Chapter 145: The troops sent an urgent telegram late at night, asking you to return to the team as soon as possible

Inside the new house, the dowry furniture brought back by the bride took up a large space, and putting a wedding bed in it made the space seem very cramped.

There were about 20 or 30 junior high school classmates and old comrades-in-arms who walked into the new house with apples in their hands and immediately filled up the space.

The other village women and relatives who were helping with the work could only stand outside the door of the new house and watch.

"Mom, what are they going to do? Dad is holding the apple. Is he giving it to Uncle Zhang?" Baoer was held in his mother's arms. The little boy was very curious, but this scene was not suitable for children.

"Their adults want to play games!" Wang Ziru held back her laughter.

"What kind of games are not allowed to children?"

Inside the bridal chamber, everyone took out a wedding stool from the dowry and said, "The bride, sit against the wall."

Zhu Yan knew that she couldn't escape this disaster tonight, so she went over to sit on the wedding stool against the wall, shyly patting her hot cheeks, "Won't he sit?"

"Sister-in-law! Zhang Kang is the boss, what is he sitting on? The stool is of course for you, the bride." An old comrade said with a laugh.

Zhang Kang was arranged to stand in front of Zhu Yan, half squatting in a horse stance. It was no use trying to be perfunctory, as someone held a bamboo stick to control his height.

"Squat down a little more. No, it's too low. Squat up a little more. Okay, this is the posture! Old Zhai, it's up to you." The old comrade holding the bamboo stick said seriously, motioning Zhai Ximo to stand between them, and then dropped the apple in front of the newlyweds.

"Countdown! Three, two, one, go!"

As the referee shouted, the apple in Zhai Ximo's hand suddenly fell.

"Hurry up and chew it."

As Zhang Kang was squatting in a horse stance and was afraid of bumping into the bride, he had to put one hand on the big red poster with the word "Joy on the Eyebrows" pasted behind Zhu Yan to protect the bride.

But he was still too cautious and protective of his wife.

Zhu Yan saw the apple hanging in front of her eyes, so she went straight over and bit it.

As a result, the apple was lifted away again.

Everyone was pushing and shoving behind Zhang Kang again. The bride failed to get the apple and directly knocked the groom down. The two of them stuck together and fell onto the thick wedding quilt next to them.

Everyone was forced to eat a mouthful of dog food and immediately burst into laughter.

"Wow? Can the bride be more reserved?"

“Hahaha, that’s too fierce.”

"It's really embarrassing!"

"It's over! A rough man like Zhang Kang also dotes on his wife..."

After the apple-eating show, the gang brought a bottle of wine and two glasses on a tray and ordered the bride and groom to drink.

That night, Zhang Kang always blocked the drinking for his wife, and they ended up getting drunk, and they couldn't even consummate their marriage.

…

That night, Han Dixing returned home from get off work and received a call from his second brother, who also talked about the wedding banquet at Wang's house in the daytime.

"Her brother is getting married?"

"Well, the target is the girl from the Chen family who lives across from the Wang family," Han Dixing also acted as a gossip girl for a while, telling his second brother about the farce he saw when he went to the Wang family for the wedding banquet. Then he changed the subject and asked, "By the way, brother, I heard that many warriors have returned to visit their relatives. You should be able to find time to come back this year to visit your relatives, right?"

"Let's talk about visiting relatives first. Things aren't very peaceful here lately." Han Suijing said in a deep voice.

The door of the quiet office was suddenly kicked open from outside.

"Han Suijing, what are you doing? Why are you calling at this time!" The person who came in was Duan Yanzhi, a volatile and overbearing boss who was one level higher in rank. He walked in with a military coat draped over his shoulders and looked very majestic.

The scarlet eyes caught sight of Han Suijing holding the microphone and shouted, "What time is it now? Are you still homesick?"

Han Suijing hung up the phone and saw his irritable boss' expression. He stood up and asked, "What's going on? Is there any movement in Baiteng Mountain?"

"Just 20 minutes ago, the commander of the 113th Regiment detected that the other side of Baiteng Mountain had entered radio silence. Sun Changyou, who has been through many battles, knew that this was a signal that the enemy was about to launch a general attack. I also just received the combat mission from the headquarters."

The two men looked serious, their brows furrowed.

It seems that the war has finally started.

"All artillery and tank armored units directly under you will immediately return to their units and enter combat readiness."

Han Suijing immediately stood up straight, saluted, and said in a sonorous and powerful voice: "The 13th Army received it!"

"Tonight, the Xiong District troops will march to Baiteng Town overnight. We in Kun District will provide rear support. Please notify them immediately..." Duan Yanzhi turned around and left. As soon as he returned to the office, he received a new radio message, "What? The war in the four towns of Heshuo has also started?!"

Late at night in the Armed Forces, the urgent ringing of a phone woke up the sleeping man.

Zou Bu has been working lately and has not been going home at night, so he sleeps on the single bed in the office.

Hearing the phone ring, he jumped up from the single bed, walked out quickly, and grabbed the phone on the desk, "Hello, this is the Cangnan County Armed Forces..."

"I am from the Communications Department of Xiong District. I am here to inform you on behalf of the leader. Please immediately notify all soldiers in Cangnan County who are returning to their hometowns to visit their families to return to their units as soon as possible!"

"One more thing. According to our statistics, there are not enough female hygienists in Xiong District. We ask for support from military wives."

…

It was still the early 1980s, and the warriors were scattered across various towns and villages. It was the dead of night, and they had to be notified one by one.

Late at night, the lights in almost every office in the two-story office building of the Armed Forces were on.

Soon, all the transportation vehicles equipped by the hospital, including jeeps and motorcycles, were deployed, and all staff went to various towns and villages to notify them overnight.

Zou Bu was worried about not having enough cars, but then he received a call from Han Suijing.

When Han Suijing heard that the armed forces did not have enough cars, he said decisively: "I'll call home and ask Han Dixing to drive our car over."

"That's great. It's dark outside at this hour, and we're all in a hurry to get to the countryside. Motorbikes don't work well, so we need a car."

While Zou Bu ordered his subordinates to go to the gate to pick up the car, he continued to talk with Han Suijing on the phone for a while.

In the Armed Forces Department, only Zou Bu, the core leader, remained in the office.

The rest of the people went to various towns.

When the jeep drove into Hongmei Village late at night, the sound of dogs barking was heard in the village.

Captain Tang had been to Hongmei Village several times and was familiar with the road leading into the village. He went to Zhai's house to inform Zhai Ximo.

There was a knock on the Zhai family's door late at night. Mrs. Liu heard someone knocking on the door outside. She was about to get up to open the door, cursing, when she heard her eldest son, who was sleeping in the west room, open the door and come out.

Zhai Qingsong came out wearing a jacket and saw that they were from the county armed forces. "Team Tang is here."

"Brother Zhai, this is what happened. I came down specifically to inform Zhai Ximo that we just received an urgent call from the army, informing him to return to the army immediately. Please go in and call your brother."

"We are going back to the army now?!"

"Yes, go wake him up. I need him to lead the way and notify the other warriors."

Zhai Qingsong hurried into the house, entered the main room through another small door, opened the main door, turned around and knocked on the third brother's door.

Ten minutes later, Zhai Ximo returned to the side room with a flashlight.

"Zi Ru, get up quickly, pack up and get ready to go back to the troops."

Wang Ziru was sleeping soundly. She opened her eyes and asked, "Are we going back to the army now? Isn't there still more than a month left?"

"Don't talk nonsense! You need to get some dry food for us to eat on the way. Hurry up and get up. Captain Tang is still waiting for me outside. I have to lead him to inform other comrades."

"So urgent, is there a war going on?"

"Well! Get up quickly,"

Zhai Ximo quickly lit the kerosene lamp, and in the blink of an eye, without waiting for Wang Ziru to come to her senses, he hurried out.

Outside the yard, the sound of a jeep was heard, but soon it disappeared.

Zhai Qingsong was so anxious that he couldn't sleep.

He hurried to the door of the side room at the back of the house, and waited until Wang Ziru yawned and opened the door before he asked hastily, "Sister-in-law, the third brother said that we should prepare some dry food. What do you think we should prepare to eat on the train? I have some cornmeal and sweet potatoes."

"It's really a headache. I don't know how many days I will have to take the train." Wang Ziru shook her neck, also feeling overwhelmed.

Zhai Qingsong vaguely remembered that when his third brother came back, he chatted with him and asked how many days he had taken the train. It seemed that he had taken two days of train ride, so he said, "Then let's steam two pots of wo wo tou."

These words immediately gave Wang Ziru an idea.

"Brother, I still have a few kilograms of rice. Let's grind the rice into rice flour with a stone mill. I'll take out the remaining flour at home and mix it with the rice flour. The pancakes will last a long time on the road."

"Steam two more pots of wowotou and cook the sweet potatoes for eating on the road tomorrow..."

After some discussion, the two of them hurried to the stove to light a fire and started to cook some dry food.

When Mrs. Liu heard that her eldest son was determined to follow the army, she could not stop him and had no choice but to follow him to that hellish place to suffer.

However, she was worried about the uneaten food in Wang Ziru's room. After a while, she heard a fire in the kitchen and someone was washing the pot, so she came out wearing her quilt.

There was no sound when he walked, which scared Wang Ziru.

"Mom! What are you doing up at this hour?"

Ever since Wang Ziru married into the Zhai family, Mrs. Liu has inexplicably disliked this daughter-in-law. Now she and the third son have instigated her favorite eldest son to join the army as well. She is almost vomiting these days.

She walked to the earthen stove with her hands folded and looked at the sweet potatoes in the pot. "You are leaving and you didn't even think of leaving some food for me."

"I have such a big family, and now I have my eldest brother and four mouths to feed. Do I still have food left for you? Are you holding the money that Zhai Ximo sent back in your hand, thinking that you can buy yourself two more handfuls of paper to burn in the underworld when you are in the coffin?"

"Is the only thing you know how to do with your mouth is to scold your mother-in-law?" Mrs. Liu was so angry that she didn't want to quarrel with her daughter-in-law at home in the middle of the night, so she had to go back to her room and continue sleeping.

Wang Ziru cooked half a pot of sweet potatoes, then turned around and went to the fire room diagonally opposite to help with the mill.

Of the ten kilograms of refined rice that Secretary Tang sent last time, only three or four kilograms were left. They were all ground into rice flour and then mixed with flour to form a paste.

In another iron pan, make pancakes one by one.

There were a few potatoes left at home, which Wang Ziru took to the stove and roasted in the oven.

After daybreak, Captain Tang drove a jeep to take Zhai Ximo home.

Before leaving, Captain Tang reminded us: "When you return, hurry up and pack your luggage. We will arrange a Dongfeng car to pick you up and take you to the county town. We should all leave together. Zoubu has already contacted the Dongfeng car."

"Well! This time, our family of four will be going back to the army together, so we must have a lot of luggage, but it's not a big deal. I'll go back and pack it now."

Zhai Ximo stood outside the courtyard gate, waved and watched Captain Tang's jeep drive out of the village before turning back to the house.

When we walked to the stove, we saw the little boy sitting on his uncle's lap with a suspicious look on his face. He was warming himself by the stove and letting his uncle dress him. When he saw him coming home, he asked, "Dad, is it true that mom said we're going back to the army today?"

"Of course it's true! Dad will go and pack the quilts and your clothes now."

When he turned around, he saw half a basin of milky white pancakes on the chopping board. They smelled quite like baked pancakes. He saw his wife was still making pancakes. "You are really thoughtful. Have you taken out all the rice and flour at home?"

"Yeah, you guys should have some noodles in the morning. The noodles at home are just enough for two meals." Wang Ziru turned around and glanced at the man while making pancakes. "Have you been to Zhang Kang's house?"

"I went! Zhang Kang was very drunk last night, and it was Zhu Yan who got up and opened the door. But Zhang Kang was very happy."

"Didn't you say he was drunk last night? He didn't do anything, right? How could he be happy?"

Before she could finish her words, she was hit lightly by the man's fist. Zhai Ximo held back his laughter and said, "You really have no way of controlling your mouth. I'm talking about Zhu Yan!"

"Zhu Yan? What happened to her? I heard that Zhang Kang cried when he returned to the army today?"