Zhuang Shuxian watched Little Mo Wang lying peacefully on the kang and laughed, "Little Mo Wang’s temperament is quite tranquil; she seems to have inherited from old Lu. Xiaopang, on the other hand, might be more like you, full of spirit."

Inside, Gu Xiaobei grieved for a moment. She intended to raise her daughter into a little lady proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. If her daughter had her personality, she would be climbing trees and poking for bird eggs every day.

Lu Zhanguo turned busy again a month after Gu Xiaobei gave birth. Just as he was about to refuse the offer to attend a military academy in September, Min Zhonghua summoned him to a meeting.

"Zhanguo, your enrollment at the military academy might have to be postponed. We’ve just received orders to reorganize our troops and many people’s positions will change," Min Zhonghua sighed.

Lu Zhanguo sat stiffly in front of Min Zhonghua’s desk, his face revealing no emotions, but internally, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Min Zhonghua took a sip of tea and continued, "Guo Huaqiang and Zhang Lijun from your squadron might be transferred out as we have too many soldiers. So, when the time comes, you’ll need to manage everyone’s thoughts. After all, no matter where you are, you’re always serving the people."

Lu Zhango didn’t understand, "Both Guo Huaqiang and Zhang Lijun have strong military capabilities. Why would they be dismissed?"

"Old Guo is limited by his age, and Zhang Lijun’s education is too low — he didn’t even finish junior high school. However, they will likely end up in good units or might even get other assignments. We have yet to decide this in a meeting," Min Zhonghua admitted, showing some reluctance to lose the soldiers he had personally trained.

Lu Zhanguo nodded slightly, then refrained from asking further.

"I heard that you’ve had boy and girl twins. You sure are lucky, Zhanguo. After the reorganization, you’ll likely be relocated to the provincial city first. Make sure to work hard," Min Zhonghua revealed.

Upon hearing talk of his two new treasures, Lu Zhanguo expressed more joy than when he heard about his promotion, his face softened.

------------------------------------

Zhuang Shuxian stayed with Jiujiu at Gu Xiaobei’s place until mid-August. Since Jiujiu’s school started at the end of August, they reluctantly left.

Before they left, Zhuang Shuxian took Jiujiu to the Chen Family’s grave to burn joss paper and let Jiujiu kowtow three times.

Suddenly having to take care of two children by herself, Gu Xiaobei found herself rather overwhelmed. Fortunately, Lu Zhanguo hadn’t been assigned any tasks recently and would come home each day at noon to check in. Occasionally, Li Fengmei and Ge Chunling would come over to help look after the children whenever they had time, relieving Gu Xiaobei to some extent.

Originally, they planned to use new cotton cloth for the diapers, but upon seeing this, Li Fengmei commented that new cotton was too stiff and that old cotton would be softer. Hearing this, Gu Xiaobei dissembled two quilts from the household and cut them into cloth diapers.

With two children needing diapers, Li Fengmei brought over some old cotton sheets that she had at home and cut them into diapers to give to Gu Xiaobei.

While Li Fengmei held Xiaopang in her arms and idly talked about the neighborhood gossip, she asked, "Sister-in-law, have you lost any chicken eggs lately?"

Upon hearing Li Fengmei’s question, Gu Xiaobei suddenly remembered the stolen chicken eggs and shook her head, "I’ve been getting one egg every day recently, none have gone missing."

Li Fengmei disclosed mysteriously, "I bet it was the Political instructor’s mother who did it."

Gu Xiaobei was taken aback, doubting, "That’s hard to believe. I don’t think she’s like that." But ever since she had given birth, even though they lived in the same yard, she hadn’t seen Ding Guihua.

"I can’t be wrong, it’s her. I saw her lurking by your chicken coop the other day. She must’ve been searching for eggs." Li Fengmei insisted in a lowered voice.

"Why hasn’t she stolen any lately then?" Gu Xiaobei asked, puzzled.

While playing with the little girl in her arms, Li Fengmei said, "There have been so many people coming and going at your place lately. She probably doesn’t dare to do it."

Still not entirely believing that Ding Guihua was the culprit, Gu Xiaobei thought Sun Aiqin seemed more likely. After giving birth, she hadn’t even seen Sun Aiqin once; it was as if she didn’t know about it at all.

"And, did you hear? Xiangyang and his wife fought the other night." Li Fengmei started sharing the juicy details.

Gu Xiaobei shook her head. Presently, the children were waking up every three hours during the night to be fed, and whenever she closed her eyes, she would go straight into a deep sleep.

"Wang Ping, who lives upstairs from them, heard everything. Qu Yan claimed that Xiangyang has another woman and they ruined all their belongings."

Hearing Li Fengmei’s story, Gu Xiaobei was somewhat surprised. Qu Yan was always known for her insidious nature, so it was only a matter of time before Xiangyang strayed.

Li Fengmei continued, "Xiangyang accused Qu Yan of being shameless and said she was attempting to punch above her weight. Qu Yan retorted that Xiangyang couldn’t do a better job and would contract a sexually transmitted disease sooner or later."

Trying to suppress her laughter, Gu Xiaobei felt it seemed that Xiangyang had also seen through Qu Yan’s intentions. However, with the couple in such a situation, why wouldn’t they just divorce? She couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Why don’t they just divorce then? Why bother torturing each other like this?"

"Divorce is a shameful thing, and Xiangyang, for the sake of his career, certainly wouldn’t divorce so easily. Qu Yan hasn’t found a better place to go yet. If they divorce, wouldn’t she be left out in the cold?" Li Fengmei said with a sneer.

Gu Xiaobei was astounded. This kind of life, full of conflict, wasn’t it exhausting? Speaking of Qu Yan, Gu Xiaobei recalled the time when her child had almost been lost, so she asked, "Where did Qu Yan go that day when we went to the hospital together?"

Li Fengmei had obviously forgotten about it. After considering for a moment, she replied, "I don’t know. Once we got to the hospital, I didn’t see her again. I thought she had gone back with Xiangyang."

Gu Xiaobei squinted her eyes. If Qu Yan indeed knew Qin Ximei and had conspired with her to steal her child, then there were still matters to settle. In the future, not only would she need to be on guard against Qu Yan, but the whole situation also needed to be clarified.

Anyone who dared to hurt her, Gu Xiaobei, she might just let it go. But the moment someone tried to harm her two precious babies, it was simply unforgivable.

Wang Aunt couldn’t wait for Xiaobei and her family to visit her, so she calculated the days and assumed Xiaobei had given birth. She came over by herself. Gu Xiaobei was stunned to see Wang Aunt carrying a large bag in such scorching heat, "Aunt Wang, why would you carry so much stuff in this heat?"

Wang Aunt took a look at Gu Xiaobei’s post-pregnancy figure and grumbled, "So you’ve had the baby and didn’t even tell me. Have you started to think of me as a stranger?"

Gu Xiaobei laughed sheepishly, "I had two kids. I was so busy that I didn’t have time to notify you. Please don’t take it personally."

"Two? A boy and a girl?" Wang Aunt, who originally wanted to pretend to be angry, immediately exclaimed excitedly upon hearing the good news.

"Yes, one boy and one girl." Gu Xiaobei laughed and let Wang Aunt put down her bag and go see the two kids in the house.

Upon seeing the two kids peacefully sleeping on the kang, Wang Aunt complained, "The children are grown already, and you didn’t bother to inform me. Had I not come, were you planning to keep it from me forever?"

Gu Xiaobei was laughing and didn’t know how to respond. After Zhuang Shuxian left, she tried to take care of both kids on her own. After all, if she were to move to the provincial city or someplace else in the future, she would still have to take care of the twins by herself.