Listening to the camel bell sound beside her ear, Gu Qingqing was a little confused.
"The Corps has already taught the villagers how to grow crops in greenhouses. Qingqing, you are the lucky star of this border town." The man led the camel, walked on the sea of sand, and slowly walked forward with her.
Gu Qingqing blushed again at his compliment.
The desert was really huge and boundless. Even if Gu Qingqing sat on a high camel, she couldn't see the end of it.
The man walking in front had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, with a belt around his waist and a gun on his back. He was thin and slender. Gu Qingqing looked up and could see his fair skin and neatly trimmed hair behind his neck, which was covered by a military cap.
Gu Qingqing was silent for a moment.
She finally knew what she had forgotten!
Straw hat! She left the straw hat given by Uncle Yu at home.
The arrogance on top of my head is like a fire, and Gu Qingqing wants to cry but has no tears.
When Gu Qinglie and the others came over, Chu Dai was just getting off the camel carrying his sister.
Wiping the sweat off his cheek, he asked the girl, "Are you enjoying it now?"
Gu Qingqing nodded repeatedly. Seeing Chu Dai rubbed Luotu's head, she stared at him without blinking.
Did he rub his head like this before?!
It’s hard to describe the feeling. Gu Qingqing’s mouth twitched a little. This camel looked very silly, and it even rubbed its head against his hand.
Gu Qinglie turned his head to look at the camel going away, listened to the camel bell sound gradually fading away, and said to the girl: "Stop watching, let's go home and have dinner, my dear."
Still following the same route, the military trucks turned around in an orderly manner. On the way back, Gu Qingqing did not forget to keep her promise to the sentry, and took Gu Qinglie and the others to climb the hillside to pick wild fruits. Both baskets were filled with chestnuts, which were thrown into the back of the truck and lay quietly at the feet of the soldiers.
Yu Fugui was overwhelmed when he saw Gu Qingqing bringing back so many things. He said in distress, "My dear, I don't have time to deal with these things. I'll give you a pair of scissors. Can you go out and pry them out yourself?"
Gu Qingqing nodded: "Okay."
The cafeteria was about to open for lunch in twenty minutes, and Gu Qinglie and his men had just finished their training. A platoon of soldiers squatted outside the cafeteria, cracking the chestnuts with their hands and stepping on them with their feet, and they had peeled out all the chestnuts before lunch time.
Hairy chestnuts are small, only slightly larger than a fingernail, but they are delicious when fried. Gu Qingqing picked up all the peeled chestnuts, washed them, and handed them to the little soldiers in the kitchen squad.
Chu Dai and Gu Qinglie went to the camp headquarters to make a training plan for the next few days.
She had only been in the cafeteria for a few minutes when lunch started. The soldiers came in in an orderly manner, took aluminum lunch boxes from the lunch box area, and began to line up to get their meals.
Gu Qingqing was lying on the stove with her head propped up, watching Yu Fugui frying chestnuts with sand, when she heard someone calling her from behind.
"Sister Qingqing?" The sentry who was standing guard before waved to her: "Here!"
"Uncle, you continue frying. I've already turned off the charcoal fire. I'm going to go chat for a while."
Yu Fugui couldn't help laughing when he saw her running out in a hurry.
The only thing she hadn't talked to in the Corps was the dozens of pigs in the pig farm. The last time she went to pick pumpkins in the vegetable garden beside the pig pen, Lao Zhu told her that the Corps was much more lively with Qingqing around.
She saw that even this pig farmer could be caught by her to chat for a long time when he was shoveling pig manure as fertilizer.
At that time, he said to Lao Zhu: "Treasure her. When Qingqing and Captain Chu get married, they will go to Baisha Island. Then you, Lao Zhu, will really only be able to chat with Zhu every day."
Old Zhu felt regretful and sighed repeatedly.
The sentry soldier took out a handful of roasted beans from his pocket and gave them to her, then asked, "Sister, where are my dates and chestnuts?"
Gu Qingqing took it and chewed the beans with a crunchy mouthful: "The dates are in the basket, and the chestnuts are in the pot. Uncle Yu is frying them. I'll give them to you later."
"Okay, my brothers will go out for training tomorrow and bring you some oranges."
"Okay." The two of them discussed it happily. Gu Qingqing turned around and bumped into a hard and warm embrace, her head hitting the man's chin.
"Does it hurt?" Seeing her covering her head, Chu Dai asked in a low voice.
Gu Qingqing nodded with tears in her eyes. The man gently rubbed her forehead and asked, "I'll give you my share of meat as compensation?"
"Okay!" Gu Qingqing said without hesitation.
Chu Dai now finally understood why Gu Qinglie was always so angry with her.
In the afternoon, Gu Qingqing returned to the military compound to rest, and Chu Dai was called to the regiment headquarters by the guards beside Guan Xun.
"Commander." He straightened his military uniform and saluted outside the door.
"Come in." Xun looked up from behind the table and said to him, "Close the door."
Chu Dai did as he was told. After closing the door, the fierce military aura on his body disappeared. "Uncle Guan, do you want to talk to me about something? Has your marriage application been approved?"
"Are you impatient?" Guan Xun rarely saw him so concerned about things other than fighting, so he put down the pen in his hand and said, "It won't be that fast. Wait a little longer."
Someone from the army had already gone to Datunzi Village to check Gu Qingqing's family background and family composition. However, the brothers Gu Qinglie and Gu Canyang were both serving in the army, and in the Air Force, where conditions were very harsh, so there shouldn't be any problem.
"Please sit down." Guan Xun pointed to the chair in front of the table and asked him, "Have you written to the old leader about this matter?"
Chu Dai was stunned for a moment, then said nonchalantly: "No, he doesn't care about me."
"You two, father and son, are cut from the same mold. You are stubborn and stubborn, and neither of you is willing to give in first." Guan Xun sighed. He had said the same thing countless times and obviously didn't want to mention it again. The person in front of him didn't want to listen either, so he asked another question instead -
"Are you going to bring your family to the island with the army?"
When Chu Dai heard the word "family", his expression softened and the viciousness in his eyes disappeared.
"Yes, my family is stationed on the island with the army."
After hearing this, Guan Xun finally smiled, stood up, walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder: "Adai, Uncle Guan is really happy for you. I have prepared the red envelope for my niece's wife. Have you decided on the time for the wine ceremony?"
"We'll get married in the Corps after we get our marriage application." Chu Dai took the enamel cup from the table, opened the lid and took a sip, then said, "I have a vacation at the end of the year, so I'll go back to the Southern Military Region to get married again, and also go to Qingqing's hometown to get the marriage certificate."
"That's the way it should be." Guan Xun nodded in agreement with his approach: "Many of your father's old subordinates are in the southern military region. They have watched you grow up and are waiting to drink in the wedding wine of you, the only child of the old Chu family."
Chu Dai also laughed, "I know."
"I called you here today so that we can talk about family matters instead of military affairs." Guan Xun took his hand back, walked to the other side of the chair and sat down, and said to him, "Do you still send your monthly allowance back to your cousins?"
"Not this year." Chu Dai put his fingers on the military green enamel cup and shook his head, saying, "I'm too busy to go to the post office."
Countless battles, big and small, have been fought this year, and it was only after Gu Qingqing came to the Corps that we were able to take a break.
"Adai, when you get married and have your own family, keep the allowance for your own family." Guan Xun tapped his fingers on the table, reminding him: "The girl is young and is willing to go to the island with you to live a hard life. This is the best. This child helped the army to grow vegetables, and also followed the soldiers to the city to build greenhouses and teach the people how to grow vegetables. I like this kind of straightforward and unpretentious people."
Chu Dai smiled: "To be honest, I like it too."
"Let's talk business, be serious." Guan Xun glared at him, his authority evident without him getting angry.
Chu Dai immediately sat up straight, put down the enamel cup, and put his hands on his knees.
"Please continue."
"All your allowance these years has been used to support your cousin's family, leaving you with no money. I used to see how pitiful they were, an orphan and a widow. All the men in the family died in the war. From your father to you, there are only two of you left in the Chu family. It's only right for you two to help support them. Now that you're going to start a family, you should know what's going on."
"If a girl asks you where your allowance has gone after serving in the army for so many years, what will you say?"
"Answer truthfully." Chu Dai said, "I won't hide it from her."
"Very good, what about next?"
"Will you continue to support your aunts and cousins' wives in the future?" Guan Xun looked at him intently, waiting for his answer.
Chu Dai frowned slightly, "I'll give all my allowance to Qingqing. I'll explain this matter to her and let her decide."
"Adai!" Guan Xun sighed: "You and Qingqing are both good children who value friendship and loyalty. If they knew your cousins were in trouble, they would definitely help them. Uncle Guan wants to remind you..."
"You are the youngest among all your cousins in the Chu family. Your cousins' wives have been married for more than ten years. Their children have grown up. In two years, they will be able to sign up for the army."
"You don't have to support them all the time. There are no cowards in the Chu family!"
When Chu Dai came out of the regiment headquarters, his steps were a little heavy. He subconsciously looked up at the sky. The sky was clear and dazzlingly blue.
Thinking about what Guan Xun had just said, he changed his mind at the last minute, although he was originally planning to go to the clinic to change the medicine.
Gu Qingqing took a nap and wanted to go next door to chat with Sister Anian and then go to see how Aunt Yu's clothes were doing. As soon as she opened the door, she saw a thin man standing at the door.
"Qingqing," Chu Dai thought for a moment and exhaled, "I have something to tell you."
"Ah? Okay, come in." Gu Qingqing held the door panel and closed it after he came in.
The only light in the room was coming in from the window. She poured him a glass of boiled water and pushed it in front of him: "Captain Chu, please confess and I will give you a fair shake."
The moment she saw him for the first time, Gu Qingqing realized that this man was worried about something, and her heart skipped a beat.
Could it be that the marriage application was rejected because it failed the political review?
Chu Dai didn't take the enamel cup, which made Gu Qingqing feel even colder.
The man thought for a moment and finally spoke: "The money and tickets I asked your brother to give you are all my assets. Now I want to tell you where my previous allowance went."
Gu Qingqing nodded and listened quietly to him finish talking about his family affairs.
"… This is what happened. After my uncle and cousins died in the war, the state gave them a pension. Since there were many people in the family and they were all women, they had no source of income. Over the years, my father and I have been supporting them."
Chu Dai had never thought about getting married and having children before. He thought he would die in battle on the border sooner or later, so he didn't keep any money except for the money for his daily tobacco and candy.
His father Chu Yuan was the same. He was single and usually ate and drank in the army. He wore a military uniform every year and didn't have to buy clothes. The allowances of both father and son were used to subsidize the women and children of the Chu family.
Gu Qingqing listened and thought: "But now they have all grown up. Your oldest nephew is twelve years old this year and can be the labor force of the family. Little brother Ge from Aunt Zhao's family in our production team is only nine years old. He goes to cut grass and feed pigs after school every day. He can do half the work points of an adult!"
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