Chapter 13

“Of course I have to go back. Grandpa prepared a very expensive dowry for me. If I don’t go back to the Zhang family in Beijing to get it, wouldn’t that fake guy get it cheaply? But I’m not in a hurry. I have to wait until I’m settled down after joining the army before I can find time to go back.” At this point, Qiao Yu said, “Mom, if the son of the Qiao family comes to trouble you, you can give him the address of the Zhang family.”

This was what she originally wanted to do.

Her parents, whom she had not yet met, were using the words of the public security comrades to disgust her. If she did not respond, wouldn’t that be unfilial? But this cheap grandfather made her restrain herself a little.

If the Qiao family didn’t cause trouble again, she didn’t need to care. After all, it was the original owner who had a blood relationship with them, not her.

“Yeah, okay.” Zhou’s mother agreed.

The verdict came down on the eve of Qiao Yu’s departure.

Deliberately taking the wrong child and abusing him is a double crime of child abduction and child abuse and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Originally, the sentence would not have been so severe, but Mr. Zhang intervened and expressed his approval of Qiao Yu, so the sentence was emphasized.

Qiao Yu felt that the sentence was too light and that they should be sentenced to death. However, when he thought that Qiao’s parents would have to live as “labor camp prisoners” after being released from prison, he smiled and felt relieved.

When the verdict came out, Qiao Yu had already packed a lot of bags, including gifts for her three adopted sons. She held Xiaoyong in one hand and Dawei in the other, and boarded the train to follow the army.

The director of the Public Security Bureau got her a sleeper berth, so there was no room for a seat.

After squeezing onto the train, she saw Xiaoyong’s big head almost falling backwards, so she hurriedly spread her hands to help him.

The child was still smiling and looked harmless, calling her, “Mom, Mom.”

Xiaoyong is very thin, with a big head and a small body. He can’t walk at the age of 2 and needs her to hold him. Most people in the 1960s were like this, nothing special. Who made Xiaoyong born in a famine?

After finding a bed, Qiao Yu stuffed the big bag under the berth, then dug out a green military water bottle, took two sips of warm water, took a breath, and handed it to Dawei who was looking at him eagerly, then he held Xiaoyong and looked out the window.

The Zhou family waved at her.

Qiao Yu raised Xiaoyong’s thin little hand and waved to the window, saying a silent goodbye.

Boom boom

The green train started.

She officially embarked on the journey of joining the army.

The departure time was two o’clock in the afternoon. They got up and had breakfast with the Zhou family before dawn. After arriving in the county town, they caught the first bus to the city. After all this trouble, they were already starving.

The Zhou family estimated that they would have a simple meal in the city before going back, so she took out the enamel pot and chopsticks from her bag, took out three large jars, and filled them with hot water to prepare lunch for the mother and her two children.

Fried rice flour + wild vegetable dumplings are the staple food and vitamin supplement. The wild vegetable dumplings also contain salt. Stir them with chopsticks. The mother and her two children need to drink two large cups to be enough.

After that, Qiao Yu stuffed another egg into Xiaoyong’s mouth.

The child smelled the food and gobbled it up ravenously, nearly choking.

While stroking the child’s back, Qiao Yu said to Dawei, “Get some water in the enamel pot.”

“Yeah, okay.” After eating, Dawei ran very fast.

The whole carriage was eating the same way as Qiao Yu. Others fried the brown rice in advance or ground the coarse grains with the shells into powder and fried them and then poured some hot water into it and ate it. It tasted bad and had little oil, and the portion was not enough. It was good enough if you could eat it until you were three-quarters full.

There was a nationwide famine, the food was unnutritious, everyone’s face was sallow, they had no energy, and the slogans they shouted were not loud enough.

Qiao Yu is a little different. Even though he is extremely thin, his skin is still fair. But his eyes look particularly big, like a sad frog.

Anyway, she had looked at herself in the mirror once and didn’t want to look at herself again.

After being kept in the Zhang family for a few days, it is impossible for him to regain his flesh in just a few days, but he is in better spirits and looks much better than when he first came here.

Even if he was low-key, his spirited appearance and the larger portion of rice than the surrounding area attracted attention, not to mention the hard-boiled egg.

Qiao Yu clearly heard the sounds of swallowing all around him.

When I looked up again, some people looked at me with sharp eyes, while others were too embarrassed to look away.

He knew his limits and didn’t ask her to share the food.

She has read some period novels in which many cannon fodders ask the protagonist to share food right from the start…that’s really stupid.

Nowadays, let alone sharing, even if you want to buy food, there may not be anyone to sell it to. Haven’t you seen that the price of food on the black market has been driven up to a high level?

It seems she needs to be more low-key.

You can’t feed the children too much in the military compound, otherwise if you are not careful, the children will let something slip, and it will bring a lot of trouble to you and your current partner.

I can only eat alone.

Dawei quickly came back with the enamel pot. Qiao Yu blew on it with hot water and slowly fed Xiaoyong to drink.

It’s more like slurping than drinking.

They slurp very loudly, but people around them don’t find it strange. They have to eat quickly, otherwise their food will be snatched away. The faster they eat, the louder the noise.

It’s normal to make some noise when slurping hot water.

Nothing happened on the green train, except that after sitting there for several days and nights, my face looked a little pale.

Qiao Yu also must take care of the packages and two children.

You must take a bus after getting off the train.

Just as she was about to ask for directions, she saw a young man in military green holding a sign with her name, Qiao Yu, on it.

The young man hesitated: “Qiao Yu?”

“Yes.” Qiao Yu pointed at the two children, “My sons, Dawei and Xiaoyong. Dawei and Xiaoyong, call me brother.”

Dawei: “Brother

Hello, brother.”

Xiaoyong just glanced at the young man and continued to bury his head in Qiao Yu’s chest.

The young man scratched his head and said, “Hello, sister-in-law. I was sent by the group leader to pick you up! The car is outside, let’s go!”

Qiao Yu knew that one had to be a battalion-level or higher rank to join the army. How old was Zhou Ze’an? How did he become a regiment commander so quickly? Considering his family background… Was it his own ability?

Well, that’s quite capable.

Unexpectedly, my nominal husband is a potential stock.

She wanted to keep a low profile on the train. The regimental salary was about 150 yuan, which was more than enough to feed five children, but it was difficult to get the bills. As a military wife, she couldn’t go to the black market anymore…

Oh, doesn’t this still have the excuse of being a cheap grandpa?

It’s stable.

After getting in the car, Qiao Yu calmed down.

This wasn’t the first time the soldier came to the station to pick up his wife. He was on the island doing some shopping and came to pick her up. In the past, even the most cultured wives would be secretly surprised when they saw the car he drove, but this wife…

No expression.

and.

The young soldier glanced at the rearview mirror secretly and thought that Captain Zhou’s second wife was not as bad as the rumors said.

She is tall and pretty and looks young.

Quiet and easy to get along with?

We drove for several hours, and after stopping, we took a boat to the island, where we drove for a long time again.

Qiao Yu tried to hold it in, but Dawei couldn’t and vomited.

After vomiting, his face looked better and his expression recovered. Seeing that he vomited food, Dawei felt distressed.

Seeing his posture, Qiao Yu wanted to swallow the vomit back into his stomach…

She quickly tried to stop him with one hand, “No matter how poor our family is, we cannot eat what we vomited. Stop it.”

The young soldier also felt uncomfortable and rolled down the window to ventilate.

Seeing that Dawei didn’t have that idea, Qiao Yu said to the little soldier, “I’ll let this kid clean the inside of your car later.”

The young soldier quickly shook his head: “No, no, sister-in-law, I can do it myself! You and the two children just arrived, and we still have to tidy up the house, so I won’t bother you.”

Qiao Yu thought about it and decided not to insist.

But apology must be given.

She reached into her bag and rummaged around, actually reaching into space and pulling out a raw egg: “Then consider this as an apology, please wash the car.”

The young soldier was driving and had no hands free to refuse.

Qiao Yu stuffed the raw egg into the small pocket on his chest and said, “Take it. You can cook it when you get home.”

She had hard-boiled eggs in her space, but if hard-boiled eggs were left for too long, the surface of the yolk would turn green. She put these eggs in her space right after they were cooked, so that they would remain in the same state as when they were just cooked. It was fine to fool the children, but she had to be more careful in the army.

Apart from avoiding space exposure, there is no need to be cautious or feel uncomfortable at other times.