Chapter 23 Chapter 23

"Comrade Xiao Su, bring back the cotton!" a woman outside called out. Hearing this, Su Rui asked Fang Chiye to eat first and ran out after eating.

Qin Shan, who was hiding aside and eating another pancake, came to Fang Chiye while chewing the pancake. Following his line of sight, he saw Su Rui's back. She must have gotten some good news, as her little face was beaming with joy.

"That's amazing. You do so much work and you're still very energetic."

Fang Chiye took the last bite of the pancake, and seeing Qin Shan trying to touch Su Rui's salted vegetable pot, he slapped his hand away and carried him outside.

Qin Shan said angrily: "Can't I just eat a pickled cucumber?"

Fang Chiye said: "Are you worthy?"

Qin Shan said, "If I don't deserve it, then you do? I saw that she didn't give any to anyone else, but she gave you two!"

Fang Chiye said: "You also know that she gave it to me instead of anyone else?"

Qin Shan suddenly became silent. He could already smell the sour smell in the air without him having to eat.

Su Rui originally only planned to make a quilt, which she had already made. But now that she had some money, she decided to buy a new mattress as well.

The old mattress no longer keeps her warm. It feels heavy and scary, but it doesn’t keep her warm at all. The same is true for the old quilt. She always has nightmares when it’s pressed on her body.

Today, I knew that Aunt Zhang was coming here in a donkey cart, so I asked her to help bring back three pounds of cotton.

A mattress does not require a whole piece of cotton cloth like a quilt. She can use all the scraps of floral cloth she has collected. No one can see the colorful ones anyway. She just wants to keep warm.

She thought this year would be a warm one, and her little face was very happy.

Aunt Zhang said proudly, "I asked my cousin to buy it for me. She has an acquaintance in the cotton store. They are all new cotton this year. You can see that they are soft without any need to be stretched."

Su Rui said, "This is the best way. Aunt Zhang, I know what's good. Here, give the eggs to my niece. She must be tired from accompanying you to the street today."

Aunt Zhang didn't want eggs, so Su Rui stuffed them into the little girl's hands, and the few of them argued for a long time outside the cafeteria.

Fang Chiye, who was standing nearby, saw this and a smile appeared on his face.

Aunt Zhang was talking to Su Rui when she suddenly saw the legendary military chief listening to them. She was surprised and a little embarrassed: "Oh, it's boring to listen to all the gossip in our family."

Fang Chiye added: "It's pretty good, very lively."

Aunt Zhang just moved her eyes away from Fang Chiye's handsome face and saw Su Rui quickly peeling the egg and stuffing it into the girl's mouth. She said with a smile: "Eat slowly, don't choke."

Fang Chiye stood here for a while, preparing to return to his troops.

Su Rui quickly called him: "Wait a minute."

The cotton hat she made for Ye Chifang and the thick insoles for Fang Chiye were just the right size to give away.

She ran home and then ran back to the cafeteria, holding the basket and panting, saying, "Take it away, don't let anyone see it."

Fang Chiye said in surprise: "You really prepared a thank-you gift for me?"

Su Rui said, "That's right. I also have a letter for Comrade Ye. Please help me pass it on... If it's not convenient, forget it. I can send a package."

Fang Chiye took the basket, saw the items sewn with needle and thread, and said with a smile: "It's convenient, give them all to me."

Su Rui scratched her head and said, "Well, I want to ask where Comrade Ye is exactly. I'm not asking on purpose, I'm just a little curious."

Fang Chiye was able to give her Ye Chifang's letter, which meant that Ye Chifang was also among the recent batches of prisoners. She heard that the prisoners were divided into two groups for labor reform activities, one for □□ and cultural prisoners, and the other for thieves and robbers, with very different natures.

Fang Chiye was silent for a moment, then hesitantly said, "Can you really not tell me?"

He didn't want to lie to Su Rui, and lies could only be made up with lies.

Although Su Rui was a little disappointed, she also understood that such things really couldn't be said casually: "It's okay."

Fang Chiye looked around and saw several women who had come to dinner late at night. For some reason, they were all secretly looking at him.

"Can I go over there for a while? I have something to tell you." Fang Chiye decided that today is worse than tomorrow, so he might as well tell Su Rui that he is Ye Chifang.

Su Rui looked at him and said, "Okay, will it take a long time? If it does, I'll put the pot on the stove first."

Fang Chiye said: "It won't take long, but it may take some time."

The main thing was to explain the matter, the cause and effect. He was almost clear about it, but it might take some time to explain it to Su Rui.

Su Rui said, "Okay, let's go there. I have to visit some lonely elderly people later. Let's hurry."

Fang Chiye followed her direction and walked past the flag-raising platform. Behind it was an abandoned garden. The land in the garden should have been replanted, and dried sweet potato leaves were turned over on the edge.

Fang Chiye hadn't taken two steps when Qin Shan ran out of the village committee office: "Old Fang, return to the troops quickly, there is a mission!"

Fang Chiye stopped and rubbed his fingers that were hanging at the seam of his trousers.

Su Rui saw that he had a mission and she herself had something to do. Although she didn't know what Fang Chiye wanted to talk to her about, her wild sixth sense told her that it might not be a good thing!

So I said, "Why don't you just be busy first and we can talk next time you come over?"

Fang Chiye was not prepared today. He thought that the little girl was originally very happy. If he made her unhappy, he would also be guilty. It would not be too late in a few days anyway, so he nodded and agreed.

Qin Shan kept looking at the co-driver while driving, and Fang Chiye couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Watch the road carefully, or let Xiao Jin from the car team drive next time, and you just sit still."

There was an out-of-place bamboo basket on Fang Chiye's legs. The outside of the basket was covered with a circle of pink floral cloth, and the handles of the basket were wrapped with a light yellow cloth, which emitted bursts of fragrance.

"What are you holding?"

Fang Chiye didn't hide it from him. He took out the thick insole and looked at it carefully. The red peony embroidered on it was so gorgeous, just like the person who embroidered it. He couldn't bear to step on it.

Thinking of this, Fang Chiye's face suddenly turned cold. What on earth was he thinking about?

"Why are you so moody?" Qin Shan said, "It's just a pair of insoles. I'm not trying to steal it from you."

Fang Chiye said, "Just try to grab one."

Qin Shan said resignedly, "Okay, I can't rob you. So what else do you have? Why bother putting it in a basket? Are you afraid of being seen?"

Fang Chiye took out a thick cotton hat, all of which were made by the little girl herself, stitch by stitch. He said with emotion, "Comrade Su Rui asked me to bring this to Ye Chifang."

Qin Shan was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

Fang Chiye didn't understand.

Qin Shan said: "At least I gave Ye Chifang a thick cotton hat, but I only gave you a pair of insoles. You are so easy to deal with."

Although they were the same person, Fang Chiye vaguely felt that the little girl was... partial to one person over the other.

On the way back, Qin Shan didn't hear Fang Chiye say another word.

Fang Chiye didn't say anything, and he didn't say anything either, just concentrating on driving. However, he was worried inside, thinking that something was wrong with Old Fang's energy.

***

Su Chang'e squatted on Aimin Road.

After the road was repaired, soldiers often passed by. Some were running, some were going out to do business, and Su Chang'e would sit by the roadside, hoping that a soldier would talk to her and ask about Zhan Huan's affairs.

I don't know what she was thinking, but she would secretly paint her lips red every day and squat on the roadside like a red-billed gull, so that people would stay away from her when they saw her.

Su Hongpei didn't see her in the afternoon, so she came over to tell her to go to the publicity class: "Go back quickly. If Sister Zhao calls you, you will definitely be criticized if you are not there."

Su Chang'e spat out the grass leaves in her mouth, stood up, patted her knees and said, "It's good to be strict with discipline. I've been looking for someone for three days, but no one came to talk to me."

Su Hongpei pushed her and said, "You are so disrespectful. The soldiers who came here to build the city are all outstanding revolutionary fighters. Do you think they can just come here casually? Didn't you see that they all carry guns and ammunition? This is a matter of life and death. Who can tell you easily?"

Su Chang'e squatted down, feeling a little annoyed, and said in a frustrated tone, "If I can't get any more answers, I'll find someone else to date. Captain Fang is not like him, being mysterious all day long."

Su Hongpei lowered her head and swallowed, then raised her head and said, "Yes, dating someone also depends on fate, what do you think?"

Su Chang'e turned her head and looked at her, sneering, "I know Su Rui is jealous of me for dating a military officer. I thought you wouldn't be jealous, but it turns out you are jealous of me too. Are you trying to take this opportunity to make us break up?"

This was too harsh. Su Hongpei blushed and said, "I just want you all to live a good life. Who would be jealous of you?"

Su Chang'e said: "I can live a good life if I marry a military officer."

Su Hongpei bit her lip for a while and said, "You know you can live a good life by finding a military officer, so why do you still want to introduce a labor reform prisoner to my little sister?"

Su Chang'e said, "I am happy to do so."

Su Hongpei said, "Are you willing? Just for your own pleasure, you want to push her into the most dangerous place for the rest of her life?"

Su Chang'e said with a smile: "Yes, I am happy to see that she is not living as well as I am."

Su Hongpei took a deep breath and said seriously, "I advise you to apologize to her. Our family will always find a way to get rid of the labor reform prisoner."

Su Chang'e said nothing.

Su Hongpei added: "This is not the first time I have advised you."

Su Chang'e said: "They are very passionate about each other, there is no need for us to separate them. Maybe they will become a perfect couple. Look, she is a cadre, and she is setting an example by marrying a comrade with backward ideas to reform him. Isn't this laying a good foundation for her future career as an official?"

"How can you be an official if you have a labor reform prisoner as your husband? You won't be able to pass the organization's review at all." Su Hongpei was so frustrated by her words that she made up her mind and said, "Be careful or you will regret it."

Su Chang'e sneered and said, "Unfortunately, I will never regret what I have done. Don't tell me again in the future. I am annoyed by the same old story."

As they were talking, two warriors came over from a distance. When they saw Su Chang'e, they looked at each other and walked up to her politely: "Excuse me, are you Comrade Su?"

Su Chang'e said sourly: "Don't pick the wrong person, my name is Su Chang'e, not Su Rui."

"Hello, Comrade Su, my name is Cheng Yi." Cheng Yi looked to the side with some embarrassment, and the soldier next to him shook his head.

Su Chang'e saw the lone bar on Cheng Yi's shoulder and pouted, "What's the matter?"

Cheng Yi and his comrades wanted to ask if the female comrade in the photo was here, as someone had seen her before. However, the female comrade in front of him was not in a good mood, so he let it go.

When he and his comrades were about to leave, Su Chang'e stopped him and said, "Hey, I want to ask you something."

Cheng Yi said, "What's the matter?"

Su Chang'e said: "Do you know a man called Zhan Huan?"

She said this calmly, not noticing Su Hongpei's nervousness behind her.

Cheng Yi shook his head: "I don't know him."

Su Chang'e said: "Are you looking for someone too?"

Cheng Yi glanced at the soldier next to him, thought for a moment and said, "Isn't the comrade Su Rui you just mentioned a pretty and motivated female comrade? Does she often repair the road here?"

Su Chang'e said, "I just said it casually. Who knows who Su Rui is? Why are you asking this person?"

Cheng Yi was too embarrassed to say that he fell in love with the girl in the photo at first sight, and when he heard that she had appeared here, he quickly asked for leave. Unfortunately, he found out too late, and when he came here, the comrades who were repairing the road had already gone back.

The soldier next to Cheng Yi was smarter. Seeing that Su Chang'e didn't look like she didn't know the female comrade, he said carefully, "Do you know the beauty of Xiaoba Village?"

Su Hongpei held Su Chang'e and spoke first: "My younger sister has been called the village beauty before, and I'm quite embarrassed to say it."

Cheng Yi's eyes lit up, and he smiled, showing his healthy white teeth, and said, "So your real last name is Su." Then he scratched the back of his head and said, "May I ask her...does she have a date?"

Su Chang'e was about to say that Su Rui was getting along with the labor reform prisoners, but was stopped by Su Hongpei, who told Cheng Yi and the others, "Yes, they are getting along well. I can't tell you anything else."

Cheng Yi expected that such a lesbian would definitely not be single, so he was sad but not that disappointed: "I understand. Thank you, we'll leave now."

"Wait. You really don't know Zhan Huan?" Su Chang'e asked, "He said he is the deputy company commander in your unit. Think about it carefully."

Cheng Yi stopped and turned around and said, "I'm a new recruit and don't know the names of the leaders. But I heard before that there was a company commander named Zhan, but he was not from our company."

"Ah, he's really the company commander, not the deputy company commander?"

"No, I saw Captain Zhan leading the team to recruit soldiers, and the deputy captain was not qualified to go."

"Captain Zhan? I see. Thank you so much."

Su Chang'e didn't hear the difference between "Zhan" and "Zhan", and thought she had finally found out the news about Zhan Huan, and she was immediately overjoyed.

It turns out that Zhan Huan is the company commander, not the deputy company commander. This is better than expected.

***

Su Rui didn't know that someone asked her name and had a crush on her.

Even if there was, it was common for Su Chang'e to reject him behind his back.

She was holding a meeting at the village committee, and halfway through the meeting, a young man with a tearful face came in from outside the office, about 24 or 25 years old. She thought he was a relative of Sister Zhao.

When Sister Zhao led the group to talk, Huang Bei came over and said, "Look, this is the new secretary of Qingnan Village. He's an official from the city."

Su Rui saw the other person's thin back and the soft voice he spoke to, and suddenly felt that he could not control those idiots in Qingnan Village.

As expected, when he left, under Huang Bei's questioning, Sister Zhao said helplessly: "The people of Qingnan Village did not listen to his command and insisted on nominating their own secretary. He is in big trouble and wants to ask me for advice."

The Women's Committee originally had only one office. Last week, a small storage room was cleared out to serve as Sister Zhao's independent office. All other staff members now work in the original office.

Su Rui's desk was against the wall. Sitting at the table opposite was Huang Bei. She would gossip with her from time to time. Su Rui would selectively listen, and would retort if she didn't like what she heard. In recent days, Huang Bei didn't like to talk to her. She must have been angry.

But Suri was happy and at peace. You can eat the melon, but you can't talk nonsense.

Su Rui put down her pen and held her face in her hands and said, "The people of Qingnan Village have been conditioned by Guo Qingwang in the past two years. They are greedy and have no sense of justice. They are not easy to manage."

Sister Zhao patted Su Rui on the shoulder and said, "You are absolutely right. To be honest, I don't have a good way to tell him. I can only ask him to persist in his work and persevere in mobilizing the labor force of Qingnan Village to strive for... well, strive to win people over with virtue."

Su Rui said: "To win people over with virtue, it depends on whether the other party is a human being or an ungrateful person."

Sister Zhao also shook her head, as if she had seen the final outcome of the new secretary.

After a lunch break, Su Rui continued to visit the homes of lonely elderly people.

Check their coal, roof, kang, and food.

These days, whenever Su Rui looked at her own smile in the mirror, she always felt that she looked kind and benevolent.

On the 28th of Lunar New Year, you don’t have to go to the village committee to work.

Su Rui was sewing a mattress in the west room.

Seeing that it was about to snow, she sewed the mattress tighter.

Su Li was chopping wood outside. Su Rui got up and took a look. She sighed and thought that she had to find a live-in son-in-law as soon as possible. She couldn't chop wood, so her father had to do the hard work.

"How are you getting along? Why don't I see you writing a letter to Comrade Ye?" Su Hongpei came in with a bowl of noodles. She wanted to keep them fermented overnight so that she could wrap the dumplings for the New Year one day in advance and eat them directly heated up the day after tomorrow.

Su Rui said casually, "Even if I wrote it, I couldn't send it out. The heavy snow covered the roads and the postman didn't come."

Su Hongpei said: "Then you can ask Headmaster Fang to deliver it?"

When Su Rui mentioned Fang Chiye, her heart suddenly clenched. She pretended to concentrate on sewing the mattress and whispered, "I don't want him to send it off."

Su Hongpei didn't notice her younger sister's abnormality, and she could never have imagined that Su Rui dreamed about him so much after she separated from Fang Chiye last time.

I thought we would meet soon, but in the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

Su Rui held the large teapot and gulped down half a cup of cold water, which made Su Hongpei frown: "Aren't you afraid of getting cold?"

Su Rui peeled her lower lip and showed it to Su Hongpei: "I have a big blister."

Su Hongpei said in surprise: "Why did it get swollen for no reason? Apply some toothpaste?"

"No need." Su Rui didn't dare to say it was because of Fang Chiye and Ye Chifang. She had been thinking about it these days and felt that she didn't have any feelings for Ye Chifang. Instead, she had improper thoughts about Fang Chiye.

"I don't want to be with him anymore." Su Rui put down her needlework and said to Su Hongpei seriously, "At first I just wanted to avoid being entangled by fools. Now I have the troops here and I am also a cadre. I am not afraid of them pestering me again."

Su Hongpei disagreed and said, "Wasn't it fine before?"

Su Rui scratched her head: "...He is a good man."

Su Hongpei: "...Don't try to play that trick on me. I'm asking you what's wrong with you? Why are you suddenly like this?"

Su Rui's face was a little hot from the stove, and she would never tell him that she had dreamed about Fang Chiye for days. She touched her chest quietly, and the throbbing in the cabin was still echoing in her chest.

Even though she knew there was a huge gap between them and Fang Chiye also had someone he liked, she still didn't want to have someone in her heart and then interact with other people. She couldn't get over the hurdle in her heart.

"It's just that I don't have any feelings." Su Rui said, "I don't like it."

Su Hongpei didn't want Su Rui to break up with "Ye Chifang", so she persuaded Su Rui for a long time that night and reluctantly let her keep in touch with "Ye Chifang" through letters. It would be best if the other party took the initiative to break up.

Su Rui also felt that her elder sister was right. The man was a labor camp prisoner and might do unthinkable things if he was pushed into a corner. So she took out a piece of letter paper reluctantly and wrote coldly about the weather and the New Year's situation, which was even more cruel and ruthless than the climate itself.

I don't know when the postman came and put the letter in the mailbox. Su Rui was completely immersed in the New Year celebrations.

Xiaoba Village had a great time this year, as they no longer had to share their collective pigs with the people of Qingnan Village. At noon, they ate dumplings and listened to the cheerful Spring Festival songs on the radio. The whole village was filled with joy.

Wan Zi and his group of half-grown kids finally had the New Year's money to buy firecrackers, and the village was filled with the sound of firecrackers.

......

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the first thing I did when I went back to work at the beginning of the new year was not happiness.

"Why should the blind elimination school be built next to Qingnan Village? It will take us at least two hours to get there." Su Rui stared at the document issued by the commune, trying to see through it.

Sister Zhao said helplessly: "During the Chinese New Year, Qingnan Village elected a new secretary, Wu Dan. Wu Dan and his men cleaned up three old bungalows in his family and used them as a school for the blind. This way, the commune did not need to approve funds to build the school, so the commune leaders were naturally willing to do so."

"How many people can be accommodated in three bungalows?" Su Rui said, "At most 200 people. Qingnan Village itself is not even enough to accommodate them."

Sister Zhao said: "I have discussed with Secretary Wu whether the two villages can each contribute a sum of money to build an anti-blindness school in the central area. We can also mobilize the people of Yiwang Village to contribute a little. This way the scale will be larger. Even if we don't run an anti-blindness class in the future, it can be used as a village primary school."

Even without Sister Zhao's subsequent words, Su Rui knew that Wu Dan would most likely go against Xiaoba Village and would not agree with her suggestion.

Since the location of the literacy class was decided, they had no other choice but to mobilize illiterate and semi-literate people before the spring and hope that they would participate in the learning.

Su Rui also participated in the mobilization, but when the anti-blindness class opened on the first day, problems arose again.

The women led by Auntie Song went there happily and found that the names of the three classrooms of the blindness elimination class were posted on the doors. Although these people did not come to class, they had their own seats. After asking the people in Yiwang Village, they learned that the blindness elimination class required registration in advance, and if they did not register, they could not come to attend the class.

"But no one notified us to register."

The first thing Auntie Song and her friends did when they came back from Qingnan Village was to go to the village committee and complain to Sister Zhao: "They said that we can't attend the class if we register late. I asked if I could register in advance for the next session, and Wu Dan said that the next session of the anti-blindness class has already been registered. Sister Zhao, you see, what he meant is that he is targeting us and doesn't want us to participate in learning and progress."

Wanzi ran in wearing a thick cotton jacket and complained, "The older kids in Qingnan Village scolded me for being illiterate and said I would be illiterate for the rest of my life. I can count to a thousand and do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, but they know nothing!"

"You accompany me to the township." Sister Zhao put on the big cotton jacket behind the door and said to Su Rui, "I must report this to the township."

Su Rui quickly buttoned up her open cotton jacket and said angrily, "The people in Qingnan Village are so unkind."

Huang Bei held the large teacup in her hand and said leisurely, "It's not the first time they've been dishonest."

It was freezing outside, and the north wind was blowing on my face like a knife.

In the distance, I heard the shouts of soldiers. They must be doing winter training. They were full of passion. I wonder if it was Fang Chiye who was the commander. He was so sturdy, he must have been trained hard.

Su Rui shuddered, climbed onto the donkey cart, wrapped herself in a quilt and said, "Can we go over and file a complaint?"

Sister Zhao said: "We have to do it even if it's impossible. Even if we can't control it this time, we have to let the leaders know about the situation in Qingnan Village."

Su Rui thought about it and agreed.

She and Sister Zhao rushed to the township government and found that there were many people standing at the door of the township government, all of whom had something to ask.

Su Rui stamped her feet and froze outside for most of the day. She then accompanied Sister Zhao inside to find the cadres of the Revolutionary Committee, who were very busy.

After hearing about this, I told Sister Zhao, "All their procedures are in line with the standards, and it is difficult for the higher-ups to interfere. Grassroots work will always have many unsatisfactory aspects, so you should be more tolerant."

After waiting for a long time, Su Rui was furious when she returned to Xiaoba Village after hearing these words. She must find a way to slap them in the face!