Half an hour later, Gong Linglong arrived pushing a 28-inch bicycle with two large sacks hanging on the back seat and a basket of cotton shoes tied across the front bar. It took a lot of effort to push it into the yard.
"Grandma Dean, my sister is here."
Xiaojiu had been standing by the wooden door waiting. When he saw her, he immediately went to report to his elders, running very fast in his newly bought cotton shoes.
The dean pushed the door open and saw that she had brought a lot of things. He hurried over to help, his face full of gratitude: "Little comrade, thank you so much."
"Director, give this food to the children first. Let the orphanage get through this difficult time. I'll send you more next week."
Gong Linglong unloaded the sacks and said to her, "A bag of rice, and a bag of sweet potatoes, potatoes, and cabbage should be enough to last you three or four days. I'll bring you more in a few days."
"Thank you, thank you. These can last for more than a week. I thank you on behalf of the children." Thinking that he would not have to worry about food for the next week, the director's worry faded a little.
Looking at the group of children hiding by the window and peeking, Gong Linglong was deeply touched. She waved to Xiaojiu, "Xiaojiu, come here. I bought shoes for everyone. Take them over and help them change into shoes."
Xiaojiu was very happy and was laughing when he ran over. He was not as timid and scared as before. He rushed into the house holding the shoes she gave him.
After the dean moved all the food into the house, Gong Linglong stuffed the money wrapped in newspaper from her pocket into her hand and said, "Dean, you can use this money for household expenses. Buy some daily necessities and some meat for them. I'll be going back first."
"Young comrade, you've given me too much."
Even though it was wrapped in newspaper, the director could tell by the thickness that it was a lot of money. "Little comrade, you brought us food and saved the lives of these children. You helped me a lot. I can't accept so much money anymore."
"Dean, please keep it. The children are so young and in the growth stage. Don't let them go hungry or cold. Try to keep them well fed and warm."
After saying this, Gong Linglong glanced at the children in the room, waved to them, and then rode away on her bicycle.
When she returned to the family compound with a bag of oranges, it was already past four in the afternoon. The sisters-in-law had not yet prepared dinner and were standing at the door of Political Commissar Zhao's house, talking and chattering non-stop.
"Deputy Captain Lu's family, you're back."
The first person to see her was the sister-in-law from the Second Regiment. Gong Linglong had seen her at the wedding banquet before and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law Ding, what are you talking about?"
"Something strange has happened again. We are talking about it here."
As he spoke, he looked at the orange in her hand, his eyes full of envy. "Where did you buy this orange? It looks so fresh."
"I bought it in the city."
Gong Linglong grabbed five and gave them to Jiang Yaping, asking her to share them with everyone, and took the remaining five home.
There were quite a lot of people outside, including seven or eight children. Even if all the oranges were taken out, there wouldn't be enough for everyone to share. Taking out half was already very generous.
Some greedy people wanted another one. One of them, relying on the fact that she had three children at home, took the initiative to ask Gong Linglong for one. But she was retorted by Jiang Yaping right after she opened her mouth.
Now that Mrs. Qian and Chen Eryan, mother and daughter, are gone, the other family members of the first regiment are all good-natured. None of them are short-sighted and like to take advantage of others. Gong Linglong gets along well with them, and has basically no contact with the family members of the second and third regiments.
After putting the oranges away and making a cup of hot tea, Gong Linglong took two sips before asking, "Sister-in-law Yaping, what were you talking about just now?"
"They're not even an art troupe, yet they're stirring up trouble for us for no apparent reason."
Jiang Yaping was usually quite amiable, but this time her expression was grim. She spoke rapidly, "We just received a sudden notice. Because of the incident between Meng Xiaoying and Xu Wei, the relationship and mutual impression between the art troupe and the military families has been affected. The art troupe has proposed to build relationships with the military families and invite them to participate in next month's art performance. They want to perform on the same stage with us so we can learn from each other."
"Performing on the same stage?" Gong Linglong was slightly stunned.
"Yeah, what's the point of performing on the same stage together and building relationships? They're just here to make fun of us, right?"
Yang Xiaolan was filled with resentment and said with a sullen face, "Spring plowing starts the day after tomorrow, and there are still thirty or forty acres of land to be planted on the hillside behind us. How can we have the time to put on a show with them? I think they are deliberately looking for trouble. Maybe Meng Xiaoying is instigating this."
"Who told you to provoke the people from the art troupe?" A sister-in-law from the third troupe muttered in a low voice.
Her voice was not small, and both Yang Xiaolan and Gong Linglong heard it. They both turned to look at each other.
Yang Xiaolan flew into a rage: "Wang Huaihua, are you blind? They were the ones who deliberately came to the family compound to meddle in other people's affairs. The political commissar and the art troupe criticized them. Now you're saying we provoked them. What? Do you think we're wrong and that the political commissar and the art troupe leaders are blind?"
"I never said that. It was your group that provoked the art troupe. It has nothing to do with us." Wang Huaihua immediately brought the conversation to the troupe level.
Hearing her say this, Jiang Yaping glared at her and her attitude changed: "Wang Huaihua, can you represent the wives of the soldiers in the Third Regiment?"
Wang Huaihua didn't dare to answer this question.
"No matter what the attitude of your Third Regiment is, the notice has come down. The military wives must attend the art performance in a month, even if they don't want to."
"I think the wives of the soldiers from the Third Regiment have their own ideas. We won't force you to choreograph a program together. Whether you rehearse and perform, or whether you participate in this performance, is up to you, the Third Regiment, to decide."
"Regarding this incident with the art troupe, no matter what the reason, the military wives in our troupe will negotiate and deal with it on their own, and will definitely not embarrass the men."
After Jiang Yaping finished speaking, she looked at the wives of the soldiers from the Second Regiment and said, "Second Regiment, you should go back and hold a meeting first. If you want to work with the First Regiment, we welcome you. If you want to make separate arrangements, we will respect that. We can help each other learn from each other when the time comes."
After she finished speaking, Yu Ximei responded, "It's getting late. It's time to cook dinner. Let's go."
The families of the second regiment all smiled and left with their children. The families of the third regiment had strange expressions, and the one with the ugliest expression was Wang Huaihua, but no one paid any attention to her. Finally, she angrily left with her children.
After they all left, Yu Ximei called the family members of the group into the house and said, "Come to my house, let's have a meeting first."
For them, organizing this art performance would be worse than asking them to reclaim ten acres of land. When they thought about the art troupe using such means to deliberately cause trouble for them, they became very upset.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
