"Qingqing?"
"Qingqing—"
The two brothers grew more and more pleased as they repeated the name, both utterly charmed by it.
"Brother, Qingqing sounds like such a sweet baby," Little Second Son exclaimed happily, clapping his hands.
The Eldest Boy nodded in agreement, adding emphatically, "Qingqing is already a sweet baby."
The auditorium was stuffy and hot, but the little sister didn’t fuss at all.
She drank her milk, slept, and had her diaper changes on a perfectly regular schedule.
While many children had fallen ill with fevers these past few days, their sister remained completely unaffected.
As Auntie Jiang put it, the little girl was practically an angel baby.
"You two are good boys too," Hu Meili said.
While she adored having a daughter, both the Eldest Boy and Little Second Son were her own flesh and blood.
She had no intention of playing favorites.
So, while praising her sons for their good behavior, Hu Meili pulled them into her arms and planted loud kisses on their cheeks.
Their faces instantly turned as red as monkey bottoms.
Snapping back to reality, the brothers quickly grabbed their belongings.
"Mom, you hold Qingqing tight. We’ll carry the bags."
The two of them skipped along the way, their joy unmistakable.
Jiang Si was also in high spirits.
Just moments ago, Huo Tingzhou had brought her wonderful news.
The dozen or so young soldiers who had been severely injured showed no serious complications after surgery.
From the looks of it, amputation wouldn’t be necessary.
Unfortunately, her happiness didn’t last long.
After escorting Third Grandpa and Uncle Zhong to the entrance of the family compound,
just as they were about to head home, someone called out to her.
"Comrade Jiang?"
Jiang Si turned to look.
It was Li Mei and Old Lady Xiang.
She had heard about the vicious fight between these two in the auditorium a few days ago.
Rumor had it that Old Lady Xiang had declared that as soon as her son returned, she would force the couple to divorce.
What was even more absurd was that before the divorce was even finalized,
Old Lady Xiang had already been scouring the compound for a new wife for her son.
If not for Director Pan reprimanding her and asking whether she wanted people to think Deputy Battalion Commander Xiang was fooling around outside,
the old woman would have caused even more of a scene.
Still, given how badly these two had fought, it was baffling to see them standing together now as if nothing had happened.
One thing was certain, though—
They were up to no good.
Sure enough, the moment the thought crossed her mind, Old Lady Xiang stepped forward.
Jiang Si expected at least some polite small talk, but the old woman didn’t even give her a chance to speak.
She thrust the baby toward Jiang Si. "Comrade Jiang, my grandson is almost ten days old, but he still can’t hear a thing! I’m beside myself with worry!"
"You have no idea—our Chunsheng is the sixth generation of single-line heirs. We finally got a boy, and now this…"
Jiang Si frowned. "Auntie Xiang, I’m not a doctor. Telling me this won’t help. What you need to do is take the child to the military hospital for a checkup."
Old Lady Xiang knew full well they should go to the hospital.
But when Li Mei had taken the baby to the doctor a few days ago, the diagnosis was immediate.
The child’s condition was obvious—no tests were needed.
The doctor bluntly stated that the baby was likely born with severe congenital deafness.
There was no point wasting money on treatment. It would be better to save up for a reputable deaf school and rehabilitation training when the child was older.
But Li Mei hadn’t breathed a word of this to Old Lady Xiang.
So the old woman still believed that surgery could fix the problem when the child was older.
With that in mind, Old Lady Xiang cut straight to the point.
"Comrade Jiang, we’ve already seen a doctor. They said the baby’s too young for surgery now, so we have to wait."
"We want to try a folk remedy first, but we’re missing a few ingredients."
"I heard you have some ginseng. We don’t need much—just ten or twenty slices."
"If the baby shows any improvement…"
Jiang Si couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted.
"I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with this."
She had plenty of ginseng, but the child was so young.
What if something went wrong after feeding him an untested remedy? Who would take responsibility?
Jiang Si didn’t want to assume the worst, but given the absurd stunts these two had pulled before,
she had to be cautious.
Besides, as far as she knew, there was no surgery to restore hearing.
Even in the future, the solution would be cochlear implants.
China didn’t perform its first cochlear implant surgery until the early 1990s.
And how did Old Lady Xiang even know about the ginseng?
Very few people were aware of it, and Huo Tingzhou had specifically instructed the military doctors to keep it quiet.
Before Jiang Si could piece it together, Old Lady Xiang stared at her in disbelief.
"Comrade Jiang, we’re all part of the same compound. What’s the harm in helping us?"
"You gave the military doctors so many slices—what’s ten or eight to us?"
"If nothing else, we’ll pay for it!"
Jiang Si shot her a cold look.
There it was—the guilt-tripping before anything had even happened.
If something did go wrong, they’d skin her alive.
Before she could respond, Huo Tingzhou spoke up, his tone quietly authoritative.
"You’re Deputy Battalion Commander Xiang’s mother?"
Old Lady Xiang didn’t understand why he was asking.
"Y-yes, what about it?"
Huo Tingzhou: "Where did you hear that my wife has ginseng?"
At this, Li Mei’s face paled.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Old Lady Xiang pointed at her first.
"Ask her. She’s the one who told me."
Huo Tingzhou’s gaze shifted to Li Mei.
She swayed slightly on her feet, stammering, "I... I heard it from someone else."
Huo Tingzhou didn’t let her off the hook. "From who?"
"There were too many people around. I can’t remember which sister-in-law said it first."
"What do you mean you can’t remember?" Old Lady Xiang snapped, disgusted by her cowardice.
"What’s there to hide?"
Then, turning back to Jiang Si, she said accusingly, "She heard about the ginseng straight from the doctor when she went to see him!"
Li Mei looked like she wanted to strangle the old woman on the spot.
But the worst was yet to come.
This time, it was Jiang Si who spoke.
"Auntie, was it also Li Mei who told you about this folk remedy?"
Old Lady Xiang blinked in surprise. "How did you know?"
Jiang Si smirked, glancing at Li Mei.
Whatever drama these two had between them was their own business.
Jiang Si didn’t want to interfere, nor was it any of her business.
But that was on the condition that no one came to disgust her.
