Chapter 11 You Saw It
At seven o'clock in the morning, the alley still retained the coolness of last night, and the mist had not yet completely dissipated, blurring the mottled brick walls on both sides.
Gu Qiuyue stood against the wall with her arms folded, her posture seemingly casual. The only sound that could be heard in the silent air was her own steady breathing.
The sound of staggering footsteps approaching from afar broke the silence. Chen Xiangsong almost dragged himself over. His face was as pale as if covered with a layer of old newspaper. He looked as if all his bones had been pulled out, leaving only a shrunken skin.
When he saw Gu Qiuyue, his body trembled almost imperceptibly. He took out a bulging old cloth bag from his arms with trembling hands, held it in both hands, and handed it over as if offering a tribute. His voice was dry and hoarse: "Five...five hundred yuan, to make up for yesterday's...money." He was unwilling, but did not dare to look Gu Qiuyue in the eyes.
Gu Qiuyue didn't say anything. She reached out to take the cloth bag, feeling its heavy feel. In front of Chen Xiangsong, in the cool morning light, she slowly counted the sheets one by one.
The brand new, ink-smelling Great Unity banknotes made a crisp rustling sound, and the sound of each bill being twisted was like an invisible slap in Chen Xiangsong's face. He lowered his head, his hands tightly gripping the seams of his pants, his knuckles turned white.
After counting the last one, there were exactly four hundred. Gu Qiuyue then raised her eyes, her gaze sweeping across Chen Xiangsong's pale face, and took out the new IOU he had signed last night from her bag. She pinched a corner of the IOU, meeting Chen Xiangsong's suddenly nervous yet expectant gaze, and the corners of her mouth curled up in a very shallow, cold arc.
Swish!
A crisp tearing sound suddenly rang out. Gu Qiuyue exerted force with both hands, tearing the IOU in half, folding it in half, and tearing it again! The fragile paper turned into countless tiny fragments in her hands, like gray-white snowflakes, fluttering and falling on the cold ground.
Chen Xiangsong looked at the fragments, his pupils suddenly shrank, and his body shook, as if the last bit of his strength had been drained away.
"Remember the lesson," Gu Qiuyue's voice was not loud, but it was like an ice-hardened needle, piercing Chen Xiangsong's ears, "Take care of yourself." She no longer looked at the pile of paper scraps on the ground, neatly stuffed the cloth bag into her shoulder bag, turned around and left, leaving behind suppressed, heavy breathing with a smell of rust.
The morning sunshine dispelled the last bit of fog.
Gu Qiuyue stood at the door of the guesthouse with two small packages at her feet. One was her simple luggage, and the other was some things she bought yesterday. She put most of the bundle of luggage into the space, leaving only a small part outside as a cover.
Not long after, Xie Shiyu appeared in front of her, picked up the luggage on the ground and said, "Let's take the bus to the train station." His voice was low, with the conciseness unique to soldiers.
Gu Qiuyue was not surprised. She knew that it would take three days to get from Jing City to Xie Shiyu's residence, so she followed his steps to the bus stop.
As for Mr. Tang, she had already taken the time to say goodbye. Mr. Tang didn't say anything, but just stuffed a handful of money into her pocket and told her to take care of herself and live a good life with Gu Shiyu.
Before the car arrived at the train station, Xie Shiyu led Gu Qiuyue out.
Seeing the puzzled expression on her face, Xie Shiyu explained: "The train ticket is in the afternoon, let's go eat first."
The train was at two o'clock in the afternoon. After lunch, Xie Shiyu took Gu Qiuyue to the train station again. The two had almost no communication along the way.
After getting on the bus, Gu Qiuyue discovered that Xie Shiyu had bought a sleeper ticket. Seeing Gu Qiuyue's eyes shining as she looked at him, his Adam's apple rolled almost imperceptibly, but he still spoke truthfully, "Thanks to Mr. Tang for his help."
Gu Qiuyue gave him a shallow, yet sincere, grateful smile and nodded, "Thank you for your trouble."
Xie Shiyu discovered that his future wife seemed very curious about everything around her. Except for sleeping time, she was almost always looking at everything around her, from the car to the window.
Seeing the farmers working in the fields outside, he smiled widely.
Gu Qiuyue could feel Xie Shiyu's gaze. Even though he seemed to be concentrating on the book in his hand, he would occasionally look up at her with scrutiny and inquiry.
Finally, the deep voice broke the silence, as calm as if it was describing the weather: "Comrade Gu, you may know that our troops are stationed at the foot of the mountain, but transportation there is quite convenient. The troops have a special shuttle bus to the city every day."
Gu Qiuyue nodded and waited for him to continue.
Xie Shiyu: "There is also the issue of housing. Since I submitted my marriage application in a hurry, there may not be a good house available for us."
Gu Qiuyue asked: "How bad is it?"
Xie Shiyu: "A bungalow, an older house, actually..."
Gu Qiuyue's eyes suddenly brightened up: "Does the bungalow have a yard?"
Seeing her like this, Xie Shiyu's uneasy mood suddenly calmed down, and a smile appeared on his face: "Yes, you can grow vegetables. There is also a well in the yard. It is actually quite convenient to live in it."
Gu Qiuyue nodded again: "Isn't that great?"
Xie Shiyu was visibly excited, and his tone was filled with joy. "Yeah, I think it's great too."
The further south the train went, the higher the temperature became. Their destination was Wucheng, a city where it never snowed in winter.
When the train was about to arrive in two hours, Xie Shiyu seemed to have finally organized his words and asked, "The evening before yesterday, in the alley behind the department store..." He paused deliberately, as if he was considering his words, or as if he was observing her reaction, "You seemed to be in some trouble?"
Gu Qiuyue's heart was filled with alarm, all the nerves in her body were instantly tensed, her heartbeat suddenly pounded in her chest, she looked up at him, a hint of doubt appeared on her face, mixed with a little calmness of "it turns out you saw it".
"Oh?" Her voice was calm, with a hint of helplessness. "Comrade Xie, did you see it? We met two unreasonable old acquaintances who wanted to shirk their responsibilities, and we had a dispute." She casually defined a thrilling ambush and counterattack as a "dispute," her tone as flat as if she was talking about someone else's business. "But it's been resolved." She deliberately emphasized the word "resolved," with a sense of the dust having settled.
"Just an argument?" Xie Shiyu's voice remained steady, but Gu Qiuyue keenly sensed the undercurrent beneath the calm surface. He simply put down the book in the car and met her gaze, his eyes now sharp as a knife, locking onto her. "I saw you make a move." He spoke slowly, each word clearly striking Gu Qiuyue's heart. "The movements...were very neat." He paused, as if recalling every detail of the moment, and then offered a verdict that was almost conclusive: "Not like an ordinary country girl."
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
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