Starting a new chapter in life

Chapter 150 Uncle - He Jiaosheng

Grandma casually remarked, "The guts to cause trouble."

He Zhicheng didn't ask any more questions. "You've picked all the vegetables that could be picked from the yard. Are you going to replant them, sister-in-law? Is that why you picked all the grown vegetables?"

Jing Yan nodded: "I still have some of the various vegetable seeds that my fourth sister sent me this year. Even if I keep the seedlings, they won't last long. The weather here is warm, so I'll take advantage of this time to plant them and have fresh vegetables to eat by the New Year."

He Zhicheng shrugged: "We have plenty of vegetables here all year round. You've been in Northeast China for too long and you're obsessed with vegetables."

Jingyan didn't deny it, "Maybe, but I saw wild strawberry seedlings for sale at the market a while ago. Once we clear away all the vegetable seedlings in the yard, we'll fence off a plot of land to plant strawberry seedlings. These things don't need much care; they'll spread their roots on their own, so it's worry-free."

He Zhijun patted her head: "The important thing is that it tastes good. Strawberries are too delicate and will spoil if you touch them. The supply and marketing cooperatives only sell them a few days a year, and the price is ridiculously high. You're thinking of growing some yourself to satisfy your craving."

Jing Yan retorted, "Can't you give me some face? You have to be so blunt."

The family didn't want to watch them bicker, so they turned around and went about their business. Seeing that it was getting late, Jingyan still went to the shop. Barbecue, while not difficult to make, somehow...

All four employees were taught the same way, but each of them baked something that tasted a little different. Customers still preferred Jingyan's cooking the most, so they could fill in temporarily, but it would be difficult to replace her.

The four-day National Day holiday passed quickly. He Jiaoxu and the other three didn't leave until the last day. They were practically waited on hand and foot here every day. If it weren't for work in Yangzhou, none of them would have wanted to go back.

However, they also brought back good news: their great-uncle, who had been stationed in the army in Northwest China for ten years, was finally being transferred back thanks to the efforts of He Jiaoxu and He Zhicheng.

We don't know where we'll be assigned yet, but we can confirm that it will definitely be a nearby city. We'll have one more family coming here during holidays in the future.

Jingyan had only ever heard people talking about her uncle; aside from exchanging local specialties, she had never met him or seen a photo of him. However, judging from He Jiaoxu's words...

My uncle's family must be in much worse shape over there than here. Fortunately, they'll be back soon. Things are better here, and they have family around. It's best when the whole family is together.

After seeing He Jiaoxu and his group off, Jingyan and He Zhijun were chatting in bed that night when they talked about their uncle's family: "If only they could come to Haishi, we could let them live in our house."

He Zhijun put his arm around her and said gently, "No need. My uncle's rank is higher than my dad's. The military region will allocate housing for him when he comes back. We don't need to worry about that."

The reason he couldn't come back before was because he was very important over there. You don't know, even though my dad and brother are both regimental commanders, which sounds impressive, when it comes to actual combat, their command abilities in the army are still lacking.

Otherwise, with my dad's qualifications, he could barely reach the rank of deputy division commander, let alone a full division commander. But ability is a hurdle, and my dad knows his own limitations, so he never considered getting promoted.

My eldest uncle was different. Like his father, he was a military genius, skilled in using unconventional tactics. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been transferred to the border to command troops after the Cultural Revolution began. It was because the higher-ups wanted to protect him and keep him away from trouble.

"The conditions there are worse, but at least there's no persecution. Now that things have settled down, even if my dad and his family don't cause any trouble, my uncle and his family will come back in a year or two at most. The border is stable; my uncle can come back anytime he wants. It's just that my dad misses him and insists on making trouble."

"I don't believe Dad wouldn't know something you already know, so why would he go to all this trouble?" Jingyan asked, puzzled.

"Because he's been scared over the years, he feels that if he uses his connections, at least in many people's eyes it's just that the family misses their uncle. Since he doesn't have any powerful backing, he can only try to do things indirectly, so as not to let his uncle catch the eye of those with ulterior motives."

Anyway, those who get involved in politics are all corrupt. My dad and brother don't understand the intricacies of it all. My dad only did it on the advice of his former boss. Since no one in our family is involved in politics, they won't get involved in these things.

Grandma's heart is at ease as long as Uncle comes back. You see, Grandma doesn't seem to talk about Uncle much, but he's the child she misses the most, after all, he's the child who's not by her side.

Jingyan was looking forward to her uncle's family returning, thinking it would only take a month or two. However, she didn't expect that by the time she found out her uncle was coming back, it would already be the eve of the Lunar New Year.

Actually, not all of my uncle's family came back. This time, it was my uncle He Jiaosheng and his wife who came back with several of their grandchildren who are still in school. His two sons are still staying in the Northwest Military Region and do not plan to be transferred back at the moment.

Just as the year was drawing to a close, He Jiaoxu brought them all over. When the eldest uncle saw his grandmother, the scene was truly heartbreaking. Who would have thought that the usually serious and dignified Commander He would be crying like a child, burying his face in the old lady's lap.

In Jingyan's memory, her grandmother, who had always been emotionally stable, was now trembling as she gently stroked her eldest son's head, tears streaming down her face, murmuring, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."

After the mother and son had a good cry and calmed down, the family sat down in the living room and began to talk about their lives and everyday matters. When the grandmother asked about the eldest uncle's two children, the aunt answered gently:

"Conditions over there are much better now. They're still young and need experience. It's too difficult to earn military merits in the inland, and they don't have the patience to build up seniority, so they've decided to stay there for now."

"We're getting old, and Sheng wants to be by Mom's side to take care of her. We couldn't come back a few years ago, but now that we can, of course we want to go back. Fortunately, Mom is in good health, which will lessen Sheng's regrets."

Grandma sighed, "Don't think so much, child. Your father didn't suffer much when he passed away; he just kept talking about you, worrying that you were suffering over there, with the domestic unrest and the unstable borders..."

He was worried about your safety, but also relieved that you could stay away from all that trouble. Thankfully, you've managed to get through all those ups and downs over the years. Actually, I often wake up in the middle of the night in a fright; I'm truly afraid that I haven't been able to take care of you all these years, and that I've let your biological parents down.

The eldest uncle leaned against his grandmother and said in a muffled voice, "From the time I can remember, you have been my parents. It is said that the kindness of raising is greater than the kindness of giving birth. I have not been able to fulfill my filial duties to you all these years, which is unfilial. Even if I was forced by circumstances, it is still my fault. Now that I am back, I will come back to see you often after I have settled down in my job."

Grandma nodded happily: "That's great. Xiaojun's house is big enough for him to stay when he comes back. It's been so many years. These kids have changed a lot. Xiaojun is married and has two kids now. Time really flies."

Do you remember Xiaojun? He's changed the most in the past few years. This is Jingyan, Xiaojun's wife. She's a capable woman. The majority of the money for our house came from Jingyan's earnings from selling braised meat.

She now runs a barbecue and braised meat shop on the island, and business is quite good. Jingyan is supporting the family's expenses. If we relied on Xiaojun's meager salary, we wouldn't be living so comfortably.

"But Xiaojun is good too. He was among the first batch of college graduates and now works in a shipyard. You could say he's a highly educated person." Grandma's eyes were full of pride as she introduced them, which made Uncle and Aunt take a second look at the two of them.

Jingyan forced a smile. She really wanted to say, "Grandma, you really don't need to help me get attention in front of Uncle. The pressure from his gaze is immense."

Compared to her father-in-law's aura, she was much more imposing. And this was when his expression was relatively benevolent; if he turned serious and ruthless, Jingyan felt she would be terrified.

The uncle probably knew as well. After looking her over, he smiled at Jingyan. Well, the smile was a little stiff, but it still conveyed a sense of goodwill: "She's capable. Xiaojun has married a virtuous wife. He's lucky."

Compared to her husband, her aunt was much more charitable. She smiled gently and prepared red envelopes for He Zhicheng and his wife, He Zhijun and his wife, and the three younger relatives as well. The red envelopes for the adults were quite full, while the children's red envelopes were a bit empty.

Jingyan and the others respectfully accepted the red envelopes and thanked them. They then turned around and took out four red envelopes from their pockets and gave them to the grandchildren of the eldest uncle's family. In addition to He Jiaoxu's, He Zhicheng's, and the grandmother's, there were a total of seven children. Each child received six red envelopes, which made them extremely happy.

The eldest grandchildren in my uncle's family are sixteen years old, and the youngest are seven or eight. They are all older brothers in front of An'an and Zhizhi. Zhizhi is the youngest and has always been spoiled by her two older brothers, so she often speaks without restraint.

She looked at the group of boys in front of her in a childish voice and asked curiously, "Why are they all older brothers? Aren't there any older sisters or younger sisters?"

Auntie squatted down with great affection and explained to Zhizhi, "There are four boys in our family. Isn't it good that Zhizhi has six older brothers? Being the only girl will make her the most pampered."

Zhizhi pouted: "But Zhizhi doesn't have any friends to play with. The older brothers always complain that my games are childish. I always play by myself, and they just watch from the side. There's no interaction at all. It's so boring."

"Then why don't you go out with your brothers to find other friends to play with?" A seven or eight-year-old child stood in front of Zhizhi and asked curiously.

“They always pull my braids, messing up my hair or getting my clothes dirty. I don’t like playing with them, but I don’t want my brothers to be friendless either,” Zhizhi said, her voice much softer.

The oldest boy stood up, bent down, and picked Zhizhi up: "Your name is Zhizhi? My name is He Ci'en. You can call me big brother. I'm in junior high school now, so I don't need any friends. How about I take you out to play from now on?"

Zhizhi leaned on his shoulder, looked into his eyes for a moment, then grinned, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons, and sweetly replied, "Okay, big brother."

With more children in the family, it's necessary to stock up on snacks and treats. This year, Sister Wang even made her own fried candies, fried dough twists, fried peanuts, and honey-glazed peanuts, not to mention roasted peanuts and melon seeds.

Not to mention that the children who have always lived in the Northwest rarely eat these snacks, even Zhizhi and her friends have never had such a wide variety of snacks in previous years. With the help of these snacks, the children's friendship quickly warmed up, and in just two days they were so close that you could hardly tell that they had never seen each other before.

He Ci'en is a very quiet and gentle child with great patience. He loves reading, especially the Four Great Classical Novels and Records of the Grand Historian in the study at home, which he enjoys reading and can understand.

And he's a good boy who always keeps his word. While the other children rushed off to play with their friends, he sat in the study, holding Zhizhi...reading.

That's right, it was reading. His voice was gentle, and he would read aloud to Zhizhi while he was reading. Occasionally, when he encountered a sentence that was difficult to understand, he would explain it to Zhizhi. He didn't know if Zhizhi could understand, but she liked to stick to him.

The adults were also enjoying their leisure time. Those who were good at cooking gathered in the closed shops to make all kinds of food, while those who weren't good at cooking stayed at home cleaning and putting up Spring Festival couplets. In any case, no one was idle.

Fortunately, the shop wasn't too far from home. They could just carry the food prepared at the shop home in a bowl, and even bring Dou Zhixiao, who was staying at the shop for the New Year, back home with them.

Jingyan felt it would be too lonely to leave a child alone in the shop during the Lunar New Year. Since she had already prepared most of the food needed for the holiday before Lunar New Year's Eve, she decided to take him home as well.

Dou Zhixiao initially didn't want to go, but he couldn't resist Jing Yan's enthusiastic invitation and his grandmother's persuasion, so he reluctantly went along. However, his reluctance quickly disappeared amidst the children's noisy chatter.

In no time, he had become the king of the kids, leading five boys in playing marbles in the yard and setting off small firecrackers taken from firecrackers. By the end, he no longer felt like an outsider.

This was a lively and heartwarming New Year that he had never dared to imagine before. Many years later, when he had achieved some success but felt that the New Year spirit was not strong, such an atmosphere and memories still exist vividly in his memory.

For the New Year's Eve dinner, there were more people this year, so we set up two tables. One table was for men to drink alcohol, and the other table was for women and children to drink beverages. Nowadays, the beverages are all simple glass bottles, but they are very popular with the children. Jingyan was quite generous this year, buying three baskets of beverages, two baskets of beer, and the kind of liquor that comes in barrels, ten jin per barrel.

My uncle hadn't had a good drink in many years. This time, perhaps because he was finally home and saw my mother, he relaxed and drank quite a bit in the festive atmosphere. My aunt said that this was the first time she had gotten drunk since marrying my uncle, which showed how happy he was.