In the end, the Military Family Resettlement Office and the Women's Federation criticized Yang Erhua in a circular throughout the compound.

At first, Yang Erhua wanted to deny it, but when Directors Zhao and Wang came to her house, she insisted that she had not come to Building 10 to look for Su Ting that day, and she did not admit that she had committed any fraud.

If she had only denied the fraud and insisted that she had not said those words, the two directors would not have issued a circular to criticize her. After all, Su Ting had neither a camera nor a recorder, and her and Meng Xiuzhen's confessions alone were not enough to prove that Yang Erhua had made a mistake.

But Yang Erhua was too greedy and wanted to deny everything about Building 10. She lived in Building 3 and had to pass by several houses to get here. Not many military wives saw her, but quite a few did.

There were two military wives at home in Building 10 alone. They saw her arguing with Meng Xiuzhen downstairs. Directors Zhao and Wang visited her and asked her questions. They were sure that she was lying. If they could trick her again, she would confess everything.

According to Yang Erhua, she has never liked Su Ting and couldn't get used to her living such a good life.

It just so happened that the children at home were making a fuss because He Yan and his sister were bragging about going to Xijiao Park to play. She was upset, and she heard several military wives whose children were also crying at home complaining that it was all the fault of the two He children. If she hadn't taken into consideration that they were all neighbors, she really wanted to go to their house to ask for an explanation.

Those military wives were just talking casually, but Yang Erhua had an idea and really ran to the He family to have a say. As for what she wanted to say, she hadn't thought about it before she came, but she mainly wanted to make a scene and embarrass Su Ting.

As for the blackmail, she repeatedly assured that she had no such thought. It was Su Ting who brought it up first, and she thought it was okay, so she decided to half-heartedly agree.

After hearing what Yang Erhua said, Director Zhao and Director Wang were speechless.

At the same time, she felt that the situation was a bit tricky. It wasn't a big deal, because Yang Erhua's original plan was to find Su Ting to argue with her and make her lose face. Even though she was tempted by the two dollars, she didn't dare to take it in the end.

In fact, even if she accepted the money, two yuan would not be a big problem. If she defined the matter as a dispute between neighbors, at most she would criticize her and ask her to return the money. As for the blackmail, it was just Su Ting's way of scaring her.

But it was impossible to ignore the matter, because it was too bizarre. Coupled with Meng Xiuzhen's publicity, the news spread throughout the garrison in less than two days. Everyone from the commander and the political commissar to the ordinary soldiers who seldom came to the compound had heard about it.

If you handle it too gently, your superiors won't be happy, and the wives of soldiers in the compound will also be dissatisfied. What if everyone follows suit in the future, how will you live?

After weighing various considerations, the two departments decided to organize a meeting of all military wives and to report Yang Erhua to the entire compound for punishment. Those military wives who gossiped about her behind her back were also named.

In order to prevent such incidents from happening again, Directors Zhao and Wang discussed and organized an ideological education lecture. The main purpose was to tighten the strings for the military wives. At the same time, they did not forget to use Yang Erhua and several other military wives who gossiped as negative examples.

The handling in the compound was relatively lenient, but in the army it was much more severe. After the incident, Yang Erhua's husband was first scolded for two full hours by the leader of the regiment in front of everyone, and then he was given a demerit.

When Yang Erhua returned home that day, her husband got angry at her and a fierce quarrel broke out between them. The next day, her husband filed for divorce.

…

As the Yang Erhua fraud incident came to an end, the results of the junior high school entrance examination and the college entrance examination were released one after another.

Most of the children who took the high school entrance examination in the compound did well. At least they had books to go to. The difference was whether the high school they could go to was a key school or a non-key school.

The college entrance examination is different. This year, more than 30 people in the compound took the college entrance examination, and seven passed, including three graduates and four military wives.

It seems that more military wives pass the exam, but this year there were nearly thirty military wives taking the college entrance examination, while there were less than ten fresh graduates, so in reality the proportion of those who pass is higher.

After the results came out, some were happy while others were sad. Those who passed were naturally overjoyed, but those who failed had a hard time, especially for fresh graduates, who were disliked at home.

Although the parents of the students who failed the exam were sad, they did not remain depressed and soon began to think about their children's future.

If a child usually has good grades but did not perform well in the college entrance examination or did not fill in the correct application form, the parents will quickly contact the school to have them repeat the exam and prepare to take the exam again next year.

As for those who have poor grades and do not want to continue their studies, their parents are actively looking for ways out for them, either preparing them to join the army or finding them a job.

The fresh graduates who failed the exam have their parents to consider for them and they still have many options in the future, but the wives of soldiers who failed the exam basically only have one way left, which is to give up the college entrance examination.

After all, they have families to support themselves and it is impossible for them to be busy preparing for the college entrance examination year after year. After two years of hard work, many people are tired.

Although Meng Xiuzhen did not take the college entrance examination, she felt a little sad when she learned that they had given up one after another. She said to Su Ting with emotion: "It's hard to be a woman!"

If a man fails the exam once or twice but still wants to continue taking the exam, his wife will most likely choose to support him. Not to mention the ones far away, there are two examples nearby.

Even if a woman passes the exam, a man may not be willing to let her continue studying, let alone prepare for the exam year after year, which few men are willing to do.

The former is a couple living in Room 201, Building 10. Shen Xuan came back once during the summer vacation, but she stayed for less than half a month before she had an argument with Lin Weiyong and left again, saying that she was going back to her parents' home.

The latter include many military wives who chose to give up after failing the exam. Many of them still had dreams of achieving their goals, but had to give up because no one supported them.

Su Ting sighed and agreed: "Yes."

…

After the candidates who took the college entrance examination this year but ultimately failed made their decisions one after another, it was already late August.

Because He Yan was going to the city to attend junior high school, Su Ting went to the city twice at the end of August to handle related matters for him.

He Yan performed well in the quizzes, and even in the city, his grades were among the best, so things went smoothly, and he only had to wait until September 1st to register for school.

Not only He Yan, but also Su Ting and Man Man needed to register that day. Although the nursery is only closed during holidays and Sundays, it is also divided into two semesters.

However, the schools of the three of them were not far away, and this semester Su Ting did not need to queue up like she did when she registered at the beginning of the year. She only needed to report to the classroom during evening self-study.

Needless to say, it doesn’t matter if you go to the nursery a day earlier or later, so although it seems that their registration times coincide, in fact, there is plenty of time and there is no need to rush.

Because He Yan's registration was the most important thing, after arriving in the city, they went to his school first.

He Yan's school is a key middle school in the district. It was founded in the early 1950s and has a history of more than 20 years. In the mid-1960s, the school renovated the school building and built a new teaching building, which was painted white lime on the top and green paint on the bottom. The environment looks good.

The only problem is that there are not enough staff in the Academic Affairs Office, with only two fee collection windows, and the process is slow. When Su Ting and her group arrived, there were only about 50 people in front of them in line, but by the time they finished registering, two hours had passed.

It was already past eleven o'clock and close to lunch time, so they went to the classroom to see the teacher. After learning that there were no other urgent matters except for the class meeting in the evening, they left the school together and found a state-owned restaurant outside to eat.

After dinner they returned to their rented house.

It was lunch time and the house was quite lively. Someone was cooking in the public kitchen on the first floor and two little girls were skipping rubber rope in the yard. When they saw Su Ting and Man Man, they greeted them with a smile, but their eyes were a little timid when they looked at He Dongchuan and He Yan.

In the past six months, Professor Zhou has rented out the vacant houses one after another. The two little girls are the children of the tenants, one four years old and the other five years old. They are not old enough to go to elementary school, and their family does not intend to waste money to send them to kindergarten, so they still play at home on the first day of school.

Because I had to go to school during the day and go to evening self-study with Su Ting at night, I didn't have much free time, so I didn't play with them much, but we lived in the same building, so we were familiar with each other.

Mr. He Dongchuan and his wife only came over on Sundays, so they didn't meet that often. Plus, he looked a little serious, so the two girls were always a little afraid of him.

After saying hello, Su Ting and the others walked into the open door, went upstairs and walked to their own door.

Because the doors and windows had been closed for two months, the indoor air was not circulating, so the smell in the house was not good after opening the door. In addition, no one cleaned the house, so the floor was covered with dust. After entering the house, they didn't know where to put their things.

So after opening the windows for ventilation, Su Ting and He Dongchuan, who had originally planned to take a nap, quickly took out the basin and rag and started cleaning.

Although the house they rented was not big, they had not cleaned it for a long time, so they spent most of the afternoon on this busy schedule.

The sun had already set. Su Ting looked at the gray stains on her clothes and pants, and thought about having to report to school in the evening, so she quickly made a fire to boil water for a bath.

After Su Ting finished taking a shower, she was hungry again, so the family went out to find food. After eating, He Dongchuan took the two children to send Su Ting to school for evening self-study.

Originally, He Dongchuan wanted to accompany Su Ting to evening self-study.

Last semester, every Saturday when he came to school to pick up Su Ting from evening self-study, he would wait outside the school and never met anyone from her class, so he felt it was necessary for him to show up and let people know that she was already taken.

Su Ting laughed and said, "That's enough. I took Manman to evening self-study for a semester. Not only my classmates, but also the teachers in my department know that I'm married and have children, okay?"

Finally, she rejected He Dongchuan's proposal on the grounds that it would be too much trouble for her to go to self-study with her family, so the three of them just sent her downstairs to the teacher's building.

Well, because it is the first day of school for freshmen, people from outside the school can also enter and exit the school.

Coincidentally, just as they walked downstairs to the teaching building, they met Ma Yan and others walking from the other side. The two teams walked to the middle position tacitly, stopped, and greeted each other.

The focus of the greeting was naturally He Dongchuan and He Yan.

Although many people in the class had seen them at the beginning of the school year, half a year had passed and everyone's memory had faded a lot. Secondly, Zhang Jie, Li Ke, and Yang Yu were not among "many people", so they were all very curious about He Dongchuan and He Yan.

Of course, when asking about their identities, there was some teasing in his eyes when he looked at Su Ting.

But Su Ting had long passed the stage of being shy because of the jokes, and calmly introduced them and explained: "They sent me here for evening self-study."

Yang Yu likes to play tricks, deliberately dragging out her voice: "I'll pick you up in person~~"

Su Ting glared at her and asked, "Is it not possible?"

Yang Yu said with a smile: "You two have a good relationship. As your good sisters, we are of course happy."

He Dongchuan liked what he heard. The corners of his lips curled up slightly, and he said, "Tingting often mentioned you to me. Thank you for your care for her and Manman."

Although He Dongchuan doesn't look old, and looks like he's in his early thirties, he looks like he's in his twenties or twenty-sixes. But he is a leader after all, and his personality is not easy-going, so he looks quite imposing.

Among the four members of the group, only Ma Yan is a little older. Zhang Jie and Yang Yu are both in their early twenties, and Li Ke is even younger, having just graduated from high school last year.

Strangely enough, the students in this class get along quite well with each other because of the large age gap.

Basically, there were one group of educated youth who had gone to the countryside, one group of urban workers, one group of young people who had graduated less than two years ago, and another group of married people. Because there were not many of them, they could be counted on one hand, and there were both men and women of different genders, and there were too few people to form a circle, so they either went their own way or mixed with those three groups.

There were no major conflicts among these groups of students, and they had no problem communicating with each other, but their relationships were just average and could not get better.

Only Su Ting and a few others were exceptions. Ma Yan and Yang Yu were educated youth who went to the countryside, Zhang Jie was a worker in the city, Li Ke was a young man who had just graduated, and Su Ting was married, but their relationship has always been good.

Having said that, because Zhang Jie, Yang Yu and Li Ke are relatively young and have not experienced much, they are naturally timid towards people like He Dongchuan who look like a leader.

So even though Yang Yu was joking just now, as soon as He Dongchuan opened his mouth, she became as obedient as a quail, just like the other two, relying on Ma Yan to take action.

After all, Ma Yan was the class monitor and a member of the student union. She interacted with the department leaders frequently. She had met He Dongchuan at the beginning of the year, so she was very calm: "Comrade He, you are too polite. We are all classmates. It's not about favoritism. We just get along normally."

Because it was almost time for class, the two groups did not chat downstairs for too long. They separated after five or six minutes. Su Ting and Ma Yan went to the classroom together, while He Dongchuan took the two children back.

When they went upstairs, Yang Yu asked, "Su Ting, what does your husband do? Why is his aura so strong?"

"Really?" Su Ting looked puzzled. She didn't think He Dongchuan had a strong aura at all.

Zhang Jie and Li Ke resonated with Yang Yu and kept nodding their heads, saying, "Yes! When I saw him, I felt like I saw Professor Wang. I didn't dare to say anything!"

Professor Wang is the most strict professor in their major. He is very serious in class and is very decisive in failing students at the end of the semester. He is the professor that students in their class fear the most.

Su Ting's lips twitched slightly, and she gave up arguing and replied, "He is a soldier."

Yang Yu knew that He Dongchuan was a soldier. When he sent Su Ting to register last year, he was wearing a military uniform. It was known in the class at the beginning of the school year. She explained, "I mean, he manages a lot of people, right? What level?"

As soon as this question was asked, the other three looked over.

Su Ting hesitated for a moment and replied, "He is the deputy group leader."

Li Ke didn't know much about the troops, so he asked, "Is this a high level?"

"The director of our unit is a deputy group leader who changed jobs," Zhang Jie thought for a moment and added, "We are a large factory with thousands of employees."

Li Ke exclaimed: "So amazing?"

"That's not true, but our factory director was already in his forties when he changed jobs, so Su Ting's husband must not be that old."

Yang Yu asked curiously, "How old is your husband this year?"

"Thirty-one."

Zhang Jie said: "Then he is very young and promising!"

Others quickly agreed. In fact, they had always thought that He Dongchuan was quite young, but after knowing his level, they had to add the word "promising" after the young age.

Although Su Ting felt that He Dongchuan deserved these four words, he was her man after all, so she couldn't flatter him, so she said modestly: "Forget it."

After thinking about it, he added, "Don't tell anyone about his situation."

"It's low-key, we understand!" Yang Yu said with a smile.

Two months later, some changes have taken place in the classmates.

Some people's hair grew longer, some people's skin became tanned, and some people learned how to put on makeup, but it was very light makeup. They only trimmed their eyebrows and painted their lips, and applied a layer of duck egg powder on their faces. At first glance, it seemed that the other person had become more beautiful after a summer.

It was a new semester and a new atmosphere. Although it was the first day of school, everyone was very excited. After class, the classroom could not get quiet for a long time. Ma Yan had some difficulty in taking roll call, and it took more than ten minutes to finish.

When the counselor came, she went straight to hand in the attendance list and reported that two students did not come to the evening self-study class. One of them had a stomachache at night and was sent to the school clinic for an IV drip. The other did not come to school.

The counselor nodded as he handed her the name list and asked her to return to her seat. He then walked up to the podium, greeted the students, and briefly explained the arrangements for the new semester. He also explained that the college would be holding a welcome party, and that each class would have to perform two programs. He hoped that everyone would sign up to participate.

After this was said, few people signed up, but many complained, saying that they were all freshmen and they had nothing when they registered at the beginning of the year, but now they had to perform for the freshmen, which was not fair!

The counselor coughed and said, "Wasn't the school busy at the beginning of the year? It's only now getting back to normal. Besides, this welcome party is not just for the September freshmen. Everyone has a part and can go and watch. Can we understand each other?"

After that, the counselor called the arts committee member and asked her to confirm the program with Ma Yan as soon as possible, and announced that the students who would participate in the performance could rehearse during the evening self-study time and did not need to come to the classroom for classes.

Hearing that they no longer had to attend evening self-study classes, many students in the class became interested. No matter what era it was, not many students liked to attend evening self-study classes.

However, there are not many students with special talents in the class. After the counselor left, he asked around and found that only one person could play the flute. Moreover, he hadn't played it for several years, so his skills were not so good and might not be up to the standard to perform on stage.

Ma Yan was so worried that she sighed. Every class had to perform at least two programs, but judging from the pace, their class might not be able to perform even one.

Seeing this, Su Ting suggested, "Since no one has any special skills, why not arrange a simpler program, such as poetry recitation, chorus, or a play?"

After all, as someone who has watched the Spring Festival Gala for more than 20 years, it is not easy for Su Ting to come up with ideas.

In addition to the three mentioned above, Su Ting also thought about skits, crosstalk and magic, but magic is too Western and the techniques have to be learned on the spot. Crosstalk scripts are difficult to write and if the punchlines are not delivered well, it is difficult for the audience to react.

Comedy sketches originated in the early 1980s. Although Su Ting feels that the public is more receptive to comedy, the format is relatively innovative and she might be caught.

The third one is better, she just needs to give some advice.

Ma Yan's eyes lit up after being enlightened. She quickly changed her seat to sit next to the arts committee member and started discussing with her. They quickly decided on the poetry recitation and drama programs.

In fact, the chorus is simpler and the actors are easier to choose, but it is too simple. It is fine for one program, but it seems too perfunctory to do it in two programs. So after careful consideration, the two of them replaced the chorus with a drama performance.

But the question is, what kind of drama is better to perform?

The two of them discussed until the evening study session but still couldn't make up their minds. When the classmates left the classroom one after another, they noticed Su Ting and quickly called her over.

Su Ting was ready to go back, but seeing that the two of them looked like they would not be able to sleep tonight if they had not come up with a good performance, she said, "Classical masterpieces, contemporary novels, historical events, anything is fine. If you can't think of anything, you can discuss it in the evening study session tomorrow and brainstorm together."

"You're right." Ma Yan quickly made up her mind. "Let's discuss the book list and historical events tomorrow, and then discuss and vote on it during evening study. How about that?"

The Arts Committee member nodded: "Okay."

After the decision was made, Su Ting did not delay any longer and walked out with her schoolbag on her back.

As soon as she reached the first floor, Su Ting saw He Dongchuan and his two children. She strode over and asked, "How long have you been waiting?"

"How many minutes did you spend in evening study?"

"Some small things. Oh, and also about the welcome party."

"Welcome party?"

"Well, the institute is planning to hold a performance and let each class perform."

He Yan interrupted and asked, "Mom, do you want to perform on stage?"

"No." Su Ting shook her head. She had no desire to perform.

"Okay." He Yan was a little disappointed. He had thought that if Su Ting was going to perform on stage, he could go and cheer her on.

Man Man curiously asked, "Was the welcome party fun?"

"It hasn't happened yet, how would I know?" Su Ting pinched the flower bud on her head that was entangled with her hair, "But it should be similar to the Children's Day party at Xiaoyan School."

Because the fifth graders had to prepare for exams, He Yan's class did not have a Children's Day performance this year, and Su Ting did not take a special leave to go back and watch it. The last time she watched a party was more than a year ago.

A year may not be a long time for adults, but for a child like Manman who has no memory, it was enough time for her to forget that party.

So after listening to my mother's words, I still didn't know whether the welcome party would be fun or not. I was very curious and asked with anticipation, "Mom, can I go to see it then?"

Su Ting didn't know what the rules of the welcome party were, and whether there would be any restrictions on bringing outsiders, so she hesitated and said, "This... I have to ask."

"Then ask quickly."

"You want to see it so badly?"

"Yes, I really want to see it."

Su Ting thought that if this was the case, she would have to ask Ma Yan about this matter tomorrow. She smiled and said, "Okay, as soon as I get to school tomorrow, Mom will ask if I can take care of the child."

"Can I go and watch it then?" He Yan didn't want to watch the welcome party at first, but after listening to his mother and sister talking to each other, his curiosity was aroused.

"I will ask the monitor tomorrow to see what the arrangements are, if I can bring him," Su Ting said, thinking of the evening self-study classes in junior high school, "It also depends on the day of the welcome party, whether your school has evening self-study classes."

Thinking about having to attend evening self-study classes every day in the future, He Yan couldn't help but sigh, and even his interest in Su Ting's school's welcome party faded.

well.

…

The temperature was pleasant at night in early September, and there was a breeze blowing on the road, so He Dongchuan did not drive when he went to pick up Su Ting. It was almost nine o'clock when he got home. Although there were still lights on in several houses in the building, everything was quiet.

In order not to disturb others, they slowed down their pace when going upstairs and did not speak again until they entered the house, when Su Ting asked, "Have you all taken a shower?"

"Yes!" Slowly answered loudly, "Dad washed the clothes too."

Su Ting nodded: "Then you all go back to your rooms and sleep. Xiaoyan has to get up early tomorrow."

Junior high school classes start early, so students have to arrive at school at 6:10. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from their home, plus the time for washing up, so He Yan has to get up at 5:30 at the latest tomorrow.

He Yan sighed again, and then thought of asking, "I have to go to morning and evening self-study classes every day, so how can I practice martial arts?"

"You just need to run to and from school every day, and then find time to practice for half an hour." The junior high school schedule was too full, so He Dongchuan could only arrange tasks for him in this way.

He Yan felt that he shouldn't have asked this question, but after all, he had experienced three hours of training every day, so this amount of training was not difficult for him, so he agreed readily: "Okay."

After arranging tomorrow's affairs, the brother and sister went back to their room to sleep.

Su Ting got a basin of hot water and planned to soak her feet before going to sleep. She was soaking her feet in the living room, and when He Dongchuan saw her, he also sat down on the sofa and talked to her in a low voice.

As they were chatting, He Dongchuan remembered something: "Oh, by the way, I heard them say today that there is a family in the alley who wants to sell a house."

After being admitted to Fudan University, Su Ting never hid the fact that she wanted to buy a house, and He Dongchuan knew that she wanted to buy an entire villa.

This is because these houses are basically the ones that the original owners registered with the relevant departments to get back after the movement ended, and the ownership is clear. Just like the house they live in now, it belongs to Professor Zhou personally.

After buying a house like this, there will be no other troubles.

But if it is like the building next door, with seven or eight households living in one building, all of which are allocated housing by the work units, even if the ownership is transferred now, there may still be a lot of wrangling when the owner of the house is found back in the future.

Moreover, you can only buy one or two rooms in such a house at most, and it is very rare to want to sell the whole building. Su Ting thinks that if you want to buy a house, you should buy the whole building. It is better to choose a building than to buy one room at a time.

Of course, she was very willing to buy a house. After all, if you bought a house in Shanghai at that time, you would make a lot of money. But she had too few connections and didn't know who wanted to sell a house, so she couldn't spend a penny of the money she had saved for buying a house in the past few years.

He Dongchuan knew what Su Ting was thinking, and she also knew his character. If the house to be sold was a single room, or the ownership was unclear, he would not specifically mention it.

Since he specifically mentioned it, it means... Su Ting became excited, and her body unconsciously leaned towards where He Dongchuan was sitting, and asked in a low voice: "What's the situation with the house?"

He Dongchuan did not answer immediately, but looked around. He did not quite understand why they were discussing serious matters in their own home, but Su Ting had to deliberately lower her voice, as if what they were talking about was too shameful to be seen by others.

Of course, he was very happy that his daughter-in-law would take the initiative to throw herself into his arms.

He silently raised his hand and held Su Ting in his arms.