You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 280 A Girl as Beautiful as a Flower!

Jiuling Township, Santai County.

With a hoe on his shoulder, Maozi stepped out of his mud-brick house and headed straight for the pond below the citrus grove.

"Oh, Jiang Mao, so early."

"Good morning, Second Aunt."

Cat greeted him with a smile. He was wearing a red sleeveless vest, army green pants rolled up to his knees, and barefoot.

The hunched-over second aunt stood in front of her house and said enviously, "Your parents are so lucky to have raised a policeman."

Cat has heard these kinds of words too many times. A year ago, they might have been moved, but now they take their identity in stride.

As he walked further, all the villagers he encountered along the way recognized him and would say something to their son.

“Look at your brother Jiang Mao, he’s a policeman. Our village has produced one young man who left the countryside and is now working in a big city. We should learn from your brother Jiang Mao.”

Cat smiled and said, "Good morning, Grandpa."

"Jiang Mao, where are you going?"

"I'll go down and dig open the mouth of the pond."

"Isn't that pond contracted out to the Liu family?"

"Yes, Uncle Liu asked me to dig it up; we're catching fish this afternoon."

"Oh, okay then."

The cat nodded and walked along the path toward the pond to the left of the house.

Not long after, a young man of similar age ran down the slope.

His face was rosy, his body was very strong, and his face looked very youthful.

"Brother Mao."

"Xiao Chao."

Cat greeted him warmly and walked alongside him. Back in his hometown, no one called him by the nickname "Cat".

"Brother Mao, my dad told me you came back yesterday?"

"Yes."

"I knew it! That's why my dad was thinking about catching fish today – he was waiting for you to come back."

"They weren't waiting for me, it must have just happened to be a coincidence."

“He’s definitely waiting for you. My dad tells everyone that you and Yuxin are the only successful people in our village. You’re a police officer now, and Yuxin will become a doctor in the future. You’ll both be city people.”

When it comes to her younger sister, Maozi is happier than when others praise her.

"By the way, where's Yuxin?"

Cat asked warily, "You need to see her for something?"

Liu Chao scratched the back of his head sheepishly: "No, it's not that. Isn't Yuxin studying at a nursing school? I've been feeling a bit dizzy these past few days, and I wanted to see her."

Cat rolled her eyes. She had come back from the city yesterday, and this was the sixth young man in the village to say he wasn't feeling well and wanted his sister to see a doctor.

"Don't be mad. You're strong and healthy, like an ox. I don't see anything wrong with you."

"My stomach is also uncomfortable, it always hurts in the middle of the night, so I wanted Yuxin to take a look and see if there's something wrong with my body?"

"Get lost!" the cat snapped. "There's a clinic in the village."

“Old He from the village clinic used to treat cattle, you know that, don’t you?”

Liu Chao chuckled and added, "It's summer vacation now, so Yuxin has been staying inside the house the whole time. I haven't seen her come out."

"Studying, I thought it looked like you..."

Maozi stopped halfway through his sentence. After all, he was his childhood friend, and he asked with concern, "Xiao Chao, what are your plans for the future? You're nineteen years old this year."

"I'm not as good at studying as you guys, I want to join the army."

"Has the recruitment period already passed?"

“My dad’s health isn’t good this year, so I want to stay another year and join the army next year.”

"Serving in the army also has a future; it's all about serving the people."

The two chatted as they arrived at the pond.

The summer mornings are not cool. After a night of heat, the surface of the two-acre pond is covered with bubbles, and schools of fish swim around in the murky water.

This is a pond contracted by Liu Chao's family. Last year, they released more than 100 fish fry, mainly crucian carp and common carp.

Maozi and Liu Chao dug a hole and plugged it with a bamboo basket to prevent the fish from escaping and to let the water flow into the rice paddies below.

In June, the weather was hot, and the rice was about to bloom, so it needed irrigation. The water flowing down from the pond was just enough to nourish this large rice field.

Liu Chao and Maozi's family's paddy fields are located below the pond, and they have been doing this work since they were children.

After being busy for more than half an hour, the cat returned home.

Although Maozi and her sister are more successful than the young people in the village, this comes at a price.

Without their parents tightening their belts and risking their lives to support their education, the siblings wouldn't be where they are today.

The price they paid was that their house was the most dilapidated in the village!

The three mud-brick houses, with walls made of yellow mud and straw, not only appeared low, but also leaked when it rained heavily.

At this time of year, my mother would find all the buckets and plastic basins in the house and place them in the leaky areas to catch the rainwater.

On rainy nights, the rain falls into the basin, and the cat and its sister fall asleep to the 'ding-dong' sound of the rain.

Even so, Maozi's parents never complained about life and gritted their teeth to support their two siblings' education.

At the end of last year, the black tiles on the roof were renovated, and the house stopped leaking.

Cat used all of her income last year to supplement the family income and to buy furniture and appliances for the house.

We bought a washing machine, a TV, and a refrigerator.

Maozi originally planned to build a house, but his parents disagreed and even advised him to save the money so that he could buy a house in the city and get married later.

This is also the goal that Maozi has been striving for these past few years. "Dad, why are you catching ducks?"

Cat put down the hoe and looked at his father.

Jiang Zhenhai was carrying four ducks and sitting on a small stool in the yard, tying the ducks' legs with straw rope.

"Isn't your boss coming? We don't have anything good at home, so catch two ducks for him, and take the other two to your master."

The kitten was somewhat reluctant, after all, it was raised with great care by its parents.

Jiang Zhenhai looked at his son and laughed, "Look at you, so cowardly. Don't be stingy. You work in the city, and it's all thanks to your master and Captain Yang taking care of you. Your mother and I are at ease."

"Mm." The cat nodded.

When will Captain Yang arrive?

"Dad, you've asked me several times. You said you were rushing over for lunch." Maozi answered as she walked to the washstand and washed her hands in the enamel basin.

This enamel basin is red and white, with a red carp plated inside. It has been used for many years, and the paint on the edges has peeled off.

Jiang Zhenhai smiled and said, "After all, he's your boss."

Where is Yuxin?

"Helping your mom cook."

Cat nodded and went to the kitchen doorway, where she saw her mother and sister busy at work, the kitchen steaming with activity.

Jiang Yuxin wore a floral dress, with her hair in a braid down her back. She stood up straight and had a very slim waist, just like a female soldier in a performing arts troupe in a movie, in the prime of her youth.

Compared to a year ago, Maozi thinks her little sister is getting prettier and prettier, like a flower bud about to bloom. But annoyingly, there are always some blind wasps that come to sting her.

Upon seeing him, Jiang Yuxin immediately asked, "Brother, when is Brother Jinwen coming?"

"Sigh..." Cat sighed.

Jiang Yuxin frowned: "I'm asking you."

"You've asked me that several times already," the cat said helplessly.

"So I can cook, otherwise the food will get cold."

Cat thought for a moment and replied, "Oh, right, besides Captain Yang, his fiancée and the daughter of our city bureau deputy director also came. I'll be taking their car back to the city this afternoon."

Visibly, Jiang Yuxin's right hand, which was holding the spatula, fell limply to her side.

The light in Jiang Yuxin's eyes vanished instantly. She turned her head away and threw the braid in front of her chest behind her back. The braid swayed behind her and finally stopped at her lower back.

Cat's mother was a woman of few words. Hearing the conversation between the brother and sister and seeing her daughter's expression, she sensed that something was wrong.

After the cat returned to the main room, she looked at her daughter and sighed softly.

Since last summer vacation, Jiang Yuxin has been constantly mentioning her brother, and then she also mentions Yang Jinwen.

They described him as a certain kind of person, how he solved the case of the missing and murdered girls at their school, and even showed his family the newspaper, describing what he looked like.

Cat's mother understood that her daughter was in love with someone.

A young girl experiencing her first love cannot be stopped.

From the time Maozi and her sister were little, their parents had to be mindful of their moods and raise the two children with utmost care.

After they grow up, their parents have to be even more mindful of their moods, afraid that they will be unhappy or that they will not be doing well.

"Yuxin, you'll be graduating next summer. What are your plans?"

We'll see when the time comes.

"Your brother's mentor told him that they could get you taken to the police station, or else..."

"No, I don't want to be a forensic doctor."

"why?"

"No reason." Jiang Yuxin held a spatula and stir-fried the duck meat in the large iron pot.

"Child, tell your mother the truth, do you like that Yang Jinwen?"

Jiang Yuxin's face immediately turned red, and her hand trembled slightly.

"No... I don't like it."

"Oh," the mother replied simply, peeled some garlic, and threw it into the pot.

Jiang Yuxin turned around, looked at her mother's hunched back, and said bitterly, "Mom, don't overthink it. I just want to study hard and work in the city like my brother, so I can take care of you and Dad."

With her back to her, her mother shook her head and said, "Your father and I don't need you to take care of us. Your best wish is for you to live a good life."

"No, you all worked so hard to support my brother and me through school..."

“Raising children is like liking someone. If you want something from them or want to take something from them, then you might as well not have children at all. Your father and I just hope that you two siblings are happy and never have any worries in your lives.”

Jiang Yuxin was stunned and speechless. After a long silence, she turned around and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.

Mother said, "Stir it in the pot, the duck meat is almost burnt."

"I know, Mom." Jiang Yuxin coughed lightly.

The cat, hiding behind the kitchen door, listlessly entered his parents' room, unzipped his pants, took out three crumpled hundred-yuan bills from his underwear, placed them under his mother's pillow, and picked up a white hair that had fallen onto the pillow.

Around noon, a loudspeaker blared from behind the house.

The whole family ran out and went around to the back of the house. There they saw Yang Jinwen and Wen Ling carrying gift boxes, walking with smiles on their faces as they trudged through the muddy path into the yard.

"Hello, Uncle. Hello, Auntie." The two greeted each other warmly.

When relatives from the city come to visit in the countryside, especially if they arrive in a car, it attracts a lot of neighbors to come and see what's going on.

The same was true at Maozi's house; the yard was full of people.

Jiang Yuxin hid in the crowd, glanced at Yang Jinwen's tall figure, and her eyes reddened slightly.

Wen Ling recognized her at a glance in the crowd; she was a fresh-faced, flower-like girl!

Wen Ling suddenly remembered the books "The Art of War" and "The Thirty-Six Stratagems" on her father's bookshelf. The strategies appeared in her mind like a codebook...

(End of this chapter)