Autumn of 1962.
The Four Nine Cities.
Wangjialou Village, on the outskirts of the city, is a threshing ground.
Early in the morning, a group of commune members from the second production team were busy with the autumn harvest.
Having just recovered from the difficult period, everyone's faces were filled with the joy of a harvest.
The young man, dressed in a white coat and with a white towel draped around his neck, squatted down slightly, grabbed a large sack full of wheat weighing about 120 or 130 pounds with both hands, and with a heave, hoisted it onto his shoulder.
"Da Bao, take it easy, you're still injured."
Seeing this, Aunt Li quickly threw down the hemp rope tying the sack and stepped forward to support the back of the sack. "Besides," she said, "he hasn't even gotten married yet, so don't strain your back."
"Hey, Second Aunt, don't worry, my injuries have almost healed these past few days."
Wang Dabao slung the sack over his shoulder and chuckled, "Besides, I'm a young man in my early twenties, surely I have the strength."
Aunt Li watched as Wang Dabao hoisted the sacks onto the mule cart and then turned back to carry another sack, reaching out to stop him.
"Dabao, it's not that your aunt is criticizing you, but you weren't like this before. Why are you working so hard today?"
Aunt Li grabbed the corner of her headscarf and wiped the sweat from the back of her neck, looking at Wang Dabao with a puzzled smile.
"Is there any need to say more? He must have his eye on someone's daughter, otherwise why would this kid be putting on such a show?"
Wang Dabao's third uncle, Wang Tiemin, who was within five degrees of kinship, chuckled, put down his work, took out his old man's cigarette, and started rolling it. "Tell me, are you from our village, or from some neighboring village?"
Wang Dabao wiped his forehead, and the sweat on his arms made him look radiant in the sunlight.
With his tall stature and handsome face resembling Daniel Wu, he attracted the attention of several unmarried female members from nearby teams.
Many curious people from the second team also gathered around.
"Da Bao, is what your Third Uncle said true?"
Aunt Li immediately perked up, determined to get to the bottom of things. "Your parents passed away early. Tell your aunt about this, and I'll act as a matchmaker for you."
Wang Dabao waved his hands repeatedly, about to explain, when he heard someone shouting his name at the entrance of the threshing ground.
"Da Bao, is Wang Da Bao here? Hurry up and bring him over."
Wang Dabao looked in the direction of the voice and saw it was the captain of the second production team. He quickly waved to him.
The second team leader hurriedly ran over, grabbed Wang Dabao's arm, and headed out of the threshing ground.
"Hey, Captain, explain what happened first!" Wang Dabao trudged along on the straw, being pulled along by the captain. Judging from the captain's anxious expression, something serious had clearly happened.
Wang Dabao's head was like a pot of boiling water.
The parents of the original owner died in battle on the front lines in their early years.
As a family member of a martyr, the deceased joined the army at the age of sixteen, served the country for seven years, and only returned to civilian life last month.
The reason was that he had suffered a waist and abdomen injury in a border conflict and was no longer suitable to stay on the front line. The commander wanted to transfer him to logistics.
In order not to hold his colleagues back, Wang Dabao voluntarily chose to transfer to civilian work. His superiors reluctantly agreed, but asked him to go home and recover from his injuries before arranging a job for him.
And he had only been here for three days, and it seemed that neither his predecessor nor he himself had made any mistakes in the past month or so. So why was the captain looking for him...?
Before he could figure things out, he heard the captain's voice.
“Your uncle Wang Zhen was injured at work. I heard it’s quite serious. The steel mill has already sent someone to pick you up.”
"My uncle suffered a serious workplace injury. Is the factory picking me up?"
Wang Dabao frowned and immediately searched his past life's memories.
My father had three brothers: my eldest uncle, my second uncle, and my parents. All of them died on the front lines. I do have an uncle who works in the city, but the last time I saw him was before I joined the army, so my memory of him is a bit hazy.
After all, he took over Wang Dabao's identity, and now that his uncle is in trouble, the nephew still has to fulfill his responsibilities.
As we arrived at the threshing ground with the team leader, a jeep was parked on the side of the road.
Outside the car, a young man was pacing back and forth, taking deep drags on his cigarette.
Upon seeing the captain bring Wang Dabao out, the young man immediately came forward. After confirming their identities, the jeep carrying Wang Dabao sped towards Beijing.
Through a brief conversation with the young man, Wang Dabao learned that his uncle's condition was not optimistic, and this might be the last time the uncle and nephew would see each other.
Upon entering the hospital, the young man led Wang Dabao to a ward.
When Wang Dabao saw his uncle lying on the hospital bed, pale and on the verge of death, he couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion.
"Uncle, I'm here."
Wang Dabao squatted down in front of the hospital bed and called out softly.
Hearing the call, Wang Zhen slowly opened his eyes, and the moment he saw Wang Dabao, his cloudy eyes gradually brightened.
"Da Bao".
Wang Zhen reached out his hand tremblingly, and Wang Dabao understood and immediately grabbed his uncle's hand.
"Good...good boy." Wang Zhen's eyes were filled with tears. He squeezed Wang Dabao's hand with all his might, and then slowly closed his eyes.
He passed away.
Wang Dabao felt conflicted and let out a long sigh.
Besides the young man driving the car, there was also a middle-aged man standing nearby.
"Young comrade, please accept my condolences. Master Wang was able to see you before he passed away, and he was already holding on to his last breath."
The middle-aged man walked up, put his hand on Wang Dabao's shoulder, and then handed him an envelope and a set of keys. "This is your uncle's will for you, and these are the house keys."
Wang Dabao slowly stood up and took the two items.
Just as I was wondering, the middle-aged man in front of me spoke again.
“I am Yang Xinmin, the factory director of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill. Your uncle is a good employee of our factory. I feel very guilty about this accident. It was due to our management negligence. On behalf of the factory, I would like to express my condolences to you.”
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