Chapter 288: Consolation money, guilty conscience, fear. [Please subscribe! Please give me a monthly ticket!]
Listening to her mother's tired voice mixed with strong expectation, Zhao Weihong's nose suddenly felt a little sour.
"Mom, it's me!"
"What are you doing"
A wise child is better than his mother.
Before Zhao Weihong finished speaking, Li Ping on the other end of the phone wiped the tears from her eyes and said with surprise and a little pride.
"Mom knew you would call today!"
"I heard from your father that phone calls in the army are always timed."
"If I wait for your news at home, and wait for mom to come over, I won't be able to say a few words to you."
"Your father and I have been taking turns guarding here. Your father just came back and you called!"
"It's still us, mother and I. Our hearts are connected!"
I was very happy for a while about the "understanding" between myself and my son.
Li Ping changed the subject and asked Zhao Weihong anxiously.
"Son, how long can you keep on calling me?"
"Is it too late for me to ask someone to call you dad now?"
At this moment, Li Ping is like a true portrayal of countless military mothers in the world.
Whenever the wandering son calls, as a mother, she feels happy but anxious about the short call time.
It’s not that the army is inconsiderate, but they still limit phone call time during the New Year.
On a day like New Year's Day, who among those who can't go home for reunion doesn't want to call home?
A company usually has only two or three telephones.
If there is no limit on calling hours, some people will definitely not be able to make the long-awaited visit call home before midnight, both themselves and their loved ones.
But for Zhao Weihong at this moment, he obviously doesn't need to consider these issues!
He glanced at Zhou Kehu and Chang Dingfang beside him.
Zhao Weihong suddenly acted like a child who had scored full marks in an exam and couldn't wait to show off to her mother.
"Mom, let my dad and my second uncle come over!"
"Tell them not to worry and to drive slowly."
"There is no time limit for my call. You can call as long as you want!"
"Son! Really?"
After receiving Zhao Weihong's affirmative answer, Li Ping was overjoyed and hurriedly asked someone to call the brothers Zhao Jianguo and Zhao Yuejin who were waiting at home.
At this time, Li Ping did not realize the deep meaning behind Zhao Weihong's words. She just felt sincerely happy as a mother because she could talk more with her son whom she had not seen for a long time!
He spent most of the day asking about Zhao Weihong's well-being.
While Li Ping was saying she was tired, Zhao Weihong finally had the chance to greet her mother.
"Mom, how are you, my dad, and my second uncle doing at home?"
"Okay! Everything is fine!"
"You don't have to worry about us. You are alone in the army. Take good care of yourself and Mom will be relieved!"
At this point, Li Ping seemed to remember something and hurriedly instructed Zhao Weihong.
"Son, don't send money home anymore."
"The money our family owes your second uncle has been paid off by selling grain at the end of the year!"
"Keep the money for yourself. You can't be out here alone without any money!"
Before joining the army, Zhao Weihong borrowed some money from Zhao Yuejin to pay off all the debts she had owed for her studies over the years.
However, these debts did not disappear. They were simply transferred from those relatives that Zhao Weihong did not want to have contact with to Zhao Yuejin, whom Zhao Weihong regarded as his closest relative.
Over the past year or so, whenever Zhao Weihong received an allowance, she would ask someone to send it back home to repay her debts.
After becoming a veteran, Zhao Weihong's allowance increased by 20, just breaking the three-digit mark.
Although this amount of money is not a lot, after saving for such a long time, it is more than a thousand yuan, which is a huge sum of money in those days.
Combined with the income from selling grain at the end of the year, Zhao Jianguo and his wife have more than enough to pay off their debts.
Hearing this, Zhao Weihong suddenly felt unprecedentedly relaxed.
This feeling of being debt-free
How cool!
However, Zhao Weihong does not intend to give up sending money home.
Although the money owed to Zhao Yuejin has been repaid.
But it does not mean that the favor owed to second uncle Zhao Yuejin has been repaid.
In Zhao Weihong's heart, he has long regarded Zhao Yuejin, who lives alone, as his own father, and he will definitely take care of Zhao Yuejin in his old age and see him to the end of his life.
Zhao Weihong owes a lot to her parents.
Anyway, Zhao Weihong was provided with food and accommodation in the army, and even when smoking, he would only take the cigarette when someone else passed it away. There was no place for him to spend money.
The money sent back home could just help improve their family's life a little bit, which was also the goal that Zhao Weihong was constantly striving for. But when Zhao Weihong proposed this idea, Li Ping rejected it very decisively.
"Son, our family really doesn't need you to send money now!"
"Two days ago, the village chief came to our house and left three thousand yuan, saying it was your consolation money?"
"This money is enough for us to use until next year, not to mention there will be more next year, why do we need you to send money back?"
"Son, don't you know this?"
Consolation money?
Zhao Weihong looked at Chang Dingfang a little confusedly, but did not rush to ask questions. Instead, she continued to talk on the phone with Li Ping.
Only after he finished talking to Zhao Yuejin and Zhao Jianguo who had rushed over did Zhao Weihong reluctantly hand the microphone to Zhou Kehu. At the same time, he walked to Chang Dingfang and whispered.
"Captain, my mother said that the head of our village sent 3,000 yuan to our family as a condolence gift."
“Does our army have this saying?”
"How much did you say? Three thousand dollars?"
“Are the standards for condolence money so high now?”
Facing Zhao Weihong's very suspicious eyes, Chang Dingfang rolled his eyes at him and spoke in a low voice.
"Don't think too much. This money has nothing to do with me."
"Consolation money does exist."
"This money was given by the local government. I don't know exactly how much it will give."
"But it's usually only a few hundred dollars. I haven't heard of any place that sells so much."
“Is there any new policy?”
Chang Dingfang rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, and suddenly thought of a possibility!
"I guess it's because you made a second-class merit, so your county gave you an extra reward."
"This policy exists in many places. Your county is a military-friendly county, so it's not surprising that you have this policy!"
Zhao Weihong finally felt relieved after hearing Chang Dingfang say this.
What Zhao Weihong was most worried about was that the money was not so-called consolation money, but was paid out of pocket by Chang Dingfang or Zhou Kehu and his group to subsidize his family.
In the army, Zhao Weihong received a lot of care from them, both in work and in life.
If they were asked to spend more money, it would be really unreasonable. The strong-willed Zhao Weihong simply could not accept it.
It turns out that the source of the money was not what he thought, but rather the consolation money that Zhao Weihong "fought" for with her own ability.
Zhao Weihong can now rest assured.
However, both Zhao Weihong and Chang Dingfang overlooked one thing.
Since it is a reward for Zhao Weihong's second-class merit, the good news and the plaque of "Home of the Second-Class Meritorious Contributor" should be sent to Zhao Weihong's home together.
After all, Zhao Weihong won the second-class merit, which is a big event for their county. It may not happen once in many years. It still has to be included in the county annals, so it must be handled well!
But now, the good news hasn't arrived yet, but the bonus has been delivered to my door first!
It does not comply with relevant procedures in terms of both morality and logic.
This can only mean that the money received by Zhao Jianguo and his wife
It is definitely not a reward given by the local government after Zhao Weihong made meritorious service!
It’s not even Zhao Weihong’s consolation money!
at the same time.
At the entrance of Zhaojia Village, in a very imposing mansion.
On this extremely festive day when we should be celebrating the Spring Festival.
The chief of Zhaojia Village seemed particularly anxious.
"Dad, come and make dumplings!"
"Go away, don't bother me!"
Faced with his wife's call, the village chief seemed very angry, and even pushed his wife far away, causing her to crash directly into the expensive solid wood furniture.
"Ouch."
"mom!"
With the help of his son, he stood up from the ground with difficulty.
The village chief’s wife first coaxed her son back into the house, then pointed at the village chief’s nose and cursed him!
"It's New Year's Day, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"Ever since you came back from the Zhao family a few days ago, you've been looking distracted."
"What happened? Did the vixen outside lure your soul away?"
"I'm going to tear your mouth off!"
Outside the window, firecrackers and fireworks continued to sound everywhere in Zhaojia Village, covering up the crying and wails of the village chief's wife.
She originally just wanted to throw a tantrum, but she didn't expect the village chief to get so angry!
At this moment, her heart was filled with despair and resentment towards the man in front of her who was still beating and kicking her.
Yet she didn't notice.
This man, with whom she had been living day and night for decades, had a deep fear in his eyes behind his furious look.
The fear that kept him awake and awake.
It's like... I've done something wrong.
(End of this chapter)
