Chapter 56

"Don't bring meat buns this time. Otherwise, you'll be carrying a lot of bags when you return. Pingping and Meimei are not very old, so I'm afraid they won't be able to take care of them." Hu Xiu made a suggestion at the dinner table.

Hearing this, Zhu Zhu glanced at his almost 6-month-old son lying in the cradle and said hesitantly, "I'm afraid it will take about ten days for me to come back and forth, and I have to feed Rou Bao once at night..."

Hu Xiu waved her hand to interrupt: "What's the big deal? It's just a nighttime wake-up call. You can also take this opportunity to wean your baby. Otherwise, what are you going to do after work?"

Hearing this, Ruting interrupted, "Sister, when you go to work, Pingping and Meimei will also have to go to school. Roubao, have you thought about what to do?"

This was exactly where Rui Rui was in a dilemma, but her sister was always smart. Since she had brought it up, she must have had an idea. She didn't want to make things difficult for herself and simply asked directly.

Ting Ting did have an idea: "I've asked around, there's a nursery in the steel plant's compound, but they only take in children over one year old. Roubao is only five months old. In the next six months or so, you can hire a reliable person from your hometown to help you."

Hu Xiu opened her mouth and wanted to say that she could help take care of the children for half a year, and Shuang Shuang could also bring Ping Ping and Mei Mei to visit every Sunday.

But before she could finish her words, her daughter-in-law glared at her and she shut up instantly.

Zhuo Shuang frowned: "Besides my mother, who else would be willing to leave my hometown with me?"

But she was not very willing and couldn't bear to do so. Her parents had a good relationship and she couldn't bear to let them be separated for more than half a year.

Tingting twitched her lips, thinking that her elder sister was a bit of a foolish beauty: "Give her a salary, including food and accommodation, ten yuan a month is enough, sixty yuan for half a year. Oh, and you can also go to the street office to get some manual work for her to do. Together, we should be able to earn one hundred and fifty yuan. Are you afraid that no one will be willing to do it?"

As for why she was unwilling to let her mother-in-law take care of her, Ruiting had her own ideas.

It's true that she is willing to help her elder sister, but there must be a limit to this help.

This is the same principle as helping in emergencies but not in poverty.

Moreover, Lu Qing is her eldest sister, and there is absolutely no need for her mother-in-law to be nice to her family without any bottom line just for her.

Luo Qing's eyes widened: "Then someone must come. If we just rely on farming, our family won't be able to save more than 30 yuan a year."

Ruting curled her lips and said, "You can ask our mother or second brother about the candidate." We have to find someone honest and decent, otherwise, with the eldest sister's personality, I'm afraid she won't be able to control her.

Luo Shuang was unaware of her sister's worries, and nodded immediately after hearing this: "Okay, I'll ask them."

She has already seen that her sister is very smart and it will never be wrong to listen to her.

Huo Xiao returned to the camp at noon the next day, and most of the troops had returned.

When she heard the noise, Ting Ting had no classes and was preparing for her final exam in the office.

Before she could react to the commotion outside, the experienced teachers were already rushing out happily, shouting, "The heroes are back!"

After she understood what this meant, Li Ting couldn't stop showing joy. She quickly put the test papers into the drawer, locked it, and quickly followed him out.

"Hurry, hurry, everyone is back." At this time Gu Fang ran over to protect her friend.

As she followed the crowd out, she asked in confusion: "Aren't you in class?"

Gu Fang: "Who can listen at this time? It would be better to let all the children go out to welcome the heroes back."

Well, Li Ting said he had learned something new.

However, she soon lost the mood to think about it.

Because at this moment, she had already gathered with the students, teachers, and families, cheering as they watched the warriors jump off the truck.

"Hey! Your Captain Huo is coming down." Gu Fang excitedly shook his friend beside him.

Ruting quickly pulled the person back and said, "I saw it. Calm down and consider the pregnant woman's body."

"Ah... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, are you okay, Tingting... Oh my god! Did Captain Huo glare at me just now?" Gu Fang felt that she must have seen it right, that look was like a knife.

Indeed, she glared at him. She shook her head at the man with a stifling smile to show that she was fine. Then she said, "Who told you to make such a fuss? You must be scared!"

Gu Fang curled her lips and said, "Your Captain Huo is so fierce, but my brother Rongxuan is better. However, he probably won't be back until the evening."

Ruting did not respond, because the good qualities of her captain Huo were invisible to outsiders.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but squint at the person again and smile sweetly.

Then, not surprisingly, the man's expression softened instantly.

Although he had returned to the army, as an officer, Huo Xiao could not rest on the spot like the soldiers.

He still has follow-up work to communicate with his superiors and a long report to write.

Of course, we also need to discuss with the leadership to nominate someone to take over Cao Wenzhe's position.

This time, we must select people from within. If we airdrop someone from another unit, I'm afraid all the soldiers in the brigade will be killed.

So, when Huo Xiao got rid of his busy schedule and returned home, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening.

Ruting is still awake and translating documents in the bedroom.

When she was arranging work for her family members yesterday, the factory managers also gave each of them a book of maintenance materials that needed to be translated.

In their words, there should be no favoritism. Once a steel plant successfully translates a book, it will be up to other factories to translate it. This way, each factory will take turns translating one book, which is the fairest way.

Li Ting also agreed with this plan, but she first translated the information about the steel factory, after all, her elder sister still had to work under someone else's roof.

When she heard the noise in the living room, Ruiting was translating the last two sentences of the page, so she didn't rush out.

But unexpectedly, Huo Xiao went straight to the bedroom.

Seeing his wife still working at her desk, he frowned and walked over to her: "Why don't you take a few days off?"

Li Ting looked up at the people and said, "I'm not tired. I only translate for two or three hours every day. How tired can it be? But you, have you eaten?"

Huo Xiao: "I've eaten. How long do you want?"

Tingting: "Just two sentences left. Mom killed a chicken and left a bowl for you in the pot. Go and eat it." As she spoke, her eyes moved around her husband's face. She felt that he looked thinner.

Huo Xiao didn't leave in a hurry: "I'll wait for you to eat together."

Hearing this, knowing that this person was very stubborn in some aspects, she stopped trying to persuade him: "Wait for me for five minutes."

Five minutes later.

The couple went to the kitchen together.

The rooms of the mother-in-law and the eldest sister were very quiet, and the two were afraid of disturbing them, so they simply had their midnight snack in the kitchen.

Then, not surprisingly, Ruting also got a bowl of chicken soup.

Seeing that the man wanted to dump all the chicken in his bowl into his own, Tingting said hurriedly, "I can't eat too much at night, otherwise the baby will grow too fast and too big, and it will be difficult to give birth in the future."

Hearing this, Huo Xiao paused and was a little confused about whether to take a few more pieces from his wife's bowl.

Seeing this, Li Ting jokingly picked the chicken leg in the bowl and gave it to her husband.

Huo Xiao frowned: "Eat the chicken leg yourself."

Li Ting: "I've eaten it. This is specially reserved for you. Even Guoguo and Miaomiao don't have any."

As she spoke, she leaned her head toward the door and looked around. After making sure that no one was there, she went over and kissed the man: "Be good, eat it. You won't get the chance to eat chicken drumsticks next time."

Who says men don’t like to be coaxed? Anyway, Huo Xiao is quite happy to be coaxed by his wife.

So he ran over, gave his wife a kiss in return, and then started eating.

Seeing this, Li Ting couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth. While eating, she shared with her husband what happened in the family courtyard.

Inevitably, we talked about Liu Wenyan: "...She was sent away in the morning. I didn't see her, but I asked Sister Lan and she saw her. She told me that she didn't want to go and yelled that she wanted to wait for Captain Cao. She was still dragged away by the guards of Political Commissar Liu. Could she really have fallen in love with Captain Cao?"

Huo Xiao didn't care whether others liked him or not. He just expressed his own position: "That doesn't mean you can humiliate others."

"Yes, love is mutual. Fortunately, Captain Cao has someone helping him, otherwise he might have retired in frustration." However, in every era, such cases of using one's position to oppress others are not uncommon. Cao Wenzhe is unfortunate but also lucky. At least he has the ability to struggle out of the quagmire.

"It's me." Huo Xiao said calmly.

"Oh, it's you...? What did you say? It's..." After realizing what she heard, Ruting lowered her voice and asked in a whisper, "You mean, it was you who transferred Captain Cao away?"

Seeing his wife's eyes wide open, Huo Xiao curled his lips and said, "The commander of our tank division is the uncle of my military school classmate."

How many good classmates do you have?

After being confused for a while, Ting Ting didn't think it was that strange anymore. Nowadays, more than half of those who could go to military academies were children of cadres.

Many people try their best to get into such universities. Besides learning the most advanced military knowledge, isn't it just to make connections?

Thinking of this, she remembered something and asked anxiously, "Then...does the teacher know about Guoguo and Miaomiao?"

Huo Xiao shook his head: "I don't know. My relationship with this classmate is just average, and he doesn't know that I'm close to the father of the dragon and phoenix twins."

The corners of her mouth twitched: "Our relationship is just average... Are you still willing to help?"

Huo Xiao finished the last mouthful of chicken soup in the bowl and urged his wife to eat quickly.

When she finished eating and stood up to wash the dishes, he said, "It's not really a help, it's a win-win situation."

Ruting was not stupid and responded immediately: "You mean, the higher-ups are also dissatisfied with Political Commissar Liu?"

Huo Xiao didn't respond to this, but he didn't deny it either.

Ting Ting understood. Many things were hard to talk about for the time being, so she changed the subject: "Can you help me buy a sleeper train ticket for my elder sister? Oh, and is there anyone reliable? It would be best if someone could take her back and pick her up."

"Okay, don't we still need to buy a house? Do we have enough money?"

"Let my second brother borrow the money to buy the house. He's very rich. Let's save some money to pay back mom first. Besides, we are blood siblings, so it's not good for us to take on too much."

Huo Xiao felt that it was no big deal to help his sister-in-law, but he did not object to his wife's idea. He just asked, "I'll ask someone at the Housing Authority tomorrow. Should we buy a house near the factory?"

Li Ting: "I originally wanted you to help me find it, but then I thought it would be more appropriate to ask Qian Haitao. At least he can help me find out the character of the neighbors. The eldest sister is so pretty and has a child, so safety is very important."

That's right. Huo Xiao nodded and said, "I'll ask my elder sister to raise a wolfdog later."

At this point, Ruiting asked hurriedly: "Have you seen the puppy we picked up? What breed is it?"

Huo Xiao was stunned for a moment: "We have a dog? Where is it?"

Tingting blinked and walked around the house again. After failing to find the dog, she gritted her teeth in anger and said, "That brat Guoguo must have brought it into the bed. I'll beat him up tomorrow!"

Ruiting always keeps his word.

The next morning, not only was the little thing spanked twice on the buttocks, he was also punished to face the wall for half an hour, and no one's plea was of any use.

Only when the little guy sobbed, indicating that he would never do it again and fully realized his mistake, did we let him go to have breakfast.

It's not that she is cruel, but there are no decent pet insect repellents these days.

It’s okay to play with it during normal times, but it’s absolutely not allowed to be brought into the quilt.

"Don't be angry. Children of this age are all like this. When they are two years older, they will be disliked by everyone. Huo Xiao was like this when he was a child. At that time, I wished I had stuffed him back into my belly and never given birth to him." Hu Xiu saw that his daughter-in-law was really angry, so he hurried to comfort her.

"Ahem... I'm done eating." Huo Xiao put down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at his wife again: "Shall I take you to school?"

Li Ting shook her head: "You go first, don't forget to buy big sister a train ticket for the day after tomorrow."

"good."

After her brother-in-law left, Zhui Zhu, who had been silent the whole time, asked anxiously, "Can we buy a house in two days?"

Tingting: "Even if we don't buy it, we can go back to our hometown to pick up the kids. It's almost summer vacation anyway... We can wait until the house is bought and then send the documents back home, and let our dad help you transfer your household registration."

However, it was clear that Li Ting was lucky, and the second plan that Li Ting had in mind did not need to be implemented.

Because that afternoon, she received a call from an old classmate.

The house was found, and it was his uncle who helped him find it personally.

It’s only a five-minute walk from the factory, and many employees from the steel plant live there.

Although most of them are tenants, it is better to live in one unit than in a completely unfamiliar environment.

Ruting couldn't go in person, so Huo Geng volunteered to join. However, he was too poor to go and had no time, and was worried about his elder sister, so he called his second brother and asked him if he could spare some time to come out.

After all, the art troupe is very close to the steel plant, and it only takes half an hour to ride a bicycle there.

After getting a positive answer from his second brother, Ruting went to ask Sister Lan again.

The other party is a local, and the local accent alone can get a lot of things done.

Things are going well.

When she returned home that evening, she saw her elder sister talking to her mother-in-law about the structure of the house in great spirits. While changing her shoes, she asked, "What does the house look like?"

Zhuo Zhu's eyes lit up: "It's great, it's that kind... that kind of house in the alley, the wall is very high, the one I bought is the innermost, the one next to me is also a family of women, the old lady of that family fought against the Japanese in her early years, she is very enthusiastic, she does things fairly, and she is very respected in that area."

Li Ting nodded, thinking that her old classmate's uncle had indeed taken every aspect into consideration. She would treat everyone to a meal at the state-owned hotel to express her gratitude when Huo Xiao was free some other day.

Thinking of this, she put her bag in the room and asked again, "How is the house itself? How big is it?"

"It's not particularly old, the outer walls are made of cement, and the area is large, about 50 square meters, enough for my mother and I to live in... The walls inside the house are all covered with newspapers, and except for the lack of furniture, everything is pretty good."

Fifty square meters is not considered a large area in later times, but at that time there were no public stalls, and most families had to live with five or six people in 30 square meters, so it was not small. "How much did you pay for it?"

Hearing this, the expression of the young lady immediately showed pain: "It cost a total of 920 yuan, and the second brother lent me 700 yuan."

Although she was happy to have her own house, she still felt uneasy about owing so much money.

But Jue Ting smiled and said, "It looks like a lot, but it can be paid off in five years at most."

Workers today are different from those in later generations. There are schools and factory health stations in steel mills, and these are free. In addition to a monthly salary of thirty or so yuan, they also receive various coupons, so the expenses are actually not that high.

If nothing unexpected happens, maybe I can pay it off in less than five years.

Luo Shuang didn't think so. She had already planned to go to the street to take some work making paper boxes and try to pay back the money within two years.

The money from her younger brothers and sisters didn't come from the wind, so how could she feel at ease lending it to them?

By the way, when she came here, my brother lent her a hundred yuan.

Thinking of this, Lu Qing wished she could start making money tonight.

Although the elder sister didn't say anything, Ruting could tell what she was thinking at a glance and immediately asked, "Did you forget what you promised me?"

趙... "I didn't forget. I went to night school."

Tingting sighed: "Big sister, there is a great lack of intellectuals in this era. This is our chance. I hope you can at least get a technical secondary school diploma. Then you can be an accountant even in a factory. The annual salary of an accountant is more than 100 yuan more than your current salary. Isn't this better than working so hard to paste paper boxes?"

Ruishen moved her butt uncomfortably: "How do you know I want to make paper boxes?"

Ruting: “Heh…”

"I've learned it, and I will definitely do what I promised. I just thought that I would spend two years paying off the money first, and then go to night school." Ruishuang's scalp tingled at her sister's cold "huh", even though she was the eldest sister.

Li Ting frowned: "No one is in a hurry to ask you to pay back the money. If you really feel embarrassed, you can also pay back the second brother every 100 yuan you save."

Hearing this, Lu Qing thought it was a good idea: "Do you think it's a good idea to learn accounting?"

"It depends on you. You can consult the teachers at school before registering, but I suggest you choose accounting or nursing as your major." Other majors such as water conservancy engineering, forestry science, agricultural technology, etc. are really not suitable for a single mother with a child.

Ruishen nodded hurriedly: "I will seriously consider it."

the next day.

The eldest sister and the retired female soldier invited by Huo Xiao boarded the train back to their hometown together.

Two days later, a company commander under Cao Wenzhe took over his position.

Battalion Commander Cao himself was picked up by a car sent by the division headquarters.

There was quite a commotion because it was the commander's special car.

For this reason, Ruiting felt that the atmosphere in the troops had become stagnant.

However, after asking her husband and finding out it had no effect on him, she resumed her peaceful and regular life.

But the family compound is becoming more lively and harmonious day by day.

On the third day after Brigadier General Gainwei asked Mrs. Pang to collect the wishes of the military families and confirmed that everyone was willing to earn some extra money at home, he brought back thirty sacks of manual labor from the match factory.

The material was distributed among households, and each household received a sack.

Five dollars a sack.

If you are skilled, it can be done in a week.

But, this is just a personal speed.

These days, which family doesn’t have three or five children?

In just a few days, Ruiting saw several children aged five or six helping to paste paper boxes with their nimble hands.

Everyone is busy making money, so who has time to argue over trivial matters? Wouldn't that make things harmonious?

In response to this, Brigade Commander Wei expressed his great happiness, and at the same time announced that Lu Tingcai was the great contributor.

Then, in the hearts of family members, Lu Ting, who was already a popular commodity and a living Bodhisattva, became even more popular.

It is no exaggeration to say that her family has never lacked food these days.

These military dependents seemed to have made an agreement and did not give any expensive gifts to embarrass the people.

Today this person sent a dish, saying that it was to test her cooking skills. She had given birth to four children herself, so she knew the taste of pregnant women best.

Tomorrow someone else will bring a basket of vegetables, saying that the vegetables grown at home are lush and good for pregnant women.

The day after tomorrow someone will bring a bowl of dumplings, saying that the fillings are from their hometown, so that you can taste the local flavor.

In short, the reasons are varied, but the goal is only one, which is to express gratitude.

Finally, it was Ruting who gathered everyone together and expressed her gratitude. She also said that if things continued like this, it would be bad for her and her family's Huo Xiao's reputation.

The heat wave of delivering food gradually subsided.

Then, the reputation of Li Ting for selflessly serving the people became even more resounding.

While making Ruting laugh and cry, she couldn't help but sigh that people at that time were too simple and honest.

It was also at this time that the news that the art troupe had begun to tour and perform in various military units reached Lu Ting's ears.

Seeing that the eldest sister is about to return, the second brother will also be able to meet her soon.

I feel that life couldn't be better.

Then something happened that challenged her nerves.

On this day, not long after Ruting arrived at school, Mrs. Pang came over with Guoguo, who looked innocent.

Then, before the 膽 Ting could speak.

Mrs. Pang opened Guoguo's small schoolbag and took out a small black dog that was not much bigger than an adult's palm.

藺葶...(▼皿▼#)