The whole family has settled down now, except for going up the mountain to collect firewood and bundle grass, they no longer go to the commune's black market. However, Qian Sheng still goes to the commune for the monthly meeting, bringing letters and tickets from Qian Feng and Qian Yu.
Qian Duoduo looked at her pocket money, thought for a moment, and then found Jin Jinxiu and said, "Mom, look, my eldest brother and second brother have sent us several letters. Shouldn't we write back to them too?"
Upon hearing this, Jin Jinxiu slapped her thigh and said, "That's right! The eldest and second eldest brothers always write to us, we should write back too. You know, your mother had completely forgotten about it, she's only happy to read the letters. It has to be my youngest daughter, that's why I say you're so thoughtful!" She glanced at the two simple-minded boys chopping wood in the yard and said, "Those two blockheads, they never even thought about writing back to their eldest and second eldest brothers." Qian Mao and Qian Rao, who were chopping wood in the yard, had no idea that their mother was gossiping about them inside. They were still having a great time chopping wood, seeing who could chop more and better.
After dinner, Jin Jinxiu brought up the matter of replying to Qian Feng and Qian Yu's letters. Qian Sheng was taken aback and said, "We really should write back to them, the New Year is just around the corner." He looked at the three eager children and said, "Our Duoduo has the prettiest handwriting, so Duoduo will write the first letter." Qian Mao and Qian Rao had no objection to their younger sister writing the reply, as long as it wasn't the other party.
Qian Duoduo was surprised and delighted to have been given such a challenging task. She immediately went to her room, took out her notebook, looked at it, and said, "Dad, isn't this just letter paper? Besides, I can't write more than a few words on it."
Qian Sheng saw that it was indeed true and said, "Okay, tomorrow Lao San and Duo Duo will come to the commune with me. I'll go to the meeting, and Lao San will take Duo Duo to the post office to buy letter paper, envelopes and stamps."
Qian Rao immediately asked, "Father, I want to go too."
As soon as Qian Rao finished speaking, Qian Sheng glared at him and said, "That means we'll have to write another letter of introduction. The brigade's letter of introduction doesn't belong to our family, so we should save as many as we can."
Qian Rao was ruthlessly suppressed and could only pout and mutter, "You won't let me go. It's always the third brother, and you won't let me go."
Jin Jinxiu kicked his leg, and he had no choice but to shut up.
Qian Mao hadn't expected to suddenly receive such a delightful task, and he immediately exclaimed, "Yes, I will definitely buy the things and take good care of my sister." Qian Mao's words greatly pleased Qian Sheng.
The next day, Qian Sheng went to a meeting at the commune, taking Qian Duoduo and Qian Mao with him. Li Dafa looked at Qian Duoduo and Qian Mao and asked, "Are Qian Mao and Duoduo going to the commune too?"
Qian Sheng nodded and said, "I just wanted them to go to the commune to buy some things."
Li Dafa wanted to gossip a bit, but seeing that Qian Sheng didn't seem to have much desire to chat, he kept quiet.
Upon arriving at the commune, Qian Sheng and Li Dafa went to a meeting.
Qian Duoduo and Qian Mao went to the post office and bought a stack of letter paper, two envelopes, and two stamps.
Thinking that he might write to his older brothers often in the future, Qian Duoduo looked up and asked, "Third brother, how many dollars do you have left?"
Qian Mao said, "My mother gave me a total of 10 yuan. I just bought letter paper, envelopes and stamps, which cost 1.2 yuan in total. The stamps and envelopes were the most expensive."
Qian Duoduo nodded; of course she knew that. She bought a stack of five envelopes for 50 cents; to send letters to her two older brothers, she bought two stamps, one for Jiangxi Province and one for Hainan Island. The Jiangxi stamp was cheaper, costing 21 cents; the Hainan stamp, being farther, cost 32 cents. The rest was for stationery.
Qian Duoduo and Qian Mao whispered to each other, "We'll be writing to our eldest and second brothers more often in the future, so why don't we buy more stamps, envelopes, and stationery at once, so we don't have to keep coming back?"
Qian Mao's thought was: if he doesn't buy too much, he can come to the commune to buy more often, but if he buys too much, he won't be able to come to the commune to play anymore.
Seeing Qian Mao's hesitant expression, Qian Duoduo asked, "Third Brother, what's wrong?"
Qian Mao shared his thoughts with Qian Duoduo, who smiled and said, "Third Brother, things are a bit tense in the commune right now. It's safer to stay in the village."
Qian Mao blushed upon hearing Qian Duoduo's words. Indeed, it was common to see people wearing red armbands on the street these days. They had just been questioned, and if Qian Sheng hadn't been with them, the two of them might not have been able to get away so quickly.
Qian Mao said in a low voice, "I just feel that staying at home is boring."
Qian Duoduo said with a smile, "You'll find it interesting, Third Brother."
Qian Mao said to Qian Duoduo, "Little sister, you're really hurting my feelings."
Qian Duoduo said with a grin, "Third Brother, you're overthinking it."
Qian Mao then took Qian Duoduo back to the post office and bought a lot of letter paper, envelopes, and stamps. The post office staff, seeing them buy so much letter paper, envelopes, and stamps, asked, "What are you doing buying so much?"
Qian Duoduo said with a smile, "I have two older brothers serving in the military in other places, so I have to send two copies of every letter. I buy extra just in case."
Upon hearing that the person was a military family member, the other party immediately showed great respect, especially since there were two military personnel in the family.
Qian Mao and Qian Duoduo packed all the envelopes, letters, and stamps into their sister's small backpack, and then the two of them went to the commune gate to wait for Qian Sheng.
When Qian Sheng and Li Dafa walked out of the commune gate, they saw Qian Mao leading Qian Duoduo standing not far from the gate.
Li Dafa laughed and said, "You guys are quick!"
Qian Duoduo said with a smile, "Uncle Dafa, we just arrived too."
Everyone returned to Beian Village together. Qian Sheng took his children home, and Li Dafa also returned home. As soon as he got home, he saw his third son fighting with his sister. He thought about the Qian family's children and had never heard of them fighting. Looking at his own children, his eldest daughter was already 20 years old, and his youngest son was only 9 years old, yet the two of them could fight each other.
He saw his wife watching from the side, so he went over and put a shoe sole on each of the two children, then put on the shoes and hummed as he went into the house.
Jin Jinxiu was also dumbfounded when she saw what Qian Duoduo had taken out of her small backpack: "Why did you buy so much?"
Qian Duoduo said with a smile, "The main reason is that we always need to write letters to our eldest and second eldest brothers. We use so many letters, so we bought a few extra to keep on hand. We can write to them whenever we need to, just like when we miss our eldest and second eldest brothers, we can write to them."
Jin Jinxiu smiled and said, "Okay, you can write about your eldest and second brothers. But we can't keep writing, it's too wasteful."
Seeing Jin Jinxiu's expression of both relief and heartache, Qian Duoduo snuggled into her arms. It's so wonderful to have a mother who cares for and respects her child!
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