Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Just give me a knitted scarf...
Jiang Dayan rode his bike hurriedly: "Yingzi, I heard you are going to Hehai Park at noon. I am on my way there, can I give you a ride?"
Su Yan cursed "shit" silently in her heart. Now the whole factory knew that Su Yan was going to Hehai Park for a blind date. She said unhappily, "I don't need it. Thank you!" and slammed the window shut.
Jiang Dayan was completely baffled. He parked his bike and went up to knock on the door, saying, "Yingzi, I'm really on my way to Hehai Park. Isn't your bike not very good? I'll give you a ride so you don't fall again!"
Su Yan really didn't know what he meant. She sighed, opened the door, and said with a forced smile: "Dayan, thank you! However, I can ride my bike pretty well, so there's no need to trouble you. Besides, I have to wait a while before I can go, so I won't waste your time. Thank you so much!" After that, she closed the door without any intention of inviting him in to sit down and have a drink of water.
Jiang Dayan didn't feel embarrassed and asked outside the door, "You really don't need me to take you there, Yingzi?"
Su Yan didn't answer. He waited for a while. The sister-in-law next door opened the door and came out, smiling: "Don't be too boastful. I live next door to Yingzi. We have been neighbors for many years and know each other well."
Pointing at Su Yan's house, he said, "You don't know, Yingzi just fell off her bike this morning! She said she was good at riding a bike, but she was lying to you."
As he spoke, he muttered, "In the future, if your sister-in-law can help you, just say it. We are all from the same factory."
Dayan laughed when he heard it and rubbed his hands: "Sister-in-law, that's great!"
The door was not very soundproof, and every word came into Su Yan's ears. Even the flattering tone was clear to her. She was so furious that she slammed the door open.
When the sister-in-law saw Su Yan coming out, she pointed at the wound on her face and said, "Dayan, look, this is where she got hurt from falling this morning. There's a big purple patch on her face. She went out on her bike five times and she came back with injuries three times, either from bumping here or there."
Jiang Dayan looked at Su Yan and said, "Yingzi, let me take you there!"
Su Yan said with a cold face: "Da Yan, do you really not understand or are you pretending not to understand? I don't need you to send me to Hehai Park. I said I can ride my bike there by myself, okay?"
Dayan was a man who could read expressions. He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll be leaving first." He even tripped while going down the stairs. The elder sister-in-law immediately laughed out loud, "Hey, be careful!"
Then he turned to Su Yan and said, "Yingzi, look at Dayan, this young man is so clueless."
Su Yan snorted, didn't answer, and closed the door. The man opened the door and told her to go back: "If you have nothing to do, go home and wash the clothes. You are actively meddling in other people's affairs. What does it have to do with you?"
The sister-in-law whispered to her husband, "This Yingzi has a bad temper. If she wants to fly up to the tree and become a phoenix, she must first fly up. If she can't fly up, she will be laughed at."
Su Yan thought that this kind of neighborhood relationship was really terrible. Living in this kind of tube-shaped building, everyone would know everything you did. It would be fine if they just knew it, but they would also open the door and gossip about you and point fingers at you.
Su Yan grew up in the city, in a residential complex with one apartment per floor. Not only did she not know her neighbors in the same complex, but she also didn't know her neighbors in the same building for more than ten years. Everyone had their own lives. Although they were not as warm and simple as people of this era, they knew how to respect other people's private space and would not disturb them rashly.
Su Yan sat for a while, and estimated that Dayan had left, so she pushed her bicycle out of the corridor and prepared to go to Hehai Park.
When she arrived at the gate of the machinery factory, she found Dayan still waiting there for her, waving at her: "Yingzi, Yingzi, I was delayed for a while by something just now, so we can go together."
Su Yan was so angry that she laughed: "You are quite persistent!"
Dayan scratched his head: "Isn't this a coincidence?"
Su Yan smiled and said, "What a coincidence!" Then she ignored him and rode her bike out of the factory.
Dayan followed behind: "Yingzi, are you going to Hehai Park to meet that Deputy Head Qin?"
Su Yan hummed: "Is there any problem?"
Dayan shook his head. "No, no problem. I just heard that soldiers are really rude. You saw the dance the other day, everyone was just kneading pickles! My cousin married a soldier, and we only see each other once a year, and that's when my cousin goes to visit relatives. We're apart so rarely, and my cousin has to do all the housework and take care of the elderly. My mom says that marrying a soldier is like not marrying at all."
As he spoke, he rode a little faster and caught up with Su Yan: "Let's not talk about anything else. Every month my cousin goes to change the gas tank. She carries it back by herself. It's such a long way. It's really hard work."
Su Yan said, "Since your cousin is working so hard, why don't you help her? You're a strong man, so you can definitely change the gas tank, right? Isn't it your duty to help military families?"
Jiang Dayan immediately said, "I did help, Yingzi. I'm not as cold as you think. I definitely went there when I had time. Isn't it because I'm busy with work sometimes?"
Su Yan smiled sarcastically: "You? Busy with work?" It's already considered diligent to be able to come to the factory two days a week. I wonder what kind of work he is busy with?
Jiang Dayan had one good thing about him: he always managed to filter out embarrassing words, as if he hadn't heard them and they had never been said. Whether it was the sleepwalking confession last night or Su Yan's ridicule of his daily absences from work, he treated them all as if they had never happened.
He smiled and said, "Yingzi, these are my sincere words. As a soldier, you really need to think more about this and think more about yourself."
When they arrived at Hehai Park, Qin Zhanwu was already there. Su Yan parked the car and apologized, "I'm so sorry, I was delayed before leaving and kept you waiting."
Qin Zhanwu was wearing a military uniform, but without a collar badge. He probably didn't have any casual clothes either. He was tall and straight, a head taller than Su Yan. "It's okay, I just got here too!" He looked at the person next to Su Yan and said, "Who is this?"
Su Yan turned her head and saw that Jiang Dayan not only did not leave, but also stopped his bicycle and followed her.
Jiang Dayan extended his hand. "Hello, my name is Jiang Dayan. I'm Caotou Jiang, meaning "Da" for size and "Yan" for language. Yingzi and I grew up together. We were classmates in junior high school. We both work in a machinery factory now, in the same office, so our seats are right next to each other."
Su Yan scratched his head and asked himself whether he had ever encountered such an embarrassing and embarrassing situation in the past twenty years.
Qin Zhanwu looked at Su Yan, then at Jiang Dayan, and extended his hand to shake hands: "Hello, Qin Zhanwu of the 29th Army."
Jiang Dayan walked ahead without thinking. "I know Deputy Commander Qin is from out of town. I used to visit this Hehai Park when I was a kid. Today I'll take you for a good tour. There's also the former residence of the great writer Zhou Furen! In spring, the apricot garden is truly beautiful. It's a pity I didn't get to know Deputy Commander Qin sooner, otherwise I would have brought you here to see it."
Su Yan sighed: "Dayan, don't you have something to do? Go and get busy!"
Dayan turned around and said, "Something's wrong? I'm fine. I still have time to show you around."
Qin Zhanwu smiled at Su Yan and said, "It's okay. Although I have been in Jiangzhou for several years, I have never visited Zhou Furen's former residence. Since Comrade Jiang is so kind, let's go in and take a walk."
Dayan took the opportunity to say, "Yes, Yingzi, we two are from Jiangzhou, and Deputy Captain Qin is from another place. We must do our best to be hosts." At the same time, he turned around and pointed at the flowers and plants next to him and introduced them.
Su Yan rolled her eyes and whispered, "That's amazing!"
Qin Zhanwu and Su Yan were walking side by side. Hearing this, he smiled at her and said, "It's okay!"
Su Yan apologized again: "I'm so sorry, I didn't know he was determined to come."
Qin Zhanwu said, "You don't have to apologize. He wants to follow you, and there's nothing you can do. If you really feel bad, just compensate me again. We've just been to Hehai Park, but I haven't been to Wudaoyuan yet."
Su Yan didn't respond and smiled: "Since you said I don't need to apologize, why should I compensate you? If there is any compensation, it should be Jiang Dayan. Next time you go to Wudaoyuan, you can ask him to be your tour guide. He will definitely be happy to do so. It's the best of both worlds."
Qin Zhanwu just said that. He asked, "How did you fall on your face?"
Su Yan said, "I'm not very good at riding a bicycle, and I scratched my face."
Qin Zhanwu pulled out a box of cream from his pocket: "Sister Wang mentioned it when she called this morning. The cream prescribed by our military hospital is very effective for abrasions. You can try it, it will be healed in a week."
Su Yan took it. Surprisingly, the cream box wasn't written in Chinese, but rather in Russian. She didn't recognize the name, but she did recognize the small print on the box: it was a pain-reducing and anti-inflammatory ointment. Thanks to her Russian ex-boyfriend, Su Yan had actually studied Russian diligently. She had no problem communicating, but writing was a struggle. She nodded. Russian goods were very valuable in those days.
The other person had gone to the hospital specifically to get it, and it would be too delicate to return it, so Su Yan had no choice but to accept it: "No matter how much it is, I will give you something later. I can't just take it for free."
Qin Zhanwu liked to hear this: "If you want to give me something, give me a knitted scarf. I don't have one."
Su Yan nodded and agreed immediately. Although she didn't know how to knit sweaters, the supply and marketing cooperative sold them. Even if she couldn't buy a ready-made scarf, she could buy some yarn and ask Aunt Xu for help.
Jiang Dayan was walking in front, and saw Qin Zhanwu and Su Yan lagging far behind, chatting and laughing. He felt really uncomfortable, so when they came up, he pulled Qin Zhanwu straight ahead and said, "Deputy Commander Qin, up ahead is Zhou Furen's former residence. It's a small three-story red brick building. He also planted roses and two huge sycamore trees in the yard. When I was a child, my mother told me that these sycamore trees were brought back from France. They were saplings that Zhou Furen brought back when he returned from studying in France. They must be fifty or sixty years old now."
Su Yan followed behind and found the scene both funny and amusing.
When they arrived at Zhou Furen's former residence, Su Yan saw that there were too many people and didn't want to go upstairs: "You two go upstairs, I'm tired, I'll sit on the stone bench in the yard."
Seeing this, Qin Zhanwu said, "Okay, you rest here for a while!"
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