Chapter 33 "...I saw Old Zhang with my own eyes..."
As dawn broke, rustling sounds began to come from inside the dugout.
Sister Wang quietly dressed and got down from her bunk, while Li Xiulan rubbed her eyes and sat up. Without Zhou Qiaozhen's always boisterous and disruptive presence, the air felt more relaxed.
Shu Ran sat up, rubbed her lower back, and quickly tidied herself up. The three of them, each carrying an enamel mug and a coarse towel, walked out of the dugout's doorway.
The air in the Gobi Desert was crisp and dry in the early morning, the sky a leaden gray that hung low. Outside the other dugouts in the company, figures of people getting up early to wash and prepare for the day moved about, coughs, splashing water, and mumbled greetings rising and falling.
Shu Ran squatted at the foot of the mud wall at the entrance of their dugout, poured clean water into an enamel mug, and added a pinch of coarse salt. She took a mouthful of salt water, tilted her head back, and gargled. The water was still cold in the morning, making her teeth ache. After spitting out the water, she roughly wiped her face with a wet towel. The icy towel against her skin instantly woke her up.
She straightened up and draped the damp towel over a dead branch on the wall to dry. Her gaze unconsciously drifted northward.
The sky in the direction of the old wind gap was even darker, with heavy clouds pressing down on the horizon. The wind was blowing from that direction.
She recalled the image of Chen Yuanjiang galloping away on horseback, and the faint hint of gunpowder made her feel a sense of unease. What had happened beneath that gloomy sky?
"Hey, look!" Sister Wang's loud voice interrupted Shu Ran's thoughts. She was wringing out a towel, water droplets dripping onto the ground. She pointed with her chin at the dugout, "That plague god has finally moved on. That bed is just sitting empty anyway, let's tidy it up and do something. I think things are about to change, we need to hurry up and get something practical done."
Li Xiulan was combing her two braids when she heard this and her eyes lit up: "How about... drying some wild vegetables? Autumn is coming soon, and we can still harvest some camel thorn flowers, bitter greens, and sand onions on the Gobi Desert. If we dry them and store them, we can cook them in porridge in winter and they can last for a while." She pointed to the corner of the wall, "I think that place is well-ventilated. We can lay some old mats on it and dry them there."
"I think it's a good idea!" Sister Wang tossed the wet towel over her shoulder. "Or, we could collect some scraps of cloth and paste, and I'd teach you how to sew shoe soles and make cloth shoes. I heard the regimental headquarters' family factory takes them, and you can exchange them for something. We could also gather some tattered burlap sacks to use as padding, so they don't get dirty. Ran-mei, what do you say?"
Shu Ran withdrew her gaze from the north, suppressing the unease in her heart. Using the empty berth to supplement her food income was the most practical thing to do right now.
She nodded. "Everything's fine. The place's just sitting empty anyway, it'd be good to supplement our income. How about we go dig for wild vegetables together after work?" She bent down, picked up a basin, and splashed the dirty water onto the hardened saline ground. It was Wednesday, and there was hot water available in the afternoon. This thought temporarily dispelled the gloom and worries brought by the north wind.
"Okay!" Sister Wang and Li Xiulan both laughed.
Time waits for no one. The three quickly packed up and headed to their respective posts. Sister Wang went to help out at the canteen, Li Xiulan went to the tofu shop in the sideline production team, and Shu Ran, carrying her lesson plan and hot water slip, went straight to the canteen.
Breakfast consisted of cornbread, along with cabbage that hadn't been properly pickled the day before, and a bowl of cornmeal porridge.
Shu Ran munched on her cornbread, the hushed chatter of several male employees at the next table reaching her ears:
"...The old wind gap to the north, the noise last night was really strange!"
"Yes, there was a loud bang, and the paper windows shook! It sounded like something exploded..."
"Before dawn, Officer Chen led his men on horseback again. Their saddlebags were bulging, and it looked like they had all their gear!"
"Enough talk! Finish your food and get to work!"
Shu Ran lowered her eyes, gulped down the rest of the porridge in a few mouthfuls, and got up to leave the cafeteria. The sky to the north seemed even grayer.
Pushing open the broken door of the tool shed, I found that there were already people in the classroom.
Adil was facing away from the door, vigorously wiping the newly made, uneven lectern with a wet rag he had found somewhere.
He wiped it very carefully, not even missing the gaps between the table legs. Hearing the door open, he turned around abruptly, saw it was Shu Ran, paused for a moment, didn't say anything, and then lowered his head to continue wiping.
One by one, the children arrived. Their eyes lit up as soon as they entered and spotted the new tables and chairs.
"A new table!"
"And there are new stools! They're so tall!"
"Teacher, is this for us to sit on?" Tiger asked excitedly, touching the seat.
"These are for the students who study hard!" Shu Ran smiled, her gaze sweeping over Adil, who was still diligently wiping the table in the corner. "Adil arrived earliest and cleaned the classroom for everyone. From now on, Adil will be in charge of cleaning the classroom; he is our labor committee member."
The children all looked at Adil. Adil stopped what he was doing, straightened up, and looked at Shu Ran with a blank expression, clearly not understanding what "labor committee member" meant.
Shu Ran slowed her speech, using gestures: "The labor committee member is in charge of... this place," she pointed to the ground and table, "keeping it clean. Making sure everyone... studies well. But," she looked into Adil's eyes, "you need to learn Chinese. Otherwise, others... won't understand."
Adil understood "learn Chinese" and "don't understand". His dark face was expressionless, but his eyes flickered, and he nodded vigorously.
"Great!" Stone led the clapping, "Adil is an official now!" The other children also clapped along with laughter.
Adil was at a loss, his face turned even redder, and he hurriedly lowered his head to wipe the already polished table leg.
Shu Ran then assigned Shi Tou, the class monitor, to be responsible for arranging two students to assist Adil each day and maintain classroom order. Shi Tou puffed out his chest and solemnly agreed.
Class began. First, we reviewed yesterday's lesson on the character "信" (xin, meaning letter). Shu Ran gave each of them a scrap report and asked them to write on the back or in the blank space, holding a pencil stub.
Shu Ran checked them one by one. Their basic skills were indeed very poor, and their pen-holding postures were all kinds of strange. Adil was even worse, as if he were holding a stick, his fingers stiff, and the character "信" (letter) he drew on the back of the scrap report was crooked and twisted, like a few wriggling worms.
Shu Ran squatted down beside him, patiently prying open his fingers to adjust his grip on the pen, then took his hand and guided him to write stroke by stroke. Adil's hands were rough, with thick calluses on his palms, trembling slightly, but he was very obedient.
Shu Ran sighed inwardly, determined to find a way to get a pencil for each child, as the lime block was too slippery and wouldn't allow them to practice writing.
After reviewing the new characters, we began teaching arithmetic. Shu Ran wrote large "1, 2, 3" and "+, -, =" symbols on the blackboard.
"To recognize work points, look at the numbers. To receive grain, look at the numbers. To record public service points, do addition and subtraction." She explained using the simplest example, "Stone, how many work points did your family have last month?"
Stone thought hard for a moment: "One hundred...one hundred?"
"Okay. How many days did your dad work last month? How many minutes per day?" Shu Ran prompted.
The children chattered excitedly as they did their calculations. Tiger counted on his fingers, while Shuanzhu drew lines on the ground. Adil stared at the symbols on the blackboard, his brow furrowed, clearly struggling, but his eyes were focused.
During recess, the children ran outside to play wildly. Shi Tou lingered behind, finally approaching Shu Ran, his little face upturned, his bright black eyes filled with longing, and whispered, "Teacher, when will we get red scarves...?"
Shu Ran felt a jolt in her heart. She squatted down, looked Shi Tou straight in the eyes, and said gently, "Shi Tou, the red scarf is a corner of the red flag, a symbol of glory. To wear it, we have to earn it through our own actions—to study well, to work well, and to have good character. We also have to wait for the organization's approval. The teacher will try her best to apply, and you should also continue to work hard, write your characters better, and understand the principles more clearly, okay?"
Stone seemed to understand, but he grasped the words "glory," "strive," and "keep going." He nodded vigorously: "Yes! Teacher, I'll study hard!" After saying that, as if he had received some kind of assurance, he turned and ran out to find his friends.
Shu Ran watched his retreating figure and sighed softly.
After class in the afternoon, Shu Ran and Xu Junjun met up and headed towards the machine repair company with the note stamped with a blue seal.
The boiler room roared, the chimneys billowed thick smoke, and the air was filled with a strong smell of coal smoke and machine oil. A tall pile of coal slag was stacked on the side of the boiler room.
An old worker, his face covered in coal dust, squatted by the door smoking. Shu Ran handed him a note: "Excuse me, could you please use some hot water?"
The old craftsman lifted his eyelids, took the slip of paper, and carefully examined the date and seal on it against the light. He then glanced at the two women before slowly standing up and leading them to a rusty cast iron faucet at the base of the wall.
"Right here." The old man tapped the faucet with his coal-dust-covered fingers. "Time it yourself, just one hour. The water's hot, be careful not to burn yourself! Turn it off when you're done." With that, he turned back to the door to smoke.
Shu Ran and Xu Junjun quickly took out the two basins they had brought. Xu Junjun, with her sharp eyes, picked up a few relatively thick and straight branches next to the cinder pile, and then shook out a faded old bed sheet from her cloth bag. The two of them draped the bed sheet over the branches and stuck it into a depression in the cinder pile, barely creating a small space to provide some cover. They also draped their clothes over the branches.
I turned on the tap. A stream of yellowish-brown water with a rusty smell rushed out first, then after a few seconds, it turned into clear hot water, steaming. The water was very hot.
"Quick!" Xu Junjun exclaimed in a low voice, and hurriedly used a basin to catch the water.
The two hid behind the makeshift fence. The black granules of coal slag were sharp and uncomfortable underfoot, but who cared? This was their access to hot water!
They carefully scooped up water and wiped their necks, arms, and backs... Steam rose up, blurring their vision.
"Ranran..." Xu Junjun's voice came through the steam, "Did you hear the noise last night?"
Shu Ran paused in her wiping motion, then remained silent and continued listening.
"It definitely wasn't a wolf hunt!" Xu Junjun leaned even closer. "A loud bang! The ground shook! It was definitely an explosion! This morning I went to the logistics department to help count the medicines, and I saw with my own eyes Old Zhang and the others stuffing magazines and first-aid kits into the canvas bags that Officer Chen and the others were carrying! They were heavy!"
Shu Ran's heart jumped.
"And another thing," Xu Junjun's voice lowered even further, "I overheard the old medic mutter something about a fuse, it was terrifying!"
Shu Ran's skin, which had just been soothed by the hot water, instantly broke out in goosebumps. She stopped what she was doing.
Seeing Shu Ran's reaction, Xu Junjun said somewhat fearfully, "Ranran, do you also think... this is really serious! Officer Chen and the others are probably going to get serious! People could die!"
The coal smoke made Shu Ran's throat tighten. She raised her head and looked through the gap in the old bed sheet at the gray sky to the north, a grayness that seemed to have already pressed down.
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Author's Note: [Empty Bowl] Comments coming in!
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