When they went to bed at night, Gu Xiaobei seriously pointed out that they could no longer spoil their child. Lu Zhanguo unusually didn’t compromise this time and held Xiaopang near, murmuring softly, "These tiny children don’t understand anything. Moreover, look at how well-behaved our Xiaopang is. As soon as he’s held, he stops crying."

Gu Xiaobei rolled her eyes in annoyance. Indeed, even a weasel praises its own children’s smell, and a hedgehog praises the smoothness of its own child’s skin. Glancing at Lu Zhanguo now, everything is perfect about his daughter and she was slightly irritated, "This way, you are going to spoil the child. You consider her young, yet she is cunning. When she cries, it’s just to threaten us to hold her. If you let her cry a few times, and she sees that she can’t get her way, she will stop crying in the future. I don’t know how cheeky your daughter will be in the future."

Lu Zhanguo laughed, holding his daughter as he said, "No problem, she won’t get much naughtier than her mother."

Gu Xiaobei punched Lu Zhanguo’s shoulder in annoyance, "Are you praising me or belittling me?" Then she looked at their son by her side and proudly stated, "Look how well-behaved our Mo Wang is, he really takes after me."

As Lu Zhanguo looked at Gu Xiaobei, he felt her lies showed neither in her expression nor in her heartbeat. After a moment, he said gravely, "I might need to leave on a mission in a few days. I can’t say for sure when."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiaobei became somewhat flustered, "Is there any danger?"

"No, it will just take a long time," Lu Zhanguo thought for a moment, eventually concealing the dangerous nature of the mission. In their line of work, there was always an element of danger whenever they embarked on a mission. How could it not be?

Gu Xiaobei was uneasily leaning on Lu Zhanguo’s shoulder, watching their daughter in his arms. She gently said, "You must remember that you are a father now. You need to be careful."

Lu Zhanguo held his daughter with one arm and wrapped the other around Gu Xiaobei, "Don’t worry. I predict that we might move to the provincial city after this mission. Lu Zhanguo knew of Gu Xiaobei’s subtle ambition, so he took the opportunity to reveal just a bit of good news to keep her hopeful and help her forget about his impending mission for a while.

As expected, when Gu Xiaobei heard about moving to the provincial city, her eyes lit up. Whether it was for her own career development or for their children’s education, the provincial city was undoubtedly much better than their current location.

She had been thinking about the possibility of moving to the provincial city recently, and it seems it would be happening sooner than expected.

"You’re moving to the provincial city, that’s great," Gu Xiaobei felt that she could finally reach her potential. Of course, the outcome remained unknown. The important thing was to act.

Lu Zhanguo nodded and added, "When the time comes, Liu Hongbing and I might be assigned to the same unit."

"What about Li Fengmei and the others?" Gu Xiaobei was quite fond of Li Fengmei and Ge Chunling.

After some thought, Lu Zhanguo decided there was nothing secret about it. He anticipated that Zhang Lijun and the others must have heard the news by now. He began, "Guo Huaqiang might be transferred soon, and Zhang Lijun may perhaps have other arrangements."

Gu Xiaobei felt somewhat melancholy again. She sighed, "It looks like we might find it hard to meet again in the future." Considering the current inconvenient transportation and communication facilities, once they drifted apart, it would be as if they had lost contact with each other.

Lu Zhanguo, unable to reveal too much, provided comfort by saying, "Movement is intrinsic to military personnel, just as iron is used in the camp and running water in the river. This is our duty, our responsibility."

Gu Xiaobei shot him a glare. "Are you implying that I’m short-sighted like a woman?"

At a loss for words, Lu Zhanguo hurriedly changed the subject, "Has Xiaopang wet his diaper? How is it moist now?"

Gu Xiaobei chuckled at Lu Zhanguo, who was pretending to check their daughter’s diaper. She could tell it was completely dry. There was no way Xiaopang could have wet it. The man’s skills at playing dumb were getting stronger by the day.

Sure enough, when Li Fengmei and Ge Chunling came to visit next, they were speaking about their own man’s reassignment.

Li Fengmei sighed heavily, "I don’t know where Zhang Lijun will end up. I really do not wish to return. I’d rather give my mother-in-law money; I just don’t want to live with them. When they get too old to move, I’ll take care of them."

Ge Chunling looked even more somber. Her face twisted in bitterness as she said, "Sister-in-law, you’re in a much better place. For me, having to face my two younger sisters-in-law every day if I go back... I can’t even bear the thought."

Gu Xiaobei didn’t quite understand the issue with job allocation after retirement and tried to console them by saying, "Maybe they won’t be assigned to work in their home towns?"

Li Fengmei shook her head, "If he does transfer roles, he has to return to his place of origin and wait for job assignments."

Ge Chunling spoke with some resentment, "That’s right. Now, not only do I have to look at my mother-in-law’s face every day, but she may also ask her son to divorce me. It was hard to get a divorce with a military marriage before, but now that we’re going back, she will get what she wants."

"Why would you get a divorce? Aren’t you and Guanghan doing well?" Gu Xiaobei couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.

"We’ve been married for two years now, and I haven’t conceived yet. My mother-in-law has been indirectly criticizing me, calling me a hen that would rather sit on the egg than lay it. In our town, if you marry in winter and don’t have a baby by the next autumn, people laugh at you." Ge Chunling found it more and more distressing the more she spoke.

Li Fengmei tried to comfort her, "Why don’t you go to a major hospital for a check-up? It might make you feel better."

Gu Xiaobei also nodded in agreement, but Ge Chunling felt embarrassed, "This isn’t exactly something you can talk about everywhere."

Li Fengmei replied frankly, "At least you’ll have peace of mind. Besides, who would recognise you at a big hospital and gossip about you?"

After hesitating for a while, Ge Chunling seemed to be considering the suggestion. However, she didn’t explicitly say if she would do it or not. Seeing this, Li Fengmei and Gu Xiaobei felt it wasn’t appropriate to push her further as it was a personal issue.

Before he left, Lu Zhanguo paid a visit to Dr. Jin.

Dr. Jin happily said, "I heard your family had boy and girl twins. I was at a conference in the provincial city at that time, so I didn’t get to see them. But when I got back, I heard the great news."

Lu Zhanguo’s expression softened as he replied, "The children are both doing well. I will bring them to show you next time."

"Good, I heard your child was almost lost? Our hospital has arranged for regular patrols at night since then. Losing a child is a serious matter."

Even now, thinking about it made Lu Zhanguo shudder. If he had returned half a day or even half an hour later from his mission that day, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

He had just arrived at the camp that day when he heard that Gu Xiaobei was giving birth. It normally took 20 to 30 minutes to drive the distance, but he managed to cover it in less than 20 minutes that evening.

He asked the nurse on duty and quickly rushed into the ward, witnessing a scene that still terrified him whenever he thought about it.

Seeing Lu Zhanguo’s expression suddenly darken, Dr. Jin sighed, "There aren’t many doctors or nurses at our hospital, and the obstetrics ward is particularly understaffed. Many people prefer to give birth at home rather than come to the hospital. Look at these five wards, they can’t even be filled by one person each. As a result, many issues in these areas have been overlooked."

Lu Zhanguo didn’t bring up the topic again and instead asked, "Could you prescribe me some medication? The mission I’m going on is very important and there can’t be any mistakes."

Dr. Jin hesitated for a moment before nodding, "Sure, but medication can only control the situation temporarily. Physical therapy is a must."

Lu Zhanguo nodded. Naturally reserved, he was even less inclined to speak now.