After reading the letter of introduction, the village chief returned it to An Moxue. Judging from her clothes, her family background was similar to Chu Dongmei's. The village chief did not make things difficult for her, and simply said, "Welcome, young comrade, to visit your friends."
An Moxue replied, "Thank you, Uncle Village Chief. I'm sorry to have troubled you."
After An Moxue finished speaking, Chu Dongmei asked, "Uncle Village Chief, have I received any mail in the village recently? Has anyone picked up any mail for me? Just in the last half month."
The village chief thought for a moment and said, "I don't know of any, but you can check at the village office."
The two stood up, and Chu Dongmei said, "Uncle Village Chief, Auntie, then we won't bother you any longer. We'll go to the village office."
The village chief's aunt tried to persuade him to stay, saying, "You've just arrived and haven't even said a few words yet! Stay a little longer."
"No, Auntie, we want to go to the village office to look for the letter."
After saying that, the two got up and left the house.
After seeing the people off, the village chief's aunt returned to the house and said to the village chief, "These conditions are good enough. Look at all that greenery, from head to toe, it's brand new."
As he spoke, he picked up the cigarettes on the kang (a heated brick bed) and examined them from all angles, asking, "Old man, how much are these cigarettes?"
"It has to be at least seven or eight cents, and you also need cigarette coupons,"
"Goodness, that pack of cigarettes must cost at least a dollar!"
"Pretty much! They obviously have plenty of money."
"Then tell me, when they said they were looking for a letter, did they mean they sent one that should have arrived long ago but didn't receive it?"
"Hmm, I wonder if these two girls are up to the task and can get Accountant Huang removed."
"I told you to sue him a long time ago, but you insisted on waiting for the right opportunity. If these two choose to settle things quietly, let's see what you do then!"
“You old woman, if I report him, I won’t offend him. The Huang family is a huge clan, with so many relatives and family members—how many people are there? But if someone else, especially a former educated youth, exposes this, then I have no choice but to investigate. If he gets into trouble, it won’t concern us. Besides, the later it’s exposed, the more he’ll have embezzled, and the heavier his sentence will be. With him in the picture, the Huang family will have to think twice before they run rampant in the village. Look how arrogant they’ve become!”
"Old man, you're still the best!"
The village chief said smugly, "That's right. You have to be strategic when dealing with things. You can't just act recklessly. Someone like you might not get things done and might even offend people. You should learn from him."
"Yes, yes, you're amazing, alright!"
......
An Moxue and Chu Dongmei walked along the village road, talking about the letter.
"Mo Xue, do you think this letter disappeared in the village or in the town?"
"It's possible. Let me tell you about something that happened in a village right next to ours. There was a family where the eldest son had been in the army for many years and hadn't started a family. He sent his allowance home every month, leaving only the elderly couple and their youngest son at home. Then one year, they suddenly lost contact with the eldest son. Everyone assumed he had been killed in action. The truth was, he had gone on a secret mission and couldn't contact home, but he had instructed the army to send all his allowance home. However, soon the allowance stopped arriving. The family didn't know anything about it and went to the post office to inquire, but the staff said they hadn't received it. The family was just a typical old farmer and didn't know much about such things, so they assumed their son had been killed in action. The whole family was heartbroken for a long time, and the mother even fell ill and passed away. More than three years later, the eldest son returned home and found out that his family hadn't received their allowance for three years. He investigated and discovered that a post office employee had fraudulently claimed it, and even forged the signature. So it's really hard to say who fraudulently claimed it."
“It’s possible that someone in the village might have fraudulently claimed the mail. Some mail is delivered to the village office, and the village office notifies people to collect it. It’s hard to say who might have secretly claimed it.”
"Why don't you go and see for yourself?"
The two arrived at the village office, where Accountant Huang was on duty that day. Chu Dongmei asked Accountant Huang, "Accountant Huang, have I received any letters in the past two weeks?"
Accountant Huang glanced at Chu Dongmei, then at An Moxue, and said, "No. And who is this comrade?"
"This is my relative. I've already reported him to the brigade leader. Could you please help me look for him again?"
Accountant Huang didn't even flinch, saying, "No, it won't be bad."
Are you sure?
"Sure."
Chu Dongmei didn't ask any more questions and took An Moxue's hand as they left the village.
After walking for a while, he said, "Mo Xue, let's go back to the educated youth settlement to get some things, and then go to town. If we walk fast, it'll only take about forty minutes to get there. Let's go to the town post office to check, and then go to the state-run restaurant for a good meal."
"What are you going back to get?"
"Money and tickets! And the educated youth certificate."
"Walk."
The two hurriedly returned to the educated youth settlement, retrieved their belongings, and came out again.
Along the way, Chu Dongmei jogged, panting heavily, while An Moxue remained calm and composed, arriving in town in just half an hour.
"Mo Xue, slow down, I can't keep up."
"You can't do this! The situation you're in right now is waiting for you. You need to get in shape, otherwise you won't be able to escape if danger comes your way."
An Moxue walked so fast to remind Chu Dongmei.
"Okay, I got it. I'll start practicing after you leave."
"What do you mean wait until I leave! Start training with me tomorrow, I'll call you then."
"Alright."
The two slowed their pace and walked to the post office.
Inside the post office counter, a young man in his early twenties stood with the postman and greeted him.
Chu Dongmei said, "Comrade, hello. I would like to check the status of my mail delivery. I found that a letter that was sent to me should have arrived a long time ago, but I haven't received it."
"Comrade, hello. What's your basis for this?"
An Moxue said, "Yes, I sent the letter to her."
"Okay, could you please show me your identification?" the postman said to Chu Dongmei.
Chu Dongmei took out her educated youth certificate from her pocket and handed it to the postman.
The postman took the educated youth certificate, checked it, wrote down her information, and returned the certificate to her.
He took out a notebook from behind the counter and began searching, asking as he went, "When were the letters suspected of being lost?"
"About ten days or so."
After a while, the postman said, "Found it, take a look."
She handed the notebook to the two people, and upon inspection, it was indeed there. An Moxue said, "This is the fifth day since I sent the letter."
"Comrade, which postman delivered the mail to Peach Blossom Village? Is he here now? Could you call him over and ask? Also, could you check all my letters, packages, and remittance records for me later? I need to see if anything else is lost."
The postman knew that the postman suspected other items might also be lost, and readily replied, "Wait a moment, let me see if the postman who went to your village has returned from his fieldwork today, and then I'll check for you when he gets back."
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