The next day, the weather was clear and the sky in the north city was as blue as a gem.
After a nap, Wen Nuan planned to take the children out for some fresh air and go to the birch forest behind the house to pick up some branches to light the stove.
Lele hasn't been out for a few days. Sometimes when he looks out the glass window of the living room at the birch forest not far away, he will excitedly "babble" and want to go out for a walk.
Because there was snow in the yard, Wen Nuan asked Gu Qinghan to remove the wheels of the cart a few days ago, so that it would be easier to pull the cart in the snow.
Lele also likes to play zipline in the snow, but the weather was gloomy and snowed continuously, so he didn't play it very often.
The weather is better today, so Wen Nuan plans to take the children out to play.
As soon as she went out, Wen Nuan ran into Li Daxiang who came to her house with a piece of meat in his hand.
Wen Nuan gave the child a scarf that she had knitted the day before, put it on Lele, and asked, "Daxiang, why are you here?"
Li Daxiang raised the pork skewered on a rattan stick in his hand and said, "Deputy Commander Gu said the weather has been bad these days, so he asked me to cut some meat for you to make soup the next day. Sister-in-law, where should I put the pork? I'll put it in for you."
Originally, Wen Nuan planned to put the pig's head outside in the yard to freeze it first, but when she thought about the pork missing from Liu Meili's house, she didn't dare to put it there randomly, and then asked Li Daxiang to put the pork in the kitchen which was relatively cold.
Wen Nuan said to him sincerely: "Thank you for troubling me, Da Xiang, and for taking up your time to do these trivial things."
Li Daxiang smiled carelessly, showing his white teeth, "How can it be troublesome? Sister-in-law, you treat me like a younger brother. I am very happy to help you with something, and it just so happens that I have half a day off today."
Thinking about how Wen Nuan had not forgotten those soldiers during the winter solstice, Li Daxiang felt that it was just a small matter of helping to buy some pork and it was not worth mentioning at all.
Li Daxiang saw that Wen Nuan and Le Le were both dressed warmly. Le Le was wrapped up so tightly that only a pair of black eyes and a pink nose were exposed.
Li Daxiang asked curiously, "Sister-in-law, are you going to take Lele out?"
Wen Nuan nodded and smiled, "Yes, I thought the weather was nice today, so I took her to the birch forest behind to pick up some dry branches and play with her for a while."
Li Daxiang looked at the two, one big and one small, and asked worriedly, "Are you going alone with Lele?"
Thinking that Gu Qinghan had specifically asked him to take care of his sister-in-law and the children, and that Wen Nuan had also taken special care of him, Li Daxiang took it to heart.
Wen Nuan smiled and refused, "Yeah, that's right, the forest is not far away, I'll just take the child for a walk."
Originally, Wen Nuan was planning to ask Sister Guihua to come along, but she said that she wanted to take advantage of the good weather today to go to the post office and send something home.
Besides, the birch forest behind the yard was not big. It was just used to block the runway in front. Sister Guihua had taken her there several times before to pick up branches, and she could walk back with her eyes closed.
When Li Daxiang heard Wen Nuan say this, he thought for a moment and reminded Wen Nuan: "Sister-in-law, there are lynx cats and robes in the forest. It's not safe for you to go in with Lele alone."
Then Li Daxiang said, "How about this, I'll go to the woods to pick up some branches for you, and you can take Lele for a walk in the family yard."
He can't mess up the task assigned to him by Deputy Captain Gu!
Wen Nuan wanted to say no, but Li Daxiang simply took the rope from the wall and walked out of the yard and headed towards the woods.
The speed was so fast that the warmth of holding a child could never be matched.
*
Seeing that the man had run far away, Wen Nuan rubbed the child's face with her fingers and said, "Le Le, Uncle Da Xiang has gone to help us pick up branches. Mommy will take you to play in the yard for a while."
Lele had already put on her clothes and hat. Suddenly, she heard Wen Nuan taking her out to play. She smiled brightly, waving her little hands, and stopped pulling at her cotton socks.
Instead, he shook his head and twisted it, as if he was waiting to set off at any time.
Wen Nuan put the dancing little fellow into the bed of the cart, and then pulled the cart up easily.
The snow in the family yard was not too deep, only a few centimeters thick, and Wen Nuan did not plan to go too far, so she let the children play nearby.
The kid sat in the truck bed, grabbed the handrails on both sides, then jumped up and down excitedly, babbling something, as if he wanted Wen Nuan to go faster.
Wen Nuan pinched the little guy's chubby face and said dissatisfiedly: "It's fun for you to sit down. It's tiring for mom to walk on the snow and pull you."
At this time, Wen Nuan thought of Gu Qinghan. If he were there, the child would definitely have more fun.
Gu Qinghan is very strong and has good stamina. Even if he is holding the child in his arms and playing airplane games, he can still play with the little guy for half an hour without changing his expression, and Lele can have a lot of fun every time.
After making this comparison, Wen Nuan finally understood why Gu Qinghan always said that her body was weak.
Lele didn't quite understand what Wen Nuan was saying. She just kept jumping around, wanting Wen Nuan to continue pulling her. She even pulled off the scarf that Wen Nuan had put on her before she went out.
Wen Nuan had no choice but to play with her for a while. The little guy then stretched out his little arm and pointed the way to the supply and marketing cooperative, wanting Wen Nuan to go somewhere farther away. Wen Nuan felt very comfortable basking in the sun and did not plan to go back home so early.
Who knew that not long after walking out of the red brick townhouse, Wen Nuan heard Liu Meili's voice.
Liu Meili has always taken good care of her image, but this time she must have been really heartbroken about the lost pork. She wiped her tears and cried to the military wives watching: "Damn it, which wicked bastard stole my pork that is good for my health? Isn't he afraid of choking to death when he eats it?"
"Sisters-in-law, you all know that I was caught by a weasel when I went up the mountain to pick mushrooms a few days ago. My husband, Mr. Chen, felt sorry for me and managed to snatch two kilograms of pork from the supply and marketing cooperative. He planned to make some broth for me every day. But after only one stew, when I woke up yesterday, the pork was gone!"
"Come and give me some advice. Is this something a human being should do?" After saying this, Liu Meili covered her face and cried.
The news that pork was stolen from Liu Meili's home had spread throughout the compound. Today happened to be a sunny day, so many family members came to see what was going on.
While everyone is enjoying the melon, they should also remind themselves.
After all, this time it was the pork from Liu Meili's house that was stolen, and she didn't know if it would be her turn next time. Maybe next time it wouldn't be pork, but something more valuable.
After wiping away her tears, Liu Meili asked them, "Did any of you see anyone enter my yard? I can't let this bastard go! This time he stole pork, what if he breaks into the house and steals money next time?"
The military wives who were watching nearby comforted Liu Meili in a gentle manner, but they all said that it had snowed a lot recently and no one was out and about, so they didn't see anyone stealing the pork.
Liu Meili actually knew that the things had been stolen and the chances of getting them back were slim, but she was really unwilling to give up. There were two kilograms of pork there, which had used up all of their family’s meat coupons for a month!
Liu Meili gnashed her teeth and cursed: "If I find out which bastard it is, I will skin him alive and take his last name!"
Everyone was angry about the theft of Liu Meili's pork, but in this day and age, if the person is not caught in the act, the chances of recovering the pork are very low.
When everyone thought that the matter would be over, a child's cry came from the woods -
Li Daxiang, who had just said he would help Wen Nuan pick up branches, was now walking towards his family with a child in one hand.
Wen Nuan recognized them immediately; those two children were Li Qiuyan's sons, He Dazhuang and He Xiaofei.
He Dazhuang was relatively small in stature, but he was quite strong. He almost broke free from Li Daxiang's grip, and kept shouting, "Why are you arresting me? I didn't do anything wrong, let go!"
“Let me go!”
He Xiaofei is a little younger than He Dazhuang. At this moment, he just cried "woooo woooo" and dared not say a word.
He Dazhuang saw that Li Daxiang was about to take him to Liu Meili's house, so he stretched out his foot and kicked Li Daxiang in the waist, then took advantage of Li Daxiang's unpreparedness and ran away.
Li Daxiang frowned after being kicked. Seeing a boy running away, he didn't bother to chase him and directly dropped He Xiaofei on the snow.
"Sisters-in-law, I just ran into two boys in the birch forest chewing some pork, but when I asked them where they came from, they wouldn't tell me."
Then Li Daxiang asked again: "Whose child is this? Did he steal pork from our home?"
Meat is scarce these days. Li Daxiang saw that the pork in the child's hand must be at least one or two kilograms. He was afraid that the child was young and naughty and stole two large pieces of meat from home, so he brought the child back directly.
Li Daxiang obviously didn't know that someone in the family compound had their pork stolen. In the pocket of his military coat were two pieces of pork that were only the length of a finger left. He took them out and placed them on a stone beside the road in the family compound.
When Liu Meili heard this, she immediately rushed forward, her eyes wide open, and she put her hands on her waist and cursed: "He Xiaofei, you bastard, it turns out that you stole my pork."
He Xiaofei was stared at fiercely by Liu Meili. He curled up and held his head and cried, "No, it's not me."
As more and more people gathered around, He Xiaofei cried even harder. Liu Meili was so angry that she asked someone to call Li Qiuyan back immediately.
*
He Dazhuang escaped and went straight back home. He rushed into his grandmother's room and knelt on the ground.
"Grandma, save me, please save me!"
Chen Sanmei was still sleeping with her granddaughter. When she heard the child crying, she immediately got up from the kang and asked, "Da Zhuang, what are you doing?"
He Dazhuang was so scared that he shed tears, and cried miserably: "Grandma, I... I ate the pork from Aunt Meili's house..."
When Chen Sanmei heard this, she immediately raised her hand to slap him, but she was reluctant to let it fall on her own grandson. She scolded him angrily, "You, you, how can I help you? What about the pork? How much is left?"
He Dazhuang shrank back and sniffed: "I... I..."
Chen Sanmei knew something was wrong when she saw her grandson's expression, so she held back her anger and asked, "Did you finish eating it all? And you were discovered?"
Chen Sanmei knew that Liu Meili’s two kilograms of pork were missing. How big a piece of meat must that be!
She had lived for so long, but she had never been willing to buy two kilograms of pork at one time!
"You bastard!" Chen Sanmei simply slapped He Dazhuang in the face, her face turning green with anger: "How can you be worthy of your father!"
Chen Sanmei scolded for a long time and woke up her little granddaughter on the kang. The child was less than two years old, and when she heard the adults crying, she started crying too.
Chen Sanmei was upset. When she heard the child crying, she yelled at her twice, and then said to He Dazhuang: "Stay at home and don't go out."
After saying that, he put on his cotton jacket, let his hair run freely and went out.
*
Liu Meili, who was over there, finally waited for Li Qiuyan to come back from work, and then she said to her directly: "Your child stole my pork!"
Li Qiuyan walked all the way back from the cafeteria, and along the way she heard other people say that Liu Meili had found the person who stole the pork, and that person was her son. She was annoyed and angry, and immediately picked up a branch on the ground and hit He Xiaofei with it.
"I told you not to take other people's things casually, you little brat. I'd be sorry to your father who died a long time ago if I didn't beat you to death!"
He Xiaofei obviously didn't expect his mother to beat him severely as soon as she came back. He curled up on the ground in pain, and then cried and shouted: "Mom, it wasn't me, I didn't steal it, it was my eldest brother who gave it to me! It hurts so much, mom, please don't hit me, don't hit me."
Li Qiuyan beat him and cursed him: "You did something wrong and you don't admit it. You still have the nerve to say it hurts. I will beat you to death today!"
After all, He Xiaofei was still younger, and unlike He Dazhuang, he ran away as soon as he knew the situation was not favorable for him. At this moment, He Xiaofei was screaming in pain, but he didn't dare to run.
Wen Nuan observed carefully and found that the child was really crying and holding his head in pain. It didn't look like he was acting at all. Li Qiuyan really beat him to death.
Wen Nuan was afraid of scaring the kid in the stroller, so she stood in front of her, blocking her view, and then covered her ears with her hands. She didn't want to watch any more and decided to take the child home first.
Li Daxiang had no idea that things would turn out like this. When he saw Wen Nuan go home, he followed her and left.
Aunt Chen, who was a little older, saw that the child's mouth had turned purple, and couldn't help but persuade him, "Qiuyan, that's enough, talk it out nicely, if you keep hitting her, someone might die!"
"That's not the case. This kid stole a needle when he was young, and when he grows up he should steal other people's cows. How can we be worthy of his dead father if we don't educate him well?"
He Dazhuang was notoriously dirty with his hands and feet. In the past, he even went into other people's homes to take steamed buns. Many people also threw in some dried radishes, dried vegetables, etc. Although I didn't catch them ready-made, now I think it's almost certain that they are the two brothers.
When Li Qiuyan heard someone exaggerating the matter, she was so angry that smoke was about to come out of her head, and she increased the strength in her hands.
Li Qiuyan didn't stop until Chen Sanmei rushed over from home.
Chen Sanmei just cried while holding her child, crying about how miserable the child was without a father, crying in all kinds of ways...
Li Qiuyan almost knelt on the ground and begged Liu Meili to forgive the child. However, Liu Meili saw the child lying on the snow, dying, and did not dare to say a definite word.
If we let them go like this, it would be too easy for them.
But with so many people watching, some were trying to stop the fight, while others were fanning the flames, eager to make the matter bigger. Liu Meili really didn't know how to deal with it for a moment. She just said that she would wait for her man to come home tonight and see what to do.
*
Wen Nuan left early. When she took the child home, she passed by Li Qiuyan's house and heard a little girl crying in the house.
He Dazhuang didn't show up just now, but then Chen Sanmei came. It was obvious that she went home to ask for help.
In fact, Wen Nuan felt that the person who should be educated the most should be He Dazhuang, and He Xiaofei was obviously a scapegoat.
Li Daxiang came over at some point and said a little embarrassedly, "Sister-in-law, I didn't know it would turn out like that. I thought it was just some naughty kid..."
Wen Nuan knew that he felt guilty for the fact that He Xiaofei had been beaten half to death, so she said, "Da Xiang, you did nothing wrong. If I were you, I would expose them too. If you don't expose him, you will undoubtedly encourage this kind of evil trend."
"If such a young child is not well educated, he may become a cancer of society in the future. You have done a good job. Although He Xiaofei has suffered a little, I hope he can reflect on himself through this lesson."
If her own child behaved like this, Wen Nuan might not be able to help but give the child a severe scolding.
Li Daxiang was a tough guy, and in fact he was beaten a lot when he was a child. It was just that this time the beating was caused by him, so he couldn't help feeling a little weird.
However, after hearing Wen Nuan's words, Li Daxiang felt much better. No matter from which angle he looked at it, he had done nothing wrong this time.
"Thank you, sister-in-law. I'll get the branch back for you and I'll go back to the group later." After saying that, Li Daxiang ran away.
After a while, he returned to the warm yard carrying a large bundle of neatly arranged branches.
After putting the branches in the kitchen, Li Daxiang prepared to go back.
Wen Nuan knew that he had worked hard, so she took some roasted chestnuts from the chest and gave them to him, asking him to take them back to the dormitory for Erhu, Maodou and the others to eat.
Later, she thought about how Li Daxiang was kicked by He Dazhuang just now, and she went back to the room to get a piece of iron medicine.
Gu Qinghan's flight team would occasionally distribute some external medicines. He would often suffer from skin injuries, so he kept some at home.
Li Daxiang looked at Wen Nuan stuffing him with food again and said embarrassedly, "Sister-in-law, you always give me delicious food every time I come here. I feel embarrassed. But this bruise medicine..."
He looked at the medicine, not quite understanding it.
Wen Nuan hugged Lele and raised her little hand to wave at Li Daxiang, "No, you helped us a lot. I'm the one who's embarrassed. I saw you get kicked by He Dazhuang just now. The kid looks small, but he's very strong. If you don't take care of it, it will probably be serious."
Then she looked at the little girl and taught her: "Le Le, we have to thank Uncle Da Xiang very much."
Li Daxiang is a soldier and has good physical fitness, but He Dazhuang was able to break free from his control, proving that he used all his strength at that time.
Li Daxiang looked at the medicine for bruises and was touched but he didn't know how to express it. He could only say stiffly, "Thank you, sister-in-law."
When the little boy heard the word "thank you", he waved to Li Daxiang. His adorable look softened Li Daxiang's heart and he put the chestnut in his pocket.
"You're welcome." Wen Nuan smiled and said, "Be careful on the way back. It's snowing again."
.
The next day, Sister Guihua came to Wen Nuan's house early in the morning and told her the gossip she heard yesterday.
"Did you know? The person who stole the pork from Liu Meili's house was caught. Guess who it was?"
Sister Guihua was gossiping with others last night and didn't even go home to cook dinner. As soon as she woke up today, she came over to gossip with Wen Nuan about the stolen pork. It seems that she really likes gossiping.
However, Sister Guihua didn't know that she was actually there yesterday afternoon.
Before she could say anything, the impatient sister Guihua couldn't help herself and said in a low voice, "It was the two brothers He Dazhuang and He Xiaofei. Oh my, I guessed it was him at the time, but I didn't dare to say anything at that time, lest someone would stab me in the back. Now it's true, they never change their bad habits!"
"How could this child become so bad? It seems that if he is not taught a lesson, he will never change! His life will be ruined. How can he be worthy of his father who died heroically?!" Sister Guihua said this with more heartache and regret.
Wen Nuan sighed and then asked, "What did Liu Meili say?"
When she left last night, Liu Meili didn't say anything for sure. In fact, if this matter is to be investigated further, He Dazhuang and He Xiaofei will have to go to the security department of the army for education. If their attitude of admitting their mistakes is bad, it is not impossible for the political commissar to deal with the matter personally.
It depends on whether Liu Meili has the determination to do it.
Sister Guihua sneered and said helplessly, "Hey, you don't know, He Dazhuang's grandmother is very good at playing the victim. She said that she is old, can't work, and can't support the family. She also said that her son died early, and there is no man in the family to control the grandchildren. Later, she said that it is not easy for Li Qiuyan to be alone. She has to work and take care of the family. She cried all night. How can Liu Meili, who cares so much about face, be her opponent?"
"I heard that Chen Sanmei severely beat her two grandsons last night and fainted in Liu Meili's house. The doctor came over. Liu Meili and Chen Jiawei were so scared that their hearts stopped beating. They almost thought that the old lady was going to die in their house. How unlucky that would be!"
"In the end, Li Qiuyan said she would compensate Liu Meili with double the amount of pork and money, and also sent her a pound of sugar. That was fine, but last night Li Qiuyan even asked the two children to kowtow to Liu Meili three times. Liu Meili was in a dilemma, so the matter was over."
After listening to what Sister Guihua said, Wen Nuan was a little speechless. It was hard not to suspect that Chen Sanmei's behavior was acting, but they also called a doctor, and it seemed that the situation was quite serious.
The most outrageous thing is Li Qiuyan, who directly compensated Liu Meili with double the amount, as if she was particularly generous and decent. But if the pork had not been stolen, how could such a thing happen
The child was also made to kneel down and kowtow a few times. Wouldn't that shorten his lifespan
Wen Nuan didn't know what to say, but she made up her mind not to have any contact with Li Qiuyan's family.
After talking about the gossip, Sister Guihua asked, "I heard that there will be a heavy snowstorm. When will your deputy team leader Gu come back?"
Wen Nuan lowered her eyes, "I don't know yet."
Lele didn't know whether he understood what Sister Guihua said, and he immediately made a "baba" sound, and his delicate little eyebrows wrinkled.
Sister Guihua touched the child's head and asked with a smile: "How is it? Our Lele misses his dad too, right? Your mom misses your dad too, but it will be soon, your dad will be back soon, Lele, don't cry."
The little guy was touched on the head and shook his head in dissatisfaction. His soft hair fluttered in the wind, which was very cute.
On that day, Wen Nuan also locked the vegetable cellar. One must be on guard against others, so it is better to be careful.
Then there was the wild ginseng, which could not be placed in a wooden box without a lock, so Wen Nuan locked it in a huanghuali jewelry box that she had bought when she bought the wooden box.
Only after all these were taken care of did Wen Nuan go to sleep peacefully.
After two days of clear weather, a strong wind blew in the north city again. The family members in the compound said that there was going to be a heavy snowstorm this time, which might be the heaviest snowstorm before the New Year.
Wen Nuan looked at the gloomy sky and the howling wind outside, which made people's hair stand on end. It seemed that the snow would be much heavier this time.
Looking at the weather, Wen Nuan missed Gu Qinghan again. He didn't know how many days he would be away on this mission. There was no phone call from home, and he didn't know where he had gone. He felt empty inside and not at ease at all.
I heard that a group of flying soldiers returned to North City in the afternoon, but Gu Qinghan was not in that team.
After eating noodles in the evening, Wen Nuan took Lele back to her room. Without Gu Qinghan to help warm the bed, Wen Nuan took out another cotton jacket and put it on top of the quilt to make it warmer.
I don’t know if the little guy has grown up a little, but he doesn’t go to bed so early at night now. He used to go to bed at nine o’clock.
These days I have to turn off the lights before I can coax him to sleep.
The cold air came suddenly. Before the lights were turned off, the woods next to the house began to rustle, and the roof seemed to be shaking in the wind.
Lele didn’t know if she was also frightened by the wind. She buried her little head in her arms, her big eyes staring at the banging roof, and called “Mom, Mom” twice.
Wen Nuan was thinking about checking whether the doors and windows were closed tightly, but she noticed that the child was a little scared, so she wrapped her whole body and said gently: "Don't be afraid, Lele, it's just the wind, mom is here."
The child was quite brave. After being comforted, she was no longer scared. However, her little hands kept grabbing Wen Nuan's clothes, and she refused to close her eyes even when Wen Nuan coaxed her to sleep.
Suddenly, Wen Nuan heard the sound of wooden boards moving, and it sounded like the wooden door outside the yard.
Because of what happened with Liu Meili, Wen Nuan is a little worried now.
She carried the child out of the living room, intending to see if anyone had done anything bad during the dark night. She did not dare to turn on the lights in the living room.
The dark environment always makes people a little nervous. Wen Nuan hugged the little guy tightly in her arms and pricked up her ears to listen to the movements outside.
But before she could get to the living room window, a familiar and deep voice was heard in the howling wind outside the window—
"Wife, it's me."