Qiao Xingyue was stunned!
She had thought it was just a coincidence of having the same name.
She never expected that Aunt Lan’s fourth son was truly the Regiment Leader Xie she had saved in Shantang Village—Xie Zhongming.
She spoke in astonishment, “Comrade Xie?”
At the same time, Xie Zhongming also called out in unison, “Comrade Qiao?”
Their eyes met.
Xie Zhongming’s hand, holding the canvas bag, tightened slightly.
Why was this female comrade in his house?
Just then, An An and Ningning, who were behind Qiao Xingyue, chirped in unison, “Hello, Uncle Xie!”
Their voices were soft and sweet.
The sound inexplicably tugged at Xie Zhongming’s heart.
The slight tension in his brow finally eased.
He responded, “Mm, An An, Ningning, be good!”
His voice carried a gentleness that even he himself hadn’t noticed.
Even Huang Guilan, who was helping bring dishes to the table nearby, froze in disbelief. How did her fourth son know Comrade Qiao? And how was her perpetually cold fourth son being so gentle with two children?
“Zhongming, you know Comrade Qiao and her daughters?”
“Aunt Lan, I performed surgery on Comrade Xie when I was in Shantang Village.” Qiao Xingyue withdrew her gaze and turned to the astonished Huang Guilan.
Just now, Comrade Xie’s eyes seemed to hold a certain suspicion and vigilance.
Although she didn’t know what he was thinking, Qiao Xingyue had a bad feeling.
Comrade Xie didn’t seem pleased to see her in the Xie residence.
A sudden unease filled her heart.
This stable nanny job was hard to come by.
If she lost her job because of this, her hopes of buying medicine for Ningning’s illness would be dashed again.
She quickly placed the plate of sour and spicy shredded potatoes in her hand on the table, then went back to the kitchen to get the remaining bowl of tofu and vegetable soup.
Her slight nervousness as she set down the plate and her slightly quickened pace were all taken in by Xie Zhongming.
Gazing at the slender, light figure heading to the kitchen, Xie Zhongming’s brow furrowed slightly in thought.
Beside him, Huang Guilan was sizing him up. “Fourth Son, I heard you were injured during a mission…”
And the injury was to his family jewels!
But her son was long past adulthood, and Huang Guilan felt a little embarrassed to bring it up.
However, it concerned her fourth son’s lifelong happiness.
Huang Guilan had to ask tactfully, “Fourth Son, did you injure your family jewels during the rescue mission?”
A batch of the soldiers who had gone to Shantang Village for disaster relief had returned the day before.
The news that her fourth son had injured his family jewels had already spread like wildfire throughout the Jincheng Military Region. Huang Guilan looked at Xie Zhongming anxiously, waiting uneasily for his answer.
He, however, pulled his gaze away from Qiao Xingyue’s back and asked instead of answering, “Mom, why is Comrade Qiao at our house?”
Huang Guilan replied casually, “Weren’t we always looking for a live-in nanny who knows nursing? You know your grandmother is paralyzed on one side, and taking care of her is very strenuous. I asked the neighbors to help introduce someone. It just so happens that Comrade Qiao knows medicine and acupuncture, and Aunt Tang is from the same village as her, so she knows her background. I let Comrade Qiao come for a one-month trial.”
“You’re saying, Aunt Tang from Division Commander Luo’s family recommended Comrade Qiao to be our nanny?”
“Yes, Aunt Tang is very warm-hearted. She’s mentioned it to me many times, always praising Comrade Qiao for being quick and diligent, and for knowing medicine.”
Just then, Qiao Xingyue walked out of the kitchen carrying a basin of vegetable and tofu soup.
Xie Zhongming would not wrong an innocent person, but he would not let any suspicious person go either.
The gaze that now fell on Qiao Xingyue had returned to his usual cool and calm demeanor, betraying no emotion.
After putting down the soup, Qiao Xingyue deliberately called out towards Xie Jiang in the study, “Division Commander Xie, dinner is ready.”
Then, she filled three bowls with rice.
“Aunt Lan, Comrade Xie, please eat.”
Then, she took An An and Ningning by the hand and left the square table.
Huang Guilan looked at her and the two children. “Comrade Qiao, why did you only get three bowls? You and the children should eat at the table with us.”
Previously, in Kun City, Qiao Xingyue had also worked as a nanny for a leader at a steel mill. That employer forbade the nanny from eating at the table with them and was very disdainful of her status as a nanny. Later, because the mistress of the house suspected her of seducing the master, she was forced to leave.
She didn’t want to lose this job, so she was cautious and prudent in everything she did.
“Aunt Lan, you all go ahead and eat. The children and I won’t join you at the table. I’ll go to Grandma’s room first to feed her, then the children and I will eat.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve left some food for us in the kitchen.”
She smiled and replied, then led the children to the kitchen, handed An An and Ningning each half a bowl of rice, and gave them a few instructions.
With that, she picked up a bowl of rice and went to Grandma’s room.
After she left, the two children held their bowls but didn’t start eating.
The two of them squatted on the ground, talking back and forth.
“Big Sister, I want to eat meat too.”
“Be good, Ningning. Mom said we can’t eat the master’s meat. Mom is already bringing two extra mouths to feed. It’s already very good that this family doesn’t mind that there are too many of us.”
Ningning didn’t say anything.
An An picked out all the pork cracklings from the stir-fried vegetables in her bowl and put them into Ningning’s bowl.
“We have white rice and pork cracklings now. It’s so much better than eating red sweet potatoes and drinking corn paste every day like before.”
“Just remember what Mom said: be sweet-tongued, eat less, and do more work. That’s the only way we can stay, so Mom can get money to buy medicine for Ningning, and Ningning can get better, understand?”
“Big Sister, Ningning understands.” Ningning picked the pork cracklings from her bowl and gave them back to her sister. “Big Sister, you eat some pork cracklings too.”
“I don’t want any. I have vegetables. These vegetables taste like pork lard, they’re so fragrant.”
The two children’s conversation was heard clearly by Huang Guilan, who had come to the kitchen doorway.
An inexplicable sadness welled up in her heart.
What sensible, heart-wrenching children. She couldn’t imagine what kind of hard life these two had lived before.
No wonder Ningning’s face was a sickly pale, and she sounded like she couldn’t catch her breath when she spoke.
So she was sick and needed medicine.
She wondered what kind of illness it was.
Looking at the food left in the kitchen, there was only half a plate of vegetables. Comrade Qiao hadn’t left a single bite of the braised pork or the scrambled eggs with tomatoes; it was all on the table. She was planning to eat only vegetables with her two children.
An indescribable ache filled Huang Guilan’s heart.
Her throat tightened. She turned and went to the study to tell Xie Jiang everything.
Xie Jiang thought for a moment and said decisively, “Since Comrade Qiao is having such a hard time with two children, let’s raise her salary by another five yuan, to forty a month.”
Huang Guilan smiled with relief. “That’s what I was thinking too. Old Xie, since we’re in agreement, I’ll just give Comrade Qiao the extra five yuan when her salary is due next month.”
“Alright!”
Huang Guilan was a senior professor at Jincheng University who had just retired last year, with a monthly pension of 150 yuan.
Xie Jiang was also supposed to have retired, but the organization had assigned him a long-term confidential mission, which he was to complete with his fourth son, Xie Zhongming, and other comrades. So, he hadn’t officially retired yet.
Xie Jiang’s monthly salary plus allowances was over two hundred yuan.
The old couple was usually frugal and didn’t spend much.
They thought they should help Comrade Qiao as much as they could.
“Also, Old Xie, Fourth Son was injured in Shantang Village, and it was Comrade Qiao who performed his surgery. Don’t you think this is fate?”
Xie Jiang was lost in thought and didn’t speak.
Huang Guilan continued, “I just don’t know how serious the injury to his family jewels is. It’s not appropriate for me, his mother, to ask. You should ask him later. We can’t let him really be unable to have children.”
“Alright!”
After feeding Grandma Xie, Qiao Xingyue wiped her mouth and then walked out.
An An and Ningning were now sitting at the square table, their rice bowls filled to the brim, piled high into a sharp peak. It must have been someone from the Xie family who had filled them.
She hurried over, ready to lead An An and Ningning away from the table, but Huang Guilan grabbed her hand to stop her. “Comrade Qiao, from now on, you, An An, and Ningning must eat at the table with us.”
“I can’t do that, it’s against the rules.”
“Comrade Qiao, we don’t have so many rules in our family. Anyway, from now on, you, An An, and Ningning must eat at the table. This is my most basic job requirement for you.”
Qiao Xingyue had never expected that when she came to the Xie family as a nanny, they wouldn’t set all sorts of work requirements for her.
Instead, the first requirement was that she and her children must eat at the table.
When she transmigrated to this era, she had started with nothing. With no relatives to rely on, she was kicked out of her home with no place to live, nothing to eat, and two children to raise.
This era wasn’t like the future where you could find a job anywhere. To be honest, these past four or five years, she had lived a very hard life, trying to make a living with her two children.
To suddenly have someone be so good to her and her children, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t moved.
She was firmly pushed down onto the long bench by Huang Guilan. “Eat. Zhongming, hurry and get a bowl of rice for Comrade Qiao.”
“No need, I can get it myself.”
“Let Zhongming do it. Men should do more work.” Huang Guilan held onto Comrade Qiao’s hand, not letting her get up.
In their Xie family, all five sons had been raised to be extremely well-mannered, and each of them greatly respected women.
In this regard, their father, Xie Jiang, was a good role model for the five sons. Huang Guilan had been respected and doted on by Xie Jiang for decades.
Xie Zhongming went to the kitchen to get the rice. He thought of how thin and weak Comrade Qiao was. Back in the countryside, the red sweet potato porridge she drank was all red sweet potato, with very few grains of rice.
He added several more scoops of white rice to the bowl, then pressed the rice down again and again until it formed a small mountain, before walking out and handing the bowl of rice to Comrade Qiao with both hands.
Qiao Xingyue took the bowl and said thank you.
Her fingertips accidentally brushed against Xie Zhongming’s fingers. She didn’t react much.
Xie Zhongming, however, felt as if he had been scalded.
He quickly pulled his hand back and said, “You’re welcome.”
His knuckles rested on the knee of his military trousers, clenching and creating several faint creases.
Then he lowered his eyelids, seemingly calm as he picked up some food, but his other hand couldn’t help but rub his burning ear.
His mind couldn’t help but recall the embarrassing scene when Comrade Qiao performed surgery on him in Shantang Village.
The more he thought about it, the faster and more urgently Xie Zhongming shoveled the white rice into his mouth, like a whirlwind sweeping away clouds.
But it wasn’t exactly gobbling.
He took a few large mouthfuls of rice with a bit of food, chewed twice, and swallowed with a slide of his Adam’s apple, revealing the high efficiency of a soldier who gets things done quickly.
As soldiers, they were used to eating quickly.
But today, Huang Guilan felt that her fourth son’s eating speed was abnormally fast.
Qiao Xingyue hadn’t even taken a bite from her bowl. Seeing that Comrade Xie had already finished half his bowl of rice, she reminded him softly, “Comrade Xie, eating too fast is bad for your stomach. You can eat the vegetables first, then the meat, and finally the staple food.”
Xie Zhongming, holding his bowl, responded, “Comrade Qiao, I know. You don’t have to be polite in our home. There’s plenty of food. You, An An, and Ningning don’t need to think about how to save grain for my family. We have enough grain coupons.”
“Comrade Xie, I really can’t eat this much.”
Huang Guilan also chimed in, “That’s right, Xiao Qiao, look how thin you are. You need to eat more.”
Qiao Xingyue really couldn’t refuse.
She had no choice but to lower her head and eat.
After a few bites, she discovered that this bowl of rice was not only piled high, but had also been packed down tightly by Comrade Xie. No wonder the rice didn’t seem to decrease no matter how much she ate.
Coupled with Huang Guilan constantly putting meat in her bowl, she really couldn’t eat anymore.
Wasting food was shameful in this era. In the end, she forced herself to eat more and more, sharing with her two daughters, to finally finish the rice and meat in her bowl.
In this era, everyone lacked food and clothing. For Pang Ya to have been over two hundred jin must have been due to a constitution prone to weight gain.
Qiao Xingyue couldn’t change the original owner’s constitution.
If she kept eating like this, she’d have nowhere to cry if she gained back the weight and became over two hundred jin again.
So, tomorrow at mealtime, she absolutely could not let Comrade Xie serve her rice again.
After the meal, Xie Zhongming and Xie Jiang worked together to clear out the study, preparing to vacate the room for Qiao Xingyue and her two daughters to live in.
Xie Zhongming deliberately closed the door, walked back to Xie Jiang’s side, and helped him take books off the bookshelf.
“Dad, do you remember what you told me last time about the infiltration of foreign forces?”
Hearing this, Xie Jiang paused his actions and looked up at his son. “Why are you suddenly asking about this?”
Xie Zhongming’s tone grew heavy. “My injury in Shantang Village was no accident. A later investigation of the scene revealed that someone had tampered with it, and they were specifically targeting me.”
“It’s highly likely that a spy has infiltrated the unit. It’s still under investigation. Dad, you’re knowledgeable and experienced, do you know of any other characteristics of spies?”
Xie Jiang put down what he was doing. “Nothing too specific, only that these people are very good at disguising themselves. They often use the pretext of working, providing assistance, or even neighborly care to get close.”
“Speaking of which, your mother was telling me during the day that Comrade Qiao happened to perform your surgery in Shantang Village, and just a few days later, she came to our house as a nanny. It’s not that I’m being paranoid, but the timing is indeed too coincidental.”
Xie Zhongming’s eyes held the meticulousness of a soldier. “I can’t help but wonder if this is a series of linked traps. First, they tried to eliminate me through the mine accident, but I was lucky and didn’t die. I was forced to have contact with local medical personnel, and then they had someone use the pretext of looking for a job to plant someone by our side.”
Xie Jiang sighed and patted his son’s shoulder. “It’s not unreasonable for you to think that way. But we can’t make a judgment based on this alone.”
“Comrade Qiao seems very down-to-earth to me. Massaging your grandmother, cooking, doing housework, taking care of the children—everything she does feels solid. She doesn’t have that feigned enthusiasm; she seems to have genuinely come here to support her family.”
“I know. My gut feeling is that she doesn’t seem like a female spy. But one can’t be too careful. I am a soldier, connected to the military’s secrets. I can’t dismiss any doubts just because of a gut feeling.”
“Dad, don’t tell Mom about this for now. She’s sensitive and will worry if she knows. I will investigate slowly myself. I won’t wrong an innocent person, nor will I let a single suspicious individual slip through.”
Xie Jiang nodded.
Among his sons, the fourth had the clearest and most rigorous mind.
“Mm, it’s good to be vigilant, but don’t wrongly accuse people.”
After the father and son cleared out the study, they left the existing bunk bed inside and also a cabinet for Comrade Qiao and her daughters to store their things.
Just then, Qiao Xingyue also finished cleaning the stove and came out of the kitchen.
Xie Zhongming also happened to come out of the study. “Comrade Qiao, the room is ready for you. The conditions are a bit simple.”
“This is already very good, thank you.”
“Comrade Qiao, I notice you take An An and Ningning with you wherever you go. In Shantang Village, I never saw anyone help you with the two children. Is there no one else in your family?”
Xie Zhongming asked as if it were a casual question, but he was actually observing all of Qiao Xingyue’s subtle reactions.
It wasn’t that Qiao Xingyue couldn’t see it. Although there was no change in Comrade Xie’s expression, he was starting to suspect her. She was very worried she would lose her job because of this.
She thought for a moment and replied, “There’s no one else at home, just me and my two children.”
Xie Zhongming asked in a seemingly calm and polite tone, “Comrade Qiao, forgive my impertinence. Why didn’t I see your husband in Shantang Village? What does your husband do?”