Chapter 90

Beef and beet stir-fry

Early the next morning, Chen Lina went to work as usual, and the worker had his own things to do, so he left first.

After getting up and cooking the soup, Liu Xiaohong started to make a fuss about going home again.

"Girl, stay for another day. I'll ride my bike to take you back to the farm tomorrow, okay?" Nie Weimin woke up in the morning, yawning, and when he looked at the table, his eyes lit up. "This is locust buds. Did you mix them?"

"I picked them this morning. They taste better than locust flowers after being blanched in water. Come and try them." Liu Xiaohong said, turning around and going into the small bedroom.

The fever of the two little ones went down yesterday, but they were still feeling listless. There was nothing we could do; it was the seasonal influenza epidemic, and all the children in the mining area had already caught it, except Nie Weimin.

As for Erdan and Sandan, they ate too much and then vomited, which damaged their stomachs, making their condition even more serious.

"Dandan, get up and drink some soup. I made you egg soup with sugar in it." Liu Xiaohong said as she patted Sandan'er's butt.

"No, I still want to sleep." Sandan said this, but he got up and prepared to go to the bedroom to touch his mother.

"Dandan, your aunt has something to do today, so she left early in the morning. Now just drink the soup. I think you will be well after you finish the soup." Liu Xiaohong was really patient when it came to coaxing a child.

"Xiao Jinbao, you snatched my socks again. I don't want to wear your stinky socks. Give my socks back to me, woo woo." Next door, Chen Tiantian was arguing with her younger brother about socks again.

"Okay, okay, it's time to change into sandals for summer. Tiantian doesn't want to wear socks today, so how about we wear sandals?" Sister Wang said, rummaging through the box to find last year's sandals and put them on Chen Tiantian.

"Dadan, Erdan, come and see, are my sandals pretty?" Well, in a blink of an eye, Tiantian came over and wanted to show off her beautiful red sandals to everyone.

Erdan and Sandan stopped lying on the kang because of Tiantian's pair of sandals and got up.

Liu Xiaohong took advantage of the situation, gave each of them a bowl of sweet egg soup, and coaxed them to drink it.

Sandaner also likes to eat locust buds. He and Nie Weimin bought half a plate of sweet locust buds.

The two children finished their soup and were feeling warm all over. They wanted to go out to play, but Liu Xiaohong stopped them again, saying, "No, get back on the kang and go to sleep."

"I'm in high spirits right now. I want to go out." Erdan said, and prepared to go out.

Liu Xiaohong slapped him on the forehead and said, "Your cold is getting better now. You are sweating all over. If you go out like this, you will definitely get a fever if the wind blows. If you go out like this, you will be wasting my aunt's medicine, do you know that?"

Erdan stared at her fiercely for a long time and said, "Tigress."

When Sandan saw that his brother had already gotten on the kang, he didn't dare to say a word. He also lay down on the kang as if he had to pee.

"Okay, Wei Min, for lunch, I have rolled out the long noodles here and simmered the soup there. I will leave the beehive coal stove on. You can put some water in the pot and cook for the three of us at noon. Is that okay?" With that, Liu Xiaohong prepared to pack her schoolbag and leave.

"Well, sister, wait a moment, I have something good for you." Nie Weimin said, and started to rummage through the boxes.

After a while, he called out in the master bedroom, "Girl, come in quickly."

"What is this? Whose is it?"

Two green plastic sandals with little plastic butterflies pressed on them. There were also two small crystals pressed on the wings of the butterflies. They were so tacky, and the same style as Chen Tiantian's.

However, Chen Lina bought it in the fall and has kept it there ever since, waiting to prepare it for her to wear in the summer.

"I asked my mother to buy them. You have sandals to wear today, so you can keep them for another day, right?" Nie Weimin said.

When I lie and feel guilty, my nose will itch, so I pinch it.

Liu Xiaohong bit her lip and looked at him for a long time, then said, "You want to keep me here so that I can look after Erdan and Sandan for you, right? Tell me, do you want to sneak out and do something bad?"

"Nothing, I'm just going to Wang Fan's house to listen to the lyrics for a while, and I'll be back soon. When I come back, I'll teach you to sing a song." Okay, he said, throwing his sandals on the kang. His two younger brothers were still lying on the kang. Originally, his mother had told him that he should take care of his younger brothers' meals and medicines, but he just left Liu Xiaohong behind and slipped away.

When leaving, he also took Liu Xiaohong's bicycle.

When he walked out, he didn't even look back. Liu Xiaohong looked as if she saw through him and was staring at him coldly.

From the very beginning, he had been planning to ask her to take care of his children and even steal her bicycle.

"Reporter Guo, Reporter Guo." A group of people rode their bicycles to the farm, but as expected, Reporter Guo was not there.

"Nie Weimin? That's great, young man. Come here, carry the thermos for me and the camera on your back. District Chief Gao's car will be here to pick us up soon. Let's go and witness a battle to capture Soviet revisionists."

"Come, I'll carry the thermos for you." Nie Weimin said, "Can you tell me why Uncle Jin didn't go?"

"Boy, I brought you here because I trust you. Master Jin is a photographer, but you don't know that he is a very timid person. If it is a normal interview, he is willing to take pictures, but if it involves military operations, he is afraid of his life and dare not go. What if there is a gunfight later? I heard from your mother that the Soviet Union may airdrop a suicide squad. If you are scared now, I will let you go immediately."

"Uncle Guo, do you think that anyone who stays here with the frontier wind blowing so hard and wolves howling in the wilderness would be a coward?"

"I don't think so."

Sure enough, after a while, District Chief Gao’s car drove directly to the farm to pick people up.

If there really were a small-scale military conflict, or a major accident like the bombing of a bridge, and there were reporters on the scene at the first moment, it would really be announced to the whole country.

Secretary Zhang was driving the car, and District Chief Gao was sitting in the back. When reporter Guo got in the car, District Chief Gao smiled and said, "Wei Min, you want to go with us. Do your parents know?"

"I know." The boy nodded solemnly.

"Okay, reporter Guo, let me tell you this. If it's just a false alarm, all the leaders of our mining area will treat you to a drink tonight and send you off on the train tomorrow. Of course, I beg you not to leak a single word about this military action. If you do, we can make contributions together. How do you think?"

"I still can't believe that the Soviet Union would really airdrop a suicide squad. District Chief Gao, don't tell me, this is also my first time experiencing war in person, and I'm very excited."

"It's common for us to ask you to stay in the frontier," said District Chief Gao. Of course, this was just bragging.

"Based on the facts, no matter what happened, I will take pictures and report it as much as possible. Leader, what do you think?" reporter Guo then said.

Hardly had he finished speaking when there was a loud bang, as if something had fallen on the roof of the car.

The Baiyang River Bridge was right in front of him. It was the largest infrastructure project on the frontier since the founding of the People's Republic of China, spanning a large canyon. Just as Xiao Zhang parked the car, people from the armed forces gathered around him from all directions.

"Stop, this is the land of the Republic, put down your weapons and prepare to surrender." Loud voices rang out from all directions, one in Chinese and the other in Russian.

"No, we are considered as Soviet revisionists, right?" reporter Guo said subconsciously.

Nie Weimin leaned against the window and shouted, "New, Uncle Guo, did you see that? Those are Russian paratroopers. My dad has long heard that they would drop spies onto our land, but this is the first time I've seen one."

The young man was so excited that he jumped around a lot. Reporter Guo yelled, "Get down!" and pushed the kid down onto the seat.

Outside, there was the sound of machine guns coming from all directions, which made people's eardrums hurt. Reporter Guo held Nie Weimin tightly to prevent him from getting up again.

I don't know how long I waited before the gunfire finally stopped.

"How are you? Are you okay?" After an unknown amount of time, someone finally came to open the car door.

"Xiao Zhang, Xiao Zhang!" District Chief Gao saw Xiao Zhang not moving, so he pulled him and saw that he was covering the wound on his shoulder with one hand. He turned out to be unconscious.

District Chief Gao, reporter Guo, and Nie Weimin were lucky enough not to be hit by bullets because they hid in time.

Nie Weimin was still in shock. He got up and shook himself off, and found his body was covered with fragments of the magazine.

Looking around, the huge wreckage of the downed helicopter fell into the Baiyang River Canyon, still emitting white smoke. Umbrellas fell on trees and at the bottom of the valley. There were scattered shells and machine guns, and white smoke was coming out of everywhere. Some paratroopers were shot dead as soon as they landed, and some had a gun battle with comrades from the armed forces.

Among the corpses lying on the ground, there were comrades from the Armed Forces wearing Type 65 military uniforms. One of them had his leg blown off.

Nie Weimin understood in an instant that war was completely different from what was shown in the movies.

Their car was hit because a paratrooper landed on the car. He used District Chief Gao's car as a base and fought a desperate battle with the ambushing comrades from the armed forces.

As a farm worker, Chen Lina certainly couldn't go on a mission with the armed forces, but she went to the mining area to buy seeds for the farm.

When the mining area government notified her to pick up the person, she was stunned.

When he heard from his escorting comrades that Xiao Zhang was almost shot to death, he was unable to close his mouth for a long time.

"Thank goodness, Xiao Chen. It's because the Soviets don't understand our national conditions and think that cars are everywhere in our country, so they didn't take us hostages. Otherwise, we wouldn't have come back alive today." District Chief Gao said, holding Nie Weimin's head.

"Comrade Xiao Chen, I think I can explain, but do you want to listen?" Following behind Chen Lina, Nie Weimin asked cautiously.

As soon as Chen Lina entered the room, she saw Liu Xiaohong there and knew how this young man had calculated the chance to abandon his two younger brothers and run to the Baiyang River Bridge.

If an outsider is around, he won't teach his son well, let alone Nie Weimin, who still has to save face.

Chen Lina asked Liu Xiaohong, "Why, you look so impatient, do you want to go home?"

"Of course, I haven't been home for two days. My grandparents must be worried." Liu Xiaohong said, shaking the sandals in her hand, "Aunt, thank you for buying you the sandals. I remember we bought these sandals together." While taking the sandals, she did not forget to expose Nie Weimin's lie.

"Well, I won't keep you here. While Xiao Chen is about to send Reporter Guo off, hurry back to the farm. I've picked a handful of beets for her. Tell her to steam them when she gets home."

"Okay, thank you, auntie." Liu Xiaohong said and left.

"Comrade Xiao Chen, why do you always send Liu Xiaohong away?" When Nie Weimin saw Chen Lina enter the kitchen, he followed her in.

"In order to take care of the two little ones and to go out and play yourself, you deliberately left Xiaohong behind. Is that interesting?" Chen Lina asked.

"Why don't you let her help you?"

"No. She asked my sister to adopt her, but I told my brother-in-law over and over again that he should love Liu Xiaohong as much as he loved his own daughter.

Because she was already quite big when she was adopted. Her parents were gone, and her grandparents didn't want her. What she wanted was the warmth of a family. But you asked her to work in our house, and then go back to the farm to help my sister's family. What do you call this? A mobile nanny? How is she any different from the couple at the plastic factory?"

"But isn't she very efficient at her job?"

"Then let me ask you, Nie Weimin, am I a little princess?"

"Yes, you are, you are the Queen, but she is not." Nie Weimin was confused.

With a clang, the kitchen knife hit the chopping board. "Comrade Xiao Nie, how can I explain this to you? All women in this world should be respected, no, they should be honored. If you don't know how to truly respect and love women from the bottom of your heart, then you are not a qualified gentleman."

"What is a gentleman?"

"That's right, a man who is particularly popular with girls," said Chen Lina.

"You are teaching the children bad things again." Nie Weimin argued and turned to run away. "Okay, okay, I understand. I know I was wrong. Is that okay?"

Pulling his ear, Chen Lina pulled him back again. "No, Nie Weimin, most men know that they should respect women, but they know more but do less. Especially many men, when they get something good, they just eat it themselves, as if I am the boss and I am right. They grab seats with pregnant women on the bus, and they think that men are born to sit and women are born to stand. What I want to tell you is that your father does a good job in this regard. Pay attention to it and see when he has ever disrespected me. When has he ever been like you, deliberately refusing to help me just because he wants to be lazy?"

A laborer is someone who, during busy times, may be at the well for ten days, half a month, or even a month. However, as soon as he comes back, he is responsible for everything from hammering and banging on the car to every fuse in the house, mopping and sweeping the floor.

Nie Weimin blushed. Of course, he already knew that what he did was wrong.

However, saying that the child is not as good as his father really irritated Nie Weimin deeply.

After all, he lives his life based on his father's example.

"Mom, I'm hungry." Erdan, who was finally done with the cooking, staggered to the kitchen door.

After being sick for nearly a week, his face looked hungry and thin. He asked, "Mom, what are we going to eat tonight?"

"I stir-fried beef with beets and stewed vermicelli with Chinese cabbage. When my mother arrived at the mining area today, she took some time to go to the supply and marketing cooperative. Guess what I bought?"

"What?" Erdan's mouth was drooling.

"Big fat chicken, look at how fat it is?" Chen Lina said as she showed Erdan a plucked chicken.

The child slurped and drooled, "Mom, are you still making deep-fried chicken legs?"

Oh, every Chinese New Year, the deep-fried chicken legs wrapped in breadcrumbs, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, make Erdan feel hungry all of a sudden.

"No, our Erdan looks a lot thinner. Mom has to make you something more delicious today."

"What's up, Mom?" Sandan also came to the door.

"Nie Weimin, make medicine for both of them. Yes, that bitter medicine. Make a big bowl for each of them and let them eat it in front of me. Then I will tell you what we are going to eat tonight." Chen Lina said.

The medicine prescribed by the mining area health hospital was not actually that bitter. When I lied to them and told them it was soda, they both drank it very fast. But as soon as I told them it was medicine, they refused and refused to drink it.

Watch as their mother put a big fat chicken into the pot, washed it clean, and chopped it on the chopping board. The two children breathed out, licked their lips, and drank the bowl of bitter medicine soup bit by bit.

Well, when the worker drove his car back home, he smelled a very strange fragrance.

"Beef stir-fried with beets smells delicious. Hmm, this is cabbage stewed with vermicelli. Wow, such a big plate of chicken, and it's cooked with potatoes and mushrooms. Not bad. Today, our family's food should be more than that of 80 families in the mining area."

"Mom, feed me." After being sick for the first time, Sandan became even more spoiled.

Chen Lina turned around and asked Nie Weimin, "Comrade Nie, have you fed Sandaner recently?"

"No, Mom." Nie Weimin waved his hands quickly.

"Hey, hey, hey, he doesn't feed the baby himself, so he lets Xiaohong feed Dandan." Erdan is a good complainer.

"When I first met him, he was eating his rice with great pleasure. Later, because you two were in a hurry, I thought we could go out and play right after we finished eating, so I stuffed him like a duck. Now, he has two hands and has forgotten how to eat by himself. This is..."

Sandan is such a good child, he acts coquettishly when necessary. But today, when he saw that his mother was unhappy, he picked up the bowl and ate the rice faster than anyone else.

"What's going on? How is Gong Hongxing doing? How is the mining area being handled?" Chen Lina served the rice to Nie Bozhao and asked.

"Her microradio, report book, and all my eavesdropping records have all been handed over. The explosives under the bridge piles of the Poplar River Bridge, the bodies of the Soviets, the black boxes from the two planes that crashed in the Republic, her superiors, they will definitely not be able to save themselves this time." Foreman Nie took a breath and said.

The air seemed to freeze. The worker was about to leave for Beijing. Looking at Miss Chen, the two of them wanted to continue talking about these things.

However, as the saying goes, a quiet child must be up to something. Chen Lina looked sideways and saw Nie Weimin holding a bowl in his hand and pretending to wipe it, and he was peeking at the living room door.

Oh, this young man left his brothers and ran to the Baiyang River Bridge alone to watch the excitement, and almost died there.

Do you think you have escaped punishment, so you start eavesdropping on your parents' conversations secretly?