After the Mid-Autumn Festival, before Su Ting could figure out the exact time, she learned about the great man's death from the radio.

The notification was accompanied by a burst of howling.

As she was too young to understand the broadcast, she just sat on a small stool facing the coffee table, concentrating on playing with the rattles, until she heard crying. She raised her head blankly and shouted, "Mom..."

His eyes fell on Su Ting's face, and he was slowly stunned. He stood up and walked to her side, stretched out his soft little hands to wipe away her tears, and said with a breath: "Mom, don't cry, don't cry."

This is what Su Ting usually uses to coax her, but today she used it to coax Su Ting.

Su Ting burst into laughter, wiped away her tears, kissed her girlfriend on the cheek, and whispered, "Well, don't cry, Mom."

After the wailing, the family courtyard became quiet.

It is really quiet. Su Ting has lived here for more than two years and has never felt that the family compound is so quiet. People stay at home and are reluctant to go out, and there are basically no people outside.

It was not until the military primary school was over and the children came back one after another that the compound began to become lively.

But the children did not make as much noise as usual. Although they did not fully understand what death meant, they all knew that the country had lost the most important person.

He Yan was quieter than usual when he got home. He didn't think about going out to play. He opened his schoolbag as soon as he entered the door, took out his homework, and went back to his room to start writing.

But not long after he wrote, he came out of the room, sat next to Su Ting and asked, "Mom."

Su Ting came back to her senses from her daze: "Hmm?"

"What will happen tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Su Ting fell into deep thought, and said softly, "The sun will rise as usual tomorrow, and life will go on as usual..."

"Then will our family always be together?"

"Yes."

…

Just as Su Ting said, the sun rose as usual the next day, and the days did not change much from before. As time passed, the grief gradually dissipated, and the family compound soon returned to its bustle.

But the soldiers on the island are still busy. This is the coastal defense front. After the great man's death, they have to guard against counterattacks, so they have strengthened patrols.

Although He Dongchuan had decided to transfer, he couldn't sit still at this time. He had been going out early and coming back late for more than half a month, and the transfer process was postponed.

The procedures were not completed until the situation improved, and it was already late October when they set off.

Two days before leaving Pingchuan Island, Su Ting prepared several tables of wine and invited her, He Dongchuan and He Yan's good friends to have dinner at home.

Originally, Su Ting and He Dongchuan had not thought of inviting He Yan's friends. After all, in most people's minds, treating people to a meal is just a social interaction between adults, and children would not be invited alone.

But when He Yan heard that they were treating everyone to a meal to say goodbye to their friends, he immediately said that he also wanted to invite his friends and that he also needed to say goodbye to his friends properly.

Although Su Ting and He Dongchuan had never thought about this, after hearing his idea, they both thought it was a good idea and agreed to let him invite his friends to their home.

Although they were friends of three people, not many people came that day. Su Ting only invited Yu Xiaofang and Li Guifang. She had been in this world for more than two years and had met many people. She also had a good relationship with many military wives, but the relationship with them was really good enough to say goodbye to only these two.

Coincidentally, both of their names contain the character "Fang".

He Dongchuan didn't invite many people, basically they were all people in the camp and their group leaders. They dealt with each other quite often, so they had a good relationship with each other.

In addition, he also invited Jiang Wei. The two families lived in the same yard and had frequent contact. Their relationship was not particularly good, but not bad either.

He also has a good relationship with Yu Xiaofang's husband, Lao Hu, but when they invited people, they said that family members could bring along. Since Su Ting invited Yu Xiaofang, he did not invite anyone else.

Her relationship with Li Guifang's husband Qi Shenggang is just average. Firstly, he looks down on this man's character, and secondly, his wife also looks down on this man's character. If he dares to be on friendly terms with others, his wife will probably make trouble with him.

Li Guifang was also very conscious and did not let Qi Shenggang come, she only brought the two children.

He Yan didn't invite many people, so many that they could be counted on one hand. The first person to be invited was naturally Zhang Xiaokai.

Although the two children were not in the same class after the second grade, their relationship was as good as ever. Zhang Xiaokai was sad for a while when he learned that He Yan was going to move away with his parents. During this period, he had to do his homework at He's house because he wanted to spend more time with his good friend.

Huang Wenxia was happy to see this. As a parent, everyone hopes to play with good students, not to mention that her son, who never liked to do homework, actually took the initiative to do his homework. She had to support him with both hands and feet.

If she wasn't afraid of causing trouble to Su Ting and his wife, she would have wanted her son to live in their house, even if they gave her money.

Zhang Xiaokai also brought his family, that is, his mother.

Of the other four children, two were in He Yan's class, and two were "allies" he met when he was naughty. However, none of them brought their parents, after all, the parents themselves were not that familiar with Su Ting and her husband.

One of the children's parents came over. Their family lived in the nearby fishing brigade, which was a little far from the family compound. The parents were worried about their child coming to a classmate's house to eat alone, so they personally sent her over and came to see how things were going. Su Ting wanted to keep her for dinner, but she was a bit honest and didn't feel comfortable staying, so she ran away after drinking some water.

Because it was just a gathering among friends, the people who came did not consider themselves guests. Some brought their own food, while others took the initiative to cook after arriving.

It is basically women who take the initiative to cook. Even though all the people living in the compound are soldiers, they manage their personal affairs very well when living in the military dormitories, and are very strict when they go to the company for hygiene inspections. In fact, when they return home, many of them will not even help if the oil bottle falls over, let alone go into the kitchen to cook.

Otherwise, why do all the military wives in the compound give him a thumbs up when they talk about He Dongchuan? It’s because he is hardworking!

The diligent person was in the kitchen today, but there was nothing she could do. With Su Ting's cooking skills, her family didn't like the dishes she cooked, and she felt embarrassed to use them to entertain guests. At most, she could only help out.

But as more people came into the house, there was gradually no place for Su Ting in the kitchen. Although she felt that her knife skills had improved a lot, she could not compare with those military wives who had been cooking for decades.

Moreover, she was afraid of cutting her hands, so she couldn't move fast. When Yu Xiaofang saw her cutting vegetables, she kept making "tsk tsk" sounds of disapproval. After seven or eight minutes, she couldn't help it anymore, reached out to take the food, pushed her away and said, "Alright, alright, go and greet the guests. You're not needed here. I'm suffocating to death watching you cutting vegetables."

Su Ting was so embarrassed that she couldn't help but retort: ​​"Is it okay for me to cut vegetables?"

He Dongchuan, who was cooking, turned around and said seriously, "Well, it's very good."

Yu Xiaofang cried out, "Comrade He, please stop praising your wife. Humility makes people progress, while pride makes people fall behind. If you praise her like this, it will only make her indulge in her current achievements and hinder her progress."

He Dongchuan said: "It's okay, as long as one of our family members improves in cooking skills."

Yu Xiaofang stopped, looked at He Dongchuan, then glanced at Su Ting, and joked with a smile: "It seems that I shouldn't take away Comrade Su's job of cutting vegetables."

Su Ting, who was flattered, said: "I know you won't give me the kitchen knife yet."

Yu Xiaofang dodged the hand that Su Ting stretched out and said, "That won't work. If you keep living this way, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. There will be guests outside, and one of you two will have to come out to entertain them."

"Then I can't let you work in the kitchen."

"What's the big deal? We have nothing to do with each other." Obviously, Yu Xiaofang didn't consider herself a guest, and urged, "Come on, get out now."

Su Ting had no choice but to say, "Okay, I'll go out and greet everyone, and I'll come back to take your place later."

"Okay." Yu Xiaofang agreed immediately, but in her heart she wanted to cut all the dishes after she finished serving the guests.

This was indeed the case, and because Yu Xiaofang took the lead, the military wives who came later all rushed to show off their cooking skills. Soon the kitchen was packed with people, and even He Dongchuan was squeezed out.

When the meal started, the couple said helplessly: "It's embarrassing to say this. We originally agreed to treat you to a meal, but in the end, most of the dishes on the table were cooked by you."

"What's the big deal? We just wanted to get together. How can we keep you two busy all the time?"

"Yeah, we're eating and drinking for free, so what's wrong with helping out a little?"

"Besides, you are leaving soon, so let's not talk about this now."

The wives of the soldiers were talking at once, leaving no room for the men to speak. One man wanted to speak, but was stopped as soon as he opened his mouth: "Did you just work and you're talking?"

The person who was blocked said: "I have no job, so I can't even speak?"

"At least you don't have a say now."

This statement was echoed by all the military wives: "That's right."

Su Ting was delighted and stood up with the cup of soda in her hand: "This cup is for the hard-working military wives!"

The wives of the soldiers stood up one after another, but before they drank any wine, one of them joked, "Comrade He can drink this glass of wine."

"That's right, Comrade He, you should stand up too." The other military wives started to make a noise.

Before He Dongchuan stood up, Shi Cheng started to stir up trouble: "Comrades, there is a traitor among us!"

Jiang Aihong worked with women. She could not help herself when she heard this. She stood up and said, "Comrade Shi Cheng, I tell you that your idea is wrong. What you said is to provoke opposition between men and women! Also, what is a traitor? Betraying the organization is called a traitor. Did Comrade He betray the organization? No, or do you men have an organization?"

Before Jiang Aihong could answer, the other military wives said in unison: "No!"

"That's it. You male comrades don't have any organization, so how can you talk about betrayal? Besides, I approve of what Comrade He did. Don't tell me that men should be breadwinners and women should be homemakers. That's an old idea from before the founding of the People's Republic of China. A great man once said that women hold up half the sky. Women work and earn wages, so why are women the only ones doing the work at home?"

Shi Cheng's forehead was covered with sweat. He looked up and winked at the head of the group sitting next to Jiang Aihong, indicating that he should come out and say a few words, but Yang Dong just pointed at his wife and shook his head slightly.

"You think Comrade He is a 'traitor', which only shows that you male comrades have not done a good enough job. He has outdone you and brought shame upon you, Comrade Shi Cheng..." Jiang Aihong said, noticing the little movements between the two men, and turned her head to ask, "Why, Comrade Yang, do you have any opinion on what I said?"

Yang Dong quickly said: "No, I think what you said is very good."

Thinking of Yang Dong's usual bragging that he always had the final say at home, Shi Cheng found the scene in front of him unbearable to watch.

Just as the thought flashed through his mind, Jiang Aihong stared at him again: "Comrade Shi Cheng, do you think what I said makes sense?"

"That's reasonable, that's reasonable," Shi Cheng stood up quickly, raised his glass and said, "I'm toasting to the old man, and I'm also toasting to the female comrades here as a token of gratitude. Do you think it's okay to call me comrade?"

Jiang Aihong waved her hand and said, "It's no use asking me, you have to ask them."

He Dongchuan dragged out his voice: "Okay, that's fine."

Shi Cheng knew He Dongchuan's character. When he heard his tone, he had a bad feeling and winked at him vigorously.

However, He Dongchuan pretended not to notice and said with a smile: "It's a nice thought to toast so many of us with a glass of wine."

Shi Cheng: "...Then what do you say we should do?"

"We need to ask the female comrades for their opinions." He Dongchuan threw the question to the military wives.

Everyone started to cheer: "Yes, one glass of wine is definitely not enough, we need at least three glasses."

"Three cups are not enough, at least one cup should be given to each person!"

Shi Cheng begged for mercy: "Ladies, please be kind and give each of you a cup. I can drink it, but you will have to go to the hospital to see me tomorrow."

Poke your wife and let her speak for you.

Shi Cheng's wife smiled and said, "I can't help you at this time."

One military wife laughed and said, "Look, even your wife won't help you."

After all the fuss, no one wanted Shi Chengzhen to get drunk, so in the end he was only allowed to drink three glasses of wine as an atonement.

With this opening, everyone got a little drunk afterwards. The atmosphere in the family home was not very good throughout September. Not only was it sad because of the great man's death, but also because of the tense situation.

They are all afraid of war.

It was not until this month that the situation gradually became clear and the mood of the people in the compound gradually relaxed. In addition, the four people were taken away at the beginning of the month, and this decade-long movement was officially declared over. How could everyone not be happy?

So after the meal, at least half of the people were drunk.

He Dongchuan also drank too much. Before the banquet started, he called Su Ting and said that they were moving out soon and today might be their last time to sit together and drink, so he asked if he could drink freely.

Leaving Pingchuan Island is a major deviation from the original plot, and it also means that He Dongchuan has officially escaped from the gravity of the plot, and the probability of survival has greatly increased.

Su Ting felt very happy when she thought of this, so she readily agreed to He Dongchuan's request: "As long as you don't drink enough to cause stomach bleeding, everything is fine."

The result of drinking openly was that he became drunk and passed out. In the end, he was helped into the master bedroom by Su Ting and the only sober male comrade.

The other people also relied on this man to help send them back, so although he was not drunk, he was almost exhausted. After sending the last person back, he lay down on the dining table and said with emotion: "I might as well be drunk."

The remaining military wives burst into laughter upon hearing this.

They started eating at twelve o'clock, and it was almost two o'clock when they finished eating and getting drunk. By the time they finished cleaning up, the clock was almost towards three o'clock. This time was not early, but there was still some time before dinner, so Yu Xiaofang and the others who helped to clean up did not leave. Instead, they each poured a cup of hot tea and sat around the dining table with Su Ting to chat.

As they chatted, Yu Xiaofang suddenly remembered and asked, "Have you packed your luggage?"

"Almost."

"Where are the things? Have you sold them all?"

"The electric fan, bicycle, sofa coffee table, bookcase and desk were sold."

Yu Xiaofang asked, "Where are the bed and wardrobe? I remember Comrade He had someone build them for you when you came to join the army, right?"

The closet and bed in the master bedroom were indeed built by He Dongchuan, because when the house was divided, the bed in the master bedroom was so broken that it was about to fall apart.

Although He Dongchuan was the original body who was plotted to marry, and their relationship after marriage was not harmonious, he did not want to treat the original body badly in terms of material things, so he replaced all the furniture in the master bedroom with new ones. On the contrary, he did not move the second bedroom because it could be used in a makeshift way.

Su Ting said: "We thought that the house we got was already furnished, so we disposed of the old furniture and bought new ones, so we left the furniture in the master bedroom intact."

"You are being too unfair. What you get are all old things. I have seen the clothes and wardrobes in your room. They can be used for another ten years."

"We can't destroy good furniture just because we feel it's a loss." Su Ting felt that this was not right, and waved her hand and said, "Keep it. As long as the people who move in later like this set of furniture, I'll be happy."

As he said this, he couldn't help laughing again: "Look at me, I haven't even moved out yet, but I'm already thinking about these things. It's useless to worry about them."

"You are not being fussy, you are being kind." Yu Xiaofang said with emotion, "If I had such nice furniture at home when I moved in, I would have been so happy."

Li Guifang said: "Yes, the bed in my house is not very good either. One leg is short and I have to use bricks to sleep on it."

Yu Xiaofang asked: "Why don't you find someone to make a bed for you?"

"I don't know how many years I can live here, so I'll just have to sleep here," said Li Guifang, waving her hand.

Yu Xiaofang thought about it and nodded, "That's right. For example, Su Ting and her friends spent a lot of money on the electrical appliances and furniture they bought. Now they can only sell them at a discount. It's a big loss."

Yu Xiaofang was talking about job transfer and career change, while Li Guifang was talking about divorce. Although her relationship with Qi Shenggang had improved a lot in the past six months, she was becoming less and less interested in this marriage.

It's funny to say that when she first came to Pingchuan Island, she was the one who tried to please Qi Shenggang, but he ignored her. Now, more than a year has passed, and the status of their marriage has almost reversed.

The reason is simply that she has become stronger.

Because of her outstanding work, Li Guifang was promoted to team leader in May. Although the salary was not much higher and she did not manage many people, she still received the salary.

With more knowledge of words, Li Guifang is now more confident, and her words and actions are more methodical, and she no longer has the rustic look she once had.

In the past, Li Guifang didn't understand why Qi Shenggang had no feelings for her at all after being married for so many years.

Now Li Guifang understood that perhaps she had never been his ideal wife. What he wanted was a lady from a wealthy family who was well-educated and elegant. Marrying her was just a concession he made for the sake of his reputation.

He never loved her, nor did he like her. He even felt that he couldn't take her out.

So when she came to join the army, he would stay away from her even when walking with her.

Now she has changed. She can read and write, has acquired education, and has a respectable job. She is finally able to make money, and he finally noticed her and wanted to live a good life with her.

But on what basis?

He was cold to her when she was not outstanding, but now that she has become outstanding, why does he still think she is willing to live with him?

Sometimes, Li Guifang really wanted to spit these words in Qi Shenggang's face, but when she thought of the future and her children, she held back and decided to wait a little longer.

Although she knew that Yu Xiaofang had misunderstood, Li Guifang did not correct her. She just smiled and said, "That's true."

Yu Xiaofang and Li Guifang both felt that Su Ting had suffered a loss, but she herself felt it was okay.

You need invoices to buy things at this time. The prices of electrical appliances are not falling that fast. The same goes for bicycles. After all, it is one of the three major items. Even if it has been used for more than two years, you can still sell it for more than one hundred yuan.

The furniture did have depreciation, but they were originally bought from members of the surrounding brigades, and the price was at least half cheaper than in the mall. Plus, they had been using them for more than a year, so the loss was not much.

Su Ting felt that it was a pity that the tickets were hard to get, industrial coupons were hard to get, and electric fans and bicycle tickets were hard to get.

However, winter is coming soon, and the temperature in Shanghai is lower than that in Pingchuan Island, so they don't have to worry about electric fans for the time being. As for whether to buy a bicycle, they can worry about it after they settle down.

It's too early to think about this now.

Seeing Su Ting so optimistic, no one said anything. It would be good to go to Shanghai, a big base, a big city. If there is a chance, they would be happy to move there even if they have to sell their furniture.

…

After seeing off Yu Xiaofang and the others, Su Ting returned to the master bedroom, took off the towel on He Dongchuan's forehead, soaked it in cold water, folded it up and put it back.

Su Ting was very careful during the process for fear of waking He Dongchuan up, but perhaps because she was sober, He Dongchuan grabbed her wrist as soon as she withdrew her hand.

But his glasses were still closed and there were wrinkles between his brows.

"Awake?" Su Ting asked.

"Yeah." He Dongchuan replied vaguely, half-closed his eyes and asked, "Has everyone left?"

"Let's go. Do you want me to make you some hangover soup?"

When he heard about the sobering soup, He Dongchuan's eyebrows wrinkled even more: "No, just pour me a glass of water."

"Okay." Su Ting couldn't help laughing. She stood up and poured him a glass of water and placed it on the bedside table. She helped him to lean up and asked, "Can you drink it by yourself?"

He Dongchuan, who had already stretched out his hand to take the cup, decisively withdrew his hand and whispered, "Not very good."

Su Ting, who watched his series of movements closely, said: "I think you are just lazy."

"I'm usually so diligent, it's time for me to be lazy." He Dongchuan was not ashamed but proud, and said, "Wife, I want to drink some water."

Su Ting: “…”

If they made a ranking list of thick-skinned people, He Dongchuan would admit to being second and no one would dare to claim to be first.

Su Ting picked up the water cup, brought it to He Dongchuan's mouth, and fed him half a cup of water.

After drinking the water, He Dongchuan wanted to go to the toilet. Although he was almost sober, he pretended that he couldn't walk and asked Su Ting to help him go to the bathroom.

Su Ting was not used to his bad habit, she sneered and said: "Why go to the toilet when you can't walk? Just hold it in."

Unable to call his wife, He Dongchuan had no choice but to get up and walk to the bathroom with no pretense. After coming out of the toilet, he decided not to continue pretending to be drunk, so he looked for clothes to take a bath.

Su Ting glanced at the alarm clock: "It's not even five o'clock yet, why are you washing so early?"

"I want to kiss you."

"What?" Su Ting didn't understand at first.

He Dongchuan turned around, bent down and came in front of Su Ting, looked directly into her eyes, and said seriously: "Take a shower and brush your teeth, I'll kiss you when I come back."

Su Ting: “…”

Damn, I’m being teased!