Ye Wenjie, watch my moves closely.

Chapter 15 New Year's Eve

There are some things that weren't explained clearly in the original work, and Li Youyu only gradually learned about them after entering the story world.

Cheng Lihua's framing of Yuan Xun was not something that could be planned by one person alone.

Without the approval of their superiors, Lei Zhicheng and Yang Weining could not have rescued Ye Wenjie.

"Hongan and that person have no direct contact."

Lei Zhicheng sighed. He trusted that person's advice on how to handle the Three-Body issue.

Point-to-point reporting can reduce the vast majority of information leaks.

"We heard he was unwell, but we had no connections and it was really difficult to find him."

However, the status of the Red Coast Base has declined significantly. Lei Zhicheng even had difficulty meeting Cheng Lihua, let alone that leader.

A mountain breeze swept through the office, bringing a touch of coolness to the dull conversation. An old poster on the wall was blown down, and Li Youyu picked it up, wiped off the dust, and placed it neatly on the table.

"Let's wait."

Li Youyu wasn't in a hurry. Exposing the Trisolaran civilization too early would be tantamount to helping Evans develop ETO.

After the conversation ended, he stood up and left the office.

As Li Youyu walked out of the Hongan office building, a young soldier passed by him without pausing, went up to the second floor, and entered Lei Zhicheng's office.

Lei Zhicheng sat behind his desk, showing no trace of his earlier outburst.

"What have Li Youyu and Ye Wenjie been doing all this time?"

The young soldier saluted. "The two didn't interact much, nor did they approach the launch system... it's just that..."

The young soldier hesitated for a moment, considering whether or not to speak.

Lei Zhicheng said, "Spit it out if you have something to say."

"Yes. During this period, Engineer Yang went to the equipment room several times and also found other duty officers to ask about the circumstances of the day Engineer Ye fainted."

"Old Yang?"

Lei Zhicheng frowned. The day Ye Wenjie fainted was the same day she received the Trisolaran signal.

What is Yang Weining trying to do? The situation is already murky enough; why is he getting involved?

"Don't worry about Ye Wenjie for now, just follow Li Youyu."

"yes!"

-----

The next day.

Ye Wenjie went to Lei Zhicheng's office again.

"Request a classroom?"

Lei Zhicheng looked at the handwritten materials by Ye Wenjie with disbelief. "Xiao Ye, this is a key classified unit, not a school."

Ye Wenjie felt a pang of guilt when she thought of the children's eager eyes. She thought that if Lei Zhicheng didn't approve, she would build a small wooden house in the open space below Radar Peak and teach the children in her spare time.

Lei Zhicheng asked, "Xiao Ye, why do you want to teach them?"

"Because they came to find me."

Lei Zhicheng's words of refusal were stuck in his throat. After a long while, he chuckled and said, "You really are quite kind-hearted."

Ye Wenjie couldn't tell whether Lei Zhicheng was being sarcastic or sincere.

Lei Zhicheng thought for a moment, picked up his pen, signed a line in the blank space of the document, and stamped it with the big red seal of the Red Coast Base. He said, "Winter is coming soon in the Greater Khingan Mountains. There is an empty room in the dormitory area. Have them set it up so you can teach the kids."

Compared to the guard post, the dormitory rooms are much larger and can accommodate twenty people at a time.

In the days that followed, Ye Wenjie set up a small blackboard in her room to teach the children. At first, she did it herself, but later Yang Weining, worried that she was too tired, also taught in his spare time. Later, Lei Zhicheng would occasionally come by and tell the children stories from the past.

Li Youyu has been appearing less frequently, seemingly busy with matters outside the base. Ye Wenjie often hears the words "speculation and profiteering" from Political Commissar Lei.

Before she knew it, it was New Year's Eve in 1979. Ye Wenjie had a particularly fulfilling time during this period, and all her worries seemed to have disappeared.

The base gave everyone a three-day holiday, and most people went down the mountain to return to the city to reunite with their families for the Spring Festival.

Lei Zhicheng stayed at the base and on New Year's Eve, he set up a feast to reward the staff who remained at the base.

Ye Wenjie did not receive an invitation; she stayed at home, quietly waiting for her husband to return.

As night fell, the cold wind howled through the Greater Khingan Mountains, and the distant sound of firecrackers from Qijiatun could be faintly heard in the wind. Ye Wenjie looked out and saw that only her house had a single light on in the entire area.

A long-lost loneliness suddenly enveloped her.

She had a surreal feeling that Yang Weining had fallen off a cliff.

The freezing cold and loneliness seemed to be God's punishment for her.

She felt herself being shrunk smaller and smaller, until finally shrinking into a tiny, unseen corner of the world.

Ye Wenjie suddenly felt a pang of heart palpitations.

She suddenly stood up and searched the room for any trace of her husband.

Wardrobe, photo album, desk...

At the bottom of the wardrobe, Ye Wenjie saw a wooden box about 30 centimeters square.

A new lock was fastened on top.

She shook it, but there was no sound.

Ye Wenjie frowned. She had never seen this wooden box before, and she couldn't find the key to the lock at home.

The things locked inside seemed to exacerbate her unease.

Just as I was hesitating whether to knock or not, there was a knock on the door.

Upon opening the door, Ye Wenjie first saw the sentry. Behind him, several torches flickered in the cold wind. The torchbearers were a group of children, their faces red from the cold, their dog-skin hats covered in ice crystals, and they brought a chill with them as they entered the house.

Two boys were the coldest. They were dressed very lightly, but they wrapped something in two thick cotton coats and held it in their arms. When they opened the coats, it was a large porcelain basin with steaming sauerkraut and pork dumplings inside.

"Teacher Ye."

The children wiped their snot and grinned, "Headhunter Qi said he wants to eat dumplings for the New Year, so he asked us to bring them to you."

"Come in quickly!"

Ye Wenjie ignored the dumplings and lovingly welcomed them into the house, brushing the ice off her clothes.

Afraid of making a mess of Teacher Ye's room, the children put the dumplings on the table, ran outside, waved, and said, "We're not going in, Teacher Ye, Happy New Year!"

Ye Wenjie was pregnant and couldn't keep up with the babies. When she reached the door, she saw the torches of the pine torches drifting further and further away.

Ye Wenjie went back into the house, closed the door, and the lingering warmth from the porcelain basin seeped into her heart through her fingertips.

She didn't touch her chopsticks, but instead took out her thick cotton coat and wrapped it around the dumpling bowl. She wanted to wait for Yang Weining to come back so they could eat together.

After a while, the firecrackers stopped. There was no clock in the house, but Ye Wenjie guessed that the villagers of Qijiatun had already gone inside to eat their New Year's Eve dinner.

She took an astrophysics book, sat down at the table, and read while waiting.

Perhaps due to her pregnancy and lack of energy, Ye Wenjie's eyelids began to droop after only a few pages.

When she opened her eyes again, the room was quiet, and the dumplings wrapped in cotton clothes had become hard.

Ye Wenjie touched the porcelain basin with a hint of disappointment.

She got up, took out a bowl and chopsticks from the kitchen, picked up a cold dumpling, and chewed it.

Cold dumplings don't taste good; you can only taste the sourness of the pickled cabbage.

Ye Wenjie chewed half of it, then felt nauseous again.

She forced herself to swallow the dumplings despite her morning sickness, then got up to go to the bathroom to wash up before slowly walking towards the bedroom.

suddenly!

An explosion occurred outside the door, accompanied by the sound of ping-pong balls exploding.

Ye Wenjie looked out the window and saw a golden flower burst open.

At first, she thought it was a hallucination; no one at the Red Coast Base should be setting off fireworks at this time and place. But then, a second, a third...

Yang Weining burst into the yard, reeking of sulfur, followed by Lei Zhicheng carrying food, and then Li Youyu carrying a large-screen television.

"Wenjie!"

The usually refined Yang Weining lit a firework and, quite unceremoniously, ran into the house.

boom!

Fireworks lit up the sky, and Yang Weining called out, "Wenjie! Quickly bring out the bowls and chopsticks, Lao Lei and Comrade Li Youyu have come especially to invite us for New Year's Eve dinner!"

The little life inside her belly was probably startled by the sound of fireworks and kicked in dissatisfaction.

Ye Wenjie didn't say anything, turned around and went back to her room, closed the door, buried her head in the pillow, it was hard to tell whether she was crying or laughing.