65: Chapter 2: Consolation Money?
65: Chapter 2: Consolation Money?
“Auntie, don’t be sad.
Even if your grandson has sacrificed himself, with such a large sum of condolence money, your whole family can still make ends et.”
“Exactly, don’t take it the wrong way, but the living are more important than the dead.
You must keep in mind Little Niangao who hasn’t grown up yet.”
“Big sister, listen to , save this money.
Little Niangao is so young, his schooling and future endeavors will all depend on this sum.”
“Yes, Xiao Guai is so smart, Little Niangao will surely be good at studying too.”
“Sister-in-law Luo, is your grandson’s condolence money really 5,000 yuan?
That can’t be true, I rember a child from my hotown sacrificed on the battlefield and only received two hundred yuan.”
…
Listening to the well-aning, the gloating, and the probing comnts around her, Lin Xiaoguai and Luo Yufang felt their faces stiffen.
After finally sending everyone away, Luo Yufang sighed, “Really bad luck.”
But her expression didn’t match the lightness of her tone.
It seed simple enough.
Shen Chi had sent back 5,000 yuan.
When they went to the post office with the money order to collect the funds, their luck was such that they ran into the biggest gossip in the community, Ma Yui.
Now, the whole neighborhood knew.
And soone had started the rumor that the 5,000 yuan was condolence money sent by the military leaders after Shen Chi’s sacrifice.
Luo Yufang and Shen Zhangming hadn’t even considered this until it was pointed out, and it had so effect on their hearts.
Even Lin Xiaoguai felt strange about it.
She didn’t think the money was condolence money, but Shen Chi was behaving unusually this ti.
In her last life, even though he had been vigilant about her running away, Shen Chi would always find ti to visit grandpa and grandma during the holidays.
He would diligently check in with her every ten minutes by phone, paranoid she might escape, but he never failed to visit.
It showed how much he valued his grandparents.
Unless it was utterly impossible, he would never go a whole year without contact.
“Alright, let’s put this aside for now.
We’ll talk about it after Xiuwa finishes her exams,” said Shen Zhangming, stepping out of the room with a blank expression.
“I’ll go check on Little Niangao.”
Lin Xiaoguai used her son as an excuse to retreat to her room and looked at him, spread-eagled and snoring softly in his sleep, like a little hegemon.
Her face showed a trace of struggle.
Her fingers lightly traced Little Niangao’s cheek, and finally, in an almost inaudible voice, she said, “My treasure, you don’t understand now, but Mommy doesn’t want you to grow up in a single-parent family.”
Early in the morning, the family escorted Shen Xiu to the school gate and watched her enter the examination hall.
“Xiao Guai, my scores are out,” Jiang Xiaoi ca over, grabbing Lin Xiaoguai’s hand.
“How much?”
Jiang Xiaoi bit her lip, “401 points.” The score was much higher than her expectations, but she still wasn’t sure if it was enough to get into a junior college.
Although there had been great changes for Lin Xiaoguai and Shen Xiu over the past six months, nothing compared to Jiang Xiaoi’s transformation.
Her previously round, slightly chubby-faced bun had beco much slimr; her features, while not particularly striking, were comfortably above average.
She had lost her earlier body fat, replaced by a curvaceous figure that even Lin Xiaoguai found astonishingly fiery, and at five feet five inches tall, she was quite towering and fit by the standards of the ti.
Mr.
and Mrs.
Jiang had also taken Beauty Pills, but as they were older, the effects weren’t as dramatic as for Xiaoi.
Now, they just looked slightly overweight instead of their forr size, with their greatest benefit being the significant improvent in their hypertension and heart disease.
Lin Xiaoguai quickly estimated in her head.
In her previous life at this ti, she had intended to retake the college entrance exam.
Although she never made it, she rembered the score thresholds for admission to various universities and junior colleges.
With Xiaoi’s scores, if she were in the Capital, she would readily be admitted into a normal university, with at least twenty points above the admission line.
But here in their Z province, which notoriously had one of the highest thresholds in the country, they had no choice but to consider a junior college.
Lin Xiaoguai carefully compared Jiang Xiaoi’s choices, which were based on her advice, against her own mories, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, there were still options.
—Capital Preschool Teachers’ College.
“Xiao i, would you mind if your future students are all little tots?” Lin Xiaoguai had her own plans.
If Xiaoi attended the Capital Preschool Teachers’ College, she could beco her son’s teacher after graduation, which would give her peace of mind.
Besides, a kindergarten might suit Xiaoi’s character even better than a higher institution.
It was fortunate that Lin Xiaoguai had insisted Xiaoi applied for this junior college.
“Do you an?” Jiang Xiaoi’s face lit up with joy, nodding repeatedly, “I’m fine with anything, as long as I can be a teacher.”
With reassurance from Lin Xiaoguai, Jiang Xiaoi let go of her anxiety from the past days and settled down completely.
Back ho, after feeding milk to Little Niangao, Lin Xiaoguai watched her son crawl joyfully on the bed, her heart filled with myriad thoughts, yet, she could only sigh softly.
J Province Military Hospital
“You really have a knack for this, don’t you?
I was all prepared to collect your corpse, and here you are, coming back without any fuss,” said Wei Qiang, as he peeled an apple, his face full of joy.
He truly hadn’t expected Shen Chi to return in one piece from that hellish Golden Triangle, well…
not exactly in one piece, he glanced at Shen Chi’s cast-covered leg.
Rembering what the doctor had said, he sighed inwardly, thinking this was for the best.
If Shen Chi couldn’t return to the front lines, higher-ups wouldn’t be able to hassle him.
When it ca to cunning and sches, Shen Chi certainly didn’t need to fear anyone.
“I’ve got a son to raise, how could I afford to be reckless with my life?” Shen Chi’s lips curled into a sinister smile, a gleam of cunning light flickering in his downcast eyes.
Thinking of the truth that the man who claid to be his brother had told him, his expression grew so cold it was suffocating.
Wei Qiang thought that Shen Chi was only thinking of the repeated entrapnts by those above him over the years, and didn’t take it seriously.
“You should be careful yourself, don’t flaunt too much.
Haven’t you seen Commander Qin’s constipated face?
You skipped two ranks in one go, leaping from a Captain of a deputy regint-level position to a Lieutenant Colonel of a full regint-level position.
He’s probably seething inside.
Despite that you’ve earned such great rits, and the higher-ups are watching, he has to put on a happy and relieved face.
If you show off in front of him again, I’m afraid it might drive him mad,” Wei Qiang said, half-serious, half-joking.
Qin Chenggong was a thorough scoundrel, and stupid to boot.
Previous superiors tried ti and again to entrap Shen Chi, but after a while, he managed to handle them with ease.
However, with Qin Chenggong’s arrival, he found it sowhat exhausting.
No wonder, it’s hard for a smart person to understand the thoughts of a fool, especially when that fool is your superior.
An unexpected and low-level trap can still give one a headache.
Shen Chi knew he ant well, and verbally agreed, though inside, he wished he could tear the man to pieces.
—that imbecile Qin Chenggong, he had once again lowered Shen Chi’s expectations of stupidity to a new level!
Forget previous incidents, but the bastard had actually co up with the sinister idea of swapping all their ammunition for duds.
And damn it, it was effective!
He dared not imagine—had he not secured an arms cache from a small gang, and had he not t that “brother,” whether he would have still been alive to return.
Even so, at least thirty of his n had died unnecessarily.
If he didn’t kill Qin Chenggong, he wouldn’t be Shen Chi!
“By the way, have you brought over the mail from my dorm?” Shen Chi asked.
“No.” Seeing Shen Chi’s glare, Wei Qiang quickly explained, “It’s not that I didn’t get it for you, there just wasn’t any.”
Shen Chi looked incredulous.
Wanwan might be excused, but how could grandpa and grandma not write him a single letter?
Wei Qiang hesitated and then said, “The old man in the mailroom said that all your mail had been taken by Commander Qin.”
Crack—
Witnessing the apple being squeezed in half, Wei Qiang thought to himself, well, those previous words were in vain.
Not to ntion, Commander Qin really wasn’t presentable, always doing such an-spirited things.
“That money should’ve been sent out, right?” Shen Chi asked with an unchanged expression.
“It has been sent.” Wei Qiang hesitated, then added, “Actually, I think you shouldn’t have sent that money.
With money cos danger.
Your entire family is vulnerable, and with such a large sum, you might just attract thieves.”
“Don’t worry, my wife is clever, she definitely knows how to hide the money,” Shen Chi trusted in his wife’s intelligence completely.
Seeing his confidence, Wei Qiang didn’t say any more, but continued, “There’s more than that.
You haven’t been in touch for over half a year, suddenly sending 5,000 yuan back ho, aren’t you worried they might take it as compensation for your death?”
If it weren’t for Shen Chi grabbing him and rushing to instruct him just before going into surgery, leaving him no chance to refuse, he would have tried to stop this kind of behavior long ago.
In those days, the communication between the military and civilian life was neither fast nor comprehensive, and such problems were indeed possible.
Shen Chi’s face suddenly stiffened, “They should…
probably not.”
The reason he was in such a hurry to send money back was that he had calculated that his family should be almost out of the money he sent last ti.
His son couldn’t be allowed to suffer.
—he had long realized that his wife was not shy about spending money, but he was happy for her to spend his money.
Only in that way did he feel like “the husband.”
“Let’s see about that,” Wei Qiang said coolly.
Shen Chi suddenly beca anxious.
Other people were one thing, but grandma had once suffered a stroke because of Wang Zhaodi.
If sothing urgent happened, he would regret it with nowhere to turn!
Seeing his real panic, Wei Qiang stopped watching from the sidelines, pulled sothing out of his pocket, and handed it to him, “Here, I barely managed to borrow this.”
Shen Chi saw it and was overjoyed.
He quickly took the bulky cell phone and dialed the neighborhood committee’s phone number.
After the call was picked up, he waited for soone to co over.
After an anxious wait, he finally heard a familiar voice and heaved a sigh of relief.
“Grandma, it’s .
Are you doing okay at ho?”
“I’m sorry for making you worry.
I’ll be back soon.”
“Nothing happened, what could have happened?
We were in closed training, and there was no advance notice, so I didn’t get a chance to tell you all.”
“Yes, I sent the money.
What do you an waste?
How can spending on a child be considered a waste?”
“…No need, if the child is asleep, let it be.
No, I can talk when I get back.”
“That’s it then, we’ll talk about the rest when I co back.”
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