Secretary Jiang thought for a moment and nodded. "That's fine. I don't think there's much wind today. We can build a few fires. But don't rest here. I see a forest up ahead. Once his car is repaired, we can go there and rest for the night."
Chu Tian got the OK, nodded, chatted for a few more words, then turned and walked towards the truck. When passing by the broken car, he saw that the driver was still changing the belt. He didn't say he would help, but walked straight over.
At the edge of the woods, everyone parked the trucks in a circle so that everyone could stay inside the circle and be slightly shielded from the occasional cold wind blowing from all directions.
Chu Tian had just started a fire when he saw He Xiangyang being directed by Brother Zhang to move things not far away. He couldn't stand it anymore. An adult asked a child to move things. Does he have any shame?
Without thinking, he shouted, "He Xiangyang, come here."
He Xiangyang said something to Brother Zhang after hearing this. Brother Zhang looked at Chu Tian, and Chu Tian gave a very official smile. Then he saw Brother Zhang nodded, took the things from He Xiangyang's arms, turned around and walked towards another pile of fire.
"Uncle Chu, are you calling me?"
Chu Tian looked at He Xiangyang's palm-sized face, which seemed to have grown a little flesh after being nurtured for ten days or so. He frowned and said, "Are you stupid? You just do what he asks you to do? You're not a prisoner, nor are you his subordinate!"
He Xiangyang was stunned for a moment, then he honestly admitted his mistake, "Uncle Chu, I was wrong."
“·····”
Chu Tian was very annoyed. "Why are you admitting your mistake? What did you do wrong? You are not wrong! What I meant is that you have no obligation to obey his orders! You can refuse! Do you understand?"
He Xiangyang nodded slightly, then lowered his head and said, "Uncle Chu, I have nothing. I dare not refuse Uncle Zhang. I'm afraid..."
Chu Tian frowned. "What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that someone will say bad things about you behind your back? Or are you afraid that you won't be able to get your household registration in the Corps? Your household registration is in the hands of Director Jiang. Director Jiang has the final say on where you get your household registration. What does it have to do with him? Who is he?"
He Xiangyang remained silent. Chu Tian felt very tired. This child was too self-deprecating. You said something too harsh, so he shrank into silence. After thinking about it, Chu Tian stepped forward and patted his thin shoulders, softening his voice and speaking slowly.
"Xiangyang, I know you've had a hard life since childhood and that you cherish your present life and are afraid that others will look down on you. But no matter what you've done before, you're not inferior to anyone else. You're equal to us. After all, we can't choose where we're born. But while we can't choose our birth, we can choose our future, so there's really no need for you to please anyone now."
"Do you know what you are going to do now?"
He Xiangyang lowered his head and shook it silently, indicating that he didn't know.
Seeing this, Chu Tian sighed helplessly and patiently explained to him in a softer voice, "What you need to do now is not to please anyone, but to work hard to improve yourself. No matter in which aspect, it is always right to work hard to improve yourself."
"You have to know that everything in this world will let you down. Even the people who are best to you right now will let you down. But the only thing that will never let you down is your own hard work and sweat. That will never let you down!"
"Do you understand?"
He Xiangyang slowly raised his head and looked at Chu Tian after hearing this. He stared at Chu Tian with a confused look on his face. After a while, he asked in a low voice, "Uncle Chu, can you do it too?"
Chu Tian was stunned when he heard this, then he smiled and said, "Xiangyang, people's hearts are fickle. Even if I say I won't do it now, who can guarantee that I won't do it in my lifetime?"
He Xiangyang continued to ask, "Can't Uncle Chu guarantee it himself?"
Chu Tian smiled and nodded, "No, no one can! Just remember to listen carefully to everyone's promise..."
After saying that, he gently patted his shoulder again and smiled, "Okay, don't think too much now. I've already built the fire. You can sit down and warm yourself for a while. When the fire is completely burning, put coal in it. I'll go make arrangements for the people in the truck bed first."
"good···"
He Xiangyang nodded slowly, picked up a wooden stick from the ground, and carefully picked up the branches in the fire.
They all thought that since there was so much snow on the road ahead, the road would be even more difficult to travel on when they arrived in Xinjiang. However, the result was just the opposite. They did not encounter any snow after entering Xinjiang from Hami, and the snow on the road was not thick. On the contrary, it was easier to travel on than the middle section, which meant that the car drove much faster.
Chu Tian looked at He Xiangyang curiously and smiled, "Why? Does Xinjiang feel different from where you lived before?"
He Xiangyang nodded embarrassedly, "Hmm..."
"This place is so vast, it feels like there's no end in sight."
"Uncle Chu, is there a lot of land here?"
Chu Tian nodded, "A lot."
He Xiangyang was curious, "Doesn't that mean they have to plant a lot of land? This place is so far away, how early do they have to go out to plant the land every day?"
Chu Tian was happy. He patted He Xiangyang on the head and said, "This is all Gobi Desert. There's no place to grow crops."
Facing his doubts, Chu Tian continued, "Xinjiang is very vast, but currently less than one-tenth of the land is suitable for growing crops. Do you know why?"
He Xiangyang shook his head slightly and subconsciously asked, "Why?"
Before Chu Tian could answer, Chu Min, who was driving, took over. "Why? Because Xinjiang has deserts and vast expanses of Gobi Desert. It's impossible to grow crops in these places. Even if there's wasteland that's been reclaimed now, the harvests in the past few years won't be good. It will take many years to cultivate it."
"Also, Xinjiang has a small population, so the amount of wasteland that can be reclaimed each year is limited, so..."
He Xiangyang continued, "Uncle Chu, so it's easy to settle down in Xinjiang?"
Chu Min was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, "You are a very comprehensive person."
"You're right. It's really easy to settle down in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. There's nothing we can do about it. We're really short of people!"
He Xiangyang got an accurate answer, and for the first time his eyes smiled with joy. Chu Tian glanced at his face carelessly, thinking that this child's eyes were really beautiful, especially when he smiled again. His originally cold face softened instantly, and looked really warm...
The Chinese New Year was on January 25th. Chu Tian and others finally arrived in Urumqi on January 20th of 1976 after two months. The drivers of their various regiments sent the people in the car to the division headquarters. After Officer Jiang arranged for people to hand over all the people, they prepared to return to their respective corps and their respective corps transport teams.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
