Gu Qingqing took some snacks from him and repeatedly promised that she would send a letter to the Corps after arriving at the island.
Zhang Chao's original words were: "In our Corps, there is only one educated person like you, Uncle Zhang, except for Political Commissar Xu. Yu Fugui and Old Zhu Douda can't read a word, one can only kill pigs and the other can only raise pigs. It's useless for you to write letters to them. You can only scratch your ears and cheeks when you receive them."
He vilified several of his old comrades and praised himself to great heights.
Gu Qingqing held back her laughter and nodded frantically.
I originally thought I could just mail the letter to Gu Qinglie, but now I have to mail two copies.
After leaving the Quartermaster Department, Gu Qingqing walked to the side, looking at the lush greenhouse vegetables, feeling extremely relaxed.
It would be nice to be able to eat green vegetables.
On the way to the cafeteria, she met Chu Dai, the leader of the team. This was his last patrol in the Corps.
Resisting the urge to throw herself into his arms, Gu Qingqing locked eyes with him for a moment and curled the corners of her lips.
Chu Dai nodded slightly, paused for a moment as he passed by her, and lowered his voice: "It's cold outside, hurry back to the house."
Then he walked away without looking around.
Gu Qingqing looked at the team going away, her brows relaxed as she hummed a nursery rhyme as she walked towards the cafeteria.
The warmest place is definitely the cafeteria!
Yu Fugui was busy here, kneading dough, rolling dough, and mixing the stuffing in a large army green enamel basin.
Gu Qingqing sat directly on the stove and added charcoal to the stove: "Uncle Yu, what kind of dumplings do you want to eat for lunch?"
"Pork and green onions, spinach and eggs, mushrooms and pork, and potatoes and pork." Yu Fugui glanced at her in his busy schedule and said, "Put the charcoal in the middle of the pot, don't spread it to the sides, otherwise the water in the pot won't boil for a long time."
"Okay." Gu Qingqing's voice was clear. She rubbed her hands, picked up the tongs and continued adding charcoal.
"I heard from your aunt that she wanted to eat braised pork?"
"Yes, I want to eat the braised pork made by you, Uncle Yu. I can eat three bowls of rice with the soup!"
"Aren't you afraid that your uncle will feel bad about food?" Yu Fugui said with a smile, "I went to the market this morning to do some shopping and bought a piece of pork from the supply and marketing cooperative. It happened to be three-layer pork belly, so I planned to give it to you, a greedy cat, for lunch."
"Thank you, uncle!" Gu Qingqing's eyes were filled with tears. Why were the people in the Corps so nice? They were so nice that she didn't want to leave.
"Don't be in a daze, hurry up and add charcoal to the stove."
There were many stoves in the kitchen, and Gu Qingqing was moving around with a pair of tongs, which made the soldiers in the kitchen who were making dumplings laugh.
"Hey, where did this hardworking little bee come from?"
The people next to him joked: "This is not a little bee, it's a big wild bee hanging from the cliff."
“No, no, no,” seeing Gu Qingqing pouting and glaring at them with resentment, the round-faced little warrior laughed and slapped the dough on the chopping board: “This is not a little bee, nor a wild bee, nor a giant wasp, this is our sister!”
The warriors in the kitchen burst into laughter.
Gu Qingqing shrugged. She was used to their teasing and was not afraid of anything.
She opened the cupboard in the corner, took out a handful of dried sweet potatoes, and roasted them next to the stove.
It was not so early for dinner. Yu Fugui was busy here and there when he saw her eating pieces of dried sweet potatoes. He looked proud and said, "When I dried the dried sweet potatoes for you, you said you didn't want to eat them. Now you can afford to eat them. I'll pack a sack for you later. You can take it with you on the train and eat it slowly."
Gu Qingqing: “…” Uncle, your kindness is a little hard to accept. We can’t just go to the train boiler room and bake with coal slag.
She had no right to refuse, so she gladly accepted it with tears in her eyes.
At noon, soldiers swarmed in, singing military songs. "The sun sets in the west, the clouds are red, the soldiers are going back to the camp after shooting~"
The loud military song made her dizzy, as if she had returned to the day when she first came to the Corps. At noon, she came to the cafeteria to eat, and they also sang this military song...
Gu Qingqing sniffed, tilted her head back, and tried to push back the tears in her eyes.
She calmed down and saw a thin figure in front of her, blocking the light in front of her eyes.
Gu Qingqing was able to see the man's thin jawline, and she blinked.
Then he said in a deep voice, "It's time to eat."
Thinking of the braised pork, the sadness in Gu Qingqing's heart immediately disappeared.
She was afraid of the cold, so Yu Fugui simply brought the braised pork and dumplings to the stove and asked her to eat while standing, and asked, "Do you want some rice?"
Gu Qingqing didn't even blink and gestured: "Three bowls!"
Yu Fugui said unhappily, "Serve yourself. Captain Chu's food just ran out today."
He was indeed right. Chu Dai's monthly allowance was 72 yuan, and the daily food allowance for a single person in the Corps was 60 cents. The daily allowance for Gu Qingqing and him combined was 1.2 yuan. Moreover, Gu Qingqing often cooked meat on her own. So every month, Gu Qinglie and Chu Dai's meat tickets were all gone, not a single ounce left.
Gu Qingqing is still in the Corps, and is already eating her elder brother Gu Canyang's RMB 3.50 meal standard.
How much meat does it take to be so tall?!
"If his is gone, I still have mine." Gu Qinglie came over and put his arm on Chu Dai's shoulder, "I can't let my sister starve."
He looked at the girl's chubby little face and felt a sense of pride.
Not only did the girl not lose weight after joining the Corps, she even gained weight. Now both her grandparents will have nothing to say, right?
"Old Zhu is still in need of a pig farmer, and I think you, Platoon Leader Gu, are a good fit." Yu Fugui filled a bowl of brown rice for Gu Qingqing, and said, "I've made some yam and bone soup for you. It's simmering on a low fire in the stove next to you. Remember to drink it later."
Gu Qinglie was amused to see him say the most caring words in the most disgusted tone.
"Got it!" Gu Qingqing said, "I'll bring a copy for Auntie and Xiaotu and Xiaoxu when I go back later."
"No, you can eat it yourself, we have it at home." Yu Fugui wiped his hands and said, "Uncle is going to eat, remember to drink the soup."
"Okay!" Gu Qingqing responded straightforwardly.
Chu Dai and Gu Qinglie both stood beside her with their lunch boxes, eating with her. Gu Qinglie unceremoniously grabbed a piece of braised pork and said, "Brother has been training too much lately, so he needs to catch up."
Gu Qingqing glanced at him and put two pieces of fat and lean pork belly into Chu Dai's lunch box.
Yu Fugui used plenty of ingredients in this dish, with soy sauce and rock sugar as the base. Except for green onions, no other side dishes were added, and the dish was full of meat.
Gu Qingqing looked at the bowl of meat and thought it weighed about two kilograms.
The kitchen was warm, but her feet felt numb after standing for so long. She jumped from one leg to another, and Gu Qinglie slapped her on the head.
"You're so restless even when having a meal. Fortunately, I married you off. If it weren't for my consideration, my brother would probably look down on you..."
Gu Qinglie kept mumbling something, and Gu Qingqing glanced at him, "What are you talking about, Goudan? If I hadn't married him, your brother would have been able to tolerate you for so long and would have thrown you to the playground a long time ago."
"Right, brother?" She raised her chin and waited for Chu Dai to speak for her.
"Brother," Gu Qinglie saw her energetic look, put his hand on Chu Dai's shoulder, and snorted, "You are my brother-in-law. You will have to rely on me to speak for you in the Gu family in the future. You will have to take the train tomorrow. My eldest brother is not someone who is easy to talk to. If it weren't for me, you would have been sitting on the bench for a long time. You two haven't even met the parents to get married yet!"
Chu Dai made a "tsk" sound, looked at the quarreling brother and sister, raised his hand to grab Gu Qinglie's wrist and let him go.
"What should I do? I'm in a dilemma too."
After the meal, Gu Qinglie washed the lunch boxes and put them back. Gu Qingqing drank two bowls of the soup and left the rest on the stove for Yu Fugui.
She had nothing to do in the afternoon, so she went back to the house to pack her things.
Gu Qinglie was taking a nap next door. She took out clothes from the closet and handed them to Chu Dai, who folded them neatly and put them on the bed.
Set aside tonight's laundry and pack the rest in bags later.
Gu Qingqing chatted with the man in a casual manner while handing things out of the closet: "Brother, how long have you not been home?"
"More than a year." He came to the border town in 1970. At that time, he was young and frivolous and full of vigor. He brought Bai Yan from the southern military region to this remote border and vowed to bravely kill the enemy and serve the motherland.
A year ago, he sent Bai Yan's ashes back to the southern military region and never went back.
We have fought many battles, big and small, but we have not yet won a complete victory and have not been able to bring our brothers back.
Thinking of this, he curled his lips and laughed at himself.
Sensing his depressed mood, Gu Qingqing put down the clothes in her hands, took a step forward and hugged the man's thin waist, rubbing her head gently in his arms——
"Brother, you are really amazing. You are already defending our country at the age of 17, and I am still living on your allowance."
Chu Dai was amused by her logical and strange words, and the gloom in his eyes faded away: "But there is a girl who, at the age of seventeen, has already made all the people in the border town eat vegetables."
"That's right, we are all so amazing!" she finally concluded.
Chu Dai held her waist with one hand, lowered his head and placed a gentle kiss between her brows: "Well, both are amazing."
Gu Qingqing smiled widely. She was a little sleepy at first, but now she was full of energy.
She found a watch in the drawer of the cabinet and held it in her hand: "Brother, is this yours?"
Chu Dai was stunned and smiled: "Yes, I bought it at the Overseas Chinese Counter in the department store before coming to the Corps." He never wore it again after coming to the Corps.
He forgot everything.
"What brand is this?" Gu Qingqing saw that the watch was still working, so she played with it for a while, then pulled him to sit on the bed and was about to put it on him.
Chu Dai let her hold his wrist, and watched her unfasten the watch clasp awkwardly and put it on his wrist, and he did not stop her: "Dongfeng, I'll buy you one when I go back this time."
"Really?" Gu Qingqing looked at the watch on his fair wrist and said happily, "I only have an old pocket watch, which my uncle bought for me from a second-hand goods shop in the city. It doesn't work anymore."
"Really." Chu Dai saw her lowering her head to fasten the buckle of her watch, "I'll buy you a similar one. I think there should be a women's version."
"How much?" Gu Qingqing subconsciously felt that this thing must be very expensive. She had never even been to a department store, let alone the Qiaohui counter. But she heard from Uncle Qin that these things required coupons.
Uncle Qin spent 150 yuan on that Feige bicycle, and it took a lot of effort to buy it.
"One hundred and twenty." Chu Dai thought for a moment, lowered his eyes to look at her round profile, his brows softened.
"It's too expensive." Gu Qingqing put the watch on him and fiddled with it for a few times. The watch looked very good on the man's fair and thin wrist. Goudan would definitely not be able to wear the same feeling.
She rolled up her sleeves and looked at her skin which had become a little paler recently, but it still couldn't compare to his.
Gu Qingqing looked confused, and it was unclear who she was trying to persuade: "Let's not buy it."
Chu Dai took in all the changes in her expression in a short period of time, pulled her to sit in his arms, pulled down her sleeves, and played with her fingertips: "Buy it, why not buy it."
"It's rare that you like it." The man looked into her big, round eyes, smiled softly, and held hers tightly with his slender fingers.
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