Unlike the lively scene when they arrived, the children were all quietly looking out of the truck on the way back.
As I watched the fields recede further and further away, my feelings grew increasingly complicated.
It's not that they're reluctant to part with it. Frankly, they don't want to live such a hard life at all. They've endured these past two or three years by gritting their teeth.
Even now, my body still aches and hurts, and I still have wounds from working.
But precisely because of these things, they felt life was even harder. They believed their comfortable lives were only due to good fortune, being born into such families, or perhaps they were grateful that their parents were capable enough to provide for them.
But apart from that, they seem to have nothing else to offer.
Just like Sister Li Ping, she's afraid of getting tired from work and picky about food.
And they even dream of becoming great heroes, worthy of admiration, and of being as outstanding as their parents.
Why did I take it all so for granted before?
Just because he has a good father?
"Big sister, will we come again in the future?" Li Aidang asked Li Ping, who was standing next to him.
Li Ping is memorizing the knowledge in her textbook. She is usually very busy, and in order to maintain good grades, she certainly can't waste any study time.
However, she also remembered Su Yu's reminder to protect her eyes, so she quickly glanced at the book and silently memorized the text.
Upon hearing Li Aidang's words, she replied, "If you want to come, you will definitely come in the future."
Li Aidang: "..." Actually, I didn't really want to come; I don't like doing chores. But I also felt I needed to challenge myself.
Li Ping understood their thoughts and feelings; she didn't like farm work either. Back in her hometown, she envied the children who didn't have to do farm work, because it was truly exhausting.
"Actually, it's not that you have to do farm work all the time. Everyone's path in life is different. The reason I brought you here is to let you understand the hardships of farmers. When you become cadres or join the army, remember to work for the benefit of farmers. Think about the food you eat; it's grown by them working tirelessly, just like you did before. We should be grateful."
The children listened attentively to Li Ping's speech.
They discovered that Li Ping, whom they had always thought was very serious, sometimes actually made a lot of sense.
"We must learn from the spirit of the farmers who are not afraid of hardship. If you don't like doing farm work, you must make yourself capable of doing other jobs. Being a worker, soldier, writer, cadre... all require hard work. Only farmers who can endure hardship can have enough to eat. Only those who can endure hardship can achieve success."
"Big sister, I want to be a soldier when I grow up. I will get up at five o'clock every day to train. I will definitely become an excellent soldier."
Li Ping smiled slightly and said, "Cultural knowledge cannot be neglected either. You need to learn geography to understand battlefields with different terrains; you need cultural knowledge to write battle plans; you need to learn history to learn about classic battles; you also need to learn mathematics and physics to calculate the attack range of cannons; and you need to learn chemistry so you can configure your own weapons in the future."
The children who were listening to Li Ping were stunned by her words.
Li Aidang's facial muscles twitched, and his voice trembled as he said, "Sister, do soldiers need to know so much?"
"You don't need to know all this to be a soldier, but to be the best soldier you need to know all this. If it's just about strength, can you beat the farmers? Besides, the country still has military universities. If soldiers don't need to learn, why do we need military universities?"
Everyone looked at their own arms and legs and fell silent.
They always thought being a soldier was about physical prowess, but it turns out it's more about intelligence.
Seeing the admiring looks on everyone's faces, Li Aihong snorted, "That's alarmist. Aren't your dads and my dads both from peasant backgrounds? Who learned so much stuff?"
Li Ping said seriously, "You only look at your parents' background, but you don't see how much they learned in the war."
“Sister, I believe you!” Li Aidang said firmly.
He spent a lot of time in the military and had a lot of contact with the older generation. Many of those uncles knew a lot about things.
"Sister Li Ping, we believe in you too."
"Yes, my dad knows a lot, and he can even draw strategic maps."
“My dad can also read very complex maps.”
“My dad reads military newspapers all the time, but I can’t understand them.”
The children all chimed in.
Li Aijun silently moved closer to Li Ping. She felt it was better to sit closer to her older sister.
Li Aihong sat on the side, sulking.
They're all traitors. I used to be on good terms with her, and even though I knew she disliked Li Ping and knew Li Ping came from the countryside, I helped her ostracize Li Ping. Now they've all betrayed me.
After returning to the military region, the children excitedly ran home.
The families of the military personnel from these military regions were not in the compound, and they were quite unaccustomed to it. After waiting for a while, they finally got to come back.
Seeing their children looking somewhat disheveled, some mothers felt incredibly sorry for them.
Li's mother was also upset, feeling that her eldest daughter was really making a fuss, insisting on taking her younger siblings out to work, and even taking other families with her.
What's so great about farm work? She did a lot of farm work at home back then. Later, she worked alongside the villagers in the revolutionary base area, and she's been doing it her whole life. All she wanted was for her children to have a better life now. But instead, she had to go through all this trouble.
Li's mother reached out and hugged Li Aidang and Li Aijun, looking at Li Ping and saying, "Don't cause trouble anymore. Look at how those children are; won't they complain about our family later?"
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