Upon arriving in the county town, the people responsible for receiving them saw the luggage Shen Bowen was carrying and dared not question him further. They weren't stupid; since these two people were carrying so much luggage, it meant they had connections and were being taken care of. They dared not offend such people.
Indeed, someone had already made arrangements before Shen Bowen and his wife arrived, so they arranged for them to be assigned to Xiangyang Brigade of Hongqi Commune, as instructed by their superiors.
Shen Bowen and his wife hadn't expected it to be so easy, but no matter what, they were fortunate enough to have kept what they had.
A few days later, I received a letter from Tongshi. Even though I didn't recognize the sender, I opened it anyway. It turned out to be a letter from Uncle Shen. The letter said: "I arrived at Xiangyang Brigade at the end of the month and am now settled. Don't worry. The brigade leader is the father of Brother Shen Dong's comrade-in-arms. Don't contact me too often in the future."
But seeing this instruction only made him more worried. Although Baishi wasn't far from Tongshi, he was still anxious until he saw it with his own eyes. Thinking of this, he remembered the letter of recommendation Uncle Zhou had given him, so he took it and went to the brigade leader's house.
Before I even entered the door, I saw Secretary Gu returning from outside, so I quickly went up to him and said, "Hello, Grandpa Gu."
"Oh, it's Li Zhiqing! Is there something you need?"
"If you need anything, ask Captain Uncle."
"You're home, aren't you? Come in."
"OK"
"Boss, Li Zhiqing is here to see you."
Why is Li, the educated youth, here?
"Uncle Captain, I need to speak with you about something and would like to ask for a few days off."
"Things haven't been peaceful for Li Zhiqing lately."
"It's okay, I know what I'm doing."
"Alright, but where are you going, and how many days will you be gone?"
"Go to Tongshi, Xiangyang Brigade of Hongqi Commune, it will only take three days."
"Where to go and what to do?"
“One of my father’s comrades-in-arms was discharged from the army a few days ago due to injury and returned to the production team. Since my parents’ sacrifice, he has been taking good care of me. I thought I had nothing to do recently, so I wanted to go and see him in person. That way, I can have some peace of mind. Otherwise, I’ll be really worried.”
"We should definitely take a look."
"Okay, I'll write you a letter of introduction right away."
"Okay, thank you, Captain."
"Grandpa Gu, why haven't we seen Comrade Gu Cuicui for the past few months?!"
"What's wrong, Li Zhiqing? She's been working in the county town lately."
"It's like this," she said, recounting how Gu Cuicui had asked her to write a letter to her third brother.
Apart from Old Master Gu and his wife, everyone else in the Gu family looked bewildered and incredulous, especially Captain Gu, whose face turned from blue to red, then blue again, and finally purplish-blue.
After looking around, is there anything you still don't understand? Only Grandpa Gu and his wife know the answer to this!
At this point, Grandma Gu asked, "What did your third brother say in his reply?"
"My third brother said in his letter that he has someone he likes."
"Then what does this sweetheart of his do? Putting aside everything else, my Cui Cui is one of the most outstanding women in the entire commune, not just in our brigade."
"Third Brother didn't say who his sweetheart was, but he mentioned her in the letter, saying that the girl was a top-notch talent, one in a million, regardless of her family background or anything else. As for Comrade Gu Cuicui's admiration for Third Brother, let's not mention it anymore. After all, it's just admiration. Third Brother doesn't even know Comrade Gu. Besides, it's not like the two of them have already confirmed their relationship. It's better not to talk about it. Bringing it up too much will not be good for Comrade Gu's reputation."
Seeing that the old lady and old man remained silent, he turned to the brigade leader and said, "Uncle Captain, here's a conscription recommendation letter that Uncle Zhou gave me a few days ago. You know I don't need it myself. I've been in our brigade for over a year now, so I know Comrade Gu Yunpeng a little bit. Why don't we give this recommendation letter to Comrade Gu Yunpeng? I just don't know where he'll be serving in the army. Auntie, please don't blame me for not arranging for Gu Yunpeng to be near home."
Why would I blame you! You silly child, you still think of us even when there's something so good happening to you.
"Isn't this because the team leader and his wife usually take good care of me?"
"You silly child"
"Uncle Captain, Auntie, Grandpa Gu, Grandma Gu, I need to go home and pack my things, so I'll be leaving now."
"Alright! Your aunt won't keep you any longer."
Please wait.
Before even leaving the Gu family home, I heard Old Mrs. Gu say from inside, "She's giving me a slap followed by a sweet treat."
"Alright, that's enough."
"Old man, you..."
"I really didn't expect that you would be so eager for my little sister to marry into a wealthy family?"
"Boss, it's us..."
"Since you've been keeping everything from yourselves, and this is your son who's taking care of you in your old age, then we shouldn't eat from the same pot anymore." With that, she left the room.
"Old man, what does the eldest son mean by this?! He's trying to separate our parents and make them live separately?"
"More or less."
"No, I'll go find him."
"return!"
"Why should I?"
"If you don't want your eldest grandson to join the army, then go ahead and cause trouble."
"What about Cui Cui?"
"You should figure out whether it's more important for your daughter to marry into a good family, or for your eldest grandson's future to be more important."
"My dear Cui Cui, why are you so unlucky?"
"What's with all the wailing! If you're not afraid of people knowing your daughter was pursuing someone and got rejected, then wail all you want."
"I~"
As for the Gu family's affairs, she herself knew nothing about them until during the busy autumn harvest season, when she overheard Aunt Hua asking the team leader's wife what day her mother-in-law was and why she was yelling at home.
On my way back, I was thinking about what to bring. It's already late August, and after the autumn harvest, winter will come. I don't know if I have any winter clothes or blankets. The winters here are unusually cold, with temperatures reaching minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius, and sometimes even below minus 30 degrees Celsius.
We need to prepare plenty of blankets and thick cotton-padded clothes, as well as some medicine, brown sugar, dried ginger, and so on. And then there's food; I don't know if Uncle Shen and the others have anything to eat.
When I got home, I packed everything I could think of into a burlap sack, but the nylon bag couldn't hold much at all.
First, he took out a 10-pound cotton quilt, two meters long and 1.8 meters wide, from his space. Seeing that it was too new, he quickly found some scraps of cloth and patched it up inside the quilt. He also patched up his cotton-padded clothes and trousers. Thinking that it might not be enough, he took out a military overcoat and patched it up on the visible side as well.
Find the medicines I bought in my previous life, remove the packaging, and prepare medicines according to the instructions, including cold medicine, laxatives, painkillers, and medicine to prevent heatstroke.
Finally, thinking that Uncle Shen had been fighting on the front lines for many years and probably had many injuries, I wondered if he could withstand the harsh winter in Northeast China. Regardless of whether it was already dark, I went to Grandpa Wang's place.
"Mianmian, what brings you here so late?"
Grandpa Wang wasn't an outsider, so he told them about Uncle Shen and Aunt Zhou being sent to the isolated county town, and explained his purpose for coming. Then he heard Grandpa Wang say, "I happen to have some ointments and medicinal wine that I prepared myself. Please take them with you."
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