That night, Gu Yijia still did not sleep well.
She dreamed of her old home, with parents, older brothers, and several paternal cousins and sisters, everyone gathered together eating and chatting lively, making it obvious at a glance that this was a harmonious large family.
After waking up, seeing the white mosquito net that had been washed yellow, seeing the bright red peony-pattern quilt covering her body, seeing the heavy, square rural frame bed, seeing the radio on the table, seeing the two lattice windows…
Gu Yijia felt a lingering sense of loss in her heart, and when she touched the pillow towel, it was already wet for the most part.
She stared blankly at the dim room, and suddenly a tickling sensation rose in her throat. She could not help covering her mouth and coughing muffledly.
These past few days, she had fully felt how weak this body was, no wonder people secretly called her a sickly weakling. Especially when she felt that even in this hot weather, her hands and feet were still cold, her energy was poor during the day, and when she slept at night, she always felt tight in the chest and short of breath, waking up in a coughing fit, it was even more crushing.
This body was really too poor, too poor.
She missed very much the healthy-baby body she had before, no matter how much she messed around, nothing would happen.
After Gu Yijia finished coughing, a careful knock sounded outside the door, and her little niece’s voice rang out.
“Little Auntie, are you awake?”
The little girl lowered her voice, as if afraid of disturbing her.
The family all knew that Gu Yijia’s sleep quality was poor, so they would try not to disturb her sleep and let her sleep until she woke naturally. Baohua had sharp ears, and every day when Gu Yijia woke up, hearing the movement in the room, she knew that she should be awake.
Gu Yijia answered, groped her way out of bed, first changed clothes, then went out with her long black hair loose.
Although today was Saturday, school still had half a day of classes, and Chen Aifang and her two children had gone out early in the morning, so at home there were only Gu Yijia and Baohua.
Baohua prepared the wash water for her and set it on a platform made of bricks in front of the courtyard.
After washing up, Gu Yijia sat in the main room to eat breakfast.
Breakfast was flavorless white porridge, with even more flavorless side dishes, and a cup of malted milk drink.
“Have you drunk the malted milk drink?” Gu Yijia asked her little niece.
Baohua smiled and waved her little hand, saying, “Don’t worry, Little Auntie, I already drank it.”
The house always kept malted milk drink on hand. It had been sent back by Gu Mingcheng, and besides using it to nourish Gu Yijia’s body, it was also to give the children some nutrition.
At noon, Chen Aifang and her two children came back.
After lunch, they rested for a while, and when it was evening, they all went together to the brigade office to make a phone call.
After finishing a day of training, Gu Mingcheng did not have time to go back and change out of the dirty training clothes on him, and he strode toward the office.
Halfway there, he ran into Liu Zhengwei and Zhou Jianguo, the commander of the second regiment.
The two were huddled together talking. When they saw Gu Mingcheng, they greeted him.
Gu Mingcheng had originally been hurrying back to the office, but after noticing the serious expressions on the two of them, he could not help stopping and asking, “What happened?”
Liu Zhengwei sighed. “It isn’t because of Feng Lin. This time when he went on a mission, he was injured…”
Gu Mingcheng’s heart tightened. “Is it serious?”
“It isn’t too serious, but…” Liu Zhengwei shook his head. “You also know Feng Lin’s temper. Getting him to rest properly is harder than ascending to heaven.”
Gu Mingcheng relaxed a little and smiled. “Have the old commander give an order. He’ll probably rest then. He can’t possibly even disobey the commander’s order, right?”
“I think it’s hard!” Zhou Jianguo also laughed. “It’d be better to find him a wife and let his wife manage him.”
Hearing this, Gu Mingcheng and Liu Zhengwei both shook their heads. They could not imagine what kind of wife they would need to find for Feng Lin to be able to keep him in line and make him obedient. I’m afraid by then even his wife would be scared to tears by Feng Lin’s fierce and cold look.
This sort of thing had really happened before.
Although Feng Lin looked hard to mess with, he was really good-looking. His eyebrows were refined and his eyes handsome, his features deep, the kind of strikingly handsome that was almost aggressive. They even heard that he was from the capital side, and he himself also had ability, so quite a few people wanted to play matchmaker for him.
Especially over at the literary and art troupe, there were also many female comrades who wanted to be in a relationship with him.
In the end, a female comrade once gathered her courage and went to find him, only to be scared into tears by that act-like-the-king-of-hell appearance of his.
Gu Mingcheng said a few words to them and hurried away.
Seeing the direction he went, Liu Zhengwei and Zhou Jianguo suddenly remembered that today was Saturday, the day Gu Mingcheng called home to speak with his family.
Back when Gu Mingcheng was still a company commander, he had already developed this habit, needing to call his family once every week, not caring even if it cost more money. Later they only found out that in his hometown, he had a younger sister with a weak and sickly body, and he always worried that something might happen to her. He only felt at ease after hearing his sister’s voice once every week.
When they mentioned Gu Mingcheng’s younger sister, everyone also worried about him in private.
It was said that the girl was born premature, and had been in poor health since she was little. She had been in critical condition several times, and it was truly not easy for her to have lived until now. In fact, everyone already had the mental preparation that Gu Mingcheng’s sister might at any time…
It’s just that by then, they feared Gu Mingcheng himself would not be able to take it.
“I hope Old Gu’s little sister can live to a hundred, otherwise Old Gu will probably be heartbroken,” Zhou Jianguo said this way.
Liu Zhengwei sighed. “Let’s hope so.”
Birth, aging, illness, and death are the norm, and also the thing in this world that leaves human beings most helpless.
It was not yet the Dragon Boat Festival, but the south had already more or less entered summer. The sun was blazing hot, and even at dusk, waves of heat still rushed at them.
The sunlight of the setting sun was still fierce. Gu Yijia held a parasol and walked slowly along the muddy country road.
Chen Aifang and the other three walked in front, deliberately slowing their pace to match Gu Yijia.
Country people rarely held umbrellas on a clear day, especially at this time of evening, so when they saw Gu Yijia walking by with an umbrella, quite a few people looked over, especially the educated youths.
The newly arrived educated youths looked curiously at the person walking past with an umbrella.
The umbrella edge was very low, so they could not see the other person’s face, and could only tell from that slender, graceful waist and the long dress reaching her ankles that it was a young female comrade.
Suddenly, the edge of the umbrella lifted slightly, revealing a jade-like hibiscus face, with features exquisitely carved, as if the most perfect work of art from heaven, making the people who suddenly saw this face freeze in place.
Even after the other person walked gracefully past and disappeared ahead, many people were still looking after her in a daze.
“Who is that?” an educated young man asked in amazement.
A passing commune member said matter-of-factly, “Oh, that’s the little daughter of Old Gu’s eldest family. Pretty, right?”
The educated young man who had asked the question subconsciously nodded, and then blushed.
However, no one laughed at him, because many of the people there were the same. Even those female educated youths were, inexplicably, a little red in the face. Thinking of how they had also stared dumbly just now, they could not help touching their hot cheeks.
Still, that girl was really beautiful. It was a kind of beauty that both men and women would appreciate.
So it was normal that they had stared blankly, right?
Perhaps because she had just recovered from a serious illness, when Gu Yijia arrived at the brigade office, she only felt a wave of dizziness in front of her eyes, and Chen Aifang supported her as she sat down.
Chen Aifang was worried. They had already rested for several days, so how was she still this weak?
It seemed that this heatstroke had spent a great deal of her younger sister-in-law’s energy, and she did not know when she would recover it. If she could not recover it…
Chen Aifang’s heart trembled slightly, and she did not dare think about that possibility.
If possible, she hoped her younger sister-in-law could live well and live to a hundred.
The women’s director was also there, and when she saw Gu Yijia’s appearance, she was startled and hurriedly went to pour her a glass of water, frowning as she asked, “Is Jiajia all right?”
Chen Aifang said, “Maybe it’s because of this heatstroke. The reaction was relatively big, and she still needs to recuperate for some days.”
Since her younger sister-in-law graduated, the reason they had not rushed to find her a job was also because of this. They were afraid of tiring her out. If something unexpected happened, it would be better to keep her at home and nourish her.
After hearing this, the women’s director could not help feeling a little pity. “Then she really needs to be properly nourished.”
“I was thinking the same. Tomorrow happens to be the weekend, so I’ll go to the county supply and marketing cooperative to buy some meat, eggs, and things like that to help nourish her body more.”
The two chatted briefly, and then Chen Aifang went to make the phone call.
The phone was connected very quickly. This had already become an understanding between both sides. Unless Gu Mingcheng was about to go on a mission, or there was some urgent matter and he was not around, otherwise they generally would not miss the call.
After Gu Yijia recovered somewhat, she found that her sister-in-law was already talking with her brother on the other end of the phone.
First she spoke about the situation at home, then called over the two children. The two children were very happy to be able to talk with their father, and every time they were full of anticipation.
Because the time for the phone call could not be too long, everyone kept their words brief, and soon it was Gu Yijia’s turn.
“Jiajia, come here.”
Gu Yijia slowly took the phone and said hello.
A gentle male voice came from the other end. “Jiajia, how is your body?”
Although the voice was somewhat distorted through the phone, Gu Yijia still recognized it as her brother’s voice. Even if it was not the brother from before she transmigrated, they were really too similar.
Her eyes grew a little wet, and she said softly, “My body is fine. Brother, you don’t need to worry. We are all very well, and you don’t need to worry about us.”
Her brother now was a soldier. This era was not truly peaceful either. She had heard that soldiers had to go to the battlefield and also do some dangerous missions.
She did not want him to encounter danger.
How could Gu Mingcheng believe that? “Your sister-in-law said you were hospitalized from heatstroke a few days ago. Now that the weather is hot, you need to take care of your body.”
“Okay.”
Even though the time was limited, Gu Mingcheng still gave her careful instructions.
For this only younger sister, he cherished her from the bottom of his heart. Even if everyone said she would not live long and that supporting her was a waste of money and energy, he still had not abandoned her, and was even willing to bear responsibility for her whole life.
As long as she needed him, he would support her.
Gu Yijia listened quietly, and when the time was about right, she handed the receiver to her sister-in-law.
Chen Aifang spoke a few more words with her husband, then hung up the phone.
After the phone call, Gu Yijia went home with Chen Aifang and the two children.
Walking along the unfamiliar yet familiar country dirt road, watching the sun set in the west and the rosy glow dye the distant mountains red, Gu Yijia felt a sense that everything had fallen into place in her heart.
She had come to this era, and she would continue living here.