I was married off to a disabled hero in lieu of marriage; my in-laws doted on me and I aspired to gr

The couple were being all lovey-dovey when Fang Guiying had already killed the chicken, started a fire, found a broken pot, and started simmering chicken soup.

"Wenhui, you're having lunch at home!" Fang Guiying shouted loudly in the corridor.

"Aunt Fang, no need. Yu Fu will bring the kitchen supplies over later. He'll take care of the house for you from now on."

Qiaoqiao let go of Zhou Wenhui, and Liu Songming was hospitalized. They were very affectionate, which was not good for the elderly to see.

"Yu Fu? That won't do, he's your family's bodyguard."

"My family doesn't need that many people. Sister Hu is enough. Aunt Fang, you're new here and not familiar with many things. With Yu Fu here, Dad can rest assured," Zhou Wenhui explained.

"Commander Zhou is such a good person, he arranged everything so perfectly." Fang Guiying was very moved.

"Aunt Fang, we're all family, we don't distinguish between each other. Wenhui and I will go back first, Yu Fu will be here soon. Brother Songming has a car, you can ask them to take you to the hospital."

"Great, great, the city is so nice, there are even special cars. Our commune doesn't have any cars," Fang Guiying exclaimed.

Qiaoqiao didn't explain. Liu Songming was the Minister of Armed Forces. He could mobilize all the soldiers in the Armed Forces Department. What was a car?

Without anyone's help, there's really no way to start.

There's only one lunchbox and one pair of chopsticks at home; we don't even have any extra bowls.

Facing the abject poverty of their former mansion, Fang Guiying was filled with sorrow: "What kind of life is my son living? He doesn't even have bowls and chopsticks. Even in the poorest rural areas, surely they have bowls to eat from?"

"A boy who eats in the cafeteria every day, asking for bowls and chopsticks is useless," Songming's father explained.

"Sigh... Outsiders see my son as a minister, how glorious that is, but in reality, he's no different from a beggar."

Even the most skilled cook can't cook without rice, but luckily Yu Fu arrived with a truckload of supplies.

Rice, various pots and pans, bowls and chopsticks, new kitchen knives... all were taken from the logistics department's warehouse.

"Aunt Fang, is there anything else? I'll go get it," Yu Fu asked after unloading the things from the car.

"A table, chairs, a kettle, teacups. Oh, and a hoe, a pickaxe, a bucket, and blankets... We don't have blankets for our beds... Yu Fu, thank you for your hard work!"

The more we talk, the more it seems like this family is lacking in everything.

Yu Fu drove the logistics department's truck to haul things away. Fang Guiying was busy packing the stewed chicken into lunchboxes. She didn't have time to eat lunch and went to the hospital with Songming's father to deliver food.

I jogged all the way to the ward, covered in sweat, and saw Dr. Zhong Yao feeding my eldest son.

"Didn't you say I couldn't eat braised pork?"

"Didn't Dean Luo tell you to eat it?"

"You're my attending physician, so it's up to you whether or not I can eat it?"

"Just eat what I tell you to eat, stop talking so much nonsense."

"Yes, Dr. Chung."

Fang Guiying burst in, startling the two of them.

"Songming, I'm sorry I'm late. Are you hungry?"

Fang Guiying hurried to the bedside, carefully opened the lunchbox, and the aroma of chicken filled the ward.

"It's hard to buy chickens in the city. Thanks to Commander Zhou's support in raising chickens and ducks, you're lucky, kid. I brought you five. If that's not enough, I'll have your dad go back and get some more."

Oh, and there are four more chickens laying eggs in the yard. Songming, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but such a big yard, so many houses, you're wasting them living in."

Fang Guiying carefully fed Liu Songming chicken soup from the lunchbox, her mouth grumbling incessantly: "In the end, it's because there's no woman in the family. Yu Fu went to haul a truckload of stuff home today, and you don't even have a bowl to eat from. Oh my son, what kind of life are you living?"

"No, you must get married this year. If you keep making excuses, I'll go find Commander Zhou and beg him to bring me a wife."

"mother!"

Liu Songming called out "Mother," his gaze drifting towards Zhong Yao, who smiled with her lips pursed.

"Calling to God won't help. Tell me, with such a big yard, it would be so much better to raise three or four children, but instead you raise chickens. Your younger brother is five years younger than you, and his child is already in elementary school."

"It's all my fault. We were poor, and after sending you to join the army, I didn't take care of you at all. You're covered in wounds, and I didn't take care of you. My son, it's all my fault..."

As she spoke, Fang Guiying's eyes reddened and her voice choked with emotion.

"Mom, I'm doing just fine. Although you're busy as the head of the Women's Federation, the old commander and his wife treat me like a son. We have the same food, drink, and supplies. Wenhui and I are the same. Wenhui lost both legs on the battlefield; I only suffered a few injuries, what does that matter?"

Liu Songming felt a lump in his throat and comforted Fang Guiying.

"Yes, the son of a division commander is going to the front lines. My son, don't cry, I'm so proud of you. But, you can't have your way of finding a wife." Fang Guiying brought up the important topic again.

"Mother, I have someone in my heart, but I'm afraid she won't agree." Liu Songming chuckled and stole a glance at Zhong Yao.

"Who is it? Does the old commander know him? Let him act as a go-between."

Fang Guiying's mood immediately improved, and she stuffed the big chicken leg into Liu Songming's mouth.

"His mother, the child has his own opinions, so you should worry less about him."

Seeing his son exchanging glances with Dr. Zhong, Songming's father instantly understood.

"My son doesn't need me to worry about anything, but finding a wife has made me so worried that I've turned quite gray. If I don't take care of it, my wife and I will die without ever being able to hold Songming's child. He's in his thirties, almost forty, and in the countryside, even a dog wouldn't want to marry him."

"Mother...you're getting more and more confused. How can a dog marry me? The law doesn't allow it."

"Stop being silly. I'm just giving you an example. Aren't all those bachelors in the village in their thirties? What girl would want to marry them?"

Fang Guiying angrily interrupted Liu Songming.

Seeing their heated argument, Zhong Yao interjected, "Auntie, hurry up and feed her, I need to change the patient's dressing."

"Oh, change the dressing? Okay, okay, young lady, I'm sorry you had to see this."

Liu Songming finished the whole box of chicken and chicken soup; his mother's chicken soup was just so delicious.

Zhong Yao needed her dressing changed, and Liu Li helped.

Seeing her son's back covered in wounds, Fang Guiying could no longer hold back her tears.

"Let's go outside, so as not to disturb the doctor changing the dressing."

Songming's father was also saddened, and he pulled Fang Guiying to the corridor.

"I only knew my son was a soldier, and how glorious it was to protect our country. But after seeing him today, I realized they risk their lives to protect our country. Every time he comes home, he's always smiling and never mentions his injuries. Last time he was treated in Beijing, he... he didn't even tell me..." Fang Guiying sobbed.

"Mom, don't cry. We're so proud to have such a son."

"What's there to be proud of? If I had known he was suffering so much, I should have insisted on his discharge from the army."

"You're the head of the Women's Federation, yet your awareness isn't as high as mine, an ordinary citizen. Everyone's been demobilized and gone home; who's going to fight the war?"

"You didn't give birth to him, so how would you know how to care? I don't care who hits him, I won't let my son do it."

"Wenhui, the son of Commander Zhou, isn't he also from the front lines? What, your son is a son, but other people's sons aren't?"

"That's what I say, but I'm still sad."

"Hey, Mom, didn't you see Songming and Dr. Zhong exchanging glances?" Songming's father changed the subject.

"What? How come I didn't notice?"

Fang Guiying wiped away her tears. At this moment, finding a wife for her son was the most important thing.