Back To The 80s-Chapter 526 - 518: First Test_1

Upon seeing Chen Qiumei and Gu Weimin enter the courtyard with a smile, Xiaobei felt a sudden thump in his heart.

Wen Xiuqing hurriedly greeted with a smile: "Come and sit down quickly. Food has just been served, and we haven’t started eating yet. Today, Xiaolan’s mom is visiting from the Capital City." After finishing, she hurriedly went into the room to fetch the stools.

Chen Qiumei, acting familiar, walked up to Zhou Siping with a smile and said, "So you’re Xiaolan’s mom. Xiaolan takes after you, so beautiful. One would think you’re not even fifty yet."

Zhou Siping, flattered, laughed, "You certainly know how to speak. I’m almost sixty, come, please sit."

Without washing her hands, Chen Qiumei took a seat facing north - the seat of honor that everyone had been saving for a while. Not forgetting to summon Zhou Siping, she said, "Sister-in-law, come and sit. You’re much older than me, you won’t mind if I call you sister-in-law, right?"

"Why should I mind?" Zhou Siping replied, taking a seat quite a distance away from Chen Qiumei.

Gu Weimin washed his hands and said to Lu Songyuan, who was seated on the kang: "Old leader, shall I help you over?"

"No need, I can walk now. Let’s go and sit down." Lu Songyuan waved his hand, slowly stood up and strode firmly to the dining table.

Seeing the table laden with food, Chen Qiumei was infuriated. Looking at the colorful mix of chicken and fish, and remembering the bare few dishes when they had last visited, she thought this was an insult. Her mood soured and her demeanor hardened.

Watching Chen Qiumei eat without speaking and appearing unhappy, Xiaobei was somewhat puzzled. What act was she playing?

Wen Xiuqing sat between Zhou Siping and Chen Qiumei, making sure always to serve the both of them. Chen Qiumei kept track, noticing that Zhou Siping was asked to get a serving five times but she was only asked four times. This further provoked her dissatisfaction.

Gu Weimin and Lu Songyuan were engaged in very pleasant conversation, continuously discussing the various battles they had been in, reminiscing about those days when they found joy amidst hardship.

Zhanguo silently ate his meal, observing Gu Weimin and Chen Qiumei without any expression. Suddenly, he said to Zhou Siping, "Auntie Bai, we will be going to train at Cat Mountain next week. The training will last for a week, you can stay at our house during this time."

After he finished speaking, he noticed Gu Weimin slightly tremble while picking food with his chopsticks. To cover this brief error, Gu Weimin said with a smile, "You guys are really busy with your training now, Zhanguo?"

"Yes, especially in peacetime, we should never let down our guard." Zhanguo replied, then lowered his head to eat.

Zhou Siping said with a smile, "That sounds great, I can help look after Xiaobei’s child in the evening."

Chen Qiumei sneered, "If I weren’t so busy, I could have come over to help Xiaobei with the child." She was unhappy with Zhanguo for not inviting her to stay at their house either.

After dinner, Chen Qiumei and Gu Weimin decided to leave after sitting for a while.

Chen Qiumei called Xiaobei out, she had something to say.

In front of all these people, Xiaobei couldn’t decline without offending Chen Qiumei, so he reluctantly followed her out of the gate.

Chen Qiumei walked another twenty or thirty meters before stopping. She turned towards Xiaobei who was slowly dragging his feet and vented her dissatisfaction, "Can’t you be a little more tactful? Look at the way your in-laws treat me compared to Bai Xiaolan’s mom. It’s completely different. Can’t you see that? They look down on our family, yet you continue to give in."

Only then did Xiaobei realise the reason for Chen Qiumei’s anger. He looked at the unreasonable Chen Qiumei and said, "When you came, there were no vegetables available, but we still made meat and fish. It wasn’t that much worse, right?"

Chen Qiumei scoffed, "Stop it, do I not know any better? Also, Zhanguo invited someone else’s mom to your house and didn’t even mention inviting me and your father. Unbelievable." She said, her tone getting fierce.

Gu Weimin frowned from the side and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Let’s go if there’s nothing else, stop prattling on."

Chen Qiumei gave Gu Weimin an unhappy stare and said to Xiaobei, "Go back and think about it. Would your parents deceive you? Think about it carefully or else you will regret it."

Xiaobei didn’t argue and simply stood there listening to Chen Qiumei’s lecture.

Finally, having grown intolerant, Gu Weimin grabbed Chen Qiumei and left.

Xiaobei watched the backs of the two, his heart churned with an inexplicable sadness. Shaking his head, he turned and walked into the courtyard.

Seeing everyone sitting beneath the grapevines and sipping tea, Zhanguo indicated Ji Xiangdong to follow him inside.

Once inside the house, Ji Xiangdong said, "Any progress?"

Zhanguo nodded, "I’m going to test him."

Ji Xiangdong frowned: "Could they really have mistaken you for the target and got the wrong person?"

"No, I suspect they deliberately targeted you to confuse our vision," Zhanguo said, sitting on the edge of the kang. He looked at the grown-ups laughing under the grapevines, and the three children playing on the ground. He wouldn’t let anyone disturb this picture of happiness, so he could no longer wait.

"Won’t testing them lead to alerting them?"

"Instead of sitting and waiting, it’s better to take the initiative. Stirring up the grass may frighten the snake, giving us an opportunity to catch it in the chaos," Zhanguo firmly stated.

"Then be careful. I won’t ask for more details, just make sure to not get hurt," Ji Xiangdong patted his shoulder and said.

"Rest assured."

Zhanguo didn’t reveal his doubts about Gu Weimin to Ji Xiangdong. He didn’t want to make Xiaobei uncomfortable. What could be more painful than having such calculating parents?

・・・

In the afternoon, while bringing his child home from kindergarten, Xiaobei sighed. "I hope Gu Xiaodong can be released from prison soon. Then my parents will shift their focus and stop continually targeting me."

Zhanguo consoled him, "They wouldn’t dare to cross the line for now. Just hold on a bit longer."

Suddenly Xiaobei laughed and said, "Do you think there might come a day when I can’t bear it anymore and end up being stigmatized as unfilial? Then, I get pointed at and talked about by many people. Some righteous people may even stand up and throw rotten vegetable leaves at me."

"Stop having these absurd thoughts. Didn’t you also say that there is karmic retribution for every deed?"

Xiaobei glanced at Zhanguo, laughing, "Our great materialist also believes in karma?"

Zhanguo chose to remain silent and continued walking home carrying Xiaopang. This stubborn little woman... she’s just too adorable.

・・・

On Monday morning, a light rain began to fall.

Zhanguo, returning from his leave, called for an urgent meeting with the other two squad leaders who weren’t on a mission and ordered an immediate assembly to train at Cat Mountain.

The few administrative staff in the office were somewhat puzzled. As they hurriedly packed their stuff, they whispered amongst themselves:

"Why are we also joining the field training exercises?"

"Right, we didn’t hear of any field training exercises recently."

"What terrible luck, having to go in this wretched weather." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

On the playground, the assembly whistle blew sharply. The whispering men promptly stopped their discussion and rushed out.