The old man's hands trembled slightly as he gently stroked the medal and said, "Jianguo, this is a Liberation Medal. It is a recognition of the country's efforts for us veterans!"
Xu Jianguo did not speak, waiting for Li Dashan to continue speaking. The old man exhaled and continued: "The medal in my hand belongs to an old comrade of mine. After the end of the war to aid North Korea, we were arranged to return to our original unit. In 1955, we went to the capital together to attend the commendation meeting. The superiors awarded us this medal. After the commendation meeting, we were ready to go home to visit our relatives, but before we got home, I received a new order on the train. The superiors asked me to carry out a special secret mission, so I returned to the army overnight and was then I sent it to the plane, but I didn't expect my old comrade to be on the plane. Later, during the mission, my comrade died. Before he died, he gave me this medal, hoping that I would give it to his wife. After completing the mission, I returned to my original unit. Due to my injury, I chose to retire. After retiring, I took the medal to my comrade's hometown, but after much inquiry, I couldn't find his family. I went to several departments, but no one knew where his family had gone. So I returned to Sandaoliang with this medal.
Li Dashan finished his story in one breath. Xu Jianguo listened carefully without interrupting him. He knew that the old man probably had something else to say.
"Jianguo, I know the confidentiality level of the place where you are going to work this time should be quite high, so I would like to ask you for a favor. Take this medal and ask around for me to see if you can find the family of my old comrade-in-arms. If you can, please help me hand this medal over to his family." Li Dashan said.
[Ding, trigger the system to select a task. Do you agree to Li Dashan's request?]
[Option 1: Agree to Li Dashan's request and reward him with mastery of electromagnetic wave knowledge]
[Option 2: Reject Li Dashan's request and reward him with proficiency in electronic engineering knowledge]
Xu Jianguo thought for a moment and said, "Grandpa Dashan, I promise you! If I can find your old comrade's family, I will definitely give this medal to them."
[Ding, selection completed, bonus skills issued, do you want to learn now?]
"No!" Xu Jianguo said in his mind.
"Okay, Jianguo, let me thank you on behalf of my old comrade-in-arms!" Li Dashan said a little excitedly, and was about to bow to Xu Jianguo, but was quickly stopped by him.
Li Dashan wrote down the basic information of his comrades and handed it to Xu Jianguo together with the Liberation Medal. The two chatted for a while, and then Wen Sitian brought Funiu in.
"Grandpa Dashan, I cooked some millet porridge for you, steamed cornmeal cakes, and mixed some pickles. Let me know what else you want to eat and I'll make it for you." Wen Sitian said.
"It's okay, it's okay, come over and have a rest!" Li Dashan said with a smile.
"Grandpa Dashan, I'm not tired!" Wen Sitian said.
After staying at the old man's house for a while, seeing that it was getting dark, Xu Jianguo said goodbye. Li Dashan, with reluctance in his eyes, sent Xu Jianguo and the other two to the gate of the courtyard, and told him to be careful when he went out and to come back often.
After Xu Jianguo agreed repeatedly, the old man watched them leave until their backs became blurred. Then Li Dashan raised his hand to wipe his slightly moist eyes and slowly walked back to the yard.
As the three of them walked along the path home, Wen Sitian suddenly asked, "Jianguo, do you think Uncle Mancang, Uncle Erniu, and Grandpa Dashan will feel that I stole you away from them? Will they dislike me in the future?"
Xu Jianguo was stunned. He didn't expect Wen Sitian to think that. Seeing her uneasy eyes, he quickly said, "Silly girl, why would you think that? In fact, even if I hadn't met you, I would have left sooner or later. Let's not talk about the issue of Funiu going to school. Even my job wouldn't allow me to translate at home forever. So my leaving is related to you, but not directly. I just want to live with my lover. Even if the king comes, I am right."
Seeing Xu Jianguo playing tricks in front of her, Wen Sitian burst out laughing and said unhappily, "You're so unruly! Aren't you afraid that Fu Niu will laugh at you?"
"Haha, you are so naughty. Shame on you!" Funiu, who was beside her, stretched out a finger, scratched her cute little face three times, and spoke.
"Okay, you actually dared to talk about your brother, wait and see how I'm going to deal with you!" Xu Jianguo pretended to be fierce and said, then pounced on Funiu.
Funiu giggled and dodged, Xu Jianguo chased her from behind, the big and small circled around Wen Sitian, the sounds of the three people laughing and playing spread far, far away.
After returning home, Wen Sitian wanted to cook, but was pushed into the house by Xu Jianguo.
He took out the washed fruits and placed them on the table, then told her to have a good rest. Then Xu Jianguo turned and went into the main room to light the stove. After a while, the kang in the room became hot.
Looking at the time, it was already five o'clock in the evening. Xu Jianguo put the leftover dishes from the previous night into the space and asked Fu Bo to give them to Gu Mingqi and the others. Then he put all the dishes into the dishwasher to wash them, and then brought out the dinner prepared by Du Yu.
There was no rush to eat. Xu Jianguo first fed Xiao Hei some dog food and canned food, squatted beside and watched it eat. When the time was almost up, he brought the steaming hot meal into the house.
Today's dinner was also relatively simple. There was no big fish and meat as before. This was what Xu Jianguo specifically told Du Yu. It consisted of rice porridge, red bean paste buns, scrambled eggs with green onions and shrimps, stir-fried celery and cucumber with dipping sauce. It was mainly light and refreshing.
"Where did you get the bean paste?" Wen Sitian asked in surprise.
"I cooked it before and put it in the yard to freeze. I originally wanted to make breakfast with it, but I didn't have time to do it." Xu Jianguo said with a smile.
"Haha, so sweet!" Funiu said with a smile after taking a bite of the red bean paste bun.
"If you like it, I'll make it for you often in the future!" said Xu Jianguo.
After everyone finished their meal, Wen Sitian went to wash the dishes while Xu Jianguo was reading in the house. When she finished and came in, Xu Jianguo put down the book in his hand, went to the yard, and took out a huge wooden bathtub from the space, which was big enough for two adults to sit in and take a bath.
This bathtub was made of wood that Xu Jianguo brought back from the mountains a few days before the Chinese New Year. He then asked Fu Bo to make it for him. It was made from the same batch of wood as the wooden blocks used as chairs in the house.
Xu Jianguo carried the brand new bathtub back into the house. Before he even entered the door, Wen Sitian and Funiu stared at him with wide eyes, not knowing what he was going to do.
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