Zhou Dingwen and Han Ye’s relationship had long since improved. They were no longer merely comrades-in-arms—they were brothers now.
As Zhou Dingwen looked at Xiaxia, he wondered if this might be a chance to grow even closer to Han Ye.
Xiaxia was in her second year of middle school. She was naturally pretty and quiet, and because she loved reading, she had a refined, scholarly air about her—the kind of girl every elder would adore.
As Zhou Dingwen looked at her, he found himself growing inexplicably nervous. He cleared his throat before asking, “Xiaxia, what year of middle school are you in?”
“I’m in my second year, Brother Dingwen. Is your leg badly hurt? Are you all right?”
Most of his leg was encased in plaster and propped up at the foot of the bed. It looked rather serious.
Han Ye had just been complaining bitterly to Qiao Lanshu that his arm was practically broken. Even a tough guy like him had cried so pitifully.
Zhou Dingwen’s leg injury must hurt a lot too, right?
Thinking this, Xiaxia kept looking at his plastered leg.
Zhou Dingwen glanced at Han Ye. Although he had been rolling his eyes at Han Ye’s melodramatic performance moments ago, he now lowered his head, sighed, and put on a pained expression.
“Actually, it’s nothing serious. It almost broke back then, but luckily the doctors managed to save it. It did hurt, but the worst of it has already passed. I can bear the pain I’m feeling now.”
Xiaxia’s expression softened with sympathy. “You’ve both had it so hard. Once you’ve recovered, will it affect your mobility?”
“The doctor said that as long as I take good care of it, it won’t affect me in the future. I’ll still be able to return to the unit and train normally.”
Xiaxia relaxed when she heard that. “That’s good. You and Brother Ye both love being in the military so much. You mustn’t let your injuries affect that.”
If Han Ye were unable to remain in the military because of his injury, he would probably be devastated.
Zhou Dingwen was just about to say something else when Han Ye suddenly shouted from the bed beside them, “Mom, Mom! What did you bring? It smells so good! I think I smell meat buns! No, wait—there’s braised pork too, isn’t there? It smells amazing!”
Han Wenlin shot him a glare. “Why are you acting like a dog? How can your nose be so sensitive? Didn’t you already eat your fill?”
Han Ye ignored him. After all, when Han Wenlin had brought him food earlier, he hadn’t brought any meat buns!
Only his arm was injured, and his legs were fine, so he promptly hopped out of bed and went over to Qiao Lanshu.
Qiao Lanshu smiled. “I brought them, I brought them. They’re all your favorites.”
Qin Qiao’an quickly added, “Brother, I was just about to tell you. The reason Mom and I came so late was because she wanted to make meat buns and braised pork for you. Look—everything’s meat!”
As she spoke, Qiao Lanshu and Qin Yuanzheng carried over the two insulated food containers and set them on the table beside the bed.
Qiao Lanshu smiled and said, “As soon as I found out this afternoon that you were coming back, I went out and bought meat and fish. I made your favorite meat buns, braised fish, steamed sea bass, and cold tossed shredded vegetables. You like that too, don’t you? But the food containers couldn’t hold anything else, so I didn’t make soup.”
As Han Ye watched Qiao Lanshu arrange the dishes one by one, his eyes lit up. He practically drooled.
He reached out, grabbed a meat bun, and stuffed it into his mouth. His cheeks bulged as he continued speaking through the mouthful.
“As expected of my mom! You’re the one who loves me most!”
Then he glared at Han Wenlin, accusing him, “Look at you. You didn’t even buy me meat buns.”
Han Wenlin was speechless.
His expression grew complicated as he said to Qiao Lanshu, “I already brought him food earlier. He ate two bowls.”
The moment Qiao Lanshu heard that, she hurriedly told Han Ye, “Then don’t eat too much. You might make yourself sick.”
Han Ye ate another bite of his bun and said, “That was two hours ago! I’m hungry again now. Mom, you have no idea—Dad only brought vegetables. I couldn’t possibly get full on that.”
Han Wenlin was furious. “You just ate half a chicken. Was that a vegetarian chicken?”
Han Wenlin had brought roast chicken, while Zhou Anping had brought braised pork knuckle. Han Ye and Zhou Dingwen had devoured every last bit of it.
And now he was claiming Han Wenlin had brought him vegetables.
Han Wenlin felt that sooner or later, this unfilial son of his was going to anger him to death.
While eating, Han Ye picked up a meat bun and handed it to his good comrade Zhou Dingwen. “Here, here, try one of my mom’s meat buns. They’re amazing! Ah, when I was stationed with the unit, I thought about this flavor every single day. They’re so good!”
It was obvious how much Han Ye had missed the buns. He was practically wolfing them down, one after another.
Zhou Dingwen reached out to take the bun. Before eating it, he asked Xiaxia, who was standing nearby, “Xiaxia, did you help make the buns too?”
Xiaxia didn’t answer.
Han Ye was being so noisy that she hadn’t heard Zhou Dingwen at all.
She walked over to Han Ye and tilted her head back to watch him shove bun after bun into his mouth. She looked exasperated.
“Brother Ye, slow down. No one’s going to steal them from you. Be careful not to choke!”
With his mouth stuffed full of bun, Han Ye grinned foolishly at Xiaxia and said indistinctly, “Xia’er, you’ve grown taller. And you’re even prettier than before.”
Xiaxia sighed helplessly. “Don’t talk while you’re eating.”
Han Ye reached out and flicked her forehead. “What’s this? Are you lecturing your big brother now?”
As he spoke, he stuffed another bun into his mouth.
Xiaxia sighed again. “Why can’t I lecture you? Even my brother listens to me.”
Han Ye turned to look at Qin Qiao’an.
Qin Qiao’an was examining Han Ye’s medals. Hearing that, he immediately said, “That’s right. Other than Mom, Xiaxia is the boss of our family. Even Dad has to listen to her.”
Xiaxia was simply too sensible. She was smart, did well in school, was pretty, and always spoke with sound reasoning.
Qin Yuanzheng and Qiao Lanshu doted on her.
Whenever Qin Qiao’an argued with Xiaxia, there was no need to guess who would be blamed. Qin Qiao’an was always the one who got scolded.
So he had no choice but to compromise and listen to Xiaxia. At least that way, he could avoid getting yelled at quite so often.
Qin Yuanzheng neither agreed nor disagreed. He simply doted on his daughter. Besides, Qin Qiao’an was always causing trouble.
More than once, he had congratulated himself that their second child had been a girl instead of another boy.
One son was already enough to drive him crazy.
With so many people in the hospital room, it had become rather crowded.
After chatting with Qin Yuanzheng for a while, Zhou Anping took his leave. After all, he needed to give Qin Yuanzheng’s family some time together.
Zhou Dingwen and Han Ye were both doing quite well, so there was no need to arrange for anyone to stay overnight with them.
After Zhou Anping left, Han Wenlin stayed a while longer.
He called Qin Yuanzheng out into the hallway, closed the door to the hospital room, and walked with him to the end of the corridor.
As they walked, Han Wenlin asked Qin Yuanzheng in a low voice, “Lao Qin, how did it go? What did the doctors in Beijing say this time? Are the test results back?”
Han Wenlin had genuinely been worried about Qin Yuanzheng. Now that he saw Qin Yuanzheng had returned looking perfectly fine, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Qin Yuanzheng nodded slowly. He sighed and lowered his voice as well. “The results are back. They even did a CT scan and took blood samples. Anyway, they ran every test they could.”
Han Wenlin quickly asked, “And? What did the doctor say? Is it serious?”
Qin Yuanzheng walked over to the window and leaned against it. In a low voice, he said, “The doctor looked at the results and said everything was fine. There’s nothing wrong.”
Hearing this, Han Wenlin’s anxious heart finally relaxed. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That’s good news. Are you sure there’s nothing wrong? You don’t need to get checked again?”
Qin Yuanzheng shook his head. He gazed at the lush trees outside the window and said solemnly, “If the doctor says there’s nothing wrong, then there’s nothing wrong. I don’t think I need another examination.”
He didn’t want to go through another examination, either.
Leaning against the window, Han Wenlin was silent for a while before saying worriedly, “You said your abdomen and chest have been aching faintly from time to time lately. If there’s nothing wrong, then why do they hurt? How about seeing a traditional Chinese medicine doctor? Find an old physician to take your pulse.”
Qin Yuanzheng remained silent for a long while before saying, “We’ll talk about it later.”
Then he added, “It’s my own body, and I know it best. You don’t need to worry so much about me. If necessary, I’ll see a doctor.”
Han Wenlin nodded. The two men stood silently by the window for a while. Finally, Han Wenlin let out a long sigh and said, “Ah, we’re getting old. Our bodies just aren’t what they used to be.”
Back when Han Wenlin had been in the army, his physical fitness had been among the best in his company.
If he hadn’t been outstanding, he never would have risen to the rank of regiment commander.
But as the years passed, he was now well into his forties, and his child was almost twenty.
Time waited for no one. He felt old.
His work at the Public Security Bureau had been demanding all these years. Sometimes he had to stay up all night for meetings, and he had begun to realize that his body couldn’t keep up anymore. He was finding it harder and harder to endure the strain.
Qin Yuanzheng remained silent.
How could he not feel troubled, too?
He was in his forties, but his wife was only in her thirties, still young and beautiful.
Teacher Qiao, successful in her career, was very popular at school.
Qin Yuanzheng often felt melancholy as well. Now that he was getting old, would his wife come to dislike him?
He hadn’t been sleeping well this past month, with something weighing on his mind. Whenever he looked in the mirror, he noticed that his temples had already begun to turn gray.
It was frightening.
Qin Yuanzheng stared out the window. After a long while, he sighed, patted Han Wenlin on the shoulder, and said, “Come on. Let’s go back and see the kids.”
Han Wenlin followed him for a few steps, then thought it over and said, “Forget it. I’ll go home first. I’ll come see that brat tomorrow. You all should spend more time with him.”
With that, Han Wenlin sighed. “From the time he was little, you’ve spent more time with him than we have. You know he likes Teacher Qiao, and he likes the two children in your family, too. Spend more time with him. It’ll make him happy.”
Hearing this, Qin Yuanzheng said nothing more. After saying goodbye to Han Wenlin, he returned to the hospital room.
Inside, Han Ye, Zhou Dingwen, and Qin Qiao'an had already finished all the meat buns they had brought.
Qiao Lanshu had packed more than twenty meat buns in two insulated food containers this time.
The three young men had polished off every last one. It was true what they said: raising half-grown boys could eat a family out of house and home.
If there were two more boys in the family, Qiao Lanshu would have started wondering whether she could afford to feed them all.
After finishing the meat buns, Han Ye picked up his chopsticks and went for the braised pork. Like a good buddy, he placed a piece in Zhou Dingwen’s bowl and said, “Come on, try my mom’s braised pork. I’m telling you, my mom’s braised pork is absolutely incredible! Even the restaurants can’t make it as well as she does!”
Life at the border had been tough. Sometimes, when Han Ye missed home in the middle of the night, all he could think about were the meat buns and braised pork Qiao Lanshu made.
He hadn’t eaten them in more than two years, and he had truly been craving them.
Even now that his stomach was full, he felt as though he could keep eating!
Zhou Dingwen tried a piece of braised pork and immediately nodded in praise. “Aunt Qiao’s cooking really is excellent. The pork is so tender and flavorful. It’s just a shame we don’t have any rice.”
Han Ye nodded in agreement. “Exactly! Braised pork is meant to be eaten with rice. But it’s still delicious without rice.”
Qiao Lanshu watched them devour the food and said with a smile, “Then next time I’ll bring rice to go with the braised pork. I didn’t cook any today because I made the buns.”
After all, Han Ye’s favorite foods were buns, steamed rolls, and flower-shaped steamed breads. The only people in the family who preferred rice were Qiao Lanshu and Xiaxia.
Even Qin Qiao'an had northern tastes and preferred noodles and other wheat-based foods.
With his mouth stuffed full, Han Ye still managed to say, “You absolutely have to make braised pork with rice next time! It’s my favorite!”
Qin Qiao'an said to him, “Brother, is there anything you don’t like? You like everything.”
…
Before long, a few more mouthfuls were all it took to finish the braised pork. Then they moved on to the fish.
Young people really did have healthy appetites. They could eat so much and still digest it quickly. None of them ever seemed to complain about being too full.
Qiao Lanshu and Xiaxia sat to one side, watching the three young men fight over the food, their eyes filled with warm affection.
Zhou Dingwen didn’t eat as much as Han Ye. In fact, his thoughts weren’t entirely focused on the food.
He liked talking to Xiaxia. “Xiaxia, Xiaxia.”
Xiaxia turned to look at him, and Zhou Dingwen asked, “What have you been reading lately?”
Xiaxia thought for a moment before answering, “A little bit of everything, though mostly foreign literature.”
She had already read much of the well-known domestic works, as well as many ancient texts. Now that she was in middle school, her teachers often recommended foreign literature, so she had read quite a lot of it—and a wide variety at that.
Zhou Dingwen asked her again, “Have you thought about which university you want to attend in the future?”
Xiaxia was silent for a moment before saying, “Not yet.”
Qiao Lanshu smiled and said, “Try to choose one close to home. Mom would still like you to stay nearby.”
If Xiaxia went to a school too far away, Qiao Lanshu would worry.
Han Ye finished an entire plate of shredded vegetables in sauce. Hearing their conversation, he raised his head and asked Zhou Dingwen, “Wait, why do you keep asking Xiaxia all these questions? She’s still young. How could she possibly have planned that far ahead?”
He paused, then added, “And why do you keep talking to Xiaxia? You two are pretty familiar, aren’t you?”
