Chapter 27: Big Joy, Second Joy

When Guo Guangsheng said this, his two sons and Cheng Ying suddenly realized what was going on.

When Cheng Ying was eleven years old, out of curiosity about Cheng Jiantong's job as a mail carrier, she begged and pleaded with him to accompany him on his mail delivery mission that summer.

Cheng Jiantong couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he took her on a trip.

Cheng Ying followed Cheng Jiantong and got to know many people and villagers along his postal route, and also witnessed how hard he worked as a mail carrier.

Since nine years have passed, and Cheng Ying has lived another life, most of her previous life was spent on her career in the military and her love-hate entanglement with Wei Muchen. She has forgotten or has only vague memories of many things that happened in her childhood.

Hearing Guo Guangsheng say this, Cheng Ying remembered that there was such a thing. "So it was you, Uncle Guangsheng. So much time has passed that I didn't recognize you at first. Please forgive me for remembering you."

As she spoke, she called out to two young men, Gao Guoguang and Sheng, who were both wearing white short-sleeved shirts and black trousers: "Brother Daxi, Brother Erxi."

Da Xi nodded shyly, her face slightly flushed, and whispered in a voice barely above a whisper, "Little Ying, it's been a long time."

Erxi grinned, revealing a set of white teeth, and said with a big smile, "Little Ying, I heard from your dad that you were a female soldier in the army. Why did you suddenly come back to be a postman?"

"It's a long story. My father had an accident, and he has no son, so I had to come back to seek justice..." Cheng Ying briefly explained what had happened to Cheng Jiantong to Guo Erxi.

After hearing this, Erxi first angrily cursed Cheng Chunfu, then looked Cheng Ying up and down and said, "Now that you've replaced Uncle Cheng as the postman, you'll be running this postal route. When you reach Liangfeng'ao Village, come to my house for dinner. When we have time, we can spar like we did when we were kids, and see how good you are, you former soldier."

The postal route that Cheng Jiantong runs has a specific place to rest. If he rests too early or too frequently, he will easily miss the mealtimes of several villages. By then, people will have finished lunch and gone to work in the fields, and there will be no one at home. He will not be able to have a cup of hot tea or a hot meal in the village if he wants to pay for it. Therefore, he told Cheng Ying in advance where he wanted to rest and which village he wanted to have breakfast in.

Cheng Ying got up at five o'clock, went to the post office to get the mail, and started delivering it. After delivering the mail to Qingqu Town and Qingshui Village, she returned to the town, which was around seven o'clock in the morning.

Then she walked for three hours along the mountain road to the village committee of Aimen Village to deliver a message. After a short stop at Li Zhuzi's mother's house, she continued her journey and it is now around noon.

She had to hurry and get to Liangfeng'ao before 1 p.m. If she missed that time, all the villagers in Liangfeng'ao would be working in the fields, and she would have to eat the dry food she had brought with her.

Cheng Jiantong and Guo Guangsheng knew each other; they had studied together at the town's school when they were young.

However, neither of them had studied for more than two years before the world went into chaos. There was a war in their town, so they stopped going to school and went home to work and escape.

When Cheng Jiantong used to be a mail carrier, he would pass through Liangfeng'ao Village and often have meals at Guo Guangsheng's house and the home of a distant cousin in Liangfeng'ao with whom he had some kinship.

Guo Guangsheng still remembered him and was especially welcoming to Cheng Jiantong, a former soldier and postman. When Cheng Jiantong first delivered mail to Liangfeng'ao, Guo Guangsheng warmly invited him to his home for a meal.

Cheng Jiantong didn't want to freeload at Guo Guangsheng's house all the time, so he made two trips a week, eating once at his cousin's house and once at Guo Guangsheng's house. Before leaving each meal, Cheng Jiantong would leave 50 cents under the table at Guo Guangsheng's house.

In an era when 25 cents could buy a large bowl of shredded pork noodles with meat and vegetables, or 3 to 50 cents could buy a small stir-fried pork, braised fish, or stewed pork, his 50 cents for a meal was already considered a very high standard.

Every time Guo Guangsheng saw the money Cheng Jiantong gave him, he would return it to him the next time he came. If Cheng Jiantong refused to accept it, Guo Guangsheng would have his wife kill a chicken and stew a duck for Cheng Jiantong to eat as payment.

Over time, Cheng Jiantong felt it was inappropriate to always have Guo Guangsheng eat at his home, nor was it appropriate to always pay him, for fear that Guo Guangsheng's excessive hospitality would lead to the slaughter of the few chickens, ducks, and geese the family had.

Later, Guo Guangsheng jokingly suggested arranging a marriage between Cheng Ying and Da Xi, but Cheng Jiantong knew that Cheng Ying was very opinionated and Wan Shuhui was particularly protective of her two daughters, so he did not agree to the arrangement.

He was afraid that if he went to Guo Guangsheng's house too often, Guo Guangsheng and his wife would bring up the matter again, and he would refuse, causing an awkward situation between them. Gradually, he went to Guo Guangsheng's house for meals less often, and instead ate at the home of one of his distant cousins ​​who had married into the family.

Now that Cheng Ying is the one delivering mail, he also told her to go to her aunt's house for a meal.

The villagers and relatives in the mountains are all very simple and honest. When guests come to visit, the villagers will warmly and hospitably treat them to a meal without charging them a penny.

Even though Cheng Jiantong often ate at his cousin's house while delivering mail, his cousin's family was never unhappy. On the contrary, they often felt guilty for not being able to serve Cheng Jiantong good food.

Cheng Jiantong wasn't one to freeload. His cousin's family refused to accept payment for meals. When they needed to send or write letters, he would buy them stamps or pastries and fruits from town for them to eat. He would also buy clothes and shoes for his cousin's children. Over the years, the two families have maintained a very pleasant relationship.

Looking at the cheerful Erxi in front of her, Cheng Ying nodded in agreement, "Okay, let's have a match sometime and see if you're still as unreasonable as you were when you were little."

Speaking of which, when Cheng Ying went to Guo Guangsheng's house for dinner with Cheng Jiantong, the Guo family warmly welcomed the father and daughter. She should have gotten along very well with Guo Guangsheng's two sons.

But the Guo brothers also had a younger sister. When Erxi was little, he would yell at his sister, often hitting her and provoking her. He would even snatch the rattle from his little sister's hand, making her cry loudly.

When Cheng Ying was a child, she couldn't stand it and helped her younger sister snatch the rattle drum back. Er Xi was naturally unhappy about this, and the two of them got into a fight.

Despite being only eleven years old and extremely thin, Cheng Ying was a girl who grew up under the harsh treatment of the Cheng family and was particularly fierce in fights.

Erxi, who looked quite chubby when she was little, was no match for her at all. She was punched and kicked by her and fell to the ground crying loudly.

She grabbed Erxi's hair and slapped his face repeatedly, asking him if he knew he was wrong, turning his face into a pig's head.

The Guo family was cooking and chatting at home when they heard crying. When they went to the yard, they were shocked and quickly pulled the two people apart.

Da Xi stood by and took Cheng Ying's side, which caused Er Xi to be kicked several more times by Cheng Ying while the adults were pulling the two apart, making him cry out in pain.

Cheng Jiantong repeatedly apologized to the Guo family, saying that he had failed to take good care of the child and that it was his fault.

The Guo family said it was nothing and didn't take it to heart, because they knew how unlikable their child, Erxi, was.

Erxi was a typical unruly child when he was young, and he often bullied his younger sister. Guo Guangsheng's family often beat him up, but he didn't change his ways.

Cheng Ying beat Erxi until his face was bruised and swollen, but they were happy instead, thinking that someone could finally control this brat Erxi. So they mentioned the matter of arranging a marriage between their children to Cheng Jiantong, but Cheng Jiantong politely refused to his face.

Now, seeing Cheng Ying again, and noticing how beautiful and graceful she has become, and knowing that she is a retired female soldier who has taken over Cheng Jiantong's job as a postman, Guo Guangsheng's thoughts changed, and he once again had the idea of ​​having his son marry Cheng Ying.

A young woman as outstanding as Cheng Ying, with a secure job in the state, would be highly sought after in a rural mountain village. It would be a great honor for any family to marry her as their daughter-in-law.

Guo Guangsheng has two sons, Guo Daxi, who is already 25 years old and Guo Erxi, who is 23 years old. They are well past the age of marriage.

When his eldest son was eighteen, Guo Guangsheng had his wife arrange for him to find a girl from the surrounding villages.

As a result, he was dissatisfied with this and disliked that, and he couldn't stand any of the girls he was introduced to by the couple. He absolutely refused to date any of them.

As the years went by, while younger men his age were already fathers with several children, he still refused to get married.

Enraged, Guo Guangsheng and his wife tried to force him to marry a girl they had their eye on. He turned and ran away, disappearing for a year without a trace, making them the laughingstock of the surrounding area.

Girls who run away from their arranged marriages are a common sight, but a young man running away from his marriage is something the villagers have never seen before in all these years. So it's no wonder everyone finds it strange, and it's hard not to gossip about it.

After this incident, Da Xi returned and told the couple that he would only marry the girl he liked. He said if they pressured him again, he would run away again, and the next time he ran away, he would never come back.

Guo Guangsheng was so angry that he beat him up badly. But he still felt sorry for his son and was afraid that he would really run away again and never come back, so he canceled the marriage that had been agreed upon. After making various apologies, he stopped pressuring Daxi to get married.

Two years have passed, and Da Xi still hasn't found a girl he likes.

Erxi followed his brother's example and insisted on marrying the girl he liked. The two brothers are still single and bachelors. Guo Guangsheng and his wife are very anxious, but they can't force the two brothers. The couple's hair has turned white from worry.

When Cheng Ying greeted Da Xi and Er Xi earlier, Guo Guangsheng did not miss his eldest son's sudden blush and shy appearance.

No one knows a son better than his father. Guo Guangsheng suddenly understood why his eldest son had resisted his parents finding him a wife all these years.

So it turns out this kid has been thinking about Cheng Ying since he was a child.

Guo Guangsheng looked at Cheng Ying and was increasingly pleased. He smiled and said to Cheng Ying, "Xiao Ying, you've come at the perfect time. We've found the sheep and are just about to head back to the village. Come with us to the village and have a meal at our house."

"This... isn't a good idea? My dad wants me to have dinner at my aunt's house." Cheng Ying glanced at the sun and said, "Uncle Guangsheng, didn't you come from the other side? Why are you turning back to the village?"

“We are looking for the lost goats raised in the village. We have found three, but there is still one lamb missing. We don’t know if it fell into some ravine or was eaten by wolves or other wild animals. We have been searching all morning and are very hungry. It’s lunchtime now, so we need to go home and eat before we can continue looking for the remaining goats.”

Guo Guangsheng reached out and pulled the black goat with a thick rope around its neck back. As they walked, he said to Cheng Ying, "I know your dad very well, and your aunt often comes to my house to chat with your aunt. Your aunt and dad won't be unhappy if you come to my house for dinner. It just so happens that it's your aunt's birthday today. They've slaughtered a chicken and caught some river fish, and they're inviting some relatives over for dinner. Come with us and have some good food."

If Cheng Ying were to repeatedly refuse his warm invitation, it would seem unreasonable of her to do so.

She was a postwoman and would be dealing with these mountain people for the rest of her life. In addition, she had her father's connections and Da Huang was also familiar with them. They weren't bad people, so Cheng Ying didn't refuse again and said, "Then I'll trouble you." She followed Guo Guangsheng and his two sons toward Liangfeng'ao.