Chapter 103

Lu Jingzhe didn’t introduce Xia Qingning’s identity directly, but looked at her and said, “This is Sister-in-law Azhen, call her Sister-in-law.”

“Sister-in-law.” Xia Qingning smiled and took the water, calling out generously.

Azhen immediately understood, she nodded and smiled in agreement, “Oh, oh, it’s my sister-in-law.” Then she couldn’t help but praise, “Sister-in-law, you are so beautiful, you look like a movie star.”

The three of them sat down and chatted for a while, Lu Jingzhe saw that only Azhen was in the house, so he asked in a deep voice, “Sister-in-law, where are Uncle and Auntie, and Guangguang?”

“Guangguang went out to play.” Azhen said, pausing for a moment before continuing, “Mom and Dad, they’re gone.”

It took a moment to understand the meaning of the word “gone”, which was clearly unexpected by Lu Jingzhe, his eyes dimmed for a moment, and he asked, “When did it happen?”

“It’s been over a year.” Azhen said calmly, not wanting to affect everyone’s mood because of this, she quickly stood up and said, “It’s getting late, you sit for a while, I’ll go make dinner now.”

“Sister-in-law, let me help you.” Xia Qingning stood up and was about to go to the kitchen with her, Azhen hurriedly said, “No, no, you sit and rest, I’m quick, we’ll eat soon.”

After Azhen went to the kitchen, Lu Jingzhe told Xia Qingning that if she was tired, she could rest, he had something to do and would go out for a while.

Soon, Xia Qingning was the only one left in the house. From the conversation between the two just now, combined with what the woman in the blue tile house said, she roughly pieced together the basic situation of this sister-in-law’s family:

Azhen’s husband was Lu Jingzhe’s comrade-in-arms, but he unfortunately died. Azhen returned here from the family compound to take care of her elderly in-laws. Her in-laws fell ill one after another, Azhen sold the house to treat her in-laws, but they still passed away. Now she lives here alone with her child.

Being alone, she felt a little at a loss. Xia Qingning was about to go to the kitchen to help, but she suddenly noticed the photos hanging on the wall. She was a little curious, so she walked over and looked at them.

The photos were all of the same man, there was one of him wearing a red flower when he joined the army, one of him wearing a military uniform and saluting, one of him taking an oath to the national flag, almost every photo had a serious expression.

“That’s Guangguang’s dad.” At this time, Azhen came out, seeing Xia Qingning looking at the photos, she smiled and introduced her, “Don’t look at him so serious in the photos, he’s actually not like that, he loves to laugh, he likes to talk about chivalry, and he’s a little impulsive in doing things, he used to get into a lot of trouble before he joined the army, so everyone here calls him Zeng Xiaodao.”

When she talked about her deceased husband, she didn’t show any sadness, but kept smiling, and there was even a glimmer in her eyes.

After hearing her words, Xia Qingning couldn’t help but carefully examine the photos, only then did she realize that the man in the photos had a hint of rebelliousness in his eyebrows, Xia Qingning quickly associated that kind of image with a “rebellious and handsome” man who was not bound by worldly conventions, was free-spirited, seemed frivolous on the surface, but had a patriotic heart, had a sense of national justice, and hated evil.

This kind of man has a fatal attraction to women, you may not like him at first sight, but once you fall in love, it’s for life.

Noticing that Lu Jingzhe was not there, Azhen asked Xia Qingning beside her, after learning that he had gone out, Azhen didn’t show any surprise, nor did she ask where he had gone, but instead said to Xia Qingning, “Girl, you sit for a while, I’ll go get Guangguang back.”

“I’ll go get him.” Xia Qingning suddenly said.

Azhen was obviously surprised to hear this, before she could speak, she heard the beautiful girl opposite her say confidently, “Don’t worry, Sister-in-law, I know where he is, I saw him when we came.”

Xia Qingning had been learning human portrait sketching since she was a child, so her observation skills of people’s appearance were naturally better than ordinary people. The little boy who was squatting on the ground just now and the man in the photo were very similar in their eyebrows and eyes, obviously they were father and son.

With the sister-in-law’s agreement, Xia Qingning walked out of the house, followed the small path down, walked around the blue tile house, and looked towards the flat dam she had passed by when she came.

From afar, she saw the six or seven children still playing the gun battle game there, and the seven or eight year old boy with yellow hair was still not participating, he was squatting there silently, watching them play.

At this time, a boy with a pot-lid haircut and wearing a sailor suit was running and suddenly bumped into the little boy who was squatting on the ground. The boy with the pot-lid haircut lost his balance and immediately fell down.

But the fall wasn’t serious, because he quickly got up, he looked angry, raised his hand and pushed the little boy who was squatting on the ground, “Get out of the way, what are you squatting here for, you tripped me, we’re not playing with you.”

The children who had been running with guns quickly surrounded them, the boy with two snots hanging from his nose immediately came forward to help, “Yeah, Guangtou Zeng, we don’t want to play with you! You go away quickly, lest you trip us too.”

The little boy who was called Guangtou Zeng looked at the few people, he didn’t cower, he replied, “This isn’t your territory, why should I leave, he tripped himself, what does it have to do with me?”

“If you weren’t squatting here, would I have tripped?” The boy with the pot-lid haircut said, then he began to sing a made-up rhyme loudly, “Guangtou Zeng, Zeng Guangtou, ugly, no friends, grandpa doesn’t love him, dad is gone, we’ll punch him to death, little monster…”

Soon everyone followed him, running around the yellow-haired boy in a circle, clapping their hands and singing loudly, “Guangtou Zeng, Zeng Guangtou, ugly, no friends, grandpa doesn’t love him, dad is gone, we’ll punch him to death, little monster…”

The yellow-haired boy was surrounded in the middle, his face flushed red, he clenched his fists, staring at everyone, as if he was about to charge at them in the next second.

“Guangguang…”

At this time, a voice came over, soon everyone saw a beautiful sister walking towards them, the children didn’t run away, but curiously watched her approach.

Xia Qingning walked to the side of the yellow-haired boy, raised her hand, and豪气地 (haòu qì, meaning boldly and confidently) took him into her arms, looking at the few children and said, “Little brats, don’t bully people!”

“We didn’t bully him!” The boy with the pot-lid haircut pouted, not admitting it.

“Then why are you cursing and giving him nicknames?” Xia Qingning looked at the boy with the pot-lid haircut and asked.

“His surname is Zeng, and he’s bald, we call him Zeng Guangtou, what’s wrong with that?” The boy with the pot-lid haircut looked up at Xia Qingning, not afraid of her, and argued.

“Yeah, yeah, Little Mingge is right, he is Zeng Guangtou.” The boy with two snots hanging from his nose also hurriedly agreed, looking like he was flattering his big brother, whatever the big brother said was right.

Xia Qingning looked at the boy with the pot-lid haircut, she didn’t rush to teach him a lesson, but chatted with him like a friend, and asked kindly, “What’s your name?”

The boy with the pot-lid haircut saw that she was good-tempered, so he became bolder, and answered proudly, “My name is Zhang Xiaoming.”

“What about you?” Xia Qingning asked the boy with two snots hanging from his nose, “What’s your name?”

“Liu Xiaohua” the boy answered, with the same proud expression as his big brother.

“No, no.” Xia Qingning shook her head repeatedly, under the curious gaze of everyone, Xia Qingning looked at the boy with the pot-lid haircut and smiled, “Your clothes are so dirty, and you have a pot-lid haircut, you shouldn’t be called Zhang Xiaoming, you should be called Dirty Pot-lid.” Then she looked at the boy with two snots hanging from his nose, “What about you, your surname is Liu, and you have snot hanging from your nose, you shouldn’t be called Liu Xiaohua, you should be called Snotty Nose.”

“Dirty Pot-lid”

“Snotty Nose”

Hahaha…

The children beside them read the two new names and burst into laughter.