The two walked to a tree not far away. Deputy Commander Li stopped and asked, "Comrade Gong, when you went to the city this morning, did you see Xu Wei?"
"Xu Wei?"
Gong Linglong pretended to be reminiscing and shook her head. "It was raining this morning, so there weren't many people on the bus, only five or six. It seemed Xu Wei was not among them."
"Are you sure?" Deputy Captain Li narrowed his eyes slightly.
"I was the first one to get on the bus. The others came later. I saw that they were all middle-aged people."
Gong Linglong pointed seriously at the East District residential building and said, "There's a middle-aged couple who work as boiler operators in the East District. There's also a middle-aged woman who works there. I don't know whose family she belongs to, but she's dressed quite fashionably. She even put on makeup when she left the house this morning. I saw her talking to the boiler operator couple, so they know each other."
"I don't know the other two middle-aged women, nor have I seen them in the family housing area. They must be locals who hitchhiked."
He paused here and said, "Finally, there's one more person. I didn't see her face clearly. She was dressed very casually, like a middle-aged person. She was hunched over with her head lowered. She couldn't be Xu Wei."
Deputy Head Li received some information here and nodded, saying, "Okay, I understand."
"Deputy Captain Li, has something happened again?" Gong Linglong asked with pretended curiosity.
"The art troupe has a rehearsal tonight. We just gathered and Xu Wei didn't show up. Some people said she went to the city, but she hasn't come back yet. I came to ask about it." Deputy Director Li told her.
"Oh, I see. You can ask the two comrades who are operating the boiler and the cadre's family. They all live in the East District staff housing complex and should know Xu Wei. I was sitting in the front passenger seat at the time, so it's possible I didn't see clearly."
"OK."
Deputy Captain Li nodded. He had nothing else to ask and was in a hurry to find someone, so he left after saying that.
When Gong Linglong came back, the sisters-in-law at the door had all dispersed, and her mother was already cooking in the kitchen. She immediately helped to pick and wash the vegetables.
After dinner, everyone gathered in the conference room on time for rehearsal. Gong Linglong first reviewed the dance.
Bai Shuixian watched from the side. After they finished dancing, she smiled and asked, "Yumiao, is there any music accompaniment?"
"Aunt Bai, besides me, no one in the family compound can play any musical instruments, so we can only use the radio to play music for accompaniment."
Bai Shuixian thought for a moment and asked her, "Yu Miao, can you borrow the flute?"
Gong Linglong's eyes lit up, and she guessed with certainty: "Mom, can you play the flute?"
"Well, I can play the flute. The flute accompaniment for your dance is the best. Playing music is not as good."
Seeing that she could play the flute, Wang Yumiao smiled broadly and said hurriedly, "Aunt Bai, I'm going to borrow a flute from Captain Xue now. Please wait a moment."
"Okay, go ahead."
The flute was quickly borrowed, and Bai Shuixian tried it out briefly. When they continued rehearsing, the melodious flute music followed the dance.
“That sounds wonderful.”
The family members stopped reciting and all gathered together to listen to the music and watch the dance.
After one collaboration, Wang Yumiao smiled happily: "Aunt Bai, you play the instrument so well. With your music accompaniment, I feel that the dance is more emotional."
"I think your dance moves could be improved. You could add some more moves in the middle part."
Bai Shuixian put down the flute, walked to the middle, took the homemade sleeves from her daughter's hand, turned her feet lightly, and easily performed a set of smooth, graceful and elegant movements.
“Pah pah pah…”
When the applause rang out, Bai Shuixian stopped moving and smiled slightly: "I haven't danced for many years, and my waist is stiff."
"Aunt Bai, you dance so beautifully." Wang Yumiao looked at her with burning eyes.
Gong Linglong's eyes were also shining at this time, and she was very excited: "Mom, I found that you are a great treasure."
"When I was three years old, I started learning singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments with your grandmother. I was very interested in these things when I was young. Your grandparents put a lot of effort and money into my training, often sending me to various competitions. In fact, learning these things is quite hard work. Day after day, year after year, studying and rehearsing, the hardships behind it are only those who have experienced it can best understand."
Distant memories came to Bai Shuixian's mind, but she quickly suppressed them and started talking to them about business, teaching them little by little and then changing the dance moves.
After teaching the two of them, she had nothing to do and went to teach the children of military wives.
They have memorized the poem during this period, but have not started training on facial expressions. Bai Shuixian is proficient in teaching and has participated in many art competitions before. She takes advantage of her free time now to carefully guide and teach them the details of the performance.
Normally, we would finish rehearsing at 8:30, but tonight, with Bai Shuixian’s patient instruction, the military wives and children rehearsed until after 9 o’clock.
Before, it was pure recitation, but tonight the seats were arranged, everyone's posture and demeanor were settled, and the intonation flaws were corrected. Everyone gradually got into the role, rehearsing the recitation over and over again, each time more neat than the last.
After returning home, Gong Linglong made two cups of milk. The mother and daughter drank one cup each. They poured hot water and soaked their feet together. They did not go back to their room to rest until ten o'clock.
The next morning, Gong Linglong got up early and cooked breakfast for her mother. She put a lot of fruits in her backpack. After breakfast, she sent her to the bus and only went home after the commuter bus left.
Just as she reached the door, Yuan's mother caught up with her basket, "Linglong, I'm back from buying fishing nets. I'll need you to help me get the fish cage later."
"Auntie, are you going to the market so early?"
"We're out of lard at home. I heard from Yaping that there's lard available at the small market, but you have to go early. So I went to buy some while Gangzi was still asleep."
Mother Yuan took a cake from the basket and gave it to her. "Linglong, I just bought this at the market. Have one."
"Aunt, I have already had breakfast. Please save some for Gangzi." Gong Linglong did not answer.
"Here, I bought five, enough for him."
The elder was generous, and Gong Linglong accepted it with a smile, saying, "Aunt, when you go to the back mountain to cut bamboo, please leave Gangzi at my house. I won't go out in the morning."
"Okay."
Yuan's mother followed her back and asked again, "Did you just send your mother to the car?"
"Yes, my mother catches the morning bus to work in the city, and she only has one day off a week."
Last night when they were rehearsing the program, Yuan's mother had nothing to do so she took her grandson to watch. She had heard other military wives talk about Bai Shuixian and knew that she worked in a nursing home, but she was not curious to find out more.
As they reached home, Yu Ximei, who had just finished hanging the laundry, came over and asked mysteriously, "Linglong, I just received news that Xu Wei is missing. Deputy Head Li came to see you yesterday afternoon. Was he asking about this?"
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