Chapter 9: Lu Tingxiao's Vacation is Over
That intoxicating, joyful and warm time passed by like a shooting star across the night sky, brief and dazzling. It seemed like just a blink of an eye, and Lu Tingxiao's originally leisurely and relaxing vacation came to an end quietly. Those days that once radiated warm light under the sun have now become precious but distant memories in his heart.
Lu Tingxiao said goodbye to Jiang Ruoxi reluctantly at the train station. Before leaving, Lu Tingxiao gave Jiang Ruoxi the address and phone number of his unit, asking her to write to him often and call him if there was anything urgent.
"Brother Lu, you must take good care of yourself in the army. Don't work too hard. And be careful when you are on a mission. Get on the train. I'll wait for your train to leave before I leave!" Jiang Ruoxi's eyes were filled with reluctance.
"Well, I'm leaving now. Ruoxi, you must take good care of yourself and write to me often. I'll send you a telegram when I arrive at the army!" Lu Tingxiao got on the train, looking back every few steps.
Jiang Ruoxi watched Lu Tingxiao get on the train, and only turned back to go home reluctantly after the train started moving and disappeared from her sight.
After returning home, Jiang Ruoxi held the piece of paper with Lu Tingxiao's address and phone number, feeling reluctant to leave.
The next day she carefully prepared letter paper and envelopes and bought a beautiful fountain pen. Finally, she began to write the letter. In the letter, she recounted the trivialities of her life and also expressed her longing for Lu Tingxiao. Even though they had only been together for a short time, he had already occupied her heart.
A day later, Lu Tingxiao returned to the team smoothly. After packing and putting down his luggage, Lu Tingxiao went straight to the commander's house.
After Lu Tingxiao knocked on the door, a female voice came from inside: "Who is it?"
"Aunt, it's me, Lu Tingxiao!"
"Hey, it's Xiao Lu, why are you here?" Teacher Xie's wife asked with a smile.
"Aunt, is Master Xie here? I need help from Master Xie!"
"I'm here, come in!" Master Xie's wife let Lu Tingxiao in and shouted into the house, "Master Xie, Xiao Lu is looking for you!"
When Lu Tingxiao entered the room, he saw Master Xie sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.
"Report to the commander, Lu Tingxiao has returned to the team!"
"Tingxiao is here, come and sit down, what do you want to talk to me about?" Teacher Xie asked with a smile.
"Master, it's Ruoxi's business!"
"Then come with me to the study and talk!" Teacher Xie said after a moment of hesitation.
Lu Tingxiao and Teacher Xie talked about this matter in the study for an hour. When they came out of the study, it was just in time for dinner. Teacher Xie kept Lu Tingxiao to have dinner before letting him go.
After Lu Tingxiao returned to the team, apart from training every day, he looked forward to hearing from Jiang Ruoxi the most. His comrades joked that he had a girlfriend, but he just smiled and said nothing. Whenever it was late at night and everyone was asleep, he would read Jiang Ruoxi's letter in the dim light, as if he could see her busying around with a bright smile on her face.
Every time Jiang Ruoxi sent a letter, she would count the days on her fingers, calculating when the letter would reach Lu Tingxiao, her heart filled with sweet anticipation. In addition to the letters, Jiang Ruoxi also made dried meat and meat paste and sent them to Lu Tingxiao. This simple and pure emotional exchange became their spiritual sustenance during the time they were apart.
Lu Tingxiao had just received the letter and the dried meat and meat sauce from Jiang Ruoxi and was on his way to the dormitory. Before he reached the dormitory, his comrades robbed him of half of the meat. Lu Tingxiao was so angry that he cursed them as animals. After Lu Tingxiao took the remaining dried meat and meat sauce back to the dormitory, he carefully placed them in the cupboard, preparing to eat them slowly and enjoy the love from his fiancée.
Lu Tingxiao carefully opened the letter Jiang Ruoxi wrote to him. He read the letter in which Jiang Ruoxi described her life after he left and how much she missed him. For a moment, Lu Tingxiao wanted to immediately run to Jiang Ruoxi's side, hold her in his arms, and express his love for her.
That night, he had just laid down when the troops suddenly sounded an emergency assembly whistle. It turned out that a temporary mission had been issued and they had to set off immediately to the mountains to carry out a rescue mission. Lu Tingxiao could only take the necessary items in a hurry and left the letters and food in the dormitory.
The trip lasted more than half a month, during which time communication was inconvenient due to the rugged mountain roads. Jiang Ruoxi had been waiting for Lu Tingxiao's reply, but she couldn't help but feel worried when she didn't get any reply.
After Lu Tingxiao completed his mission and returned, he immediately rushed to the dormitory to check if Jiang Ruoxi's letters and food were safe. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that everything was intact. He quickly wrote a long reply letter, telling Jiang Ruoxi how thrilling this mission was and how much he cared about her more. He also wrote about the funny things his comrades did when they robbed food, and expressed his hope to eat more delicious food next time. Then he sent the letter together with his salary passbook, imagining Jiang Ruoxi's surprise when she received it.
After receiving Lu Tingxiao's letter, she saw that he had been on an urgent mission and had no time to reply to her. Now that the mission was over and he had returned safely, she felt relieved. The letter also said that the passbook inside was his salary passbook, and it was now given to her for safekeeping. He didn't have any big expenses in daily life, and he also received rewards for completing missions. After they got married, he would give all the money to Jiang Ruoxi to manage, and just give her some pocket money every month. In their family, the women were in charge of the money.
She saw the salary passbook that Lu Tingxiao had sent her. She opened it and saw that there was a full 6,500 yuan in it. She had never realized that Lu Tingxiao was so careful with his money. Jiang Ruoxi carefully put away the passbook and put it into the space.
Jiang Ruoxi thought that it was already December and that Liao Province was colder than Beijing, so she went to the market and bought the best wool, intending to knit a sweater for Lu Tingxiao herself.
After buying the wool and returning home, Jiang Ruoxi started knitting a sweater. She knitted carefully, stitch by stitch, according to the measurements of Lu Tingxiao in her memory. When I was busy studying during the day, I would pick up a sweater and knit whenever I had free time; at night, under the dim light, I would concentrate on knitting the sweater in my hands.
After several days and nights of hard work, the sweater was finally finished. It was a thick and warm sweater. Jiang Ruoxi folded it with satisfaction and put it into the package. She also attached a letter, which said, "Brother Lu, this is a sweater I knitted myself. I thought you would not feel cold wearing it under your military uniform in winter."
After Lu Tingxiao received the package, he couldn't wait to open it. When he saw the sweater, his eyes welled up. He put it on immediately. It was the perfect size. It felt as if Jiang Ruoxi was beside him, hugging him gently, warming his body and heart.
The usually cold-hearted Lu Tingxiao wore the sweater knitted by Jiang Ruoxi to show off in the barracks. Now, the whole barracks knew that Captain Lu was engaged and had a fiancée, and his fiancée had knitted a sweater for him.
For a moment, the military camp and the family quarters were full of discussions, all wondering which girl had conquered this living devil.
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