The motorcycle roared along, drawing surprised and envious glances from all around, before finally stopping in an open space not far from the military compound.
It was evening, and many family members were coming and going from the compound. Every now and then, someone would cast a glance at them.
Wu Huaiqing handed the luggage to Yu Yao.
"Thank you, Comrade Wu." Yu Yao took out a handful of candies from her luggage. "Take these candies, thank you for bringing me back."
Wu Huaiqing initially refused, but Yu Yao insisted, and he finally accepted.
Yu Yao watched Wu Huaiqing leave, then turned and walked towards the military compound with her luggage on her back.
Upon arriving at the gate, she showed her access pass to the guard for inspection and registration. After confirming that everything was correct, she entered the compound.
After being away from home for a few days, everything in the house has gathered a layer of dust, and weeds have sprouted up again in the yard.
Yu Yao put her luggage in the room and sat down to rest.
"Is it Yu Yao who's back?" Song Yufeng asked as she saw the gate to the neighboring courtyard open, carrying a coconut that had been chilled in well water.
Yu Yao went out and said, "Sister Song, you're here. Come in and sit down." As she spoke, she took a rag and wiped the remaining chair clean. "I just got back and haven't had time to clean it yet. Please don't mind."
Song Yufeng smiled and said, "I knew you were back when I saw your gate open. Yesterday, the soldiers were doing some production work and picked a batch of coconuts. They sent five to each family. Since you weren't back, I had the young soldier who delivered the coconuts put them at my house. You must be exhausted. Have some coconut water to quench your thirst. I'll have my husband, Lao Wu, bring you the rest of the coconuts later."
Yu Yao was pleasantly surprised, not expecting to have chilled coconut water. "That's great, I was just feeling thirsty. Thank you, sister-in-law."
"No need to thank me, I'm just passing on this opportunity to help you chill it in the well water, it's no trouble at all," Song Yufeng said with a shy smile.
Sister-in-law Song sat at home for a while and chatted with her. Yu Yao also learned about some recent events that had happened in the military base and the family compound through her.
"Recently, a group of military experts from Qing City came to support the construction. They all went to the 804 Shipyard, which is heavily guarded. The day before yesterday, they even caught a spy who came to steal blueprints. Don't go there recently, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble."
These days, espionage is rampant, and due to historical reasons, infiltration is so extensive that someone you see every day might be a spy or an informant recruited by spies.
Especially since islands are located on the border and are very close to the other side, extra caution is needed.
Yu Yao had only ever seen spy-catching scenes in old movies before, and this was the first time she had heard about it up close. She was extremely curious and pressed for details.
Seeing her interest, Song Yufeng looked at her and said, "Next week, they're showing an open-air movie at the new apartment building. It's an old anti-espionage film. Yu Yao, why don't you come with me?"
If she were alone with so many people, she definitely wouldn't dare go, fearing the stares and attention. But with Yu Yao by her side, she felt she had the courage.
Thinking about how hard-won happiness is in the future, Yu Yao really wanted to go see it, so she immediately accepted Song Yufeng's invitation.
During the conversation, Song Yufeng also mentioned Zhou Yinhua's family situation.
Zhou Yinhua married a man surnamed Zhao, who was also a battalion commander. At that time, after the commander of the Third Regiment was injured in the line of duty and retired, he and Lu Ze were both very strong candidates for the new commander.
To be more precise, Lu Ze was too young, while Battalion Commander Zhao was more experienced, and more people were optimistic about him at the time.
After being rejected by Lu Ze, Zhou Yinhua harbored resentment. Despite the fact that Battalion Commander Zhao was fifteen years older than her and a widower with a child, she insisted on having her uncle act as matchmaker to marry him.
It's simply because they think Battalion Commander Zhao is more likely to become a regimental commander than Lu Ze. However, she is the regimental commander's wife, and Lu Ze has to address her as "Commander's Wife" when he sees her.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. In the following years, Lu Ze successively earned two third-class merits, one first-class merit, and one special-class merit, making a strong impression on the military leaders.
Even the leader who originally wanted to disqualify him from the candidacy because he was too young personally intervened and voted in favor, and the final result was obvious.
Lu Ze became the new commander of the Third Regiment, and also the youngest regimental-level officer in the entire island compound and even the Guangdong Military Region.
Over the years, Zhou Yinhua has argued with her husband a lot because of this matter. A few days ago, she even got into a fight with Zhao, the battalion commander's mother who came to accompany him to the army. She said that Zhou Yinhua had slandered her stepson for stealing money. It caused quite a stir at the time, and even the women's director was called in.
None of that matters. What matters is that when Sister Song describes Battalion Commander Zhao's mother and son, Yu Yao feels a sense of familiarity, which reminds her of the grandmother and grandson who evaded the fare on the train.
Song Yufeng sat for a while, and seeing that it was getting late, and thinking that Yu Yao still had things to do, she didn't want to disturb her and went back.
After resting, Yu Yao changed into clean old clothes, went to the hand pump well, pumped water into an enamel basin, and began cleaning.
After finally cleaning up, she was so hungry that her stomach was practically sticking to her back.
After such a long boat ride and half a day of work, she really didn't want to cook, so she grabbed some biscuits and ate them with boiled water.
I had only taken a couple of bites when I heard Song Yufeng and a man's voices; they must have come to deliver coconuts.
Yu Yao went out to take a look and sure enough, she saw that coconuts had been delivered. "Thank you for your hard work, Battalion Commander Wu. Just leave them in the main room."
When Song Yufeng saw that Yu Yao was only eating biscuits for dinner, she handed her own bowl to her.
"No wonder Commander Lu came to my house a couple of days ago before he went on his mission. He said you just arrived on the island and asked me to take good care of you. We can't just have biscuits for dinner. This is our meal for tonight. It's all home-style dishes. Don't mind it."
Yu Yao looked at the bowl and saw that it contained rice and vegetables, including not only vegetarian dishes but also two pieces of braised pork, which was quite a generous portion.
She felt a little embarrassed, but she was really hungry. Cookies alone wouldn't fill her up, so she didn't refuse and remembered this kindness.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
