During this special era, the craze for sports permeated every corner of cities and villages, large and small, and the lives of ordinary people in the province where Spring City is located were no longer peaceful and simple.
Jiang Jun first briefly summarized the life of the Jiang family's two daughters after they arrived in Chuncheng, and then slowly began to explain the reasons why they chose to go to Chuncheng.
After Jiang Yonghua and Zhang Xiuying completed their divorce, he returned home and discussed with Jiang Yun where to go after leaving the army.
It was that night that Jiang Yun learned that Jiang Yonghua's hometown was in Jiangnan, a land of fish and rice with beautiful mountains and rivers.
Jiang Yonghua lost his parents at a young age. The elders of the Jiang family decided to send him to live with his aunt, a progressive female student who had attended school for a few years. Because her lover died in the war, she vowed never to marry.
The Jiang family was a wealthy family for generations, and had no problem raising this family, both young and old. Even until the Japanese invaders came and killed, robbed, and burned everything along the way, and the Jiang family's property was burned down by the fire, the aunt still found ways to raise Jiang Yonghua, and lived with him through hardships to raise him.
Later, his aunt fell ill. In order to raise medical expenses, Jiang Yonghua had no choice but to sign up for the army. He advanced ten yuan to his aunt as living expenses and medical expenses, and thus embarked on a military life.
I didn’t expect that I would be gone for more than 20 years.
Jiang Yonghua was reluctant to return to his hometown in Jiangnan: "My aunt is still alive. If I go back like this, I will bring trouble to her. If I stop sending money home, at worst she will think I'm gone, but at least no one will bother her by criticizing me."
Jiang Jun suggested several places, all of which were good places she had stayed in in the future time and space, but they were all rejected by Jiang Yonghua - these cities actually had turbulent experiences that were too painful to look back on!
"Where can there be such a good place? People here don't know you, don't understand you, and won't bother to investigate your history." Jiang Jun was at a loss: "Dad, you still have to take Xiaolan and me with you. We can't survive hiding in the mountains, forests, or desert grasslands!"
Jiang Yonghua also sighed: "If nothing goes wrong and the transfer is normal, a deputy regimental-level cadre of my caliber can go anywhere. Alas!"
Just when the father and daughter were at their wits' end, He Zhenguo quietly entered the Jiang family and offered Jiang Yonghua some advice: "I have a comrade-in-arms from the southwest. He's a very, very simple man. He's working in the People's Armed Forces Department there. Take my letter to him and he'll definitely find a way to properly place you."
So Jiang Yonghua immediately went to buy a train ticket. Firstly, he wanted to find He Zhenguo's comrades as soon as possible, and secondly, he wanted to get away from Zhang Xiuying as soon as possible. It would be troublesome if someone heard something about Jiang Yonghua from others and came back to write big-character posters and post them everywhere.
…
Jiang Jun's eyes were a little dazed. "After arriving in Chuncheng, we found Uncle He's comrade-in-arms. He's a really good man. He said that with a problem like my dad's, it's impossible to place him in the same category as demobilized personnel. He also advised Dad not to go to the Construction Corps, otherwise Xiaolan and I might have to become educated youth.
So my dad agreed to go to a remote county town and work in a small factory with only five regular employees. The factory only had work a few months a year, and when it couldn't keep up, they hired locals as temporary workers. My dad was a regular employee, and I was just a casual worker.
The jeep was driving very fast, so Jiang Yun had to speak louder so that Chen Zhong could hear clearly.
Without the deep tone, it felt like I was telling someone else's story.
Chen Zhong nodded slightly: "No wonder, we couldn't find your letter over there."
Jiang Jun was surprised: "Uncle Chen, are you looking for my dad?"
Chen Zhong remained noncommittal: "Go on."
Jiang Jun took a deep breath: "The factory allocated a house for us to use as a dormitory, and my father found a way to build a thatched hut on his own. He let Xiaolan and I live in the brick house, and he lived in the hut.
It was winter when we first went there. We thought it was quite warm there and thought our family would be safe from then on. However, spring came really early in Spring City. As soon as the flowers bloomed, my father started to get sick. He often coughed all night long and couldn't breathe.
One night, my father couldn't stop coughing, so he woke me up and told me his last words.
Jiang Jun was moved by this. She was silent for a moment, then cleared her throat and continued, "My dad told me everything about his mission in detail. He asked me to take notes and told me that the truth would eventually come out and prove his innocence."
Chen Zhong's thumb, which had been gently shaking, stopped.
Jiang Jun kept watching closely. "I wrote while crying. Fortunately, my father finally got through it. When he was conscious, he reorganized the words I wrote down and added some important parts. He wrote them clearly in the appeal materials I brought with me. Uncle Chen, you'll know when you see them!"
With the guards and driver around, Jiang Yun would not tell anyone what was written in the materials.
Chen Zhong remained motionless and listened.
Jiang Jun continued, "Every time my father had a serious illness, he told me to fulfill this wish for him. When he felt a little better, he began to look forward to returning to the army. When he was completely well, he told me not to overthink it and just go with the flow."
Chen Zhong hummed, "Then why couldn't he help but let you come this time?"
Jiang Jun bit her lip and said, "If I tell you, you can't say anything about me, okay?"
Chen Zhong suppressed his laughter and nodded.
Jiang Jun pursed his lips, as if mustering up courage. "Actually, I came to Beijing to tell my dad that I was bringing Xiaolan to apply for an art school. I secretly brought out the appeal documents he wrote."
Chen Zhong raised his eyebrows: "Which art school does Xiaolan want to apply to?"
A smile crossed Jiang Jun's face. "Xiaolan is over there, learning singing and dancing from a teacher from an ethnic minority. She wears their ethnic costumes, and you can't tell she's Han Chinese at all. Although she hasn't been in school much, I've been tutoring her academics. So, I wanted to ask Uncle Chen if you could give us some advice on what kind of school Xiaolan should apply to that would be likely to accept her."
Chen Zhong smiled. "I believe you'll tutor her in academic subjects. As for singing and dancing, that's up to the teachers at the troupe. You only want Xiaolan to get into school, but haven't you ever thought about letting her join the army?"
Jiang Jun's smile deepened. "Of course I've thought about it, but I just don't dare to think too much about it."
Chen Zhong's thumb began tapping the beat again: "Xiaojun, is there anything you dare not do?"
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