Chapter 88 The sky cleared up
The October sea breeze carries the fragrance of osmanthus and blows across Dong'ao Island.
At 5:30 in the afternoon, the commune's loudspeaker suddenly blasted the prelude to "The East is Red", startling Song Wan, who was drying fish, so much that she almost fell off the bench.
"Attention all members! Great news!" The old village chief's weeping Minnan Mandarin shook the loudspeaker, "The Gang of Four has fallen—"
"Crash!" The fishing net in Lin Guohua's hand fell into the basin. The eight-foot-tall man was stunned for two seconds, then suddenly raised his laundry hammer and banged on the aluminum basin:
"Fellow villagers! Set off firecrackers!"
The entire island exploded like a burning firecracker.
When Xiaobai was dragged out of the barracks by Song Wan, he saw Captain Zhang setting off military flares as fireworks, and the red tracer bullets drew long tails in the dusk.
Several fishermen's children were jumping and dancing after the shells, and almost knocked over the winnowing basket that Lin Shuhua was holding - which contained freshly made sticky rice dumplings.
"The dragon dance team is here!" someone shouted.
I saw more than twenty tanned men carrying a dragon lantern with shining golden scales, and a brand new red silk was wrapped around the dragon's head.
The one who led the way was the old village chief, with a smile on his face: "Make way! Let the PLA comrades paint the eyes first!"
"Put cinnabar on the left eye and ink on the right eye. This is the old custom on the island. Please help, Commander Tang!"
Tang Jingmo was pushed forward, and his hand holding the brush felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
The moment the dragon's eye was lit up, the sound of firecrackers mixed with the fishermen's calls resounded through the sky.
"Old Tang! Go on!"
Gu Zhongzhang squeezed out of the crowd, holding a ceramic jar with a "Gu's" label in his arms.
When he broke the mud seal, the rich aroma of wine startled several old fishermen and they smacked their lips - this was something he secretly brewed using coconuts and red yeast rice from the island, and he had kept it hidden for half a year.
Song Wan and Lin Shuhua carried over a large steaming wooden basin filled with a small mountain of scallion-fried crabs.
Lin Guohua followed behind, his military jacket had been lost long ago, and his rolled-up cuffs were still stained with fish scales: "The way we cook it in our village is to add a handful of chili peppers, it's guaranteed to be strong enough!"
"Don't rush!" Gu Zhongzhang suddenly jumped onto the stone bench, "Come one by one, everyone has a share~! It would be best if everyone could give a performance. If you can't perform, you can just make a gift like Mingyue did!"
Gu Mingyue secretly rolled her eyes at her brother and with a red face, she held up a crooked crab model - it was made of conch shells and abalone.
"I...I learned this from Aunt Li..." Her voice got smaller and smaller, "I wish our motherland...that...prosperity..."
The crowd burst into good-natured laughter.
The old village chief wiped his eyes and shouted: "The thought is what matters most! Let us wish our motherland prosperity together!"
Tang Jingmo quietly hooked Xiaobai's little finger.
The last ray of sunset was like melted gold foil, spreading across the waves.
More than 20 children ran barefoot in the intertidal zone, piling up the sea glass and colorful shells they picked up to form the word "October".
The waves surged up and then receded, and the crystal fragments flickered in the moonlight, as if lights were lit in the Dragon Palace under the sea.
"Excuse me, excuse me!"
Lin Guohua's rough voice drowned out the sound of the waves.
He squeezed into the crowd carrying a metal bucket half as high as a person. In the bucket, there were drunken crabs that had been pickled for a month and were emitting the aroma of rice wine.
The old fishermen were all stunned - this northern man had actually learned the ancestral recipe from the island, even the basil leaves at the bottom of the bucket were placed exactly right.
"Don't rush! Pay according to your work points!" Song Wan waved an iron spoon to maintain order, and the conch shell hairpin on the end of her braid jingled.
Lin Shuhua, who was beside her, was stuffing crab meat into bamboo tube rice when she suddenly cried out "Ah!" It turned out that the young soldier in the kitchen squad had secretly buried salted egg yolks in the rice, and the oil droplets were all over her newly changed floral shirt.
Suddenly, a dazzling spark burst out from the bonfire. Captain Zhang's one eye reflected the dancing flame as he used his bayonet to pry open a tin can.
"Try this!" He handed the can to Gu Zhongzhang beside him. "These are the herrings seized from the front line in July 1st. I have kept them for five years!"
Amid the laughter, no one noticed that Tang Jingmo quietly left the table.
Behind the reef, he found Xiaobai scanning the sea surface with the SO1 ring - on the blue light map projected by the device, several red dots were flashing regularly in the deep sea.
This is Xiaobai’s latest discovery. The S01 ring seems to have a super strong sensitivity to similar substances.
"It feels like a heartbeat." Xiao Bai said softly, "That's where we ran aground."
Just as Tang Jingmo was about to speak, cheers suddenly broke out on the beach.
Gu Mingyue was wearing a modified 65-style military uniform and was clumsily learning to weave a net from a fisherman's daughter. The silver shuttle spun between her fingers, hooking a crooked "人" shape.
The old village chief clapped his legs and laughed: "Comrade Gu's skill is good enough to catch shrimps but not fish!"
"Who said that!" Gu Mingyue raised the bamboo shuttle with a flushed face, but saw Gu Zhongzhang drunkenly crashed into the fishing net and was immediately tangled like a dumpling.
Everyone burst into laughter, and even the usually serious Captain Zhang choked on his wine.
The tide gradually flooded over the shell spelling.
In the light of the bonfire, the words seemed to flow in the rippling waves, turning into countless tiny golden stars.
Amid the sound of waves, someone started singing "The Sun is the Reddest, Chairman Mao is the Closest", and gradually, the whole beach began to hum along.
In the deep sea where the singing voices cannot reach, the red dots are still flashing stubbornly.
Xiaobai put away the SO1 ring, turned around and joined the chorus.
Her voice was as clear as moonlight penetrating through dark clouds, and Tang Jingmo stood half a step behind her, like a silent reef watching the tide.
Tang Jingmo suddenly whispered, "Northeast direction, 300 meters, telescope reflection."
Little White's eyelashes didn't even tremble. She looked while pouring the wine - there was indeed a flash of cold light from the lens on the iron tower of the abandoned weather station in the back mountain.
She smiled and filled the old village chief's glass with wild pineapple wine: "Uncle, I heard that you were a good whale hunter when you were young?"
The old village chief's expression suddenly changed. He turned the wine bowl half a circle in his rough hands: "That iron thing is not a whale."
He lowered his voice very low, "In August of 1975, a large glowing iron bird emerged from the sea..."
The laughter drowned out the rest of the sentence.
Gu Zhongzhang was leading the militia in rehearsing "Returning from Target Practice", and the singing was so out of tune that the waves had to retreat away.
No one noticed that Tang Jingmo and Xiaobai quietly left their seats and hurried towards the weather station.
The chain on the iron door of the weather station was dazzlingly new. Just as Xiaobai was about to touch it, Tang Jingmo suddenly grabbed her wrist - a half-burned cigarette was stuck in the keyhole, and the light blue tobacco flickered strangely in the sunlight.
"Polaris brand, specially supplied by the United States." Tang Jingmo crushed the tobacco, "It contains osmium tetroxide, which is specifically designed to corrode electronic equipment."
He shifted his gaze to the ground and saw several blurry footprints extending towards the cliff. The patterns on the soles were clearly American military boots.
The waves beat against the rocks below the cliff.
Xiaobai narrowed his eyes - on the mudflats exposed by the low tide, there were several fresh drag marks leading to a hidden sea cave.
In the intervals between the surging tides, faint sounds of metal colliding could be heard from the cave.
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