Only twenty days had passed and Feng Qingxue was a bit disappointed.
After more than a year apart, they had only twenty days together — a fact that would sadden anyone.
However, she clearly understood the responsibility carried by Lu Jiang. Only alongside their bloody struggles and sacrifices could there be peace and tranquility for ordinary people including her own family. Because of this, her face showed not a trace of dissatisfaction. Instead, it was Lu’s father who sighed and said, "We’ve just entered the twelfth lunar month, and it looks like you won’t be able to spend the New Year at home again."
Lu Jiang yawned and said with a wry smile, "That’s a rule I must obey. Actually, with the travel back and forth, it already takes more than a month. In fact, I’ve been away from the unit for nearly two months."
Lu’s father looked puzzled, "I remember that it used to take about twenty days for a round trip."
Why did it suddenly become more than a month, more than a ten days longer?
"Dad, it must mean Ajiang is not in the same place anymore! He is a soldier, isn’t it up to the nation and the unit to decide where he goes?" Feng Qingxue had received a letter from Ouyang Zijin after he had received the medicine and was well aware of Lu Jiang’s situation.
It took her half a month to get to the military hospital in the Southwest Military Region, while it only took Lu Jiang ten days to return to his unit.
That was the difference.
Upon hearing this, Lu’s father didn’t ask any more questions and just said, "Rest well at home now, spend some time with your wife and kids."
"Yes, sir!" Lu Jiang straightened his back. He didn’t need his father to remind him, that was his plan. Thinking about the snot bubble his son had gifted him on first sight made Lu Jiang quite upset.
After eating and tidying up the dishes, Lu’s father took the children away.
The couple had finally reunited, so the children shouldn’t be hanging around and making a fuss.
One should not take a bath immediately after eating, so Feng Qingxue began to find the clothes that Lu Jiang had changed – new underwear and thermal clothing, cashmere clothes and old military uniform, and also prepared items like soap, towel, and a tub.
Lu Jiang rubbed his eyes and carried both cold and hot water into the bedroom and poured them into the tub.
Feng Qingxue bolted the main gate and the hall door before coming back to scrub his back, but when she saw the numerous scars all over his body, tears flowed out like a waterfall. "There are many more injuries than last time you were home— gunshot and knife wounds... No wonder you’ve become so thin and look so different. You must not have been eating or sleeping well, having lost so much blood, your vitality has been damaged."
Soaking in the warm water, Lu Jiang felt warm all over. It had really been a long time since he’d taken a warm bath.
He closed his eyes, reached out and took hold of Feng Qingxue’s hand, "Don’t cry, my dear, haven’t I returned safely? Compared to the comrades who forever sleep at the border, and those who have lost an arm, a leg or an eye, I am very, very lucky."
With tears in her eyes, Feng Qingxue said, "There you go, talking nonsense again! Do you want to end up like them? Curse that— don’t ever say that again!"
"Ok, ok, I won’t! For you and Xibao, I will take good care of myself."
Feng Qingxue wiped her tears with her sleeve, "Speaking of Xibao, which of your comrades wants to adopt Xibao as his godson? Why?"
Lu Jiang’s tone immediately became solemn, "It’s Zhao Anbang. He was injured in the war before and lost his fertility. He does not plan on getting married. Before this counterattack, we agreed that my child would be his, whether it’s a boy or a girl, to accompany him in his old age. Who knew that this time, to cover for his comrades, he caught an enemy’s hand grenade bare-handed and didn’t have enough time to throw it back, costing him an arm."
"Zhao Anbang, Zhao Anbang, this name sounds familiar to me," said Feng Qingxue.