Chapter 38 Chapter 38 Smoking

When Mrs. Xue returned home, she saw that no one was at home. She cursed in her heart: It's so late and you haven't come back to cook. Where the hell have you been?

After sitting on the sofa and waiting for a while, Mrs. Xue did not wait for her daughter-in-law, but waited for her son who came back from get off work.

Captain Xue saw his mother sitting on the sofa, glaring at him fiercely.

"Mom, what's wrong with you?" Captain Xue asked puzzledly.

Mrs. Xue looked behind her son and saw no one following him. She asked, "Where is your wife's wife?"

Captain Xue asked back, "How would I know? Aren't you all at home? Don't you know where she went?"

Mrs. Xue scolded, "Who knows where she has been? She never comes home and is restless. Look at the time, and she still hasn't come back to cook. Does she want to starve us to death? If this happened in the countryside, she would have been beaten eight hundred times. Let's see if she dares to do it again next time!"

Captain Xue heard her talk getting more and more outrageous, and he frowned and said, "What nonsense are you talking about!"

Mrs. Xue was not happy when she heard this. "You are useless. You forgot your mother after you got married. You don't even think about how I raised you with all my hard work..."

She began to recount the kindness she had shown in raising her son, and Captain Xue sighed irritably as he listened.

At this time the door opened and Yin Guixiang finally came back, holding her little daughter in her arms, with Daya and Erya beside her.

Captain Xue asked hurriedly, "Where did you go? Why did you come back just now?"

Mrs. Xue said sarcastically on the sofa, "Oh my, you still remember to come back. I thought you were dead outside. You didn't even look at the time outside. You didn't remember to come back and cook?"

Yin Guixiang raised her head abruptly, glanced at the mother and son, and announced to them coldly: "Don't expect me to cook for you in the future! The child and I will eat in the cafeteria from now on, you two will figure it out on yourselves."

There were traces of iodine solution on her face. Captain Xue's face darkened when he saw it and he asked her, "What's wrong with your face?"

Yin Guixiang pointed at Mrs. Xue on the sofa and said angrily, "It's all your mother's fault!"

Mrs. Xue jumped up from the sofa and said cunningly, "I didn't hit you. Don't try to accuse me."

Yin Guixiang sneered, "Really? You don't admit what you did this afternoon? Why don't you go to the family compound and ask someone to see what they say? The story of the Xue family's mother-in-law beating her daughter-in-law and granddaughter into the hospital has spread everywhere. Our family has become a laughing stock in the family compound."

"From today on, we will separate. I will take care of the children, and you two will go on your own. Also, I will keep the tickets for me and the children for the next month, and no one can take them from me."

Hearing this, Mrs. Xue asked anxiously, "Then what should I eat?"

Yin Guixiang: "Humph, go find your son. What does it have to do with me?"

After saying that, he took the children into the bedroom and closed the door.

Captain Xue turned around and asked sternly, "Mom, why did you hit Guixiang and the child?"

Mrs. Xue felt guilty for a moment when she met her son's eyes, but then she said righteously: "What's wrong with a mother-in-law beating her daughter-in-law? It's natural. A disobedient daughter-in-law should be punished! If it were in our country, we would have kicked your disobedient wife out of the house long ago."

Captain Xue took a deep breath and said in a cold voice: "Since you want to go back to the countryside so much, I will buy a boat ticket tomorrow, and you can pack up and go back."

When she heard that he was going to send her away, Mrs. Xue immediately sat down on the ground and wailed, "You - you unfilial son! Fine, fine, now that you are rich you look down on your mother... Oh, my life is so miserable..."

Captain Xue stood there, looking at his mother rolling on the ground with an impatient look on his face. After a long while, he sighed and said, "Okay, stop crying! You don't want to go back, right? Okay... just don't go back for the time being."

Hearing this, Mrs. Xue stopped crying immediately. She got up from the ground and sat on the sofa, and said to her son, "Go to the canteen to get some food. I'm starving."

Captain Xue held out his hand and said, "Then give me the ticket."

Mrs. Xue covered her pocket, looked at him warily, and asked with wide eyes, "What are you doing?"

Captain Xue saw her defensive actions and felt a chill in his heart. He said angrily, "Aren't the tickets collected by my family in the past few months all with you? Don't I need a ticket to go to the cafeteria to get food?"

Mrs. Xue asked, "Where is your ticket? Aren't your salary and tickets issued separately by the army?" She found out clearly that the family compound only issued tickets to family members every month.

Captain Xue explained helplessly: "My monthly salary and tickets are all kept by Guixiang."

Mrs. Xue rolled her eyes at him and said with a curled lip, "You are useless, how can you let a woman manage your money? Well, go and collect the bills. You are a military officer after all, how can they not give you this face?"

Captain Xue laughed angrily and said to her, "Why do you keep this ticket? Are you going to take it back to my eldest brother's house? I remind you that this ticket can only be used here. It will be invalid when you return home."

"Really?" Mrs. Xue took out the ticket from her pocket. She couldn't read and didn't know what was written on the ticket, but it looked different from the ones she had seen in her hometown before.

Captain Xue pointed to the "Qiongzhou City Grain Coupon" and said, "It says here that the Qiongzhou City Grain Coupon can only be used in Qiongzhou City, not in my hometown."

Mrs. Xue took the ticket and looked at it again, half believing it. Captain Xue took it and said, "You also heard what Guixiang said just now. She and the child's tickets will be kept by themselves in the future. If you want to continue to stay here, you should transfer the food card relationship, otherwise you will have nothing to eat."

Mrs. Xue was not happy, "Why bother with that? You still have the ticket, and I can't eat much."

Captain Xue said expressionlessly, "You didn't transfer the relationship because you wanted to give the food and work points distributed by the team to Big Brother's family."

Mrs. Xue said confidently, "So what? You are rich now, so what if you support your brother? Your brother has our Xue family's eldest grandson. I think it would be better to take your eldest nephew home to live a good life for a few days, and just throw your losers back to the countryside."

She felt unhappy when she thought about the little girls eating and drinking well and wearing new clothes here, while her eldest grandson was still suffering in the countryside!

After hearing what Mrs. Xue said, Captain Xue's heart was completely chilled...

Sure enough, no matter how successful he was, his parents still favored his eldest brother all these years. He suddenly felt that it was a joke for him to go back to the countryside, and he shouldn't have taken his mother home to mess up the peaceful life of his small family!

Captain Xue said coldly: "I have no intention of raising a son for someone else. Since you are unwilling to transfer the relationship, I will not force you."

What I was thinking in my mind was to send a telegram back home tomorrow and ask my father to pick me up.

After saying that, he turned around, went to the kitchen, picked up his lunch box and went out to get his meal.

Old Mrs. Xue was still shouting in the house, "What are you talking about? Someone else's son? He is the eldest grandson of our Xue family!"

…

Saturday is the last working day of the week.

Xiao Zhang encouraged himself in the office, "If I can hold on for another day, I can sleep in tomorrow~"

Xia Qinqin said to her, "Auntie Xiao Zhang, grandpa said: A day's plan begins in the morning, so children can't always sleep in."

Xiao Zhang ran to Xia Qinqin, pinched her little face, and said with a smile: "Children can't sleep in, but I'm an adult, and adults have to sleep in on their days off."

Xia Qinqin tilted her head and said, "Huh? But my dad and mom don't sleep in."

Xiao Zhang: “…”

Gently lifting Xia Qinqin's braid, Xiao Zhang said, "Because they want you to be a role model. I don't have any children at home, so I can sleep in peace."

Xia Qinqin touched her head and asked in confusion: "Is that so?"

Xiao Zhang nodded seriously, "Yeah, yes."

Meng Yufei is in the personnel department next door, and her salary has been downgraded.

Section Chief Chen handed her her salary slip and said, "Your position level is still the same as before, cadre level 19. But your salary is not as high as Haishi's. According to our standards, it is 68 yuan per month. However, the army has a position subsidy for remote and difficult areas, which is 2 yuan per month. So your salary is 70 yuan per month."

Calculated this way, the monthly salary is only two yuan less than Haishi's.

In fact, what was really reduced were the benefits provided by the company. The benefits provided by Haishi Bank were quite good. During holidays, not to mention daily necessities such as rice, flour, grain and oil, there was never a shortage of various coupons. The bank could get the most scarce coupons on the market and distribute them to employees as benefits.

In this era, everyone's salary is fixed, but the specific amount of benefits employees receive depends on the ability of the unit.

Meng Yufei thought: Although there are fewer benefits now, there is nowhere to spend money on the island, and there is no place to redeem those coupons if I want to use them here.

After receiving the salary slip, Meng Yufei smiled and said, "Chief Chen, thank you for your trouble."

Section Chief Chen said, "I should have given it to you a long time ago, but I was busy recruiting these past two days, so it got delayed. It's just right, now we can calculate the salaries of the new recruits together."

Then he handed over a few more pay slips and said, "Take them all back. You should pay your salary this month according to the pay slips. And next month, I'd also like you and the finance department to be responsible for paying the salaries of the kindergarten teachers and staff."

Meng Yufei nodded and said, "Okay. They will come to work next week, which will be April, so they can receive a month's salary."

Back in the office, Xia Qinqin trotted over to Meng Yufei, hugged her thighs and asked, "Mom, I will get up by myself tomorrow and not sleep in. You and Dad can have a good sleep."

"ah?"

Meng Yufei was confused, not knowing why her daughter was bringing up the issue of being lazy and sleepy.

Xiao Zhang coughed lightly and said, "Well, Sister Meng, I just told Qinqin that you didn't take a nap to set an example for her. She seemed to feel guilty because she caused you to not take a nap."

At this point, Xiao Zhang felt a little embarrassed and explained to Qinqin: "Qinqin, Auntie was just joking with you. Auntie slept lazily simply because, um... because Auntie was lazy..."

Meng Yufei smiled and said, "It doesn't matter whether you sleep or not. Sleeping a lot means you have a good sleep quality. It also means that your work is very hard and you need to rest well on the weekends."

Xiao Zhang touched his head and said, "Really? That's the explanation. I've loved sleeping since I was a kid. My dad always said it was because I was lazy."

Meng Yufei said: "Only when you sleep well can you have a healthy body. It's only when you can't sleep that you realize how happy it is to get more sleep."

She bent down and said to her daughter, "Qinqin, Mom and Dad don't need to sleep in. We get enough sleep every day. We're not sleeping because of you."

Xia Qinqin felt relieved after hearing her mother's words. She rubbed her mother and said coquettishly, "Then can I not get up tomorrow morning? I want to eat breakfast in bed. Auntie Xiao Zhang just said that she would eat breakfast in bed."

Meng Yufei glanced at Xiao Zhang, who quickly stuck out his tongue in embarrassment.

Next time I will never talk nonsense in front of kids, wuwuwu, I have a very good memory...

Meng Yufei said, "Tomorrow we are going to take a boat to the city to have some snacks, don't you remember?"

Xia Qinqin's eyes lit up when she heard this, "Oh, right, then I won't sleep in anymore, I want to be the first one to get up!"

—————

Division Chief's Office.

Teacher Li sat in his office chair, a cigarette between his fingertips and a frown on his face.

There were three people standing in front of the desk, namely Xia Junshan, the commander of the 1st Regiment, Fang Yonghua, the commander of the 4th Regiment, and Zhao Zhengliu, the battalion commander of the 1st Regiment.

Commander Li said in a serious voice: "This has happened three times in a row. Whenever we have a joint training, it won't take long for the enemy to know our training time. Previously, the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Regiments were leaked on the same day. Will your 1st and 4th Regiments' joint training last night be the same as before?"

Then he slammed the table and angrily said: "Where exactly is the problem!?"

Xia Junshan said: "All residents on the island have been checked three times, and no suspicious persons have been found. The family compound has also been checked once, and no problems have been found. If the news is leaked further..."

Commander Li raised the cigarette in his hand, took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and said hoarsely: "This means that the problem may exist within the army."

The expressions of the people present were all serious. If this was really the case, it meant that the situation was very serious.

Teacher Li took two deep puffs, finished the cigarette in his hand and put it out in the ashtray, saying, "Let time take care of everything. You worked hard last night, go back and have a good rest."

As he said this, he took out another cigarette and put it in his mouth, then raised the cigarette box and said, "Would you like one too?"

Xia Junshan shook his head. Captain Fang stepped forward and took one, saying with a smile, "Thank you, Commander."

Zhao Zhengliu also went over and took one, put it under his nose and sniffed it, raised his eyebrows and said: "Hey, why are you smoking this? It's not suitable for your status, it's too bad."

Master Li rolled his eyes at him and said unhappily, "You bastard, you're still complaining about giving it up. If you don't want to smoke it, give it back to me."

Zhao Zhengliu put the cigarette in his mouth and said with a smile: "There's no point in asking for it back after giving it away. I'll exchange it for two Zhonghua cigarettes for you some other day."

Teacher Li pointed at him and said with a smile, "Where are you going to get it? You're just going to go back and fleece your father. Don't let your father get angry. You bastard, just throw the pot to me."

Zhao Zhengliu said with a playful smile: "How dare I blame you? You are my leader now."

Commander Li snorted and said, "There are things you dare not do." He turned to Xia Junshan and said, "Junshan, what's wrong with you? I taught you how to smoke. How come you have forgotten everything now?"

Xia Junshan touched his nose and said, "Well, my wife and daughter are here, aren't they? If I go back smelling of cigarettes, won't it bother them?"

Leader Fang, who was standing next to him, smiled and smoked a cigarette: "It is said that our leader Xia is famous for being 'henpecked'. Now it seems that his reputation is well-deserved."

Xia Junshan grinned and said, "My wife cares about me because she cares about me. This shows that we have a good relationship."

Teacher Li snorted and shook his head, saying, "You are a useless, henpecked boy."

Xia Junshan coughed lightly and said, "Commander, Doctor Huang seemed to have said before that for the sake of your health, you are not allowed to smoke. How come you secretly smoked again?"

Teacher Li: “…”

Thinking of his confiscated cigarettes, Li grumbled, "Women are always troublesome. She even cares about me."

He said this, but he didn't light a cigarette.

The corner of Zhao Zhengliu's mouth stiffened as he held the cigarette in his hand and looked at it.

After leaving the division commander's office, Regiment Commander Fang said, "Old Xia, Captain Zhao, it's almost time for lunch. Why don't we go to a restaurant in town and get together?"

There is a small restaurant next to the town government. It was originally the town government’s cafeteria. Later, after the troops arrived, it began to open to the public. The soldiers would occasionally go there to have a bite to eat.

Xia Junshan waved his hands and refused, "No, I have to go back. I told my family last night that I could go back this morning. If I don't go back, they will be worried."

Captain Fang nodded and said, "Okay, Old Xia, you're really homesick right now." He turned to Zhao Zhengliu and asked, "Captain Zhao, what about you?"

Zhao Zhengliu also shook his head and refused: "I have to go back too. I'm a little tired. I want to go back and have a rest."

Leader Fang shrugged helplessly and said, "Well, if you guys aren't going, I'll go home and sleep."

After Xia Junshan got home, he checked the time and found that Meng Yufei still had about ten minutes before she got off work.

He went to the kitchen, opened the cupboard, saw the leftover rice from last night, and took it out.

Heat oil in a pan, add a few eggs and stir-fry until the oil is hot. When cooked, set aside. Heat oil in the pan again, add rice and stir-fry. When the rice is broken up, add the eggs and stir-fry until mixed evenly.

Meng Yufei took Xia Qinqin home and smelled the aroma of fried rice as soon as she entered the door.

Xia Qinqin took a deep breath and said, "Wow~ It smells so good~"

Xia Junshan heard the noise and poked his head out of the kitchen, "You guys are back. The egg fried rice is ready."

Xia Qinqin was surprised and said, "Dad, you came back earlier than us today."

Xia Junshan said: "Yes, Dad will come back to make fried rice for you. Are you happy?"

"I'm happy~ Dad's fried rice smells so good."

Meng Yufei asked him, "Didn't you say yesterday that you would be back early this morning? Last night... were you okay?" She looked at him with concern.

Xia Junshan smiled and said, "I'm fine. The division commander called us to a meeting this morning, so I came back late."

Meng Yufei asked again: "Are you going to the army this afternoon?"

Xia Junshan said, "No, the division commander asked us to come back and rest for half a day."

Meng Yufei breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. You should get some sleep at home this afternoon."

Xia Junshan said, "Okay, when you get off work, let's go to the beach to play together. Last time, didn't you say you wanted to take Qinqin to play in the mud? That's hard to do at home, so let's go to the beach to make sand piles."

When Xia Qinqin heard that they were going to play at the beach, she asked happily, "Can I go play with the sea?"

Xia Junshan looked at Meng Yufei and didn't understand what his daughter meant. Meng Yufei explained, "She wants to play in the water."

Xia Junshan squatted down and said to his daughter, "How about we go play in the sand this time? Daddy can make small cars and big tanks for you. It's fun."

"Well, I want a car and a camera."

"Okay, build a camera, and dad will build you a radio."

"Great~"

Meng Yufei put the lunch box on the dining table, went to the kitchen to get bowls, chopsticks and plates, and said to the father and daughter, "Let's eat first."

"Okay." Xia Junshan walked over to help Meng Yufei set the table. Meng Yufei wrinkled her nose and asked him, "Do you smoke?"

Xia Junshan laughed and said, "Your nose is too sensitive. I didn't smoke. I got it when I was in the commander's office and someone smoked. I'm going to change my clothes now."

"Goodbye," Meng Yufei held him back, "Change after dinner. You need to go to bed."

"Okay, let's eat first." Xia Junshan nodded.

…

When Zhao Zhengliu returned home, he saw Zhou Wenqian sitting on the sofa reading a book. He said softly, "I'm back."

Zhou Wenqian turned her head and saw him. She put down her book and stood up and said, "You're back. I'll go to the cafeteria to get food."

Zhao Zhengliu walked over, pushed her back onto the sofa, and said, "You continue reading. I'll go to the cafeteria to get some food later."

Zhou Wenqian nodded and said, "Okay."

Zhao Zhengliu sat next to her and asked her: "Why didn't you ask me why I came back so late? I told you yesterday that I would be back in the morning."

Zhou Wenqian said, "Isn't your job confidential? Family members are not allowed to ask about your job content. I know that."

Zhao Zhengliu choked and wanted to ask her if she wasn't worried about whether she would get into an accident. But he swallowed the words back.

After sitting for a while, Zhao Zhengliu lowered his head and sniffed the clothes on his body, and asked her: "Do you smell anything on me?"

Zhou Wenqian looked up from her book, looked at him suspiciously, and said, "Well, why don't you take a shower first?"

Zhao Zhengliu: “…”

He got up and went to the kitchen to heat water for his bath. Halfway there, he turned back and said, "I smoked today."

Zhou Wenqian stared at him calmly. Zhao Zhengliu felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, so he asked her, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Zhou Wenqian asked: "What do you want me to say?"

Zhao Zhengliu rubbed his hair irritably, and said with a somewhat aggrieved tone: "You didn't let me smoke before, saying that smoking is harmful to the body, and that the smell of smoke is unpleasant and you don't like it."

Zhou Wenqian said calmly: "Really? Is what I said useful?"

Zhao Zhengliu whispered, "Yes, I'm sorry. I was really a jerk in the past. I only cared about myself."

He walked over to Zhou Wenqian, squatted down, looked her in the eye, and said seriously: "I will listen to you from now on and never smoke again!"

Zhou Wen Qian listened to his assurance and simply replied, "Okay, I got it." Then she lowered her head to avoid his gaze and continued reading.

Zhao Zhengliu felt a little lost. For some reason he felt depressed. He had a lot of things stuck in his mind but didn't know what to say.

After a moment, he stood up and said with a smile: "I'll go take a shower first, and then go to the cafeteria to get food."

Zhou Wenqian, who was reading a book, nodded gently, "Okay."

Zhao Zhengliu turned around and exhaled. He would definitely do what he said this time and slowly change Qianqian's view of him. They still had a lot of time...