Chapter 217 Goodbye Old Wen
Wen Wan leaned over and took a look. He was a middle-aged man with a scholarly air. Judging from his face, he looked to be about forty years old, very thin, and wore a pair of glasses on his nose. His shirt was slightly yellowed, and the cuffs were frayed. In his hands, he was holding two books, as if they were precious treasures.
After taking a few glances, Wen Wan stopped looking.
It was already the second half of the night, the most tiring time. Despite being woken up, Wen Wan fell asleep again quickly.
Lu Dongping didn't dare to sleep and talked softly to Xu Qingming.
"Have you ever been on a train alone before?"
Xu Qingming said, "Yes, I have. To go to the army, you have to take a train." Of course, those were all short trips. I have never stayed alone on a train for such a long time.
"Have you ever been in the army?"
Xu Qingming glanced at the man next to him and said, "In our family, any boy will be sent to the army for training."
"I heard Wanwan talk about it. I think we should find an opportunity to have a proper sparring match. Let me see how powerful the people who came out of there are."
Xu Qingming chuckled: "Forget about the gesture. If you get beaten up by me later, she'll start to quarrel with me again. Women's hearts are always attracted to others!"
Lu Dongping leaned there and smiled, his eyes filled with a sense of happiness that made Xu Qingming envious.
"I'm not sleepy now. Do you want to take a nap? It will take a long time to get to the next big station. Small stations on the way usually don't stop for too long and won't be crowded. I'll watch over you while you take a nap." The tickets will be checked at dawn. Those who can't buy tickets without letters of introduction will try their best to evade the fares. It is still relatively safe during this period.
Lu Dongping did not refuse. He grabbed Wen Wan's hand and squeezed it, then closed his eyes.
He was sleepy. He hadn't slept since he got on the bus, but he couldn't sleep well even when he closed his eyes. His dreams were full of noise and it seemed like he hadn't slept for long. He was suddenly awakened.
A faint light was visible outside the window, and there was a commotion inside the carriage. The conductor wearing a big hat began to check tickets.
Across from him, the seat next to Xu Qingming was empty, but the two precious books were left on the seat.
Traveling far away is truly a life-enhancing experience. The farthest Lu Dongping had ever been was to Xinxi County. He had seen long green trains passing over the bridge more than once, and at the time, he felt that only a very capable person could ride such a train to such a distant place.
Now that he had gotten on the car with the letter of introduction, he realized that the car was not as comfortable as he had imagined. It was even not as reassuring as the tractor driven by Liu Dacai in the commune.
After several days of trepidation in the train, we finally arrived at our destination, the Capital Railway Station.
This was considered the final destination, but he didn't expect the destination to be so messy.
Xu Qingming walked in front, Wen Wan walked in the middle, and Lu Dongping followed her closely with his bag on his back, holding her arms with both hands. Even so, they were almost squeezed apart. Someone took advantage of the chaos to pull Wen Wan, but Lu Dongping kicked him away without any hesitation.
After getting off the train, several people were sweating and soaked all over.
Xu Qingming was a little worried: "Can you two go to the high platform?"
Lu Dongping said, "Yes, I will take good care of her." We have come such a long way, so there is no reason why the rest of the journey would be impossible.
Xu Qingming went to buy the ticket, and then repeatedly reminded Lu Dongping: "You must remember, you must not leave her side, you must not get separated from her. No matter what happens, your wife and your luggage are the most important, you must take good care of them. It's not suitable for you to stand up to injustice or anything like that. You've seen it all along the way, you have no idea whether the person sitting next to you is a good person or a bad person. There are still two hours left for the train to leave, and there is a big station on the way. I estimate that we will arrive at Gaotai around tomorrow night.
After arriving, find a guesthouse to stay in first, and then inquire about the location of the farm. She's a beautiful girl, and if anything happens to her, Lu Dongping, I'll tell you—" He didn't say what he was talking about, but Lu Dongping knew it very well.
"I know, you should be careful too."
They agreed on a return time and waited for the bus together. Only after Lu Dongping and Wen Wan got on the bus did Xu Qingming walk out of the station.
The train from the capital to Gaotai was very empty, with few people in the carriage. Even so, Lu Dongping did not dare to be careless, and did not even dare to delay going to the bathroom. He arrived at the destination in trepidation. When he found a guesthouse with the letter of introduction and settled down, he felt unprecedented fatigue, as if he was about to collapse.
It was night when we arrived at Gaotai. We were unfamiliar with the area and couldn't walk far, so we found a guesthouse near the train station to stay in.
After being in the car for so many days, Wen Wan had barely had a proper meal. Her legs and feet were swollen beyond recognition, and even her teeth were swollen. She didn't know if it was because of the weather, but she remembered that when she left the capital to get to Lujiazui, although she felt uncomfortable, it wasn't like this.
I slept too much on the way, and I couldn't sleep when I got to the guesthouse.
However, Lu Dongping left the complicated environment of the train and returned to the house. He felt grounded and a little more at ease. He bolted the door and fell into a sound sleep.
Gaotai, a small county town northeast of the capital, has no mountains, but rather an endless plain. All you see are rows of straight poplar trees and cultivated fields planted with corn, neatly arranged in rows.
Lu Dongping got some water at the guesthouse and washed up with Wen Wan. Then he asked Wen Wan to rest there and went outside to find out the location of the farm.
Gaotai is a county town with three farms, all of which are engaged in cultivation. However, there is only one Gaotai Farm, which is closest to the train station. It is the earliest farm built in Gaotai.
Wen Wan had no idea what Old Wen was doing, nor did she know what to bring him. She remembered that Old Wen's favorites were the soy milk and braised pork belly from the state-owned restaurants in the capital, which weren't available in Gaotai. She bought a whole carton of Daqianmen cigarettes at the supply and marketing cooperative. They were considered a luxury item, not very popular here, so she bought them quickly.
Wen Shihua likes this cigarette, but Wen Wan remembers that when her mother was around, Old Wen didn't dare to smoke at home. Occasionally, when he couldn't hold it anymore, he would go outside to smoke one. When he came back and brushed his teeth, he would want to brush off a layer of cigarette, for fear that her mother would smell the smell.
Wen Wan felt that since things had come to this point, there was no need to bother with all these things. As long as he was happy and liked it, that was all that mattered.
It was said to be the nearest farm, but it took a full two and a half hours to get there by tractor.
This vast, sparsely populated area appears to be a flat plain, but much of the land was reclaimed gradually after liberation, and the climate is quite harsh. Even with the numerous poplar trees planted, they still can't withstand the winds that blow every day of the year. The soil here is neither yellow mud nor black soil, but sandy. It can't retain water, so only corn and wheat can grow.
Spring corn and winter wheat are planted twice a year, and ponds have to be dug manually to store water.
Trees are still being planted around the poplar forest that was planted earlier. There is a pond in the middle of the forest to store water, and some cattle and sheep can be raised around it.
Wen Shihua and his team were digging a pond. The drought here was severe this year; there hadn't been a drop of rain in a month or so. Sandy soil couldn't hold water, and if it didn't rain for too long, the corn leaves would dry out and curl. The existing scattered ponds were completely useless.
Wen Shihua and his men went through the entire farm several times, selected a suitable place to dig a pond, and after the pond was dug and slowly filled with water, they dug a canal into the land, and used manpower to pump water into the canal to irrigate the vast fields of crops.
The pond had been dug so deep that water could be seen, and the silt had to be carried out on a shoulder pole to fill the ground. He was wearing a dark grey short-sleeved shirt that was tucked into his trousers. The straw sandals on his feet were so covered in mud that no flesh could be seen. His trouser legs were rolled up below his knees, and his calves and trousers were covered in mud, with several lumps of it on his face.
I had just dumped the mud from the load and hadn't even had time to catch my breath when I heard the loudspeaker inside the farm shouting, "Wen Shihua, Comrade Wen Shihua, someone is looking for you! Comrade Wen Shihua, if you hear the broadcast, please come to the broadcast station immediately. Wen Shihua—"
Wen Shihua was stunned for a moment, then he put the load on his shoulders and went to the place where the sound came from.
Near the radio station stood a large cluster of one-story brick buildings, newly built on the farm in recent years. The scattered buildings surrounded a large courtyard, and the radio station was located within it. The surrounding buildings were reserved for educated youth who had come to support the farm's development. These educated youth came from well-off families with connections. Although they had to work, they received wages and coupons at the end of the year, allowing them to support themselves and even send some extra money home.
Wen Shihua, who had made mistakes, didn't receive such good treatment. He lived with a group of veteran revolutionaries in a thatched hut behind a nearby warehouse. The most rudimentary environment, the most difficult life, and the hardest and heaviest work—this was labor reform.
Wen Wan and Lu Dongping walked around outside before returning to the courtyard. Standing in the middle of the courtyard, she told Lu Dongping, "After all, this is a plain area. The conditions here on the farm are much better than those in the production teams in the mountains."
Lu Dongping agreed. He'd rarely seen thatched huts along the way, and the worst were mud-brick houses. The terrain here was flat, transportation was convenient, and tractors could reach many places. It looked different.
Wen Shihua stood at the entrance of the courtyard, staring at the person standing in the yard, unable to react for a long time. He even couldn't believe his eyes and suspected that he was dreaming. An Bao was thousands of miles away, how could he appear in front of him at this time?
Before he could say anything, Wen Wan looked around the yard and muttered, "I don't know where Dad went to work, why hasn't he come yet!" As she spoke, she glanced outside the yard. When she saw the thin figure at the entrance of the yard, she was stunned.
Growing up, Wen Shihua was a tall and kind man in her heart. He had an upright figure, beautiful features, thick eyebrows and bright eyes. Even though he was nearly fifty years old and had a few more white hairs on his temples, his charm was still hard to conceal.
But at this moment, Old Wen, while still standing tall, looked incredibly thin. His hair, once only graying at the temples, was now almost half white. His once full face was now deeply sunken, a look of weathered frost.
Wenwan's feet seemed to be rooted to the ground, unable to move forward at all. Her lips were trembling and her eyes turned red before she could make a sound.
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