Chapter 52 The Father-Son Scheme
Chapter Fifty-Two: The Father-Son Situation
Back home, Ling Jianwei was cooking at the stove with a spatula, while Li Yue stared intently at his back.
He turned around: "Hungry? Soon."
Li Yue said calmly, "Ling Jianwei, I've resigned."
The man remained calm and nodded, "Okay, I understand."
After saying that, he turned back.
A plate of stir-fried pork, emitting a wonderful aroma, was already laid out on the table. Tofu was being pan-fried in the pan, and when it was ready to be taken off the heat, some scallions planted by Li Yuezhong were added.
Ling Jianwei walked over with a plate: "Didn't you try to stop me?"
"They tried to persuade me to stay. The deputy factory director even talked to me, asking what difficulties I was facing and saying that the factory would help me solve them. I said I had no difficulties, I just didn't want to work here anymore."
Ling Jianwei washed and dried his hands before coming over to hug her and smooth her hair: "No one can force my wife to do something she doesn't want to do."
Li Yue did not respond.
He seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief, picked her up in his arms, and said nothing, just looked at her with those affectionate eyes: "You resigned, so be it. Isn't this a good thing? I should have cooked more dishes to celebrate."
Li Yue said softly, "I'll go back to Beijing tomorrow, and then I'll look for a job."
"No rush, let's get some rest first."
"Um."
"Eat first?" He raised an eyebrow. "Or should we eat something else first?"
"You're being indecent." Li Yue pushed him, and he fell to the ground.
-
Nearly two years later, Li Yue returned to the familiar train station and the familiar capital city of Beijing.
Ling's father's driver came to pick them up, and the car drove directly to Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
The old man underwent heart surgery, and the doctors pulled him back from the brink of death. Actually, Ling's father wasn't that old, not even seventy. The doctor said he was out of danger, and as long as he rested well and avoided any stress, there shouldn't be any major problems. Ling Jianwei's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down.
Li Yue could tell that although Ling Jianwei often said that he was old-fashioned, he still respected this father quite a bit.
Ling's mother stayed with the hospital to take care of the old man, and Li Yue and Ling Jianwei visited him at the hospital every day.
On Sunday, Li Yue and Ling Jianwei also went to the family compound to visit their cousins.
The family compound remains unchanged. My cousin had a baby soon after getting married, and the baby is now a few months old.
Li Yue held the baby and played with her.
Ling Jian smiled at Li Yue with an inscrutable look in his eyes, only to be glared at back by Li Yue.
After leaving her uncle's house, Li Yue got straight to the point: "I'm not thinking about having children right now, so don't overthink it."
He laughed: "You're overthinking it."
Regardless of who's overthinking it, Li Yue plans to find a way to learn from her martial uncle once she gets back.
Ling Jianwei remained in that nonchalant yet seemingly in control state, saying indifferently, "Go ahead, follow your martial uncle and learn more."
Just as they were about to leave, they ran into Gu Yanmei's mother.
As soon as Aunt Gu mentioned Yanmei, tears streamed down her face. She said, "Yanmei has always wanted to come back, but it's really hard to find a job here. I suggested she come back and get married, but she wouldn't agree."
Li Yue asked, "Could you help her get a recommendation for admission? She wants to study medicine."
Mrs. Gu said, "The qualification is very difficult to obtain. I told her to persevere a little longer, and maybe things will turn around later."
After saying goodbye to Aunt Gu, Li Yue sighed, "Although my cousin is hardworking, I could tell from her letter that she was actually forcing herself to stay strong."
Ling Jianwei said, "Let me ask."
Li Yue looked at him: "Who are you asking? Are you going to help them go back to the city?"
He shrugged slightly: "Let's see if there's such an opportunity. Your cousin is my cousin, isn't she? I can't just keep watching them suffer."
Upon hearing this, Li Yue took a few of his fingers and said, "Thank you."
He gave me a meaningful look and said, "That's not how you thank someone."
"How would you like to thank me?"
Ling Jianwei put his arm around her waist: "I'll tell you tonight."
Li Yue: "..."
They had a fairly comfortable holiday in Beijing, with just the two of them at home. In the mornings, after breakfast, they would go to the hospital, chat with their parents, or accompany their mother to the department store. They also often went to their maternal great-uncle's house for a meal.
Once, Li Yue asked, "How long will your leave be this time?"
He said, "It should be over in the next few days."
Li Yue: "So fast."
"We have two field training sessions a year. If we don't go now, it will get even colder."
Li Yue nodded: "Then let's go back early. Dad will be transferred to the cadre sanatorium tomorrow."
He looked at her and suggested, "Why don't you stay here a little longer and go back next year? Anyway, it'll be freezing cold in less than two months, and the porcelain factories will all be shut down."
Li Yue asked him with a smile, "Without me by your side, can you sleep alone at night?"
The man gritted his teeth: "Just hang in there."
A few days later, the two went to say goodbye to their father. Ling's mother happened to be out when the old man said to Ling Jianwei, "Originally, I was very indifferent to life and death, but perhaps it's because I'm getting old. Seeing some comrades gradually leaving, some of my thoughts have changed."
After saying that, he glanced at Ling Jianwei and smiled at the old man's face, which was marked by the passage of time: "I have been strict with you since you were a child, and your performance has always been excellent. When you graduated from military academy, you could have been assigned to a unit that you liked more and had a better future, but I insisted that you needed to be tempered, so I sent you to the armored battalion."
These words silenced Li Yue.
He looked at Ling Jianwei beside him.
Ling Jianwei, as usual, was quite disdainful: "Isn't the armored battalion good enough? Besides, I chose this battalion myself."
Ling's father sighed, "Your classmates who graduated at the same time have long since become regimental-level cadres. Do you still think that's good enough?"
Ling Jianwei remained silent.
“I’ve thought about it. You’ve trained enough over there. Work there for a few more years, and when you’re qualified enough, you can be transferred back.”
Ling Jianwei looked up at her father.
Ling's father said, "Your two older brothers have their own worlds and cannot be transferred casually. I am getting old and don't want to go to see my old comrades-in-arms one day with no one by my side."
Li Yue swallowed hard, feeling that this was a more suitable occasion for her and her son to have a heart-to-heart talk, so she said, "I'm going out for a bit."
But Ling Jianwei grabbed her and wouldn't let her go.
Ling's father also said, "This is a family matter. Yueyue, listen to him and also advise Jianwei not to be so stubborn as to argue with me about this."
Li Yue: "..."
Ling Jianwei suddenly laughed: "Who's arguing with you? You're always thinking nonsense, don't you get tired of it? It's good that she's back, of course. Do you expect her to live with me in this mountain valley forever, eating sand and drinking muddy water?"
Li Yue nudged him with her elbow.
Ling's father said, "He's always so infuriating when he talks, Yueyue, you should be more tolerant of him."
Li Yue finally said awkwardly, "It's alright... I didn't eat any sand or mud, or drink any muddy water."
Ling's father laughed and said, "He made you eat so poorly, that's his problem, how can you still have the nerve to say it?" He then glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "It's almost time, you still have to catch the train, right?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Then I won't nag anymore. Remember to write to Dad when you have time. He doesn't like to write, so you should write more."
"Okay, Dad."
Ling Jianwei continued to pull Li Yue along as they walked out of the room.
On the way, they met Ling's mother, said goodbye, and then got into Ling's father's car to head to the train station.
The two sat in the back seat, with Li Yue leaning against him.
Ling Jianwei patted her head and asked, "Do you want to come back soon?"
Li Yue said, "I'm fine with anything, it's the same wherever I am."
"Aren't you afraid that when you come back, you won't have learned how to make Ru porcelain yet?"
In reality, no one has been able to perfectly replicate Song Dynasty Ru porcelain. Li Yue said, "Almost a thousand years have passed, and the feng shui and geography have all changed. The clay raw materials, formula ratios, and firing temperatures are all slightly different. No one has been able to replicate it in the past few hundred years. I just want to learn the techniques."
He turned his head and nuzzled her hair with his chin: "If you come back, I'll build you a private kiln in the outskirts of Beijing so you can fire your own pottery for fun."
Li Yue said with pride, "I can build it myself."
"Okay, okay, you build it yourself, I'll help you mix the mud, alright?"
"If you mix it incorrectly, it will affect the quality."
"You seem quite disgusted."
"I mean, everyone has their own expertise. This isn't your job, so don't get involved."
"Tsk."
The man lowered his head and kissed her forehead, then leaned his whole body on her shoulder, remaining silent.
Li Yue could roughly guess that his father's seemingly ordinary words had actually struck a chord with him.
She was completely unaware that his father had influenced the course of his life. Perhaps he had other places he wanted to go, and he could have been like his other graduates, working in a better company and holding a higher position...
Li Yue touched his face and said to him, "Actually, it's quite nice in the neighboring county."
She wouldn't have turned back if he hadn't been there.
The man's voice was slightly cold: "What's so good about it?"
Li Yue said, "Anyway, it's pretty good."
Ling Jianwei hummed in response and closed her eyes.
Li Yue looked down at his sleeping face. This handsome man was only 27 years old, very, very young. He diligently led troops and built up the military at the grassroots level, and also wrote relevant military theories based on his practical experience…
He never deliberately told her about his achievements, such as winning first place in the division's skills competition, having his military theories published in an authoritative internal journal and adopted by military academies, or being named an advanced individual in the entire army... but she always knew.
She admired him greatly, and hearing what his father said made her feel a little sorry for him.
But I suspect he wouldn't care if she felt sorry for him; this man has his own pride.
After returning to Lin County, at night before going to bed, Li Yue asked him, "If your father hadn't interfered with you back then, where would you be?"
Ling Jianwei: "Maybe on some island."
Li Yue: "Huh?"
"What? I loved the vast ocean and wanted to join the navy, but my superiors consulted the old man, and he vetoed my application."
Li Yue didn't understand: "Even if he thinks you need more training, the navy also has lower-level officers."
Ling Jianwei said coldly, "That old geezer is very wicked; he just doesn't want me to have my way."
Li Yue: "Isn't there some other reason?"
Ling Jianwei chuckled: "He came from the army and traveled all over China on foot. The country only established the navy and air force after the founding of the People's Republic of China, but he was still assigned to the army at that time. Maybe it was out of sentiment."
"Oh, that makes sense."
Li Yue nestled in his arms and asked curiously, "Do you still miss your old dreams? Like, when you're dreaming in the middle of the night, do you think about the sea, warships, beaches, and things like that..."
“Nonsense,” the man sneered speechlessly. “What do you mean by ‘midnight dreams’? If I woke up in the middle of the night, all I would want to do is mess with you.”
"Or, how about we try it in the middle of the night?" the man said sarcastically.
Li Yue scoffed, "Nonsense, time to sleep!"
...
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