Chapter 64 He was spying on her intently! She was his family member! She blushed with embarrassment!
Everything along the way was new and exciting. Zhao Baoqi used to visit his father, Zhao Liangyuan, at the fire station when he was a child, so he was no longer that curious about places like the military or fire stations.
Xia Mian was the one who was truly curious.
The guard reminded the four of them, "Once you get here, there will be no cell phone signal."
Everything felt unfamiliar; there were soldiers training and military vehicles driving away.
Xia Mian even saw tanks!
"If you walk another 500 meters from here, there's a windbreak forest. You can go and explore if you're bored, but don't wander around in other places." The guard added a few more words of advice. "Let me take you to see the windbreak forest."
There aren't many places worth visiting in the military base; most are off-limits to the general public.
"This windbreak forest was planted by the commander himself, tree by tree. Before, they were just saplings, but in just three short years, they have grown into big trees!" The guard said with a hint of pride.
After all, the wind and sand are very strong here, and this forest was built to protect the troops from the strong winds and sandstorms behind the military camp.
Otherwise, the north winds would be howling in autumn and winter, which would be too harsh.
The soldiers have to train and stand guard every day.
When Xia Mian and the others arrived at the grove with the guards, she looked at the trees in front of her in surprise, thinking they were ordinary trees such as poplars or paulownias.
It turned out to be an orchard!
There are peach trees, pear trees, apricot trees...
Right now, the peaches are big and red, a pinkish-red color, and they are so large and plump that they hang on the branches like lanterns, glistening with a delicate pinkish luster in the sunlight.
These fruits were all carefully grown by the soldiers with their own hands!
When Xia Mian thought of how Fu Yanshen had personally planted this fruit tree, which had taken root in the ground and was now bearing such plump fruit, her chest felt full, and an indescribable feeling arose spontaneously.
“Every family member who comes to visit will plant a tree here with their own hands.” The guard laughed. “We have saplings here, so come and pick one you like.”
"We're going to plant trees too?" Zhao Baoqi's eyes widened in surprise.
"What's so difficult about planting trees?" Fu Yanhao asked, eager to try.
Xia Mian picked a peach sapling, and Zhao Baoqi also picked a peach sapling. "I want one that looks exactly like my best friend's. Let's plant a best friend tree."
Everyone started digging tree pits with great enthusiasm.
Xia Mian then took a shovel and shoveled it down with a loud clang!
Xia Mian was stunned for a moment, "What did I run into?"
The guard explained, "There are rocks down here, so it's quite difficult to dig."
Fu Yanshen stood in his office upstairs and looked out the window. In the distance, he could see four familiar figures planting saplings in the windbreak forest.
His gaze, like a dense net, tightly locked onto Xia Mian.
The girl's slender figure seemed to radiate a halo in the sunlight.
He raised his binoculars, focusing them on Xia Mian, unwilling to look away for even a moment.
Sweat beaded on the girl's delicate face. Her cheeks were flushed from the exertion, and she gripped the shovel tightly, swinging it back and forth.
The man stared greedily at the girl, his gaze burning and unwavering.
Xia Mian finally finished planting her sapling. She then leveled the soil with a shovel before picking up the bucket and watering the sapling.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and subconsciously looked around. For some reason, she felt as if a burning gaze was fixed on her.
But all around was quiet, with only the shouts of soldiers training coming from afar. Apart from their guards, there was no one else around.
Is it just her imagination?
After Xia Mian finished planting her own sapling, she went to help Zhao Baoqi, who was digging a tree pit.
The guard took a small tag and solemnly handed it to Xia Mian, saying, "Miss Xia, please hang your unique number tag on this tree."
Xia Mian took the small sign and found that it had the date and her name on it. To her shock, she noticed that the prefix before her name read "Fu Yanshen's Family Member" in large gold lettering!
Her face flushed bright red. "I...I'm also a family member of Chief Fu?"
"On the family visit report that Chief Fu wrote, you are all his family members." The guard didn't think much of it and explained with a smile.
Xia Mian's cheeks were as red as the clouds on the horizon. Her mind was buzzing, and she felt a surge of blood rushing through her body.
She took a wire, hung her little sign on the sapling, and then wrapped it around the tree several times, making sure it wouldn't fall down.
I always felt that the thin wire was not binding the sapling, but rather her body and soul.
They were wrapped so tightly she was almost suffocating.
After doing all this, she let out a long sigh of relief.
Although it was just a small sapling, the feeling of labor was particularly honorable.
After planting the trees, the four of them took a group photo in front of the saplings they had planted.
Fu Yanchen stared at Xia Mian with eyes like a puppy, pleading, "Mian, Mian, let's take a picture together!"
"Would you like to take a picture with my little tree?" Xia Mian asked Fu Yanchen with a smile.
The boy nodded, his puppy-dog eyes drooping slightly. "Is...is it okay?"
Of course!
Xia Mian then asked Fu Yanhao and Zhao Baoqi, "Should we each take a picture with every single tree?"
"Yes, yes!" Zhao Baoqi was the first to raise both hands in agreement.
So everyone stood together again and took close-up photos with each of the saplings.
Fu Yanchen felt a little disappointed; that wasn't what he meant...
He wanted to take a photo alone with Xia Mian's little tree...
depressed!
He somewhat hated his stutter and became withdrawn!
They can't even express their thoughts clearly!
Ugh! He needs to recover quickly.
Previously, he had no desire to speak at all, but now, he desperately wanted to communicate with Xia Mian.
The guards led the four of them to the military guesthouse and arranged rooms for them.
The room was like a typical hotel room with two large beds. Xia Mian and Zhao Baoqi shared a room, each with their own bed.
The twin brothers stayed in a separate room.
The room was clean and tidy.
Planting trees was exhausting, and Zhao Baoqi collapsed onto the bed as soon as he entered the room.
"We've been here for so long, why hasn't our eldest brother shown up yet?"
Xia Mian was also tired, so she lay down like Zhao Baoqi. "He's a leader, he must be very busy, right?"
At that moment, she had no idea that the man she thought was busy was standing by the window, staring intently at her until she disappeared from sight.
The two girls slept until evening, when they were woken up by a knock on the door.
"Miss Xia, Miss Zhao, it's time for dinner."
Xia Mian sat up abruptly; she had actually fallen asleep too!
"Okay, we're coming right away!"
She quickly reached out to pull Zhao Baoqi, who was still half asleep. "Who is it? I want to sleep!"
"Baoqi, it's time to eat." Xia Mian tugged at her several times before finally pulling her up.
Upon opening the door, one sees a guard standing outside, flanked by twin brothers.
Xia Mian followed the guard into the canteen.
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