"yes"

"How is that possible?"

"Maybe it was love at first sight."

"Even love at first sight wouldn't be like her, would it?"

"From what you're saying, Shen Xi doesn't even know who she is, yet she's still so eager to get involved."

"But isn't there another saying, 'Even a virtuous woman can be pursued by a wolf'?"

"How old are you? You already know this?"

"Uncle Zhou doesn't care about age; besides, he knows a lot."

"you"

"Uncle Zhou, it's almost time. Let's make the call."

"Go ahead and fight."

The call connected very quickly.

"Hello, who is this? This is Shen Xi."

"Third Brother, it's me, Mianmian."

"Mianmian, is something the matter?"

"Third Brother, let me make my long story short."

"you say"

"Do you remember Gu Cuicui, whom I mentioned in the last letter?"

"I remember, what's wrong?"

"After I met her at the supply and marketing cooperative on the third day of the Lunar New Year, she asked me to write a letter to you asking if she could have the address of your military unit. At the time, she said she had to write to ask for your opinion."

When I met her at the production team yesterday, I asked if you had replied to my letter. She said she couldn't go to the city in the dead of winter, but she was going to the city today to send a package to her elders and would send you a letter while she was there.

"Then what?"

"Then she followed me all the way to the post office. My younger sister made an excuse to call from Uncle Zhou's place. What should I do, Third Brother? If you mail a letter in front of her, she'll definitely know the address; she won't even need to ask you again."

"It's okay, she can just refuse to accept it."

"What if she uses someone else's name? Or just her younger sister's name?"

"How about this, you switch the letters with your eldest brother and fourth brother. At worst, the letters will arrive a little slower."

"But I heard that she went to the post office, pretending to be your younger sister, and asked for your military address."

"It's alright, I'll write you a letter later. Just take it to their house and explain everything to the brigade leader."

"I'll discuss it with my older brother later, and I'll tell you what to do in the letter."

"Okay, Third Brother."

After hanging up the phone, I said to Uncle Zhou, "Uncle Zhou, could I borrow your pen and paper for a moment?"

Use it.

After taking the pen and letter paper, he wrote a few sentences on each, the gist of which was: he was temporarily entangled by Gu Cuicui and could not send a letter to his third brother alone, so he was switching the letters and asking him to forward them after receiving them.

He wrote four letters in one go, opened the envelopes, took out the letters inside, put in the letter he had just written, gave the letter from the third brother to the eldest brother, the letter from the eldest brother to Sister Nan, the letter from Sister Nan to the fourth brother, and the letter from the fourth brother to the third brother.

I don't believe she'll write back and send letters one by one after receiving the bounced letters. I'll be so angry at her, I'll make her furious too. What kind of person is she?

"Uncle Zhou finished writing and went to the post office first."

"Go ahead, and by the way, Mianmian, take this to Chenbei."

"Uncle Zhou?"

"If you're going to put on a show, you have to go all the way."

"All right"

When they returned at their leisurely pace, Chen Enpeng and Gu Cuicui visibly breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment, Gu Cuicui asked, "What did Director Zhou send to Deputy Battalion Commander Shen?"

"I don't know either. It's just a package." Actually, it's nothing much, just a packet of tea, which Uncle Zhou poured out of his own tea canister and wrapped himself.

Soon after, he sent the package and letters. This time, for Gu Cuicui's sake, he didn't put any other letters in the package to send together, but took them out separately to send after he finished sending them.

Then Gu Cuicui said, "Li Zhiqing, why are you sending so many letters and packages?"

"These are all for our elders. They are my parents' comrades-in-arms and have always taken good care of me. I should be more filial to them!"

"So that's how it is!"

"Yes! So what is it like?"

"I have to go back to work, so I'll be leaving now."

"Let's go back, we have other things to do."

"Then you guys get back to work."

"Mianmian, what exactly does Gu Cuicui want?"

She wanted Shen Sange's address.

"You can't do that."

Who knows?

"I'd better stay away from their house in the future."

"We really should stay away. This isn't even a done deal yet, and if we do it now, even if it were a done deal, we'd probably eat Brother Shen alive."

"That's possible."

The three of them parted ways after leaving the post office. The other two, having nothing else to do, wandered around. Since I had many things to do and didn't want to keep bothering them, I said:

"You all go ahead and do your work. You're familiar with the other things. We'll meet at the state-run restaurant later, have lunch, buy some things at the supply and marketing cooperative, and then head over."

"Well, that's good. I've been cooped up indoors all winter, and I'm practically moldy."

"That's really true."

"Then go collect your subsidy yourself."

"Let's go, let's take a look around the city."

"Okay," he said, turning around and leaving, waving goodbye.

After receiving the subsidy, I went to the nearby grain store to exchange it for grain. I had already decided that as long as it wasn't national grain coupons, I would exchange everything else for grain, since I had somewhere to store the grain anyway.

After exchanging the grain, I quickly found a place to change my clothes and went to the black market. The black market was still in the same location, but the checks outside were much stricter than before. It seemed to be affecting the lower levels; I'd have to be more careful when entering the city in the future. I looked around and found they were indeed selling piglets, so I went over and asked, "Uncle, how much are these piglets? 15 each, no bargaining."

"Okay, give me two." I saw there were only six in total, so I couldn't choose. I'll just buy two now, and then buy two more later when I go out to change my clothes. The situation is getting more and more serious now; it's best to avoid going into the city unless necessary.

"Alright, I guarantee you'll be satisfied with this piglet. Look how fat and strong it is, it can even jump and bounce around."

"Just pick two for me."

"Okay, where should I put it?"

A bamboo basket will suffice.

"Okay," and they caught two in no time.

"Uncle, here's 90 yuan, please count it."

The uncle took it, counted it, and said, "That's right."

After he finished counting, he shouldered his basket and left.

About fifteen minutes later, she changed her clothes, put on makeup, bought two more items, and left.

After changing back into my clothes, I noticed I still had about half an hour until midnight. I wandered around the city and noticed that the signs on the walls had changed, and the people walking on the streets seemed much more serious than before.

They don't greet others anymore, and they're always in a hurry, not daring to linger on the road. It seems they're really affecting those below.

I need to be more careful when sending packages or letters in the future, and I should try to avoid coming to the city unless absolutely necessary.

When they arrived at the state-run restaurant and saw Chen Enpeng and the other man sitting there with serious expressions, they knew that not only they had noticed that something was wrong in the city, but the two of them had also sensed it.

After finishing our meal, we ordered 10 large meat buns and quickly went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things before leaving. We didn't stay for even a minute longer.