Chapter 26 My relationship with Xie Jingchen was a free choice.
Qiao Feitian's face showed a moment of embarrassment.
Xie Jingchen came to pick her up?
She wanted to, but that was absolutely impossible.
As some people have said before, there are so many things to do in the active duty military that even ordinary soldiers may not see them.
Not to mention how busy Xie Jingchen, as the supreme commander, must be, he simply doesn't have time to do something as trivial as "picking up people."
Moreover, she has no feelings for Xie Jingchen, and they have never even met. Even if he really comes to pick her up, he won't be able to recognize her. Isn't that ridiculous?
Qiao Fei smiled and said, "He doesn't have time to pick me up, and I don't want to be treated specially. I'll just go with everyone else as usual."
Now that the question about Xie Jingchen has been raised, the rest of the conversation will proceed much more naturally.
Xia Fanxing remained curious and envious, asking, "Did you grow up together as childhood sweethearts? Or was your marriage arranged at a young age? You're so young, Commander Xie shouldn't be very old either, right? Becoming a commander at such a young age, you must have joined the army very early? So your marriage must have been arranged by your families?"
These are things that any normal person would be curious about, and Qiao Feitian had no doubts.
She smiled shyly and said, "We weren't childhood sweethearts, nor was it an arranged marriage by our parents. We fell in love on our own, and we've already agreed that we'll get married once I move there."
Free love?
These four words puzzled Xia Fanxing.
Qiao Feitian is from Haicheng, just like her. Xie Jingchen is a regimental commander at a young age, which means he has been in the army for many years and has earned a lot of military merits.
Where did Xie Jingchen find the extra time to go to Haicheng and have a "free love" relationship with Qiao Feitian?
Qiao Feitian had no chance to go to the frontier to have a "free love affair" with Xie Jingchen.
Is Qiao Feitian lying?
What is the truth?
Xia Fanxing didn't ask any more questions and decided to follow Qiao Feitian all the way to the 145th Regiment headquarters to find out what was going on between her and Xie Jingchen.
The train has arrived at the station.
The crowd stirred, and everyone hurriedly got off the bus with their luggage.
"Be careful." Xia Fanxing stood in front of Qiao Feitian and turned to her, saying, "There are too many people. You sit down first, we'll go down later."
"Thank you, Comrade Xia." Qiao Feitian sat steadily in her seat.
With Xia Fanxing shielding her, the crowds and jostling had absolutely nothing to do with her.
She watched Xia Fanxing's retreating figure, a smile playing on her lips.
Even before getting on the bus, Qiao Feitian had already made a plan.
She and Xie Jingchen were actually strangers who had never met, so she had to create a perfect first meeting.
She dressed up carefully, striving for a perfect appearance, but that wasn't enough.
If she wants Xie Jingchen to look at her differently, then her persona must be perfect.
So as soon as she got on the bus, she generously offered snacks to the educated youth, trying to build good relationships and make friends with them.
Within her capabilities, she would lend a helping hand to others whenever possible.
The better she behaved on the bus, the better the impression the educated youth had of her, and the more good things Xie Jingchen would hear about her from others later on.
That's why she publicly announced that Xie Jingchen was her fiancé.
She wants others to know who she is, so it will be easier for her to establish her persona.
Just look at Xia Fan's sycophantic manner; you can tell she's succeeded.
Qiao Feitian prayed in her heart: God, please let Xia Fan be assigned to the 145th Regiment as well.
In this way, her good qualities can be spoken of by Xia Fan, who has personally experienced them, which will make Xie Jingchen look at her differently and fall in love with her!
After most of the passengers had disembarked, Xia Fanxing and Qiao Feitian got off the bus.
Outside the train station, there was a row of Jiefang brand trucks parked.
The cadres of the Production and Construction Corps kept calling out to get everyone together.
After confirming that all the educated youth on the train had disembarked, they began to take attendance from the roster.
"Li Erya, 88th Regiment, Third Agricultural Division".
"Wang Mazi, 23rd Regiment, First Agricultural Division."
"..."
"Qiao Feitian, 145th Regiment, 8th Agricultural Division".
Qiao Feitian waved goodbye to Xia Fanxing and stood near the truck of the 145th Regiment to wait.
There were already quite a few people standing there, including the educated youth who shared the same carriage with Qiao Feitian.
When these educated youths saw Qiao Feitian approach, they immediately struck up a conversation with her.
Xia Fanxing waited for a while, then suddenly seemed to hear her own name. She lifted her bundle up and walked over to the truck of the 145th Regiment.
Qiao Feitian noticed her and was overjoyed: "Comrade Xia, that's great! We're assigned to the same regiment!"
Xia Fanxing feigned excitement: "Yes, that's great!"
In fact, Xia Fanxing's name was not on the roster at all.
She wasn't a sent-down youth; she wasn't originally with them. She was just taking advantage of the situation.
After the long roll call ended, we could finally get on the bus and rest.
Everyone needs to climb onto the back of the truck and then sit on the ground.
However, the carriages are very high, and people need to pull each other to get on.
Usually, the male educated youth would climb onto the vehicle first, and then pull the female educated youth and their luggage up with them.
At this time, the taboo against men and women touching hands no longer applies; now it's all about revolutionary friendship.
But when it was Qiao Feitian's turn, she first thanked him and then very politely declined the male educated youth's help.
"I'm sorry, I already have a fiancé, so it's really inconvenient for me to accept your kind offer."
Qiao Feitian climbed onto the truck with great difficulty on her own, and was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the other educated youth in the same carriage.
Other educated youths, unaware of the truth, whispered among themselves, seemingly discussing Qiao Feitian.
One of the educated youths in the same carriage deliberately raised his voice and said, "Comrade Qiao, when we get to the 145th Regiment, you must let us meet your active-duty regimental commander fiancé! Even just a glimpse from afar would be fine, we are so envious of you!"
Qiao Feitian smiled shyly and nodded.
Everyone in the truck was shocked!
Now everyone knows Qiao Feitian's identity, and her actions just now have once again established a perfect persona.
Xia Fanxing was pulled onto the truck by the male educated youth and quietly sat down in an empty seat.
Although she couldn't tell whether Qiao Feitian was a good person or a bad person, she had a vague feeling that something was wrong with the truck climbing incident.
Once everyone was on board, the truck started moving.
This was an extremely bumpy journey.
Most of the roads are gravel roads, or simply washboard roads, and trucks kick up clouds of dust as they drive by.
The people in the carriage were tossed about by the jolts, and had to hold on tightly to the carriage walls to avoid being thrown around.
Many educated youths were so shaken that they stood up and spat the grain from Haicheng onto the roads of the frontier.
As time passed, the scenery along the way gradually changed from the bustling area near the train station to the boundless Gobi Desert.
The vast, sparsely populated landscape evoked a sense of desolation, bringing a tremendous psychological impact to these educated youths from the bustling city of Haicheng.
In the distance, the Tianshan Mountains stretch out, covered in snow, silent and majestic.
After several hours of driving, the truck finally arrived at the headquarters of the 145th Regiment.
The truck slowly drove into the regimental headquarters.
Rows of brick buildings came into view; they included government offices, an auditorium, a hospital, a supply and marketing cooperative, and so on.
These houses were nothing special to the educated youth from Haicheng who were used to the city's prosperity; they even looked down on them.
What they didn't know was that compared to the mud-brick houses, rammed earth houses, or even dugouts of the subordinate companies, the brick houses of the regimental headquarters were already considered "luxurious".
The truck eventually stopped in the empty playground.
The educated youth got off the bus with their luggage. With the headquarters building of the regiment as a backdrop, the crowd sat on the ground, a dark mass.
As soon as Xia Fanxing got out of the car, she followed closely to Qiao Feitian, so when they sat down, she was the closest to Qiao Feitian.
Xia Fanxing took out a handkerchief and gave it to Qiao Feitian, saying considerately, "Wipe your sweat."
"Thank you," Qiao Feitian said without refusing.
As she wiped her sweat, she secretly mocked Xia Fan for being such a sycophant.
Soon, a leader from the regiment walked up to the crowd with a loudspeaker.
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