Chapter 45 Returning Home

After the captain finished speaking, the team disbanded.

Even though everyone is very close to each other during training, once they return to the team, there are very few opportunities for communication.

Liushutun is a production brigade, which is further divided into six production teams. Usually, production tasks are completed in teams. Each team has its own responsibility field and other matters to be responsible for, and is relatively independent of other teams.

Xie Yun was in a small team, separate from his comrades, and rarely saw them during work. Chatting and joking like they did when they lived in the dorms was nearly impossible; there simply wasn't time. At best, they'd greet each other and chat for a few minutes.

Xie Yun said hello to everyone and called Xie Shen, who was watching nearby, to go home together. Xie Yun went back home and told his mother that his sister had entered the village, then ran from home to the brigade headquarters to pick her up.

"Sister, you've been gone for half a month. I miss you so much, and so does Mom."

The midday sun shone on Xie Shen's upturned face, his smiling eyes and eyebrows being illuminated by the sunlight with extraordinary brightness. In this early winter that was already becoming increasingly cold, Xie Shen's whole body exuded a sense of warmth.

Xie Yun patted his head and said with a smile, "I miss you too. Is everything okay at home?"

"No. I'm fine. Mom goes to the team every day to do side jobs. I go to school, feed the pigs and chickens after school, and pick up some firewood at noon. On the day Mom was off, we went up the mountain and picked up a lot of firewood."

In winter, firewood is a waste of energy as we need to cook, heat water, and heat the kang. There is no coal at home, so the more firewood, the better.

Xie Yun fished out two bullet casings from his pocket and handed them to him. "Just two, no more. The instructor said these bullets can be used for reloading after recycling, so we can't take more."

Xie Shen was already jumping up and down with joy, "Two is not a small number. Thank you, sister."

"How do you play this thing?"

"Blow the whistle."

As Xie Shen spoke, he put the bullet shell to his lips and blew twice. It didn't make any tune or melody, it just made a simple sound.

After blowing twice, he looked at Xie Yun with a smile and said, "You can really make a sound!"

Xie Yun: “…”

Seeing that he was having fun playing the flute, she didn't say anything to spoil the fun. She just said, "If you practice more, maybe you can play it even louder."

"Uh-huh."

When the two returned home, Zhang Ruifeng was standing at the door waiting for them.

Xie Yun ran when he saw her, rushed to her and hugged her, "Mom, I'm back."

Zhang Ruifeng patted her on the back, stepped back, and looked her over. "She hasn't lost weight, and she hasn't gotten any darker. She's standing straighter now, and she looks fine and energetic."

Xie Yun smiled and said, "The food in the army is good. We are well fed and the food is quite oily. We are very physically demanding during training and eat a lot, so we can't lose weight. I have even become stronger."

"How was the training?"

"That's great. Let me tell you, the instructor praised me. I'm the best at martial arts and even number one in shooting. Mom, am I good?"

Zhang Ruifeng was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. "Great! My daughter is amazing. That's great. I made something new today. You should try it."

Xie Yun asked, "What?"

Zhang Ruifeng bolted the door mysteriously, took her and Xie Shen into the kitchen, and pulled out three black lumps from the stove. They were not big, about the size of large melons.

"It's the way you told me last time, wrapping it in cabbage, then covering it with mud, and roasting it over the fire. Mumu shot three turtledoves, and I cleaned them up and cooked them according to the method you mentioned. Let's try it. If it tastes good, we'll do it this way next time."

"Where did the turtledove come from?"

Xie Shen replied, "I traded two eggs for Xu Cheng's slingshot. I shot it with the slingshot the day before yesterday. Mom cleaned it up, salted it, and put it in the cellar. It doesn't stink. I smelled it."

Xie Yun praised: "Your aim is so accurate!"

Xie Shen chuckled, "It wasn't very accurate. I threw dozens of stones and only hit three."

The first two were relatively easy to hit, but he couldn't hit the third one no matter how hard he tried. He thought that there were three people in the family, one for each of them, so he persisted for a long time before he finally hit the third one.

"That's great too. I'm telling you, I'm pretty good at shooting too. Next time we go to the mountains, take your slingshot with you and I'll give it a try."

"good."

Zhang Ruifeng cracked open the black lump and a fragrant smell came out.

The three of them washed their hands and started to eat one each.

Xie Shen said, "It's delicious. Let's cook it this way from now on. It saves time. I can cook this downstairs while I cook the rice upstairs."

Zhang Ruifeng nodded as she ate. "This way, the aroma doesn't escape at all; it stays on the meat. It's really fragrant."

Xie Yun agreed, "The meat is also very tender."

Zhang Ruifeng said, "When Mumu and I were going up the mountain, we found a beehive, but we didn't pick it. We planned to wait until spring. We thought, now that it's cold, the bees are probably all in the hive. If we pick it, the bees will be gone too. Next year, there will be no bees, and no hives either. So, we decided not to pick it until next spring. That way, the bees will be driven away and find a new place to build a nest, and we can go every year to pick it. Isn't that the logic?"

"Yeah, yeah. Mom has a point."

Isn’t this the simple concept of sustainable development? Damn, that’s great, very advanced thinking!

Zhang Ruifeng asked her, "How many people do you live with during training?"

"Eight. It's much better than when we were in school. When we were in junior high school, the room was three rooms connected, with more than 30 people living in it. It was hard to turn around. In high school, there were 12 people living in one room."

"Are they all from our team?"

"Yeah. Wu Mei and I are still living in the same house."

"I met Xu Cheng's mother a few days ago and heard what she said. She said that she wanted Wu Mei to experience military life in advance, practice on her own, and observe the soldiers' situations so that she would know how to deal with Zheng Lao San in the future."

Xie Yun smiled and said, "The five beauties told us."

After finishing the turtledove, they officially began to eat. Before Xie Yun returned, Zhang Ruifeng had already buried the turtledove in the fire. After Xie Shen tipped off, she began to cook a dumpling soup with eggs, diced potatoes, and some chopped cabbage, which tasted delicious.

Xie Shen said, "Sister, I won't have to go to the commune to attend junior high school anymore. Our brigade is going to build a joint junior high school with the Yangjia Village brigade. Also, I won't have to go to elementary school for six years, only five. Junior high school will only be two years, not three like you did before. The brigade leader announced it on the loudspeaker a few days ago. It's called the 'universal nine-year education system,' five years of elementary school, two years of junior high school, and two years of high school. The city has the 'ten-year education system,' and their junior high school is three years. They also said 'elementary school should not leave the village, junior high school should not leave the brigade, and high school should not leave the commune.' Sister, isn't the village the brigade?"