Qian Sheng returned home in a cheerful mood and saw Qian Duoduo and Qian Rao making small flower baskets out of corn husks. Seeing this, he smiled contentedly. The effort his family was putting in to earn more money made him want to smile. He thought about the three letters in his pocket and immediately called out, "Jinxiu, Jinxiu."
Jin Jinxiu came out of the kitchen with a spatula in her hand and said, "What are you shouting for? I'm cooking."
Upon seeing Jin Jinxiu's fierce outburst, Qian Sheng immediately said, "Okay, okay, okay, you cook, you cook."
Jin Jinxiu rolled her eyes at him, then turned and went back to the kitchen to cook. It was so much better to have rice to cook than to eat wild vegetables and sweet potatoes like the other day.
However, the weather is gradually getting colder. Yesterday, Qian Xiang, Qian Gui, Qian Mao, and Qian Rao went up the mountain and picked four more baskets of hawthorns and wild berries. This is the last batch before winter. Before the meeting today, the old man opened the letters of introduction, adding Qian Xiang this time in addition to the three people from last time. This time, there's quite a lot of stuff, and it would be difficult for two women to handle it. So bringing a young man along not only helps with carrying things but also deters any troublemakers.
Today, they spent the whole day making beet juice, removing hawthorn seeds, and then boiling the beet juice to make hawthorn rolls. They were sore all over, but incredibly excited. Don't ask why; it's all money!
Last time, we only filled a small jar with mountain nails and still made a lot of money. This time, we filled a jar and a half with red berries and a jar and a half with mountain nails. The red berries were placed at the bottom, and Qian Duoduo put a newspaper on top of them, then placed the mountain nails on the newspaper.
After finishing his meal, Qian Sheng took out the three letters, handing one to Qian Mao, one to Qian Rao, and the other to Qian Duoduo, saying with a smile, "These three letters should have been sent by your eldest and second brothers. One for each of you."
When Qian Mao and his two siblings saw the three letters in their hands, their eyes lit up. Qian Mao immediately looked at his own and Qian Rao's envelopes. The dates on Qian Duoduo's envelopes were probably the earliest and the thinnest, but he didn't care. He slowly cut open the envelopes with scissors along the edges and took out two sheets of paper.
Qian Mao glanced at them and saw that they were written in his eldest brother's handwriting. After reading them, Qian Mao said, "These two were indeed written by my eldest and second brothers. They must have been written when we first arrived at the army."
Qian Mao said, "The two of them just arrived at the army. They were able to eat their fill and were given new uniforms. They both said they looked especially smart in their new uniforms and that they would take a picture and send it back to their parents and younger siblings when they had the chance."
As Jin Jinxiu listened to Qian Mao read Qian Feng and Qian Yu's letters, her eyes immediately welled up with tears. These two silly children were not well taken care of by their parents.
After Qian Mao finished reading, Qian Rao eagerly exclaimed, "My turn! My turn!" Qian Rao picked up the scissors, cut open the envelope, and placed the scissors in front of Qian Duoduo. He smiled and said, "This envelope is so thick; there must be a lot written inside." But when he took it out, there was only one page. He looked inside and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow!"
Qian Sheng glared at him and said, "If you have something to say, say it. What are you shouting for?"
Qian Rao emptied the contents of the envelope. Qian Sheng sat up straight in surprise as he looked at the various tickets that had been pulled out from the kang (a heated brick bed). He said, "How can there be so much stuff? Quickly, see whose letter this is?"
Qian Rao took a look and said, "This was written by my second brother. I can't even recognize some of his scrawled handwriting. I'll just try to figure it out based on the context."
Qian Sheng snorted and said, "Hurry up and read." He was so anxious. This brat had no sense at all and clearly needed to be taught a lesson.
Qin Rao immediately took the letter and began to read it. It turned out that this letter was written and sent three months after they enlisted, that is, half a month ago. He had just finished his basic training and was selected to go to Jiangxi Province, which was thousands of miles away from Heilongjiang. Because of the nature of the army, he couldn't mention the training content, but his life there was not bad. The training was a bit tough, but he could eat his fill and had meat at every meal. He also sent back a lot of receipts, which were all issued to them in the two months since they enlisted. They had enough to eat and the army issued uniforms, so they didn't need these receipts. So they sent them all back. There was also a remittance slip, which was his allowance for the past two months. He asked his father to take the remittance slip to the savings bank to withdraw the money. Finally, he said that Qian Yu was doing well in the army and his parents didn't need to worry.
Qian Sheng looked at the receipts and then picked up the remittance slip. It wasn't much money, only about 22 yuan, but he was only a soldier who had been in the army for three months. It was clear he hadn't kept a single penny for himself and had sent it all home. He sighed. His son was too sensible; being a father put a lot of pressure on him.
Qian Duoduo had already cut open her envelope with scissors while Qian Rao was reading the letter. She opened the envelope and saw two pages of letter paper and some receipts inside. She walked over and, next to the receipts sent by Qian Yu, emptied the receipts from her own envelope.
Qian Sheng looked at the two piles of receipts, sighed, and said to Qian Duoduo, "Duoduo, read your older brother's letter too."
Qian Duoduo nodded and quickly glanced at the letter Qian Feng had written. Just like in the previous life, his elder brother had gone to an island, one in the south and one in the north of China. It wasn't until three years later, when his elder brother became a company commander, that he asked for leave to visit his family and return home.
She read the letter as she read. Qian Feng and Qian Yu had spent a month in basic training in Dalian, Liaoning Province. During this time, the second son was praised by the instructors for his exceptional shooting accuracy. She herself, in comparison, had only average grades. After basic training, he was assigned to a border island, in the southernmost part of the country, while their home was in the northernmost part. Unable to return home to care for his parents, he only hoped they would be healthy and that he would make a name for himself and bring honor to the family. She and the second son had made a pact during basic training: it would be best if they could be together, but if not, they would write home frequently, sending their stipends and receipts back home. She hoped that Qian Mao, Qian Rao, and their younger sister would study hard and take care of their parents on their brother's behalf.
Jin Jinxiu covered her face with her hands and sobbed as she listened to the end. Her beloved son had risked his life for the family, and as a mother, she was naturally heartbroken. Her second son was doing alright, but her eldest son was stationed on the border, and the border was not a peaceful place.
Qian Sheng said to Qian Duoduo, "Girl, go through all the tickets your eldest and second brothers have and see what they have. Tomorrow, you and your mother can go to the savings bank and withdraw the money. This is all money that your eldest and second brothers earned with their lives. Now that we can earn money ourselves, let's keep this money for them to use when they get married in the future."
Hearing this, Jin Jinxiu sniffed and said, "Your father is right. We can support ourselves now. We should keep this money for your older brothers to use when they get married."
Qian Duoduo obediently straightened the receipts and said, "Mother, here are four one-foot cloth coupons, four five-jin grain coupons, four five-jin oil coupons, and two ten-jin flour coupons. These should be what my eldest brother and his family usually give out." She then looked at Qian Feng's remittance slip, which totaled 28 yuan, six yuan more than her second brother's.
Qian Rao said, "Big Brother still earns more."
Qian Mao thought for a moment and said, "I guess the eldest brother is stationed on the border, so his allowance will be higher than the second brother's."
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
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