After the fifteenth day of the first month, the New Year is coming to an end, and the busy farming season will begin.
Before planting in the spring, the land must be loosened first. The commune has limited cattle, and the Xishan Brigade did not win it this year. It can only rely on the commune members to turn it with a hoe and a hoe.
Zhao Nan also went to the ground, and the centimeters earned were recorded on his own family. But he couldn't do it for a few days, and it was the nineteenth of the first lunar month, and he was going to go back to the army soon.
That night, Jiang Rui was knitting a sweater under the lamp, just one cuff away, let him wear it tomorrow.
After Zhao Nan washed up, he sat aside and watched her.
Jiang Rui talked to him casually, "Did you go and talk to Dad? Tomorrow you have to catch a car. He gets up early in the morning and goes to the ground, so he might not meet him."
"I said, I just came over from my parents' room."
"Little brother and sister are not at home. When you pass through the county, if you have time, take a look. The next time we meet will take another year."
"Okay," Zhao Nan nodded, "Would you like to say goodbye to your father-in-law and mother-in-law?"
Jiang Rui thought for a while, then shook her head, "Forget it, I'll go back and talk after you leave."
Wang Tonghua loves face. The last time Zhao Nan saw the quarrel at home, his face was a little bit awkward. If she came to the door again in the near future, it would only make her uncomfortable.
"Okay." After finishing the last step of knitting, she shook the sweater, picked it up and looked left and right. She thought it was okay, symmetrical from left to right, and the stitches were fine, so she said to Zhao Nan, "Wear it and see if there are any If it doesn't fit, I'll change it."
Zhao Nan took off his coat, and inside was a thin sweater, which was worn close to the body, outlining the strong muscles of his chest and arms. With his movements, the muscles rose and fell, full of strength and beauty.
Jiang Rui looked at it, and suddenly stretched out two fingers and pinched it in front of his chest.
Zhao Nan's head was still covered in the sweater, his body shrank back suddenly, one hand grabbed her offending hand, and the other hand pulled down the collar of the sweater, finally revealing his face and looking at her helplessly.
"Okay, okay, if you don't want to play with you, just put it on and let me see it." Jiang Rui took her hand back as if nothing had happened, and said with a smile.
Zhao Nan shook his head and sorted out the leader and hem of the shirt.
This is Jiang Rui's first time knitting a sweater, but it fits very well. Her eyesight and comprehension are naturally incomparable to ordinary people. The last time she made a cotton coat for herself, she made it in one time. She felt that she might be in the future. Can be a great tailor.
The clothes were very warm, and when they were put on, they felt warm all over. Zhao Nan looked at Jiang Rui looking around him, and suddenly stretched out his hand and hugged her.
"I'll report when I get to the army." He said this a few days ago, and he said it again today.
"I know, I'll be waiting for your news at home." Jiang Rui put her arms around his waist and rubbed her face on his shoulder.
Zhao Nan stopped talking and did not let her go.
Jiang Rui stayed upstairs with him for a while, and said, "The bed is messy, and I haven't packed everything yet, let me tidy it up first."
"I'm coming." After Zhao Nan finished speaking, he waited for a while before letting go of her hand and pressing her against the table. He quickly packed up the wool scissors and other sundries on the bed.
It was late at night, and the rest of the Zhao family had fallen asleep. Zhao Nan was lying on the bed, but he still didn't feel sleepy. In the past, when he went home to visit relatives, before he left, he felt a little melancholy about parting, but he never felt that kind of worrying about him.
Don't worry about her being at home, worry about whether she will feel uncomfortable in an unfamiliar environment alone, and even worry about whether her family will bully her, if he can, he just wants to take her with him when he leaves tomorrow.
"Why don't you sleep? You have to get up early tomorrow." Jiang Rui spoke in his arms.
Zhao Nan folded his arms and took her into his arms. The body in his arms was soft and smooth. He almost wanted to rub someone into his body, but he was afraid that he would hurt her with a little effort.
The two were too close, and Jiang Rui simply turned over, lay on his chest, and asked softly, "What are you thinking?"
Zhao Nan looked down at her, lowered his head and kissed her forehead before saying, "Don't be restrained at home, just treat it like your own."
Jiang Rui probably guessed what he was thinking, and laughed softly: "Don't worry about me, our family is very good, my parents love me, my elder brother and elder sister are friendly, but you, you should take good care of yourself when you are out alone. Just wait for me to find you."
"Yeah." Zhao Nan nodded.
"Can you sleep now?" Jiang Rui yawned and was about to get off him, but her slender waist was firmly clasped by two big palms.
"Huh? Do you have something to say?" She raised her head and looked into Zhao Nan's dark eyes.
"Sleep later tonight..." The two palms slowly stroked up and down.
The next day, Zhao Nan woke up before dawn. He turned his head to look at Jiang Rui's sleeping face. He wanted to kiss her, but he was worried about waking her up. Get up lightly.
Zhang Liyun had already woken up and was making a fire in the kitchen. The orange flames danced and danced, and she saw God when she looked at it, until a mother woke her up.
She raised her head and saw that Zhao Nan was walking in. Through the door of the kitchen, she could see that the sky outside was still dark blue.
"Why don't you sleep for a while? I was on the road for the next two days, but I didn't sleep peacefully."
"Sleep full." Zhao Nan moved a bench and sat beside her.
Zhang Liyun looked sideways at this son. The first time he left home more than ten years ago, she also got up before dawn, boiled egg pancakes, and asked him to take them to eat on the road, and he sat silently like this today. Beside him, in a blink of an eye, the slightly immature young man has become a man of the sky.
"When you go out, take care of yourself. You don't have to worry about things at home. Baoqin is a good child. She is diligent and sensible. With me watching, I won't let anyone bully her."
"She's young, please take care of Mom."
Zhang Liyun glared at him, "I still need you to tell me? She is my daughter-in-law, who cares if I don't? You stinky brat, are you worried that I will bully your daughter-in-law, eh? You have lived for nearly thirty years, head Once I said polite words to your old lady, just for the new daughter-in-law who entered the house, in your heart I am an evil mother-in-law?"
Zhao Nan couldn't understand why his mother was angry with a single sentence, so he shook his head and remained silent.
Zhang Liyun recited a few more sentences, remembering that her son was going to leave in a while, she was not feeling well, and gradually disappeared.
"Mom, you and Dad should take care." Zhao Nan suddenly said.
Zhang Liyun turned her head away, wiped the corners of her eyes, and then said gruffly, "You still need to say that your father and I can count on you to serve us until we are 100 years old!"
Zhao Nanzheng nodded, "Yes."
After breakfast, Zhao Nan left without letting his family deliver.
Standing on the dam of the reservoir, Jiang Rui watched him carry a duffel bag and walked farther and farther, until he couldn't see it, and then returned home.
There were only Li Xiaoe and Zhao Xiaobo in the room. The children felt a lot of sleep. Zhao Xiaobo had just woken up when he learned that the second uncle had left and was eating gloomily.
"Sister-in-law, where's mom?" Jiang Rui looked around the room, but didn't see Zhang Liyun.
Li Xiao'e pointed to the room and whispered, "Every time the second brother leaves home, Mom is in a bad mood, so let her relax by herself."
When it was almost noon, Zhang Liyun came out of the room, and she looked almost the same as usual.
She called Jiang Rui and said, "Anan didn't tell her mother before she left, Baoqin, go home in the afternoon."
"Okay." Jiang Rui agreed, and went to Du's house after lunch. On the way, she met someone she knew and asked her why she was alone. She smiled and said that Zhao Nan had already returned to the army, and someone asked her why she didn't go with her. She also said one by one.
Du Youfu and Du Baoqiang both went to work on the farm, Du Baozhen went back to school, and the Du family only had Wang Tonghua, Zhang Xiaohua and Xiao Shan Hao.
When Jiang Rui entered, Wang Tonghua was feeding the rabbits in the courtyard, "Mom, I'm back."
"You're back? Have you eaten yet?" Wang Tonghua looked behind her, saw that she was the only one, and asked, "Why didn't Anan come together?"
Jiang Rui took over the job of feeding the rabbits, "After dinner, Anan left for the army in the morning. Because it was too early and it was still dark, I didn't come to tell you."
"Leave so early? It's only been a few days since you got married." Wang Tonghua frowned slightly, "I said earlier that I could join the army, when will it be fulfilled?"
"I need him to go back to the army to report first, Mom, how's Little Hawthorn? Is your cold better?"
Wang Tonghua fed the last blade of grass to the rabbit and clapped the ashes on her hands, "Okay, I haven't cried much these two days, I'm sleeping in the house now, and your sister-in-law is with her."
Jiang Rui glanced at the room and asked in a low voice, "Sister-in-law and brother are not arguing these days, right?"
"Stop arguing, I'm so tired every day, how can I still have the energy to quarrel."
Wang Tonghua has seen it for the past few days, and she almost understands that her daughter-in-law is arguing. In fact, it may not be because she thinks she has too much work assigned to her, but because she is angry that Baozhen does not work. Baozhen has gone to school these two days. Not in front of her, there was still so much work at home, but she didn't see her making a fuss.
She looked at her eldest daughter, who lowered her head to feed the rabbit, with mixed feelings. When Baoqin was at home, why was no one arguing? But it was because she did most of the things alone. She has always known that this daughter is well-behaved and diligent, and it has been regarded as a habit for so many years. Now that she goes out, she realizes how much trivial and hard work the words of diligence they used to say in their mouths.
It's a pity that it's too late. Her most diligent daughter has become the daughter-in-law of someone else's family. Her own daughter-in-law is competitive and does not want to suffer. The remaining daughter, like her husband and son, only cares about her own land. , I can't hold other things in my eyes, or I don't want to hold other things in my eyes.
Zhao Nan took the train for two days and one night to return to the army. When Zheng Bin heard the news of his return, he immediately came to drop by, "Old Zhao, you are finally back! How is it, have you met the girl?"
Zhao Nan responded to him casually, and before the chair could sit down, he went out again in a hurry.
"Hey, where are you going?" Zheng Bin chased out the door.
"Go to the Political Department to find the director."
"What to do with the director?" Zheng Bin asked again.
Zhao Nan quickly turned a corner, and he could no longer be seen. Only the voice came from a distance, "I will report to the army."
Zheng Bin stumbled and almost fell, "Old Zhao! You are too fast!"
When Zhao Nan came back from the Political Department, Zheng Bin came again. He didn't hear the gossip he wanted, and his heart was itching.
"Tell me now, is my brother and sister the girl from last time?"
"It's her." Zhao Nan ran a little hot, took off his coat and put it on the back of the chair.
Zheng Bin patted him on the shoulder, "You're so lucky boy. Hey, this sweater has never been seen by you before. It feels soft to the touch. I bought it newly? Or did my aunt call it for you?"
Zhao Nan looked up at him and said word by word, "My lover knitted it."
Zheng Bin was stunned for a while, then lifted the hem of his coat, pulled out a sweater inside, and shouted, "What are you showing off! Your lover knits sweaters for you, but my lover doesn't knit it? Look! Look at me, look at me, the sweaters I wear are all knitted by your sister-in-law and have been worn for several years, have you ever seen me show off!"
Zhao Nan took a closer look at his sweater, then at his own, shook his head and said, "You're ugly, mine is pretty."
"..." Zheng Bin took a deep breath, still unable to bear it, and suddenly burst out: "Old Zhao! It's a shame to be a man, Lao Zhao!"
Zhao Nan ignored him. He had to think carefully about how to arrange the house assigned to him by the troops. It didn't matter if he lived alone in the past, but now he can't be too casual.
He is busy decorating the house, and the family is not busy.
The fields on the farm have been ploughed, watered, and the seeds have been bred. In the past two days, the early rice has been transplanted.
Almost the entire brigade's members have gone to the ground. The five adults of the Zhao family only need to keep one at home to do housework. In previous years, most of this person was Li Xiaoe, because Zhao Xiaobo was still young in the past two years and needed her to take care of him. This year, there was Jiang Rui.
Compared with planting rice in the ground, although the housework is trivial, it must be much easier. Jiang Rui took the initiative to say, "Sister-in-law wants to take care of Xiaobo, let me go."
Li Xiao'e really didn't want to go down to the ground. Not only was the wind and the sun blazing, she had to bend her waist all day, and her back would break when she came back at night. But if she was tired, others would definitely be tired, so Jiang Rui took the initiative to take it down. , but she couldn't be rude, so she quickly said: "Xiaobo is so big, he doesn't need to be watched. I'll go."
Jiang Rui smiled and said, "It's not a good thing. My sister-in-law insists on robbing me. Why don't we go together and let mom cook for us?"
Before Zhang Liyun could speak, Li Xiao'e hurriedly agreed: "It's a good idea, let Mom cook, we all have a good time."
"What's good?" Zhang Liyun was very happy in her heart, and her face was fierce: "I don't want to serve you, you two don't have to fight, you can come one day at a time, I must go, regardless of my age. Big, you young people are born by hand, and you may not work faster than me."
"Mom is not old at all, and when we go out, people say we are like sisters." Li Xiaoe said with a smile.
"Nonsense," Zhang Liyun scolded with a smile, "I'm a sister to you, could it be that your man has to call you auntie?"
Li Xiao'e blushed, and the rest of the family laughed.
The next day, Jiang Rui went to the ground first.
She has never done rice transplanting, but this kind of thing is not difficult, and it will be easy to see how many times others have done it.
As Li Xiaoe said, the most tiring part of transplanting rice is the waist. Often after a while, you have to stand up and take a break. Jiang Rui's body is getting whiter and more delicate day by day. It looks soft and weak, but her physical quality has been tempered by aura so tough that it can hardly be measured by ordinary people's standards, and she doesn't feel tired.
Zhang Liyun was on the land next to her. At first, she was very funny when she saw her daughter-in-law. After watching it a few times, she suddenly found that she didn't seem to have rested. She couldn't help shaking her head, thinking that her daughter-in-law was a little stupid.
Working in the same team is calculated according to the number of days. At the end of the day, if you work a lot, it will be so many centimeters, and if you work less, it will be so many centimeters. Some people who are slippery will learn to be lazy and work abroad. According to them, they work for the public anyway, and those who are not lazy are stupid.
Although Zhang Liyun didn't like that kind of person, she didn't want her daughter-in-law to suffer too much. She would be exhausted and her body would be on her own, so she whispered to Jiang Rui, "Baoqin, take a break and drink some water. ."
"Mom, I'm not tired." Jiang Rui tilted her head to look at her, and planted a few more seedlings without stopping.
"You stupid child." Zhang Liyun suppressed her voice again, "I'm not tired now, you cry at night, wash your hands quickly, Mom is thirsty, go and fetch our kettle."
"Okay." Jiang Rui put down the seedlings in her hands, washed her hands in the field, and went to get the teapot on the ridge. After Zhang Liyun finished drinking the tea, she sent it back.
The Du family was planting rice in the field opposite them. Wang Tonghua saw Jiang Rui walking up the field, and stopped what she was doing to call her.
"Why are you, their eldest daughter-in-law?"
Jiang Rui wiped her face with the towel around her neck, "Sister-in-law is cooking at home, we will take turns, and she will go to the ground tomorrow."
Wang Tonghua's expression improved a little. She thought that the Zhao family thought that Du Baoqin was well-behaved and bullied, so they favored the eldest daughter-in-law. She glanced around from the corner of her eyes, and seeing that no one was looking, she whispered, "Be smart, don't always rush to work."
"I see, don't worry, Mom." Jiang Rui smiled.
Wang Penghua muttered, "Why hasn't Anana sent a letter yet? If you go with him earlier, you won't have to work."
"It should be soon." Zhao Nan walked for nearly a month, but Jiang Rui was not in a hurry.
The two couldn't rest for too long, so they separated after a few words.
A few days later, the captain of the team suddenly came to Zhao's house with a few people. It turned out to be a comrade from the county. Because Zhao Nan applied for his family to join the army, they came to review and asked a lot of questions.
After a while, the notice of permission to follow the army finally came, just as the spring ploughing ended, Jiang Rui began to pack her bags.
Zhang Liyun specially called Zhao Bei back and asked him to carry 30 catties of grain on his back. With the letter of introduction issued by the commune, he went to the grain station to exchange for the national general grain stamp.
Without food stamps, rural people would be unable to move, and would not dare to leave their hometowns.
Jiang Rui said goodbye to the family, and sent a telegram to Zhao Nan, explaining that she would be there one day, so she got on the train.
Before departure, whether it was Zhang Liyun or Wang Tonghua, they had explained to her many times, asking her to collect the money and food stamps, and repeatedly told her not to easily listen to strangers, not to go with strangers, and after the train arrived at the station. , you must wait until someone from the army comes to pick it up. In short, neither of them worried about her.
No wonder they were worried, she was a woman alone, beautiful and conspicuous wherever she went. Fortunately, in those days, most of the people were warm and honest. When someone came to talk, she would say a few words politely. If the person asked a question, she would just smile and not speak, and others would agree and stop disturbing her.
After forty hours on the train, I finally reached my destination. Jiang Rui walked out of the carriage with the flow of people, and looked around on the platform, but did not find a familiar figure, and did not feel Zhao Nan's breath. Just thinking about whether he was late, a voice behind him asked hesitantly, "Is it Comrade Du Baoqin?"
She turned around, and there were two soldiers standing in front of her. The one who was in her thirties, with a thin face and a smile on her face, looked very peaceful.
Jiang Rui smiled lightly: "Hello, I'm Du Baoqin, may I ask who you are?"
Zheng Bin breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, when he saw Lao Zhao's lover just now, he was a little afraid to recognize it. When he saw the photos before, he was very surprised. There were few such fair and beautiful girls in the countryside. Who would have known that the real person was even more amazing. No wonder Lao Zhao was like that.
"My name is Zheng Bin, you can just call me Lao Zheng. I'm Comrade Zhao Nan's comrade-in-arms. He can't go away because of something. He asked me to pick up Comrade Baoqin."
"Then I'll trouble you." The smile on Jiang Rui's face became more obvious.
This is not the place to talk. Zheng Bin only told the truth when he got into the car. It turned out that Zhao Nan couldn't walk away because of something, but that he couldn't walk at all. He was injured while performing a mission a while ago, and now he is in the hospital.
"Does it matter?" Jiang Rui frowned.
Zheng Bin hurriedly said: "It's not life-threatening, but I injured my leg. It may be inconvenient to move in the next month or two. Xiao Du, Lao Zhao is this." He gave a thumbs up, "This task, the army has decided to grant it He is second-class. He didn't know that you came here today. A few days ago, your telegram was sent to the army. Several of us saw it and discussed it privately. We decided to pick you up without Lao Zhao, and go to the hospital to give him a treatment later. Surprise, what do you think? By the way, are you tired? Otherwise, I will take you to the guest house to rest first?"
Jiang Rui shook her head, "No need, let's go see him directly, please."
Zheng Bin waved his hand straight, "Don't you, yours, you can see that I'm shouting Lao Zhao Lao Zhao Xiaodu Xiaodu, you can also just call me Lao Zheng, or I'll be happier if you call me Brother Zheng."
"Brother Zheng." Jiang Rui chuckled.
"Hey!" Zheng Bin responded cheerfully, but thought to himself that if Lao Zhao's wife called his brother, wouldn't that mean that Lao Zhao called him his brother? Hey, it's so cheap. He couldn't wait to see, Lao Zhao suddenly saw his daughter-in-law appear in front of him, what kind of expression would appear on the dead man's face.
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PS: A cub mentioned that military marriages need to be reported. Yes, in fact, military marriages are not that simple. They have to go through strict political review and approval from the army, as well as family members accompanying the army. However, for the needs of the plot, I put all those Forget it, let's pretend that there is that process~