After celebrating New Year’s Eve of 1964, the year 1965 finally arrived, albeit tardily.
With the arrival of spring, the much-anticipated relocation of the Big Courtyard proceeded with great fanfare.
Originally, Mr. Cheng and his wife insisted on moving back to their ancestral courtyard. However, with one indulgence and one plea from the three little brothers, Ping’an, they moved into a two-story house not far away, just like the Zhou Family.
Moving into a new ho, life continued as usual. Except for one or two families moving into the city, the neighbors remained the sa, with even more families in the surrounding area.
Life wasn’t much different, except that the location was in the suburbs, with a new bus line, a new yard, and new gas cylinders, aning the living facilities were actually much improved.
And the children continued attending school and daycare as usual, but with the twins growing up, Aunt Sun left the Zhou Family.
Thanks to a direct bus from the military district to her workplace, Zhou Jiao still found herself commuting between work and ho.
At work, she did not pursue promotions, maintaining a state of not competing and keeping a respectful distance from colleagues, even declining a New Year’s housing allocation by citing priority for senior colleagues.
In this way, Zhou Jiao beca even more comfortable and successful at work.
Especially as rumors about her background spread, the female colleagues who once envied her youth and beauty set aside their prejudices, occasionally inviting her for shopping trips.
This year, Zhang Guoqing, having been made permanent, was transferred to the logistics departnt.
Everything seed to be going more smoothly, and life grew increasingly comfortable. But Zhou Jiao, ever thoughtful, dared not relax. Because she knew, very soon, sothing would co...
After the New Year, just as expected, Beauty Liang’s behavior changed dramatically. She beca more enthusiastic about socializing, parading around publicly in various garbs.
On another rest day, in a two-story house at the foot of a low hill, Zhou Jiao opened the window in the upstairs bedroom and gazed at the lush green trees outside.
This was a great place, even fresher and with better security facilities than her large courtyard ho. If she could ignore mundane matters, Zhou Jiao would prefer to live here in seclusion.
"Wife, is there a fixed ti for your business trip? If that old woman causes trouble, just take the stage and get it over with. Don’t worry about any bullshit consequences."
Zhang Guoqing handed her a cup of brown sugar water. These days happened to coincide with Zhou Jiao’s ti of the month, so he was quite uneasy about her going on a business trip at this ti.
Zhou Jiao smiled sweetly at him, "Alright, rest assured. My business trip is different from hers. She’s going as a companion, but I’m going for actual work. She can’t boss around."
This is true. His wife had paperwork to act first and report later. If she encountered danger, she would reveal her hidden identity to scare others off.
"Anything else you want to bring back? I estimate that this trip, even by plane, will take at least a month." Zhou Jiao sighed, "Perhaps it will be a long ti before I can go abroad again."
Zhang Guoqing secretly thought that’s not a bad thing, but didn’t want to discourage his wife. "No matter where you are, safety cos first. The house has everything it needs. Be careful even if I’m not by your side."
He whispered in her ear, "Even if it’s full, there’s no place to hide it. Don’t touch the big stuff."
Zhou Jiao imdiately burst into laughter.
That car was still taking up space, and she wouldn’t do anything foolish again. The things left by her grandparents had been sorted and sorted again, stacked layer upon layer, yet still piled high.
If not for concerns about their safety outside, she would have emptied everything out. Life taught her that nothing was more important than a full belly.
Zhang Guoqing hugged her, stroking her head, "Silly wife!"
"With at ho, you don’t need to worry. Stock up on dicinal powders, and don’t hesitate if you need to act decisively."
Zhou Jiao snuggled against his chest, murmuring, "Okay."
"If you pass by Hong Kong on this trip... See if there are any Zhang Family mbers there? If you et soone... forget it, let nature take its course, and we’ll deal with future matters in the future."
"Okay." Zhou Jiao guessed it was unlikely. In recent years, enemy agents had been causing trouble there. For the safety of traveling personnel, they wouldn’t take that route.
"Co on, let’s go down to join Dad and Mom." Zhang Guoqing waited for her to finish her drink, then walked with her out of the room, "The Liu Yi Brothers got into a fight with classmates again yesterday, talk so sense into those little rascals."
Zhou Jiao looked at him plaintively, "You know how they talk, chattering on and on. Every ti I start to speak, they find an excuse."
Zhang Guoqing laughed heartily. It was true, their three sons weren’t unreasonable troublemakers. With their strength, a re red mark would be minimal compared to a broken arm if they truly hit soone.
"What was it about this ti?"
"A few older kids tried to take Liu Yi’s eggs, and the brothers gave them a thrashing. Thankfully, our kids knew their limits. Those kids only got a few scratches. But I suspect Ping’an was still brooding over it, judging by his stern face last night."
Zhou Jiao smiled slightly, "As parents, we shouldn’t interfere. Let the three brothers handle it themselves, as long as they’re not at a disadvantage."
See... The kids like to fight so much, must be the mother’s indulgence. Zhang Guoqing would never admit he was planning to hassle those parents a bit.
Despite saying that, Zhou Jiao still took the three sons to the study for a lecture.
The topic was what constitutes courage, what constitutes a sneak attack, and how to win people over. Of course, she wouldn’t forget to guide them against blind loyalty leading to fights unrelated to them.
Their three sons were being raised as the eldest in every family, taking up all the spare ti of her dad and their parents, to prevent the children from being misled at a young age.
"Mom, don’t worry. I pick up my brother from school every day."
"Wu and I are very good in kindergarten, the aunties like us."
"Yeah, I never hit them hard during fights, afraid of actually hurting them."
"Us three brothers rember what you and Dad, and Grandpa said. Last ti they fought, they tried to drag over, but I found an excuse to refuse."
"That’s right, good kids don’t fight unless provoked." Zhou Jiao nodded in agreent.
"I’m a good kid."
Ping’an shot Liu Yi a subtle glare. Just because he didn’t know, doesn’t an he didn’t realize it was his brother who lured them with eggs and then had the nerve to call himself a good kid?
Liu Yi blinked his big eyes, innocently stared back at his brother. He’s still young, doesn’t understand! Those bigger kids bumped into his brother, after all.
Over there, Wu Yi raised his small chubby hand.
Zhou Jiao nodded at him, "You can ask your question."
"Brother said when we’re three, Dad would take us hunting."
Zhou Jiao looked at her two younger sons, who had eyes bright with anticipation. It was only shortly after July 2nd. They were really eager to grow up!
Ping’an quickly corrected: "Wu Yi, you’re not being honest. Brother said five years old, and it has to be a real five years old. You’re still too young, brother started practicing martial arts at five."
Wu Yi, without waiting for him to finish, imdiately covered his chubby face with his little hands, peeking through his fingers, "But I feel grown up. I know a lot of words."
Liu Yi furrowed his brow, "Will Dad be too tired to hunt when we grow up?"
"No, brother will teach you then."
Listening to her sons’ innocent words, Zhou Jiao had to suppress her laughter. They should let the kids’ father hear this, see how little confidence the kids have in him.
User Comments
0 comments from readers