Chapter Ninety-Six: Your Sister is Coming to Celebrate the New Year with You
This incident caused quite a stir in the village. Some people even went to the brigade headquarters to see the person who stole the grain. When he was taken to the police station, some people threw stones at him.
Zhu Qiangying also went to see him, and the person was someone she knew.
"Damn it, this guy's from the city, yet he's stealing grain from the countryside. What a shameless bastard! Where does he work? Let's report him."
"They're living on a fixed food ration in the city, yet they still steal our rations. You damned bastard, may lightning strike you dead right now, you son of a bitch."
"It's my fault for not noticing. If it were me, I would have broken his legs!"
........
The man's mouth was covered, and he couldn't say a word. He had a sign hanging around his neck. Some people threw snowballs at him, some spat at him, and others threw clods of dirt at him.
But Zhu Qiangying's panicked heart suddenly calmed down at this moment.
It's just stealing grain; as long as nothing else is discovered, that's all that matters.
Three days passed peacefully like this. As the end of the year approached, Bai Chunyang came over, carrying a large bag. Upon seeing Qiao Wangshu, she hugged her tightly.
"Wangshu, it's been so many years since I've spent Chinese New Year with you. I'll be with you this year."
He spoke loudly, but when he got close to her ear, he said, "I'm here on a mission, little sister, you have to cooperate with me."
"Um, cough cough cough... Sis, waaaah... I miss you so much! Can you really spend Chinese New Year with me this year? Really? I, I'm so happy!"
Bai Chunyang: "......"
Relax, there's no need to be so tense and say all this stuff!
"Sis, please sit down. You haven't had my cooking in a long time, have you? Try my cooking at noon."
"not busy."
After Bai Chunyang finished speaking, he placed the bag on Qiao Wangshu's kang (a heated brick bed), and took out bag after bag of things from the bag. One bag was placed on the kang, containing not only pastries from the capital, but also two apples.
The gift was very precious, and the person who received it stared in astonishment.
"I'm sorry everyone, I haven't spent Chinese New Year with my sister for many years. As soon as I finished dealing with things at home, I rushed over here. I know I'll be bothering you all if I stay for a few days. This is my way of making up for it. I'm sorry."
"Oh, it's alright, it's alright, sister. It's normal for you sisters to miss each other after so many years. It's just that this gift you gave me is too precious. I feel so bad refusing it!"
"That's right, that's right."
Wang Yanhong said she was sorry, but she didn't hesitate to take it. Zhang Shujuan really wanted to return it, but she didn't dare to accept it because the packaging looked so expensive.
Xia Zhenzhen also declined, politely putting the things back. Yuan Mingcui and Ye Danwa wanted them but were just being polite. They didn't want to return them, but Xia Zhenzhen had already set an example, which was annoying. If they accepted them, it would make them seem greedy.
"Take these, otherwise I'll feel awkward staying here. I originally planned to stay at a fellow villager's house, but it's freezing cold here, and everyone's hibernating. It wouldn't be appropriate to stay at their house. You can keep them, it won't bother you."
Bai Chunyang returned them all, and this time everyone accepted them, even though they felt embarrassed.
Xia Zhenzhen carefully put the apple away and, like everyone else, opened the pastry box. Inside were donkey rolls and golden silk soft cakes. Just smelling them made her feel sweet, and she was delighted.
She also felt a little fondness for Bai Chunyang. This woman was indeed an excellent female soldier, very considerate.
Zhu Qiangying was very uneasy and had many doubts about Bai Chunyang's arrival.
"What's wrong, Qiangying?"
"It's nothing, it's just that I feel like Comrade Bai doesn't take Qiao, the educated youth, to the army for the New Year, instead of taking up space at our educated youth settlement."
Xia Zhenzhen shook her head and said helplessly, "Hey, Qiangying, Comrade Bai is a soldier. The army isn't a place anyone can just walk into. I heard that visiting relatives requires approval from the leadership. When Shen Yuzhu, the educated youth, went to see her fiancé, she also needed a certificate. She could only enter the army if someone picked her up. Otherwise, you would have been taken away before you even got close to the garrison."
"Oh, I... I don't know."
"It's alright. Comrade Bai already felt bad about staying here, and now that he's given us a gift, we shouldn't say anything bad about him, understand?"
Zhu Qiangying twitched the corners of her mouth, but ultimately didn't laugh out loud.
Bai Chunyang pulled Qiao Wangshu to sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and took out a large bag of brown sugar and a large bag of red dates and goji berries from his bag and gave them to Wang Liping.
"Wang Zhiqing, I brought this for you specially. My old comrade-in-arms said you were pregnant last time, so I brought this for you. It's good for your health whether you make tea or soup. Take it and eat it."
"Thank you, Comrade Bai, but how did you know?"
Bai Chunyang chuckled and said, "You guys don't know yet, but the incident when you went to the hospital last time had a huge impact in the county. People said that the educated youth and commune members are one family. Comrade Shen even wrote an article and sent it to the newspaper. It's already been published. Let me show you. I estimate that next year, the outstanding model worker of the production team will be able to come to your production team."
"Oh, really?"
Bai Chunyang took out a newspaper, and soon the educated youth gathered around, taking turns reading it.
Xia Zhenzhen, who had just praised Bai Chunyang, also came over with a pale face, afraid that Shen Yuzhu might have written something else on it. Zhu Qiangying did the same.
When the newspaper reached her, she read it from beginning to end without missing a single word. The article was very short, mainly praising the members of the production team and the educated youth for their teamwork, love, and unity. It made no mention of her or Zhu Qiangying.
After Xia Zhenzhen finished reading, she felt relieved. She turned to look at Zhu Qiangying and nodded slightly, and the latter also breathed a sigh of relief.
Bai Chunyang was beautiful and easy-going, and quickly became friends with the other educated youth at the settlement.
That day, the brigade suddenly organized a movie screening. The movie was shown in the old canteen where we used to eat from the communal pot. Although it was dilapidated and drafty, it was still a place where we could make do with the large number of people dressed warmly.
To ensure everyone could enjoy the movie, Lü Guangzhi brought over a lot of firewood and sand, which could be burned for warmth, and also a lot of sorghum stalks to block the wind.
In any case, once the movie date was arranged, the village was immediately in an uproar.
The educated youth settlement was also happily discussing this matter.
At Shen Yuzhu's house, Qiao Wangshu, Liang Manxiu, Bai Chunyang, Zhou Congsheng, Zhao Yue, Song Biao, and a small team were all crammed into the main room.
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