At six o'clock the next day, Huo Haocheng set off. When he came downstairs, the two elders had also gotten up. The old man was sitting on the sofa reading today's newspaper, while Grandma Ruan was in the kitchen making breakfast with Aunt Zhang.
Good morning, Grandpa and Grandma.
"Haocheng, did you sleep well? Was there anything you weren't used to?"
"Grandma, I slept very well, and there was nothing I wasn't used to."
"You'll get used to it. If you need anything, just tell Ruan Ruan. Treat it like your own home. You talk to your grandfather for a while, and then we can eat." After saying that, the old lady turned and went into the kitchen to continue her work.
"Okay, Grandma"
"Come sit over here, let's have a chat, just the two of us."
"The girl came back in a hurry before, and the child only told us the good things. We just want to know some things about this child from childhood to adulthood."
"When Ruan Ruan was brought back by her third uncle and the others, she was well-behaved and would make a fuss when she saw us brothers. Because she was very beautiful since she was a child, we all liked her very much. She also liked to go out and play with us. When the elders in the village saw her, they liked to give her some snacks."
In the beginning, she and my brothers went to the river to catch fish. Of course, we were the ones catching fish, and she would watch from the bucket. She was a tiny person, almost as tall as the bucket, and she would reach into the bucket with her hands to catch the fish. When she reached in, she would communicate with the fish, telling them to be good and not to move so that she could touch them.
Later, as she grew older, she started going to school with us. At first, she cried once because we weren't in the same class. Later, I brought her to my class, and she got used to it in a couple of days. After that, as she got older, she also liked to go with us to pick wild vegetables, gather mushrooms, and collect pine nuts.
"It seems your family places great importance on your child's education." Listening to Ruan Ruan's upbringing and seeing the person standing before them now, it was clear that Ruan Ruan had been well cared for since childhood.
"So how did you get engaged?" The old man didn't believe in the idea of a child bride. Based on what Ruan Chuanji and the others said about the Huo family, there was no way they would worry about their child not being able to find a wife when he grew up.
"Um, um..." Thinking back to their engagement, it now seems a bit hasty.
"Hmm? Is there something you're having trouble saying?"
"No, no, it's just...it was quite dramatic." Huo Haocheng then recounted the whole story of their engagement. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even an engagement; it was just a youthful joke, but the two of them took it seriously.
"So you joined the army at 18, and Ruan Ruan was 12 when you left. Aren't you worried that Ruan Ruan will regret the marriage when she grows up? After all, you weren't there for her during her adolescence."
“I was worried too, but a man’s ambition lies in all directions. I can’t give up my dream because of romantic feelings. Becoming an excellent soldier is my lifelong goal. Ruan Ruan knows this. When I decided to join the army, I discussed it with her. She said she would wait for me. When she left, she said her husband was a peerless hero who would come back to marry her riding on a colorful cloud.”
Now, when Huo Haocheng recalls what Ruan Ruan said back then, he feels that it has always been the driving force that encourages her to move forward.
"Oh, you've come back riding on auspicious clouds to marry her!" The old man looked at Huo Haocheng in front of him and nodded with satisfaction, saying, "You did it."
"And what happened after you left? Do you know how she spent those six years?" the old man continued to ask.
When the topic turned to the six years following Ruan Ruan's death, Huo Haocheng smiled and shook his head.
"What, is your expression interesting?"
"It was absolutely fantastic."
"Oh..." The old man became interested, and the old woman who had been listening to their conversation in the kitchen also became interested. After putting down her bowl, she sat down as well.
"She's probably going through what's called adolescence. The more you tell her not to do something, the more she wants to do it. I remember once, when she was 13, in winter, the village organized a hunting trip. When she heard about it, she insisted on going, otherwise she would cry and say that if she wasn't allowed to go, she would go secretly by herself."
But she was too young, and the group consisted of a bunch of grown men. It wasn't convenient for her, a girl, to go along, so her grandfather scolded her. Staying at home, she was resentful. Later, whenever she found an opportunity, she would take the family's big yellow dog with her. And you know what? She was really lucky; she always managed to bring something back.
Later, she even took several of her older brothers with her. Her grandfather couldn't do anything about it. Seeing that they only stayed on the edge of the mountain and didn't go deep into the mountains, he let her go. Later, she even wrote me a letter bragging about it. Huo Haocheng still remembers the big, smug expression at the end of the letter.
Wow, she can hunt too!
"She's just curious and wants to try everything, but after trying it, she finds it uninteresting and then puts it aside." This is quite frustrating.
"So what skills did she learn?"
"She was a good student; she could learn something after the teacher explained it once, and she was always first in her grade. Later, she learned to play chess from her grandfather. Once, she saw that the supply and marketing cooperative was selling dried fruit. She tried it once and thought it was okay, but there weren't many kinds, and none of the ones she liked were available. So she went up the mountain to pick wild fruits and tried to make them herself, and she succeeded."
She also has a good aptitude for languages; she learned several foreign languages from her high school teacher.
"Looks like this girl is a real gem!"
The two elders could only sigh and say that Ruan Ruan had a very exciting childhood. If she had grown up in a compound in Beijing, she might not have had these experiences.
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