He decided to go into the city again because he had a few things to do: one was to collect his subsidy, another was to send a letter to his third brother and the others, as well as some things to the military hospital, and the third was to go to the black market to see if there were any piglets or anything like that.

I was planning to take a walk around the village when I ran into Gu Cuicui. She asked me, "Does Brother Shen San reply to what I told you last time, Li Zhiqing?"

"Oh, you're asking about this! I'm so sorry! It's just that it's too cold in winter, and there are no oxcarts from the village that can go to the city. I'm just a young girl, and I don't dare to go to the city alone in the dead of winter, so I didn't send the letter to my third brother."

"Didn't we hear the team leader arranged for us to start work on the tenth of this month? Since there are only a few days left, we were thinking of seeing Grandpa Huang drive his oxcart into town so we could ride together."

"How about this, I'm going back to work in the city tomorrow anyway, so I can mail it for you."

"No need, I just came from Grandpa Huang's house. He said he's going to town tomorrow, so we can go together then."

"Alright then, I'll leave it to you, Li Zhiqing."

"It's no trouble at all. How could sending a letter to my third brother be troublesome?"

"I wonder when I'll receive a reply?"

"It's hard to say. It depends on whether Third Brother is on a mission after the letter is sent. If he's not on a mission, it will take at least half a month for the letter to come back and forth. If he is on a mission, then we don't know when we'll receive a reply."

"Oh, I see."

"Yes, being a soldier is really not easy, and being a military spouse is even harder. Being the children of soldiers makes us feel both proud and wronged, because neither our father nor our mother can be by our side all the time."

"Yeah?"

"You would never understand the feeling behind this."

Seeing that everyone in the village was listening intently with wide eyes, Gu Cuicui quickly turned and left. After she left, Gu Cuicui also hurried away, not wanting these women to stop her and ask all sorts of questions. Besides, this matter concerned Gu Cuicui, so she couldn't say too much and risk causing trouble for herself.

After returning home, I wrote several letters, roughly describing how I spent the winter and what I did by myself at home during the winter when I had nothing to do.

The most important thing was to describe Gu Cuicui's matter in detail, and also to ask Third Brother what he thought and how to answer him. He certainly couldn't just leave her hanging like that!

Besides this, I also wrote to Uncle Shen and two senior brothers at the military hospital, asking if they could provide me with the detailed addresses of the people who donated to me after my parents passed away.

Another reason is that I wanted them to have some recent newspapers or similar publications. The reason is that I spent the winter reading through all the books I brought from home. I wanted to read some newspapers to learn about current ideas and keep up with the times.

Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered that no one in the team has mentioned the cashier's plane ticket that was given to the Gu family. Could it have been embezzled?

Sure enough, when Gu Cuicui got married, she heard that the groom's betrothal gifts included three turns and a radio. Only then did she realize that the Gu family had used the radio receipts for this purpose! From then on, she became even more convinced of her opinion of the Gu family.

There weren't many people going into town the next day. Besides Grandpa Huang, there were only four people: three educated youths and Gu Cuicui.

Because of Gu Cuicui's remarks at the supply and marketing cooperative last time, Chen Enpeng and the other man were so frightened that they wanted to stay far away from her, and they simply didn't want to talk to her.

For no other reason than that ever since she got on the oxcart this morning, she kept trying to get my attention. After listening for a while, I finally understood. She just wanted to go to the post office with me to mail a letter to my third brother, and I didn't know what to do.

At this moment, Chen Enpeng said, "Mianmian, didn't you say yesterday that you would go to your Uncle Zhou's house first when you go to the city today? Didn't he send you a message saying that he wanted to send something to Brother Shen, saying that it wasn't much and he wouldn't waste the postage, so he would just put it in the package you prepared?"

Didn't you ask Jiezi and me to watch your things for a while at the post office yesterday? It's almost time to get to the county town, so don't forget!"

When Chen Enpeng mentioned Uncle Zhou, I understood. I should call him first and then tell Third Brother. What's wrong with Gu Cuicui? She's like a persistent leech, always clinging to me. Let's get down to business:

"Chen Enpeng, I would have completely forgotten about this if you hadn't reminded me. Thank you for reminding me."

"No need to thank me, just treat me and Jiezi to two big meat buns each."

"Sure, sure."

Half an hour later, they arrived at the county town gate. After getting off the oxcart, they said, "Chen Enpeng, could you two please help carry these packages to the post office? You can go find Uncle Zhou first; it will only take half an hour at most. After you come back, you can take care of other things, okay?"

"It's nothing, we're just coming into town for fun, wandering around a bit. Your matter is more important."

"Then I'll treat you to big meat buns then."

"OK"

I arrived at the post office shortly after and said, "Thank you for your help."

"No trouble at all"

"Then I'll go first," he said, slung his basket over his shoulder, and left as quickly as possible.

When Chen Junjie saw my speed, he said to Chen Enpeng, "I didn't expect Mianmian to run so fast!"

"We can practice, that's fine too."

You're right.

"Good morning, sir! I'm Li Mianmian, here to see Director Zhou. I've been here before."

"Oh, it was you!"

"Yes, is Uncle Zhou here?"

"Hey, I'm in my office right now! Come in."

"Okay, sir, please have this." He said, leaving a handful of pine nuts before departing.

"This child"

"Great job!"

"Please come in."

"Uncle Zhou, it's me, Mianmian."

"Mianmian, what brings you here?"

"Uncle Zhou, I don't know how to say it, but I can only say that Third Brother Chen Xi is being pestered by Gu Cuicui, and I need to borrow your phone to tell him."

"What's going on? When did Gu Cuicui start getting involved with Shen Xi?"

"I don't know the specifics myself. I urgently need a phone call right now. Gu Cuicui is waiting for me at the post office to mail a letter to my third brother."

I finally found an excuse to come over, saying you needed to send something to my older brother, but the item was too small to cover the postage.

"We'll talk about that later. You make the call first."

"good"

The call connected very quickly.

"Hello, I'm looking for Comrade Shen Xi, deputy company commander of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, xxx Military Region."

"Okay, I'll make that call again in ten minutes."

"OK, thanks"

"Mianmian, take this opportunity to tell me about this."

"Alright," he said, and then he told her about Gu Cuicui asking him about his third brother before the New Year, about his encounter with Gu Cuicui in the production team yesterday, and about how she pestered him on the oxcart this morning.

Upon hearing this, Uncle Zhou said, "She only met Shen Xi once, and she already said she admired him."