Chapter 52: First Snow? Birthday Proposal!
The threshing ground suddenly fell silent, with Xiaobai the only one still busy eating.
She held the pig's trotter in her left hand and accurately picked up the trembling jelly with chopsticks in her right hand, turning a deaf ear to the commotion around her.
"We fight for territory just for a bite of food," she muttered as she stuffed the last piece of crystal pork elbow into her mouth, the sauce staining the corners of her greasy mouth. "Even if the king comes, he has to wait until I finish eating."
The car door opened and the first person to get out was Tang Jingmo's father Tang Huaiyuan.
His uniform was straight, and the star on his shoulder epaulettes sparkled in the sun. But everyone's eyes were focused on the thin old man behind him.
"Mr. Chen! It's Mr. Chen!" Song Wan grabbed Xiao Bai's arm, her nails almost digging into the flesh. "It's alive! It can breathe! Mmmmm!"
Xiaobai grimaced in pain and glanced up.
The old man was wearing a plain gray Zhongshan suit, but his eyes were surprisingly bright under his thick eyebrows, and even his sickly appearance could not hide his righteous spirit.
"It's like a lamp running out of oil..." she said softly.
"You can save him, right?" Song Wan's eyes lit up frighteningly.
"Birth, aging, sickness and death, even gods cannot change this." Xiaobai wiped his hands.
In 2175, people have almost returned to the primitive age of survival. They rush around for three meals a day and have no time to read historical documents, so Xiaobai doesn't recognize the famous person in front of him.
But she has always been sensitive to the good and evil of people. This Mr. Chen made her feel very comfortable.
Old Chen's eyes wandered among the crowd and suddenly stopped on Xiaobai.
He approached with a faint scent of medicine, and patted her shoulder gently with his knuckle-jointed hand.
"Comrade Lin Xiaobai, you look very energetic." The old man's eyes suddenly became vague for a moment, as if he was looking through her at another person, "You look very much like an old friend of mine."
"Gu Zhongzhang, Xiaobai is a good comrade, you must take good care of her!"
Just as Gu Zhongzhang was about to respond, Tang Jingmo suddenly stepped forward and said, "Report to the commander! Lin Xiaobai is my fiancée, I will protect her with my life!"
There was a sudden jeer in the threshing ground.
Old Chen was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Old Tang! Your kid is getting married, I'm going to drink this glass of wedding wine!"
Tang Huaiyuan coughed lightly: "Of course, I'd love to! But... Comrade Xiaobai doesn't seem to be eighteen yet?"
The old village chief came over quickly and said, "Leader, please be advised. Xiaobai's birthday is on the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month. According to the lunar calendar... he will be eighteen in a month or so."
"The eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, that was February 1958..." Mr. Chen unconsciously stroked the old watch on his wrist. A blurry word "Gu" was engraved on the back of the dial.
Before leaving, he left a bulging envelope: "Happy birthday in advance, little birthday boy."
As night fell, Xiao Bai sat cross-legged on the kang and counted the money. The brand new ten-yuan bills fluttered between her fingers like a group of fluttering pigeons.
Tang Jingmo thought of what his father said before he left. The firelight reflected his tense profile.
"Xiao Bai," he suddenly spoke, his Adam's apple rolling, "your father...is most likely Gu Xicheng."
"Who?" Xiaobai didn't even raise her head and continued counting her bills.
"The ace of the underground party during the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Lao's most capable assistant. He is also Gu Zhongzhang's uncle."
"Oh! I don't know, I've never seen it." Xiaobai shook the banknotes in his hand, and the rustling sound was really nice!
He spoke very slowly, as if he had carefully considered each word. "He has been out for some reason. Now that his identity has been restored, he wants to see... you."
Tang Jingmo paused and said, "Of course, the initiative is up to you!"
Xiaobai finally raised her head. The light of the kerosene lamp danced in her amber eyes, like two clusters of vibrant wildfires.
But her expression was terrifyingly calm: "My great law enforcer,"
She tilted her head, "Are there many children in your base...with parents?"
Tang Jingmo's breathing stagnated.
He thought of the children crying for their mothers in the radiation zone, and the two cold words "orphan" in Xiaobai's file.
"Not much." His voice was dry, and he suddenly realized that Xiaobai had never felt the so-called "parental love" either in his previous life or in this life.
The family affection that ordinary people take for granted is just a line of words on a file to her.
"From now on, you'll have me." He leaned forward, his shadow covering Xiaobai's petite body, "I'll make up for what you lack."
"Hmm?" Xiao Bai finally stopped counting the money and raised an eyebrow, "You want to be my dad?"
Tang Jingmo was suddenly speechless.
Xiao Bai changed the subject: "Are you leaving?"
Tang Jingmo froze. His father's instructions before leaving rang in his ears - "Return to the team after the New Year!"
"It's still early." For some reason, he looked away with a guilty look on his face, "I will definitely spend the rest of your birthday with you."
"How about..." Tang Jingmo stared at the tip of his boots, "Go to Beijing to celebrate the New Year this year? It's more lively than in the village..."
"No." Xiaobai put the counted money into a neat pile, "I like Longshan Village."
She looked at the handsome man under the light and suddenly became evil-minded. The vines quickly wrapped around Tang Jingmo's ankles and threw him onto the kang.
"Before you leave, I'll collect some interest first~"
——
The cold wind was howling, and the pine forest of Longshen Mountain was swaying like ink in the twilight.
The sky was covered with lead-gray clouds. The temperature was exceptionally low today, and the white breath we exhaled condensed in the air - it seemed that the first snow was not far away.
Xiaobai wrapped herself tightly in the red scarf that Tang Jingmo had forced upon her, and led them up the mountain holding his hand.
"Why did you take me hiking on my birthday?" Xiao Bai deliberately kicked up a bunch of snow with the tip of his shoe, splashing it on Tang Jingmo's trouser legs.
"Lawyer Tang, what evil plan do you have? Be careful or I'll ask Little Guaiguai to bite you!"
Tang Jingmo turned around, held her red, frozen hands in his palms and blew on them.
He was wearing a crisp military coat today, and the white mist from his breath blurred his sharp jawline.
"This is your territory. How dare I have any ideas?" His voice was unnaturally gentle today. "I have prepared a gift for you."
When the eaves of the mountain temple came into view, a chill suddenly fell on Xiaobai's nose.
She looked up—the first snow had begun.
The fine snow particles shimmered in the twilight, like the flying ashes of an explosion.
There were two things standing out in the open space in front of the temple:
A brand new bayonet - the same style they had used in their duel in their previous life;
Next to it is an exquisite cream cake.
"you..."
Xiaobai's throat tightened.
"The thorn bears our common memories from our previous lives. It is our fate from our previous lives. As for..."
Tang Jingmo felt a little embarrassed and cleared his throat twice.
"I made the birthday cake myself. It tasted average and didn't look great either. But I promise I will practice hard and try to make a bigger and better one for you next year!"
Tang Jingmo took out a box wrapped in red silk from the inner pocket of his military coat.
When it was opened, there was a small key inside - exactly the same as the highest authority key of the base in the previous life, but with a new red knot tied around it.
"A birthday present." He said in a low voice, "You don't have to steal it this time. I'll give it to you openly."
The snow fell heavier and heavier, and Tang Jingmo suddenly knelt on one knee in the snow.
He took out another box from his arms, which contained two rings made from bullet shells, which had a cold and hard metallic luster in the snow.
"In our previous life, we died together." Snowflakes fell on his trembling eyelashes. "In this life, I want to grow old with you and spend the rest of my life with you."
Xiaobai looked at the man who had once been at war with her. At this moment, a thin layer of snow had accumulated on the shoulders of his military coat.
She suddenly remembered the promise he made when they first met after her rebirth: "I will only protect you in this life!"
"Tang Jingmo," she bent down and held up his red face, her fingers still stained with the smell of gunpowder from her past life, "I'm~sure~!"
In the snow, he put the bullet ring on her finger, and the cold metal was quickly warmed by her body temperature.
In the distance came the bell for the production team to finish work, and their embracing figures in front of the mountain temple covered with the first snow seemed to put a gentle end to the smoke of war between two lives.
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