Xia Mingyu was deeply grateful for Lu Ning’s help today. Without him, who knew how long it would have taken to find Tuantuan.
She had originally planned to bring Lu Ning back to the Qiao family home to host him for the night. Tomorrow, when Lu Ning’s leader brought Tuantuan back, she would thank them together, get everything settled, and then confront Li Zhaodi.
She never expected Li Zhaodi to be so impatient. The moment she brought Lu Ning back, Li Zhaodi started hurling every insult imaginable.
Forced into a corner, Xia Mingyu didn’t indulge her and directly tore off all pretenses.
“I’m sorry, Comrade Lu Ning, for making you witness such an embarrassing scene.”
Xia Mingyu apologized to Lu Ning, feeling somewhat ashamed.
Moreover, even after the confrontation, Lu Ning still needed to stay the night at the Qiao residence, and Xia Mingyu would also stay there with Tuantuan.
The situation was sudden. Her and her father’s rooms were still occupied by educated youths who had paid rent. Xia Mingyu couldn’t just kick them out now to move in herself.
“It’s fine. The military barracks are full of rough men; I’ve heard all kinds of foul language. Crude talk is commonplace.”
Lu Ning comforted Xia Mingyu.
Seeing that he genuinely didn’t mind, Xia Mingyu finally felt relieved.
“Yuanyuan, take Uncle Lu to your and your brother’s room to rest. Mother will clean up the courtyard and prepare a meal.”
Xia Mingyu instructed, completely ignoring Li Zhaodi, who was still collapsed on the ground.
“Okay, Mother! Mission guaranteed!”
Yuanyuan took Lu Ning’s hand and happily led him to the adjacent room.
Seeing this, the neighbors also extended their help to Xia Mingyu.
“My family has some pickled cucumbers, Ming Yu. I’ll bring some over for you.”
“We have fresh eggplants at home; I’ll bring some too.”
“I’ll give you two eggs. You should properly host Comrade Lu; he helped you so much!”
Everyone was kind, knowing that Xia Mingyu usually wasn’t well-off and might not have much food at home to host Lu Ning. So, they proactively offered to bring her things.
Some even mentioned giving Xia Mingyu two eggs.
In these times, eggs were considered a meat dish. Everyone was reluctant to eat them, preferring to save them and take them to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to exchange for money—each egg could fetch five cents.
Xia Mingyu was deeply moved, her eyes reddening again.
The house truly had little food left. She had specifically sent Yuanyuan away with Lu Ning so she could ask the neighbors to borrow some items.
“Thank you, everyone. I deeply appreciate your kindness, but consider these items as loans. I will definitely repay everyone later!”
Xia Mingyu bowed deeply to everyone once more.
“Hey, no need for that. We’re all from the same team; we help each other out.”
“Exactly. It’s not easy for you, raising two children alone.”
Everyone waved their hands, telling Xia Mingyu not to dwell on it, and then prepared to go home to fetch the items.
Just at that moment, the captain of the Xitang Production Team arrived.
A team member had already informed him about what happened at the Qiao residence.
The captain of the Xitang Production Team was a relatively righteous man; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to foster such good team members.
People from other production teams would fight tooth and nail over trivial matters, engaging in all sorts of scheming and strife, far less harmonious than their production team.
The Xitang Production Team had already been awarded the Advanced Active Production Team title for five consecutive years.
Therefore, when Zhao Jianguo heard about such an absurd incident happening at the Qiao residence, he was absolutely furious!
“I’ll settle the score with you later, Li Zhaodi. Just you wait!”
Zhao Jianguo pointed at Li Zhaodi’s nose and cursed her out, though inwardly he felt some regret. He shouldn’t have been intimidated just because Qiao Hongye had joined the army and become a Battalion Commander. Usually, he had watched Li Zhaodi bully Xia Mingyu without stepping in to uphold justice. Now, he had to make amends.
After berating Li Zhaodi, Zhao Jianguo immediately pulled Xia Mingyu aside.
“Ming Yu, it’s not convenient for the soldier comrade to stay here. Why not let him stay at my place? I’ll have my wife cook for him, and you can bring Yuanyuan over to eat with us too.”
“He even dared to offend Qiao Hongye, a Battalion Commander, so his rank must be higher than Qiao Hongye’s. We can’t afford to slight him, especially since his superior is coming tomorrow.”
Zhao Jianguo quietly analyzed the current situation with Xia Mingyu.
Moreover, he wanted to get more information from Lu Ning. Having him stay overnight would be perfect.
“But…” Xia Mingyu frowned in hesitation.
She knew Zhao Jianguo meant well, but she was afraid that his overt behavior might make Lu Ning think they were trying to curry favor, which could backfire.
Lu Ning clearly seemed like a righteous person who wouldn’t tolerate any impropriety.
“What ‘buts’? Look at Li Zhaodi still here—the whole courtyard reeks of urine, and I can even smell feces. Did she defecate inside the house again?”
“She’s like this now. Do you still plan to clean up after her?”
“But if we don’t clean up, how can the soldier comrade possibly stay here?”
Zhao Jianguo used the facts to make his point: a perfectly good home had been turned into a toilet by Li Zhaodi. How could anyone stay under such conditions?
“Most importantly, aside from the paralyzed Li Zhaodi, there’s only Yuanyuan here, who doesn’t understand anything. If you stay alone with him, wouldn’t that be inappropriate for an unmarried man and woman?”
“People in our team know what kind of person you are and won’t gossip, but if word gets out, others might spread rumors. Do you want Tuan Tuan Yuan Yuan to suffer because of it in the future?”
Zhao Jianguo’s words struck a nerve with Xia Mingyu. Her face stiffened, and she immediately nodded in agreement.
“Alright, I’ll go and talk to Comrade Lu Ning.”
“Now that’s more like it!” Zhao Jianguo was satisfied.
As soon as Zhao Jianguo and Xia Mingyu finished talking, the others quickly spoke up, especially Aunt Wang next door, who was the most agitated.
“Team Leader, Li Zhaodi and her son are so shameless. Why don’t you just kick them out?”
“That mother and son are utterly heartless! Living next to them, I’m afraid I’ll be tainted by their sins! They’re even affecting our team’s chance to be rated as an Advanced Active Production Team.”
Aunt Wang lived right next door and was all too familiar with Li Zhaodi’s disgusting habits.
Every day, she found new ways to moan and groan, tormenting Xia Mingyu.
Besides, the two had never gotten along, so Aunt Wang naturally seized the chance to kick her while she was down.
“We’ll deal with that later. There’s a soldier comrade here now—let’s not make a spectacle of ourselves in front of him.”
Zhao Jianguo shook his head, signaling Aunt Wang to shut up.
Such matters should be handled behind closed doors. Right now, the most important thing was to properly host Lu Ning and his superior, who would arrive tomorrow.
In their small locality, when had so many high-ranking officials ever visited at once? They absolutely had to entertain them well!
He wondered if he should report this to the Gongshe Secretary.
Zhao Jianguo first dismissed the onlooking team members.
Xia Mingyu, feeling embarrassed, went to Yuanyuan’s room. But before she could even speak, Lu Ning took the initiative to say…
“Comrade Xia, I’m willing to stay at the team leader’s house for the night.”
“It was my oversight earlier.”
He had nearly forgotten about maintaining proper boundaries between men and women, being too focused on following along to see the excitement and spend more time with Yuanyuan.
“My apologies.”
Xia Mingyu scratched his cheek sheepishly. Still, the team leader’s home conditions were certainly better than the Qiao family’s. Going there wouldn’t be bad – it would spare him from having to see that wretched Li Zhaodi.
“Yuanyuan, accompany Uncle Lu to the team leader’s house. Mother will pack our things and join you shortly.”
Xia Mingyu certainly couldn’t go empty-handed – he couldn’t let Zhao Jianguo provide everything.
“Okay!”
Yuanyuan had been playing games with Lu Ning in the room. Hearing Xia Mingyu’s words, he immediately slipped down from the bed, his short legs feeling around before finally reaching the floor.
Yuanyuan had remarkable follow-through – he could even abandon a game he’d just won. So obedient.
Lu Ning marveled inwardly – this child’s temperament must take more after Xia Mingyu. Si Konghuai would never have been this well-behaved as a child. He wondered who Tuantuan would resemble.
The two walked off hand in hand. Xia Mingyu rummaged through chests and cabinets, gathering all the food in the house – all coarse grains, without any meat.
He’d still need to borrow some supplies for emergencies.
Xia Mingyu took a portion of the coarse grains, locked up the remainder, and only then stepped out.
Li Zhaodi had been lying on the ground pretending to be dead. Now that she saw only Xia Mingyu remained, she dared to come back to life, spitting in Xia Mingyu’s direction.
“Pah! You shameless hussy! You’re in a military marriage with my son – divorce won’t come easily!”
“If you want your freedom, you’d better serve me properly! Otherwise, I’ll drag this out for your entire lifetime!”
Remembering this crucial matter, Li Zhaodi immediately regained her arrogance and began ordering Xia Mingyu around.
“Hurry up and help me stand! Draw my bath, cook my meal, and clean my room!”
“Then go retrieve my son from the Public Security Bureau! Don’t you dare file any false complaints about him! If so much as a single hair on my son’s head is harmed, you’ll pay for it!”
“People won’t always take your side! Disobeying your mother-in-law is an offense against heaven itself!”