“Are you going alone?” Pei Jing frowned, first considering her safety issues.
“Big Brother Wu wanted Xiaohua to go over too, but I don’t know what his opinion is. His original snack stand was recently changed to a storefront, and he's doing a raging business. From his momentum, it seems he has put all his heart into the snack shop."
Wu Xiaohua was still young after all. With the addition of Liu Xuan, the business was getting better and better. Originally, Liu Xuan only intended to learn the craft, but now he was working together with Wu Xiaohua.
"Why don't I take you there? It's only a few days round trip, it can be arranged well. As for the kids, don't worry, it's vacation anyway, it's a good chance for them to come to the troops for a while and train." Pei Jing suggested.
Zhi Xia's eyes lit up, "No need to specially take me there. The spaces can connect with each other anyway. If there’s danger I can just summon you. And I can hide in there too, so the danger is not high. As for the kids, is it really okay for them to go to your place?"
Zhi Xia didn’t specifically understand, but she also knew that the discipline of the special forces was much higher than that of the regular troops, and there were a lot of restrictions too.
"There's definitely no problem, but these little guys will probably have to suffer a bit. Little Sixth is too young too. Someone still needs to be home with him."
Zhi Xia discussed it with Pei Jing, asked the children’s opinion again, and Chenye and the triplets were fine with it. Little Sixth wanted to go but he was too young and had to stay at home, which made him throw a tantrum.
It was only when Zhi Xia promised to take him to Shen City to see the sea that he finally calmed down.
Wanqing knew there was a sea in Shen City. She didn’t want to go with her brother to the barracks either, insisting on going with Zhi Xia.
For Zhi Xia it was even simpler. Her daughter was willing to go with her to take care of her brother, which would make her feel more at ease too. Why wouldn’t she be willing?
The other kids wanted to go too when they heard there was a sea, but that was out of the question. Yue Ya had to be taken of course. With too many children it would be too chaotic and hard to manage. She was going to do business, not vacationing.
She considered the other kids wanting to see the sea too, and figured there would be chances in the future.
Zhi Xia asked Wu Xiaohua when she had time. As she had guessed, the kid now had his whole mind set on expanding his small eatery, and was completely unwilling to go along.
When briefing Grandpa on the family matters, he absolutely refused to let her set out with three children.
Even when Liu Ling brought Wen Qing to the barracks, there was always someone specially taking leave to escort them. Let alone Zhi Xia bringing two kids.
Luckily An Zhiren and his wife were back from Jing City with their child. So the task was handed to him.
Zheng Suchun had failed to get into Jing University twice. An Jingzhi had advised her that she could just take the exam for Jin City University instead, which was at least closer to home.
But she was unwilling to give up the chance of university even if it meant separating from her second brother.
As Grandma said it best, “It’s not that she has to get into Jing University no matter what. She just doesn’t feel assured with her second brother alone there. Jing University has great scholars and beauties everywhere. What if he finds another girl there and doesn’t want her anymore? She will have nowhere to cry then. She has to watch him closely.”
After all, no matter her education or family background, there was a huge gap between her and An Zhiren. It was understandable for her to worry like this.
Just like Liu Ling—she and her husband lived apart more than together since marrying, yet there seemed no concern from her at all.
On the day of departure, Sister Zhang came early to help pack and made pancakes for their trip.
It was too hot to make too much. There was only enough for one meal. They’d have to buy more on the train.
Before they left, Sister Zhang urged them, “Zhi Xia, call Grandpa before you come back to let Sister Zhou tell me, so I can tidy up the house and make it comfortable when you return.”
“Alright,” Zhi Xia smiled generously. “Sister Zhang, the house is in your hands. We’ll bring you gifts when we come back.”
“Good, I’ll be waiting then,” Sister Zhang also laughed gleefully.
That was how people interacted with each other. You’re good to me and I’m good to you. Once one side doesn’t hold up their end, the other can’t either.
Sister Zhang also carried her things home, because Zhi Xia wouldn’t be back for one or two months. The rest of the rice, noodles, vegetables and some foods that couldn’t be stored long-term were all taken back by her.
Plus, this was paid leave for two months. It would be hard to find such good employers who understood you so well.
At her door, she ran into someone she didn’t get along with. “Well, well, big bags and small bags. Don’t tell me you stole something from someone’s house again?”
In their neighborhood Sister Zhang was quite a figure too. Everyone knew that a few years ago she had stolen someone’s handkerchief and brazenly made her child wear it out, causing her to lose her job over that petty offense.
Everyone thought she would never recover. But against all odds, the old employer invited her back at that critical time, even saying it was because she was responsible and took good care of the family. It allowed her to make a beautiful comeback all at once.
At the same time, it also made people suspicious again about her stealing things in the past. If her hands were really not clean, would the family specially come to her house to ask her back?
If it had happened when she was falsely accused, Sister Zhang wouldn’t have dared to talk back. But now with confidence, she immediately scolded, “Go fart somewhere else! I would never steal anything when I'm this good at my job! Open your dog eyes wide and see clearly! These are rewards from good employers because I do well. Not like you--you'd stick anything fished out of cesspools in your mouth without fear of choking yourself to death...”
On the train, Little Sixth and Yue Ya immediately plastered themselves on the windows, extremely excited.
Wanqing looked at them disdainfully, “No experience."
Little Sixth glared at his sister, “I’m not inexperienced! This is my first time on a train. You’re so awesome, have you been on one before?”
“Of course, there was no you yet at that time. Little Three, Little Four, Little Five was still in Mom’s tummy. Big brother and I went on trains with Daddy and Mommy...”
Looking at them bickering, Zhi Xia and An Zhiren smiled helplessly next to them.
“Little sister, is college life fun?” An Zhiren assumed Zhi Xia must like or crave school a lot, which was why she secretly studied so much alone.
“It’s great,” Zhi Xia smiled and answered. At least she liked her current life very much.
Just like an ordinary person, doing her own things steadily everyday. Kids playing around her knees.
Others might feel she was very tired, but with her space she really wasn’t. She actually felt extremely lucky to have her current family and cute children.
