Chapter 188: An Unexpected Phone Call

The visitor was also a family member.

And also a colleague of Qi Xiangdong’s – the wife of Liu Gang, the deputy instructor of the motor vehicle battalion, Mo Xiu.

Qi Yan immediately snapped out of her daze: “Sister-in-law, have you heard? Battalion Commander Chen of the artillery battalion, has already married and had children.”

Mo Xiu’s husband and Qian Sanni’s husband were from the same county, and the two families were close.

Upon hearing this, she laughed: “I know, I met her at Staff Officer Wang’s house.”

“You weren’t here a while back, so you wouldn’t know her, would you?”

“These days, she’s become famous! The division commander, the political commissar, and several other division leaders, none of them don’t recognize her!”

“This person looks pretty good, and she’s also very generous, she really doesn’t look like a country bumpkin who’s never seen the world.”

“Her Mandarin is very standard, if it wasn’t for Sanni saying she and you are from the same commune, I wouldn’t believe it.”

“By the way, you’re from the same commune, don’t you know her?”

From the same commune… Could it be?

Hearing this news, Qi Yan’s heart immediately raced, her hands and feet went numb: “She’s from our commune? No way?”

“Sister-in-law, do you know what her name is?”

Mo Xiu nodded: “I know, it seems to be Li Xinyue, Xin as in new and old, and Yue as in leaf.”

Li Xinyue, Li Xinyue!

The person she married was actually Chen Mingchuan, the most outstanding and youngest officer in the entire division!

Qi Yan’s whole body felt as if it had been acupuncture-pointed, stiff and unable to move…

Just now, she was lucky she didn’t bet!

Otherwise, where would she borrow a thousand yuan?

Damn Li Xinyue, you’re so awful, you’re deliberately teasing me, aren’t you?

Mo Xiu, who was beside her, saw Qi Yan looking like a fool and immediately became curious: “Qi Yan, do you know Captain Chen’s wife?”

Do I know her?

Even if she was burned to ashes, I would recognize her!

Stabilizing her mind, Qi Yan’s face stiffened: “I’ve seen her a few times before, but I didn’t expect it to be her!”

“Just now I was thinking, why did that person seem so familiar to me, it turns out it was really her!”

Mo Xiu opened her mouth wide upon hearing this: “Oh, you really know her?”

“What’s her background, do you know?”

Background?

She has a damn background!

Qi Yan’s heart was burning with anger, she wanted to curse, but she dared not.

“Sister-in-law, she’s just an ordinary rural girl, she studied for two years in junior high school.”

“She lost her mother at the age of three, and then her father ran off with an older woman, she grew up with her grandparents.”

“We used to go to school together, but I went to high school in the county when I was sixteen, so I rarely saw her.”

“Later, my father was transferred to work in the county revolutionary committee, and I never saw her again.”

“This is all I know, I really don’t know anything else.”

Ah?

Captain Chen’s wife, actually has no parents!

Mo Xiu was shocked: “This person’s life is so miserable, she lost her parents at such a young age, poor thing!”

“But now it’s good, Captain  Chen is the most promising young officer in the A division, her good fortune will be endless in the future!”

Good fortune?

This damn woman, why should she have good fortune?

Qi Yan became angrier the more she listened, but she dared not show it.

She forced a smile and said: “Yes, yes, it’s just that Chen is so outstanding, I don’t know if she’ll have the good fortune to enjoy it in the end.”

“I heard that Chen is very popular among the female soldiers in the division.”

“Sister-in-law, I won’t chat with you anymore, I’m going to my sister-in-law’s place.”

That’s right, Chen is such an outstanding person, there are many people eyeing him!

This Li family has such a poor background, whether she can keep up with him in the end, no one knows.

Mo Xiu said “Hey” twice in a row: “Okay, I have to go home to cook, and we’ll talk when we have time.”

“Okay, see you later.”

The two parted ways, Qi Yan quickly ran to her brother’s house: “Sister-in-law, sister-in-law…”

To arrange work matters, Qi Xiangdong invited his comrades from the political department for dinner tonight, and Wu Xiuzhi was busy.

“What’s wrong?”

Her sister-in-law rushed in like she was being chased by a dog, and she immediately came out of the kitchen.

Qi Xiangdong was quite ambitious, but his abilities were average.

Fortunately, his father had some connections, and he was transferred to become a deputy battalion commander in June.

Last month, the division organized training for newly transferred deputy battalion commanders, and he had just returned a few days ago.

He was only twenty-seven years old, and he was considered a very young battalion-level cadre in the division. Wu Xiuzhi completed her military registration procedures in August.

Qi Yan took a breath before speaking: “Sister-in-law, do you know who Li Xinyue married?”

Seeing her sister-in-law’s expression, Wu Xiuzhi immediately frowned: “Didn’t she marry the platoon leader Sun from the anti-aircraft artillery battalion?”

“How could that be?”

“No! Mo Xiu said her husband is Chen Mingchuan!”

What?

“Bang!” Wu Xiuzhi dropped the water scoop in her hand on the floor…

She shook her head repeatedly, as if shaking her head fast enough would make it untrue!

“Impossible! Impossible! Your brother said Chen Mingchuan wasn’t married at all!”

Qi Yan didn’t want to believe it either, but it was true!

So she recounted what Mo Xiu had said, but she didn’t mention the near-bet between them.

“She has a good relationship with Qian Sanni. Mo Xiu said she saw her at Wang’s house that day.”

“Isn’t Qian Sanni’s house in the same row as Chen Mingchuan’s dormitory? Qian Sanni introduced Li Xinyue as such at the time.”

How could this be?

How could this be?

Wu Xiuzhi hated Li Xinyue from the bottom of her heart.

When Li Xinyue’s grandfather was alive, he was the director of the commune’s stone material factory.

At that time, many people flattered Li’s grandfather.

Li Xinyue’s grandmother, Wu Xiuzhi’s third aunt, was very proud.

She would often brag to Wu Xiuzhi’s grandmother about how good and beautiful Li Xinyue was.

Clearly, her son was a son-in-law, and Li Xinyue wasn’t even her granddaughter!

But she was just so proud.

It was this constant comparison from childhood that made Wu Xiuzhi despise Li Xinyue.

When she snatched Qi Xiangdong away, she felt proud for a while.

But now, the man Li Xinyue, her cousin, married was even more excellent… much more!

It was infuriating!

“Sister-in-law…”

Wu Xiuzhi’s face was so ugly that Qi Yan was startled, afraid she would get sick from anger.

Bending down to pick up the water scoop on the floor, Wu Xiuzhi calmed herself down.

“I’m fine, come in and help. The guests will be here soon.”

“Okay.”

Qi Yan immediately followed her in. Her sister-in-law’s expression just now was terrifying!

It was like she wanted to eat someone!

Li Xinyue had no idea that this aunt and sister-in-law were on edge because of her marriage to Chen Mingchuan.

After she returned, she went to draw well water.

The fish came alive quickly once they were put in the clean water tank.

The tank had a broken corner. It was left behind by the previous family to store rainwater for watering vegetables.

The tap water contained bleach, so rainwater was better for watering vegetables.

Now, the tank had been cleaned by Squad Leader Wu and his men. Li Xinyue drew four buckets of well water and poured them in before putting the fish inside.

Just as she finished, the phone rang.

This was an internal phone. If you called out, you could only call internal users within the division.

But external calls could come in, as long as they were transferred through the communications battalion’s switchboard.

Li Xinyue was guessing who was calling when she picked up the receiver: “Hello, this is Chen Mingchuan’s home, may I ask…”

“It’s me.”

Hearing this voice, Li Xinyue’s heart skipped a beat: “Chen Mingchuan!”

“Yes.”

He was okay?

That was great!

Li Xinyue was thrilled: “Where are you?”