Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Going to the Island

The weather is very good today, with clear skies and calm seas.

The first ferry docked at Nanya Island Pier. The cabin door opened and a long board about one meter wide connected the pier and the ferry, making it convenient for people to get on and off the boat.

"I want to go by myself."

When Xia Qinqin saw other people stepping on the wooden planks to get off the boat, she also jumped up curiously and wanted to try, but her hand was firmly held by her mother.

"No, it's too dangerous."

How could Meng Yufei let her go alone? She refused firmly.

Xia Junshan picked up his daughter and said, "Be good, Daddy will carry you down." Then he stepped steadily on the wooden board and got off the boat in two or three steps.

After putting down his luggage, he turned around and stretched out his hand to Meng Yufei, saying, "The wind is strong, I'll hold you down."

Meng Yufei slowly stretched out her delicate hand and placed it in front of her. Her delicate skin felt slightly itchy when it touched the man's fingertips with gun coils.

The bright morning sun shone back on Meng Yufei, her fair face seemed covered with a layer of soft light, the sea breeze blew her soft hair, she smiled at Xia Junshan, and his heart was stunned for a moment.

The communicator, soldier Zhao, arrived at the pier early in the morning. He saw the ferry approaching from a distance and kept his eyes fixed on it. When he saw the familiar figure, he quickly trotted over.

"Captain Xia, you're back."

A loud voice came from behind the two of them, Meng Yufei loosened her hand, and Xia Junshan felt a little disappointed.

He turned around and saw that it was Xiao Zhao, the commander's communicator, and asked, "Why are you here?"

Xiao Zhao smiled and said, "Master heard that you were going to bring your family to the island today, so he asked me to drive his car over to help you move your luggage." After that, he turned to Meng Yufei and said, "Hello, sister-in-law."

Meng Yufei smiled and nodded, "Hello."

Xia Junshan said: "Why did this matter alarm the division commander? There are only a few pieces of luggage."

Xiao Zhao was very tactful and went forward to pick up the two boxes on the ground. "Captain Xia, let's get in the car."

This jeep was obviously much more comfortable than the one we had yesterday, and it wasn't too bumpy when driving on the dirt roads on the island.

Xia Qinqin was in high spirits today. She leaned against the car window and looked at the scenery on the island with curiosity. The jeep drove along the coastline, and she took in most of the whole picture of the island along the way.

"Dad, what are they holding?" Xia Qinqin pointed at the group of people.

Xia Junshan looked in the direction of her hand and explained, "They are holding fishing nets, which are specially used for catching fish."

Meng Yufei asked, "Can we catch fish here as we please?"

In the era of collectivism, the trees on the mountains and the fish in the water all belonged to the country.

Xia Junshan said: "They are fishermen on the island. Members on the island do not farm. They catch fish and hand them over to the commune for a share of the profits."

"Oh." Meng Yufei nodded to show that she understood, "Then all the food on the island will have to be delivered from outside."

Xia Junshan said, "Yes, there are supply ships coming to the island every day, and our troops will send cars to the dock every morning to pick up supplies. I was originally planning to take a ride back to my school, but who knew that the division commander would send a car here."

Apart from the division commander's car, the only other car on the island was that of the logistics department.

Xiao Zhao, who was driving the car in the front, smiled and said, "The division commander said that you, Commander Xia, were personally selected by him, and your sister-in-law came from a big city, so you must be treated well."

Meng Yufei smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Lao."

Xiao Zhao looked at the family of three in the back seat through the rearview mirror and thought that Captain Xia's wife was truly extraordinary, worthy of being from a big city.

The wife of Captain Chen who came to the Family Courtyard last month was from the city. I heard that she caused quite a bit of "commotion" in the Family Courtyard. Now the wife of Captain Xia, who is even more from the city, has come. It is estimated that the Family Courtyard will become even more lively in the future.

Although there are not many people in the family compound, the more closed the place is, the fewer secrets there are.

They were all family members who had come from all over the country to follow the army. Their living habits, ages and occupations were very different, so there must have been a lot of friction and conflicts, which would have spread throughout the island if they were not careful.

About ten minutes into the drive, white stone houses gradually appeared outside the window. Most of the walls of the houses were hung with fishing nets, and in front of the houses there were rows of long bamboo poles with dried fish and kelp hung on them.

Xia Junshan patiently introduced the place to his wife and daughter: "This is a residential area. Most people on the island live in this area. The two-story building in front is the town government. The post office is also inside."

"This is a health center, but when people from our hospital get sick, they go directly to the military hospital."

"This is the primary school. The island's residents and children from the family compound all study here. There is also a middle school on the island, but it's on the north side. We can go there together next time."

"The place in front with so many people queuing is the supply and marketing cooperative. I've checked out the supplies inside and they are quite complete. If you need something and can't buy it, we can take a boat to the city."

…

Xia Junshan introduced everything along the way and soon we arrived at the troops’ family area.

The neat rows of townhouses are also built of stone, but are obviously much neater than the residential areas in front.

"Are we there yet?" Meng Yufei asked.

Xiao Zhao in the front said at this time: "This row house is where the company commander and battalion commander's families live. The regiment commander's family house is in the back."

The car quickly passed the townhouse area, and behind it were stone houses with yards. It was called a yard, but it was actually just a half-person-high fence surrounded by bamboo poles, so you could see the inside of the yard clearly from the outside.

The car stopped in front of a small courtyard at the back. Xiao Zhao got out quickly and took the suitcase out of the trunk.

"Captain Xia, sister-in-law, I'm leaving first."

Meng Yufei hurriedly said, "Let's go inside and have a drink of water first."

Xiao Zhao waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no, I won't bother you anymore. I have to go back and report to the commander."

Xia Junshan nodded and said, "Please go back and thank the commander for me. I will go to his office to report my work in person after I finish my work here."

"Okay." Xiao Zhao nodded, saluted, turned around and drove away.

…

Pushing open the gate, the family of three stepped into the home where they would live in the future.

Xia Qinqin trotted into the courtyard and skipped along the gravel path to the center of the yard. There was mud on both sides of the gravel path, with some weeds growing on it. It seemed that no one had lived there for a long time.

"There are little flowers."

Xia Qinqin stepped into the mud, squatted down, bent over, and ruthlessly picked up the flower. She ran to Meng Yufei with the flower in her hand, raised her hand and said, "Mom, this is for you."

Meng Yufei looked at the pair of white shoes on her daughter's feet. The mud on them was particularly conspicuous, and her eyebrows twitched.

Xia Junshan picked up his daughter and praised her, "Qinqin is so good. She gave her mother such beautiful flowers."

As she spoke, she and her daughter smiled broadly at Meng Yufei. Looking at the two faces, one big and one small, with similar smiles, Meng Yufei took a breath and took the flowers, "Thank you Qinqin, Mommy likes it very much."

Xia Qinqin showed her white teeth with satisfaction, "Then I'll go pick some more for mom, there are still many."

Xia Junshan quickly carried her into the house and said, "Let's go and see what our new home looks like."

The kitchen is on the left as you enter the house, and on the right is a wooden cabinet that looks new. Two steps in front of you is the dining table against the wall, and on the right is a wooden sofa. The sofa and dining table look like old furniture.

"I bought the cabinet at the door to store shoes. The sofa and dining table are part of the house."

Xia Junshan saw her eyes lingering on the sofa and spoke. He remembered that there was a big shoe cabinet at the entrance of the Xia family, so he bought a small cabinet accordingly.

There are two rooms on the south side. The larger one is the master bedroom. It has a double bed, a row of large wardrobes next to the bed, and a dressing table with a mirror by the window.

"You bought this cabinet too, right?" Meng Yufei recognized that the material of the dressing cabinet and the shoe cabinet at the door were the same, and the paint was also new.

"I just happened to see it, so I asked someone to pull it back together." Xia Junshan said lightly with a smile.

The other small room facing south was naturally Xia Qinqin's room. It contained a single bed, a small wardrobe, and a desk in front of the window.

In addition, there is a room on the north side, which is currently unfurnished.

Xia Junshan took his wife and daughter around the room and said a little embarrassedly, "The conditions are a bit simple. I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Meng Yufei said, "Don't we have everything we need? We can add other small things later."

She stood up and walked to the living room window, opened it, looked at the yard and said, "Not many people in Haishi can live in a house with such a big yard. We can plant some flowers in the yard and build a grape trellis. We can watch the stars under the grape trellis at night."

Xia Junshan walked up to her and stood shoulder to shoulder with her in front of the window. He pointed to the empty space in the east and said, "You can put up the grape trellis there. I'll ask someone to transplant a few grape seedlings over there in a while, and then build a wooden trellis. Then we'll have grapes to eat in the fall."

Xia Qinqin moved between her parents and pulled at her father's clothes, "I want to eat grapes, too."

Xia Junshan bent down and picked up his daughter, smiling and said, "Okay, then Daddy will take you to pick grapes, and we'll plant a few peaches and pomegranates in the yard..."

"And oranges. Qinqin likes eating oranges the most."

"Okay, plant some orange trees."

…

The family of three stood in front of the window, looking at the yard and starting to plan it, as if they were going to build an orchard.

—————

As soon as the jeep entered the family area, it attracted a lot of attention, and everyone recognized it as the commander's car.

In Captain Cao's home, five or six women were sitting in the yard, weaving bamboo baskets and chatting.

"Why is the commander's car coming back at this time?"

"My husband said that the teacher wanted to call him to a meeting today and he would not be home for lunch. He was lying to me, wasn't he?"

"I see that the person sitting in the back of the car seems to be Captain Xia." said a sharp-eyed woman.

"I heard that Captain Xia went to pick up his family. I guess that's who he was sitting in the car."

"No wonder they say that Captain Xia is the most favored among the other captains. Who in our family courtyard came in by the captain's car?"

Hearing this, someone stopped pasting the paper box. She looked young, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with double braids, delicate features, but her skin was slightly dark.

"Jianhong, what are you daydreaming about?"

Han Jianhong came back to his senses, "Oh, I just remembered that I heard before that Captain Xia's family seemed to be from the city as well."

"Oh, isn't that the same one as the one next door to yours, Deputy Head Chen's family? Tsk tsk, another little lady has come."

"My mother, you mean the one with the eyes that are so high up in the sky, yelling, yelling..."

"Ji Huiying."

"Yes, yes, that's her."

When Han Jianhong heard the name, his fingers trembled slightly uncontrollably, and his lowered eyes were filled with hatred.