Chapter 39 Chapter 39 Sand Piles

After a nap, Xia Qinqin got up and was surprised to find that her father was still sleeping next to her.

Meng Yufei put her index finger to her lips and whispered, "Hey, Dad is still sleeping, let's be quiet."

Xia Qinqin also put her index finger to her lips, nodded and whispered, "Yeah, okay, keep your voice down."

The mother and daughter tiptoed out of the room. Meng Yufei helped Xia Qinqin dress, combed her hair, and took her out to work.

In front of the beach on the coast, Han Jianhong sat on a rock and silently looked at the endless sea in front of him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Hearing a voice from behind, Han Jianhong turned around warily and saw a young man standing behind him, looking at him.

Han Jianhong looked at his smiling face and recognized that this was Ma Weidong, the eldest son of Captain Ma. He was also the son of Aunt Zhang, who made shoes for him. Thinking of this, Han Jianhong relaxed his vigilant eyes.

Ma Weidong came over and asked, "You are Uncle Han's eldest daughter, Han Jianhong, right? Why are you here alone?"

Han Jianhong replied: "I came to see the sea."

Ma Weidong turned his head and looked towards the sea, wondering, "What's so good about this? We live on this island, isn't it enough to look at the sea every day?"

Han Jianhong said nothing, turned his head and continued to look at the sea in silence.

Ma Weidong waited for a long time but did not hear Han Jianhong's voice. He turned around and saw her staring at the sea in a trance. The girl's profile inexplicably revealed a sense of determination and calmness.

Feeling eyes staring at him, Han Jianhong turned his head and looked at Ma Weidong in confusion.

Ma Weidong laughed and said, "I didn't realize you were so quiet. Unlike my second sister, she's about the same age as you. If you give her something to talk about, she'll talk nonstop."

Han Jianhong slightly raised the corners of his mouth and smiled without saying anything, then turned his head to look at the sea.

Ma Weidong patted his head and said, "If you like the sea, why don't you go swimming? Why don't we go together and see who can swim farther."

Han Jianhong shook his head, "I can't swim."

"Ah? You can't swim?"

Han Jianhong said: "I grew up in a mountainous area and have never seen such wide and vast waters."

Ma Weidong said: "Then I will teach you how to swim. How can a child on our island not know how to swim?"

Seeing that Han Jianhong didn't say anything, Ma Weidong said, "Let's do it today. I will be joining the army in a few days, and I won't have time to teach you then."

Han Jianhong asked him, "Where are you going to serve in the army?"

In her previous life, she didn't know Ma Weidong, so naturally she didn't know where he went to serve in the army.

Ma Weidong said proudly, "I'm going to join the Air Force."

"Air Force?" Han Jianhong was puzzled. "Why don't you join the Navy?"

Ma Weidong said, "I'm tired of looking at the sea every day. I can't see the end of it. It's boring. I want to go to the sky. It's much more vast and interesting than the sea. Do you know that in the whole Qiongzhou City, only three people have passed the physical test requirements of the Air Force? I am born to be an airman."

The seventeen-year-old boy is full of vigor and ambition, has infinite aspirations for the future, and is full of confidence.

Han Jianhong jumped down from the rock and said, "You're going to teach me how to swim, so start now."

Ma Weidong nodded and said, "Okay, let's go!"

The two walked towards the beach, and Ma Weidong asked her curiously, "Why did you suddenly agree to learn swimming? Just now I thought you didn't want to learn."

Han Jianhong looked at him seriously and said, "The sea is not boring at all!"

Ma Weidong shrugged and said, "It's just quite boring. Look, it's all sea water. If you take a boat to the deep sea area, you really can't see anything around you. A normal person would be bored to death if he stayed there for a few days."

Han Jianhong glared at him in dissatisfaction, but didn't know how to retort, so she just stood there with her lips pursed.

Ma Weidong smiled, "Okay, okay, I won't say it's boring anymore. Now you want to learn how to swim? I'll teach you the simplest way to hold your breath first, you see..." As he said that, he dived into the sea.

"Hey..." Han Jianhong stared at the sea surface. The originally turbulent sea water returned to calm, and Ma Weidong's figure was looming under the clear sea water.

Han Jianhong was counting in his mind, and when he reached almost a hundred, the man under the sea broke out of the water, with sea water dripping down his short hair.

"Are you okay?" Han Jianhong asked dryly.

Ma Weidong shook his head. "That's nothing. If I wasn't afraid that you would worry, I could hold it in for a while longer."

Han Jianhong wanted to open her mouth and say, "I'm not worried about you." But before she could finish her words, Ma Weidong continued, "Quick, take a deep breath first. I want to see how long you can hold it."

The two of them stayed at the beach, one teaching and the other learning.

As usual, I leave work an hour early on Saturday afternoon.

Xia Qinqin looked at her latest masterpiece - a pineapple painting - with satisfaction.

On the drawing paper is a big pineapple with a small door at the bottom of the pineapple's body and two windows on top, like a house.

Hearing Auntie Xiao Zhang shouting "It's time to get off work," Xia Qinqin hurriedly and carefully folded up the drawing paper, picked up the drawing, and ran to Xiao Zhang's side, looking up and asking, "Auntie Xiao Zhang, are you going to Auntie Wen Qian's house to play after get off work?"

Xiao Zhang smiled and nodded, "Yeah, what's the matter, do you want to go with me?"

Xia Qinqin shook her head and said, "I want to go play in the sand with my parents. Tell Aunt Wenqian that I'll go play with her next time. Aunt Zhang, can you bring something for Aunt Wenqian?"

Xiao Zhang squatted down and looked at Xia Qinqin, a small person, standing in front of him with her hands behind her back and her head tilted back, looking at him seriously. Xiao Zhang smiled and asked her, "Okay, what do you want me to bring for you?"

Xia Qinqin took the painting out from behind her and handed it to Xiao Zhang, saying, "This is it. Please help me give it to Aunt Wen Qian. It's a gift from me to her."

Xiao Zhang curiously opened the painting and took a look, then asked, "Wow, Qinqin, what is this painting? A pineapple-shaped house?"

Xia Qinqin explained: "This is the Pineapple House. People who live here can eat sweet pineapples every day."

Xiao Zhang smiled and said, "It's a great painting. I will definitely bring it to you."

"Thank you, Auntie Zhang."

Xiao Zhang put the painting away and put it in his bag, and deliberately said in a jealous tone: "Qinqin, why don't you draw a picture for me? I have known you for a longer time."

Xia Qinqin touched her little head, smiled sweetly and asked, "Auntie Xiao Zhang, what kind of fruit do you like?"

Xiao Zhang said: "Well, I like eating mangoes."

Xia Qinqin spread her hands and said, "But I have never eaten mango."

Xiao Zhang pinched her cheek and said with a smile, "When mangoes are available in a few days, Auntie will bring some to you. After you finish eating, remember to draw a picture for me."

When Xia Qinqin heard that there was food, she nodded vigorously, "Yeah, okay~"

Meng Yufei took Xia Qinqin downstairs and saw Xia Junshan standing downstairs waiting for them.

When Xia Qinqin saw her father, her round eyes lit up, she ran over happily, opened her arms and shouted loudly: "Dad..."

"Watch your step." Meng Yufei hurriedly reminded.

Xia Junshan took two quick steps forward, picked up his daughter who was rushing towards him, and said with a smile: "Walk slowly, or you will fall."

Xia Qinqin nodded repeatedly in her father's arms, "Yeah, I see. Dad, why are you here?"

Xia Junshan said gently: "I'm here to pick you and mom up from get off work. Are you happy?"

"Happy~"

Meng Yufei walked over and asked him, "Why don't you sleep a little longer?" He didn't sleep the whole night, and didn't go to bed until noon today.

Xia Junshan smiled and said, "A few hours is enough. If you sleep too much, you won't be able to sleep at night."

Meng Yufei nodded, "Yes, remember to go to bed early tonight."

"Okay." Xia Junshan weighed Xia Qinqin in his arms and said, "Let's go to the beach and pile up sand now."

"Okay, let's go~" Xia Qinqin hugged her father's neck and laughed happily.

This time when we went to the beach, the family of three did not bring any tools and did not plan to pick up seafood.

When they got to the beach, the tide had just receded and people were patrolling the beach near the sea with their fishing nets and shovels, picking up the gifts from the sea. Xia Junshan found a place with few people and started to build sand piles for his daughter to play with.

The sand that had just experienced low tide was relatively moist and very suitable for piling up. Xia Junshan skillfully used the sand to pile up a small car as long as his arm.

He had learned automobile maintenance in the army and was familiar with every structure of a car. This way, if the car broke down during a mission, he could solve the problem quickly.

Xia Qinqin looked at the car made of sand and exclaimed, "Wow! Dad really made a car."

Xia Junshan built another tank next to him. Xia Qinqin pointed at it curiously and asked, "Dad, what is this?"

Xia Junshan replied: "This is a tank."

"What is a tank?"

"Well, it's a very impressive car."

"Oh, Dad, I want a camera too."

"Okay, Dad will do it for you."

Meng Yufei watched the father and daughter playing in the sand with a smile on her face, and turned her head to look at the people picking up seafood not far away. There were a lot of seafood left on the beach today, and the joyful sounds of the harvest mixed with the sound of the waves could be heard from time to time.

There was a person swimming in the sea not far away. Meng Yufei felt that the figure looked familiar. When they just arrived, the person seemed to be swimming there.

After a while, the man came ashore and walked to the edge of the beach. He walked beside the rock where Meng Yufei and the others were narrating, and sat on it with a light jump.

Meng Yufei recognized her. This was Han Jianhong.

"Junshan, I saw Jianhong. You take Qinqin here to play. I'm going to talk to her."

"Okay, go ahead."

After Han Jianhong came out of the sea, her body was still dripping with sea water. She sat on a rock, basking in the evening sunshine, feeling the sea breeze, and looking calmly at the sea not far away.

Next to her was a pair of cool shoes, which were new shoes made for her by Mrs. Zhang. Before she went swimming in the sea, she took off her shoes and hid them on the rocks here.

"Jianhong, what a coincidence, are you here to catch the sea too?"

Hearing the voice, Han Jianhong turned around and saw that it was Meng Yufei. He quickly stood up and jumped down from the rock to greet her, "Aunt Meng, you are here too."

Meng Yufei said, "Come here with Qinqin to play in the sand. I just saw you just swimming. Why don't you go pick up some seafood?"

Han Jianhong said: "I just came here to swim."

Meng Yufei said: "You swim very well. When did you learn to swim? I was thinking about how old Qinqin would be when I started teaching her to swim."

Han Jianhong said: "I just learned it today."

"Ah? You just learned it today?" Meng Yufei was surprised. "You're amazing, Jianhong. I thought you've been learning it for a long time."

Han Jianhong said: "I grew up in the mountains when I was a child. I have never seen a big lake, let alone the sea."

Meng Yufei smiled and said, "Then you must really like the sea."

Han Jianhong nodded and said, "Yes, when I first saw the sea, I was curious that there was such a place in the world. Looking at it, I felt very comfortable and peaceful in my heart. I had a feeling of freedom."

She had heard the word freedom from her teacher in class before, but she never knew what it meant. Until today, when she was swimming freely in the sea, she truly felt the feeling of freedom.

Meng Yufei looked at Han Jianhong's smiling expression at the moment, with tenderness and yearning in her eyes, reminding people that she was only a fifteen-year-old girl, not a gloomy, introverted and lonely girl.

Han Jian looked at Meng Yufei with red eyes and said, "Aunt Meng, you told me last time to think more about my future. These past few days, I have been thinking about where my future lies. When I become an adult in a few years, should I still stay at home? Or should I find a job, or get married..."

"The more I thought about it, the more troubled I became. I couldn't find a direction at all. So I started thinking about what I could do in the future, what I was good at, what I liked... After thinking for a long time, I found that what I liked most was the sea."

As she spoke, she turned her head to look at the sea and smiled, "What I like most is looking at the sea. This is the first time I've discovered that I actually have something I like. Today, I seem to have found something I'm good at."

Meng Yufei asked, "Is it swimming?"

Han Jianhong nodded. "I didn't go to school until I was ten years old. From the first day I started school, I was the object of everyone's ridicule. I was obviously older than other children, but I couldn't study as well as others... I have heard the word "stupid" from too many people, and I also think that I am really stupid. But today, after I learned to swim, I found that I don't seem to be that stupid..."

Meng Yufei held her hand and said, "Everyone has their own strengths. You can learn to swim in one day, and swim so well. You have a natural talent for swimming."

"A talent for swimming?"

Han Jianhong whispered that in his two lifetimes, this was the first time he knew he had talent.

Meng Yufei affirmed: "Yes, you have to believe in yourself, you are a person with a natural talent for swimming."

Han Jianhong said: "But I still don't know what I should do in the future?"

Meng Yufei said: "Then just keep looking. You see, in just a few days, you have already found what you like and what you are good at. I think it won't be long before you find your future path."

Han Jianhong nodded and smiled: "Yes."

When she was just reborn, she was filled with grief and anger, and she only wanted to take revenge on those who bullied her in her previous life, but she didn't know how to take revenge, and where to go after taking revenge.

But now, she has gradually changed her mind. She still has a long way to go in life and she is still very weak now. When she grows up and becomes strong, she will take revenge on those who have bullied her!

In this life and past, she now has to live for herself, follow her heart and walk her own path.

When Meng Yufei went back to look for Xia Junshan and Xia Qinqin, they had already piled up a small area of ​​sand, with cars, tanks, cameras, radios, sofas, desks...

Meng Yufei said with a smile: "You have built so many things."

Xia Qinqin pulled her mother and pointed at the pile of sand and said, "Mom, guess what Dad is building?"

Meng Yufei took a look and said, "Well, is it in Jianguo?"

Xia Qinqin clapped her hands and said, "Wow, Mom is so smart, she guessed it right away."

Meng Yufei smiled and asked, "Are you going to build a home?"

Xia Junshan turned around and said, "You're right, our house is still short of a yard."

Meng Yufei squatted down and said, "Then I will build the yard."

Xia Qinqin also squatted beside her, "I'll help mom."

"Okay, let's go together."

As the sun sets, the sunlight on the beach slowly fades away. A family of three piles up items with sand in a corner of the beach.

They replicated their yard, put cars and tanks in it, and built a house and filled it with all kinds of furniture.

Xia Qinqin happily ran around the sand wall. She accidentally stepped on it. She lifted her little feet and shouted, "Dad, Mom, I accidentally stepped on the yard!"

Xia Junshan walked over, picked her up and put her aside, and said with a smile: "Dad, come and fix the yard."

Meng Yufei squatted in front of the Shaziyuan gate and wrote down the names of the three of them. Xia Qinqin came over and read, "Meng Yufei, Xia Qinqin, Xia Junshan. Mom, you wrote our names."

Meng's mother, who had nothing to do after retirement, started teaching Xia Qinqin to read last year. Now she can accurately recognize the names of the people in the family.

Meng Yufei said to her daughter, "Yes, look." Meng Yufei drew little people under each person's name, with two bigger people pulling the smaller people.

"Wow~" Xia Qinqin pointed at the little man in the middle and said, "Is this me?"

"Yes, you are being held by your parents. This is to commemorate the first time we, as a family of three, built a sand pile together."

Xia Qinqin shouted to Xia Junshan beside her: "Dad, Dad, come here quickly!"

Xia Junshan patted the courtyard wall and walked over. Xia Qinqin took his hand and then took Meng Yufei's hand, "Look, we are the same as the little people in the painting."

Xia Junshan looked down and saw the name written by Meng Yufei and the little man she drew on the sand. He smiled and said, "Well, the handwriting is beautiful, and the man she drew is also very vivid."

Xia Qinqin said seriously: "My mother and I are both painters!"

Xia Junshan nodded and smiled: "Yes, you are all great painters."

Meng Yufei glared at Xia Junshan over Xia Qinqin's head, and Xia Junshan smiled at her ingratiatingly.

Meng Yufei looked up at the sky and said, "It's getting dark, let's go back."

Xia Junshan nodded and said, "Okay, let's go back."

Xia Qinqin pointed at the works piled in the sand on the ground and said, "Let's take them home together."

Meng Yufei said: "No."

"Ah? Why? We've been piled here for such a long time..." Xia Qinqin squatted on the ground and refused to get up.

Xia Junshan walked over and said, "They are too big. We can't put them in our house."

Xia Qinqin asked: "Can I come and see them again tomorrow?"

Meng Yufei said: "Tomorrow the sea water will come and take them to the sea."

Xia Qinqin was surprised: "The sea also likes to play with them."

Xia Junshan smiled and said, "Yes, wait for dad to make it for you next time, okay? I promise it will be exactly the same as today."

Xia Qinqin glanced at the sand pile reluctantly, waved to them and said, "I'm going home. You guys go play in the sea. Goodbye."

The family of three returned home from the beach, with sand all over their clothes and shoes. Xia Junshan went to boil water for a bath as soon as he got home.

Meng Yufei took Xia Qinqin to wash their hands in the yard. Seeing that even her hair was covered with sand, she did not carry her into the house. She asked her to stay in the yard obediently while she went into the house to take out her pajamas and prepare things for bathing.

After washing her hair and taking a shower, Meng Yufei sat on the sofa and wiped Xia Qinqin's hair with a dry towel. Her movements were very gentle, and she wiped Xia Qinqin's soft hair patiently.

The large towel covered Xia Qinqin's little face. As Meng Yufei moved, her face would occasionally show up. Every time it showed up, Xia Qinqin would smile and say happily, "Mom, I see you~ Ah, Mom, I can't see you again!"

Meng Yufei cooperated and played a game of hide-and-seek with her daughter.

After Xia Junshan finished washing, he went back to the room and stood to watch the mother and daughter play games, reminding them: "Fei Fei, remember to dry your hair later. I'm going to the cafeteria to get food first."

Meng Yufei said, "Okay, go ahead." She turned around and saw that Xia Junshan was holding a new army green shoulder bag in addition to the lunch box.

"How do you hold this bag?"

Xia Junshan said, "Didn't you say you wanted to make Qinqin a backpack? The best needleworker in the family compound is the mother-in-law of Captain Song of the Fourth Regiment. I'll go ask her to help me make the modification."

Meng Yufei asked: "Will this be too much trouble for me?"

Xia Junshan said: "It's okay, no trouble, Captain Song and I are very familiar with each other."

After Xia Junshan left, Meng Yufei was a little confused. How could he, the head of the first regiment, be so familiar with the battalion commander of the fourth regiment? But she was soon distracted by her daughter's voice and put this doubt behind her.

Carrying a satchel, Xia Junshan walked towards Captain Song's house. Along the way, he occasionally met acquaintances who asked him questions, and he would hold up the satchel to explain.

One reason for going to Captain Song's house was to modify Xia Qinqin's backpack, but the more important reason was to find Captain Song and talk to him about the joint training of the 1st and 4th Regiments last night.

The training schedules of several groups were leaked during this period. No traitor was found in the residential area, and now we are beginning to suspect someone on the inside. At this time, we must be cautious in doing things.