“After all, I’m only Xiaojin’s stepmother. I can’t make this decision on his behalf. How about this? When Lao Huo comes back, you can ask what he thinks.”
Since Commissar Sun wanted to use moral pressure on her, Jiang Yan had no choice but to throw the ball back to Huo Zhanting.
Commissar Sun simply wasn’t confident that he could persuade Huo Zhanting, which was why he’d wanted to settle the matter while Huo Zhanting was away on a mission.
By the time he returned, even if he found out what had happened, it would already be a done deal, and he wouldn’t say anything.
He hadn’t expected Jiang Yan to refuse to play by the usual rules.
Wasn’t she supposed to be an ignorant country girl from a rural village?
Commissar Sun grew anxious.
“A stepmother is still a mother, Comrade Jiang Yan. As long as you agree, Xiaojin will listen to you, and Regiment Commander Huo won’t object when he comes back.”
“But why should I agree?” Jiang Yan asked calmly.
Commissar Sun was genuinely stumped.
After a moment of struggling for words, he finally managed to recover.
“Jiang Yan, as a military wife, you need to have a sense of collective honor. If our regiment ends up with a murderer among us, we won’t be able to win the title of Outstanding Regiment.”
“This is a matter of collective honor for all of us. We can’t let one small mistake wipe out all the efforts the entire regiment has made. So, Comrade Jiang Yan…”
Commissar Sun was nearly out of arguments. He had no idea how else to persuade her.
Jiang Yan remained unmoved.
“Commissar, please don’t try to persuade me anymore. I’m just an ignorant rural woman. If I don’t listen to my husband, I’ll get beaten. So we’d better wait until my Lao Huo comes back.”
Jiang Yan put on an expression that suggested she was genuinely afraid her husband would beat her.
Zhao Dahu’s expression became extremely strange.
As far as he knew, Regiment Commander Huo might not even be able to kill a wild boar with one punch.
But you could.
And you were afraid of being beaten by Regiment Commander Huo?
You’d probably be more than capable of fighting back against domestic violence from him!
Zhao Dahu could also see that Jiang Yan simply had no intention of agreeing and was deliberately passing the buck.
“Forget it. Let’s go back for now.”
Zhao Dahu decided to wait until Huo Zhanting returned and then beg him.
He figured begging the regiment commander would be easier than begging Jiang Yan!
Even if he had to kneel before the regiment commander and kowtow, he was willing to take his entire family away from the military base, as long as Huo Zhanting would spare his mother.
His mother was already old. If she went to prison, she wouldn’t survive.
Huo Zhanting returned three days later.
During that time, Zhang Fang represented the Women’s Federation and came to talk to Jiang Yan, trying to persuade her.
Zhang Fang even privately found several military wives to get close to Jiang Yan and persuade her to let the matter go.
Jiang Yan remained completely unmoved, pushing everything onto Huo Zhanting.
Yes, she was just an incapable rural woman who couldn’t make decisions for herself!
When Commissar Sun realized there was no way to get through to Jiang Yan, he even had someone try to reason with Xiaojin.
But Jiang Yan had already given Xiaojin instructions in advance.
The little boy was just as impervious to persuasion as she was!
After all that effort, they got absolutely nowhere.
Three days later, Huo Zhanting completed his mission and returned, only to be stopped by Commissar Sun as well.
Commissar Sun briefly explained what had happened, then began trying to persuade him.
“Regiment Commander Huo, the selection for Outstanding Regiment is coming up soon. I’ve made some inquiries, and the competition this time is extremely fierce. We can’t afford to make a mistake at such a critical moment.”
If they won the title of Outstanding Regiment, his record for next year’s promotion would look much better, and his chances of getting promoted would increase significantly.
So Commissar Sun was especially eager to persuade him.
“Xiaojin is fine now, and Madam Zhao and the others know they were wrong. There’s really no need to report this to the police. If we make a big issue out of it, it won’t just affect our regiment—it could affect the entire division.”
“Commissar Sun, a regiment’s honor isn’t earned by covering up for murderers. It’s earned by soldiers risking their lives on missions.”
“If we have to cover up for a murderer to be named an Outstanding Regiment, then I’d rather not have that honor at all!”
Huo Zhanting’s words were forceful and resolute.
Commissar Sun thought bitterly to himself, You don’t want it, but I do!
“Regiment Commander Huo…” Commissar Sun tried again.
Huo Zhanting raised a hand and cut him off.
“There’s no need to say anything else. Zhao Xiaomei and Madam Zhao must face legal punishment!”
You!
Commissar Sun was so furious he could hardly stand it.
How had he ended up working with such a stubborn blockhead?
It seemed he’d have to talk to Zhao Dahu.
Commissar Sun stopped trying to persuade him, mainly because it was pointless.
He could only watch helplessly as Huo Zhanting walked away.
Huo Zhanting returned in the afternoon. He reported in at the unit, then hurried home.
After being away from home for several days, he was practically desperate to get back.
Jiang Yan, however, was cold toward him.
At that moment, she was sitting with the two little ones under the peach tree in the courtyard, leisurely reclining in a lounge chair.
When Jiang Yan saw Huo Zhanting, she merely shot him a cold glance.
Xiaoxi and Xiaojin, on the other hand, were thrilled.
They ran over to greet him.
“Dad, you’re back!”
“Mhm.”
Huo Zhanting crouched down and checked the spot where Xiaojin had been bitten by the poisonous snake.
“Are you all right now? Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore, Dad. Mom saved me!” Huo Wenjin told Huo Zhanting.
Although everyone said that Auntie Weiwei’s medical skills had saved him, he knew that it was Mom who had saved him.
Mom had simply told him not to say how she’d done it.
“I know.”
Huo Zhanting rubbed the two little boys’ heads before walking toward Jiang Yan.
His tall figure cast a shadow over her.
Jiang Yan lazily lifted her eyelids.
“Back already? Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
Huo Zhanting had skipped the mess hall with his comrades so he could get home sooner.
He wanted to eat the food his wife made.
Jiang Yan’s expression remained indifferent.
“Oh. There’s rice and meat in the kitchen, and there’s some vegetables growing in the backyard. Make yourself something to eat.”
Huo Zhanting was absolutely certain his wife was angry.
Otherwise, there was no way he’d be getting this kind of treatment after coming home.
He didn’t dare hope for a hot meal waiting for him, so Huo Zhanting sensibly went into the kitchen and threw together something simple.
While eating, Huo Zhanting thought about what he’d done to upset Jiang Yan.
After thinking it over and over, he figured this had to be it.
“Wife, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize Zhao Dahu would say one thing and do another. He didn’t actually send Zhao Xiaomei away!”
Jiang Yan looked up at Huo Zhanting.
“You should be apologizing to Xiaojin.”
Although Huo Zhanting had adopted the two little ones, he hadn’t taken good enough care of them.
He also felt deeply guilty toward the children.
His sister had entrusted them to him, yet he’d failed to look after them properly.
If Jiang Yan hadn’t come along, he wouldn’t even have known that the children had been living from one barely adequate meal to the next.
He hadn’t just let Xiaojin down.
He’d let Xiaoxi down too!
At dinner, Huo Zhanting found Xiaojin and Xiaoxi and sincerely apologized to both of them. He also handed them a written self-criticism.
Perhaps it was simply a habit he’d developed in the army. Whenever Huo Zhanting felt he’d done something wrong, he would write a self-criticism and reflect deeply.
The two little ones hadn’t even started school yet and couldn’t recognize a single character.
But they were both delighted to receive their father’s self-criticism.
They took it to Jiang Yan and asked her to read it to them.
Jiang Yan cleared her throat and solemnly read Huo Zhanting’s self-criticism aloud to the two little ones.
After listening to the entire thing, the two boys put on the solemn expressions of little officials and addressed Huo Zhanting with exaggerated seriousness.
“Dad, after discussion by the organization, we’ve decided to forgive you!”
Huo Zhanting responded with a perfectly crisp military salute.
“Thank you, Organization, for your forgiveness!”
Then Huo Zhanting craned his neck toward Jiang Yan.
“Wife, the children have forgiven me. Are you going to stop being angry too?”
Jiang Yan didn’t answer his question.
Instead, she asked, “What are you planning to do about Madam Zhao and her family?”
“Whatever the law decides, that’s what we’ll do.”
Huo Zhanting didn’t hesitate for even a second.
Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow.
Now that’s more like it!
However, things were far from being as simple as they thought…