Chapter 32
Chen Shengqing said, "Secretary Zhai, your words are too serious. For you, asking the people below to do a good job of handing over is just a matter of words. Why would you add trouble to it?"
"It's a matter of one sentence, but it's hard to say it." Zhai Hongbo drank a cup of strong tea in his hand and said, "You should know that the personal connections of various positions in this regiment are complicated. The person who replaced the statistician proposed by Han Yongxin's company is not only the brother of Cao Liangcai, who you killed, but also a relative of the deputy director of our farm. The deputy director has done me a favor, and I can't offend them for your lover."
Chen Shengqing said, "Since Secretary Zhai finds it difficult to make this suggestion, I won't make it difficult for you. What position do you think is suitable for my wife in your farm?"
Secretary Zhai was stunned for a moment. All the easier jobs on the farm were already taken up by others, so how could he find an easier job?
He rubbed his head with a headache, "You, just rely on Master Zhou..."
He didn't say the rest. Chen Shengqing had saved Commander Zhou's life. Secretary Zhai was Commander Zhou's former subordinate. Chen Shengqing came to him for the first time for the sake of his family. He had to give him this face even if he didn't want to.
He sighed and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say. I'll go there tomorrow, okay?"
"Thank you very much, Secretary Zhai."
Chen Shengqing saluted him solemnly and took Yang Qiujin out of the office building.
Chen Shengqing's palms were broad and warm, and he held Yang Qiujin's hand in a very familiar and natural way. Workers from the farm department were leaving work one after another, and when they saw their intimate actions, they all had an ambiguous smile on their faces.
Yang Qiujin felt uncomfortable with their looks and wanted to pull her hand back.
Chen Shengqing held her hand tightly and whispered in her ear: "What are you afraid of? We are husband and wife. This is not an inland city. No one will say anything."
"Who said I was scared? Besides, how do you know what I'm afraid of?" Yang Qiujin was unable to get away. She was speechless and a little amused.
"You know what you are afraid of." Chen Shengqing openly picked her up again and put her on the horse's back. He also got on the horse and hugged her waist from behind. "If you are not afraid, come with me to a place."
The man's hot breath made her ears itch, and Yang Qiujin's cheeks turned red unconsciously. "Go ahead, who's afraid of you?"
Chen Shengqing smiled faintly, whipped the horse, and Zhuifeng ran quickly on the dirt road.
They walked along the winding dirt road through the farm, all the way toward the towering snow-capped mountains in the distance.
After running for more than an hour, they were out of the farm area and the surroundings turned into a barren Gobi beach, while the snow-capped mountains in the distance still seemed very far away from them.
The sky had already darkened, and the deserted Gobi Desert was pitch black. The sound of wolves howling continuously could be heard, which made Yang Qiujin shudder.
Fortunately, the sky is filled with stars as bright as the Milky Way, and the starlight is scattered all over the earth, which makes people's vision not so blind.
"Where are we going? It's dark now, and I don't know if Tianyou has eaten well." Yang Qiujin no longer has the initial excitement she had.
Zhuifeng ran too fast. She had never ridden a horse before, and after an hour of riding, the insides of her legs were sore from the friction from the horse's back, and her butt was so uncomfortable from the shaking.
"It's almost there." Chen Shengqing knew that she was uncomfortable, so he held her waist tightly and let her lean her whole body in his arms, which would make her feel more comfortable.
Yang Qiujin had no idea what he was up to. All she could hear was the sound of the wind from his fast running. She leaned against his hot chest, heard his heartbeat, and felt drowsy for some reason.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but when she was half asleep and half awake, she heard the sound of dogs barking one after another. She was so scared that she opened her eyes and saw that they seemed to have stopped in front of a village, and a group of people were walking towards them with oil lamps.
Yang Qiujin suddenly came to her senses and saw that behind the group of people were vast dark mountains. The temperature was much colder than other places at night. She was wrapped in the coat that Chen Shengqing had taken off and put on her, but she was still shivering from the cold.
"Where is this?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Under the peak of Tomu Mountain." Chen Shengqing helped her dismount and shouted in front of several Kazakhs who came out with guns in hand and looked very cautious: "Brother Bart, it's me, Chen Shengqing, I'll lead my horse."
"Hey, Captain Chen?" Among the dozen or so Kazakh men who came out, a tall, sturdy man wearing a big sheepskin held an oil lamp and shone them carefully. After seeing their faces clearly, he chuckled and happily came forward to hug Chen Shengqing: "Captain Chen, it's really you. Why did you come here at this time? It's already dark."
"I'm sorry to bother you at the last minute." Chen Shengqing took Yang Qiujin and introduced her to them. "This is my wife. She works at Tianshan Farm, which is a bit far from where our troops are stationed. It's inconvenient for her to commute to work, so I brought her here after she got off work."
When Chen Shengqing was a new recruit a few years ago, he was assigned to the Tuomu Peak border post when he first joined the recruit company. He used to come down the mountain to this nomadic village for supplies, and often helped them find lost sheep, cattle and horses, and deal with wolves.
Later he was transferred here and kept getting promoted. About four years ago, Chen Shengqing learned that there were a group of wild horses roaming in the valley of Tuomu Mountain. He wanted a war horse that suited his taste, so he joined forces with this group of herdsmen to train horses.
At that time he had taken a fancy to a black horse and tamed it. However, two days later he saw another wild horse, Zhuifeng, which was faster than the black horse and had stronger tendons. So he put the black horse at Bart's house and said he would take it away when he had time.
As a result, due to an unexpected event in the army, he was delayed for two months and did not have time to take the black horse away. When he thought about it, the black horse was already pregnant. It turned out that it was a mare.
The Bart family originally made a living as nomads, and when they saw that the Ili Black Horse with a good physique was pregnant, they were reluctant to let it go. They wanted to buy it from Chen Shengqing, but Chen Shengqing did not want money, and said that since the horse was pregnant, they should let it give birth to the baby before taking it away.
Unexpectedly, not long after that, Chen Shengqing made a mistake and was put in solitary confinement. Later, he was specially trained by the military and sent to the Soviet Union to be a spy. The black horse was kept in Bart's home and gave birth to several foals year after year.
Bart was also a straightforward person. Hearing what he said, he immediately let him go and said with a smile, "So that's what happened. You should have come to take Black Wind away a long time ago. But Captain Chen, Black Wind has given birth to five pony foals in our family. All of his pups are good horses. They run as fast as he does, but they are more docile than he is. If you want to let your brother and sister-in-law ride horses, I suggest you choose one of his pups."
Mares, especially those with good genes, are of extraordinary value in the eyes of herders. Once a good-bred mare is lost, it means the loss of a large amount of income and a good helper.
Chen Shengqing understood Bart's reluctance to part with Dark Horse, so he didn't dwell on the matter. He turned to ask Yang Qiujin for her opinion: "Qiujin, what do you think?"
"I don't understand these things. It's up to you." Yang Qiujin expressed her opinion.
Chen Shengqing said, "Then let's follow Brother Bart's suggestion and choose from the children of Heifeng."
Bart smiled and led them into the village. "Let's go to my barn and see which horse my sister-in-law likes."
The village was very small, and the houses were all made of clay adobes, scattered at the foot of the mountain. It was estimated that there were no more than fifty households. As there was no electricity in the village, when they heard any noise, someone from almost every household would go out with an oil lamp and look around.
Seeing that it was soldiers entering the village and not Soviet enemy troops or counter-revolutionaries, they looked at them in surprise for a while and then went back home to do their own things.
Bart chatted with Chen Shengqing along the way, and Yang Qiujin learned that in this nameless nomadic village, most of the time during the year, they had to move back and forth with the cattle and sheep to various pastures at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains. Most of the people who stayed in the village were the elderly and children, and young people rarely stayed in the village. It was only during the first few months of spring, when everything revived and grass grew everywhere, that their family would stay here.
Because they are not in the village most of the year, their village can be easily attacked if the border post is not guarded well.
However, the current situation has not happened since 1953, when the national military opened border posts. Therefore, Kazakhs like Bat have a great liking for border defense officers like Chen Shengqing.
Bart's house was quite big. His wife, mother, children, sister, brothers, etc. heard the noise and came out to greet Chen Shengqing and his wife. Chen Shengqing and his wife politely responded, and Bart led them to the stable in the backyard of their house.
His family raised more than a dozen horses. Except for three pregnant mares and two old horses, the rest were left to Yang Qiujin to choose.
When they arrived at the stable, most of the horses were lying on the dry hay and sleeping. Only a tall, dark brown horse was standing there with its big eyes wide open.
Seeing Bart carrying an oil lamp and leading a group of people towards them, it snorted warily and let out a soft cry. The sleeping horses in the stable woke up one after another.
"This horse is very smart," Yang Qiujin said in amazement, "It can even stand guard to remind its companions."
"This is the nature of horses. When they sleep, they will take turns standing guard to stay alert. If they encounter any disturbance or dangerous situation, they will remind each other." Chen Shengqing explained to her.
"Captain Chen is right." Bart pointed at the dark brown horse and said, "That is Black Wind's child. It has a relatively docile character and runs fast. The four horses standing next to it are also Black Wind's children. They are all good horses."
Heifeng was standing among the horses. He had dark fur and was tall. When he saw Chen Shengqing, whom he hadn't seen for many years, reaching out to him, he smelled his scent, seemed to remember who he was, and nudged his hand with his head to show affection.
"Heifeng is so smart, I think its offspring will be good too. I'll choose this one." Yang Qiujin pointed at the dark brown horse she saw at first sight, "What's its name?"
"Its name is Benying, which means it runs as fast as a shadow. It is my favorite horse and it is only two years old." Bart's 15-year-old daughter introduced it to Yang Qiujin and said, "But you are the wife of our distinguished guest and you like it, which shows that you have good taste. If you take it away, you must treat it well."
"I will," Yang Qiujin assured her.
Bart put the reins on Benying and let Yang Qiujin get on the horse to try it out.
Yang Qiujin had never ridden a horse alone, so she climbed onto the horse's back clumsily and fearfully.
Benying was ridden in the middle of the night. He shook his head unhappily, stretched his limbs constantly, snorted, and seemed very impatient.
Yang Qiujin was frightened by its movements and her heart was pounding. She lost her grip on the reins and was nearly thrown off the horse.
Fortunately, Chen Shengqing was quick to catch her and help her hold the reins. He kept soothing her and finally Benying calmed down.
Chen Shengqing gently stroked Benying's horse's back and said, "Qiu Jin, horses are very spiritual and intelligent creatures just like humans. If you want to ride it, you have to be stronger and calmer than it. Only then will it obey you, not look down on you, and not throw you off."
He said, letting go of the bike's hand, "Try riding it for a while first."
"Okay." Yang Qiujin tightened the reins again, putting aside the timidity in her heart, and imitated Chen Shengqing's previous behavior. She gently pinched the horse's belly with her legs, said "drive", and Benying slowly started to move.
Probably because the vision was not very good in the night, Benying was disturbed from resting and was in a bad mood. He was unwilling to carry people, and after walking back and forth a few steps, he began to jump impatiently, shaking his head, trying to throw the person off his back.
Seeing this, Chen Shengqing shouted worriedly: "Qiu Jin, lower your body, crawl on its back, hold the reins tightly, and don't let go. Hold on for a while, and it will bow to you. If you really can't hold on, I will get you off. We won't ride this horse anymore, and we'll change to another one."
"I want it." Yang Qiujin, who refused to admit defeat, also came up. She crouched down as she was told and held the reins tightly. No matter how the horse jumped and swung, or how she swayed on the horse's back, she clenched her teeth and would never let go.
Benying jumped and ran for a while, but couldn't get rid of her. The Bart family beside him kept calling out to comfort him. Soon he gave up and stopped struggling, standing quietly.
"Great! This female comrade is so brave!" The Bart family cheered for Yang Qiujin.
"I never thought that the lesbians here are no better than us Kazakh women and dare to ride a fierce horse like Benying."
"That's good. When Benying gets angry in the future, she will be able to control him."
After choosing the horses, the Bart family enthusiastically invited Chen Shengqing and his wife to have dinner together, but Chen Shengqing declined on the grounds that his children were waiting at home.
Seeing that they were determined to leave, Bart's wife gave them some sour milk lumps, a large piece of fresh mutton, and a fresh rabbit that Bart had hunted in the afternoon, and sent them out of the village.
Chen Shengqing could not decline, so he thanked Yang Qiujin again and again, hung the things in the cloth bags on both sides of the saddle, and rode each of them on horseback to the army.
It was a dark and windy night, with stars shining like the Milky Way in the sky. In the silence of the night, apart from the occasional howling of wild animals and wolves, the only sound in my ears was the gentle breeze blowing clothes and grass.
Yang Qiujin sat on the horse, looking at the beautiful starry sky, feeling the wind brought by the slowly running horse. It was like floating in the wind, making her close her eyes involuntarily, feeling this rare feeling of freedom.
Under the starry sky, Chen Shengqing rode side by side with her. In the dim light around them, he saw her face with a comfortable smile, and a faint smile also appeared on his handsome features: "Qiu Jin, do you like it here?"
"Here?" Yang Qiujin opened her eyes and looked around. It was pitch black. She could only vaguely see that they were still walking on the Gobi Beach. "What's so good about the Gobi Beach?"
Chen Shengqing was silent for a moment, and said helplessly: "I'm talking about the border. Do you like the border?"
"I've only been here for a short time. Tell me if I like it or not." Yang Qiujin thought Chen Shengqing was weird. "Compared to this place with yellow sand all over the sky and dry Gobi beaches everywhere, where it's difficult to grow vegetation, I like our hometown with green mountains and clear waters more."
"If one day this place is rebuilt into a place with green mountains and clear waters like our hometown, will you stay here forever?" Chen Shengqing asked in a dull voice, holding the reins to prevent Zhuifeng from chewing the grass on the ground.
"Why do you ask that?" Yang Qiujin tilted her head to look at him, "Do you want to be a soldier here for the rest of your life?"
"No." Chen Shengqing shook his head. "Maybe I will quit the army and stay in the frontier to do other things."
"That's it." Yang Qiujin looked straight ahead, swaying on the horse's back. "You and I are husband and wife. Wherever you are, I will be there. If you want to stay in the border, I will naturally stay in the border too."
Something seemed to blossom in his heart. Chen Shengqing couldn't help but curl his lips slightly and said in a gentle voice, "That's the best. You wait here for me."
Yang Qiujin:?
I saw him riding a horse and galloping in a certain direction. Soon, several gunshots were heard in the distance. Soon he came back on horseback with four bloody fat rabbits in his hands.
"!!!" Yang Qiujin was shocked. "How did you see the rabbit in such a dark sky?"
"I have received special training in the army. I have to carry out missions in the dark. I can see many things moving at night. It is not dark tonight. The stars in the sky can light up the road." Chen Shengqing put the rabbit into the bag and rode side by side with her. "The Gobi Desert is not completely without vegetation. Sea buckthorn, camel thorn, wild wolfberry, and unicorn grass grow in it. Many wild rabbits will build nests near these vegetation. It is easy to catch them."
"Are there a lot of rabbits on the Gobi Desert?"
"Not many, but these creatures have a strong reproductive capacity, so you can occasionally encounter them. If you go north, at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, there are large grasslands irrigated by snow water, and there are many wild rabbits on the grasslands."
Chen Shengqing said excitedly: "The flat land over there is full of holes dug by them. No one dares to ride a horse at night, for fear that the horse will step into the hole and break its leg, or the rider will fall off the horse and get injured. If you like to eat rabbit meat, I will bring you a few more rabbits when I finish my border patrol."
"Okay." Although Yang Qiujin felt a little strange about the man's sudden enthusiasm, she was still happy in her heart.
A man who remembers to bring something for his wife, even if it is just a rabbit, makes Yang Qiujin feel touched, because it means he has her in his heart.
That was enough for her.
She didn't ask Chen Shengqing to like her much, but at least during their marriage, he had to fulfill his responsibilities as a husband and a father. Correspondingly, she would also fulfill her responsibilities as a wife.
Thinking of this, she recalled that since she decided to work on the farm, she had been busy from morning till night and had no spare time to take care of her children. She felt extremely guilty.
When they finally arrived at the unit, Chen Shengqing asked her to put the horse in a stable in the camp that was specifically for raising horses, and she rushed to Zhao Erfeng's home almost non-stop.
It was already very dark, the power in the courtyard had been cut off long ago, and almost everyone was fast asleep.
Tianyou was lying on the kang bed of the two sons of the Li family, listening to the grinding of Li Erdan's breathing and smelling the stinky feet of Li Sidan, and he couldn't fall asleep.
He stared with his big eyes in the darkness, but couldn't understand why his mother's temperament changed drastically after she brought him to the border with his father to join the army. She was no longer as nice to him as before. She was busy from morning to night and often had no time to take care of him, leaving the mothers from the east and the aunts from the west, as well as the father who was very strict with him, to take care of him.
He has become much more obedient and sensible than before. Now he no longer fights or quarrels with classmates, nor does he cause trouble everywhere. He has become very polite. When Aunt Zhao went to Aunt Wang's house to pick him up and said that his father asked him to go to their house for dinner, he did not ask anything and came to the Li family for dinner obediently.
After dinner, he was very sensible and helped Aunt Zhao to clean up the table, chairs, and dishes. Then he finished his homework in the yard, and his mother came to pick him up with eager eyes.
But he waited and waited, until it was dark, and his parents had not come back. Aunt Zhao asked him to go to bed, but he could not sleep.
He feels like a child abandoned by the whole world, with no love from his father and no love from his mother. He might as well go back to his hometown, where at least his grandmother loves him.
As he thought about it, tears welled up in his eyes. Just as he was about to cry in silence, he heard a familiar voice coming from outside the courtyard: "Sister-in-law Zhao, Sister-in-law Zhao, are you asleep?"
"Mom!" Although the voice was very soft, Chen Tianyou still recognized it as his mother's voice. He excitedly jumped up from the kang, ran out of the yard barefoot, and threw himself into Yang Qiujin's arms. "Wuwuwu, Mom, you're finally back. I thought you didn't want me anymore."
The child cried miserably, wearing only a thin layer of clothing and no shoes on his feet. Yang Qiujin hugged Chen Tianyou distressedly, patted his back gently, and comforted him, "Okay, Tianyou, don't cry. It's mom's fault. Mom came back late. Mom apologizes to you. Mom didn't abandon you."
Zhao Erfeng heard the noise and walked out in a daze while putting on her clothes. Seeing Yang Qiujin and Chen Shengqing, she smiled and said, "Big sister, you are back. I thought you were not coming back tonight and asked Tianyou to sleep at our house for one night."
"Sister-in-law Zhao, thank you for taking care of Tianyou for me." Yang Qiujin hugged Chen Tianyou and thanked her sincerely.
"Hey, it's nothing." Zhao Erfeng buttoned his clothes and said, "We are neighbors and we are in the same unit. We have a close relationship. Let alone helping you take care of your baby for one day, even if you give your baby to me every day, I can help you take care of it as long as you don't mind me."
This is of course a joke, but it also shows that Zhao Erfeng is a passionate and kind person.
Chen Shengqing took out a rabbit he was carrying and gave it to Zhao Erfeng: "Sister-in-law, this is a rabbit I shot in the Gobi Desert on the way back. You can give it to the children as a snack."
"Oh, thank you so much." Zhao Erfeng did not refuse and accepted it with thanks.
Because there are many ethnic minorities in border areas, beef and mutton are the main meats, and there is almost no other meat for sale. Zhao Erfeng, who is Han Chinese, has long been tired of eating mutton and wants to change to other flavors.
The rabbit that Chen Shengqing sent weighed at least five or six kilograms. After skinning and removing the internal organs, there were still two or three kilograms of meat, which was just enough for her and the children to have a snack.
"Then sister-in-law, let's go back first." Yang Qiujin said.
"Okay, please drive slowly."
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