Gu Zhiyuan and Xu Ningyan exchanged a glance, stopped, and nodded.
Seeing the two men's response, the tense expressions of the others visibly relaxed, and they forced out simple, honest smiles: "Us, us too!"
He was sizing up the two of them.
Judging from their ordinary clothes, they were clearly city people; there was something about them that made people feel at ease.
Since the military region sent them, they're all in the same boat.
Rounding it off, that means we're one of them.
Since they're on our side, things are much easier to discuss.
They all crowded around, their faces full of worry: "Comrades, the military region asked us to come here to get some kind of certificate? How do we get it? What if we say something wrong? We're really worried—"
"That's right, we don't know anything about it—"
"They're not going to stop us from leaving once we're here, are they? I haven't finished cleaning up my floor yet—"
...
Everyone chimed in with their own opinions.
Gu Zhiyuan cleared his throat, stepped in front of Xu Ningyan, and softened his tone: "Don't be afraid, everyone. The military region wants us to cooperate with the investigation, so we'll tell the truth and say whatever we know! If we know something, we'll say it; if we don't know something, we'll say we don't know! Don't you all trust our soldiers? If we cooperate with their work honestly, the faster the investigation is completed, the sooner we can go home. Don't you all agree?"
These people were already somewhat lost and confused. Most of them were farmers from the countryside, had never traveled far, and didn't have much experience.
I was quite nervous when I first arrived.
With Gu Zhiyuan standing there, his calm tone inspiring trust, everyone unconsciously took his words to heart and nodded repeatedly: "Comrade, you're right! Now we know what to do!"
"To be honest, I know how to do that!"
...
The group of people who had been worried all the way finally felt much more at ease, and their smiles became more genuine.
The group shifted aside to make room for Gu Zhiyuan and Xu Ningyan: "It's still early, and we don't know anyone here, so it's good to chat outside. Brother, sister, come and sit down—"
"That's right, this military guesthouse is so clean. The mattresses and blankets are folded even more neatly than the tofu sold at our supply and marketing cooperative. Everything is also arranged so tidy that I don't dare to touch it for fear of messing it up!"
"I don't dare touch that bed. My clothes are dirtier than other people's mattresses! I'm afraid I'll get them dirty and have to wash them!"
"I'm worried about whether to spread the blankets out at night or not, and if I do, how am I going to put them back in place in the morning?"
...
Gu Zhiyuan didn't stand on ceremony and plopped down in the middle, handing the basin to Xu Ningyan and winking at her: "Take the basin back first, I'll chat with the older brothers and aunties for a bit—"
Xu Ningyan readily accepted the two basins and walked towards her room.
As I walked into the lobby, I could still hear a voice behind me: "Hey bro, is that your sister?"
Then Gu Zhiyuan replied, "That's my betrothed—"
Xu Ningyan pursed her lips and went back inside.
After she finished packing her things, washed all the clothes she had changed out of, and hung them up to dry.
Gu Zhiyuan also returned. Since the door was open, he stood at the door and knocked: "Are you ready? Let's get ready to eat!"
Xu Ningyan turned around and locked the door. She saw the same group of people she had been chatting with earlier, each holding a child of about half a year old, standing at the front desk, waiting for them expectantly.
Seeing the two of them arrive, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
Gu Zhiyuan walked over, spoke to the receptionist, counted the number of people, collected the tickets to eat in the cafeteria, and led the group towards the cafeteria.
On the way to the canteen, Xu Ningyan learned that they had also arrived in Ganzhou today, only an hour or two earlier than Xu Ningyan and the others. The green-clad soldiers had given them instructions, but they couldn't remember them and were also timid.
With Gu Zhiyuan and Xu Ningyan leading the way, everyone feels like they've found their backbone. They look to them for guidance in everything they do, and feel confident in their actions.
As expected of a military region guesthouse, the canteen was spotless.
Many soldiers were also queuing up to eat. When they saw Gu Zhiyuan and his group, someone said something, and the soldiers at the front of the line all made way for Gu Zhiyuan and his group to go in and eat first.
Gu Zhiyuan knew that these soldiers knew their identities; they were all family members and orphans of fallen comrades, which was why they had done this. This was also their way of showing their love and concern.
He nodded, thanked them, and led his people to the front.
The adults following behind were trembling with fear, while the children, being less sensible, could only swallow their saliva as they smelled the aroma of food wafting from the cafeteria.
After showing their tickets, someone led them to a table in the corner and gestured for them to sit down.
Before long, each table was served a large basket of steamed buns, a pot of braised mutton stewed with potatoes, and a pot of stewed mixed vegetables.
When the dishes were served, everyone's eyes widened, and no one dared to pick up their chopsticks.
"This, this is for us to eat?" This is huge chunks of meat! Who can afford to eat meat cooked in a pot like this?
The young soldier helping to serve the food nodded and said warmly, "You've come from afar, this is a special treat approved by our leaders, to give you all a little extra food! Eat up! It's all you can eat!"
Even after hearing this, everyone was still not entirely reassured and looked at Gu Zhiyuan again.
Gu Zhiyuan looked around and saw that only their two tables had braised mutton and potatoes. The other tables had ordinary stewed potatoes and stewed vegetables.
All the soldiers ate quietly and quickly, no one glanced in their direction, and no one said anything, as if it were perfectly normal.
For some reason, Xu Ningyan's eyes felt hot when she saw this scene, and she lowered her head to rub them.
Gu Zhiyuan looked at the expectant eyes of everyone at the table and nodded: "Eat!"
Now everyone was like tigers descending from the mountain, reaching out their hands.
He grabbed a big steamed bun with one hand and stuffed it into his mouth, while his other hand was also busy, reaching into the pot of mutton stew with potatoes.
Gu Zhiyuan knew that he and Xu Ningyan were somewhat fastidious about cleanliness, so he quietly took a few steamed buns and put them aside. Then he quickly picked up a spoon from the basin, scooped two spoonfuls of stewed mixed vegetables into his and Xu Ningyan's bowls, and gestured for Xu Ningyan to eat.
Those sitting at the same table, seeing the two only eating stew, couldn't help but gesture with their chopsticks: "Why aren't you eating any meat! This is mutton, you'd be missing out if you didn't eat it—"
On one hand, they enthusiastically offered to help Gu Zhiyuan and Xu Ningyan.
Gu Zhiyuan quickly declined, "No need, we're in a new place and a bit unaccustomed to the climate, so we don't dare eat meat. We'll just eat something light."
The person at the table looked at me with pity, "You city folks just don't have the same stomachs as us country folks! What a pity, we can't eat such good meat at home!"
Gu Zhiyuan smiled.
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