Bai Fumei in the 70’s

After a while, the nurse returned, having retrieved a bunch of letters from the duty room. There were a total of eight letters.

The envelope was white, and the handwriting was soft and delicate. The letter clearly seemed to have been written by a woman. The nurse didn't even have time to read it before it was taken away by the chief.

Jiang Jianjun opened them one by one, and the sweet and lovely atmosphere belonging to his girl overflowed from the letter. He carefully read it line by line, staring at it for a long time.1

Jiang Jianjun glanced at the calendar again, and his heroic eyebrows were completely darkened. This day... just happened to be the start of the preparation period for the military exercise in the G Military Region.

Three months, Lanxiang.8

...

Zhao Lanxiang returned to the He family's house with a ten yuans note and some sugar tickets in her hands, and she was filled with satisfaction.

When she passed the county town, she went to find Liang Tiezhu and ordered ten pounds of flour, ten pounds of glutinous rice, and a bag of mountain goods.

Tiezhu quickly quoted the price, "Four yuans and eight cents."

Zhao Lanxiang gave him six yuan.

She said, "I want to buy food from you in the future, so I would be embarrassed to let you work for so cheap, I don't need the change."

How could Liang Tiezhu dare to take her money, he said, "If Brother knew, he would beat me in the future."

Zhao Lanxiang asked suspiciously, "How does this have anything to do with your brother?"

Liang Tiezhu looked at her straightforwardly, with unabashed teasing in his eyes.

Zhao Lanxiang turned her head away. She hadn't expected this kid's eyes to be so sharp. Even when He Songbai was still so dense, he saw through her completely.

She suddenly coughed, "Keep it a low profile and don't reveal it to anyone, or your brother Bai will be angry."

Liang Tiezhu nodded to show his loyalty.

Zhao Lanxiang returned to the village with peace of mind after placing her order. Although she had been working all day, she still came back early. In the afternoon, Zhao Lanxiang took a nap before going to work on time.

She pushed the small cart loaded with debris, but unexpectedly a young man was working for Zhou Jiazhen.

She walked over, and the young man immediately blushed and whispered, "I... I happened to pass by and saw that you didn't come to work today, so I came to help."

Zhao Lanxiang glanced at the piles of rubble that had almost been shoveled clean and quickly glanced at Zhou Jiazhen.

Zhou Jiazhen said to him, "Thank you, comrade. You can go back and finish your own work!"

Zhao Lanxiang said, "I come to work but all the work is already done. This is really cool."

Zhou Jiazhen hummed and said, "Didn't the He family's second son come to work for you every day?

How is he doing now, is the injury better?"

She was a bit worried, "Oh! I'm so used to him helping, my bones have become lazy. Today you were not here, and my waist was almost bent out of shape."

Zhao Lanxiang said with a smile, "Then today is really thanks to Comrade Wu. Otherwise, you would be really tired. Looking back, we must thank him for his warm kindness."

She touched her face and felt a bit bad.

Zhou Jiazhen awkwardly pushed the cart to pick stones. After she filled the cart, she ran across the field. Her face blushing red and she twisted Zhao Lanxiang angrily.

"I haven't thanked He's second child yet. Thank him for his strength for me!"

Zhou Jiazhen finished ranting before she explained in a small voice, "Wasn't I reading "How Steel is Made" some time ago? He saw it and was very happy to share his experience with me, since he also read it. We talked a bit."

Zhao Lanxiang said decently, "That is a good book. You need to communicate more and discuss it with each other to benefit from it."

Zhou Jiazhen said, "Then I will communicate with you."

Zhao Lanxiang quickly waved her hand, "I haven't finished reading it. Trying to communicate with people who haven't finished reading is like trying to play the piano with cattle. Only people like Comrade Wu who have read extensively can keep up with your thoughts."

Zhou Jiazhen fiercely pinched Zhao Lanxiang again and puffed away angrily pushing the cart filled with stones.

After finishing her work, Zhao Lanxiang didn't make dinner that night. Even though little He Sanya was aggrieved, elder sister He smiled. She ate the sweet potato rice in a mouthful, as if her bowl contained the treasures from the mountain and the sea. Zhao Lanxiang also ate a scrumptious meal of sweet potato brown rice. Although there was no oil nor sauce, her stomach that had been eating a lot of oil recently, received it gratefully. After all, the brown grains were full of fiber and good for digestion.

...

In the middle of the night, Zhao Lanxiang was suddenly awakened by a bleak cry. She was agitated and crawled up from her bed.

Holding a kerosene lamp, she followed the voice and walked to Grandma's room.

A slim ray of light leaked into the black room, and the old woman wailed and wailed on the bed. The sunken eyes were covered with gloomy fog, and under the dim light, it appeared unbearably miserable.

The grandma lifted her hazy tear-filled eyes and screamed, "Get out!"

Zhao Lanxiang quickly retreated but left the lamp on the table.

She asked from outside the door, "Grandma, what's wrong?"

Grandma ignored her.

Zhao Lanxiang had only exchanged a few words with this grandmother after she began living in the He family's house. The old woman didn't want to care about this stranger. For the first time, holding onto the idea of ​​meeting the grandmother whom she had never met in the past, she took the bowl of rice to her room but Sister He had quickly stopped her.

Occasionally, she saw the old woman when the brother and sisters of the He family pushed her outside to bask in the sun. When Grandma looked at Zhao Lanxiang, this stranger, her eyes were indifferent.

Sister He was quickly awakened by Zhao Lanxiang. She went to her grandmother's room, hugged her grandmother, and caressed her rickety back. In the dark night, her gestures couldn't be seen. The old woman cried sadly, clutching her granddaughter's hand, "Is your brother gone?"

Sister He took the lamp and tried to gesture to her grandmother, "No."

"Don't worry, he is fine."

"Is he gone?" The old woman wiped her tears sadly.

Zhao Lanxiang looked at the old woman and couldn't bear it. She went to wake He Songbai up.

He had been sleeping for several days since he was injured.