Chapter 31
The sun was shining brightly, and white clouds in the sky floated across the sky like sheep four times, making the large flat cotton field a little cooler.
Yang Qiujin squatted between the earthen embankments, quickly picking out cotton seedlings one after another with her hands. As she worked non-stop, beads of sweat formed on her head.
"Big sister, why do you work so hard?" Zhao Erfeng, who was digging cotton seedlings in the dirt beside her, asked the question that had puzzled her for days, "You don't have five children to raise like me, and you have to send money back home, so why do you work so hard?"
"Sister-in-law, what do you think of me as a person?" Yang Qiujin did not give a direct answer, but asked her instead.
Zhao Erfeng thought for a moment, "He has a straightforward personality, works quickly, and doesn't drag his feet. As for the rest, I don't know how to describe him."
Yang Qiujin laughed, "Even you think I work efficiently and without dragging my feet, so does Captain Han think so too?"
Zhao Erfeng suddenly had an idea and said in surprise, "I was wondering why you work so hard. It turns out you have a purpose. You don't want to be a farm leader, do you?"
"Yes and no." Yang Qiujin shook her head, "You will know soon."
She continued to work with her head down. Zhao Erfeng wanted to ask a few more questions, but Gou Dandan, who was following behind her, stretched out his hands to scratch the mulch. She was so scared that she quickly grabbed Gou Dandan's hand and angrily scolded him, "You damn child, don't scratch around. If you tear the mulch and break the cotton seedlings, and I get scolded and have my salary deducted, I will beat you to death!"
Gou Dandan had been crawling and rolling around on the ground with her for most of the day, his body and face were all dirty. When he saw his mother scolding him, he not only didn't cry, but also smiled at her foolishly, revealing two small teeth as big as rice grains.
Zhao Erfeng felt distressed when she saw him like this. She stretched out her hand to gently wipe the mud off Gou Dandan's face and said softly, "Be good, Gou Dandan. I'll take you to drink water after I finish my work."
Yang Qiujin heard her voice, turned around and saw the movements of the mother and child, and sighed slightly in her heart. It was not easy for everyone these days. Many rural women went to work in the fields directly after giving birth without even taking a rest. The elderly at home also had to work. There was no one to help take care of the children, so they just took the children to the fields and put them aside. They would comfort them when they cried or were hungry, and then take them home after work.
This is how she was raised by her mother when she was a child. She didn't think it was a big deal, but after seeing so many women like Zhao Erfeng raising children, she still felt uncomfortable.
Zhao Erfeng asked her why she worked so hard. In fact, the reason why she worked so hard was very simple. She wanted to have the right to speak, protect the people she wanted to protect, and do what she wanted to do.
There was an endless cotton field without any shelter. The wind blew the mud and sand everywhere, making it very uncomfortable to be in it.
Han Yongxin stared at several female comrades working in the distance. One of them, who had her head and face tightly wrapped, was far ahead in the work.
A flat-headed man next to him said, "That military wife is quite capable at work. I heard that she used to be an accountant in her hometown. Her husband is the battalion commander of our border defense department. It's probably not appropriate for her to do hard labor in the fields all the time."
"Then where do you think she should be?" Han Yongxin asked.
The man with the flat head is the branch secretary of the second company. He used to be the company instructor. He is a skinny retired soldier in his forties. Everyone calls him Lao Zhang.
He said, "The statistics of the company's logistics warehouse are illiterate and the accounting is a mess. We can't even count the amount of grain our company harvests every autumn. This kind of confused person should have been replaced long ago."
"You want her to take the blame?" Han Yongxin glanced at him with a half-smile on his face. "That position is a very popular one, everyone wants to take a bite. How can she, a military wife, do it?"
"It is precisely because everyone wants to take a piece of the pie that the company relations become complicated, food is embezzled, and the standards are not met every year. That is why it is most appropriate to let her, a military wife who has no connection with our company, do it."
Han Yongxin looked at him deeply and said, "That logistics statistician, his brother-in-law is the deputy director of our farm, and his brother-in-law was shot by Chen Shengqing. You let Yang Qiujin take the blame. Isn't this sending her to hell?"
Lao Zhang said, "There are always more solutions than problems. Instead of watching our company rot and being powerless, we might as well use external forces to eradicate this cancer. Comrade Xiao Han, you don't want to be controlled by the people in the regiment, do you?"
Han Yongxin was silent for a while, then put the cigarette in his mouth to his ear and strode towards Yang Qiujin.
The scorching sun was suddenly covered by a shadow. Yang Qiujin looked up and saw the tall Han Yongxin. She was a little confused: "Captain Han, what's the matter?"
Han Yongxin nodded and said, "The company's logistics warehouse is short of a statistician. Would you like to do it?"
Yang Qiujin's heart skipped a beat. It had come. She had worked hard for days and finally had a reward.
"Captain Han, from what I heard, except for the coolie positions in your corps, all other positions are occupied. As the saying goes, there is one job for each rank. How come you suddenly asked me to be a statistician? There shouldn't be any pitfall here, right?" She wiped the sweat from her forehead and said very calmly.
Han Yongxin said: "Since you asked, I won't hide it from you. Our company......"
He briefly repeated to Yang Qiujin what he had said to Lao Zhang before.
After hearing this, Yang Qiujin fell into a brief silence.
Today's Corps is more like a state-owned enterprise. It has everything that exists in society, such as party, government, military and enterprises, industry, agriculture, commerce, students and soldiers, culture, education and health, hospitals, non-staple food, etc. It is like a small society.
The highest leadership body in the Corps is the Corps Party Committee, followed by units below the division, regiment, battalion, and company levels.
Tianshan Farm is not a division-level farm, but a small farm at the regiment level. They belong to the Ava Corps thousands of miles away. Although it is a "small" farm, it covers a very large area and has hundreds of thousands of acres of cultivated land, which is hard to underestimate.
It is said that where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. In a corporate leadership team formed at the group level, each position has different division of labor, so naturally there will be all kinds of friction and intrigue.
Yang Qiujin was certainly not a fool. From the moment she came to work on the farm, she wanted to get into the farm, become a member of the leadership team, and increase her voice. That’s why she worked non-stop without complaints and showed her hard work and endurance, just to attract Han Yongxin’s attention.
Once Han Yongxin thinks she is a good person and gives her a little advice, she will definitely seize the opportunity to climb up and have enough say on the farm. Only then will she have the opportunity to bring Professor Zheng and Professor Cai who are far away from home to the border.
Now that the opportunity was right in front of her, she did not agree immediately, but said: "Logistics warehouses have always been a place of corruption, complicated relationships, and intrigue. You asked me, an outsider who is not registered in your farm, to be a statistician. I think there must be a big problem in your company warehouse. You can ask me to be a statistician, but I will not accept bad accounts, wrong accounts, and muddled accounts. I must check the accounts with the previous statisticians in front of the leaders of the regiment and take over the account books. Otherwise, I would rather work in the fields."
"......" Han Yongxin was silent for a moment, and his ferocious scarred face showed a rare smile at this moment, "Old Zhang said earlier that you should be our company's statistician, but I thought you were not qualified. After all, you are a foreign military wife, how can you compete with the old hands who have been rooted here for more than ten years. Now listening to your tone, I think our company's warehouse, which has been in deficit for many years, can be saved. Okay, let's do as you say. I will go to the regiment headquarters this afternoon to apply to the secretary, and you will come to the warehouse tomorrow morning for the handover ceremony."
"I have one more request." Yang Qiujin patted the dirt off her hands.
"Tell me about it."
"It's confidential for now, but it's not an unreasonable request. I'll talk to you about it after I become a statistician."
Han Yongxin was stunned for a moment, rubbed his head with a headache and said, "Okay."
The news that Yang Qiujin was going to become a statistician spread quickly throughout the company. Zhao Erfeng was happy for Yang Qiujin, "This is great, sister. I've always said that educated people are different. Now you don't have to work hard in the fields with me."
Yang Qiujin said, "I owe this to my sister-in-law. If she hadn't brought me to the farm, I wouldn't have been able to find this easy job."
"It was just a matter of convenience for me. You were lucky to be hired as a statistician." Zhao Erfeng sighed sadly, "I just suffered the loss of being uneducated. I can't read a single word. Even if there is a good job, it won't be my turn."
Yang Qiujin walked side by side with her to the company headquarters to hand in the work, "Don't worry, sister-in-law, when I have the chance, I will definitely help you find an easy job to do."
"That's great." Zhao Erfeng didn't think she was fooling him, and smiled happily, "If that day really comes, I will enjoy happiness with you."
The two women chatted and laughed as they finished their work. It was still eight o'clock in the evening and it was not yet dark.
The educated youth and farm workers had to work until dark. As they were military wives, they enjoyed preferential treatment in the regiment and only had to work until eight o'clock in the evening. Therefore, when they got off work, they did not run into the educated youth like Long Yanli, otherwise they would have been ridiculed by them.
Zhao Erfeng, holding the child, walked out of the company headquarters with Yang Qiujin. As usual, they wanted to go to the regiment office area to see if there were any fellow villagers who had returned to the town so that they could take a bus along the way.
The two walked along the small road for a while before they heard the sound of galloping horses in the distance.
The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw more than a dozen soldiers on tall horses galloping towards them from the distant avenue. The man in the lead was wearing a neat officer's uniform. He held the reins in his hands, leaned forward slightly, and urged the horses to approach them quickly.
In the afterglow of the setting sun, the date-red horse galloped wildly on all fours. The wind blew the leading soldier's clothes, and the man's body rose and fell violently. He rode on the horse calmly, without a trace of panic on his face. Under the warm red light, the man was so dignified, handsome and handsome.
"Oh, that's Captain Chen." Zhao Erfeng recognized the man on the horse and said in admiration, "Big sister, you are so lucky. Captain Chen is not only handsome, but also kind. He must have come here to take you home."
Yes, the man rode a tall horse and appeared like a knight. Yang Qiujin looked at the man who was gradually approaching, her heart pounding. Her man was so handsome.
A man and a horse appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. Chen Shengqing pulled the reins, and the big red horse neighed loudly and raised its front hooves high, as if it wanted to shake off the man on its back. Chen Shengqing held the reins calmly and let the horse do whatever it wanted. The horse seemed to find it boring and soon put down its hooves. Under Yang Qiujin's shocked gaze, Chen Shengqing calmly dismounted.
"Why are you here?" Yang Qiujin walked over and looked at the tall horse beside him curiously, "Is this the warhorse of your cavalry company?"
The horse was dark red in color, with long manes, tall and strong limbs, a small tuft of white hair on its forehead, and a pair of dark and shiny eyes. It stood there with a snort in its nose, looking sideways at her as she walked towards it, giving people a feeling of being unruly.
Although there were horses in Yang Qiujin's hometown, they were not big and were used for transportation in remote mountainous areas. The few horses she had seen were all dragging heavy cargo and had a hard time walking. This was the first time she had seen a horse that was tall, looked very powerful, and ran very fast.
"I'm back from patrolling the western mountains, and I'm here to take you home." Chen Shengqing walked up to her, leading the big horse. "It's called Zhuifeng, and it's one of the fastest horses in our cavalry camp. You can pet it."
"Is it okay?" Yang Qiujin was eager to try.
Chen Shengqing instructed: "Put your hand in front of its nose first and let it smell you. If it doesn't dislike you, you can not only touch it, but also ride it. If it sneers at you or scratches its hooves impatiently, it means it doesn't like you, and you'd better stay away from it."
"Okay." Yang Qiujin followed his instructions and carefully put her hand in front of Zhuifeng.
Zhuifeng sniffed with his wet nose. Perhaps it was because he and Chen Shengqing were married and they both had the same smell. Or perhaps it was because Yang Qiujin had just finished working in the fields and smelled of soil and grass. Zhuifeng, who always rejected outsiders and was unruly, did not sniff at Yang Qiujin. He just turned his head and ate the tender green grass that had just grown on the roadside.
"Zhuifeng doesn't reject his sister-in-law." A dozen young warriors who had just run over behind Chen Shengqing pulled the reins and were surprised to see this scene.
"Zhuifeng is a wild horse that our battalion commander caught and tamed himself. He has been in the camp for several years. Only the battalion commander can get close to him and ride him. Now he doesn't reject my sister-in-law. It's true that if you are not from the same family, you can't enter the same house. Even animals can be distinguished. My sister-in-law and the battalion commander are from the same family. Give her face."
"Is this a wild horse you tamed?" Yang Qiujin was surprised.
She thought that the horses used in the military camp were all domesticated and docile, but she didn't expect that they would use wild and difficult-to-train horses.
"Yes." Chen Shengqing responded in a low voice. Without saying more, he picked her up by the waist. Amid Yang Qiujin's exclamation, he placed her securely on the horse's back. He also stepped on the horse's back and held her in his arms. He passed his arms around her slender waist and held the reins with his long arms. He said to Zhao Erfeng, "Sister-in-law Zhao, don't wait for your fellow villagers to give you a ride. Take Ruan Xiangming's horse and go back to the army together."
"Okay, thank you." Zhao Erfeng wanted more than anything else. She could ride a warrior's horse home and save two cents.
"Sister-in-law, let me help you onto the horse." Ruan Xiangming jumped off the horse and helped her and the child onto the horse.
His horse was the most docile among all the horses. When Zhao Erfeng and his mother sat on it, the horse would not reject them, nor would it throw them off.
"Drive!" Pulling the rope and grabbing the horse's belly, everyone's horses started moving with the shouting.
Considering that it was Yang Qiujin's first time riding a horse, Chen Shengqing did not ride very fast. Zhuifeng rode slowly on the road, stepping on the horse's hooves and occasionally lowering his head to nibble on some wild grass.
Despite this, Yang Qiujin was still very excited.
It was the first time in her life that she rode a horse. The scenery she saw while sitting on horseback was completely different from when she was walking.
Although the speed of the chaser was very slow and she was surrounded by green crops that she was tired of seeing, she still felt happy.
"Comrade Chen Shengqing, I'm glad you came to pick me up today." Yang Qiujin took off the scarf around her head, revealing her beautiful and delicate face. She hung the scarf around her neck, feeling the wind as she ran, smiling like a flower. "It would be even better if you could give me a leather horse so I could ride to and from get off work. I will be the statistician of the company warehouse at Tianshan Farm in the future, and I may have to travel frequently. I can't just walk on my own two legs."
Chen Shengqing held her slender waist and his broad chest pressed against her back. They were so close that he could smell the unique orchid scent on her body and feel the warmth of their clothes rubbing against each other as they ran in the wind.
He was in a state of confusion when he heard Yang Qiujin's words and immediately regained his composure. "Why do you want to be a statistician on a farm?"
It's not that he doesn't want Yang Qiujin to go further and do easier work, but if she wants to be a statistician, she will inevitably be involved in the interests of those people who have a deep hatred for him and fall into danger.
Yang Qiujin knew what he was worried about, so she told him the general situation first, and then said, "Actually, I don't want to be a statistician. Do you think I want to deal with those old cancers? Before I came to the frontier, I promised Professor Zheng and Professor Cai that I would find a way to bring them to the frontier and save them from the dire straits. I can't break my promise. They saved my mother's life. And my sister wrote me a letter half a month ago, saying that she and Ke Jian finally divorced, but Ke Jian's family always troubled her, which made her very upset and wanted to leave there. I must have a certain voice in the farm before I have the opportunity to bring them all over the farm. Being a statistician is just the first step to give me a voice."
Chen Shengqing listened quietly. Just when Yang Qiujin thought that he disagreed with her being a statistician and that they were going to have a big fight over this, she heard him say indifferently behind her: "No wonder you can persevere in the morning running and fighting training that my soldiers can't stand. It turns out that my wife has such great ambitions."
Yang Qiujin tilted her head to look at him, "You don't object?"
"If I object, you won't do it?" Chen Shengqing smiled.
When he smiled, it was like ice and snow melting and spring flowers blooming. Only then did Yang Qiujin realize how handsome he was.
His face was as perfect as if carved by a knife, with a pair of narrow and long eyebrows that were deep and charming, a high and straight nose, and thin and light lips, but not the kind of thin lips that make you look heartless. He had a crew cut like a soldier, and his skin was a little cracked and red from the wind and sun, as well as the high altitude, and was a wheat color, but it made him look even wilder and had a masculine beauty.
Yang Qiujin was stunned for a moment, but it was Ruan Xiangming's voice that brought her back to her senses, "Captain, sister-in-law, you are running too slowly. If you continue to run back slowly, it will be dark."
When she came to her senses, she found that Ruan Xiangming and his men were already riding ahead of them, leaving a great distance between them.
"You go first." Chen Shengqing said, "Sister Zhao, Qiu Jin and I have something to do and will be late for home for a while. Can you let Chen Tianyou go to your house for dinner?"
Ever since Yang Qiujin decided to work on the farm, Chen Tianyou left most of the time to Chen Shengqing. When Chen Shengqing was too busy, he would take money and meal tickets and ask Liang Xueqing next door, or a few relatives nearby, to help pick up and drop off the children and prepare a meal.
In a few days, he will be on patrol among the Tianshan Mountains for two months. During these two months, he will not be able to go home as the distance is too far. If Yang Qiujin still does not have time to take care of the children, she will have to consider hiring a nanny or asking his mother to come from the countryside to take care of the children.
It is common for neighbors to babysit each other's children these days. Zhao Erfeng waved his hand from afar and said, "Okay, go ahead!"
As they walked away, Chen Shengqing pulled the reins and turned the horse around.
"Where are we going?" Yang Qiujin asked.
"Let's go to the farm headquarters." Chen Shengqing held her tightly in his arms, holding the reins with his other hand: "Hold me tight, we need to speed up!"
Yang Qiujin was startled, turned around and hugged Chen Shengqing's strong waist tightly, then she heard Zhuifeng let out a long hoarse cry and ran away quickly.
The surrounding scenery quickly receded and all she could hear was the man's strong heartbeat. Yang Qiujin hugged the man tightly and smelled the scent of pine and cypress on his body. Somehow, she felt at ease.
It seemed that as long as she stayed with the man, she wouldn't have to worry about anything or feel anxious about anything, as the man would solve all her problems.
Half an hour later, Zhuifeng stopped in front of the farm's headquarters office building, attracting the sidelong glances of employees who were getting ready to leave work.
Chen Shengqing led Zhuifeng to a green tree under the princess building of the office, tied him up with a rope, and took Yang Qiujin's small hand with his big hand, and went straight up to the fourth floor of the office, to the door of the office of the farm director, now called the farm secretary, and knocked on the door to report.
When the farm secretary Zhai Hongbo heard that he was coming, he let the couple into the office and said with a smile, "Xiao Chen, how come you have time to come to my place?"
Zhai Hongbo is a middle-aged man in his forties, with half of his hair gray and a ruddy face. He is wearing a gray Zhongshan suit and looks like a scholar.
"Secretary Zhai, long time no see." Chen Shengqing saluted him and said straight to the point, "I'm here for my wife. She was promoted by the commander of the Second Company of your farm to be the statistician of the logistics warehouse of the Second Company. I'm worried that she doesn't understand the ins and outs of it, so I came to you, Secretary, to give her some advice."
Zhai Hongbo is no longer the real head of the regiment, so Chen Shengqing does not need to salute him, but he still performed a standard military salute. This made Zhai Hongbo, who was born in the military, feel the long-lost respect as a soldier.
He looked at Chen Shengqing and said, "You kid, I haven't seen you for such a long time, and you're causing me trouble right away."
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