At the same time, in a high-level ward at the Provincial Liberation Army Hospital.
Military physician Major Dong Shaojiang held the examination report, turning it over and over, finally gazing at Gu Wenshan doing push-ups on the hospital room balcony.
He was shirtless, wearing only hospital pants on his lower half. His back was broad and thick, with prominent ridges and furrows, rising and falling with muscle movement like a perfect and fierce leopard.
These past days, the frivolous scenes Gu Wenshan dreamed of were absurd and confusing. The young woman in his dreams accused him of taking something from her, weeping and pleading for him to return it.
This led Gu Wenshan to suspect for a moment that he had violated a woman’s chastity in his dream, but he knew he was not a man seduced by beauty.
“The imaging report shows no sign of bullets or bullet wounds. Are you sure you took three bullets?”
Dong Shaojiang had been urgently transferred from the Central Military Medical Hospital in Beijing, and the dizziness from the helicopter ride was not enough to make him unable to read an injury report.
He remembered that yesterday this place had been in a frenzy, urgently urging him to bring people over for treatment, and when he asked, it turned out that the famous regiment commander Gu had been seriously wounded facing enemy agents, with his life hanging in the balance…
“One hundred ninety-eight, one hundred ninety-nine, two hundred—” Having completed two hundred push-ups with one hand, Gu Wenshan just barely suppressed the burning heat stirred up by the frivolous dream.
The adjutant handed him a towel, he casually wiped his neck and upper body. “I have told Director Wang and the others many times—I was not shot, the blood traces on my body are not mine. They insisted on making a mountain out of a molehill and had you brought all this way. I owe you a favor.”
“Bullshit! Have all those soldiers who cried over you gone blind?”
“Look at me. Do I look like I was shot?” Gu Wenshan’s words successfully left Dong Shaojiang speechless. The soldiers could not be lying, and Gu Wenshan could not lie either.
Dong Shaojiang had the other medical personnel step outside and personally examined Gu Wenshan thoroughly again. Only then did he relax and pat his muscular back with satisfaction.
“I won’t belabor the point. Old Gu, can you return to Beijing this year? Your mother has spent two years with you in the old home, by rights you should have been transferred back. If you don’t transfer back soon, do you believe she will find you a local match?”
“I believe it, I believe it very much,” said Gu Wenshan, putting on his undershirt and sitting on the sofa, looking proper as he sipped his tea, speaking with annoyance. “Can I not dedicate myself to the revolutionary cause?”
Dong Shaojiang, being Gu Wenshan’s childhood friend, spoke without reservation: “The revolutionary cause also needs a revolutionary partner to go along with it.”
Gu Wenshan laughed. “Old Dong, did you come with a mission this time?”
Dong Shaojiang said frankly: “To save you.”
Gu Wenshan cursed: “To rush me into marriage! Did my father or mother promise you something?”
Dong Shaojiang was two years younger than Gu Wenshan, a child the Gu parents called “someone else’s child.” Even though he was inferior to Gu Wenshan in many ways, the fact that he obeyed organizational arrangements, married young, and had a daughter meant that every time Gu Wenshan returned to Beijing, he was brought up for comparison.
Dong Shaojiang had indeed received benefits. Gu Wenshan’s father held a high position, a formidable figure in the Beijing area. The advanced equipment Dong Shaojiang had requested for the Beijing hospitals even required approval from Commander Gu.
“You’re twenty-seven now. By the time I’m your age, your niece will have graduated from the last year of kindergarten,” Dong Shaojiang said, sounding troubled. “You rejected Director Jiang’s daughter so cleanly last time, well, after you rejected her and returned to the regional military district, she couldn’t find fault with you, so she finds fault with me every day.”
Dong Shaojiang made a point of pausing for emphasis to show his distress.
Gu Wenshan was the kind of person who did not care much about such things. “And then?”
Dong Shaojiang and Gu Wenshan had grown up in the same courtyard, so it was not as though he had been bullied, it was just bothersome.
He simply stopped beating around the bush and placed a pile of photographs he had in his pocket on Gu Wenshan’s hospital bed.
Gu Wenshan did not even look at them, grabbed the photos of young women, and stuffed them back into Dong Shaojiang’s pocket. “Don’t say this is an organizational arrangement, it is too disrespectful to the women. I refuse this form of blind date.”
“You are truly boring. What is the point of being so rigid? In this lifetime you will probably never even get slapped by a woman.”
Gu Wenshan said in astonishment: “You play this hard with your sister-in-law?”
“You do not yet know how sweet a woman’s slap is.”
Gu Wenshan said with a scoff: “I only know that taking a slap is shameful.”
Dong Shaojiang helplessly patted his pocket and said: “Fine then. Your mother will certainly come to rush you into marriage again later, handle it yourself. By the way, if your body has any discomfort, go to the hospital for a check-up in time.”
After seeing him off, Gu Wenshan stood on the balcony gazing into the distance for a long time.
The wounds on his body had mysteriously healed, this matter must be kept secret. As for the young woman who had appeared night after night in his dreams these past days, he knew it was she who had saved him.
He had tried several times to see her face, but each attempt ended in failure.
Gu Wenshan’s willpower was not weak, yet his mind kept uncontrollably recalling the graceful and slender form of the young woman.
After a day of activity, who could have predicted that in the night’s sleep she would appear once more, stepping with cat-like steps, walking lightly and softly before him.
As if to test whether he was truly asleep, the woman’s breath washed over his face, making Gu Wenshan unable to keep up the pretense.
Gu Wenshan grabbed the woman’s arm at once, pinching her cheek between his index finger and thumb to force her to look directly at him, yet even so, the woman’s face remained a blur.
“Who are you? What do you want me to return?”
“It hurts—” A delicate cry made Gu Wenshan quickly release his fingers. And their distance was too close, he could distinctly feel the fragrance in the woman’s breath, seeping into his nostrils, numbing his nerves.
Gu Wenshan rose and pressed the woman against the wall by the bed’s edge, she spoke the same words again: “My flower dew. You drank my flower dew, return it to me.”
“Your… flower dew? I never took it.” Such words invited wild speculation, and Gu Wenshan, momentarily dazed, felt the boneless, fragrant woman slip away from his arms as though she had no bones.
As if she disliked walking, she twisted her waist, swayed her hips, as if deliberately seducing him, and gazed at him with annoyed eyes. “How could you not have taken it? I fed it to you.”
Gu Wenshan’s breathing grew heavy, he wanted to chase after her, but found he could not move.
The young woman said petulantly: “Where are you?”
Gu Wenshan had wariness in his bones, he shook his head, not intending to tell the truth.
This action once more annoyed the young woman, who charged up to retaliate by pushing against his chest, but was unexpectedly grabbed by Gu Wenshan at her slender wrist and pulled into his arms.
“Ah!” The young woman stumbled against his solid chest, wanting to pull back her hand, but he refused to let go.
In their back-and-forth, Gu Wenshan’s face gave a crisp sound: “Crack!”
Gu Wenshan froze.
She had slapped him?
“I will definitely find you.” The young woman withdrew her hand as if relieved of a burden, spun in place, and transformed into wisps of mist that vanished.
A moment later, Gu Wenshan woke.
In the darkness, he silently covered his cheek, his face black as the visage of Zhong Kui, the master demon-catching judge [1]black as the visage of Zhong Kui, the master demon-catching judge (Zhong Kui, 鐘馗) Metaphor, reference to a folk deity famed for catching ghosts/demons, invoked here to describe a dark, fierce … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398832_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398832_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Only the sweet fragrance lingering in the air remained.
Gu Wenshan could not help but caress the tender touch in his palm, had he pinched too hard just now? Would there be marks on her face?
She had saved him, wanted to find him, and had even hit him?
As clever as Gu Wenshan was, this confused him. When he had a chance to capture her, he would question her thoroughly.
**
“Hoo-hoo—”
Xiangzhi sat up from the communal barracks, not far outside, the rooster in the collective chicken coop had just begun to crow.
She touched her aching cheek, agitated and annoyed.
A human man’s strength was actually so great, her rosy cheeks were both sore and aching—these rough old men truly did not know how to cherish flowers!
Beside her, You Xiu slept sprawled out, and in the sent-down youth dormitory, some were still whimpering in their sleep from being so far from home.
She leaned against the cold wall, realizing she could not get clues from the man, and could only follow the scent of flower dew to track him down herself.
Fortunately, the scent on the man’s body was different from ordinary men, intertwined with her sweet flower dew was a cold, elegant fragrance.
She carefully remembered his body’s scent, recalling the slap she had just given him, clenching her fist, feeling that she might truly be able to eat him—after all, she had even shown him some severity!
Rivers tilt, moons set, the night is almost over.
The sent-down youth comrades had adopted semi-militarized management.
Squad Leader Wu and his crew had come the second day and arranged everyone’s work tasks with a work manual, now, as soon as the rooster outside crowed, he rang a gong: “Get up! Comrades! We must seize every second to labor!”
He slept not far away in the cow shed, some new sent-down youth had just arrived wanting to go back home, and last year he had caught one who tried to run away in the cow shed. This year the new sent-down youth were not bad, none let him catch them.
In a few days he could squat in the small woods and catch some lovers.
Xiangzhi was quick and dexterous at learning, after braiding her hair to her waist and flinging it over her shoulder, she began to help You Xiu braid her hair.
You Xiu’s face was swollen when she woke up, breakfast was corn porridge, without much taste.
Xiangzhi did not care whether she ate or not, and wanted to push the bowl to You Xiu again, when Jiang Lei sat down beside her with a bowl, pulling an egg from his pocket and setting it upright before Xiangzhi.
Back in the city they could not eat eggs every day. Where Jiang Lei’s egg came from was uncertain, but setting it before Xiangzhi was certainly showing goodwill.
Xiangzhi flicked her finger and sent the egg rolling, it almost fell off the table. Jiang Lei caught the egg quickly and raised an eyebrow at Xiangzhi.
After being rejected yesterday, he knew that “Cao Xiangqin” had high aspirations, a beautiful woman must have experienced multiple suitors, so he had to find another good way to make his move quickly and test the goods, or else she would surely be stolen by another man.
He tossed the egg into You Xiu’s lap, by courting “Cao Xiangqin” through her close friend, he was executing the next phase of his pursuit strategy.
After he left, You Xiu held the egg and said hesitantly: “Should I return it to him?”
Xiangzhi did not understand the ways of the world, she tilted her head prettily and said: “If you want to eat it, eat it. No need to ask my opinion.”
You Xiu had a second sister at home who was one in a hundred beauties, though not as beautiful as Xiangzhi, she had let You Xiu eat many good things. Since “Cao Xiangqin” was indifferent, You Xiu followed the principle that you’d be a fool not to take free stuff when it’s offered [2]you’d be a fool not to take free stuff when it’s offered (you pianyi bu zhan wangbadan, 有便宜不占王八蛋) Slang, crude saying that only a fool passes up something free jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398832_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398832_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, and peeled open the egg to eat.
At this moment, a man at the opposite long table turned around and asked Xiangzhi: “Comrade Cao, we need to cut pig grass later, each person needs fifty catties. Should I help you?”
As soon as he spoke, he received a knife-blade stare from Jiang Lei. But other male sent-down youth also chimed in: “Hey, why should only he help? I can too.”
“Comrade Cao, I’m great at cutting pig grass, you would be better off asking me for help than them.”
“Me, I come from a poor and lower-middle peasant family, and I’m good at farm work!”
You Xiu nearly choked, the sight of them vying to show goodwill made her click her tongue.
“Why do you all think I cannot cut pig grass as well as you?” Xiangzhi’s sharp nature was provoked by them.
In the flower valley, only the weakest flower buds needed others to help. Were they looking down on flowers?
As a gardenia flower, she symbolized not only “eternal pure love” but also “courage and strength.” To casually accept help from others—what face would she have left?
Some things were unbearable even for a little spirit.
After participating in the flag-raising ceremony in the morning, Xiangzhi took a sickle, tied on a green triangle scarf, and went with the other sent-down youth to the foot of the mountain to cut pig grass.
Her tender palms blistered, yet she kept cutting.
Having cut fifty catties, she kept cutting.
Her hair was blown loose by the wind, honest sweat rolling down, and she kept cutting.
Squad Leader Wu was afraid of exhausting her on the first day, so he took the sickle from her hands, announced she was first in today’s pig grass cutting, and Xiangzhi was delighted, her peach-like cheeks blooming with a smile as sweet as honey, stunning a crowd of people once more.
“You really cannot judge a person by appearance,” said You Xiu, wiping the sweat from her chin as she went to the bathhouse with Xiangzhi.
Yanxia Village did not have that many formalities, since many sent-down youth had arrived, the village collective had given an empty house surrounded as a bathhouse for the sent-down youth women who cared about such things to use for daily bathing.
You Xiu had come from northern Shaanxi and had been wanting to take a good bath and scrub the dust off her body.
After washing herself, she rolled up her towel and roughly sauntered over to Xiangzhi, who was sitting alone on a small stool slowly ladling water with a gourd scoop: “You lie down, I’ll scrub you.”
“Scrub what?” Xiangzhi had not yet reacted when You Xiu pressed her down on the bench.
After scrubbing for a while, You Xiu felt Xiangzhi’s skin was so delicate and soft, not a speck of dust on it, and she sighed while complaining: “Good grief, you’re harder to scrub than a fish on a cutting board, your whole body is sensitive and ticklish.”
Xiangzhi, laughing so hard she trembled like a flower in the wind [3]laughing so hard she trembled like a flower in the wind (hua zhi luan chan, 花枝亂顫) Metaphor, laughing so heartily one’s body shakes like a flower branch in the wind (used of a … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398832_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398832_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });), grabbed a towel to cover her full, rounded breasts and reached to tickle You Xiu.
“Ha ha ha, I concede, I concede!” You Xiu pushed her to put on her clothes, giving the bathing place to the other sent-down youth, and then the two of them laughed and played in the steaming water vapor.
Dressed, You Xiu felt somewhat stuffy, she pointed to a small window two meters high and said to Xiangzhi: “Fairy, go open the window for me to let in some air, will you?”
Xiangzhi looked and said: “Can’t open it. What if someone looks in?”
You Xiu said: “The opposite wall is a warehouse, and there’s a sign hanging on the wall saying ‘No Entry’, no one would be so bold as to peek.”
“Yes, Comrade Cao, please help us open it, we’re suffocating in here,” said another.
The inner room had no air circulation, and the assorted soaps and soapnut scents hurt the nose.
Xiangzhi picked up the bamboo pole and went over, she had not yet opened the latch when she suddenly heard the sound of someone falling outside, followed by a man’s groan: “Ah, ouch!”
“There’s a lecher peeking at the bathhouse!”
The female sent-down youth still bathing naked inside broke into chaos, and Xiangzhi, You Xiu, and the other dressed sent-down youth ran out quickly to catch the man!
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