I consider myself not a fool. Among the young masters of my generation, I am considered to be one of the best. In life, I know how to take good care of myself and avoid danger appropriately. Theoretically speaking, my ability to survive should be better than that of many people. At least I won’t be the first person to get scared when encountering ghosts. .
But emotionally, I am very slow. I have always attributed this slowness to the fact that I have too little contact time with women and the crowd is too one-sided. In other words, if I were among women, maybe I would become a love expert.
Because of this, when Aunt Xu smiled maliciously and said that this girl likes you, I suddenly understood a lot of things. This is how people are. After being influenced by other people's prompts, they treat many things from a different perspective. I suddenly realized that Meng Dongxue’s concern for me and even her scolding were all because she liked me? If she really likes me, then why did she always smile and not care at all when I tried to please me in the past few days.
So I stammered and told Aunt Xu that it was just because she didn't care about me that I couldn't wait to take over Captain Li's matter so that I could take this opportunity to go out and hide for a few days, because I couldn't hide away at home every day. The encounter was awkward, which was very uncomfortable. Aunt Xu said, silly boy, you know nothing about a girl’s heart!
Aunt Xu blinked her eyes as if she were still a girl.
She told me that girls always have to be more reserved, but you don’t know that in the two days since you left, she asked me where you were at least ten times. And you didn't tell me carefully when you left, so I couldn't answer her. I asked why this girl has been so preoccupied and listless these past two days. After doing this for a long time, her heart is already racing even though she is still here.
After saying that, she let out a burst of laughter. Well, it’s the kind of aunty smile you can imagine.
When I heard Aunt Xu say that Meng Dongxue actually liked me, frankly speaking, I was very happy. This kind of joy was even unprecedented. Just when Aunt Xu said these words, I suddenly felt a constriction in my vest, and my heartbeat accelerated accordingly. This feeling is hard to describe, full of excitement and joy. Excited, a little touched, but also a little sad. As for what is sad, I can't tell.
Probably because my words in the morning completely angered Meng Dongxue. It is very likely that the relationship between us will end before it even begins. So I was a little upset, why did I speak so badly? Maybe because of this, I was ruining my first chance to get close to a girl.
But it's useless to be upset. Although I feel stupid, I can't admit my mistake and apologize now. Besides, I didn't do anything wrong. Who told Meng Dongxue not to express herself clearly and let me guess. So I got angry, sat down on the stool, and said to Aunt Xu, there is nothing I can do, just leave it like this.
Aunt Xu probably also saw that I was angry, so she walked away with a smile. As soon as she stepped out the door, she turned around with a smile and asked me in a fierce tone, "You brat, after breakfast later, will you?" Go deliver breakfast to Meng Dongxue!
During breakfast, Aunt Xu had already wrapped the boiled potatoes and eggs in a handkerchief and handed them to me. She sat in front of me and stared at me as I finished eating. I understand what she means. I must give you this breakfast today. So on the way to deliver breakfast, I kept arguing. After all, I had just had a quarrel with Meng Dongxue, and now I felt quite cheap to deliver breakfast as a sign of goodwill. I have been surrounded by all kinds of bachelors since I was a child. Except for my second uncle, my uncle and my master are all old bachelors. Although I am young, I am a Taoist, so many girls stay away from me. This Meng Dongxue was probably the first girl who could be so close to me, but because of my bad temper, I scolded her and ran away.
I was thinking as I walked, and soon I arrived at the production team's publicity team. Because Meng Dongxue was good at singing and dancing, she was assigned to the propaganda team. She sang and danced every day to inspire the villagers and educated youth to be productive. When I went there, some of the girls happened to be rehearsing their dance. Almost all the dances of that era had a strong partisan style, praising the love affairs between soldiers and civilians. I had no interest in singing or dancing, but I felt a little happy when I saw these young figures.
So I held the potatoes and eggs in my hands and stood motionless at the door like a wooden stake. I bet if it was nighttime it would scare people. Soon Meng Dongxue saw me, but she didn't come over. Instead, she turned around and entered a small room in their team. The few remaining female educated youths seemed to understand something when they looked at me, and they all laughed. The sound sounded like a sheep in heat. I also realized that I seemed a little stupid standing here, so I walked to their house and knocked on the door. One of the female educated youths opened the door halfway and asked me with a smirk on her face, who are you? Who are you looking for?
I...I...who am I? I repeated it once, but I didn't answer her question. Instead, I told her directly that I was looking for Meng Dongxue. The female educated youth was eighteen or nineteen years old and looked about the same age as Meng Dongxue, so she smiled and asked me again, "Why are you looking for Dongxue?" I said I would bring her breakfast, potatoes and eggs.
Through the door, I could also hear a burst of laughter from the girls in the room. Although I didn't quite understand what they were laughing at, I always felt that the cheering laughter seemed to have something to do with me. The female educated youth who blocked the door still didn't open the door. She then asked me, why do I need you to bring breakfast? Who are you to her? I said she ran away without eating in the morning, so I sent it to her and we lived together.
A long-drawn "Oh~~~!" came out of the room. Only then did I suddenly realize that there seemed to be something wrong with this sentence. So he explained in a panic, I... I mean, she lives with me... No! She and I both live in Aunt Xu’s house at the entrance of the village! Aunt Xu asked me to deliver it!
At the end of the day, I became anxious. That extremely terrifying woman's laughter came from the room, and I suddenly felt humiliated. The little bit of dignity that was finally built up in the village fell to the ground and was blown away by the wind.
At this time, the female educated youth at the door seemed to have been pushed away, because I only heard an "ouch" and she disappeared. The door suddenly opened, and Meng Dongxue was standing in front of me. She looked angry. It was bulging, but my face was bright red. I was wondering why it was so warm in this room, and my face turned red. I tried my best to grin, trying to make a smile, and then held the eggs and potatoes in my chest. Not to mention how cheap I looked. Before I had time to speak, Meng Dongxue took the potatoes and eggs from my hand, and then said fiercely, "Go back!" Who lives with you! Stinking rogue!
Then with a clang, the door was closed, and a burst of girls' laughter came from the room again. Although I was called a stinker for no reason, I also noticed that Meng Dongxue had a smile on her face when she was scolding me.
I don’t know how to describe my mood at that time, but from that day on, when Meng Dongxue and I met again, we would still look at each other and smile, but we no longer had that awkward feeling. Instead, I felt that it was all natural, especially Comfortable. And although she and I like each other in Aunt Xu's eyes, neither of us has revealed this relationship. Sometimes other educated youths like to make jokes about Meng Dongxue and me. After we hear it, we all laugh it off. This feeling is quite comfortable.
1968 came, and on the night of New Year’s Eve, Aunt Xu and Meng Dongxue cooked a lot of delicious dishes together. Because we just had another family dinner during the New Year not long ago. The day of the New Year is a day for each family to reunite. There was no TV, no noise, not even a radio. Meng Dongxue and I, together with Aunt Xu and his wife, three people from different families, happily had a reunion dinner. Everyone was chatting happily during the dinner, and Aunt Xu even boasted to Haikou that when Meng Dongxue changes her job and returns home, she will definitely come to propose marriage on my behalf. Uncle Zhou poured cold water on the side and said, damn old woman, what do you know? Young people today don’t even mention marriage. It’s done when it’s done. There’s nothing to hide. It’s not like we used to pull me around all day long. Drilling in the cornfield…
So I always thought that Uncle Zhou drank too much that night, and I got the answer from Aunt Xu's heavy punches. Meng Dongxue and I didn't say anything, we just felt like these things were slowly falling into place. But just when everyone was having a lively meal, suddenly the big yellow dog outside the door started barking. The barking of the dog attracted my attention, because no one went out that night. So I turned back and looked outside the door, and found dots of flashlight beams appearing on the path in the distance.
I originally thought it was someone's child who came back for the New Year, so I didn't pay much attention to it, but the dog kept barking. A few minutes later, a group of people wearing blue Chinese tunic suits who looked about the same age as me appeared. At the door of Aunt Xu’s house. One of the people wearing glasses and combing his hair asked, "This is Zhou Changshou's home, right?"
Zhou Changshou is Uncle Zhou's full name. It's really sharp for a farmer to have such a name. Uncle Zhou stood up and said, "This is it. Who are you?" Only after he asked me did I realize that none of these people seemed to be from the village. I have been in this village for two years and have never seen these people.
The man wearing glasses did not answer Uncle Zhou, but looked through the lenses at the faces of everyone in the room, and finally settled on my face. He asked me, is your name Situ Shan? I heard that his tone didn't seem very friendly, so I said, why are you looking for me?
The man wearing glasses winked at the other two people beside him, and the two people came close to me. They didn't catch me, they just sandwiched me in the middle. The man wearing glasses said, "Let's go back with us. We are members of the Revolutionary Committee."
