Chronicle of the 70s-Chapter 383 - 360: Suspicion

On the way home, Li Xianglu recalled Chou Xue’s resume once more.

years old, graduated from the finance and economics college in the capital of Beihai Province; her ancestral home is also in Beihai. Both parents had passed away, and she lived with her grandpa, who also passed away later. Now, she’s all on her own, with an aunt in Huai County. According to her, she wanted to be closer to relatives, which is why she took a job at a bank in Huai County.

Under normal circumstances, Li Xianglu would never suspect Chou Xue or think today’s incident was man-made.

But with dangers looming before and behind at home, the old lady had given countless warnings—nearly to the point of preferring to kill a thousand suspects than let one go free.

So, even if Chou Xue wasn’t suspicious, Li Xianglu still needed to be extra vigilant.

After returning, Sister Su was anxiously standing at the gate. Li Xianglu hurried forward, and Sister Su, upon seeing her, relaxed and half-embraced her, guiding her towards the yard while chiding, "You girl, what time is it now? I even called the bank, they said you left an hour ago, why have you come back so late?"

Li Xianglu smiled and said, "I was thinking of buying some braised pig’s head meat, but the store was closed. Just when I was about to head back, I saw that a new co-worker had sprained her ankle and lost her keys. I had no choice but to drop her off at a hotel, hence the delay."

Sister Su frowned upon hearing this, "What a coincidence that is, your new co-worker is really unlucky." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Li Xianglu didn’t answer; she just gave a faint smile. Indeed, it was far too coincidental, unsettlingly so.

Upon entering the house, Sister Su brought Li Xianglu a big bowl of chicken soup wontons, and while watching her eat, she said, "I was worried because Ba Yibao called you. Today is the kids’ birthday. How could you, as their mother, not think to give them a call?"

It then dawned on Li Xianglu, indeed, New Year’s Day was tomorrow. Three years ago, around this time of the night, she had started to feel the urgent pangs of labor, and four hours later, she had the cesarean section that brought two sweet little troublemakers into the world.

After quickly finishing the wontons, Li Xianglu was about to make a call when the phone rang. She picked it up quickly, and the person on the other end, not expecting such a prompt answer, paused before cheerfully shouting, "Mom!" Then another voice also called out "Mom." At that moment, Li Xianglu felt a stinging sensation in her eyes and an urge to cry—one could never understand a mother’s love for her children unless one has been a mother.

After the mother and sons chatted on the phone for half an hour, they hung up reluctantly, and that was only after Li Xianglu had agreed to many unequal treaties.

Seeing the tear stains at the corners of Li Xianglu’s eyes, Sister Su consoled her, "Why not go back home earlier this year?"

Li Xianglu wiped away the tears and smiled, "It’ll be the same as last year. Take a month off, leave half a month early, and return on the fifteenth."

Sister Su smiled, "Then take a plane back. The journey is too long otherwise."

Li Xianglu smiled and looked at the dark night sky, then at the clock—it was already half-past nine in the evening. She still had no idea where Qin Xi had gotten to.

Seeing Sister Su starting to clean up the dishes, Li Xianglu said, "Sister Su, leave the washing for tomorrow. Go wash up and rest. When Qin Xi gets back, I’ll just make him a bowl of wontons."

Sister Su glanced at the time, nodded, and responded, "Alright then, I’ll head back to my place. Call me if you need anything."

Once Sister Su had left, Li Xianglu entered the kitchen, promptly made a pot of chicken soup wontons, served them into a bowl, and one by one, put them into the Storage Ring. Only then did she contently return to the living room, boil some water on the iron stove, wash her feet, and then carried a thermos of hot water back to her room.

It wasn’t until after ten o’clock that Li Xianglu heard a knock at the door. Putting on her military coat, she quickly went to open the door, only to find Qin Xi and Leng Qing had come back together. Upon inquiry, she learned that Leng Qing had made a delivery to the Provincial City, and on their way back, the two vehicles happened to travel one behind the other.

Li Xianglu and Leng Qing came in. After that, Hu Zi bolted the door behind them.

Li Xianglu saw that everyone had gone to the living room to get some water to wash up, so she quickly brought out a few bowls of wontons from the Storage Ring and took them to the living room.

Leng Qing saw the steaming hot wontons and said, "Wow, the soup has been kept hot."

Li Xianglu smiled and nodded, "Eat up quickly; they won’t taste good if they get cold."

The three of them washed their hands and sat down to eat heartily. Hu Zi even poured half a bowl more into his bowl, eating so fast it was as if he hadn’t eaten for days.

Qin Xi wasn’t slow either. The two men ate a bowl and a half before they finally felt content and started to drink the soup.

It was getting late, the cast-iron stoves in their rooms had gone out, so they added a few pieces of burning coal to each and got them going before going to rest.

As he washed his feet, Qin Xi asked Li Xianglu, "Did the kids call you today on their birthday?"

Li Xianglu laughingly said, "They should be the ones receiving calls on their birthdays, not me. The two Little Demon Stars are upset I didn’t call them."

Qin Xi laughed and said, "Giving birth to them was much harder for you than it is for most mothers, it’s actually your ’Hard Mother’s Day’. They should be calling you; what else do they want?"

Li Xianglu was quite pleased with Qin Xi’s comment and nodded, "You should talk to your son about that. The two little ones are quite mad at me for not calling them today."

After finishing washing, Qin Xi got into bed and hugged her, kissing her forehead, "Wife, you’ve worked hard!"

Li Xianglu stretched out comfortably, settled into a cozy position, and was about to go to sleep when she remembered the evening’s events and started telling Qin Xi about them while lying in his arms.

Qin Xi finished listening and frowned, "What a coincidence, huh?"

Li Xianglu’s mouth curled up in a smile, "Exactly, it’s not like I go to West River Dam to buy pork heads every day."

Qin Xi’s expression turned cold, "Who is this Chou Xue?"

Li Xianglu recounted Chou Xue’s background to him, and after listening, Qin Xi thought for a while and said, "I’ll have someone look into it, see if there’s anything suspicious about her. You might want to keep your distance for now. As for me, I won’t be going to the provincial city before the New Year. I’ll be in the county, picking you up and dropping you off morning and evening."

Li Xianglu nodded, "Okay, when will you be back for the New Year?"

Qin Xi thought for a moment and said, "This year the ’Send Warmth’ campaign is continuing. I’ve coordinated with the military district; they go to the capital every five days. You can just take a flight back. I’ll try to come back on the 29th."

Li Xianglu wasn’t entirely happy with this ’try’, but as it was the busiest time for administrative work, there wasn’t much that could be done. As a wife, she had to support her husband’s career, so she just pouted a bit in protest.

Qin Xi, however, started tickling Li Xianglu inside her nightgown with a grin, "Wife, give me a chance to redeem myself."

Li Xianglu was getting sleepy and pushed him away slightly with annoyance, "Stop it, I’m not even mad. There’s no need for you to redeem yourself."

Qin Xi persisted shamelessly, "Come on, you are mad."

"No, I’m really not mad. Ah!"