Siheyuan: Game of Red Dust

Chapter 85 The Big Wedding
Li Weidong and Squad Leader Wang went into the mountains and did not return until dusk with a rich harvest. The car was loaded with five big wild boars, four mountain deer, and eleven wild goats. Li Weidong also secretly took out twenty flying dragons from the space.

After returning to the guard regiment, they drove straight into the kitchen and asked Nan Yi and the kitchen helpers to start processing it. There was no other way, as they didn't catch them alive this time. They also told Nan Yi that he was getting married tomorrow and would need these things tomorrow, so they asked him to deal with them.

After saying that, Li Weidong left the guard regiment and went to Qianmen Street to talk to Xu Huizhen and Chen Xueru. After all, this was a task assigned by Zhou Xiaolin.

At Xu Huizhen's place, he ran into Niu Ye. He told Niu Ye about the wedding the next day and asked him to meet at the tavern tomorrow, and asked Wang the squad leader to pick him up. Niu Ye promised to be there tomorrow. Then he went to Chen Xueru's place, where an accident happened. After discussing the origin of life, Chen Xueru finally let Li Weidong go.

The next day, Li Weidong got up early, washed up, put on new clothes, and went to pick up the bride in two jeeps with Squad Leader Wang and several guards.

When they arrived downstairs at the house in the military compound, there was already a large group of children waiting there. Li Weidong distributed candies to each of them. Some children still refused to leave, so Li Weidong winked at Zhang Haiyang in the crowd. Zhang Haiyang immediately understood and called his friends to take all the children away. Li Weidong chuckled wickedly, thinking, you know what I mean, buddy has an insider.

Then Li Weidong took Squad Leader Wang and the others into Zhou's house.

"Weidong is here. These are Xiaolin's three older brothers and one younger brother. Xiaolin is getting married today, so they're all back." Zhou Zhennan introduced.

"Brother, second brother, third brother, little brother, I am Li Weidong, Xiaolin's husband." Li Weidong also introduced himself.

Zhou Xiaolin's four brothers also greeted Li Weidong one by one.

Then it was time to pay respects to the elders and offer tea. After completing the process, Li Weidong took Zhou Xiaolin to the car, left the compound and went to the guard regiment's research institute.

When we arrived at the dormitory of the Guard Corps Research Institute, several young students from Harbin Institute of Technology, who were also technicians at the institute, lit firecrackers, and the atmosphere suddenly became lively.

Next came the ceremony of paying respects to the elders and offering tea. Since Li Weidong's parents were deceased, the only elders left were his teacher and his wife, so the tea was offered to the teacher and his wife. Then the feast began.

This wedding banquet featured wild game. Wild boar, mountain deer, and wild goat were the mainstays of the meal, with a small portion of purchased vegetables. Li Weidong's main focus was on the meat, and he finished with a Feilong soup.

Everyone at the institute and Li Weidong's friends and family—mainly Director Wang, Secretary Zhang, the old director, Uncle Niu, Xu Huizhen, Chen Xueru, Liang Ladi, Wang Jianjun, and others—well, no others, that's all he had. While they were eating, two jeeps suddenly drove up from the Guards Regiment camp. They pulled up, and Minister Wang and Commander Yang got out. Li Weidong saw them and hurried over to greet them.

"Minister Wang, Chief Yang, how come you have time to come here?" Li Weidong said with a smile.

"There is no Minister Wang or Chief Yang today. There is only your Uncle Wang and your Uncle Yang. You are getting married today, so how can we, as your elders, not come?" said Minister Wang.

"Yes, Weidong, we are here today in a private capacity, so don't call us chief or anything like that. We are here to have a feast. Please prepare good wine and delicious food for us." Chief Yang said.

"Okay, Uncle Wang, Uncle Yang, please come in, the good wine and food are ready." Li Weidong said with a smile.

Li Weidong led Minister Wang and Chief Yang into the main seat in the inner room, where they sat at the same table with their teacher and his wife, Zhou Zhennan and his wife. As soon as they sat down, Yang Ruoxi and Wang Xinyi came over.

To be honest, Li Weidong didn't communicate much with these two section chiefs. Since they met that night, Li Weidong was usually busy with the work of the institute and hadn't seen them either. So the relationship couldn't be said to be close, nor was it bad. It was just an ordinary colleague relationship.

Li Weidong didn't expect that the two of them would come over. He was about to ask something when he suddenly heard it.

"Dad, why are you here? Hello, Uncle Yang," said Wang Xinyi.

"Dad, hello Uncle Wang!" Yang Ruoxi said. "Dad? Uncle Yang and Uncle Wang are your fathers?" Li Weidong asked in surprise.

"Yes, didn't Xiaolin tell you? You stingy guy," Yang Ruoxi said unhappily.

Wang Xinyi just nodded. Obviously, she was also dissatisfied with Li Weidong.

"Me, a stingy person?" Li Weidong said with some disbelief.

"Aren't you a stingy person? Ever since I misunderstood you and apologized to you last time, haven't you been avoiding us?" Yang Ruoxi said with a look of contempt.

Li Weidong was speechless. He couldn't just say, "I've been busy with work and don't have time to deal with you two." That would be a bit rude. So, forget it. Just treat them like ordinary colleagues.

At this time, Chief Yang and Minister Wang saw the problem.

Commander Yang said, "Weidong, what's wrong? Did Ruoxi cause you trouble?"

Li Weidong smiled and said, "No, no, there was a small misunderstanding a few days ago, which has long been resolved."

At this time, Chief Yang said to Yang Ruoxi and Wang Xinyi, "Xinyi, Ruoxi, don't look down on Weidong's young age, but his talent and his character are worth learning. Even the head shopkeeper has praised Weidong more than once. This time when Weidong got married, the head shopkeeper asked me and Lao Wang to bring wedding gifts." Chief Yang took out a copy of calligraphy from his arms and handed it to Li Weidong.

Li Weidong took the calligraphy and saw the following inscription: "Congratulations, Comrade Li Weidong and Comrade Zhou Xiaolin, for finding a revolutionary partner. May you work hand in hand to write a new chapter." Signed: "The Chief Shopkeeper."

Li Weidong held the calligraphy copybook with an excited look on his face. He liked it the most. Then he handed it to Zhou Xiaolin and asked her to put it away.

When Wang Xinyi and Yang Ruoxi heard the head shopkeeper also praising Li Weidong, they were curious about who Li Weidong was and why the head shopkeeper praised him.
After they arrived, they were assigned tasks by Li Weidong. Coupled with the misunderstanding caused that night, they always thought that Li Weidong was avoiding them these days. Although they did not say it, they still despised Li Weidong in their hearts. They felt that he was a grown man, but so stingy, like a child, who only knew how to throw tantrums. They looked down on him a little.

However, Wang Xinyi saw Li Weidong today through Yang Ruoxi's conversation with Li Weidong. Judging from Li Weidong's expression, he might be really busy with something and not deliberately avoiding them. Because when Wang Xinyi was observing Li Weidong, she found that Li Weidong's expression was very strange, and he looked at them as if he were looking at strangers, which showed that Li Weidong did not care about them very much.

At this point, Wang Xinyi finally understood. It turned out they'd been deluded all along. Li Weidong didn't care about them, and therefore, what happened that night. After all, if he didn't care about the person, how could he care about her? Li Weidong probably just treated them like ordinary colleagues. No one cared about what ordinary colleagues thought, so he must have guessed their thoughts but kept silent. That made sense.

Wang Xinyi felt relieved when she thought of this. After all, Li Weidong would definitely not hide from them at work. But every time she thought of this, she still felt uncomfortable. There was no way, women's minds were so unpredictable.

Li Weidong ignored the two men's thoughts and toasted Minister Wang and Chief Yang repeatedly at the table. Then he walked around every table outside. After eating and drinking, everyone said goodbye and Li Weidong saw them off one by one.

Then he and Zhou Xiaolin returned to the house. They sorted out the gifts and tidied up the mess in the house. By the time they finished, it was already dark.

Li Weidong watched Zhou Xiaolin packing her things, then quietly walked over to her side. With a cry of surprise, he picked her up and carried her to the bed.

……

(End of this chapter)