Chapter 343 It's Chinese New Year
After testing Shen Lingyu, Song Lubai felt that her guess was about 50-60% correct.
At night, she propped herself up on her side and lay on the bed, recounting what Shen Lingyu had done back in her hometown. She also told her about the time she saw Zeng Jie and Shen Lingyu arguing behind the Armed Forces Department.
After explaining the whole story, Song Lubai asked, "Do you think Shen Lingyu killed Hu Xiaoqing and Zeng Jie?"
"Hu Xiaoqing had a habit of peeping into the latrines. Shen Lingyu knew about this fetish. While she was hospitalized, she secretly went out at night and drowned Hu Xiaoqing in the latrine. As for Zeng Jie, he was definitely not a good person either. He must have done something to Shen Lingyu. Shen Lingyu couldn't bear it any longer and tricked him into going to the ditch by the roadside. She lay in ambush beforehand, and when he arrived, she hit Zeng Jie with a brick and killed him instantly."
After listening to her, Wei Yang asked, "Is it possible that there's another possibility?"
Song Lubai said, "It could be Zhao Lujun. He likes Shen Lingyu. I think he signed up to come to Xinjiang Province for Shen Lingyu. There's a 50% chance he did it."
When Wei Yang was talking to Zhao Lujun, he noticed that Zhao Lujun would glance at Shen Lingyu from time to time. If he didn't like her, why would Zhao Lujun send something to Shen Lingyu in the cold weather?
After guessing for a while, Wei Yang asked, "How can you be so sure Zeng Jie isn't a good person? What if the murderer is Zhao Lujun, and Zhao Lujun killed Zeng Jie because he was pursuing Shen Lingyu?"
Although Song Lubai felt that her thoughts were somewhat one-sided, she still argued vehemently, "There is no hatred without a reason. Zhao Lujun wouldn't be that twisted, would he?"
Unfortunately, the police station investigated for so many days but found no incriminating evidence.
Wei Yang thought for a moment and said, "According to your idea, these two people will have to be kept in check from now on."
Song Lubai nodded in agreement.
Regardless of which of their guesses is true, after killing two people and still not being caught, there's no guarantee that the murderer will kill again in the future.
Song Lubai liked talking to Wei Yang; he was her best listener, and they always seemed to be on the same page.
The bed was warm, and his body felt like a furnace. She comfortably pressed her legs against his and rubbed her face against his neck.
Although she didn't say a word, Wei Yang knew that this was a sign that she was in a good mood.
Her little gestures always made him feel good.
On the morning of the 30th, it's not customary to sleep in late. After getting up early, Wei Yang forcibly dragged Chen Shaohua and his brother out of bed to put up the Spring Festival couplets together.
After getting up, Song Lubai changed into new pants and new cotton shoes, and put on a quilted military uniform top.
This quilted military green outfit is of good quality; Song Lubai has worn it for the Chinese New Year for two consecutive years.
One of the two roosters in the yard was slaughtered, and Song Lubai started stewing the chicken after breakfast.
We worked until three or four in the afternoon, and the table was covered with food.
Stewed chicken with potatoes, braised pork with radish, braised pork with cabbage and vermicelli, scallions and eggs, sliced braised beef, braised pork hock and braised pork intestines, plus a side of stir-fried cabbage with vinegar.
We've been eating stir-fried cabbage every day for a while now, and both adults and kids are tired of it. But seeing all the meat dishes on the table is really not good enough, so Song Lubai insisted on adding a dish of vinegared cabbage despite Chen Jingwen's dissatisfaction.
The dumplings are filled with radish and pork. The pork filling was chopped yesterday, so it was quite easy to wrap them today.
When making dumplings, Wei Yang and Chen Yu also joined in. Wei Zhao rolled out the dough by himself, while Song Lubai and the other two wrapped the dumplings together, and they did so very quickly.
The plump, white dumplings lay steaming in the bowl. Chen Jingwen leaned over the edge of the bowl and took a deep breath of the dumplings' flavor.
How long has it been since he last ate dumplings? The last time he ate dumplings was during Chinese New Year last year, and his dad was there too.
After the seven people sat down around the table, Wei Yang took out some money from his pocket and gave five yuan to each of the three children, and also gave five yuan to Chen Yu.
Chen Yu refused to accept it, but Wei Yang said, "You are a junior and not married yet, so please accept it."
Wei Yang's move can be seen as placing Chen Yu, Chen Shaohua, and the other two on an equal footing.
This was also the result of his discussion with Song Lubai.
Chen Yu understood what he meant, but she had never called Song Lubai "aunt" or Wei Yang "uncle".
She and Wei Zhao weren't particularly close to begin with, and in the past six months, she hadn't gotten any closer to Song Lubai or Wei Yang either.
She would feel ashamed to accept these five dollars.
Song Lubai put a piece of beef into Chen Yu's dumpling bowl and said, "New Year's money is just for good luck, it's not worth you worrying about it so much. When Wei Yang and I have children in the future, I'll be counting on you to teach them to draw."
Wei Zhao also said, "Take it, take it. It's only five yuan. What's so hard about taking it? It's the New Year, and you have to accept lucky money with a smile."
Chen Jingwen said, "Sis, if you don't want it, you can give it to me."
Chen Jingwen reached out to take it, but Chen Yu immediately put the money in her pocket, saying, "What your uncle gave me is mine."
This wasn't the first time Chen Jingwen and his two siblings had called her "sister," but at today's dinner table, that title seemed to have a different meaning for her.
She had always been reluctant to get close to them. Seeing Chen Jingwen pouting, Chen Yu put a chicken wing on his plate and said with a smile, "If you get good grades when classes start, I'll give you a reward."
Schools haven't resumed classes yet, and the group's plan is to resume classes after the spring this year, which is why Chen Yu made this statement.
Chen Jingwen snorted, "Then you'd better save your New Year's money carefully, I'm doing very well in my studies."
Wei Zhao felt that five yuan was too much for the children, so she planned to ask for the money back after dinner and save it for them.
After the New Year's money was distributed, Wei Yang said, "Let's eat."
By the end of the meal, apart from the braised pig's trotters which were all finished, at least half of all the other dishes were left uneaten.
Song Lubai deliberately made such a large portion.
In her hometown, there's a custom of eating leftovers on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which symbolizes abundance year after year. Her mother does this every year, so she does it too.
In Wei Zhao and Wei Yang's hometown, there was a custom of eating leftovers during the Spring Festival. When clearing the table, Wei Zhao poured all the hot dishes into a basin.
Song Lubai tried to stop her but it was too late.
Wei Zhao said, "Tomorrow we'll be eating mixed vegetables."
Song Lubai asked, "Mixed vegetables? Is this how you just dump all the vegetables together?"
Wei Zhao nodded and said, "Mixing leftovers together and heating them together is called 'hecai' (合菜), that's what we call it where I'm from. Some people also call it 'luocai' (落菜). This is both economical and a good omen for having abundance every year."
Song Lubai nodded and said, "It doesn't seem to be that different from our local customs."
The children, having had their New Year's money confiscated, went out pouting to play "telegram cancellation" with other children.
After finishing their work, Song Lubai and the others sat around the stove, eating peanuts and melon seeds while chatting.
When she finally had some free time, Wei Zhao felt a little uneasy. She smiled and said to Song Lubai, "You know, we've been busy these past few days, it seems like it was all for this one meal. Now that we've eaten, we have nothing to do."
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of children pushed the door open.
The children shouted in somewhat unison, "Happy New Year to Uncle Commander!"
Wei Zhao said, "What about us? You all need to reiterate yourselves, or we won't get any candy."
The children eagerly said, "Happy New Year to all the aunties!"
Wei Zhao snorted, grabbed a handful of candy and distributed it to the children at the door, "Go on, go on, go to other houses."
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