After having lunch at the Cheng family, Qi Taiguo, reeking of alcohol, and Cheng Su returned from her parents’ home. He sipped some tea and, glancing at the time, which was about right, he picked up his bag to head to the road at the village entrance and take a bus back to the troops in Qing City.
"Let me help you with that," Cheng Su offered eagerly as she reached for his luggage bag.
Qi Taiguo cast a fleeting look that held an indescribable weariness. She seemed eager, almost as if she couldn’t wait for him to leave so he wouldn’t be in the way.
Hmph, she’d better not regret this!
"No need," Qi Taiguo took back his bag.
"Taiguo, this is all smoked meat. Take it all back with you. When you have time, you can steam some for a treat," Mother Qi, carrying a bag full of things, ran out and stuffed it into Qi Taiguo’s hands.
"Mom, keep it for yourselves. I’m alone, I don’t usually cook, mostly I eat in the canteen, and I don’t have the time to make these things," Qi Taiguo was reluctant to take them.
He knew that at home they didn’t eat meat every day, and the meals couldn’t compare to those at the military base. To ensure the soldiers’ physical strength, the base’s meals, although not extravagant with fish and meat, always included some meat, necessary for the intense training they faced.
"You could make it as a midnight snack sometimes!" Mother Qi insisted he take it.
Having no choice, Qi Taiguo took it.
"Taiguo’s wife, why don’t you accompany Taiguo back to his military base? He has a dormitory, and you two could have a place to be together," Father Qi said to Cheng Su.
Mother Qi frowned slightly upon hearing this.
Qi Taiguo looked over.
Cheng Suxin’s heart skipped a beat, and she smiled. "Dad, I’m not in a hurry. I just married into the family. It won’t be too late to spend a few days at home to show respect to you and Mother-in-law before I go!"
"Good girl, we’re not so old that we need your care. It’s Taiguo, he’s on his own, with no one to wash clothes or cook for him, that’s what we’re worried about!" Cheng Su’s sweet words made Father Qi happy; he felt that his daughter-in-law had become much more obedient than before.
Indeed, people truly grow up after getting married.
"It’s fine, I’ll go after a few days," Cheng Su stood her ground.
Listening, Qi Taiguo felt frustrated. Cheng Su’s attitude was as if he was the one begging her to come, so he said, "Dad, Mom, it’s also good if she stays here to look after you both, you can enjoy yourselves. I need to go now, otherwise, I’ll miss the bus and have to wait another two or three hours."
The buses from Huangtian Village to Qing City, which only passed three or four times a day, required a long wait if missed. And the journey back took six hours. If the roads were in poor condition, it could take even longer!
Father Qi was aware of this and didn’t persist. He wanted to see his son off himself, but then, casting a glance at his daughter-in-law, he hoped for the couple to have some time together, so he said to Cheng Su, "That’s fine then, Taiguo’s wife, you go send Taiguo off!"
"Alright!"
Qi Taiguo snorted and strode away.
Mother Qi felt sad at the thought of parting and wanted to accompany her son a bit of the way, but her old man grabbed her. She protested, "What are you doing?"
"Where are you going?"
"To send off Taiguo, of course! Now that he’s leaving, who knows when he’ll be able to come back," Mother Qi said irritably.
Father Qi replied, "He’s grown up, he doesn’t need you to see him off. Alright, the daughter-in-law sending him is enough," he said. "Let the two of them talk."
A sour feeling rose in Mother Qi’s heart: "How can she compare to me? I am Taiguo’s mother!" After all, her eldest son wasn’t the type to forsake his mother for his wife.
But looking around and finding that the pair had vanished, she wiped the corners of her eyes and returned to the house, feeling annoyed.