficult to make out the general idea.
This kind of old copper coin string still exists even in modern times.
One is that metal objects can ward off evil spirits, and the other is that letting young children wear such old objects can suppress evil spirits and calm their souls.
"This was something your parents prepared for you when you were a kid. I'm sorry I didn't see it then."
Lu Qinghe was a little nervous and wanted to apologize, but Zhao Zhanming shook his head.
Zhao Zhanming: "It's mine, but it wasn't prepared by my parents. Qinghe, which drawer did you find it from? Before I joined the army, I turned the whole house upside down but couldn't find it."
"It's in the drawer on the far left where you keep your things."
Zhao Zhanming looked in the direction it was going, and after walking closer, he reached out and touched it a few times. "It turned out to be a piece of sawdust with a warped edge in the gap between the drawers. It must have gotten caught on it accidentally, and after a few tugs today, the sawdust broke off and fell off. It's not your fault."
"So that's how it is." Lu Qinghe looked at the broken copper coin string still in her hand. "These three copper coins must not be easy to come by. To be able to string this for a child to bless the child, you must love the child very much. But this wasn't made for you by your parents, could it be made by your grandparents?"
“Neither.”
Zhao Zhanming didn't reach out to take it, but just took another look. "You should know that I'm an adopted son. I was thrown into the mountains, and my parents found me and saved my life. I was only about three years old at that time. Grandpa Zhao said that when he saw my parents carrying me back, I had this hanging around my neck, so it must have been left by my biological parents."
"That's strange."
"What's strange?"
Lu Qinghe frowned. "If I loved you so much, why would I abandon you to the mountains? Even if I could just leave you quietly at the village entrance, the mountains are so dangerous... Sorry, Zhan Ming, I think I was a little blunt."
Zhao Zhanming shook his head: "I haven't really paid attention to this. It's okay, and you don't have to worry about it. Thirty years ago, the country hadn't even been founded yet, and life in the countryside was hard. Maybe there's something wrong at home."
"But since they are a family that can get this kind of copper coins, their conditions should not be too bad."
"It could be a sudden disaster or a family change. There were many people who abandoned their children in the past. I'm not an exception."
Zhao Zhanming spoke in a calm tone, not caring about these past events at all.
"By the way, I know how to weave this pattern. I'll string it on you with a red string this afternoon. It'll keep you safe when you go on missions outside."
Zhao Zhanming smiled faintly. "I haven't needed this for a long time. Now I can protect myself. If I have it braided, you can keep it for yourself."
Lu Qinghe was really interested in this thing. When she had nothing to do in the afternoon, she washed her daughter's hair and braided it.
It turned out that they were three ancient Jiaqing coins. Although the rust on them covered the original printing, there were two small characters engraved by hand at the bottom of the copper coins.
However, due to severe wear and tear, apart from vaguely recognizing Chinese characters, no one knows what is engraved on it.
I think it must be auspicious words or nicknames that adults carved for children in the past.
Lu Qinghe asked Zhao Zhanming, but Zhao Zhanming still didn't care much about it, so she didn't care about it anymore.
The children found it strange.
However, Lu Yao lost interest after playing with it for a while, and Lu Yang and Zhao Zirui found it boring after just one look.
Although Zhao Zhanming didn't have any thoughts about it, it was a keepsake after all. She was afraid that the children would lose it, so she put it away at night and would take it away tomorrow.
For dinner, she still ate the same cornmeal porridge as she had for almost a month. Eating too much of this would cause stomach acid. She might have never had a good appetite before, and her stomach was always uncomfortable. She stopped after eating only two bites, and waited until the children had finished eating before she went back to her parents' home with Zhao Zhanming.
They might have to leave early the next morning, so they had to inform the Lu family in advance.
In principle, after leaving Dagu Mountain, you can reach Hua City by walking for two or three hours and then taking a six-hour train ride.
But the problem is that leaving the mountains is not as simple as it sounds, not to mention that Hua City is so big and is adjacent to the border. These days, outsiders have to go through several levels of inspection to get there. It's not like you can go around everywhere with just a letter of introduction.
So after this separation, I don’t know when we will meet again.
Lu Qingshan and Lu Qingyun felt sorry for their younger sister, so they secretly saved some cotton coupons and gave them to Lu Qinghe.
Zhou Feng found an opportunity to ask Lu Qinghe about what happened in bed, but Lu Qinghe just brushed him off.
It was rare for Zhang Meizhi not to say anything unpleasant.
Xue Lanhua gave Lu Qinghe a lot of instructions, and told Lu Fengshou a few words about Zhao Zhanming before reluctantly sending them home.
The only thing that remained unchanged was a few children playing carefreely in the yard for a long time.
After returning to Zhao's house, I slept the same way at night.
The next day, just as the sky was getting light and there was still a layer of moisture in the yard, the two of them carried and pulled several children onto the mule cart that had been arranged in advance and went out of the mountain.
"Mother……"
Lu Yang and Zhao Zirui had fallen asleep again while being watched by Zhao Zhanming. Lu Yao was leaning on Lu Qinghe's legs, her eyes half-closed.
"Why don't you sleep?" Lu Qinghe asked softly, patting the child's back from time to time.
"I've never been out of the mountains, and I don't know what a bus is. Is it Dad's dad's car?"
Lu Qinghe smiled and said, "Okay, I'll wake you up when we get there."
"Um!"
He agreed very well. After getting on the bus, Lu Yao took a dazed look and fell asleep again.
It wasn't until they reached the train station and the sunlight slowly began to peek through the clouds that the children finally came to their senses.
After Lu Yao looked at it curiously for a while, her eyes suddenly turned red again.
"I didn't see the bus! I should have stayed awake!"
It didn't matter that she was making a fuss, but the other two boys who were not even awake were also anxious.
Lu Qinghe was at a loss for words and was about to try to persuade him when Zhao Zhanming came back with the tickets. "Once we get to Hua City, you'll still see the bus. It's a four-hour drive, so you better be prepared."
The children were not unreasonable and calmed down after hearing this. Even Zhao Zirui, who was a little scared at first, was now just curious.
While waiting for the bus, Lu Qinghe took out the cornmeal buns and some pickled mustard greens that she brought from home from her bag, and divided the malted milk that she had prepared for her children into a teacup. However, she only ate two bites before losing her appetite.
"See if you can get used to eating this."
Zhao Zhanming had brought food in his bag at some point. It turned out to be two steaming hot rice cakes and some boiled eggs.
"Ciba?" Lu Qinghe took a look and didn't bother to be polite with Zhao Zhanming. He nodded and took it.
The glutinous rice cake should have been made in the past two days. It is as soft as a cloud dumpling, with a sweet aroma of grains. The more you chew it, the sweeter it becomes.
After eating a meal to fill her stomach, she finally had time to speak: "I said that when I was not awake, I felt that you seemed to be awake. So you went to do this."
"I just had a fever. I went to Mr. Zhao's house last night to buy some. I saw you feel uncomfortable after drinking cornmeal yesterday. When we get back to Hua City, we won't eat cornmeal at home."
Zhao Zhanming has a high salary, but he lives a simple life. He buys Fuqiang flour and occasionally mixes it with cornmeal to change the taste.
After all, supplies are scarce these days. Even if you have good things, it is difficult to buy them with money. You have to wait for distribution, so you can't always eat them. It would be helpful to buy some cornmeal at home for emergencies.
Lu Qinghe knew this, but did not nod.
"If conditions permit, I can eat less. As long as I don't eat it every meal, my stomach can handle it."
"Eat well if you can. You're following me in the army, so I have to take good care of you. Nothing can go wrong with your health. Besides, if I'm on a mission, you'll be left to take care of the house by yourself. If you can avoid hardship, then let's not suffer."
This is true, so when Lu Qinghe accepted Zhao Zhanming's passbook, she did not feel soft-hearted at all.
"Will you help your family members find jobs when they get there?"
"You want to work? If so, I can apply anytime, but..."
Lu Qinghe shook her head: "I don't have such an idea for the time being. Firstly, our child is young, and secondly, my body can't bear it."
In the past few years, the original body had to take care of the house and outside, and in addition to taking care of her own two children, she also had to cook for the whole Wu family, help take care of her nephew, do housework, and go to work. She didn't eat well and didn't get enough nutrition. She just fell into the water, and she got sick. It took a long time to recover, and she passed away within a few years.
It was only during the short time since she came through the book and was raised in the Lu family that she became a little stronger.
Although she has drawing skills and has experience in serializing children's comics in her previous life, doing all these things requires energy and physical strength, and her body will definitely not be able to bear it for a while.
"Thirdly, I think the first step in any endeavor is learning. So, for the first two years, I'll focus on studying at home and getting my health back. What do you think?"
Zhao Zhanming: "I think your health comes first, everything else can be put second, and the rest can be done according to your wishes."
"Um."
"Mom, the person in front looks like Wei Yue!" Lu Yao suddenly pointed ahead.
Wei Yue seems to be...Captain Liu’s granddaughter?
Before Lu Qinghe could decide whether to say hello, Lu Yao and Lu Yang had already made eye contact with their little friend Wei Yue. They waved to each other, and Wei Yue ran over here without caring about her mother's attempt to stop her.
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