After the war, the country actually sheltered and resettled these comfort women who had suffered so much, but many of them were still unwilling to leave the place where they were born and raised and were unwilling to go to shelters. This time they were going to interview the comfort women who were still in the village.
"Got it." Song Langqing and Li Xia said at the same time.
As for Fang Yumin, he was still a little out of the situation: "Received, received."
He had never thought that Minister Wei would send him to participate in such a mission, although he could see at a glance that he was added temporarily by the minister. It was probably because he needed to get supplies and was afraid that Song Langqing and Li Xia could not get them, so he was added.
Li Xia didn't expect that she would be arranged to interview comfort women. In fact, she had seen interviews about comfort women before. She was shocked when she saw it and was so angry that her body was shaking.
She was angry and hurt for these poor women.
During dinner, Li Xia announced to Gu Weicheng and An An that they would be going on a field mission tomorrow: "I heard from the Minister that the village is far from the troops, and it takes a long time to go back and forth, so we have to stay there for one night."
An An's face wrinkled, then she said, "Okay, Mom, you go ahead. Dad and I will be fine at home."
Although Gu Weicheng was reluctant to leave Li Xia, he also understood that the task given by the organization had to be completed well, but he still cared: "Well, be careful when you get there, the road in the mountains is not easy to walk. Bring more thick clothes to avoid catching a cold, and bring a military water bottle and fill it with hot water. I will pack everything you need to bring later.
Although they were only away for one night, both the father and the son expressed great reluctance to let him go.
An An seemed to accept the news easily, but Li Xia could tell that his words were actually meant to comfort himself and cheer him up.
Gu Weicheng was even more so. He had been on so many missions before, and he didn't want to spend his time like this, preparing this and that. He usually traveled light. Li Xia was only staying for one night, but he was preparing this and that.
"By the way, should we bring Ji Feng with us?" Gu Weicheng suggested.
Although Jifeng is a little old, he is very useful as a military dog.
When Jifeng heard what his master said, he immediately came over and raised his head to Lixia, indicating that he could be taken with him.
"That's fine, but I have to ask the minister early tomorrow morning if I can take him. If he can, let Ji Feng go with us." Li Xia said.
"Actually, I want to give them something too. Oh, don't we still have some cotton left from the previous purchase? It may not be enough to make a cotton coat, but we can use it to make a cotton vest. We still have some cloth at home anyway! We can also bring the sugar and bacon we brought from the Eastern Province."
Although the New Year is over, it is still quite cold. Li Xia has never been there before, so she doesn't know if they have enough daily necessities.
"Okay, I'll go get the cotton and cloth." Gu Weicheng immediately stood up to get the things.
An An thought for a moment and asked, "Mom, are there any children where you are going? I want to give some of the books I have read to the children there. I have learned a lot from the books and understood a lot of truths. I want them to read them, too."
If you ask An An what is the most precious thing, it is the cabinet full of books.
Not to mention extracurricular books, even his textbooks from last semester were neatly placed in the cabinet.
During the holidays, Ma Aidang wanted to sell the books to the scrap yard for money and asked An An to go with him, but An An refused to go no matter what.
Li Xia looked at An An's sparkling eyes and nodded: "Okay, Mom will pass the book on to the kids over there for you."
An An always says that she is proud to have parents like her and Gu Weicheng. In fact, she is also proud to have a kind-hearted son like An An.
After finding the cotton and cloth, they still had to be made into clothes. There was no sewing machine at home, and even if there was one, Li Xia wouldn't know how to use it, so she had to ask Mrs. Tao for help.
After Li Xia told Mrs. Tao about this, Mrs. Tao agreed to help make the clothes without hesitation. Li Xia, Gu Weicheng and Captain Ma helped cut the fabric, while Mrs. Tao operated the sewing machine to make the clothes.
There was not much cotton and cloth available, so three or four cotton vests were made.
Mrs. Tao dug out a few cotton vests and said, "My and Lao Ma's clothes are too big and probably won't fit. Aiguo's clothes are probably just right. You can take some and send them over tomorrow."
Ma Aiguo: “…”
No, mom, these are my clothes!
Before Ma Aiguo could say a word, Tao's wife glared at him: "What are you looking at? Don't you always say you're not cold and can't possibly wear a cotton vest? What if I give it to someone else? If you look at me again, I'll beat you up."
Ma Aiguo touched his nose and said, "I didn't say you can't send it... Can't I just take a look at it..."
Mrs. Tao: “No.”
"Mom, just give my pants away. I won't even look at them." The youngest Ma Aimin came over and said.
Mrs. Tao looked at him lovingly and said, "Of course you don't even want to look at them. Your pants have been worn so many times and are full of patches. You fart every day. I have to hold my breath when I wash your pants. You'd better let me give your pants away and buy you new ones, right? I'm telling you, don't even think about it."
Ma Aimin was always playing outside, and his newly mended pants had holes in just two days. Mrs. Tao really couldn't find anything to say to her sons.
When she heard that Zhou Yunxing was pregnant, she felt a little envious. She also wanted to have another daughter.
A daughter is so nice, so sweet and soft, but Aimin is already five years old and there is no sign of pregnancy. She is already over 30 years old, if she can't get pregnant now, it will be difficult to get pregnant in the future.
For this reason, she even asked her husband, Lao Ma, if he was no longer capable, and Lao Ma was so angry that he severely "beaten" her.
But nothing was cleaned up.
Li Xia took the finished clothes and thanked Mrs. Tao. Mrs. Tao waved her hand and said, "Look at you, you are thanking me for this. Isn't it my little token of my appreciation for helping me make the clothes?"
The two smiled at each other, both understanding that all they were doing was to help women who had been hurt.
The next morning, Li Xia set off with the things Gu Weicheng prepared for her.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I walked out of the yard, I saw Mrs. Tao bringing in several more pieces of clothes, two cotton vests, and some thin clothes.
"Xiao Li, please help me take these things over to them. These two cotton vests were made last night by me and Lao Ma's altered clothes. I altered them a little bit smaller. We ran out of cotton at home, so I cut up an extra bed sheet and made a few single clothes. You can take them all over. Oh, and this, these are meat sauces. They were not made by me, but by my mother. Her craftsmanship is much better than mine."
Li Xia looked at so many things and really didn't know what to say.
It was already late when she returned from Sister Tao's house last night. She didn't expect that Sister Tao had made so many clothes. It was obvious that she had stayed up all night to make them.
"Okay, I will deliver these things to them." Li Xia nodded and said.
There were too many things, so Gu Weicheng helped to take them to the Propaganda Department, and Ji Feng also went with them. Li Xia asked Minister Wei if Ji Feng could take them along, and Minister Wei agreed.
Fang Yumin moved the supplies from Minister Wei's office down and waited for the car with Li Xia at the door. Seeing that Li Xia had brought so many things, he said in surprise: "Sister Li, are you moving everything from your house here?"
After saying that, he looked at the two kilograms of sugar that he had bought from the supply and marketing cooperative in the morning, which made the things he brought seem very shabby.
Li Xia smiled and said, "You'll know when you get married. There are a lot of things at home. You young people who are not married must have nothing in your dormitory."
With just one sentence, Fang Yumin's embarrassment was resolved.
The army sent them a car, which was driven by Song Langqing. Among the three of them, only Song Langqing could drive.
When Song Langqing saw that Li Xia brought so many things, he couldn't help but take a closer look and got out of the car to help move the things.
When Fang Yumin was loading his things into the car, he realized that Song Langqing had also prepared a lot of things. He had originally thought that he would not be embarrassed when Song Langqing arrived, but in the end, he was the only one who brought the most shabby things...
It took about five or six hours to reach the village. In fact, the distance was not too long, but the road conditions were too bad, so it was slow. If it were a paved road in the future, it would probably only take half the time to reach the village.
And they had no navigation, only the map given by Minister Wei, and they had to stop from time to time to look at the map.
When the car arrived in the village, it attracted a lot of attention, especially the children in the village, who all ran behind the car.
Li Xia got out of the car and asked, "Children, do you know where Wang Qiaofang lives?"
Hearing this, the children who had been surrounding the car ran away in a swarm and watched them from a distance.
Li Xia grabbed a handful of candy that Fang Yumin had brought and asked again, "Whoever can tell me where Wang Qiaofang lives will get candy."
The children looked at the candies in Li Xia's hand, their eyes clearly showing desire, but no one spoke.