Wei Jianwei left before dawn and did not disturb the two sleeping people in the room.
He was washing in the courtyard and found that there was a little light in the kitchen. When he walked in, he found that Wang Chunhua was sitting under the stove in a trance. The fire in the stove was about to go out, and the orange-red light shone on her face.
"Mom."
Wang Chunhua came back to her senses, "You're up? There are noodles in the pot, eat it before leaving."
Wei Jianwei nodded, "Mom, go back to your room and sleep for a while."
"En. I go now."
To explain, Wang Chunhua got up at four o'clock to make a bowl of noodles for her son. She walk to return to her room and couldn't sleep anymore, but she's afraid of staying in the hall and watching her son leave.
Wang Chunhua wiped her eyes when she walked outside the kitchen.
When He Xiaoyun woke up, the room was quiet and only Wei Yuanhang made a small snoring sound. She turned her head and looked at the floor. Wei Jianwei's bed had been put away, and she couldn't see any of his personal belongings. The person has left.
The child didn't know that his father had left long ago. After playing with himself for a long time in the morning, he finally remembered to ask his mother, "Mom, where is Dad?"
"Your Dad has returned to the army, I said this to you yesterday."
"But..." Wei Yuanhang pouted his mouth. "He didn't tell me today."
He Xiaoyun touched his head and said, "Dad left early in the morning. Seeing that you were sleeping too soundly, I couldn't bear to wake you."
"When will father come back?"
"Soon, he will come back when the plum tree in my aunt's house grows plums again."
After coaxing the child for a while, the child was still a little unhappy, and He Xiaoyun had to let him rest in her arms. After lunch, Wei Yuanhang went to play again. Not long after, he ran to He Xiaoyun holding a wooden box, "Mom, how come the bugs have become like this?"
The wooden box was previously used to hold the worm eggs. Ten days ago, the worms turned into pupas. He Xiaoyun asked Yuanhang to put them in the side utility room and to watch them later.
As there have been a lot of things recently, they have forgotten them. When the child thought about the box again, the insects have turned into butterflies and flew away, leaving only a few gray pupa shells.
After Wei Yuanhang listened to his mother's explanation, his eyes were filled with tears, "Daddy is gone. Now, little Hudi is gone too. Wuuu!"
The child cried too violently and shocked several other people in the family. Wang Chunhua hurried out, "What's the matter? Did Yuanhang fall?"
He Xiaoyun explained helplessly: "Those vegetable insects turned into butterflies and flew away."
Wang Chunhua breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing her little grandson crying with tears and snot, she felt funny and distressed, "It's okay, grandma will catch you a few more bugs."
"I want a lot." The child made a nasal bubble.
"Well, a lot then." The child's troubles made Wang Chunhua's sadness dissipate a lot.
<>
When the lotus was blooming in full bloom, Li Yuegui told He Xiaoyun that her cousin had decided to get married at the end of the year.
At that time, He Xiaoyun was helping her mother weed the vegetable garden. Hearing her mother's words, she asked: "What did cousin say?"
"Your cousin didn't say yes, nor did he say no. He's no longer young this year. Your aunt simply made a decision. The girl is good in everything except for her family."
He Xiaoyun nodded. Although it's not like in the old days when marriage is decided by the parents, there's still some distance from free love, especially in rural areas like this, where young men and women are usually accompanied by a matchmaker.
"By the way, your first sister-in-law's stomach has been around for several months, right? When will the child be born?"
"It should be around September?" He Xiaoyun thought for a while, and nodded, "It's September."
Li Yuegui swept the pulled-out grass outside the courtyard and said, "September is good. It's neither cold nor hot during confinement, and there's no need to worry about the child getting cold. Aunt Wang said that when she saw your sister-in-law on the road two days ago, she had a little stomach. She guessed that it's 80% a girl."
He Xiaoyun was helpless: "That's all nonsense. She's not a clairvoyant. How can she see a child's gender through a belly?"
"Old people have experience and they are very accurate. When I was pregnant with you, she said that it was a girl. Who would have thought that you really would be a girl, which made me happy for nothing."
"Then, should I be reborn to be a boy this time?" He Xiaoyun pretended to be angry.
Li Yuegui smiled: "I have raised you to such a large size. What else can I do if I make a mistake? I'm just talking about it."
After pulling the grass, He Xiaoyun went to the water tank to wash her hands and poured some water on her face. Even though she was wearing a hat, her face was still red with heat.
Li Yuegui poured her a bowl of tea and asked, "Jianwei has been away for half a month, right?"
He Xiaoyun was washing her face and had no time to speak, so she just nodded.
"Xiaoyuan said you miss him?"
"Don't believe that child's nonsense." He Xiaoyun drank in the tea bowl on the table, sat down, and picked up the fan.
Li Yuegui said: "Kids forget very easily. When Jianwei comes back next year, the child will have to know him again."
She sighed again as she said, "You and Jianwei shouldn't separate like this. When will you live with him?"
He Xiaoyun looked at a fly on the ground and said nothing. The Wei family wanted her to live in the army, and she hadn't mentioned it to Li Yuegui yet, after all, it won't happen for the time being. Although her mother is now worried that she and Jianwei can't be in the same place, she may be more reluctant to know that her daughter is really going to the army.
She sat for a while before going back home. Before she went out, Wei Yuanhang followed his grandmother. Now, he is playing with Yanyan at Aunt Zhang's house. He Xiaoyun didn't call him either but said hello to Feng Qiuyue who was sitting at the entrance of the hall.
"You're back? Xiaoyuan is next door with mom." Feng Qiuyue said.
"I heard them, let him play so that he doesn't have to come back and trouble us." He Xiaoyun picked up a baby shoe that Feng Qiuyue had just made. It was small, not as big as a palm, it's not exquisite, but it's very cute, "Sister-in-law, your craftsmanship is so good, you can sell it."
Feng Qiuyue smiled, "If you really like it, I will make another one in the future. I will make it for you."
As she was talking, someone outside the door suddenly shouted: "Is Wei Zhenxing here? There is a letter for you!"
He Xiaoyun and Feng Qiuyue turned their heads and saw a postman carrying a military-green messenger bag, standing at the door, sweating.
"We are his daughters-in-law. Comrade, come in for a cup of tea." Feng Qiuyue hurriedly stood up and welcomed.
The postman rummaged in his bag again, "Is He Xiaoyun also here? There's also a letter for her."
He Xiaoyun was pouring tea, and she subconsciously answered: "I am He Xiaoyun."
Two letters were placed on the table, and the postman drank the tea and hurried away, as he had to rush to the next house.
Without looking at the sender, Feng Qiuyue smiled: "It must be from Jianwei."
"Comrade Postman delivered us the letters?" Wang Chunhua led Wei Yuanhang in from the door, probably hearing the loud voice from the next door.
Aunt Zhang also came to watch the excitement, "Is it Jianwei's letter?"
"Mom! Mom." Wei Yuanhang ran over and leaned at He Xiaoyun. He Xiaoyun rubbed his head.
"I just told Xiaoyun that it was definitely sent by Jianwei, and he wrote two letters, one to the family and the other for Xiaoyun. It must be filled with sweet nothings." Feng Qiuyue joked.
Aunt Zhang also joked: "Let me just say, Jianwei used to send a letter only one or two months. When did he write so diligently? This time, only half a month had passed, right?"
"Seventeen days to be exact." Wang Chunhua said.
"Maybe he wrote to Xiaoyun as soon as he arrived in the army. After all, the two are a young couple. It's like mixing oil in a honeypot."
Seeing that He Xiaoyun was embarrassed, Wang Chunhua asked her to go back to the room to read the letter. There was one letter left, waiting for Wei Zhenxing to come back in the evening before tearing it down.
He Xiaoyun took Wei Yuanhang back to their room. The child walked around her back and forth, very curious about the paper on his mother's hand, "Mom, is it a letter? What is a letter?"
He Xiaoyun simply explained: "It's what Dad wants to say to us. He had to write it down and ask the postman to send it to us."
The child tilted his head, "Then we should thank Uncle Postman."
"Yes." He Xiaoyun smiled and squeezed his chubby face.
Looking at the thin envelope in her hand, it's undeniable that He Xiaoyun has small expectations and excitement in her heart. She held Wei Yuanhang in her arms and then opened the envelope.
Wei Jianwei's words are with a little sharpness and calmness, which is unforgettable.
"What did Dad say?" The paper was full of handwriting, and the little illiterate kid was dazzled, he twisted restlessly on his mother's lap.
"Don't move." He Xiaoyun held him down and started to read from the beginning.
Wei Jianwei roughly wrote about the scenery he saw on the road, the settlement after arrival, and asked how is she and the child were doing.
It was only in the second half of the writing that another person was mentioned, it was Lin Yuefei who visited their house. Lin Yuefei made a big announcement after returning to the army, saying that Jianwei had married a particularly beautiful and virtuous wife and that he was hiding her from the others. Now, a group of people came to Jianwei every day to bother him to show He Xiaoyun's picture.
When He Xiaoyun read this, she thought Wei Jianwei would ask for her to send a photo, but then he changed the topic. She didn't seem to have a photo of him when she thought of it.
Is there a photo in the envelope? Why didn't she find it?
He Xiaoyun shook the two papers to make sure that there were no intertwined pieces, and then picked up the envelope and poured it out, only to pour out a one-inch photo.
The photo should be used for all kinds of documents. In the photo, Wei Jianwei is wearing a military uniform. The brim of the military hat is a little bit low. He has deep eyes filled with fortitude. In the words of the later generation girls, he's handsome enough to be a star.
"Wow, dad looks so good!" Wei Yuanhang's flattery was never absent.
He Xiaoyun honestly admits that Wei Jianwei is really handsome, but this is not the point. The point is that she has never seen such a cheeky man! Look at what is written in the letter!
In the end, he wrote that she should put his photo under her pillow!
Why doesn't he go to heaven to ascend?!