Gu Qinglie couldn't sleep. Out of military instinct, he subconsciously looked around the carriage.
Their seats were for two, and there were three seats on the right. Not many people took the train now, and tickets to any destination from the border town were expensive, which was enough to cover the monthly expenses of an ordinary family of more than ten people, so there were many empty seats and no one was sitting next to him.
It was past seven o'clock. A flight attendant was pushing a cart selling lunch boxes. When the cart came to him, Gu Qinglie shook his head and said, "I've already eaten."
The flight attendant smiled gently, nodded, and pushed the cart to the front.
It only takes them one day and one night to get back to Yancheng from the border town, but it takes them two days and one night to get to the southern military region.
Gu Qinglie was tall and had long legs, and the narrow seat made him feel a little cramped, as he didn't know where to put his long legs.
He took a look at Chu Dai. Well, unlike his usual lazy look when he wasn't training, he stood with his back straight, his legs steady, his left hand on his sister's waist, and his right hand on his knees.
"Old Chu." Gu Qinglie suddenly said, "What are you thinking about?"
Chu Dai raised his eyes and looked at him, "Nothing."
Gu Qinglie obviously didn't believe it. Even though he looked so worried, it was nothing.
Most likely he is reluctant to leave the Corps.
"Don't think about it anymore," Gu Qinglie said, "You should think about your father and my brother."
"Huh?" Chu Dai was puzzled.
"You didn't tell your father about your marriage to Qingqing, right? With your relationship, you two will definitely fight when you get home, and so will my brother." Speaking of Gousheng, Gu Qinglie couldn't help but shudder: "You'll know when you see him."
It was Gu Canyang who proposed to arrange Qingqing's marriage by finding a partner in the army and not letting the family interfere. At that time, no one in the family, including him, dared to disagree.
Qingqing is seventeen this year and will be eighteen after the Chinese New Year. It is normal for a girl of this age to have two children in the village. However, because of Gu Canyang's words, the Gu family suppressed all the matchmakers who inquired about her marriage until now.
Gu Canyang is a man with big ideas, completely different from Gu Qinglie, who shines brightly when exposed to a little sunlight.
Because of his cold and aloof personality, Gu Qinglie has been afraid of this ruthless and taciturn twin brother since he was a child.
Chu Dai lowered his eyes to look at the girl who was sleeping soundly on his shoulder and hugging his arm, and said with a slight curl of his lips, "Brother, please give me some advice."
Gu Qinglie slammed the table and laughed.
Chu Dai, you have come to this day.
The passengers around were looking at this side with puzzled expressions. Chu Dai gave him a look, signaling him to pay attention to the impact.
Gu Qinglie leaned back in his chair, took out a handful of melon seeds and peanuts his sister had stuffed into his pocket, put them on the table, and ate them slowly. "There's no other way. I can only prove to Gousheng that you treat his sister very well, very well, better than our brothers treat her. Only then will he feel at ease."
Judging from his brother's temper, there would probably be a fight if they met.
But Gu Qinglie changed his mind and thought that if it were him, and he didn't see Qingqing getting married in the southern military region, he would probably want to beat her up too.
So this fight is inevitable. As a brother of Chu Dai and Gou Sheng, he can't take sides. He can only take Qing Qing away and not let her see it.
Chu Dai raised his eyebrows slightly and understood what he meant.
Gu Qingqing got up too early, she was really sleepy. Having the man beside her made her feel at ease. She slept from one moment to the next until 12:30 in the afternoon.
Gu Qinglie happened to take out the meal that Yu Fugui had prepared for them from the cotton bag. As soon as the aluminum lunch box was opened, the aroma wafted out, and Gu Qingqing suddenly woke up.
Gu Qinglie glanced at her and said, "Well, if you have nothing to do, just sleep and have something to eat. Isn't this a pig from Old Zhu's pig farm?"
Chu Dai stood up, took the military green enamel cup and went to the dining car in front to get her a cup of hot water.
Gu Qingqing took his hand, blew on the rim of the cup, took two sips, shook her head and stopped drinking.
Chu Dai looked calm, holding the water cup. The corner of his lips touched the place where she had just drunk. His Adam's apple rolled, and he drank the water slowly.
Gu Qingqing took the chopsticks that Gu Qinglie handed over and hummed: "We can reach the Southern Military Region tomorrow afternoon, right?"
Chu Dai said "hmm".
Gu Qingqing's eyes flashed with cunning. She picked at the stir-fried pork with green peppers and picked up a large piece of meat and put it in her mouth: "Oh, I'm going to see my elder brother. He must not know what I did in the Corps, carrying bamboo, building a greenhouse and shoveling pig manure. I have to tell him."
Gu Qinglie's hand holding the chopsticks trembled. "You wanted to do this yourself. Lao Yu and I told you not to carry bamboos. You'll get sunburned like a chimpanzee. It was you who insisted on going."
"Oh," Gu Qingqing blinked, "I told my elder brother that you insisted that I do it. Who do you think he would believe?"
Gu Qinglie: "...Do you want to eat meat, sister? My appetite has been poor recently and I can't eat meat." As he said that, he gave all the meat in the lunch box to Gu Qingqing. Before he had even taken a bite, only potatoes and green peppers were left.
Gu Qingqing laughed, "I wanted to shovel the pig manure myself."
Gu Qinglie watched Chu Dai nonchalantly put down his water cup and open the lunch box lid, feeling overwhelmed.
Fortunately, I am married. You said this during dinner...
Chu Dai opened his lunch box and gave half of the ribs and meat to Gu Qinglie. In the puzzled look of Gu Qingqing, he said, "My appetite is not that good either. Please help me share some."
Gu Qinglie gave him an admiring look.
You are on the right track, young man.
Looking at the two men singing the same tune, Gu Qingqing was speechless.
After dinner, Gu Qinglie went to wash the lunch box, and Chu Dai got up to go to the toilet, the two of them went one after the other.
The conductor patrolled the carriage from time to time. Now it was lunch time, so he went to the dining car to eat.
Some people with sharp minds who couldn't find any loopholes to exploit before are now starting to have evil intentions.
"Excuse me, excuse me," the thin man walked forward, brushing against Gu Qinglie's coat. Suddenly, his foot kicked the seat next to him, bumping into him. "Excuse me, comrade."
The thin man looked apologetic and was about to leave when Gu Qinglie pulled him back by the collar.
"Comrade," Gu Qinglie looked at him unkindly, "You can borrow my road, but don't lend me your wallet."
He grabbed the thin man's collar with his right hand and stretched out his left hand, motioning him to return it quickly.
The thin man's eyes rolled around, and he kept shouting, "Comrade, I don't understand why you say that. I just bumped into you. As for saying that I stole your wallet? Or are you trying to take this opportunity to ask me for money?"
"Hey," Gu Qinglie laughed angrily, "I don't care about your little tricks. Hurry up and return the wallet to me, or don't blame me for being rude."
"Ah! Someone is being beaten!" The thin man slipped out from under his arm like a loach, shouting as he ran: "Comrade police officer, please take care of it! The capitalists in the city are beating people!"
He saw Gu Qinglie's fine woolen coat and thought that this big fool must be the child of a wealthy family. He wanted to borrow some money. Rich people wouldn't be short of a few dollars to live on.
Just when he was about to escape with great joy, he put on a strong shoulder.
Chu Dai put one hand in his pocket, picked him up with his left hand, and threw him back in front of Gu Qinglie.
Gu Qinglie grinned and said, "Hey, comrade, the conductor is in the dining car, why are you running in the opposite direction? Let's go and talk to him."
This time he held on tightly and no longer looked down on the thin man. He almost carried him towards the dining car, and the passengers all leaned over to see the excitement.
There are thieves nowadays, but they are very rare. The train police patrol very strictly and if they are caught, they will be handed over to the police at the next station. Except for those thieves who are skilled and bold and confident that they can steal without anyone noticing, others can only steal when there are many people at the next station.
The thin man panicked for a moment, but quickly calmed down.
Even if they found a wallet on him, what would it matter? Capitalism can have wallets, but the middle and lower poor peasants don't deserve to have wallets? Isn't this looking down on the working people?
He can speak beautifully to anyone who talks to him.
When the police heard the noise, they walked over here swinging their batons without them coming over. They saw a tall man holding the thin man's collar and asked in a deep voice, "What's going on?"
"Comrade!" The thin man was the first to complain: "I just bumped into this comrade by accident and apologized, but he still insisted that I stole his wallet. I think he wanted to cheat me because I am honest, and he said he would beat me if I didn't give it to him! You see, he is so strong that even ten of me wouldn't be enough to beat him!"
Gu Qinglie actually liked to hear the last sentence.
After hearing his words and seeing the disparity in size between the two men, the police officer was stunned for a moment, but he did not believe his words. "Comrade, put him down first. If he is really a thief, he will not be able to escape."
Gu Qinglie glanced at Chu Dai behind him, and when he saw him nod slightly, he let go.
"You both say it's the other party's fault. This is simple. Comrade, take out your wallet and hand it to us. You two can each tell me what's in the wallet. I'll check and then return it to you."
The thin man was really panicking now: "Comrade, my wallet was secretly put into my pocket by my wife. She was afraid that I would be without money when I went on a long trip, so she gave me all the money at home. I just found out when I touched my pocket, and I didn't have time to open it to check."
Hearing this, the police officer knew what was going on. He pointed his baton at him and said impatiently, "Take it out!"
The thin man hung his head and took out a black wallet from his pocket and handed it over with a reluctant look on his face.
Gu Qinglie snorted and laughed, "Is your wife from the Construction Corps? Tell me her name so I can see if I recognize her."
"Oh my," he exclaimed again, looking back at the man behind him: "Old Chu, it seems that there are no female comrades in our corps."
There was a hint of smile in Chu Dai's eyes. He leaned against the wall of the aisle silently, waiting for the outcome of the matter.
The moment the conductor saw the wallet, he knew the identity of the tall man: he was from the Construction Corps.
He tucked his baton under his armpit and looked at the five-pointed star on his wallet with awe. When he opened the wallet, he saw his soldier's ID card, which had the man's name, age and rank written on it.
On the other side of the wallet were neatly stacked bills. He closed the wallet and handed it over with both hands: "Captain Gu, your wallet."
"Thank you, comrade." Gu Qinglie put his wallet back into his coat pocket.
"You, just follow me honestly." This time, the conductor carried the thin man like a chicken towards the dining car, and when the train stopped at the next station, he handed him over to the police.
Gu Qinglie and Chu Dai smiled at each other. He tilted his head slightly and put his arm around Chu Dai's shoulders: "Let's go, Captain Chu."
"Yes, Platoon Leader Gu." Chu Dai laughed dumbly.
"Don't use me as a cymbal player. What kind of platoon leader is that? I'm still a soldier under your command..." Gu Qinglie muttered to himself. When he returned to his seat and saw his sister eating melon seeds like a hamster, he laughed.
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