Chapter Fifty-Four

  Labor Day, those two years Labor Day was a long holiday, wandering around, can rest for seven days. The lunar calendar is in March, the sunny spring season, the spring light is bright and beautiful, the willows are drooping, this is also the best season for marriage.

  One after another, wedding invitations arrived at the Palace family's table, and the old man felt a headache just by looking at them. Other people's children were either getting married or celebrating their children's full moon, and every time Mr. Gong attended one of these events, he would relive the pain again.

  I attended Old Zhou's son's wedding on Sunday and met Old Zhang from the original 72nd Division at the banquet, who also handed me an invitation for his grandson's full moon celebration.

  That old man, without concealing his pride, said: "My grandson, eight catties and three taels, so chubby, like a small meatball. Now he's sturdy and strong, that's because his mother's milk is good, if it were someone with a thin build, the child would have to drink formula."

  The old master's face was as stiff as if it had been frostbitten, and he couldn't move. Old Zhang, however, continued to talk to himself: "That stinky little kid, this morning I held him and he peed all over me. You smell it, you smell it, there's still a strong smell of child's urine on my chest."

  The neighbor on the right, Old Liu, knows that Palace's daughter, Gong Xi, is still not married. The old man of the Palace family is quite particular about his reputation, and he must be feeling unwell at this moment. His hair has turned white like Mount Changbai, but Old Zhang is still excitedly talking to himself, completely unaware of what's going on.

  "Lao Gong, does your family's Lao Gong have a girlfriend?" Old Liu found a way to interrupt Old Zhang's endless chatter.

  The old man's face was gloomy, he thought for a moment and responded with a single word: "Got it."

  "What? How can it still be considered as having? How can this thing be counted?" Old Zhang asked straightforwardly.

  "Alas!" Old Master Gong sighed.

  "What's wrong? Is the girl all right?"

  The old duke shook his head.

  "Is it because of a bad family background?"

  The old man shook his head again.

  "What's wrong with that? Actually, as long as the kids like it, don't interfere too much as an elder."

  The old man sighed and said: "I don't want to either, isn't this just taking it for granted?"

  "That's it, then. Guan Xi is already so big, hurry up and get married. Once he gets married, you can also hold your grandchild sooner. I'm telling you, that little thing, that's the fun part..."

  Old Zhang started talking about his grandson again, boasting about him as if he were a treasure.

  Lao Liu looked at Palace Old Master's face getting more and more haggard, without any spirit, and couldn't help but ask: "Old Palace, what's wrong after all? Don't they want to get married? I heard that nowadays many young people are playing something, what's it called... cohabiting without getting married. Is your family's Palace Xi like that too?"

  "Which is it? If only it were that simple." His son's affairs had truly gotten on the nerves of this old father, who had been an official for half his life.

  The old man was annoyed: "Now they are in two different places, he found that one... has a career, not to mention living together, even if it's just for a year, they won't see each other. And, and, sigh..." The old man sighed again, "Anyway, I'm not satisfied with this, even if he comes back, they won't give me a grandson. Sigh!"

  "Oh..."

  Old Zhang and Old Liu nodded in understanding.

  "It's nothing, simple."

  "Ah?" Old Master Gong raised his head and thought, what do you know, it's simple.

  "Isn't it just that she can't bear children? Is it your family's Guixi or that girl?" Old Zhang asked, leaning in close to Lao Gong.

  The old man's face turned green with regret for being too impulsive and saying those things earlier.

  "It doesn't matter anyway, now whether it's **weak or that woman's problem, they're all easily treatable, there are so many hospitals and ads every day for treating infertility."

  "Yes, yes, there are many hospitals like this nowadays."

  "It's just that it won't work, and then there's the test-tube baby, that thing, I've heard you can try it repeatedly, and eventually you'll have a successful embryo."

  This remark reminded Guo Xi's father, who thought to himself that this idea wasn't bad either, better than holding someone else's child. He heard Guo Xi say that he didn't want to take the child away from its mother, fearing it would hurt the child's heart.

  If this method works, it's not bad either, after all, it's his own son's kind.

  The old palace looks better now.

  "Right, I told you, don't worry, your children will have their own blessings. Some people said they couldn't get pregnant before marriage, but after getting married for a short while, without any treatment, they got pregnant. Isn't that Old Liu?"

  "Yes, yes, but no."

  Old brothers, usually retired and idle, are willing to gather together and chat more, and it's better than staying at home alone.

  But Grandpa Dian's mood wasn't that great, he was just a little happy, then heard someone else's family didn't have to go through so much trouble, one boy and one girl, said to give birth and they gave birth, sigh!

  He couldn't help but let out another sigh.

  The other two were puzzled, what's going on, the old palace that was once proud and arrogant, why is it now like a frost-bitten eggplant, always sighing?

  "What's wrong, Old Palace? Why the sigh?"

  "What's wrong? Is there anything else bothering you?"

  The two men asked strangely.

  "Sigh, it's hard to put into words. Anyway, I'm not satisfied. But my son likes it, and I have no choice. Honestly, my son is like a debt collector, always on my case every day."

  "Oh..."

  The two people met again by chance.

  "Old General, you said you've been a general for your whole life."

  "Is it that after a lifetime of leading troops in battle, you can't even handle the affairs of these two little brats?"

  "What do you think we should do?"

  "Aren't they apart now?"

  "Yes. But that year, I took Gong Xi abroad and stayed for three years, just came back, the two of them got together again."

  "That's you, one move away from checkmate."

  "Right! The superior man uses his intellect."

  "What's the plan?"

  "The Beauty Trap."

  The wedding banquet is over, and Lao Gong invited his two older brothers to the teahouse. The three old soldiers studied together how to deal with Gong Xi's love problem.

  "Isn't your family doctor retired now?"

  Yes indeed.

  "You just need to find a young and beautiful girl with a satisfactory family background, and have her move into your house. Make sure to explain things clearly to her beforehand. As people say, 'a man chasing after a woman is like crossing mountains, but a woman chasing after a man is like crossing silk fabrics'."

  Mr. Guo's eyes lit up as if he saw a glimmer of hope. If Mr. Guo had a choice, he would choose a daughter-in-law over a son.

  "But what if it doesn't work?"

  The old man suddenly remembered, it turned out that Gong Xi saw his own cold eyes, the flesh and blood relationship, the kind of hatred from a son to himself, was too chilling.

  "No way, it's not that simple..." Old Zhang whispered in Palace Old Master's ear, chattering on for a bit, then smiled slyly: "The raw rice has all been cooked into steamed rice for him, how could he not do it?"

  "After all, men are like that, we all know. As long as you keep him warm and full, take good care of his stomach, after a long time, which woman isn't the same?"

  "It is, it is."

  Old Liu also nodded in agreement.

  Grandpa Wang thought for a moment and seemed to have seen hope. What is love in this world? After living together for so many years, the feelings that have been ground out are indeed love.

  It's not important who a man thinks about in his heart, but rather who he sleeps with by his side.

  The old man began to look for suitable candidates.

  Lucky wrote letters to Gong Xi, already filling two thick books.

  At first, the lucky ones were all very short, but later on, I don't know how to get used to it. Every night after dinner, the first thing is to sit at the table, pick up his book, and record everything he did and thought today, just like Palace Joy sitting next to him, chatting with him like this.

  He told Guan Xi that he had been eating soy sauce fried rice for three consecutive days, because the snow was melting after the spring opened, and the stones on the top of the mountain were washed down, blocking the road, no one came to deliver vegetables, they could only make do with it.

  He also said, Gong Xi, I never want to eat fish again. Here in winter, every day we have dried seafood, now the smell of seafood makes me want to vomit.

  Lucky fluffy fluffy wrote are all thoughts of missing you.

  Jiayu is busy every day, pulling connections and finding ways to get into the base, with thoughts of longing in her mind every day.

  Days are still passing one by one, but the road is not easy to find. The life on the island is also busy and hard every day. The current situation cannot be changed.

  Everyone says it's hard to find a three-legged frog, but two-legged people are all over the streets.

  But all these people on the street are not necessarily the ones you're looking for.

  Want to find a beautiful and virtuous one, who can also seduce men, but not too flirtatious, must know that she is going to be the daughter-in-law, and pretend to be her own "family doctor", clearly just dating but pretending to be secretly in love.

  Where can you find such a lovely young girl?

  However, in this world, there are many things called coincidences. The more bizarre the event, the more likely someone will respond and be willing to do it.

  Old Zhang arranged this matter for less than half a year and met such a girl, who was beautiful, dignified, and at the right age of 23. Her family background was also good, being relatives of the Zhang family, with her parents being teachers, coming from a scholarly family. The girl was indeed studying medicine, but after graduation, she had not found a way to get into a good hospital, so Old Zhang told his family about it, of course, embellishing the story again.

  The girl's parents were satisfied with Gu Xiang's family background, and the girl had seen Gu Xiang's photo, who was tall and handsome, and also quite dignified.

  Everyone agreed.

  Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the girl had already moved into Gong Xi's home.

  Gong Xi was busy sending gifts to relevant departments before the festival and took the opportunity to run his own lucky affairs, every day busy until his feet were numb.

  By the time he realized there was an additional family doctor at home, the girl had already been with the Gong family for a week.

  It was Mid-Autumn Festival that day, and Gong Xi's dad called him early to tell him he must come home for dinner that night, so Gong Xi hurried back home.

  As soon as I entered, I saw a slender figure with her back to me. The girl had long hair that reached her waist and was braided into a thick plait, giving off an ethereal and picturesque feeling without even turning around.

  The girl heard footsteps and turned around to see Gong Xi already standing at the door, staring at her.

  The girl smiled slightly, her eyebrows and eyes curved like a crescent moon, with bright eyes and white teeth, shining brightly.

  "Brother Wang, you're back."

  The sound is as pleasant as a silver bell.