Chapter 30

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Nian looked up and asked when she saw that he hadn't left yet.

Lu Yu retracted his gaze and said, "If you have anything, please ask Sister Feng for help first."

Then he left.

Feng Mei came in a short while, and took the child from Jiang Nian's arms as soon as she came in. Jiang Nian shook his hands, and when he heard the child crying, he ran into the house to make him some malted milk. Feng Mei saw Jiang Nian carrying a bowl of malted milk and her eyes widened: "Oh my god, you are so extravagant, feeding the child malted milk. No matter how rich your family is, you can't afford this."

Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment, and slowly fed the child malted milk: "There is no milk powder at home, and I don't know what to feed him, so let him drink malted milk first."

"You can give him some noodle soup, porridge, egg custard, and anything else. I'll tell you later."

Feng Mei took the bowl from Jiang Nian's hand and slowly fed the child: "How can we afford milk powder? My son Xiangdong and Xianghong have never tasted milk powder since they were young, let alone the two of them. I have never even seen milk powder. "

Feng Mei is good at taking care of children. After the child finished drinking half a bowl of malted milk, he smiled in Feng Mei's arms, revealing his pink gums.

She asked, "What's going on with this child?"

Jiang Nian sighed, "Sister Feng, do you remember the soldier who followed my husband four years ago? His name was Li Fangda. He broke his arm and later retired and returned to the countryside.

" Feng Mei nodded, "Of course I remember."

Her eyes widened, "This is Li Fangda's child?!"

Jiang Nian told Feng Mei about what happened when she and Lu Yu went to the city to see Li Fangda and Wu Ying that day. Feng Mei smacked her lips, "It must be Wu Ying who sent the child to the army, but why did she give her own child away? Did Li Fangda just let her do whatever she wanted?"

Jiang Nian shook her head. She didn't know.

The child started crying again, Feng Mei said, "He wants to pee."

After saying that, she held him, Jiang Nian took a look, and it was true.

Xu Yan heard the child crying and ran over, asking Jiang Nian what was going on. Feng Mei was quick to tell Xu Yan everything Jiang Nian told her. Xu Yan said to Jiang Nian, "Wait a minute, I'll go get Jianwu's clothes and mattress when he was a child. It's cold at night, don't let the child get frozen again." With

Xu Yan and Feng Mei taking care of him, Jiang Nian felt much more relaxed today.

As dusk fell, the courtyard was lit with warm yellow lights. Lu Yu had been gone all day and had not returned yet. Jiang Nian waited for the child to fall asleep before going to the kitchen to cook. Halfway through the meal, the child woke up again, and a loud cry came into the kitchen. Jiang Nian put down the spatula with tears in her eyes, ran into the house, picked up the child and went to the yard, imitating Feng Mei's movements to help the child pee.

It can be said that children are really carefree, and this child is not shy at night. After peeing, he started crying for food. Jiang Nian put him on the bed, and then quickly took out the food from the pot. When she heard the child's loud cry, she ran back to the house to make him malt milk.

"Ancestor, I beg you not to cry."

"Wuwuwu, I want to cry too."

"Please, I've already made more malt."

The malt was too hot to drink, the child cried heartbreakingly, Jiang Nian was devastated and her eyes were red: "I beg you not to cry, I'll go mix you some cold water." She walked

out of the house with tears in her eyes and bumped into Lu Yu who just came home.

The lights were on in the courtyard, Lu Yu looked at Jiang Nian standing outside the door, her bright eyes were shining with tears, and all the words she just said fell into his ears. He didn't expect that his sister-in-law would be so... interesting when she was alone at home.

"You're finally back--"

Jiang Nian was about to collapse. She held back the helpless tears in her eyes, sniffed and said, "Go to the stove and bring me some cool boiled water. The child is hungry."

"Okay."

Lu Yu strode to the stove, brought the cool boiled water into the room, poured the cool boiled water into the boiling maltose, then took the child from Jiang Nian's arms, held him and fed him little by little. Jiang

Nian sat tiredly on the bed, watching Lu Yu coaxing the child, and felt that she finally had someone to rely on.

She asked, "How are Li Fangda and the others?"

Lu Yu looked at the child drinking and laughing, feeling a little bitter, and told Jiang Nian what she had learned in the city today: "Li Fangda passed away..."

Ah? ? ?

Jiang Nian raised her head suddenly, and suddenly remembered the time she met Li Fangda. His face was a little sallow, he looked listless, and he coughed all the time. She thought Li Fangda just had an arm pain and a minor cold.

How could he be dead?

Lu Yu looked at the child's bright eyes, his eyes filled with heartache: "I went to the police to contact Li Fangda's cousin, only to find out that the man was not his cousin, but the son of the captain of their brigade. Li Fangda came to the city this time to see a doctor. He had an inflammation caused by the recurrence of an old injury in his arm. His illness would cost a lot of money to treat, but he endured it and did not seek treatment."

At this point, Lu Yu's voice became a little hoarse, as if he was regretting why he did not pay more attention to Li Fangda's condition at the time.

"The muscles in his arms were necrotic, affecting his nerves, and he died soon."

Jiang Nian felt a little heavy, looking at the child who was smiling happily after drinking malted milk, and suddenly felt that he was not noisy at all. At this moment, she felt sorry for the child, pitiful for him: "Then why did Wu Ying send the child here?"

When Wu Ying was mentioned, Jiang Nian found that Lu Yu's eyebrows were more sad.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she had the worst guess.

As expected, Lu Yu said in a hoarse voice: "Wu Ying is gone too. This afternoon, the police received a report that a woman was found hanged in a wood. Her features were very similar to Wu Ying. We went to claim the body and it was indeed Wu Ying."

Jiang Nian felt her breathing hurt for a moment. She felt sorry for Wu Ying, but she was also angry. However, she couldn't say anything. The last time she met the couple, she could see that Li Fangda and Wu Ying had a good relationship.

But she didn't expect Wu Ying to go with Li Fangda. She even entrusted her child to the person she trusted the most before she died.

Jiang Nian's throat was a little dry: "What about Wu Ying and Li Fangda's family?"

Lu Yu said, "Li Fangda's fellow villagers said that Wu Ying only has a stepfather left in her family. However, Li Fangda's parents are still alive. He will go back to the countryside tonight to inform Li Fangda's parents. He will probably bring the child back in a few days."

"I'll hold him. You go to the kitchen to eat."

Jiang Nian stood up to take the child. Lu Yu said, "It's okay. You go eat first."

Jiang Nian pursed her lips, then ran out of the house to the kitchen. She covered her mouth and sobbed softly. She didn't know why she was crying. Was she crying for Wu Ying, or for the poor child who lost his parents when he was less than one year old? Thinking of the can of maltose, it should be the food that Wu Ying bought for the child with her last money.

She stayed in the kitchen for a long time, wiped her tears, ate a few bites and went to change Lu Yu.

Although the light in the room was dim, Lu Yu still saw Jiang Nian's red eyes from crying. She pursed her thin lips for a few seconds, but finally said nothing and turned to go to the kitchen. Jiang Nian was lying on the bed holding the child, stretching out her hands to play with him. Seeing the child laughing happily, Jiang Nian felt uncomfortable and wanted to cry again.

"Oh...oh"

The child could not speak, but only made an "oh oh" sound. Jiang Nian wiped her tears and gently pinched the child's white face with her fingers: "Auntie will make you some small clothes and a few warm quilts, okay?"

The child smiled with his mouth open, revealing his pink gums.

Jiang Nian frowned, holding back tears, and shook his little hand.

The bed sheet and mattress that were wetted by the child last night were washed by Jiang Nian at noon and hung out to dry. They were dry now. She put the child on the bed and coaxed him to sleep. Then she got up and took out the best cloth and needlework from the cupboard, intending to make clothes and mattresses for the child when his family took him away.

"Sister-in-law."

A tall figure blocked the door. Jiang Nian turned sideways and saw Lu Yu walk to the table, take out twenty-five yuan from his pocket and put it on the table: "This is the reward from Sister Ge."

He finally smiled when he saw Jiang Nian's wet and slightly red eyes: "Your mattress is wet. Stay in my room tonight. I'll sleep in another room."

Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment , looked at Lu Yu's deep black eyes, shook her head subconsciously: "No, I dried the mattress today, it's dry now."

Lu Yu nodded: "That's good."

He turned and left and said: "Doing needlework at night hurts your eyes, do it tomorrow morning."

Jiang Nian looked down at the cloth in her hand, thought about it, and stuffed the cloth into the cupboard to accompany the child to sleep.

These days, Feng Mei and Xu Yan took care of the child, and Lu Yu would hold the child and coax him when he came back at night. Jiang Nian had plenty of time. She took advantage of these few days to make three clothes for the child. The child's clothes were small, and it was easy and quick to sit up.

After the clothes were made, the cotton for the mattress was gone, so she went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some cotton. Seeing that the supply and marketing cooperative sold milk powder, she bought six bags of milk powder, all of which she spent the twenty-five yuan she had just earned.

Milk powder was not cheap in this era, and with the cotton, it cost thirteen yuan. No wonder Feng Mei said that milk powder was not affordable. If it were an ordinary family, it would be unaffordable. When Li Fangda's parents came to the army to pick up their child, Jiang Nian had just finished making the mattress.

She put the milk powder and the mattress into a big cloth bag and handed it to Li Fangda's mother: "This is for the child."

Li Fangda's parents must have cried all the way here. Their eyes were red and swollen, especially Li Fangda's mother. When she saw the child, she hugged him and started crying. She cried so hard that she almost couldn't breathe.

Jiang Nian stood by and didn't know how to comfort him. She glanced at Lu Yu and saw that Lu Yu was silent.

She knew that Li Fangda's parents would not listen to anyone at this time. After all, their son and daughter-in-law were dead. No one could accept that the old sent the young away.

The wives of soldiers passing by stopped outside the courtyard to see what happened to Deputy Commander Lu's family. Feng Mei told them everything. Suddenly, the whole family knew that the child of Deputy Commander Lu was the child of Li Fangda, who followed Captain Xu four years ago.

Everyone also knew about Li Fangda's family. Although the wives of soldiers had some minor frictions and conflicts with each other, they felt bad when they encountered such a thing and wanted to help as much as possible.

Zhu Jun and several soldiers saw Li Fangda's parents off. When they left, they carried large and small cloth bags, which were filled with eggs and food sent by the wives of soldiers. Lu Yu had mentioned that the bodies of Li Fangda and Wu Ying could not be transported back to the countryside, so they had to be cremated in the city. The money for the cremation was applied for by the regiment from above, and it took more than ten days to get the money after going through all the procedures.

After the children left, Jiang Nian sat in the house for a long time, and did not come out until the evening.

The children have been making noises these days, and Jiang Nian is used to it. When the children leave, she feels quiet all of a sudden. When it's time for dinner, she goes to the kitchen to cook and finds that there is not much water in the jar, so she takes a bucket to the well to fetch water. When she fills the bucket with water and is about to pick it up, she hears footsteps coming quickly. Before

Jiang Nian can turn around, she is invaded by an inexplicable heat, and a man's low and steady voice comes from behind: "Sister-in-law, leave it alone, I'll do it."

Lu Yu carries the bucket into the kitchen, and the sound of water splashing rises and disappears.

Jiang Nian watched Lu Yu walk to the well to fetch water. He pumped water much faster than her. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing his strong arms with well-proportioned muscles. When he bent down, his collar dropped, and she could even see the man's chest muscles and lean abdominal muscles below his collarbone.

Hiss—

Jiang Nian turned around quickly, a blush rising on her cheeks.

She blinked and kept repeating to herself: It's not yours, don't look at it!

Jiang Nian patted her cheeks. When she heard Lu Yu say that the water was full, she walked towards the stove room. She didn't notice Lu Yu sitting in front of the stove and lighting a fire. She exhaled and just picked up the potatoes on the chopping board, she heard Lu Yu's worried voice: "Is sister-in-law sick?"

Jiang Nian was stunned: "Huh?"

She looked up in a daze and saw Lu Yu standing up and walking towards her. He stretched out his hand to touch her forehead. The hot breath of the man hit her face. Jiang Nian was a little guilty because of the unintentional peeping, and couldn't help but step back two steps to avoid his hand: "I'm fine, just a little hot."

Lu Yu's eyes flashed with suspicion.

It's already November now, and it won't be long before the brazier is lit. Why is it hot?

Seeing Jiang Nian lowering her head to cut vegetables, Lu Yu was still a little worried, afraid that she would get seriously ill like last time. He reached out and held her wrist, and touched her forehead: "It's a little undercooked."

Jiang Nian: ...

She struggled for a while, feeling a little guilty: "I'll just drink more hot water later."

Lu Yu snatched the kitchen knife from her hand: "Sister-in-law, go back to the room first, I'll boil some hot water for you." Jiang

Nian didn't know what to say. She was afraid that if she insisted, Lu Yu would find out, and it would be embarrassing.

She turned back to the room, sat on the bed and fiddled with her ankle, occasionally looking at her right ankle, and then put her ankle on the edge of the bed to take a look. Since the last time she sprained her ankle and was pinched by Lu Yu, her ankle has not hurt since a few days of rest.

There were footsteps outside the door. Jiang Nian looked up and saw Lu Yu holding an enamel mug. He walked into the room and handed it to her: "Drink some hot water first."

Seeing her right foot on the bed, he asked: "Does your ankle hurt again?"

Jiang Nian quickly put her foot down: "No."

Lu Yu looked at Jiang Nian with her head down holding the enamel mug. Her hair was scattered and hung on her temples. She could see her eyelashes fluttering: "Sister-in-law."

Jiang Nian lowered her head, her face still a little red. She didn't dare to raise her head, and only said sullenly: "Hmm?"

"Just tell me what makes you feel uncomfortable, don't bear it yourself."

Jiang Nian pursed her lips awkwardly and nodded lightly: "I will tell you."

Lu Yu made dinner tonight.

He cooked some porridge and fried two dishes. Jiang Nian sat in the yard with his head down and ate quietly. Halfway through the meal, two people came to the door. They looked like a couple. They were strangers. The man was wearing a military uniform and looked about the same age as Captain Song.

Jiang Nian didn't know them, but Lu Yu knew them. He stood up and asked, "Why is Captain Tang here?"

Captain Tang was the commander of the Third Regiment. They were all from the same military region. The woman next to him was his wife, Chen Fang. Captain Tang and Captain Song were like two tigers. They would fight when they met. But if they encountered problems, they could kiss each other until they wore the same pants. But Chen Fang and Feng Mei might fight when they met sometimes.

Jiang Nian also stood up, pursed his lips a little awkwardly, and followed Lu Yu to call out: "Captain Tang, Sister-in-law Chen."

Chen Fang looked Jiang Nian up and down, and liked her more and more. She smiled and said: "You are the sister-in-law of Deputy Captain Lu. I met you on the way to the supply and marketing cooperative before, but we didn't meet then."

Jiang Nian pursed his lips and smiled: "I'll remember Sister-in-law Chen now."

Captain Tang said to Lu "I just talked to Lao Song about something, and I came to chat with you. You should eat your food, don't worry about us, we came here after dinner."

Captain Tang sat on the bench and chatted with Lu Yu. Chen Fang sat next to Jiang Nian. Seeing that Jiang Nian had almost finished eating, she smiled and asked, "How old are you this year?"

Jiang Nian's eyelids jumped, and she raised her head to look at Chen Fang, who was looking at her with a smile.

Jiang Nian: ...

Why does she have a feeling that she is here with bad intentions?

Jiang Nian pursed her lips: "She will be 23 after the Chinese New Year."

Chen Fang said: "That's not young, but she's still very young compared to me."

Jiang Nian smiled, not knowing how to respond. She had a feeling that Chen Fang was almost a matchmaker for her. Thinking of this, she subconsciously looked at Lu Yu, and happened to meet Lu Yu's gaze.

She couldn't tell what was in Lu Yu's expression, but there was a vague deep meaning.

"Xiao Nian, do you have any objection to me calling you Xiao Nian?"

Chen Fang smiled, and seemed very familiar.

Jiang Nian shook his head: "No."

Chen Fang said: "When I saw you, I thought of my brother Tang Ze. He is five years older than you. He also lost his wife last year and has no children. He is alone and has been training soldiers outside for many years. I also told him to apply to stay in the military area in the future and not run away all the time."

Jiang Nian: ...

Chen Fang smiled and said: "Xiao Nian, when Tang Ze comes back, you can meet him. Maybe you two will get along well."

Jiang Nian grabbed the corner of his clothes, pursed his lips, and gently raised his eyes to look at Lu Yu who was looking over here.