040
"Wow, this is the Mao Xiong Ga Si produced by Lao Su, cool!"
Surrounded by a group of soldiers was a GAZ-67 with a long green body, 3.35 meters long, 1.685 meters wide and 1.7 meters high. It was a light off-road military jeep produced by a Soviet factory. The headlights on both sides of the body looked a bit like frog eyes, with simple white steel doors and a green canvas roof. Overall, it was somewhat similar to the jeeps produced in the United States.
This car once participated in the Korean War. Due to the poor economy of China, it did not produce its own cars. It was provided by the Soviet Union to the Chinese army for use. Due to a series of reasons such as poor reliability, poorly designed braking system, and inconvenient repair and maintenance, this GAZ-67 often broke down.
The superiors notified that this car would be distributed to local troops, and had said that priority would be given to troops who could drive and repair cars. Xiao Li could drive, and he always felt that traveling was too inconvenient. How could he miss this opportunity, so he went to participate in the competition meeting.
Cars are probably every man's favorite. As a man, even though he once did not have money to buy a car, Xiao Li has some knowledge about cars. He can talk about cars fluently and coherently, which stunned his superiors. He was even almost poached by a researcher from a state-owned automobile factory in China to study domestic cars.
Xiao Li was good at bragging, but was weak in practical operations. How could he dare to show off his skills in front of professionals? With the researcher looking at him with pity, the two exchanged contact addresses. After agreeing with the researcher that he could write or telegram if he had any problems, Xiao Li drove the stolen GAZ-9 truck back to the army as if he was escaping.
It wasn't that he didn't want to stay and show off more, but those who didn't get a car looked at him with envy and jealousy, which made Xiao Li panic, fearing that they would rob him on the road.
When he returned to the regiment, it was the time for the soldiers to train. Xiao Li parked his car at the training ground, honked the horn, and leaned over to shout at the soldiers on the training ground: "I've got the car back, everyone come over and take a look."
The regimental commander arbitrarily disbanded the team, and the battalion and company commanders who were in training had no choice but to run over excitedly and surround the car to discuss it.
"This is 'Ivan Willys' who once fought alongside the jeeps donated by the United States. He is so tall, taller than me." The GAZ-67 is 170 cm tall, but many soldiers in the army today are only 1.6 meters tall due to poor nutrition when they were young. They are not as tall as a car.
"This car is amazing. It's incredible that Xiaotuan was able to snatch it from all the leaders. Is there anything that Xiaotuan can't do?"
The soldiers in each unit believed that their team was the best and most outstanding, and they regarded other regiments as competitors. Now, the jeep that was fought over by countless units was snatched away by Xiao Li with absolute advantage. When the soldiers in the regiment knew about it, they all had proud expressions on their faces, which increased their self-confidence.
8147 is the best, Xiaotuan is the best!
Xiao Li showed no emotion on his face after hearing this, but the villain in his heart started to become active, and he felt like he was floating in the air.
When Dong Shiyi heard that Xiao Li had really gotten the car back, he hurried over from the office, his face full of joy: "You are really good, kid. I didn't expect you to really get the car. With a car, it will be convenient for us to travel in the future. In a few days, those military wives will be coming one after another, and we can just use the car to pick them up."
Originally, Xiao Li said he wanted to rob a car, but Dong Shiyi and the others had no hope. After all, there was only one car but many troops wanted it. It was almost impossible for their newly established unit to get a car. But they didn't expect that Xiao Li actually robbed it. How could they not be happy?
"You can use the car, but you have to pay for the fuel yourself." The GAZ-67 uses a dual-axle 4-speed gearbox, weighs 1,320 kilograms, and is equipped with 16-inch tires. The fuel consumption is relatively high, about 15 liters per 100 kilometers.
In this era, gasoline was basically monopolized by Western countries, and domestic oil prices were very expensive. The group did not have much money available. Xiao Li did not object to using a car to pick up people, but they had to pay for the gas themselves. Xiao Li would not lend the car to them if he was reluctant to pay.
Dong Shiyi nodded in understanding: "Of course, when you have nothing to do these few days, find a few smart ones and teach them how to drive first."
"Okay." There are very few people in the group who can drive, and it would be unreasonable to let the group leader be the driver when the car is needed in the future. Xiao Li can only hold a crash course to teach everyone in his spare time.
Everyone was very enthusiastic about learning to drive, and many people participated enthusiastically. After a few days, a soldier from the kitchen squad was driving back and forth. Xiao Li thought that he had learned well, so he transferred him out of the kitchen squad.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye it is August.
The 8147th Regiment finally welcomed its first military wife, Song Zhaodi, the wife of the company commander of the third company of the first battalion, and their two daughters.
After receiving the telegram, Qian Dafu, the commander of the third company of the first battalion, ran excitedly to the regimental commander's office and said, "Captain Xiao, my wife and the children will be here tomorrow morning. I want to borrow your car so that the two children can see it. I'll pay for the gas myself."
"Okay, I'll give you a day off for lunch tomorrow. You can ask Xiao Liuzi to accompany you and return to the team as soon as you pick up the people and settle them down." Qian Dafu has a simple look. He is not tall but strong. He was very active when learning to drive, but he didn't learn it in the end, so they had to find a special driver for him.
The next morning, Qian Dafu went to the county bus station and waited. He finally picked up the person at around nine o'clock.
When Song Zhaodi got out of the car, she was holding two very large snakeskin bags in her hands. She asked the two children to watch the things and then went back to the luggage place on the roof and took down another equally large snakeskin bag. The two children were a little restrained in the unfamiliar place. They tightly grasped the corners of their mother's clothes and looked around nervously.
The eldest daughter of the Qian family was a little girl. She tugged at the corner of Song Zhaodi's clothes and timidly pointed at Qian Dafu in the green military uniform in front of her and said, "Mom, I see Dad."
Song Zhaodi looked in the direction of the boss's finger. It was Qian Dafu and Xiao Liuzi. She waved her hands happily and shouted, "Dafu, Qian Dafu, we are here!"
Song Zhaodi was a typical rural woman, with a small bun on her head. She was dark and thin. Although she was thin, her voice was quite penetrating. Qian Dafu slapped his forehead when he heard her voice, glanced at Xiao Liuzi beside him with some embarrassment, and quickly walked to Niang San's side, saying with dissatisfaction: "Why are you yelling? This is not like home. Don't yell so loudly in the future. You're making fun of people."
"What's wrong? Don't we talk like this when we are at home? Why are we not allowed to talk like this here?" In the countryside, if you want to find someone, you just have to stand at the door and shout at them. Song Zhaodi has long been accustomed to that kind of life. After hearing what Qian Dafu said, she grumbled softly with some grievance.
The two children looked at their father with unfamiliar expressions. They opened their mouths but couldn't utter the unfamiliar word "Dad". The younger one even took a few steps back and hid behind Song Zhaodi, watching him secretly.
Although Qian Dafu was talking to Song Zhaodi, his eyes were always on the two children. Seeing the strange and frightened looks in the two children's eyes, his heart was filled with bitterness. He wanted to hug them, but when he saw the snakeskin bags next to their feet, he sighed and finally resigned himself to his fate and picked up the two snakeskin bags first.
When Song Zhaodi bent down to pick up another snakeskin bag, Liuzi snatched it away with a fierce look, "Sister-in-law, just take care of the two children, and leave this thing to me."
"That won't do. I can do it myself. How can I ask you for help? No, no, no."
Liuzi didn't say much to her. He picked up the snakeskin bag and strode forward. No one knew what was in the bag. It was a bit heavy for a grown man like him to carry, let alone a woman with two children. He didn't know how difficult it was for her to get here.
After a while, a lot of onlookers gathered around the car, looking at this unusual big guy curiously, and the crowd was talking about it.
The adult and two children had never seen such a jeep in their hometown. Song Zhaodi rubbed her hands and finally realized that this place was different from her hometown. In her hometown, let alone cars, they rarely took buses. This time, her husband drove a car to pick them up. She was touched but also a little timid, fearing that she would say something wrong or do something wrong after going to the army and embarrass Qian Dafu.
"Get in the car." Qian Dafu put the luggage away, picked up the waiter with one hand, and took the eldest brother's hand with the other, and said gently, "Dad will take you to ride in the car, okay?"
"Okay." Children always admire their fathers the most. Although they are a little unfamiliar with this father whom they only see a few times a year, they have heard a lot of stories about their father from their mother. Now that they see their father coming to pick them up in a car that even the village chief has never seen, the two children's admiration for their father becomes deeper, and they begin to try to get in touch with Qian Dafu.
Qian Dafu intuitively felt the changes before and after. In an instant, he felt that all the money he spent was worth it and that he had made the right decision to borrow this car.
The car drove all the way to the family compound and stopped at the door of the small house assigned to Qian Dafu.
After Liuzi helped Qian Dafu unload his luggage, he said goodbye and drove away. Only the Qian family of four were left in the quiet courtyard. "Come on, Zhaodi, let's see what's going on here."
In Song Zhaodi's opinion, the house here is no different from the one in their hometown, both are thatched houses. But this is the home of their family of four. From now on, they will no longer have to endure the sarcastic mother-in-law and the brothers and sisters-in-law who are in the same boat with her. The three of them will no longer be poor little people with no one to rely on.
Song Zhaodi smiled from the bottom of her heart, with a hint of anticipation for the future in her smile. "It's great. The three of us like it here very much."
"As long as you like it, I have to go back to the army. You can take the children to have a rest first. I have already bought food and vegetables for home, as well as basic daily necessities. You can cook something for lunch and I will be back in the evening." As early as when he received the telegram, he went to a nearby village in advance to exchange daily necessities. After giving instructions, Qian Dafu returned to the army with the reluctant expressions of his two children.
As soon as Qian Dafu met up with the troops, the political commissar of the first battalion brought people to knock on the Qian family's door. Song Zhaodi knew that she was the first family member in the family compound. When she heard someone knocking on the door, she asked cautiously from the yard, "Who is it?"
"Hello, we are from the army. I am Qian Dafu's political commissar. Please open the door."
Song Zhaodi saw several men in military uniforms through the crack in the door. This time, she quickly opened the door, looking embarrassed. "Excuse me, Comrade Political Commissar, I'm new here and not very familiar with the place yet."
"It's good to be vigilant." The political commissar of the first battalion looked at the two skinny children behind her, fished out two candies from his pocket, and handed them to them. Then he said to Song Zhaodi, "We came here today for two main reasons. First, our family compound is quite far from the troops, and during this period, many military wives will be coming over. I hope you can get along well and take care of each other."
“As I should~As I should~”
"It's not easy being a military wife. Another thing we want to tell you is that you can come to us if you have any problems in your life. We will help you in any way we can."
"Thank you so much, leaders."
After sending the troops away, Song Zhaodi's tense nerves finally relaxed. She turned to her two children and asked, "How was it? Did Mommy behave well just now? Didn't she embarrass your father?"
"Mom, you performed very well. Niu Niu should learn from you in the future." Niu Niu clapped her little hands so loudly that Song Zhaodi couldn't stop smiling.
The two children in Qian Dafu's family, the elder one is called Da Niu and the younger one is called Niu Niu, both of which were named by old lady Qian.
Old Lady Qian was like most elderly people, favoring sons over daughters. When she saw that Song Zhaodi had given birth to a daughter, she gave her the name without even thinking about it.
It can be seen from Song Zhaodi's name that the family she was born into also favors boys over girls. Children who grow up in such an environment will be more or less affected. She gave birth to two daughters in a row. She felt that she was short of breath and could not hold her head up in the Qian family. She did not dare to interfere with the old lady's perfunctory way of naming. When she was wronged at home, she could only pinch her throat and swallow it. She never dared to say anything bad about Qian Dafu's mother.
She was so wronged not only because she gave birth to a daughter, but also because of what the old lady once said: If I wasn't afraid of affecting the future of our family's Dafu, I would have drowned both children in the chamber pot when they were born!
Too many girls in the village were secretly thrown to death or into the mountains. Song Zhaodi never doubted what Old Lady Qian said. She had no ability and could only endure it for the sake of her children. Fortunately, everything is getting better now and there is hope for the future. Song Zhaodi is in a good mood and hums a little tune as she cleans up her little home.
In the following days, just as the battalion commander had said, military wives from all over the country came with their children one after another.
Song Zhaodi kept the political commissar's advice in mind and interacted with them, but gradually she discovered that not everyone was interested in her. There seemed to be something between the military wives from the city and their rural counterparts, and the two sides didn't get along.
The city military wives look down on their rural country bumpkins, and the rural military wives look down on the condescending attitude of the city women. The camps have been divided before they have even been in the family compound for a few days.
The family compound was gradually filled with people. Except for Xiao Li and Dong Shiyi's families who did not move to the family compound because of job transfer difficulties, everyone else came.
"Since they are all here, let's invite them to the army to see their husbands' workplaces and welcome everyone." Dong Shiyi arranged for his soldiers to hunt some wild game and prepared to treat the military wives and children to a meal so that they could get to know each other.
Xiao Li didn't go that night, but Dong Shiyi did. Back at the dormitory, he slammed his hand on the table and sighed, "Goodness, you haven't seen those military wives. They're nothing like them. They've only been here a few days, and the camps are already divided. The urban and rural areas are clearly divided. They're all fake. It hurts my teeth to see them."
"This is not the norm nowadays, why are you sighing?" City people look down on rural people, and rural people try every means to go to the city to work as workers. You may not see anything in the army, but these are normal phenomena in other places.
Xiao Li looked indifferent: "It's better to let things develop as they please than to force them to be together."
"That's all we can do. I hope they don't cause any trouble."
"Let them make a fuss. If they make a fuss, we'll find trouble with the men and see if they dare to cause conflicts and disputes again in the future."
Dong Shiyi gave a thumbs up: "Lao Xiao, you are really mean."
"Of course!" Xiao Li was envious of them all, seeing them having wives, children and happy homes, but he couldn't show it. He had to think of a way to make things difficult for them so that they would continue to show off by his side.
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