Chapter 80
According to that comrade, Lin Yi was originally the deputy battalion commander of the 40th Regiment of the 3rd Division of Xinjiang. Later, he was transferred to the 42nd Regiment and was promoted to battalion commander.
In theory, promotion is definitely a good thing for ordinary people.
However, it is not necessarily the case for Xinjiang soldiers.
The reason is also very simple. Life in the Xinjiang Gobi Desert is too hard.
Especially the 42nd Regiment where Lin Yi was stationed was in the most difficult Gobi Desert. Not only was there a sparsely populated area, but there were also many desolate and narrow yellow sand beaches. Outside was the desert. The nearest Kashgar Oasis was about 100 kilometers away, and the local people often drank alkaline water... In
such a place, if there were people, they had to reclaim land, build water conservancy projects, and build roads and houses. If there was no water source, they had to find it themselves. At that time, there were no roads or decent means of transportation. The Xinjiang Corps could only use war horses, old cows, and donkeys for transportation.
Lin Yao groaned and folded her hands, complaining that Gu Shian had not told her earlier, causing her to write so many letters but still not find anyone.
Gu Shian was a little apologetic. He had just received a call from his old comrade yesterday, and he remembered it at the time, but he forgot it when he was busy with work.
Lin Yao was also very considerate. People apologized to her, and the couple reconciled and were as sweet as before.
The full-month wine party for little Gu Doudou ended successfully. In the afternoon, Uncle Zhang and Uncle Zhang drank sobering soup, and were scolded by their two aunts by pulling their ears. They hurried back to their hometown in the donkey cart.
Today was the full-month celebration for the kid. The two uncles of the Zhang family sent twenty red eggs, a jar of chili sauce, a basket of tender corn, and finally two pieces of beef trotters with meat. Although they were beef trotter bones, there was a lot of meat on them. It looked like more than two kilograms, including fat and lean.
Uncle Zhang had just taken it out when Gu Mancang jumped out of bed in fright and closed the windows in the room tightly.
Zhang Cuilan was also startled, and she almost dropped the enamel cup she was drinking from.
"Brother, where did the beef come from? Did you kill the old cow in the village?"
Gu Mancang was even more fanciful, thinking that maybe Uncle Zhang II encountered a bison when he went hunting in the mountains, and risked his life to kill the bison.
Uncle Zhang was very confused, what a joke, the cows in the brigade are fine, and he wouldn't dare to kill the cows in the production team even if he had the courage. There are pheasants and rabbits in the back mountain, but no bison, do you think this is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau?
Zhang Cuilan and her husband were in a daze, but Uncle Zhang was all smiles. "There was an old cow in the neighboring brigade that was tied to a straw shed on a rainy day. It rained so hard that the cow drowned. The cow was too old to plow the land, but they had raised it for so many years and had developed feelings for it. The people in the neighboring brigade were reluctant to kill it, but it drowned in the rain. They didn't want to waste it, so the brigade leader slaughtered the cow and used more than 700 kilograms of beef, half of which was used to feed the cow." Sell to their own village, half of it is transported to our village. This old cow is raised by the village itself, not supplied by the upper level, and does not need meat coupons. Beef is hard to come by and can only be eaten once every few years. This is not the full-month birthday of Xiaodoudou, so I need to get some beef bones for the child, at least I can cook some beef soup, and give it to Yaoyao to drink with her breast milk for nutrition. "
These days, the amount of beef sold by the rural brigade is limited. With so many people in Zhangjia Village, how much can the eldest and second brothers get?
Zhang Cuilan knew it clearly, and asked Gu Mancang to take ten yuan and secretly put it into the cloth bag of the old donkey, and Uncle Zhang and the others knew nothing.
Gu Shidong was so happy that he hid the bamboo basket of beef in the rice jar in the kitchen without his mother's instructions, for fear that the old woman Wang in the front yard would smell the beef and come to ask for money.
Old woman Wang was old and cunning, and her nose was sharper than a dog's. She could smell who was eating meat in the big compound.
For this, Zhang Cuilan and her husband took the beef back to the old house in the countryside, boiled hot water in the old house, cleaned the beef and beef trotters, dried the beef into jerky, and simmered the beef trotters over low heat until it became a delicious beef soup. They put it in a clay pot and wrapped it with cloth, and brought it home the next day without anyone noticing.
At night, Lin Yao followed her mother-in-law's instructions and took Dongzi to brush his teeth, wash his face and feet. She watched the little brat turn off the light in his room before returning to the room.
Gu Shi'an had taken a bath and smelled very good.
Lin Yao fed Gu Doudou, put him in the cradle and covered him with a small quilt, and took a bath herself to smell good. She got into Gu Shi'an's arms and the couple talked in private for a while. The topic shifted from Gu Doudou to Dongzi, and then to her brother-in-law Lin Yi.
"I will write a letter tomorrow and prepare a package for my brother. You can send it and see if my brother can receive it this time."
"Okay."
"Well, my brother is already 26 years old. The Gobi Desert is so desolate and full of trees. Is my brother eating well? Maybe he has found a partner in Xinjiang and found a sister-in-law for me?"
Lin Yao said optimistically.
Gu Shian thought about his brother-in-law's sharp tongue and felt that the possibility was very low.
However, Deputy Director Gu wisely did not speak.
Lin Yao continued to happily imagine the future "sister-in-law".
"My brother, although he is not so good at speaking, is tall and has a good figure. He is also a battalion commander. These conditions are not bad. He can't be a bachelor all his life."
"There are many good girls in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. My mother said that pigs are born to provide cabbage. Didn't you provide me?"
Lin Yao poked Gu Shi'an's broad chest and teased.
Deputy Director Gu was silent for a while, saying that he and his wife were a match made in heaven, and they got married first and then fell in love.
Maybe the brother-in-law can also find his own match made in heaven.
Thousands of miles away in the Xinjiang Gobi Beach.
The dark-skinned Lin Yi crawled out of the cave. He had just stuffed his half bowl of green vegetables to a little soldier.
This new soldier was also unlucky. He had only been in the Gobi Desert for half a year when he developed night blindness due to lack of nutrition. He could not see clearly at night. The brothers in the camp took extra care of him and saved the only vegetables for the young soldier. The battalion commander Lin Yi also tried his best to supplement the nutrition for the soldiers.
Unfortunately, the conditions in the Gobi Desert were bad. The soldiers could not even drink clean water, let alone eat vegetables every meal.
Half of the soldiers in the 42nd Regiment where Lin Yi was still sleeping in rat-hole-like underground caves. The underground caves were like the underground trenches dug when fighting the Japanese devils. They were rectangular pits with adobe bricks on the sides, a few rafters on the top, and mats made of branches on top, covered with straw and mud.
The temperature difference between day and night in the Gobi Desert is large, and the blockade is rampant at night. Sometimes when the soldiers woke up, the mats on their heads were blown away by the wind and sand.
Lin Yi planted trees during the day and had blisters on his hands. He took a pin and burned it on the fire, and hastily picked the blisters open. Then he rested his hands on his head, bent his long legs, and looked towards Yunshui County.
"Lin Yi, what are you doing here? I'm going to give you a beating."
The political commissar of the camp came over with big strides and punched Lin Yi in the head.
Lin Yi glanced at him and asked, "Do you have something to ask me?"
"Of course, I'm too idle to sleep, so I'd look for you."
"If you have something to say, say it now. If you have something to say, fart now."
The political commissar of the camp smiled heartily.
"You are such a bad boy. I tell you, you are already an adult and you are going to be single soon. Don't say I don't miss you. There is a girl in our regiment who likes you. She is quite good-looking. Her parents are both cadres of Xinjiang Corps. She works as a cultural officer in the 42nd Regiment. She helps the leaders to sort out documents and get water. She is a pretty girl. So, when are you free? I will arrange it for you."
The battalion political commissar said a lot. He drank a mouthful of water with a dry mouth. The water was bitter and alkaline.
No matter what he said, Lin Yi only said one thing.
"I am not free. I won't go."
This made the battalion political commissar angry, just like the red peppers hanging on the wall in winter. The spicy taste makes people's ears steam.
"..."
The next morning, Lin Yao wrote another letter and asked Deputy Director Gu, who got up early to go to work, to send it to Xinjiang.
Deputy Director Gu received a loving kiss from his wife and went to work with a happy face.
Lin Yao went back to the room to check on the fat boy, who was sleeping like a pig in the cradle.
Zhang Cuilan got up early and took advantage of the good weather to wash the diapers used by Gu Doudou, boiled them one by one in boiling water, and dried them in the sun. She picked up a few pieces of soft cloth with needle and thread and sewed a bellyband for her grandson.
Lin Yao went to the kitchen to knead the noodles, rolled out two large rolls of two-layer dough, put water in the pot, waited for the water in the pot to boil, added the noodles, and when the noodles were cooked, they were taken out and poured with the stewed soft beef soup, green chopped green onions and spinach. Each person had a big bowl, and one bite was enough to make your tongue fall off.
It was drizzling outside, and Dongzi, wearing a raincoat, jumped back from the front yard like a gray rabbit.
"Old son, how is it?"
"Mom, old lady Wang went to see the daughter and hasn't come back yet, the alarm is lifted!"
"Okay, old man, bring the beef noodles up!"
"Wow."
Gu Mancang responded, and happily brought up four large bowls of beef noodles, the noodles were rolled vigorously and chewy.
Gu Shidong had eaten a piece of wowotou last night, and now his stomach was growling. The boy was thinking about the beef at home, so he picked up the chopsticks and put the noodles into his mouth. He was reluctant to let go even though the noodles were sizzling from the heat.
Gu Mancang buried his big black face in the bowl of noodles and couldn't lift it up.
Zhang Cuilan said, "Father and son are both bad people."
Gu Shidong smiled.
The noodles made by his sister-in-law are delicious.
The family had breakfast, and Gu Mancang rinsed his mouth with water several times before going to work at the steel mill.
The rich lady next door came to visit the old Gu family and brought some soap beans from her mother's home.
In the city, people wash clothes these days with either plant ash or mash soap beans picked from the countryside into a paste, put it in a pot and cook it until white foam appears before washing clothes.
The old Gu family usually uses soap beans and also soap.
Aunt Dafu came back from Shanxi this time and brought back a few bottles of old vinegar from her hometown, all brewed by Uncle Dafu himself, and he also gave a bottle to the old Gu family.
Zhang Cuilan brought back a can of canned yellow peaches.
Lin Yao tasted the old vinegar, which was very sour and mellow, and it was definitely fragrant when used for cooking.
In the evening, Gu Shian came back from the Public Security Bureau, and the family had just sat down at the dinner table, and the food on the table was still steaming.
The door of the house was slammed, and old lady Wang was yelling in the front yard: "It's on fire, it's on fire, why is the director still eating at home and not coming out to put out the fire!"
Gu Shian was about to put down the chopsticks he had just picked up, and Lin Yao looked outside. It was pitch black outside, and there was no sign of fire at all.
Zhang Cuilan stopped her eldest son and put on her clothes, "Eating can even make a stink bug, I'm going to see what the old lady is doing."
Gu Shian nodded, and the family sat quietly in the house for a while.
A few minutes later, Zhang Cuilan came back in a hurry, her hands were still covered in blood.
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