“Uncle Wu, I’ve finished writing it. Please take a look.” Yuan Xiu handed over the completed Situation Explanation.
Wu Dajun read it and nodded. “It’s written very clearly.” The thought that the commune would have another job opening up made his heart burn with excitement. He took out the inkpad. “Press your fingerprint here.”
After the fingerprint was pressed, Yuan Xiu rubbed the red ink stain on her finger and said, “Uncle Wu, I’d like to trouble you with one more thing.”
Wu Dajun, satisfied with the desired outcome, smiled. “No need to be polite with your Uncle Wu. Go ahead, if I can help, I definitely will.”
Yuan Xiu: “I want to lend the two rooms in my house to the production brigade for free.”
This truly surprised Wu Dajun. “Why?”
“I want to rent out the rooms in my house to the brigade for settling educated youth.”
Yuan Xiu pursed her lips into a smile. “I know the city arranges for educated youth to go to the countryside every year. Over these years, hundreds of educated youth have been settled in our commune. Just our brigade alone currently has over ten educated youth, and there might be more later. The brigade’s conditions are limited; the educated youth live crammed together, and there are still a few placed in fellow villagers’ homes. This is definitely inconvenient, and over time, conflicts are bound to arise. So I thought, after I leave, the two rooms in my house will be empty. Why not let the educated youth live there? Also, after I leave, only my grandparents will be at home. They’re getting old, and I’m really worried about them. Having more young people around could help look after them.”
As she spoke, she lowered her head somewhat sheepishly. “Actually, I have selfish motives too.”
“What selfish motives? This should be called selflessness!” Wu Dajun was happy to see this happen. “I’m just worried your grandparents won’t agree.”
Yuan Xiu took out the deed for the house. “These two rooms belong to me. I can decide whether to rent them to the brigade or not. My grandparents probably won’t like having outsiders in the house at first, but given time, they’ll understand. As members of the brigade, it’s not right to leave the rooms empty and watch the educated youth have nowhere to live.”
Wu Dajun looked at Yuan Xiu and nodded. “You take after your father, high awareness!”
Yuan Xiu didn’t want to be someone with high awareness. The reason she offered the house to the brigade for free was simply because she didn’t want the property to fall into the hands of her elderly grandparents and Yuan Xinmin’s family. Selling it now was unrealistic; she didn’t have time to find a buyer, and transferring ownership might not even be possible. As for her grandparents, even if they made a fuss, they couldn’t win against the brigade and commune cadres, or the villagers who had educated youth living in their homes.
Just causing them some trouble made Yuan Xiu feel better.
Wu Dajun personally saw Yuan Xiu onto the bus heading to the county town.
He not only wrote her a Letter of Introduction needed for taking the bus and staying at inns, but also issued a certificate proving she was Yuan Xiu, and that the one who had gone to the army was Yuan Juan. He also left the commune’s phone number for the army’s verification.
Before she boarded the bus, Wu Dajun reminded Yuan Xiu, “Don’t lose contact after you arrive.”
Yuan Xiu naturally expressed her gratitude once again.
Just before stepping onto the bus, Yuan Xiu’s gaze caught Yuan Xinmin emerging from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative door. She took a deep look, then boarded the bus at the conductor’s urging. The door closed behind her with a decaying creak.
By the time Yuan Xinmin looked over, the bus had already departed with half its passengers for the next stop. He didn’t notice the people on the bus, only Wu Dajun standing under the yellow-fruit tree nearby, hands clasped behind his back.
In the past, he would have shamelessly scurried over to call out “Director Wu.” But now…
Yuan Xinmin grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth stained by cheap cigarettes.
…
Yuan Juan had been staying at the Guesthouse for three days.
In these three days, she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of Jiang Zhou. Knowing she was Jiang Zhou’s fiancée, the military leadership arranged for her to stay at the Guesthouse, saying Jiang Zhou was away on a mission and wouldn’t return for a few days, urging her to wait patiently.
And so, she waited for three days.
For Yuan Juan, these three days felt like an eternity.
Her heart was uneasy, torn between fearing to see Jiang Zhou and fearing not to see him.
She took out a small mirror from her bag and stared intently at herself. To look more like Yuan Xiu, she had cut the same bangs and styled her hair in the same braids as Yuan Xiu. Yuan Xiu liked to braid her hair from the top of her head downward, strand by strand, so she did the same.
She gave up her favorite red hair ties and switched to elastic bands wrapped in black wool, just like Yuan Xiu’s.
She even refrained from wearing the gauze scarf she had always loved most, afraid it would make her look less like Yuan Xiu.
Even the clothes she wore were identical to what Yuan Xiu had on in the photo.
Surely, Jiang Zhou wouldn’t notice the difference, right?
He definitely wouldn’t!
Yuan Juan whispered to herself.
Just then, a series of loud knocks sounded at the door, followed by a woman’s voice: “Sister Yuan Xiu, are you in there?”
Yuan Juan quickly stood up to open the door, warmly inviting the visitor inside. “Sister Chunmei.”
The woman Yuan Juan called Sister Chunmei was around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, a military wife who had come to accompany the army. Her husband, Li Shan, was a close comrade of Jiang Zhou’s. As soon as Yuan Juan arrived, Sister Chunmei enthusiastically took on the task of looking after her, taking her to the canteen for meals and helping her familiarize herself with the family quarters. Over the past few days, she had also shared many stories about Jiang Zhou with Yuan Juan.
“Sister, there’s news about Jiang Zhou! They say he’ll be back the day after tomorrow.”
Yuan Juan’s smile froze. “The… the day after tomorrow.”
“Yes, the day after tomorrow.” Sister Chunmei chuckled. “Aren’t you happy? You’ll finally get to meet him in person.”
Yuan Juan wasn’t sure if she was happy or not—she just felt even more anxious.
“Oh! I’ve been young too, and I know what you girls are thinking. Feeling nervous now, aren’t you? It’s fine, everyone feels that way. When I met my husband on a blind date, I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep all night. The next day, when I saw him, my face flushed red instantly, and I couldn’t even speak. I just thought, ‘How can this person’s eyes be so bright? They make my heart flutter.’”
Sister Chunmei teased, “You’re so pretty, like a flower bud. If Jiang Zhou sees you, he’ll be over the moon! Oh my, you’re blushing!”
Yuan Juan, her face flushed, gently nudged her. “Sister Chunmei, don’t tease me like that.”
Sister Chunmei laughed even more heartily. “Alright, I won’t tease you anymore. You young girls are so easily embarrassed.”
She glanced at the clothes Yuan Juan was wearing. “On the day Jiang Zhou returns, you should wear the new outfit he gave you earlier. He’ll definitely be happy to see it. I even went with him to the city to help pick it out. He’s a man, after all—everything he chose was either blue or gray, nothing bright at all. He even said he’d buy fabric and mail it to you so you could make it yourself. I told him the girl might be coming soon and wouldn’t have time to sew. Buying a ready-made outfit at the Department Store would be much more convenient. And I was right.”
Yuan Juan had originally planned to wear what she had on, but after hearing this, she nodded. “Thank you, sister-in-law. That outfit is so nice, I’ve been reluctant to wear it.”
“Of course it’s nice! That boy Jiang Zhou isn’t stingy at all. The set of clothes he bought for you cost over forty yuan! He said it was high-quality goods from Haicheng.”
Yuan Juan was startled by the price of the clothes. When she received the package, her father had said the clothes looked expensive. She and her mother had guessed how much they might have cost, both thinking it was probably around twenty yuan. They never imagined they hadn’t even guessed half the actual price.
Over forty yuan—her father worked at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and earned only thirty yuan a month.
At that moment, Yuan Juan felt she had made the right decision. If he was willing to spend over forty yuan on a set of clothes for her, what else wouldn’t he give her?
Jiang Zhou was also a battalion-level officer. According to her father, his monthly salary was at least eighty to ninety yuan, not including other allowances. Most importantly, he was still so young, with limitless prospects ahead. Even if he were to transfer to a civilian position in the future, his rank wouldn’t be low.
If she could marry Jiang Zhou, she would enjoy a lifetime of happiness!