The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 575: The person my sister-in-law went on a blind date with turned out to be my brother-in-law’s childhood friend!!!

On this day, Liu Wu rushed back home from the military camp, exhausted.

The moment he opened the door, he was pleasantly surprised to find that his long-lost sister-in-law Li Qingxia had come all the way from faraway Yanjing to visit them.

"Brother-in-law!" Li Qingxia shouted happily and was about to run over to hug her brother-in-law Liu Wu.

Li Qinglan pretended to be jealous and said, "Hey, what are you doing? Aren't you ashamed of yourself as a girl..."

"This is my man..."

"This is my brother-in-law!" Li Qingxia said unwillingly.

Liu Wu smiled and shook his head. He reached out and tapped Li Qingxia's head. He said, "Qingxia, long time no see. You are still so lively."

Li Qingxia stuck out her tongue and responded playfully: "Brother-in-law, you are becoming more and more like a leader!"

Li Qinglan snorted softly and said in a pretended dissatisfaction: "You two make a fuss whenever you meet. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at by others?"

Liu Wu looked at Li Qinglan, his eyes full of tenderness, and said softly: "Qinglan, I haven't been home these few days, you have worked hard."

Li Qinglan blushed slightly, lowered her head and whispered, "No, everything is fine at home."

Seeing this, Li Qingxia deliberately covered her eyes exaggeratedly and shouted: "Oh, sister and brother-in-law, you are going to torture me to death!"

The family laughed constantly and the atmosphere was warm and harmonious.

Liu Wu took Li Qinglan's hand and said, "It's a rare reunion today, I'll go to the kitchen and show you my skills."

Li Qingxia next to him opened her eyes wide in surprise: "Brother-in-law, you can cook?" Liu Wu smiled and said, "I learned it in the military camp. I have to learn to take care of myself."

Li Qinglan nodded gently: "Then I'll help you." Li Qingxia raised her hand excitedly: "I'll help too!"

The three of them walked into the kitchen, chatting and laughing. Liu Wu skillfully tied an apron and started to get busy.

Smoke from the cooking stove rises up, the air is filled with the aroma of food, and the warmth of home is infinitely magnified at this moment.

"Oh, it would be great if my future husband could be like my brother-in-law, who can fight on the battlefield and cook in the kitchen..." Li Qingxia couldn't help sighing as she devoured the meal. It seemed that the delicious food in her mouth couldn't stop her from talking.

After hearing this, her elder sister Li Qinglan couldn't help but burst out laughing: "You silly girl, you are so young and you don't even have a partner, but you're already fantasizing about your future husband..."

Li Qingxia retorted unconvincedly: "Sister, don't look down on me. Who said I didn't..." As soon as she said this, she suddenly realized that she had let something slip and exclaimed: "Oh, no, I let it slip..."

Li Qinglan immediately caught her sister's unusual reaction, and a sly light flashed in her eyes: "Oh? It seems that something is wrong with our Xiaoxia? Tell me quickly, who is it? When did it happen?"

Li Qingxia's face flushed instantly, and she stammered to change the subject: "Sister, don't guess blindly, I just said it casually, there is no situation..."

Li Qinglan was relentless. She put down her chopsticks, crossed her arms, and said in an interrogative manner, "Don't try to get away with it. I'm your biological sister. How can I not see what you're thinking? Confess now and I'll give you a fair shake!"

Li Qingxia sighed helplessly, knowing that she couldn't avoid it today. She lowered her head and muttered softly: "Actually... it's nothing big, I just met someone recently and I feel pretty good about him."

Liu Wu smiled and said, "If you feel good about him, then let's talk about him. By the way, what's his name, where is he from, and what does he do?"

Encouraged by her brother-in-law, Li Qingxia gained more confidence: "His name is Zheng Haisheng, he is also an officer, and his family is in our Yanjing."

"Poof!" When Liu Wu heard this, he was so shocked that he almost spit the food in his mouth onto the two sisters opposite him.

"Oh, Brother Wu, eat slower, it almost sprayed on my face." Li Qinglan complained with a little dissatisfaction.

Liu Wu ignored his wife Li Qinglan's complaints. He widened his eyes and looked at his sister-in-law Li Qingxia in disbelief: "Did I hear it right? His name is Zheng Haisheng, from the Second Guard Division?"

Li Qingxia immediately nodded and confirmed: "Yes, he seems to be from the Second Security Division. Hey, brother-in-law, do you know him?"

Liu Wu smiled bitterly: "More than knowing each other, we are childhood friends and old friends. However, he is five years older than me. You..."

Liu Wu's words stunned Li Qingxia for a moment. She didn't expect that the person she was dating had such a deep connection with her brother-in-law.

Li Qingxia blinked, a hint of surprise and curiosity emerged on her face: "Brother-in-law, you two are childhood friends? This is such a coincidence!"

Liu Wu put down the chopsticks in his hand and shook his head with a complicated expression: "Yes, we grew up together. He is a calm person, decisive in doing things, and more mature than me since childhood. I didn't expect that you guys would..."

Li Qinglan was listening with great interest and couldn't help but interrupt, "Brother Wu, what's with that expression? Is there something wrong with Zheng Haisheng?"

Liu Wu waved his hand, with a hint of emotion in his tone: "There is no problem, I just think this is too coincidental.

Haisheng is a man of outstanding abilities and is well-known for his excellence in the army.

However, he has been in the army for many years and rarely mentioned his relationship. I didn't expect that he would be with Qingxia..."

"Qingxia, tell your brother-in-law how you two met?"

Li Qingxia felt a little embarrassed. She blushed and said, "Okay, but this is a long story..."

It turns out that Li Qingxia was also a soldier, but she was in the garrison art troupe. She was able to join the art troupe with the help of her brother-in-law's family.

It was a day in June, in the auditorium of the Second Security Division’s headquarters.

This place was originally a warehouse with a very spacious space. Later it was converted into an auditorium with a large stage built. On weekdays, the military and civilians held meetings, showed movies, and performed arts here.

The man wearing a military cap was adjusting the sound equipment. An old cadre over there looked down at the old watch on his wrist. When the time came and the whistle sounded, people with small stools and mats would crowd in and sit down in an orderly manner.

The members of the art troupe are busy behind the stage. Today's art performance is not simple. They will be selected for awards, which may affect the evaluation of advanced performance at the end of the year. Everyone attaches great importance to it.

"Qingxia, are you really not going to change your solo program?"

Li Qingxia did not answer. Another person next to her winked and responded, "How can we change this? It's already been reported."

"If we bring shame to our group, who will be criticized by the leaders? Who will write the self-criticism? It won't be us, but she insisted on being on the team."

A short-haired girl walked past the three of them and warned them sarcastically, "Be careful what you say, or they might tear your mouths off."

"She's a local girl, very hot."

"You know she's hot, but you still dare to mess with her!"

After saying this, the three men looked at each other and sneered at each other.

Qingxia, this is your performance in place of Wang Tingting. If you don't sing well, everyone will be embarrassed along with you."

"It's almost time to start, why don't you ask Xiaofang to put on your makeup?"

The person in charge of makeup in the art troupe was Ma Fang, the short-haired girl who had ridiculed Li Qingxia before. She and Li Qingxia had never gotten along.

In the past, Li Qingxia always complained that the stage makeup that Ma Fang put on her was the ugliest. At the beginning, Ma Fang was indeed jealous of Li Qingxia's charming and beautiful looks, so she deliberately made her look uglier. Later, the two of them became enemies, so Ma Fang tried to be perfunctory in her makeup.

Li Qingxia is in a bad condition now, so let's just add insult to injury.

Li Qingxia, who was sitting on a small stool, put down her green shoulder bag, stood up and said, "I can do it myself."

Her voice was as crisp as a silver bell, and also like the sweet sound of a pipa plucked from its strings. It had a unique rhythm and was extremely pleasant to the ear.

Ma Fang rolled her eyes. She pulled up her sleeves, hugged her arms, sneered, and said sarcastically, "Then you can slowly paint yourself. It's none of our business if you turn into a ghost. Girls, come here. I will paint you beautifully."

Most performances are performed without makeup, but young girls are always very curious about this kind of thing and hope to look beautiful on the stage, so they always seize the opportunity to put on lipstick and draw eyebrows.

"Qingxia, have you finished your makeup——"

Wang Xiaoling, who was wearing a coarse cloth shirt and was about to perform on stage in a drama, walked up to Li Qingxia and called her, but happened to see Li Qingxia's face.

Suddenly, I was attracted by those vixen eyes.

Li Qingxia was prettier than her sister Li Qinglan. She put on a beautiful but not exaggerated stage makeup, which brought out the advantages of her facial features to the fullest. Her eyes were doubled in size, and she looked radiant and captivating.

She also put on blush, but not as exaggerated as Zhang Min's. It looked like the peony blush after the rain, which was very beautiful.

Wang Xiaoling felt her heartbeat slow down for a beat. No wonder Li Qingxia always said that Ma Fang made her look ugly. Now she saw that it was true.

She subconsciously praised, "Qingxia, you are so beautiful!"

Wang Xiaoling's words attracted the attention of the people around her. Ma Fang and others also subconsciously looked at Li Qingxia's face. When they saw this, people gasped one after another.

Not to mention the people from their own art troupe, another person from the Liujiazhuang art troupe was also amazed. A girl who was also singing solo came to Li Qingxia's side. She looked at Li Qingxia's face and took the initiative to say, "Sister, give me one on my face, too."

Li Qingxia smiled and agreed: "Okay." Seeing Li Qingxia smile, the girl gasped: "You have such beautiful eyes, there is no beauty like you in our group!!!"

"Help me make myself prettier!!"

There is no girl of this age who doesn't love beauty.

When Ma Fang saw the makeup on Li Qingxia's face, her expression looked extremely ugly. Zhou Mei and the others had just been made up by her, and now they had exaggerated painted faces. She looked at Li Qingxia again, and sometimes she felt that her lipstick was not applied well, and sometimes she felt that her eyebrows were not drawn well.

She snorted inwardly and said to Zhou Mei, "What is she so proud of? She will be embarrassed when she opens her voice on stage later."

"I haven't heard her practice much these days."

"I've heard her fail to sing before."

However, Li Qingxia disappointed Ma Fang.

Li Qingxia's solo program is about to begin.

Zhou Mei and Ma Fang were standing by the doorpost, looking around. The auditorium was packed with people. Some were watching intently, while others were drowsy. The scene was not very lively.

When the curtain fell, those sleepy people suddenly woke up and followed the crowd in applause.

Then there was another noisy silence.

Ma Fang and Zhou Mei laughed at each other, saying, "Let's just wait here and watch Li Qingxia make a fool of herself."

"No matter how pretty she is, it would be embarrassing if she doesn't sing well on this stage."

"Just wait and hear her sing. She can't sing it."

"The woman from Liujiazhuang sang really well just now."

……

Ma Fang saw that Li Qingxia had walked to the center of the stage. The two of them were near the front row and could clearly hear the gasps from the crowd. As expected, the male soldiers were all stunned by the appearance of Li Qingxia, the vixen.

The people behind didn't take a close look at Li Qingxia's face, but based on her figure, they could guess that she must be a beautiful woman.

The music started, and the woman's singing voice resounded throughout the auditorium through the microphone. As soon as she opened her mouth, the auditorium became silent in an instant. No one spoke quietly anymore. At this moment, only the woman's melodious singing voice could be heard.

"A big river, wide waves..."

You don't need too much musical skills to judge how well she sings. You only know that when her sweet voice sounds, people pay less attention to her appearance. That moving voice is like a feather scratching people's hearts, making them itchy.

And when that high-pitched sound rang out, goose bumps unconsciously appeared on my arms. Not only was my body trembling, but my soul seemed to be trembling along with the goose bumps on my body.

After the song was over, Zhou Mei and Ma Fang's faces turned extremely ugly. Before the curtain call, the whole audience burst into thunderous applause, and countless people shouted, "Sing one more! Sing one more!"

"Sing one!"

The crowd's response was so enthusiastic that Sister Jiang took the microphone to maintain order and calm everyone's emotions.

Li Qingxia sang "My Motherland". When she took her bow and walked off the stage, her legs were still weak.

Her heart was beating fast and she couldn't help but pat her chest, thinking: This is terrible, there are only crowds of men.

However, being a singer in the art troupe was not a difficult thing for her, as Li Qingxia originally liked singing.

Li Qingxia and the others returned to the art troupe compound. Others who did not attend the performance immediately surrounded them and asked them, "How was it?"

"Winning a prize."

“Who won the award?”

"Li Qingxia's song won first prize."

Other people in the art troupe: “…”

This was a big upset. No one expected this to happen. The original substitute team member Li Qingxia actually won the award for the solo performance?
Li Qingxia, who was beautiful and had a voice like a lark, became famous in the garrison area.

As the saying goes, when you are famous, you are prone to gossip. Especially Li Qingxia, a young, beautiful, single girl.

Office of the director of the art troupe.

"Arrange it! I can arrange it!"

"Okay, okay... let's set a time for them to meet."

Director Sun of the art troupe hung up the phone, and when someone mentioned the name Li Qingxia again, she couldn't help but frown. Li Qingxia had caused a lot of trouble recently, which made her very dissatisfied.

It was appropriate for her to go on this trip.

After entering the office and seeing Director Sun, Li Qingxia hadn't spoken yet when Director Sun raised his eyebrows and asked her, "How was the performance?"

Director Sun was a married middle-aged female cadre with short hair and thick eyebrows. She wore a Zhongshan suit and held a huge enamel cup with a red-cheeked chubby baby printed on it.

Li Qingxia quickly said, "I won a prize, first prize."

The reason why she reported so actively was because her boss had agreed beforehand that if the performance was successful, there would be a bonus of 500 yuan!!!

No matter what era it is, if you are not enthusiastic about receiving money, there is something wrong with your thinking!
When Director Sun heard this, he was stunned for three seconds. He had always heard people complain about Li Qingxia, saying that she was not active in rehearsals, but he didn't expect that she actually won the award.

"Comrade Xiao Li, let's put this aside for now. I have a special task for you..."

"You, go meet that person." Director Sun took a sip of hot water and briefly explained the basic situation.

Li Qingxia: “?!!!!”

Director Sun meant... to let her go on a blind date?
What era is this? Is the organization still giving gifts to the people it assigns to?
"His name is Zheng Haisheng. He is less than 28 years old, much older than you, and has never been married. He is currently studying at the Command Academy and will soon be transferred to the position of regiment chief of staff. He is young and promising."

Director Sun estimated that this was just a formality, so she did not introduce Zheng Haisheng's family background in detail in front of Li Qingxia, for fear of further twists and turns.

...Parents are most concerned about their children's marriage issues. Bai Ling is no exception. While her son is currently studying at school, she is using all her connections to try to introduce him to a date.

At the beginning, Zheng Haisheng was a popular commodity that everyone was vying for. He was good-looking, had a good family background, and had a bright future.

However, Zheng Haisheng had been studying for three months, during which time he had dated... he didn't know how many girls he had dated, but none of them worked out.

Just now, an old comrade of Bai Ling in the garrison area saw one of Li Qingxia's performances and thought that this girl was good and had potential, so he thought of introducing her to his old comrade's son.

After asking around, the old comrade finally came to Director Sun for help.

"Director Sun, I... I'm still young and don't want to fall in love so early." Li Qingxia declined tactfully.

Director Sun couldn't just let her go like that, otherwise how would he explain to his old friend?

"Hey, Xiao Li, listen to me, don't worry about it, let's just go and meet, if you don't like it, just leave, how about that? Just think of it as doing me a favor!"

Seeing that Director Sun had said so much, Li Qingxia had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer, "Okay, okay!"

Director Sun was overjoyed when she heard this. She had finally completed her mission. Whether these two people would be successful in the future had nothing to do with her. Anyway, she had helped.

A few days later, the day for meeting Zheng Haisheng was set. Director Sun seemed to have a different kind of guilt towards her and approved a day off for Li Qingxia alone.

Li Qingxia: “……?”

But it's always nice to have a vacation.

The next day, Li Qingxia lowered her hat brim, ignored the gazes of others, got out of the car and walked to the courtyard of the art troupe. When the people at the door saw her, they were stunned for a moment, and then said, "They're already here, sitting in the reception room with Director Sun."

The "person" the other party was referring to was naturally her blind date, Zheng Haisheng.

"That cadre Zheng is so handsome!"

Li Qingxia joined the art troupe and she found that the atmosphere today was completely different from the past. Those who were practicing dancing stopped dancing, and those who were practicing singing stopped singing. Looking at Zhou Mei, Ma Fang and others, they all went back to dress up again, and some even secretly put on makeup.

Li Qingxia had no idea what they were thinking.

(End of this chapter)