At the dinner table, we ate spicy and delicious beef noodles while drinking crispy cold tea.
Liu Erhu and his wife couldn't help but choke up with sobs.
It's very tragic to say, the best years of Liu Erhu's life were when he was in the army under Captain Yan. He was already a squad leader and could have been promoted to platoon leader with another two years of experience. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and had a leg injury, so he had to be forced to demobilize. He was not given much demobilization pay when he left.
At that time, the army only gave him one hundred yuan.
The comrades who died in the war only received 300 yuan in compensation, 100 yuan for a leg and 300 yuan for a life, which was pitifully little.
It was Captain Yan who saw the difficulty and was worried that he would not have money to treat his legs when he returned, so he stuffed five hundred yuan into his bag.
In the end, his leg was never cured, and the 500 yuan was taken away by his family. He was an adopted stepson, and after he was discharged from the army, he had difficulty walking and could not do heavy work. He had no status at home and was separated from his stepparents when the family was divided up. He had no house and no income, and the family lived on the little land they were allocated, and they could not even get enough to eat.
If the company commander hadn't suddenly called him, he would have almost died.
He mustered up his courage and took out all his money to buy two train tickets. He had already burned his boats, but he didn't expect that after enduring a long day and night, he would be greeted with a bowl of hot beef noodles, and then the whole family would suddenly have food and shelter.
How could I not cry when I took another sip of the hot soup to warm my stomach that had been hungry for a day and a night?
Wen Xin listened to their experiences, which were too tragic. She felt sympathy for them. She didn't even eat her meal, but enthusiastically served them hot soup and noodles. "Come on, eat more. There's more."
He got up and went to the kitchen to cut another plate of beef and said, "Don't worry, just treat this place as your home. The difficult days are over. You can live here with peace of mind. This place is close to the school. When Xiaodong reaches the age next year, we will send him to elementary school..."
The couple cried even harder after hearing this. They didn't cry loudly, but just nodded and wiped their tears. Zhang Erhu cried even more exaggeratedly. He said, "Company commander, your partner is a good person. You are all good people. Our family doesn't know how to thank you. I will work like a slave for you..." When he heard that the company commander's partner was attending university at the school opposite, he didn't dare to look up at her. She had a nice voice and was so gentle. She also said that she would send their son to study.
Yan Zeyang is a man who protects his own people. Although he doesn't say it, he is angry inside.
He was furious at the fact that his former soldiers were living like this now, because they had made contributions to the country and had a disabled leg. When they returned to their hometown, they were discriminated against and could barely support their families. However, he suppressed his anger and pushed the plate of beef that Wen Xin had cut in front of the couple and the child, "Alright, eat quickly."
Wen Xin ran over and grabbed a handful of White Rabbit milk candies. She bought them at the state-owned store. She originally wanted to use them to entertain guests. At this time, the White Rabbit milk candies were a very tempting snack in the eyes of a child.
Wen Xin stuffed the candy into the little boy's pocket, then picked up another piece, peeled off the candy wrapper and put it in his mouth. She watched Xiao Dong chewing the candy innocently, his eyes pure and innocent as he looked at her. He was so cute that Wen Xin couldn't help but smile sweetly and reached out to touch his soft hair.
Yan Zeyang, who was sitting on the other side, glanced at Wen Xin vaguely, with a soft look in his eyes. He saw Wen Xin treating his former comrades-in-arms warmly, not despising them because they were disabled or dirty, entertaining them hospitably, cooking for them, taking them in and telling them to stay here and treat this place as their home.
Such warmth made him feel as if a warm current was flowing in his heart, and his heart was soothed. He felt as if he had the most luxurious happiness in the world.
His eyes followed her all the time, watching her take out candy and give it to his comrade's child. She fed him with a smile and spoke softly to the child. At that moment, he was sure that he had never loved the wrong person. Even though he knew the truth, he never regretted liking her, never gave up on her, and still loved her. If Zhang Erhu looked up at the company commander opposite him at this moment, he would find that the gaze of the stern company commander Yan, who looked at his target, was as soft and unbelievable as the dim light above his head.
…
Zhang Erhu and his wife were exhausted. They hadn't slept much on the train all night. After dinner, fatigue was evident on their faces. It was almost eight o'clock. Wen Xin took him to the backyard, helped them pack up their things, and let them rest.
Wen Xin still lived in her west wing. The sheets and blankets that had been dried in the morning still smelled of clean soap.
She also wanted to rest, and when she saw the other family of three enter the room, she turned around and was about to drive Yan Motou away. It was ok that no one lived there before, but now all his soldiers had moved in. As the leader of the family, he had the nerve to stay in the room of his unmarried partner. What would his soldiers think?
Yama looked at Wen Xin and kept pushing him away.
He stared at her standing there motionless and gritted his teeth. This was completely an act of abandoning the donkey after it has served its purpose and destroying the bridge after crossing it.
What can Yama do? He couldn't do it, so he just glared at her and said, "You come with me."
"I won't leave! If anyone wants to leave, it should be you. This is my territory!" Wen Xin didn't listen to him.
"You're an unmarried girl, why are you living with others? Hu Zi wants to take a shower in the yard, how can he feel comfortable with you being here?" Yama said to her in a low voice with gritted teeth.
"I..." Wen Xin wanted to refute him. Why? Her place couldn't be lived in anymore. "At most I can just draw the curtains and not look at it."
"Warm." He softened his voice.
"It's not convenient to take a shower here, and it's not convenient to use the toilet either. Tell me, do you have to go to the public toilet if you get up in the middle of the night? Aren't you afraid of it being pitch dark over there? What if Xiaodong wakes you up by crying at night? Aren't you most afraid of noise? School will start in two days. You can stay at my house for the next two days. You can take a shower as you like. No one will say anything to you all day long. You can do whatever you want, okay?" Yan Zeyang also lost face. He glared at her, then spoke softly to her. This woman, sometimes it's not enough to just force her. You can only scare her for a while. After that, she won't listen to you anymore, so you still have to coax her.
As expected, he persuaded people with both emotion and reason. He also held her in his arms and discussed things with her affectionately, analyzed things for her, whispered in her ears, and kissed her ears from time to time.
Wen Xin had a shortcoming: she was soft-hearted and softened after a few kisses. She said goodbye to the family in a daze and was put into Yan Zeyang's car and taken all the way back home.
Only when she got home did she realize that she had been deceived. How had she been tricked into coming back under the temptation of his handsomeness?
If I want to go back now, it’s too far away to go back.
As soon as Yan Zeyang entered the room, he hugged her tenderly and asked her, "Are you hungry? Do you want me to buy you something to eat?" She didn't eat much at night because she was busy taking care of his comrades.
She turned her head away angrily and said, "I don't want to eat." But it was just like what Yan Zeyang said. It was inconvenient to take a bath and go to the toilet. She had to go to the bathhouse every day and walk two blocks. The public toilets were especially suffocating. She felt suffocated just thinking about it.
After thinking it over, she decided that this place was the best, and her anger subsided by half.
After saying she didn't want to eat, she pushed him away and ran to the bedroom to find clothes to take a shower. She had been sweating all day, and found that there was no clothes in the closet. She cleaned up everything when she left, without leaving even a piece of cloth. She had no choice but to take one of his clean shirts and wear it as pajamas. When she came out, she glared at Yan Zeyang who was looking at her with a slightly raised corner of his lips, and ran to the bathroom to take a shower.
Yan Zeyang watched with satisfaction as she jumped and ran around in her house again.
It feels so good to have the warm water in the bathroom washing over the body. It is very comfortable to take a bath after washing. She will feel uncomfortable all over if she doesn't take a bath for a day. She likes the feeling of the pores all over the body dilated after taking a bath, and feels that she is clean from the inside out.
I was halfway through taking a shower when the bathroom door was opened.
"Oh, how did you get in?" The water from the shower was still splashing. She raised her little face in enjoyment, touched her shoulders gently, crossed her hands, closed her eyes and faced the shower, letting the water wash over her face. After a while, she wiped the water off her face, and saw Yama push the door and walk in.
"Why did you come in when I'm taking a shower? Get out now..." Wen Xin was so angry that she reached out to push him away, not letting him get close to her.
But Yan Mo, who had been missing her so much that he couldn't bear it, had long thrown away his previous coldness. He clung to her like a piece of candy, begging her to hug her, and only wanted to kiss her. "Let me help you wash." He said in a hoarse voice.
"You don't have to wash it. I can wash it myself. You get out." Wen Xin struggled in his arms in vain like a little white fish.
How could Yama let her go when he finally held her in his arms?
"Have you washed it here?" Yama turned a deaf ear to her and kissed her loudly with his lips, but his hands did not stop moving.
"No, um, no, you don't have to wash it, don't..."
"I washed it clean, dear..."
Soon, the bathroom was filled with the sound of splashing water, and from it could be heard the man's panting, longing and low whispering, asking over and over again: "Wen Xin, Wen Xin, do you love me..."
"I don't love you..."
As soon as she said this, the other party got angry, and his movements were violent and fast, with screams one after another.
"Do you love me? Hmm?"
She was floating up and down like riding on the clouds, but she still said stubbornly, "No..."
"Even if you don't love me, you're still mine!" he said viciously, but his cruelty didn't last long, as the bathroom once again heard the joyful chirpings like birds returning to their nests in spring, as well as the sound of the passionate love with another person who made him angry, hated, and loved.
…
Wenxin: School starts in two days.
These days she has been in the front hall teaching Liu Erhu and his wife how to make braised noodles.
Yes, she feels that at this stage running a noodle shop is simpler, inexpensive, affordable, and easy, and the key is that it is easier for her.
Because the three most important things for braised noodles are the soup, the noodles, and the sauce. Saozi is the fragrant sauce poured on the noodles when eating them.
She could easily make two of them delicious without much cooking skills.
The broth made from big bones is quite fresh. People at this age, whose stomachs are lacking in oil and water, will find broth delicious. In addition, the system can also extract some marine organisms, such as extracts from sea vegetables. As long as the freshest substances are extracted and a small spoonful of each is put in a pot, the soup will be extra delicious. The sea salt she extracted will also play various roles in enhancing the flavor. The soup is solved, and then comes the臊子, which is the topping. This is even simpler. In the kitchen in the front hall, Wen Xin has prepared two large cans of oil. The cooking oil is all the one she had extracted from the system but did not sell before. Because it is extracted from the system, the臊子 fried with this oil will be particularly fragrant.
Add some fragrant fried peanuts in it, scoop a spoonful of the oil from the hot pot and pour it on the noodles. The soup is spicy and fresh, and it has a unique aroma in the mouth. Add some black fungus, day lily, garlic sprouts and other green vegetables to garnish. After eating one bowl, I guarantee you will want a second bowl.
If you don't have high requirements for the noodles, general hand-rolled noodles will do, as long as the noodles are thin, smooth, tough, and of moderate hardness. This is not a high requirement. After all, they have no experience, and they will naturally get it done after doing it for a long time. At the beginning, they only require the softness and hardness of the dough, and then the thinness of the noodles.
Wen Xin taught them almost step by step for several days. She used these ingredients to make the first bowl of noodles. The couple exclaimed while eating, saying that it was different from what they had eaten yesterday and was especially delicious. When it was the couple's turn to try, the result was always a little disappointing, but it was okay after all, the ingredients were there.
No matter what, the noodles made with the ingredients Wen Xin prepared for them couldn't be bad.
The couple had never done this before and were a little timid. After some warm comfort, she asked them to practice over the next two days. She put the seaweed extract into two bottles and reminded them that they only needed to put a spoonful of stock in a large pot of broth. Once it was almost gone, she must tell her that the deliciousness of the soup depended entirely on this. This was a secret recipe.
The same goes for oil and salt, which all she needed to prepare, but she had already prepared a lot to ensure that they would last for a long time.
…
On the first day of school, Shanghai University was packed with students from all over the world who came to register.
In this era, university is free. Of course, tuition is waived, but you still need to pay for books and accommodation, which totals less than 50 yuan.
Freshmen must live on campus in their first year. The accommodation fee is thirty-three dollars a year and the book fee is fifteen dollars.
But even with this small amount of money, there are still many students from poor families who cannot afford it. They probably have to borrow money from everywhere, and the money they pay is tiny.
Yan Zeyang paid Wen Xin's fees. The day before school started, Yan Zeyang made time to come back in person. In the evening, he hugged Wen Xin and made love with her. This was the first time in their lives. After that, he didn't dare to touch her again, for fear that she would not be able to get up the next day.
Because they lived close to home, they were the first to arrive. Yan Zeyang drove over with a lot of stuff, but Wen Xin didn't need to carry any. Yan Zeyang carried the luggage upstairs.
The school dormitory is a bit simple, with eight people in a room and four bunk beds.
When she went in, there was already someone in the room who had arrived earlier than them. It seemed that this classmate came by herself, without any family members. She was bending down to make the bed when she heard a knock on the door. She turned around and saw a man and a woman walking in.
The man had his military cap tucked under his arms and was carrying luggage in both hands, but he looked very relaxed. After coming in, he glanced casually at the girls' dormitory. He was dressed in a military uniform, which made him look tall, strong, and handsome.
The female classmate who was packing her things was stunned when she saw the handsome officer who looked like a military god who came in first.
Others were tired from carrying things, but Wen Xin was not tired at all. Yan Zeyang carried all the things. She wanted to share some of the burden, but Yan Zeyang disliked her small arms and legs, so she just carried a small suitcase and came out from behind him.
When I saw the female classmate, I smiled and greeted her, "Classmate, you are here so early? I thought I came very early, but you are even earlier than me."
The female classmate quickly shifted her gaze from the soldier who came in and looked at the female classmate who greeted her. She was stunned again. The girl had long hair, an oval face, was pretty, wore a white skirt, and wore small leather shoes. She was so beautiful that she looked like an immortal. She was also holding a delicate little box in her hand.
He was looking at her with a smile, and she said timidly, "Hello, I came a little earlier than you."
Wen Xin smiled at her and said nothing else. She looked around the dormitory room, which was about ten square meters. There were two lower bunks close to the windows, one of which was occupied by the female classmate just now. Of course, Wen Xin wanted the other one near the window, where the light was better. She didn't like the position near the door very much.
So he ran to the other lower bunk and put down the box.
Yan Zeyang had lived in a military academy for a few years and the environment there was pretty good. Now after looking at the conditions at Shanghai University, he felt that they were still a little bit worse. However, he didn't say anything else. He put the luggage aside and helped Wen Xin pack.
Wen Xin was very dependent on Yan Zeyang when he was around. Yan Zeyang cleaned her bed inside and out. She was wearing a white skirt today and it was inconvenient for her to clean, so she directed Yan Zeyang to clean, asking Yan Mo to wipe here and there, while praising him for his great work. No wonder he was a model for housekeeping, he was really amazing. She also came up to him and said thank you so much. She didn't know what to do without him. She would definitely not clean well and would dirty her skirt.
In fact, she cleaned the house very well herself, but it would be better if someone else cleaned it for her, so she started to pour out compliments on him, praising him so much that Yan Mo was willing to serve her. He knew in his heart that she was just lazy and just wanted to get something for nothing by talking, but there was nothing he could do, he just wanted to spoil her, and in his heart he wanted to do everything for her, so as not to let her do it herself.
The female student on the other side was already stunned. She stared in amazement at the soldier who, without saying a word, rolled up his sleeves and quickly cleaned the bed for the female student and even made the quilt.
There was a table by the window. He wiped it clean seriously, placed the kettle and cups for warmth on it, and put the basins and other things under the bed, tidying them up neatly.
He is truly a model of housekeeping.
Wen Xin is only filled with joy at this time and feels happy. Before, her aunt and uncle were too busy to go to school, so she could only go to school alone. She didn't expect that after she passed on, she would have a partner to take her to school. It feels so good to be cared for and loved by others, and she feels very happy.
Wen Xin was particular about the things she used. Her bedding was all in her favorite pink color, which was very fresh and lively. Yan Zeyang couldn't understand this at all. He had given her so many military cloth coupons. Military cloth was very comfortable and durable, but she didn't want to use them and insisted on changing to this kind of cloth. Apart from the fact that the color was prettier, this kind of cloth was in no way comparable to the military cloth.
Wen Xin would definitely roll her eyes if she knew this. Besides being strong, does green canvas have any other advantages? So ugly.
While she was packing, several other students also arrived one after another. The dormitory was chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, and the four lower bunks were quickly occupied, so the four people who arrived late could only sleep on the upper bunks.
People at that time were not that picky. They were fine with either the upper or lower bunk. However, there were also some children from well-off families who were relatively spoiled. At that time, all four lower bunks were occupied. The female classmate who came in later was not happy when she saw that all the beds were on the upper bunks. She turned around and pulled her mother's clothes. Her mother seemed to be an educated woman of the new era. She had no choice but to talk to Wen Xin: "Classmate, you see, my daughter is not a good sleeper. I'm afraid she will fall if she lives on the upper bunk. You look like a very good sleeper. Can you switch with my daughter?"
Wen Xin also didn't like the upper bunk and had to crawl around. She definitely disagreed, so she smiled politely and said, "Auntie, you're wrong. I don't sleep well either, and I was afraid I would fall off, so I chose the lower bunk. I'm sorry."
After her refusal, the female comrade's face turned unhappy. She turned around and talked to the other three female classmates who were sleeping in the lower bunks, but none of them was willing to give up their berth.
Who would be willing to give up the lower bunk? Their beds have been cleaned and their things have been put away. Now let them give it up.
Finally, the aunt snorted at a few people and went out with her daughter. Maybe she knew a teacher in the school, so she called her over and asked her to change to the cozy lower bunk seat. Yan Zeyang didn't leave. Looking at this scene, he didn't say anything and went out directly.
After a while, someone came in and called the teacher out and said a few words to her. In the end, the aunt hit a wall and asked for help but no one gave up the lower bunk. She could only let her daughter sleep on the upper bunk in despair.
The female classmate had a very long face and insisted on changing dormitories, but in the end she failed.
Everyone in the dormitory was there. Yan Zeyang went out and came back without coming in. He just called her at the door, "Wen Xin."
Wen Xin was looking at the female classmate on the upper bunk opposite her, who was so angry that she was throwing pillows and quilts.
Hearing the voice of her Yama Head, Wen Xin ran out as quietly as a bird.
There were people coming and going outside the door, so Yan Zeyang was not in a position to speak. He said hurriedly, "It's all arranged here, you can study with peace of mind. I'll go back first and come to see you in two days."
Wen Xin's mouth pursed again. Seeing that she was about to cry again, Yan Zeyang quickly looked around and said to her seriously, "Don't cry." Then he slowed down his voice and said, "Why are you crying? It's not good if people see you. How old are you, huh? In two years, you will be a mother."
"You are the mother of the child." I am still a girl! A warm and shameless heart.
"No, I'm the father of the child."
The two of them exchanged a few words quietly before Yan Zeyang could not help but say, "Okay, study hard here. I'll come back to see you when I have time. If you have anything, call me. Do you hear me?"
“I can’t hear you.”
Even though he didn't want to leave, he finally put on his hat and left. Wen Xin followed him all the way to the school gate and saw him get in the car. The two were inseparable. Wen Xin ran to the car again. Yan Zeyang drove the car for a while to avoid people, and then he couldn't help but kissed her several times in the car. He liked her so much that he didn't know what to do with her.
After much delay, Yan Zeyang finally returned to the base at noon.
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