Tonight, she was making millet flour noodles again, but this time they were salty instead of sour.

About half a month ago, Song Qingshan had brought two rabbits.

After cleaning them, Su Xiangwan stewed one rabbit leg for each of the big kids and let them enjoy it.

Then she salted the remaining rabbit meat and stored it in a jar.

Whenever she made salty noodles, she would add a spoonful of the rabbit meat sauce, and the soup with little bits of meat in it was so delicious that the kids would be in heaven.

“My dad definitely hasn’t tasted what rabbit meat is like, but I, Song Xiling, want to tell you, it’s really fragrant, Dad, don’t believe me? You can try it later,” Gou Dan, because of the name, had completely turned his allegiance to Song Qingshan.

Song Qingshan patiently reminded him: “Usually, no one calls me Song Qingshan directly. If I’m talking about you, I can call you Song Xiling, okay?”

“No, when I, Song Xiling, speak, I like to include my own name,” Gou Dan argued with his father.

Su Xiangwan took the noodles out of the pot, gave each person a bowl, and on the rough wooden table there was a pile of salted leeks.

This was their meal for the day.

When Song Qingshan was scooping rice, Gou Dan also had to chime in: “I, Song Xiling, think the millet noodles my mom makes are the best in the world.”

“This kid must have something wrong with his brain,” Song Qingshan quietly asked Su Xiangwan.

Su Xiangwan replied, “It’s normal, let him speak.”

In her previous life, the domineering CEO characters she used to read about would always say things like, “I, Long Aotian, am this or that,” or “I, Zhao Ritian, am this or that.”

Looking at Gou Dan’s proud expression, she couldn’t help but think it was kind of cute.

No matter what, it was a good thing that the child had confidence, right?

After dinner, the whole family sat together, waiting for Dad’s lesson time.

Since Lu Dan had secretly told Gou Dan that his father was an important official, Gou Dan had recently been looking at his father with a kind of admiration.

Of course, admiring your father was a good thing. When Song Qingshan set up the blackboard, both kids were very serious in their studies.

Especially Gou Dan, who used to run to pee after recognizing just three characters, now sat through a full 45-minute lesson without any complaints, only running out to pee afterward.

It was said that after the New Year, the educated youth would come to the village, and the yard would soon be filled with people.

After the kids finished their lessons, they loudly recited “When drinking water, don’t forget the one who dug the well” while playing with Dà Shān in the yard.

Shanzi( Dashan ), who had been skinny before, had gained quite a bit of weight recently thanks to the bones and meat he had been fed.

At the labor camp, there was no one else for now, so when Song Qingshan wasn’t around, Shanzi was Su Xiangwan’s pillar.

She intentionally had the kids play with the dog, throwing balls and shoes, training Dashan’s reaction and movement abilities.

After all, who knew when Song Laosan would return? If he did, and tried to steal from the labor camp, Shanzi(Dashan) was there to bite him to death.

After the kids went to bed, Song Qingshan still had some work to do.

The reservoir they were building had been halfway completed, and the central government had only given them two years to finish it.

With half a year already gone, and thanks to overtime work, the reservoir was almost ready to close up and store water.

Next year, the power generation units would be set up.

Once the reservoir was completed, the 307th Regiment would start nuclear power work, and another project, biological engineering, would follow.

Song Qingshan himself was still uncertain about which direction to take.

The leadership above wanted to focus on nuclear power for its large capacity, but Song Qingshan was more inclined toward biological engineering, like the fertilizer and genetically modified crop research Su Xiangwan had mentioned.

Meanwhile, the local government had been pushing him to join the armed forces, and Song Qingshan was still hesitating about that.

“By the way, Song Regiment, where did you get this thing?” Su Xiangwan suddenly asked, noticing he was focused on something at the small table.

Song Qingshan looked down at the box, instinctively reached into his pocket, and his face turned red. “Comrade Chen gave it to me. But I really didn’t intend to use it. You’re overthinking. Go to sleep now.”

Wow, such a calm response.

Su Xiangwan found it curious. “Song Regiment, although Lu Dan and Gou Dan have both told you that I tried to commit suicide several times before you came back, you never once asked about it. Do you think this can just be forgotten?”

Yes, the original person had not only attempted suicide once.

From a certain perspective, the old lady’s entire family and even the years of poor harvests were all perpetrators.

In the book, after the original person couldn’t bear it any longer, she sold her child and went to Dongfeng City to find Song Tingxiu.

After sending Song Tingxiu back, Song Qingshan actually just wanted to get by, thinking life would go on as usual.

But at that time, the old lady followed Song Tingxiu to the county town, where she spread bad rumors about her daughter-in-law.

Someone overheard and reported it to Tingxiu’s workplace, leading to her being dismissed from her public office.

The original person’s reputation was tarnished across the entire county, so of course, she divorced and left without hesitation.

As for the two children who were sold—Goudan and Zhizhi—Goudan was eventually found, but it wasn’t until Lu Dan became a criminal investigator that Zhizhi was located.

As for Song Qingshan, he couldn’t just overlook everything as if it were nothing, could he?

Sure enough, Song Qingshan raised his head, his eyes sharp and bright, like two cold bolts of lightning: “You should have told me about Lao Fang’s situation when you were in Dongfeng City.”

When she arrived in Dongfeng City, she didn’t say anything about how well or badly she was doing.

Of course, she had ten yuan a month, and the first five years were still quite smooth.

She loved her children and thought her husband wasn’t bad.

But that one time—the trip that spoiled her heart—was the turning point. At the same time, her husband died, and she lost everything.

“I’ll make sure you and your children never worry about food or drink in the future,” Song Qingshan said.

“Have you ever thought about it? What if I had died back then?” Su Xiangwan asked. “Jumping into a river, drinking pesticide, hanging myself—these weren’t one-time things. If I hadn’t pulled through one of those times, what would have happened then?”

Song Qingshan’s face gradually stiffened, staring at Su Xiangwan with burning eyes: “When we were in Haixi County, I didn’t say anything, but I escaped. Then I was sent back to Beijing. I think Goudan and Zhizhi had already been sold, and I didn’t know where they were.”

After all, she had firmly said back then that as long as he didn’t return and divorce her, she would sell the children and leave without hesitation.

Song Qingshan’s plane had crashed, and he was ambushed. He escaped, but escaping was a crime in itself.

Yet, he wanted to go back home and check if his children were still there.

He clearly knew that the two children he had never met before were probably sold, and that from now on, he would be unreachable in this vast country.

After being captured and brought to Beijing, he was subjected to rounds of interrogation, under intense pressure.

With every question from his superiors, Song Qingshan became more aware that his children were slipping further away.

Day by day, he couldn’t grasp them. He even knew that, because of the conditions, those two children might not even have a single photo.

If he was to find them, it would be even harder without a picture.

He couldn’t escape anymore. If he did, he would lose his chance to be released, so he could only endure—endure until he could prove his innocence and return to find his children.

“Alright, alright, let’s stop talking about this,” Su Xiangwan quickly said.

Was this a pity party?

She had intended to play the victim, but Song Qingshan made things even worse.

What could she do?

She drew a picture, marked the time and space, and added two people.

Since Song Qingshan had studied physics in military school and used to hang out with physicists, she explained the relationship between her and the original person in a simple way.

“Of course, you can think she’s already dead, but I, Su Xiangwan, am not the same as your former wife. I’m someone else. You understand, right? I’m from the future, fifty years ahead, and I’m not the same person as your wife. She’s over there now,” Su Xiangwan said.

Song Qingshan understood physics.

Half a month ago, when Su Xiangwan talked to him, he knew about general relativity.

People who understood general relativity had a concept of time and space, so explaining things to him was actually quite easy.

Of course, his reaction was what Su Xiangwan had anticipated.

He said, “Half a month ago, we found a spy at our workplace.”

“Did I ever ask about your work?” Su Xiangwan retorted.

“No,” Song Qingshan replied, habitually putting his hands on his hips and lowering his gaze to look at her.

“Your personal belongings—other than this box of condoms that you asked your son to pull out—did I ever touch them?” Su Xiangwan asked, shaking the box of condoms.

Really shameless, the past issues weren’t even settled, and he was already ready to drive wild. Didn’t he fear pulling a muscle?

Song Qingshan’s face remained expressionless, but his sharp features reddened: “No, you didn’t touch anything.”

He had checked his belongings carefully and knew that she hadn’t touched them.

Su Xiangwan thought to herself, this guy wants to suspect me of being a spy?

How could that be possible?

“You used to disguise it so well, I never suspected anything. Why aren’t you disguising it now?” Song Qingshan asked again.

Su Xiangwan said, “I’m tired. The current social situation outside is much more chaotic than in the village. I can act outside because my safety is involved, and I’m afraid of being dragged out for criticism or locked up. But in front of you, acting all the time would tire me out. I don’t want to make myself so exhausted.”

She also knew that he had planted a listening device in her watch and had been observing her—never touching his things, never asking about his work—just focusing on her own career to stand firm and appear upright.

After a long pause, just as Su Xiangwan was wondering whether he believed her or not, Song Qingshan suddenly said, “Just tell me what you want me to help with.”

“Catch a wild boar, a male one. But that’s just the first request. There will be more difficult ones later, and I’ll tell you when the time comes,” Su Xiangwan said.

Song Qingshan took the paper, folded it, and folded it again. Then he brought it to the oil lamp and burned it: “If you want a live wild boar, just say so. I’ll help you catch it. Go to sleep now.”

Did he believe her, or not?

Just as they were about to lie down, Lu Dan rolled over: “My mom lied to you, don’t listen to her. She is really my mom. I dreamed she was in another place, but she loves us and couldn’t bear to leave us, so she came back.”

The whole family, every one of them, had some problems.

Song Qingshan quickly added, “I know, she’s angry at me. She wants to act fiercer in front of me. She’s just finding ways to torture me. But we’re not afraid. If she wants to go to the sky, we’ll just build her a ladder.”

As for the box of condoms, the one that made Song Qingshan lose his dignity and made it hard for him to have a rational conversation with Su Xiangwan, he decided to bring it back to the regiment tomorrow and let Chen Aidang eat them one by one.

As for the wild boar, it had to be male—extremely aggressive. What would he need for that? A tranquilizer gun. Yes, he would use a tranquilizer gun.

Tomorrow, they’d have Chen Aidang catch the wild boar.