The little ones were still too young to make wishes themselves, so Jiang Si and Huo Tingzhou had to do it for them.
The two of them clasped their hands together earnestly and piously made wishes on behalf of their two precious babies.
After blowing out the candles, Jiang Si and Huo Tingzhou each took hold of one little one's hand.
"Alright, let's start cutting the cake!"
After cutting the cake, Huo Tingzhou distributed pieces to everyone.
As for the two little ones, Jiang Si also gave each of them a tiny bit.
Children in this era weren't raised as meticulously as in later times; there wasn't this notion of not being allowed to eat this or that.
Go back another ten years, and as long as something could fill your stomach, you'd even chew up grass and swallow it.
Of course, Jiang Si didn't give them much.
Just one small spoonful each.
Tasting the sweet, smooth cream cake for the first time, the two little ones' eyes lit up.
In no time, they had finished the cake on their spoons.
So yummy~~
Not enough~~
And so, two pairs of big, dark, sparkling eyes immediately turned to look at the cake... in everyone else's hands.
This...
The Old Master and Third Granduncle held their plates of cake, looking at their great-grandchildren's pitiful, pleading eyes, feeling quite torn.
Father Huo and Mother Huo were even worse; if it were anything else, they would have long since been tempted to feed it right into the little mouths.
But Jiang Si had already given everyone a heads-up beforehand: the children were still small and could only have a taste.
After all, it was all vegetable cream, and too much would be hard on their little stomachs.
Seeing this, the adults could only harden their hearts and, under the stunned gazes of the two little ones, eat the cake themselves.
Suisui: "???"
Zhaozhao: "!!!"
Fortunately, there were plenty of delicious treats and fun toys at home.
Soon, the little ones' attention was captured by the wide array of gifts.
In the evening, after seeing off all the guests and tidying up the living room, Jiang Si finally found the time to count the red envelopes received that day.
She was only halfway through when Huo Tingzhou, fresh from washing up, came up and pressed close behind her.
"Wife."
Warm breath brushed her ear. Jiang Si giggled and dodged to the side.
"That tickles! Stop fooling around, I need to finish counting these red packets. Otherwise, if I wait too long, I'll forget."
"It's fine, I'll help you count." Huo Tingzhou buried his face in the crook of her neck. "I'll count, you record."
Jiang Si patted his hand with a laugh. "No need, I'll do it myself."
The joy of counting money—how could a man understand?
Huo Tingzhou didn't say anything more.
When she was almost done, he gathered up the opened red envelopes from the bed and put them away neatly.
"Wife, what wish did you make today?"
Hearing this, Jiang Si paused in her actions.
To be honest, in that moment, she had too many wishes she wanted to make, but in the end, she settled on just eight words.
"What eight words?"
"Love, support, no illness, no disaster."
Don't be fooled by just eight words; it was actually quite a greedy wish.
"What about you? What did you wish for?" Jiang Si asked.
Huo Tingzhou hesitated for a moment.
Finally, under Jiang Si's curious gaze, he gave in.
"Also eight words."
"Which eight?"
"That my wife's dreams come true."
Jiang Si was taken aback for a second upon hearing this, then the corners of her mouth lifted high.
The next moment, she tilted her head up and kissed his chin.
Between husband and wife, there are little intimacies or secret signals known only to them.
And this was one.
Almost instantly, Huo Tingzhou's eyes darkened, and he reached over to switch off the bedside lamp.
...
After the first birthday celebration, the lively days began to settle into calm.
Spurred on by his son, Huo Tingzhou went to the training base early the next morning.
Jiang Si took a day to rest at home.
Fortunately, there wasn't much going on at her unit now; she just needed to visit the construction site occasionally each day.
In her free time, she took her two sisters-in-law to tour all the major and minor scenic spots in Capital City.
Luckily, October was neither too hot nor too cold, making it convenient for outings anywhere.
But come the weekend, when the three—no, four—men who should have returned from the training base (Eldest Brother Huo had also arrived in Capital City with the people from the Xinjiang Military Region three days prior, though it was too rushed for his wife to come along this time)...
The door opened, and seeing only Deputy Regiment Commander Lei return alone, Xu Mingjuan was quite surprised.
"How come you're back alone? Don't they have leave today?"
"They do, but they said they wanted to do extra training."
Compared to the urgency of Sister-in-law Hu's family situation, Deputy Regiment Commander Lei's transfer to another military region wasn't as pressing.
Their Little Stone wasn't even one year old yet, still several years away from starting elementary school.
The couple had discussed it and decided to use these next few years to earn more military merits, aiming to transfer to Capital City before he starts school.
It wasn't that Xu Mingjuan didn't feel for her husband, she just thought it didn't seem right for him to come back alone when everyone else was doing extra training.
Deputy Regiment Commander Lei gave a simple smile and didn't explain. He proactively took their son.
Little Stone was currently learning to walk. The moment he opened his eyes each day, he wanted to get down on the floor. His energy was frighteningly boundless.
It really was quite a strain on the back after a whole day.
"Oh, right, wife, let me tell you something."
Deputy Regiment Commander Lei said while guiding the child to take steps, "The temperature has been a bit cool these past couple of nights. How about you and the other sisters-in-law pack a couple of extra pieces of clothing? I can take them over to Old Huo and Old Xiao."
How could Xu Mingjuan not understand her own man?
She looked at him with a knowing smile. "What were their exact words?"
Deputy Regiment Commander Lei was startled. "How did you know?"
Xu Mingjuan didn't even have the heart to expose him fully.
Normally, what he wore or took when going out was all packed by her. When had he ever worried about such things?
Besides, she hadn't even felt cold.
How could a few grown men be afraid of the cold!
Deputy Regiment Commander Lei hadn't thought that far. He repeated Huo Tingzhou's words verbatim.
Sister-in-law Xu laughed upon hearing it. "Pack what?"
"Not packing them?"
Alright, there was no point explaining it clearly to him.
Sister-in-law Xu simply waved her hand. "Don't worry about this. I know what to do."
And so, the next day, after Deputy Regiment Commander Lei returned to his unit, she told Jiang Si and the others about this.
If this were in the past, Hu Meili would definitely have complained—wasn't this just making trouble for people?
But right now, the whole family was pulling together with a shared purpose.
So Hu Meili, without a second word, packed a few thicker jackets.
If there had been enough time, she would have even planned to knit a scarf for her Old Xiao herself.
Jiang Si didn't know how to knit things like that, so she simply went back and packed a few pieces of clothing.
With the major competition approaching, the army had rules: all participants were strictly forbidden from dining outside.
She didn't pack any meals, but Jiang Si separately packed a few apples for him.
As she was about to leave, seeing the two little ones looking at her with pitiful, longing eyes...
Jiang Si's heart softened. And so, she ended up taking the two little ones along as well.
At that moment, at a certain flight training base in the southern suburbs of Capital City.
A group of men were sweating profusely on the training field.
Seeing Huo Tingzhou, who had just completed a low-altitude flight training exercise, jump down from the plane and immediately jog over to join the physical training group, the others from different divisions who were resting on the spot immediately wore pained expressions.
"Are the guys from the Fourth Division trying to kill us?"
"Sigh."
Someone sighed resignedly and struggled to his feet. "Stop complaining. Let's just train."
"Otherwise, when the competition comes, if we lose too badly, it'll be our own unit's face that's lost."
That's what was said, but someone still couldn't help muttering, "Don't they ever rest?"
Right at that moment, a guard from the gate post hurried over. "Reporting, Regimental Commander Huo, your wife..."
Before he could finish, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes.
The guard was momentarily dazed.
Just now, vaguely, seemingly, perhaps, something had flashed past his vision—
