He Ziyu returned after ten o'clock at night, surprised to find his parents still awake. "Mom, Dad, you're this old, and you're still staying up late?"
Old Mr. He's face darkened. "You know to come back now!"
"You really don't plan on letting me come back? Then I'll leave." He Ziyu said, turning to head out the door.
Old Mr. He's body tensed and leaned forward. Seeing his wife move to stop him, he leaned back again.
"You, child, why are you arguing with that woman? Your second brother will be living with her in the future, and Qingqing is your nephew..."
He Ziyu snorted dismissively, "It's not certain whose nephew he is."
"Nonsense!" Old Mr. He cursed angrily.
"Don't talk nonsense, child. Qingqing looked so much like your second brother when he was little. Rui Rui, on the other hand, takes more after his mother, but his forehead, that big forehead, is from our He family."
Thinking of their lost grandson, Mother He's expression suddenly turned gloomy.
Silence fell in the living room for a moment.
Thinking of the child he had seen in the provincial city before, a thought flashed through He Ziyu's mind: "Mom, if you saw Rui Rui now, would you still recognize him? Would he have changed too much to recognize?"
"No, I'd recognize him at a glance. Besides, Rui Rui has two dimples, and a mole under his left eye. They said it was a tear mole and not good, but I thought it was a beauty mark. Rui Rui is so handsome."
Listening to his mother, He Ziyu fell into thought.
He had possessed the ability to recall anything he saw since childhood. The child's face instantly appeared in his mind.
Two dimples, a tear mole.
All the features matched, and he even looked seven or eight parts similar.
As it happened, the medical university wanted to invite him to give a lecture. He had been hesitant before, but now he could go and see again.
...
After the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the festival was considered over, and everyone began preparing to return to work.
Although the two younger ones were older, they were also more active and harder to manage. If Chen Lishu was busy, Zhao Qiuyue wouldn't be able to handle them alone, so Li Xiulan returned to the city with the couple again.
Gu Xingye also returned with them.
Besides the company starting work, they also had a new house to renovate. Once everything was settled, they would bring Zhang Xiaoju and their child over.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xue, after getting off the train, stormed towards the military base.
She had been angry all the way, her temper about to erupt from the top of her head, but as soon as she reached the entrance and saw two young soldiers standing guard with guns, her fiery demeanor instantly diminished by half.
"Comrade, I'm looking for Li Weimin, the deputy battalion commander of your first battalion."
A young soldier saw her, a young woman in her twenties, and upon hearing the name of the deputy battalion commander, guessed she was either a relative or a girlfriend. He said, "Please wait a moment," then turned and ran off to report.
Li Weimin had just finished leading his team on a five-kilometer forced march. In the minus seven or eight degrees Celsius weather, sweat had appeared on his forehead by the end.
"Weimin, you've been a bit off lately." Wu Zheng looked at his shiny black forehead with suspicion.
Li Weimin: "What's wrong?"
With his hurried breaths, large amounts of white mist escaped from his nose and mouth.
"I've noticed you've been training exceptionally hard since you rejoined the team, almost like you don't care about your life. Is it that serious? Did visiting your in-laws leave you with any side effects?"
Li Weimin showed little amusement at his teasing. Instead, he said seriously, "There's a military exercise next month. Practicing more won't hurt."
Hearing his words, Wu Zheng's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
If it were any other time, Li Weimin would have replied about his in-laws or boasted about his progress with his girlfriend. But now, he didn't mention anything.
Wu Zheng opened his mouth to speak, but then he saw a young soldier running towards them from a distance.
"Deputy Commander Li, there's a young female comrade at the gate looking for you."
He didn't know any young women here, unless...
Thinking of something, Li Weimin suddenly looked up, took an eager step, then deliberately slowed to a normal pace as he walked towards the gate.
"Is your girlfriend visiting? You're still so stiff, hurry up and run a few steps!" Seeing him dawdle, Wu Zheng felt like kicking him in the backside.
Zhang Xue was pacing back and forth. Seeing him emerge, she took a couple of steps forward. The words she had intended to question turned into, "When did you get back?"
Li Weimin: "Three days ago."
Then, the two fell silent.
"You..."
"I..."
Their eyes met. Li Weimin's throat tightened. "You go ahead."
"My parents' words were indeed a bit unpleasant. Whatever they said doesn't represent what I want to say. But you, you can't even endure such a small grievance and even left directly. Do you even consider me your girlfriend?"
The more Zhang Xue spoke, the more wronged she felt, her eyes beginning to redden slightly.
Li Weimin's heart ached. Just as he was about to speak, he heard his parents-in-law's words again.
"My family isn't a particularly wealthy one, so there's no prejudice about social status. But matching in terms of background is still necessary. We only have Xiaoxue as our daughter. We dote on her immensely. She's never suffered any hardship since she was little. Let alone your family's situation, just the fact that you're a soldier – can you be by her side like a normal couple?"
"...She has to do all the housework alone, take care of the elders alone, raise the child alone. If she gets sick, now she's full of passion for you and can disregard everything, even ignore our advice. But life itself is full of trivial matters. When she encounters difficulties at work, unhappiness in the family, and needs someone to confide in, can you guarantee you'll always be by her side?"
"We deeply admire your profession, protecting the country and sacrificing personal interests for the greater good. But precisely because of this, we as parents selfishly don't want to marry our daughter to you."
"We heard from Xiaoxue about the nature of your unit. You have to go on missions often, right? It must be very dangerous."
"I can see you're a good child. And you wouldn't want Xiaoxue to be caught between us and in a difficult position, would you?"
If they had been unreasonable or hysterically demanded he break up with Zhang Xue, Li Weimin would have had a hundred ways to refuse. But facing their earnest words, Li Weimin couldn't say a single thing.
"Why aren't you saying anything? For you, my parents asked me to go back to my hometown, but I didn't. I chose to stay in the provincial city..."
"I didn't ask you to stay. It's not too late to go back now." Forcing down the ache in his heart, Li Weimin interrupted her words and said self-deprecatingly, "You're a university student, and I only graduated from junior high. Now that I think about it, we don't even have common ground."
Zhang Xue couldn't help but freeze. "Li Weimin, what do you mean by that? Can I understand that you're breaking up with me?"