Chapter 128 Sleeper on a Train

Xia Juanjuan originally thought that Secretary Zhao called her because he wanted to ask her about Liu Lan or Li Qiaoqiao, so she made up her mind that no matter how he asked, she would know the answer to the questions.

As a result, when Secretary Zhao saw her, he pointed at two young men in military uniforms and said, "Mrs. Li, these are two comrades from the army. They said they were sent by Li Zhan to take you to the army."

Then he turned to the two comrades and said, "My two young comrades, this is Li Zhan's wife, her name is Xia Juanjuan."

When the two saw Xia Juanjuan, they first widened their eyes in astonishment, then their cheeks flushed. They saluted Xia Juanjuan in unison and shouted in unison, "Hello, sister-in-law!"

Xia Juanjuan was stunned for a moment and looked at the two young comrades suspiciously.

After the fierce war, I left home and returned to the army. Apart from the initial telegrams and remittance slips sent back, there has been no news for more than a month.

However, in his last telegram he mentioned that he had to carry out a secret mission and it would be inconvenient for him to write again in the short term, so Xia Juanjuan didn't pay much attention to it, thinking that he would write to her after his mission was completed.

Unexpectedly, instead of receiving the letter, the troops sent people directly?

Thinking of this, Xia Juanjuan's heart suddenly sank, and she quickly asked in a trembling voice: "Pick me up? Did something happen to Li Zhan? Is he injured?"

The last time his comrade Bai Zihan came to pick her up in a jeep, wasn’t it because Li Zhan was seriously injured?

The two comrades shook their heads quickly, and one of them smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, don't worry! Our battalion commander... no, our regiment commander is fine, he just sent us to pick you up..."

Xia Juanjuan frowned slightly: "Why did you pick me up for no reason?"

The two comrades quickly glanced at each other, and then said with some guilt: "Sister-in-law, I don't know about that. The commander...just asked us to follow orders, but didn't tell us the reason..."

Secretary Zhao said, "Mrs. Li, the troops are here to pick you up. There must be something going on. It may be confidential and inconvenient to tell. You should hurry over. I have already written you a letter of introduction. The comrades have already bought the train ticket from the county to the troops tonight... You should hurry back and pack your things and leave, otherwise you will miss the train!"

Xia Juanjuan had no choice but to hurry back to prepare.

The family has food, bacon, vegetables and the like. She just bought some at the supply and marketing cooperative today, and then took some more from the space to replenish it. It is enough for a month.

Then, she went to Xia Village and asked Xia Shuangshan and Lin Yuru to live in her house, so that she could take care of the three kids for a while while she was away.

Xiaowen has already registered to attend the primary school in town, and school will start in two days.

She asked Zhou Qiuhe to do this. It happened to be that Zhou Qiuhe went to work as usual most of the time, except for taking leave from the supply and marketing cooperative when the farm work was particularly heavy. And their daughter Huanhuan also had to go to school, so she asked her to pick up and drop off Xiaowen as well.

It was still daytime at the cowshed, so she didn't want to go and tell them. But fortunately, the food and medicine she had taken over should be enough to last for ten days or half a month, so she didn't go and tell them.

He also gave the three kids a few instructions, asking them to listen to their grandparents. Xiaowen should study hard and not skip classes or be lazy. Xiaowu and Beibei should not be naughty, climb trees or play by the river.

He simply prepared a few sets of clothes to change into, and took out a dozen large meat buns from the space as dry food for the journey, and then set off with the two people who came to pick him up.

After arriving at the town, we took a ox cart to the county seat.

On the way, she heard two people introduce themselves. One was named Lu Xiangdong and the other was named Wei Bin. Both were soldiers under Li Zhan.

She had never asked before, but only now found out that Li Zhan was actually the team leader.

"Yes, sister-in-law. I was promoted just after the completion of this mission." Lu Xiangdong straightened his back and answered seriously.

Wei Bin nudged him and whispered, "Don't be so serious. You've frightened your sister-in-law."

Xia Juanjuan couldn't help but smile. Lu Xiangdong glanced at Xia Juanjuan, his face turned red again, and he coughed awkwardly.

Xia Juanjuan suppressed her laughter and asked, "I heard from Li Zhan that your missions are all quite confidential. Is it really okay for me to go over there?"

Wei Bin smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. We have already reported this to our superiors. This time the mission has just ended, and we have a ten-day rest period, so it won't be a problem for you to go there."

After hearing this, Xia Juanjuan felt relieved.

The county train station sent someone to wait for them. When they saw the three of them, they said with some embarrassment, "I'm sorry, comrades. We are just a passing station. We can only get two berths and one hard seat..."

When Lu Xiangdong heard this, he immediately said, "It's okay! We are already very grateful to have two berths. Thank you for helping to adjust it."

He turned to Wei Bin and said, "You and sister-in-law can take the sleeper compartment, and I'll go to the hard seat compartment."

Wei Bin was not happy when he heard this and said, "I am the one who should get the hard seat ticket. Have you forgotten that you are of a higher rank than me?"

Xia Juanjuan felt a little embarrassed. These two berths were probably for those who had priority in joining the army. If she bought the tickets herself, she would probably have to pay for hard seat tickets.

"The two berths prepared in the station should be for you. Otherwise, I'll take the hard seat ticket..."

Lu Xiangdong and Wei Bin immediately said in unison: "No!"

Even Xia Juanjuan was shocked.

Lu Xiangdong said solemnly: "Sister-in-law! We came to pick you up this time to protect you on the road and not let you suffer any grievances! Even if both of us have standing tickets, this berth must be given to you!"

Finally it was decided that Xia Juanjuan would sleep in a berth, while Lu Xiangdong and Wei Bin would take turns sleeping in the berth or hard seat, switching positions every few hours.

It was already eight o'clock in the evening when the train started. Both sleeper tickets were for the lower berth, which saved us from having to climb up and down.

Xia Juanjuan gave each of them two buns and ate one herself. She drank some hot water, chatted for a while, and then fell asleep because she was sleepy.

The next day, Xia Juanjuan slept until around eight or almost nine o'clock. When she woke up, she saw Lu Xiangdong and Wei Bin sitting upright on the bed opposite her, waiting for her to wake up. She felt a little embarrassed.

Before she traveled through time, she was a night owl, and it was normal for her to sleep until noon.

But after traveling through time, there is not much entertainment at night and I go to bed early, so I wake up at five or six every morning, stay in bed for a while, and get up at around seven. It can be said that my daily routine is extremely healthy.

My body has been acting strange these past few days. I didn't sleep late last night, so why am I so sleepy?

When the two saw Xia Juanjuan wake up, they smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, we'll go to the dining car to get some porridge and steamed buns. You can eat something first. We estimate that we will arrive at the station around eleven o'clock."

The meals sold on the train also require food coupons, and the prices seem to be a little more expensive than outside.

However, at this time, even when traveling long distances by train, most people still brought their own dry food, such as cornmeal dumplings with pickles.

Xia Juanjuan took a look and saw the usual cornmeal and sweet potato porridge and white flour and sweet potato flour steamed buns, as well as a small dish of fermented bean curd. It was not as good as the things in her space, but in this era, it was definitely of upper-middle standard.

She was also hungry, so she didn't hesitate to eat the steamed bun with fermented bean curd and porridge, and finished her breakfast in no time.

The two comrades were stunned by what they saw.

Their sister-in-law...has a good appetite.

After finishing her meal, Xia Juanjuan saw the two men staring at her blankly while holding the steamed buns, and her face turned red immediately.

This... is so embarrassing.

What happened to her recently? She was sleepy, had no appetite, and wanted to vomit. This morning, she felt particularly hungry, so she didn't pay attention to her image for a while...

"Well... I've been feeling hungry easily lately... hehe..." Xia Juanjuan blushed and tried hard to save her image.

The two of them reacted and said quickly: "Sister-in-law, it's okay! We are also very hungry, we just eat a little slowly..."

As they spoke, the two of them quickly stuffed the steamed buns into their mouths and hurried to drink the porridge, making Xia Juanjuan even more embarrassed: "You...eat slowly..."

The train was delayed for about an hour and arrived at the station after midnight, where a jeep carrying troops was already waiting.

Lu Xiangdong and Wei Bin saluted the driver who came to pick them up, and then got into the car with Xia Juanjuan.

Xia Juanjuan looked out the window. This was no longer the rural scene where Qingshui Village was located. There were no irregularly shaped pieces of land anymore. Instead, there was a vast and wild expanse.

There are several mountains standing in the distance. The foot of the mountains are lush and green with cold-resistant evergreen pine trees, while the tops of the mountains are still covered with snow. A river like a ribbon winds across the land like a white snake, and there are several small villages scattered along the river.

The grass has not yet turned green, it is still yellow and dry, but one can still imagine how beautiful the scene will be in summer.

The jeep first drove along a relatively flat road for a while, then turned into a more remote and uninhabited area, where there was basically no road.

The ride became more intense and Xia Juanjuan began to feel like vomiting again, but she tried her best to hold it in.

It took more than two hours to finally arrive at the destination.

All I saw before me was a medium-sized military camp with some fixed houses and some temporary tents.

The jeep driver took out the pass and showed it to the sentry on duty. The sentry saluted and let him pass without letting him get off the car.

Xia Juanjuan thought that she would be able to see Li Zhan as soon as she got off the car, but the person who greeted her was a female officer in her thirties who was wearing a military uniform and looked extremely dashing and capable.

Lu Xiangdong introduced in a low voice: "Sister-in-law, this is the local counselor and our master's sister-in-law, her name is Jiang Wan. We all call her Sister Jiang, or call her by her position. You can also call her Sister Jiang."

Xia Juanjuan was now confused. Didn't Li Zhan send someone to pick her up? Why didn't Li Zhan show up? Why did the master's sister-in-law come to pick her up?

When Jiang Wan saw Xia Juanjuan, she smiled and said, "Is this Li Zhan's wife? It's true that hearing about her is worse than seeing her in person. She's much prettier than they say! Li Zhan is really lucky to have married such a beautiful wife!"

Xia Juanjuan felt embarrassed by the compliment, her face turned red, and she called softly, "Jiang, Sister Jiang."

Jiang Wan smiled and said, "It seems that they have already told you about me? My name is Jiang Wan, I am the staff officer here, and I am also Li Zhan's sister-in-law. Li Zhan is training outside now and will not be back until the evening. You can come to my room and sit for a while first."

Having said that, without giving Xia Juanjuan a chance to refuse, he took her hand and walked towards one of the brick and tile houses in the row.

After sitting for a while, Jiang Wan looked Xia Juanjuan up and down and said with a smile: "Your figure is quite similar to mine when I was young. By the way... I have a new set of clothes here, which are casual clothes I bought in Beijing before. Unfortunately, I have been in the army and have no chance to wear them. I will give them to you to try."

Xia Juanjuan stood up to refuse, but Jiang Wan had already taken out the clothes in a swift and powerful manner. It was a quilted jacket with a slanting collar and a rare quilted skirt underneath. The whole set was bright red with dark brocade. It looked very festive at first glance, and it was probably not cheap.

Xia Juanjuan frowned slightly.

In this era, most clothes are gray, white, navy blue, green, and red is only worn on very special occasions.

Whose casual clothes would be made in bright red?

Besides, it was just the first time we met, why should I give her clothes for no reason?

Therefore, when Jiang Wan asked her to try it on, Xia Juanjuan refused.

"Sister Jiang, this... this is too precious. I won't accept it without any merit. By the way, if Li Zhan doesn't come back, I'll go to his place and wait for him..."

At this time, there were some "snickering" sounds coming from outside the door, and then two female soldiers came in and said with a smile: "Sister, I think the truth has been revealed. Let's not hide it anymore and speak openly..."