Chapter 93
Three days later, on a bright and sunny morning, Chen Shengqing took Yang Qiujin's hand and said, "Let's go pick up our mother."
Yang Qiujin was a little confused, "My mother is at home making shoes for the children, why did we pick her up?"
Starting from last month, in order to prevent Yang Qiujin from giving birth prematurely, Li Xiu'e told the school cafeteria logistics director that she would quit her job and Zhao Erfeng took over the position. During this period, Li Xiu'e has been staying at home to take care of the business and has not been going anywhere.
"Go pick up my mother-in-law." Chen Shengqing scratched her nose with his bent index finger. "Did you forget? My mother-in-law is going to Ava today. We have to pick her up."
"Look at me, I really forgot." Yang Qiujin smiled embarrassedly.
Due to the special nature of telegrams, charges were made by word, and telegrams these days were concise and to the point. Wu Shulian did not clearly state in the telegram when she would arrive at the border. Yang Qiujin could only estimate the time, thinking that she would take a car to find the border defense troops by herself. Unexpectedly, Chen Shengqing would drive to pick her up.
Chen Shengqing asked for a day off from the army to pick up his mother-in-law.
The car was parked at the gate of his yard. He opened the door of the passenger seat for Yang Qiujin and let her sit in. He then walked to the main driver's seat, started the car skillfully, and drove out.
Yang Qiujin fastened her seat belt and asked, "Shengqing, other officers above the rank of deputy regiment commander are equipped with guards and orderly soldiers to help with housework or drive cars, so why don't you have any?"
"I do. I don't like them disturbing my normal life. I usually do everything I can by myself. Besides..." He paused here, turned the steering wheel with a dim look, and drove the car onto a national highway. "Last time when we went to catch Xiang Anfu's gang of spies, my guards died and the orderly was seriously injured. He can't work in the short term."
Yang Qiujin remained silent and did not ask any more questions.
At any time, wherever it is involved in war, it is cruel. Border guards, no matter what military rank they are, have often sacrificed their lives to defend the interests and security of the country.
This was also the reason why Chen Shengqing was reluctant to take her and the children with him to join the army, because the work done by the border guards was too dangerous and the slightest mistake could cost their lives, and the border was not as safe as the inland areas.
Chen Shengqing drove very steadily. Most of the national highway they were driving on was on the Gobi Desert. The surrounding area was desolate with sparse vegetation. Yang Qiujin's eyelids started to droop after watching for a while, so she simply leaned against the car window and fell asleep.
When I woke up again, I was woken up by Chen Shengqing. They had already arrived at the train station in Ava area.
There are almost no people going to the countryside now. There are very few people coming and going in the small railway station. Only a few people are waiting in the waiting hall with packages. The whole station is pitifully desolate.
Chen Shengqing parked the jeep in front of the train station. Because he was wearing a military uniform and had a military title, the few passengers in the waiting room all focused their eyes on him.
He didn't care and didn't let Yang Qiujin get off the car. He just sat in the car, looking at the watch on his left wrist from time to time and said, "We're almost there, don't worry."
Why wasn't Yang Qiujin anxious? It was her mother's first time going on a long journey. From the telegram, it seemed that she was going to the border by herself. What if she got on the wrong bus, or didn't understand the broadcast and got on the wrong station? After all, her mother couldn't read and was still a little confused...
The more Yang Qiujin thought about it, the more restless she became. She got off the train and was about to walk towards the train station waiting hall when she suddenly saw a green train clanking towards the station in the distance.
Yang Qiujin was excited and ran to the station quickly, "Shengqing, is that the train my mother took?"
"It's that one. Run slowly and don't be in a hurry." She ran with a big belly, which scared Chen Shengqing so much that he broke into a cold sweat. He hurriedly grabbed her hand and told her to walk slowly and not to be in a hurry.
The train soon stopped at the station and some passengers got off the train one after another.
From a distance, Yang Qiujin saw a thin, short woman in her fifties, carrying large and small packages on her hands, shoulders and back, and walking slowly and unsteadily from the platform to the station.
Yang Qiujin recognized the middle-aged woman at a glance. She pulled Chen Shengqing's arm and said anxiously, "That's my mother. Come on, Shengqing, go over and carry my mother's luggage."
At the same time, she waved her arms toward Wu Shulian and shouted, "Mom, here, I'm here."
She was so excited that her voice broke, but her eyes were shining with joy and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but rise.
Seeing her excited, Chen Shengqing also became happy. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Be steady. Don't forget that you are a mother of two children now. Be careful not to fall."
Yang Qiujin put away her excitement and said, "I haven't seen my mother for a long time. I'm happy."
"I know, so when you were more than eight months pregnant, I sent a telegram to your home and asked my mother-in-law to come and see you." Chen Shengqing pulled her towards the platform.
No wonder Yang Qiujin had written many letters to her mother before, asking her to come to the border to see her, but she always found various excuses to refuse.
This time he actually agreed to take the bus so readily. It turned out that his son-in-law Chen Shengqing was the one who helped him.
Chen Shengqing probably understood her mother's wavering and weak character, so he sent her a telegram. Since her mother had no choice but to come and see him, a military officer son-in-law who had great potential in her mother's eyes, her mother had no choice but to give him a visit.
Yang Qiujin felt sweet and complained: "My mother is so good to you. I wrote to her several times asking her to come and see me. She replied that she would come when she was free. But she has not come for five years. Now, as soon as you, her son-in-law, sent a telegram, she came immediately. Who is her daughter after all?"
"Don't be jealous. If your mother-in-law didn't love you, she wouldn't have given me, her son-in-law, face and traveled thousands of miles to see you." Chen Shengqing lovingly tidied her hair around her ears. "You should be thankful that your mother-in-law came to see you on her own this time."
That's true.
The train that had stopped at the station had all left, and her father didn't get off the train. She felt so relieved.
Wu Shulian got off the train carrying a lot of packages and walked towards the station under the guidance of the train station staff.
She just turned fifty this year. As she has been working in the fields for many years, she is strong and healthy. She does not feel tired even when carrying many packages.
When she saw her eldest daughter, whom she hadn't seen for five years, walking towards her with a big belly, followed by her son-in-law in a neat military uniform, Wu Shulian couldn't help but shed tears. She strode over, held her eldest daughter's hand, and looked her up and down, "Qiu'er, your belly is so big now, and it's much whiter and rounder than before, but your appearance hasn't changed."
"Mom, you finally came to see me." Yang Qiujin hugged her with red eyes, and cried in her arms like a little girl, "Mom, I miss you so much."
Chen Shengqing followed up by calling out "Mom" and silently reached out to help Wu Shulian carry the bag.
Wu Shulian felt much more relaxed without the heavy bag hanging on her body. She reached out and touched Yang Qiujin's cheek lovingly, choking with sobs, "Silly child, why are you crying? You are already a mother of two children, but you still cry easily. You are not stable at all. You are about to give birth, and you are still crying like this. It is not good for the children. Don't cry. Mom brought you a lot of your favorite food this time. After we go back, Mom will cook for you."
Chen Shengqing replied, "Yes, Qiu Jin, stop crying. Let's go home first and talk to our mother about it."
Yang Qiujin also knew that it was not good for her to cry in public, so she let go of Wu Shulian, wiped the tears from her face, helped Wu Shulian carry the small package out of the station, put the things away, and sat in the back seat of the car with Wu Shulian.
Chen Shengqing started the car without saying a word and drove towards the border defense department.
The journey home was very long. They left in the morning and arrived home around ten o'clock in the evening.
Chen Tianyou had already fallen asleep, and Li Xiu'e forced herself to stay awake and wait for her mother-in-law to arrive.
As soon as Wu Shulian got out of the car, Li Xiu'e came to greet her, "Mother-in-law, long time no see, you are finally here."
"It's been a long time since I last saw Sister Li." Wu Shulian shook her hand, looked around with the help of the kerosene lamp lit by Li Xiu'e, and sighed: "Before, Shengqing said that the frontier troops were hard and never let Qiu Jin follow the army. I thought it was very hard and that we still lived in a mud house. Now it seems that it is not that hard. The house is not bad. It is a red brick and tile house with a yard and vegetables. When I entered the yard just now, I seemed to hear horses neighing?"
"That's Qiu Jin's horse. She usually puts on a horse saddle and drives the carriage to work." Li Xiu'e helped Wu Shulian carry the packages into the living room and asked her to sit down. "Mother-in-law, you must be tired after sitting on the train for several days and nights. I'll boil a pot of hot water for you so you can take a hot bath. I'll also make you noodles. You can eat and then go and rest, okay?"
"Okay, thank you for your hard work." It was a hot day and Wu Shulian had been sitting on the train for several days in a row. She was already smelling. She always liked to keep herself clean and wanted to take a shower.
"Silly, we are all family, why talk about being tired or not? Mother-in-law, you sit down and rest for a while, chat with Qiu Jin, I'll go boil some water first." Li Xiu'e walked away hurriedly.
Yang Qiujin and Chen Shengqing were in the living room, helping Wu Shulian take out the things she had brought.
When Yang Qiujin saw several five-jin pieces of bacon, strings of bacon intestines, several bacon fish, bacon chicken, bacon duck, more than ten cans of homemade hot sauce, pickled vegetables wrapped in oil paper, various sun-dried bamboo shoots, fungus, mushrooms, dried chili peppers, dried Sichuan peppercorns, many local eggs, brown sugar, White Rabbit milk candy, fruit candy, green plums from her hometown, various clothes, shoes and socks for children, and so on, Yang Qiujin was stunned.
"Mom, why did you bring so many things with you? How heavy must they be and how much must they cost?"
"It didn't cost much. Except for the meat and candied eggs, I bought them from the neighbors with the money you used to give me. The rest was made by me myself. I just wanted to come to the border one day to see you and Qiuyue."
Wu Shulian pointed at the two small bags and said, "I have divided the things. The two smaller bags are for your sister. The others are yours. You are about to have a baby, so you will have more than her. When I see your sister later, I will tell her about it. She won't be unhappy."
These things might have drained the family savings that Wu Shulian had accumulated over the years. Yang Qiujin said with some distress, "Mom, I'm sorry for making you spend money. I have to give these sausages and bacon to some of my neighbors who are familiar with me, and Shengqing's superiors. Do you have any objection?"
Wu Shulian drank the bowl of brown sugar water that Chen Shengqing poured for her. "What opinion can I have? If I give you something, it's yours. Just make your own decision."
Yang Qiujin took out two large pieces of bacon and cut them into pieces of about one pound each with a knife. She then placed two pieces of bacon, a small handful of dried bamboo shoots and black fungus, a handful of plums, and several cans of chili sauce next to them. She divided them into several piles and planned to give them away tomorrow.
Although there aren’t many things, in that era of material scarcity and less meat, these things are truly precious treasures, and any little bit of them tastes delicious.
Yang Qiujin divided the things, and Chen Shengqing put the remaining bacon, sausage and other things in the kitchen one by one. Li Xiu'e boiled the water and asked Wu Shulian to take a bath. While she was taking a bath, she made her a bowl of fragrant egg noodles.
After taking a shower, Wu Shulian sat at the dining table in the living room, eating noodles and praising them: "Sister Li, your skill in making noodles is better than mine. These noodles are so delicious."
"You're too polite, mother-in-law. My cooking skills are no match for yours. Qiu Jin often told me that she missed the fried fish you made." Li Xiu'e sat opposite her and smiled.
Yang Qiujin also sat at the table and nodded, "Mom, I haven't had your fried fish for a long time. Make it for me someday when you're free. By the way, didn't my dad come with you?"
"He wanted to come, but his son-in-law wouldn't let him." Wu Shulian took a mouthful of noodles and snorted, "I know you hate your dad. It would be annoying for you if he came with me. Besides, Shengqing only bought a sleeper berth ticket for me. I heard that the sleeper berth ticket is very expensive. He is just an old man, so how can he afford to sit in a sleeper berth?"
Now it was Yang Qiujin's turn to be surprised. She looked at Chen Shengqing and said, "How did you buy a sleeper ticket for my mother?"
When she and her mother-in-law came to the frontier troops, they had to sit on hard seats. Not only did they feel very uncomfortable, but their legs were also swollen from sitting.
Chen Shengqing said: "In the past few years, educated youth from all over the country were sent to border areas voluntarily or forcibly. The few trains in the border areas were packed with people. Even though I was a military officer with special privileges and could buy sleeper berth tickets, it was still difficult to get one. The situation in the country has been gradually relaxing in the past two years, especially this year when fewer and fewer educated youth were forced to go to the countryside, and those trains gradually became empty. I called our province and asked the train station to help order sleeper berth tickets, and they were easy to buy."
Yang Qiujin suddenly realized, "Shengqing, you said, the number of educated youth going to the countryside has been decreasing in the past two years. Is the situation in our country about to end?"
"It's hard to say. It depends on what the leaders of the capital think and how they decide." Chen Shengqing said, and then he saw Wu Shulian finish her noodles and even the soup. He took the empty bowl and said, "Mom, take a rest. I'll wash the dishes."
Wu Shulian looked at Chen Shengqing's leaving back, thinking about how he helped carry the heavy luggage without saying a word at the train station, and how he did not let Yang Qiujin do anything after returning home. He hung up and put away the things she brought, such as bacon, sausage, and spicy sauce, and took the initiative to wash the dishes. It was obvious that he did a lot of housework, and she became more and more satisfied with this son-in-law.
She married a lazy man who did nothing but order her around. She knew in her heart how rare it was to marry a hardworking man who could earn money to support his family and was a military officer.
When Yang Qiujin was tricked by the shameless widow's daughter into marrying Chen Shengqing, she was worried about her daughter because she saw that Chen Shengqing was so handsome with red lips and white teeth.
It is not a good thing for a man to be too good-looking, just like Yang Qiujin's father, who always attracts many women and has many romantic affairs. He will also boss women around and act domineeringly at home, ordering women to do this and that, and treating women like cattle. She was worried that Yang Qiujin would have a miserable life like her.
Later, Chen Shengqing joined the army and never came back for seven years. The villagers gossiped about him, which made her even more worried and unable to sleep day and night, fearing that her daughter would marry the wrong man or be abandoned by Chen Shengqing.
Fortunately, Chen Shengqing came back and became an officer in the army. He took Yang Qiujin and her son to enjoy the good life with the army, and they were away for five years.
During these five years, Yang Qiujin wrote her many letters, and the letters only said good things and never said anything bad. Wu Shulian was afraid that her daughter would only report good news and not worries, and she was always worried about her.
Now it seems that this son-in-law is really good to his daughter.
Li Xiu'e saw that the mother and daughter had something to say, so she stood up and said, "Mother-in-law, you guys chat, I'm going to go rest first, you sleep with me in the east room, tomorrow morning, I'll take you to visit the troops."
"Okay, go to bed."
After Li Xiu'e left, Wu Shulian lowered her voice and asked, "Qiu Jin, has Shengqing been good to you all these years? You need to tell mom the truth."
At this moment, Chen Shengqing was washing dishes and scrubbing the pot in the kitchen. The sound of scrubbing pots came from the kitchen.
Yang Qiujin heard the voice and smiled happily, "Mom, Shengqing is very good to me. I'm not lying to you. He is really very good to me. Not only did he give me all the money and let me manage the household, he also supported me in my work and let me go to work. He..."
She recounted all the good things Chen Shengqing had done for her, and mentioned in one sentence the fact that Chen Shengqing was injured and that she had been infected with the plague some time ago.
In short, the happy smile on her face was not fake.
Wu Shulian felt relieved. "It's enough if your son-in-law treats you well. You should also put away your hot temper and treat him well. As a couple, you need to understand and accommodate each other. Only then can you live well."
"Mom, I'm not a three-year-old child. I understand everything in my heart. It's getting late. You should go to the room and rest early." Yang Qiujin knew that she would nag endlessly, so she simply pushed her to the east room to sleep.
Because of her mother's arrival, Yang Qiujin was particularly excited. She tossed and turned all night and could not fall asleep until almost dawn.
Chen Shengqing thought she was hot, so he fanned her all night. When it was almost dawn, he saw that she had fallen asleep. It was time for him to go to work again, so he got up early, cooked a pot of porridge, prepared some salted dishes, put on his military uniform, and went to the camp to work.
When Yang Qiujin woke up and saw the warm porridge and dishes on the dining table, and her mother-in-law and mother had just come out of the house, she realized that it was Chen Shengqing's masterpiece.
When Chen Tianyou woke up and saw his grandmother, he was not as enthusiastic as Wu Shulian had imagined. He just called out politely, "Grandma, you're here." Then he washed his face and brushed his teeth, ate breakfast, and went to school.
Seeing Wu Shulian's disappointment, before he left, Yang Qiujin held his hand and asked in a low voice, "You little brat, why are you so unenthusiastic towards your grandma? Have you forgotten that when you were a child, your grandma always saved all the delicious food for you, and this time she even spent a lot of money to buy you your favorite White Rabbit candy and fruit hard candy. Is this how you treat your grandma?"
"Mom, it's not that I'm not enthusiastic, but... " Chen Tianyou hesitated.
"But what?" Yang Qiujin pressed.
"Mom, grandma's clothes are too rustic. If she goes out like this, my classmates will laugh at me." Chen Tianyou said courageously.
It was Wu Shulian's first time going away from home. In order not to embarrass herself, she did not wear the patched clothes at home but changed into a patchless long gown made of homespun cloth with a slanting collar.
In the middle of summer, everyone was wearing short sleeves and many were wearing sandals. The border guard family compound seemed out of place, rustic and hot. Chen Tianyou felt embarrassed.
"You little bastard, you've only had a few years of good life, and you're already disdaining your grandmother." Yang Qiujin was so angry that she stretched out her hand to pinch his ear. "Don't forget, before we came to the army, we also wore patched clothes, and we were more rustic than others. People of our older generation couldn't even wear patched clothes, and wore straw raincoats made of tree bark. Anyone who dares to laugh at your grandmother is showing contempt for our ancestors, the Red Army. If they dare to laugh, let the political department of the army do some ideological work on them."
Chen Tianyou was reprimanded by her and wilted. "Mom, I'm sorry. I'm ashamed of what I just thought. I'm going to be late for school now. I'll talk to grandma after school, okay?"
Yang Qiujin looked at her watch and saw that it was indeed almost late. She waved at him and said, "Go ahead. Remember to go home early after school. Don't play with Li Dadan and the others for a long time and don't come back."
"knew."
Yang Qiujin returned to the yard and thought about speaking to Li Xiu'e, "Mom, you can see that my mom has been tortured by my dad for most of her life. She doesn't even have a decent piece of clothing. Even Tianyou despises her for being so tacky. If you have time, can you take my mom to the military service center and buy her two new ready-made clothes and socks to wear, and then take her around to broaden her horizons?"
As she spoke, she took out a handful of bills from the house and stuffed them into Li Xiu'e's hand.
She was not afraid at all that Li Xiu'e would be unhappy, nor was she afraid that Li Xiu'e would be harsh on her own mother. In fact, she and Li Xiu'e had been mother-in-law and daughter-in-law for more than ten years, and they knew each other's personalities very well.
Li Xiu'e is the kind of woman who looks gentle but is actually very opinionated. She is more open-minded than other women of her age, has a strong ability to accept new things, is kind-hearted, and treats her family very well.
Yang Qiujin felt relieved after handing the money to Li Xiu'e and asking her to help buy clothes for Wu Shulian.
"Just go to work without worry. Mom will do your job well."
Li Xiu'e counted the bills in her hand, only about 30 yuan, she felt it was too little, so she took out 20 yuan from her own pocket, and said to Wu Shulian who was cleaning the house, "Come on, mother-in-law, come with me for a walk, and I'll buy you a couple of sets of clothes."
"Oh, that won't work. I have clothes to wear." Wu Shulian refused.
"This is your daughter-in-law and your son-in-law paying you to honor you. It would be a waste if you don't buy it." Li Xiu'e dragged her to the military service center without saying anything and brainwashed her, saying, "We have worked hard for our children for most of our lives. Now they have the ability to honor us. We can't refuse their kindness and make them sad. Think about it, instead of living a life of frugality and dying without enjoying anything or taking anything away, we might as well eat, drink, and wear clothes properly and treat ourselves better. Anyway, if we have to suffer all our lives, our next life might be even more miserable than it is now."
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