"Yeah! Okay." Gu Qingqing took Xu Nian's arm and followed closely behind Sun Shufen. When getting off the train, she did not forget to thank the train police and crew.
After leaving the train station, the sky gradually brightened. The morning wind was not as refreshing and gentle as that in Yancheng. Instead, it was cold and fierce, with fine sand in it.
Gu Qingqing's face was covered with wet sand and she felt a little bewildered.
Xu Nian took out a handkerchief and wiped her face, whispering, "That's how it is here, just get used to it."
Gu Qingqing came back to her senses and grinned: "Thank you, Sister Anian." If her brother can get used to it, she can definitely get used to it too!
The two followed Sun Shufen all the way to the market. Gu Qingqing looked around and found that there were more storable foods such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, radishes, and taro, but very few green vegetables, and the cabbages were all wilted.
The only vegetables they had must have come from the south on the same train as them.
Looking at the high price of eight cents per pound, Gu Qingqing was secretly shocked.
There is as much cabbage as you want in Datunzi Village. Her family has a large field full of it, but she doesn’t want to eat it anymore after two meals.
"Fugui!" Sun Shufen saw her husband from afar ordering men in military uniforms to move bags of potatoes. "Fugui, why didn't you respond when I called you for so long?!"
Yu Fugui heard a familiar loud voice and turned around to see his wife and two children standing not far away. He exclaimed, "Oh my!" and said to the soldier next to him, "Your sister-in-law is here. I'll go over to see her."
"Old squad leader, please hurry up."
Yu Fugui held the nagging Yu Tu in his arms, kissing and coaxing her: "This is the eldest daughter of the Yu family. Why don't you say anything when you see your father? Do you miss your father?"
"You just woke up and haven't come back to your senses yet." Sun Shufen glared at him and said, "Come here quickly. I'll introduce two people to you."
Gu Qingqing was held by Sun Shufen's arm: "Qingqing, this is your uncle, he is from the same village as your aunt."
"Hello, Uncle Yu." Gu Qingqing smiled and called him sweetly.
"Okay, young lady, who is your second aunt?" Yu Fugui was totally confused.
He looked at the young lady and felt that she looked unfamiliar.
"Han Lianxin, from the Advanced Production Team."
"Oh?!" Yu Fugui was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh: "Old Han's eldest daughter, it's really right for you to call me uncle, we grew up together."
He looked at Gu Qingqing with a genuinely friendly look at this moment, "My dear girl, why did you come to the border town?"
"So they are childhood sweethearts," Sun Shufen said sarcastically, "Qingqing's brother is also in the Corps, and she came here to visit her relatives."
"That's really a coincidence." Yu Fugui has been in the army for more than ten years and has not been home for a long time. He only knows that Han Lianxin married into the old Gu family in Datunzi Village, Yancheng. As for what kind of nephews and nieces she has, he really has no idea.
He selectively ignored the first half of his wife's sentence. This old woman was just jealous.
"Don't just say hello to Qingqing." Sun Shufen pulled Xu Nian next to her, "This is the wife of your local military doctor Zhao Ze. She came here to accompany the army."
"Hey, I know Xiao Zhao's wife. She came to visit last year." Yu Fugui smiled with his eyes narrowed.
There are only a few military doctors in the Corps, how could anyone not know Zhao Ze?
Basically, all the relatives who came to visit knew about it. After all, this place is deserted and people eat sand every day. No relatives were willing to come here. Only his wife and Lao Zhao's wife came here twice.
"Old squad leader, the car has been loaded. Captain Chu is waiting outside." The soldier from the kitchen squad, wearing green military uniform, came over to urge.
"Okay," Yu Fugui glanced at his wife and said to them, "Let's go back to the Corps. We'll talk again when we get back."
There are requirements on the length of time they can go out to purchase food. They must return to prepare food within the specified time so as not to delay the officers and soldiers' lunch time.
When Gu Qingqing walked out, she was still thinking about vegetable planting. Brother Meng Nan gave her a list of vegetables that were easy to grow in sandy soil. She brought her own seeds and a hand-drawn diagram of greenhouse vegetable planting by Brother Meng Nan, but she didn't know if it could be used.
After leaving the market, there was a row of Eastern Red Army trucks parked outside. Armed soldiers jumped out of the trucks and helped the kitchen team move potatoes.
"Captain Chu, your cigarette."
Yu Fugui took out a box of Albanian cigarettes from his trouser pocket and threw it over.
The man leaning against the front of the car raised his hand casually, revealing half of his fair and strong forearm, with the winding blue veins on his arm clearly visible.
He took the cigarette, lowered his head and opened it, his voice hoarse and tired: "Da Qianmen is gone?"
Yu Fugui had sharp eyes and noticed that his cuffs were darker. His brows furrowed. "Albania doesn't want cigarette coupons. They're 20 cents a pack, 15 cents cheaper than Daqianmen. You can just make do with them. What happened? Are you hurt?"
"The bullet took a bite out of me and scratched my skin a little, but it's okay." The man put his slender fingers on the cigarette box, knocked out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, held the fire in his palm, and lowered his head to light it.
He slowly blew out a smoke ring, holding the cigarette between his fingers, and looked behind him: "Is my sister-in-law here?"
"Yeah, they just arrived." Yu Fugui wanted to go forward to check on his injuries, but the man avoided him without making a sound. He said gloomily, "Old Zhao's wife is here too."
"And Gu Qinglie's sister."
Gu Qingqing looked at the thin man in military uniform who was leaning against the car door and smoking with a casual expression, and recognized him at a glance as the comrade-in-arms of her second brother in the photo.
Just like in the photo, she has sharp eyebrows, sharp eyes, strong facial features and a smooth jawline. Compared with her older brother's handsomeness, she is more resolute.
The man was filled with blood from the battlefield, and his dark eyes were like those of a sharp eagle, wild and fierce.
With just a casual glance, Gu Qingqing suddenly felt a real sense of oppression coming over her, and she subconsciously took a step back.
The roots of my ears turned red in response.
It’s really...beautiful.
Seeing that Gu Qingqing didn't say anything for a long time, Yu Fugui thought that the child was frightened and patted the man on the shoulder: "We are not on the battlefield, so hold back your aura. You are scaring the girls."
Chu Dairao looked at the girl's red ears with interest, chuckled softly with an ambiguous tone, and stood up straight: "Sorry, please get in the car."
He casually put out the half-smoked cigarette and held it lazily in his lips.
Yu Fugui knew that Chu Dai and his men had returned from the battlefield today, so he didn't drive in order to save fuel and waited for their car to bring back the vegetables.
The soldiers loaded all the vegetables into the cars. Yu Fugui, his wife and children, and Xu Nian sat in several cars at the back. Before leaving, he did not forget to put Gu Qingqing next to Chu Dai.
"This is Qinglie's sister, please take good care of her." After saying that, Yu Fugui slammed the car door shut and strode away to the back.
Chu Dai sat in the back seat, glanced at the girl sitting next to the door, then raised his hand and patted the shoulder of the soldier in front of him.
"Brother, drive."
After saying this, he raised his head, closed his eyes, crossed his arms over his chest, leaned his head against the green baffle at the back, and began to rest.
The vehicle started, raising a cloud of dust.
After Gu Qingqing saw from the rearview mirror that the man next to her was asleep with his eyes closed, she dared to quietly move her gaze to his thin profile.
After staring at his protruding Adam's apple for a long time, Gu Qingqing turned her face away embarrassedly and cleared her throat.
This man is indeed good-looking, but his personality seems a little cold and not very approachable.
She thought that the person who could get along well with her second brother must also be a chatterbox. With her experience of chatting with Aunt Guihua, she won him over early without any problem.
But today, she wasn't sure.
With the corner of her eye, she saw the dried blood on his fair wrist. Gu Qingqing was slightly stunned, as if something was stuck in her throat and she couldn't make a sound.
She almost forgot that it was still a war time and only the inland was at peace.
There are still constant wars on the border, with neighboring countries and other armed elements occasionally provoking trouble.
Being stared at intensely, Chu Dai lazily lifted his eyelids and looked down along the girl's line of sight, which fell on his injured hand. Scarlet blood flowed down his arm to his palm and dried into a line.
It is particularly dazzling and shocking on the white arms.
He pulled his sleeves and asked calmly, "Are you scared?"
"No." Gu Qingqing was afraid that he would think too much, so she quickly explained: "When I was a child, I often got my skin scratched while climbing trees, and blood was flowing. I was not afraid, it's just..."
"Hmm?" The man looked at her leisurely, wanting to know what she could come up with.
"I just want to ask you, does it hurt?" Gu Qingqing tugged at the edge of her clothes with her fingers, facing his gaze, feeling a little nervous.
"...It doesn't hurt." Chu Dai looked out the window lazily. The wheels of the car rolled up yellow sand. A gust of wind blew by, and the wild sand danced wildly and hit the car door.
"Oh, it doesn't hurt." Gu Qingqing blinked and looked outside.
She had never seen such a scenery before. The sun was like a huge fireball that was within reach, hanging over the desert. In the distance, there were a few tall and sparse poplar trees, guarding the desert like guards.
The desert was endless, and the wheel tracks of the vehicles ahead were quickly covered by fine sand.
After driving for half an hour, we finally saw the camp.
The soldier standing guard at the door with a gun in hand stood tall and straight like a pine tree. He checked their ID before letting them in.
Yu Fugui got off the car first to inform Gu Qinglie that he was still at the training ground and military dependents could not go.
After all the vehicles were registered and put into storage, Gu Qingqing and the others followed Chu Dai in the direction of the local health center.
"Qingqing!" Gu Qinglie was called out by Yu Fugui. He was only wearing an army green training short-sleeved shirt, and his bronze muscles were very obvious.
When he saw his sister, he flew over with a bright smile on his face: "How did you get here? Come on, let your brother take a look. Why are you so dark? I almost didn't recognize you."
Gu Qingqing: “…” She couldn’t help but glance at the tall, long-legged, fair-skinned man in front of her. The last bit of anticipation and joy she had for this brother whom she hadn’t seen for several years was gone, leaving only resentment.
You are the only one who has a mouth, so you keep talking.
After being hit like that, Gu Qingqing's shoulders instantly collapsed and she looked completely wilted.
"Oh, sister, are you unhappy to see me? Or are you too tired from taking the train?" Gu Qinglie couldn't help but pinch his sister's chubby little face.
This guy eats well at home, and looks fatter than him.
Gu Qingqing stuffed the bag into his hands, then laid on his shoulder and said listlessly, "I'm here to find someone."
Chu Dai in front stopped, playing with the half-smoked cigarette with his fingertips, looking at the brother and sister with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Oh, you've brought me some green plums," Gu Qinglie covered her mouth with his sweaty hands, leaned over and whispered in her ear with a smile, "I haven't done it yet, I can only help you up to this point, the rest is up to you."
Gu Qingqing: “???” Her big watery eyes became even waterier.
Goudan, you are unreliable!
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