Chapter 8: Deep Affection for the Calves

  Zhang Peng and Zhang Qin finally arrived at Jiangcheng Station in the afternoon after a night and a day of bumps, and the siblings carried their luggage towards the exit. Yan Xiufang was restless all day, thinking about her youngest son: he was so young when she sent him to the countryside for six or seven years, and she had never visited him before, did he hate her????? After thinking wildly for an afternoon, she decided not to think about it anymore, called a car, and went straight to the station to wait.

  Zhang Peng, although young, felt like a man and rushed to carry a large package, following the crowded crowd out of the station. Zhang Qin stretched her neck to look around to see who was picking her up.

  "Mom, we're over here!" Zhang Qin saw Yan Xiufang and shouted while squeezing in that direction.

  Zhang Peng hadn't seen his mother in many years, but he still recognized the anxious-looking female soldier as his mother based on his intuition. The vague figure buried deep in his heart suddenly became clear, and he remembered the scene of being held in his mother's arms when he was a child.

  Yan Xiufang also saw them and hurried over quickly. Yan Xiufang looked at her old son, who had grown taller, already reaching her chin, and had become a young man; wearing a blue hand-woven woolen sweater that fit well, with a pair of "thousand-layered" cotton shoes on his feet; looking very handsome, seemingly still like his mother.

  "Mom!" Zhang Peng exclaimed involuntarily. Yan Xiufang's tears could no longer be held back, and she pulled Zhang Peng tightly into her arms.

  Yan Xiufang pulled Zhang Peng onto the car, sitting in the back row, and Zhang Qinqin sat in the front passenger seat. Yan Xiufang still held Zhang Peng's hand tightly, as if afraid that if she let go, her newly met son would disappear again. Zhang Peng leaned gently on his mother's shoulder, feeling the long-lost warmth of his mother's body.

  Zhang Quanyi rushed home as soon as he got off work today, and saw that the child had not been picked up yet, only Zhang Ke, the third elder, was at home. After changing his clothes and drinking some water, he thought about how he hadn't fulfilled his responsibilities as a father to Eldest Fifth for so many years, and felt uneasy, pacing back and forth in the living room. Zhang Ke couldn't help but laugh at her father's appearance, even a commander who commands thousands of troops has moments like this. She remembered that her younger brother, who was always sickly and thin like a small cat, had become what kind of person over the years, and Zhang Ke couldn't help but feel a little distracted as she thought about it.

  "We're back! Come quick!" Suddenly, Zhang Qin's shout came from the courtyard.

  "Welcome back, old five! Warm welcome to our home's old five returning to the team, welcome Zhang Qin completing his mission and triumphantly returning!" Zhang Quanyi heard the shouting and quickly rushed into the courtyard, clapping his hands excitedly.

  "Dad!" Zhang Peng called out in a trembling voice.

  "Ah!" Zhang Quanyi responded loudly, it was a common phenomenon in the troops that children who had been separated from their parents for many years did not call them "Dad", Zhang Peng's performance made Zhang Quanyi feel quite comforted.

  "Haha!!!!!" Zhang Jian came out and saw Zhang Peng's 'straw hat head' and his rural attire, pointing at him and bursting into laughter.

  "Crazy girl, stop messing around and help me get things." Zhang Qin rebuked, interrupting Zhang Qian's laughter.

  "Isn't Zhang Peng's hairstyle the most popular in the countryside?" New recruits from rural areas all have this haircut, and Zhang Quanyi was already used to it, pulling the embarrassed Zhang Peng into the house.

  Zhang Jian also came over to take the bag from Zhang Qin's hand, warmly pulling her sister's arm and chattering about recent "news".

  Zhang Peng is now very uncomfortable, as spring has arrived early here and people have already changed into single-layer clothing. Zhang Peng is extremely hot but doesn't dare to take off his woolen sweater - he's not wearing any undergarments, and if he takes it off, he'll be exposed. He also finds it hard to hold in his urine and doesn't know where the toilet is. Sitting on the sofa with sweat all over his head, he occasionally twists his body around to look around everywhere. Zhang Quanyi thinks that Zhang Peng is just not used to being back home and doesn't pay attention to him.

  "Dad, where is the toilet?" Zhang Peng felt that if he held it in any longer, he would pee his pants, and didn't care about being embarrassed anymore.

  "Ah, over here." Zhang Quanyi hastily led Zhang Peng to the bathroom.

  Before Zhang Quanyi finished explaining how to use the bathroom, Zhang Peng couldn't wait and took out his "thing" and started firing. Zhang Quanyi only then realized that his son was still wearing his cotton-padded jacket, and he couldn't help but feel another wave of self-reproach. He hastily asked his wife to find some clean clothes for Zhang Peng, while he himself used a pusher to transform his son's "grass-hat head", and then filled the bathtub with water to help him take a bath.

  Zhang Peng honestly let his dad arrange, letting him lie down and enjoy the service of a "military-level" cadre, which was quite comfortable. Zhang Quanyi touched his son's body, hard as an iron plate, with tight skin and not a single excess fat, knowing it was the result of "Old Tai Shan"'s training. After taking a bath, Zhang Peng put on his older brother Zhang Kun's old clothes, with a white shirt and green military pants, and combed his hair into a small inch-long style, looking nothing like a "country bumpkin" anymore.

  At this time, Yan Xiufang brought two daughters to cook and invited Grandpa to eat. Zhang Peng sat down next to his father. To entertain Zhang Peng, the dishes were very rich, including crispy fried fish, braised pork ribs, Beijing-style shredded meat, cold mixed sea jellyfish, spicy white cabbage, sauce beef, and stewed mountain chicken with mushrooms made from the mountain chicken brought back by Zhang Peng, finally followed by purple vegetable egg soup. Zhang Quanyi poured a cup of white wine, while others drank fruit wine.

  "Zhang Peng has been away from home for seven years. Let's toast to Zhang Peng's return today!" Zhang Quanyi spoke first.

  Zhang Peng learned from everyone's example, clinking glasses and taking a sip of wine. He thought the wine was too sour and not as good as his grandfather's homemade wine, and he couldn't help but curl up his tongue. Everyone looked at him and started serving him dishes.

  Zhang Peng looked at the full bowl of dishes and thought: I've left, my uncle has also left, grandma and grandpa must be very sad, I don't know if they've eaten yet? Thinking of this, Zhang Peng's expression became somewhat gloomy.

  "Everyone has tasted the pheasant beaten by Old Wu, it's usually hard to get something this good!" Yan Xiufang saw that her son suddenly looked unhappy and knew he was thinking of his grandparents, so she quickly changed the subject.

  "It's so delicious! It smells so good!" Zhang Jian couldn't wait and started eating.

  "Delicious! Zhang Peng, how did you catch it?" Zhang Quanyi asked while eating.

  "I know, we fought together." Zhang Qin began to vividly tell everyone.

  After all, they were a family connected by blood ties. Zhang Peng's last bit of awkwardness disappeared in the joyful laughter and conversation during dinner.

  Zhang Peng's house is a two-story independent villa, with the living room, kitchen, bathroom, Zhang Quanyi's study and the couple's bedroom on the first floor; On the second floor, there are four bedrooms of similar size and a storage room. Originally, each of the four children had one room, but now that the eldest and second child have left, Zhang Peng lives in his brother's room. The room is very simply decorated, with a single bed against the wall, a desk at the head of the bed, and a bookcase, with drawers below for storing clothes and three rows of bookshelves above.

  Zhang Peng sat in the car for a day, it was very noisy on the bus and he didn't sleep well. After eating, he soon yawned continuously, his sleepy eyelids were fighting, and he went upstairs to sleep.

  Yan Xiufang was originally worried that Zhang Quanyi, who had always been strict with the children, would scare Zhang Peng. But today, her husband unexpectedly gave Zhang Peng a bath and went upstairs several times in the evening to tuck him in under the pretext of using the bathroom. She realized that her husband also wanted to make up for his past mistakes and fell asleep at ease.

  The next morning, Zhang Peng was awakened by the sound of "drip drip" from the wake-up call. The sound was very familiar to him in his hometown. During the time when everyone learned from the People's Liberation Army, the production team stopped ringing the bell and instead played military bugle records. However, the team leader always got confused about which record to play at what time, and would randomly play them all at once. Anyway, nobody could understand it. Zhang Peng quickly got out of bed, dressed, and went downstairs. His father and mother were already up.

  Zhang Quanyi saw that his son had also gotten up, and instead of going for a run, he let him wash up and then took on the role of 'tour guide' to help Zhang Peng get familiar with their surroundings. Zhang Peng and his father walked around the entire compound along the road, getting a general idea of the layout. The military base was located in the northern suburbs of Jiang City, covering an area of over 50 mu, and was home to thousands of people, including officers from the A Army and their families. Three straight roads divided the compound into several sections. On the east side, there were over a dozen small buildings where high-ranking officials lived. In the northeast corner, there was a small park covering an area of over 4 mu, with a 30-meter-high hill in the middle. It was said that there were hidden military fortifications underneath, but from the outside, it looked like just a normal hill covered with pine trees. In the center, there were eight four-story buildings where most of the officers and their families lived. Behind these buildings, there was a large parade ground, where a platoon from the military police battalion, a public affairs class, and a communications battalion were holding drills. Above the main gate, there was a large 'August 1' military emblem, surrounded by red flags, with slogans written on either side. There were soldiers standing guard at the entrance. On the west side, there were the officers' cafeteria, the military service company, and the kindergarten. Everything here seemed to be in perfect order, even the wintergreen plants along the road had been trimmed neatly. Zhang Peng saw that every soldier they met saluted his father and asked how he was doing, and realized that his father must be a high-ranking official. He felt very proud of him, thinking that he must be more important than the commander of their school's military training team.

  After returning home, Mom had already prepared breakfast, fried dough sticks and soy milk. The whole family finished eating, then Dad and Mom rushed to work, reminding Zhang Qinqin to take good care of her brother before leaving.

  Zhang Jian is going to school in a few days, so he rushes out to play. Zhang Qin finishes the household chores and takes Zhang Peng to the service company to buy things with her ration book. Zhang Qin knows that after she leaves, these tasks will be taken over by Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng only now understands that "city people" need to use tickets and coupons to buy everything, even matches require a match ticket, grain coupons, fabric coupons, oil coupons... and so on. His family also has an additional "special supply coupon". Zhang Qin buys things while explaining the usage of various tickets and coupons to Zhang Peng, the monthly supply quantity, and how to plan purchases carefully, otherwise they will have to "borrow from Peter to pay Paul". Zhang Peng listens carefully and quickly memorizes everything. Zhang Qin buys some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. At this time, it is the season when old stocks are running out and new supplies have not yet arrived, so there are no fresh vegetables available. She can only buy things like tofu, bean sprouts, onions, and potatoes.

  After returning, the sister and brother had a conversation and went to the kitchen together to prepare lunch. Zhang Qin kneaded the dough that was sent yesterday, steamed buns on the stove, and Zhang Peng kept praising the liquefied gas stove that didn't need to add firewood, saying it was too convenient. Zhang Peng peeled the skin of the vegetables he bought, washed them clean, classified and cut them well, with neat and efficient movements. Zhang Peng quickly made three dishes: onion scrambled eggs, spicy potato shreds, and home-style tofu. Zhang Qin looked at her brother in surprise, not expecting him to be more skilled than herself, and even more surprisingly, this kid could also flip the pan, he really looked like a master chef regardless of his age.

  At noon, Zhang Jian rushed home on time just before his parents returned home and set the table for lunch. The meal was well-received by everyone, with all plates clean, and Zhang Quanyi said that the food level had caught up with the military canteen's small stove. Yan Xiufang was also delighted, thinking that from now on she wouldn't have to worry about Zhang Peng going hungry when he didn't come home. Zhang Jian asked Zhang Peng who he learned cooking skills from, and Zhang Peng told a vivid story of learning how to cook with his elder brother-in-law, making everyone laugh loudly, and Yan Xiufang couldn't help but cry and laugh at the same time at what her younger brother had done.