Xu Jianmin continued, "You're certainly a decent young man compared to all the oddballs in the village, but you're still far from being a match for the outstanding Li Zhiqing."
“Uncle, you…” Xu Xiangyang looked at his uncle with resentment. How could someone be so mean to their own nephew?
"The truth is always hard to hear, but honest advice is hard to swallow. Li, the educated youth, won't be stuck in this small place forever. She has a wider world to explore, and you are not on the same path as her."
Xu Xiangyang said, "I won't be stuck here forever."
Once my uncle's leg is healed, he will still join the army. Just because he is not good enough for me now doesn't mean he won't be good enough for me in the future.
“They won’t wait for you to get stronger and bigger. They’re already strong, and they’ll only admire those who are even stronger. They won’t wait for you in the same place.” He paused, then added, “But it’s good for you to go out and see the world, so you don’t become blindly confident.”
His words were like knives, piercing his nephew's heart.
Xu Xiangyang wasn't angry. He would strengthen himself and try his best to be worthy of her. If he couldn't get what he wanted in the end, at least he would have tried and wouldn't have any regrets.
He can't just give up without doing anything; he's not going to be a coward.
Li Xiyue was unaware of the conversation between Xu Xiangyang and his nephew. She went to the brigade leader's house and gave Sun Xia half a pound of brown sugar and half a pound of White Rabbit candy as payment for making clothes.
Sun Xia refused to accept it. Li Xiyue had been kind to their family, and they were only making a few clothes; how could they possibly accept her things?
Li Xiyue insisted on giving it to them, and the items weren't just for her alone; they were given together with Huang Xinrui. She left the items and departed.
After leaving the house, she went to Uncle Xu's house.
Upon entering, one could see that the grandfather and grandson seemed to be acting strangely. Xu Guoqing's eyes were red, as if he had been crying, while Uncle Xu was pounding medicine with a loud thud, looking furious.
"What's wrong?" Li Xiyue asked as she approached Xu Guoqing.
Xu Guoqing didn't say anything, wiped away his tears and ran away.
Li Xiyue had no choice but to ask Uncle Xu, "Grandpa, what happened?"
“It’s all because of the enemy agents who came to the village yesterday. Guoqing thought the Japanese had come and insisted on going to fight them. I didn’t let him go, and he kept making a fuss.”
Uncle Xu sighed, "He was clamoring about joining the army again today. I said a few words to him, and he completely exploded."
Li Xiyue understood; it seemed Xu Guoqing hadn't given up on his dream of joining the army.
After getting a haircut, Uncle Xu could vaguely see a scar on his head, like one left by a bullet. She asked in surprise, "Grandpa, what's that scar on your head?"
"When I was young, I was fighting the Japanese. A bullet pierced my head, but luckily, I survived," Uncle Xu explained.
Li Xiyue was shocked. How could someone survive a bullet piercing their head? This must be a medical miracle!
"Back then, I was just a junior officer. I was wounded and had to leave the front lines. Later, I followed the military medical team and went around rescuing the wounded. After the war, I became a self-taught barefoot doctor." Uncle Xu recalled the past with a faint smile on his face.
Li Xiyue looked at Uncle Xu with admiration. It turned out that he was also a soldier in the War of Resistance against Japan, and that's how he got his headache.
"Are all the graves on the mountain for martyrs?" Li Xiyue asked.
Uncle Xu asked in surprise, "You discovered it?"
"Xiaobai took me there."
Uncle Xu said, "Yes, they are all martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country. Every family in our village has one or two martyrs. All the villagers can be considered descendants of martyrs."
"It's just that each generation is worse than the last. Many people are selfish and do immoral things, disgracing our martyrs."
Li Xiyue believes that no matter the era or place, there will always be good people and bad people. This has nothing to do with one's background. People from good backgrounds are not necessarily all good people, and people from bad backgrounds are not necessarily all bad people.
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