At noon the next day, squad leader Yueyang and Da Guo came back.
Also accompanying him was Tan Xiaoqing, deputy squad leader of the company's driver class, driving a Jiefang, pulling a cart full of grain, vegetables, non-staple food, kerosene, firewood, door curtains, cooking utensils, etc. What surprised Wang Ke the most was a set of gongs and drums, suona, banhu and other instrumental music.
And of course there are letters. When they walked to the Anseong Post Office, they made a special turn and brought back a whole bag of letters.
After unloading the car, Tan Xiaoqing, deputy driver squad leader, got in the car and drove away.
The first thing that squad leader Yueyang did when he came back was a squad meeting. At the meeting, he said, "Everyone, I will be honorably discharged in a few months. This time I come back and spend the last few months of my military life happily with everyone." . I will be standing guard tonight. I told the platoon leader that if everyone does it for me, I won’t be standing guard. Da Guo will be more responsible for the affairs within the squad."
None of the three squadrons in the command platoon are worthy of a deputy squad leader. Squad leader Yueyang's announcement is equivalent to Da Guo becoming the deputy squad leader. Except for Wang Ke, there were three other soldiers. Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, but no one spoke.
After the class meeting, Wang Ke excused himself to the toilet, picked up a few bundles of straw, and went straight to the dry well where the two toads hibernated. The wellhead is not big, and a few bundles of straw cover it tightly. We have to find a way to weave a straw curtain tomorrow, otherwise the wind will blow the straw away.
When we came back, the squad leader had already prepared dinner for the entire platoon. The whole platoon stood at the door and sang a song, and then divided their classes to eat.
After dinner, Wang Ke hurriedly fetched water and washed dishes for everyone. After packing up, he lit the lantern that Wu Xiangyu left for him, took his letter and went to the outhouse. I counted nearly 20 letters, but his letters are not the most. Ever since I went to the farm to participate in the autumn harvest and planting, I remember that the county postman only came once. The farm is still 40 to 50 minutes away from the county town by car, and at least half a day by bicycle.
Wang Ke looked at the letters. There were letters from parents, classmates, and comrades in other troops. But ten of the letters were sent by one person, with rough and bold handwriting. At first glance, they looked like they were written by a man. Women's handwriting is basically very beautiful. Wang Ke thought for a moment that he didn't have any relatives or friends with such beautiful handwriting. It seems like there are a lot of things to write about in one go, so I’ll leave it to the end.
Wang Ke first opened the letter from his parents, which was nothing more than instructions. In the end, the letter shocked him. His mother introduced a person to her and included a two-inch photo of the girl. After looking at it, she still looked good, and her hair had some curls, but Wang Ke clearly felt that this girl was not his cup of tea.
So I opened seven or eight letters one after another. Some letters were thrown into the stove to be burned after reading them, while others had to be collected in preparation for replying to others. Finally, he picked up the ten letters.
These ten letters are all quite thick, and the thinnest letter probably contains two sheets of paper. Wang Ke is most afraid of reading long letters. If there is something to say, it will be long, and if there is nothing to say, it will be short. Everyone's time is very precious, but in this remote place, reading letters is also a kind of enjoyment.
Wang Ke looked at the postmark time, picked the earliest letter, opened it, and was shocked by the first sentence.
Comrade Wang Ke, I pay you a revolutionary salute!
Guess who I am? See words like people, you should know who I am without guessing.
Because we exist in each other's hearts. When we close our eyes, our voices and smiles will emerge...
Wang Ke quickly closed the letter and could not read any further. He put the letter back into the envelope and looked at the words on the envelope. He was thinking: How could a girl write a letter like a man and say that the words are like a person?
Wang Ke locked the unread letter and the other nine letters, together with his parents and the letters to be answered, in his grenade box. Many soldiers in the command platoon have this kind of empty grenade box, and with a lock, it becomes their own secret space.
The letter was written by Wu Xiangyu. Judging from the postmark, she wrote almost one letter a day and sent ten letters in one go, without receiving a reply from herself. It's not my fault, you've been on the farm too. You know better than us how Mr. Postman here delivers letters.
Wang Ke didn't want to read the letter, because from the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to fall into the emotions of a man and a woman prematurely. I went to the farm to participate in the autumn harvest and planting. Before the end of the year, I had won third-class merit awards and received awards from the farm and the company. What an honor this was, so he had a new goal, put his tail between his legs, worked hard to improve himself, and strived to achieve a third-class merit award next year. At the same time, from now on, he must actively move closer to the organization and set high ideological standards. , Strict requirements, wait for yourself to improve before pursuing love and happiness.
Tonight's squad meeting had a huge impact on me. Why didn't platoon leader Hu Zhijun stop squad leader Yueyang's arrangements? He was the only one in the farm company who achieved third-class merit and received two commendations. Could it be that you are not doing well enough? If the squad leader retires this year, does it mean that Da Guo, who was in the same year as himself, will take over as squad leader?
It seemed that he had to work harder. He thought of Company Commander Bearded Tian, Instructor Ding and Deputy Company Commander Lu Zeran. If any of the three of them were here, what would they say if squad leader Yueyang announced that Da Guo would be responsible for the work of the squad today?
Yesterday I stood silently on duty at midnight, and I still have to make such preparations today.
So he walked up to Da Guo, the cannon and mirror operator, and asked, "Da Guo, what are the arrangements for the sentry tonight?"
Da Guo looked at Wang Ke: "You will be stationed on one shift for a week. Which shift do you want to work on at night?"
"You'd better give me the rest of the night. You just came back today and it was quite hard."
"Okay, if you like to stand up late at night, the second half of the week will be yours." Da Guo smiled slyly.
Are you really kicking your nose in the face? Wang Ke didn't expect that Daguo would get off the donkey along the slope and go upstairs along the pole just because of his gesture. Well, I just take advantage of the silence of the night to exercise and study hard.
You can turn off the lights and go to bed at 9:30 in the evening. You have to get up and stand guard just after sleeping for more than two hours. If you stand until two or three in the middle of the night, it will be difficult to fall asleep after lying down for an hour.
Many veterans said: It's better to eat a pig in the middle of the night than to give it a shout.
When Da Guo said this, Wang Ke saw squad leader Yueyang next to him nodding with satisfaction.
Da Guo is not only a soldier of the same age, but also a fellow countryman. How could he do this?
However, Wang Ke showed no dissatisfaction at all, but when he went out, he heard a low voice from behind: "Silly!"
Wang Ke pretended not to hear anything. It is a blessing to suffer a loss. I am not standing guard for you, but for myself.
He hummed softly: "A little white poplar tree, growing on that hill..." He walked out as if nothing had happened, and he didn't know who was going to be so angry in the end.
In fact, Wang Ke's blood kept pouring from his head at this time. He was going crazy. Is the army so complicated? No, thinking of Company Commander Bearded Tian and Instructor Ding gave him strength. When you are a soldier, you must be a soldier like them. Although he is not around, he believes that the bearded company commander Tian and instructor Ding have been silently paying attention to him.
Impulse is the devil, "Quickly cool down, quicky cool down!" He chanted silently over and over again, calling for the "Xuanyin Pill" in his belly. Outside the house, there were no stars in the sky, only the passing cold wind.
As soon as the cold wind blew, Wang Ke woke up and felt as calm as water.
Regardless of whether his comrade Da Guo intended it or not, he had just achieved his goal, which was to relieve the worries of other comrades. It is a happy thing to help others, and it is even more happy to share burdens for others. It is not too late to be happy, why are you angry?
Just be a fool in the eyes of others. If fools become smart, there will be no friendship in this world!
Returning to his room, he took out a military topography textbook and read it carefully in front of the lantern. This book on military topography was given to him by platoon leader Hu Zhijun. He read it several times, and the more he read, the deeper his feelings became. Wang Ke is different from others. When others learn this theory, the more they read, the more boring they become. Wang Ke often constructs it in his mind when reading this book. Ever since he took Shaohuo Pills and Xuanyin Pills, he saw the contours on the map. Lines, mountains immediately rose up in my mind, and when I saw the coordinates on the map, I seemed to come alive immediately, and I could find that point in the wilderness immediately.
I have read dozens of pages of the textbook, and every chapter is engraved in my mind. Soon the lights-out signal sounded, and Wang Ke stood up, feeling dizzy. An unclear scene immediately appeared in front of his eyes. In the warehouse, a group of rats were scurrying around.
How is this going?
Wang Ke was puzzled and shook his head. The warehouse in the scene suddenly collapsed in a corner, ah, it was an earthquake!
The scene gradually faded, and before my eyes, my comrades were taking off their clothes to sleep. There were no electric lights, so all we had to do was blow out the lanterns.
Wang Ke got into bed, but this scene lingered in front of his eyes. Could it be that there was going to be an earthquake in the field?
Be careful to sail the ten thousand year ship, but unfortunately, deputy company commander Lu Zeran is not here. If he were here, he would definitely listen to his own advice, but now he can't say anything, and no one will believe him. He might even be regarded as a Neuropathy.
Wang Ke fell asleep in a daze. When he was sleeping soundly, a soldier came over and pushed Wang Ke gently. "Get up Wang Ke, it's changing of the guard."
Wang Ke sat up, put on his clothes quietly, put on his cotton coat and big leather shoes, and walked to the outhouse to hand over the shift.
The person who took over the post was also a new soldier named Luo Shaohuan. He said softly: "It's really cold tonight. It's going to snow."
Wang Ke said, "Then when you sleep, don't take off your clothes."
The command platoon lived in a total of three rooms, each of which was divided into two rooms, inside and outside. In addition, there was one room used as a warehouse and one room used as a canteen.
Wang Ke turned on the stoves in the three rooms one after another, and they were all burning brightly. Then he put a beer bottle upside down on the stove in each room.
This is the simplest earthquake prediction method. If there was any vibration in the house, the beer bottles would fall over and hit the basin below as a warning.
After arranging all this, Wang Ke walked out of the room and conducted a routine inspection of the field. After the inspection, he walked back. It was almost one o'clock in the morning. When passing by the warehouse, he suddenly heard a "squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak" ", followed by the sound of a group of mice running. He suddenly thought of the scene at night, and immediately ran quickly to the dormitory, shouting as he ran: "There's an earthquake! There's an earthquake!"
Anyway, there is only one command platoon on this farm. No matter how loud the sound is in the surrounding villages, it cannot be heard.
By the time he ran to the door of the command row, his comrades had already run out one after another. Some were wrapped in quilts, some were wrapped in coats, and two comrades didn't even wear shoes. The house was shaking violently. The warehouse fell over with a crash.
"Platoon leader, squad leader, everything should be fine." In the scene, only one corner of the warehouse fell over.
"Who put this beer bottle in?" asked platoon leader Hu Zhijun.
"Report to the platoon leader, I released it." Wang Ke said. At this time, he noticed that the beer bottles in each room were smashed into the basin. It was after hearing the beer bottle alarm that the whole platoon ran out.
"Very good." Platoon leader Hu Zhijun patted Wang Ke on the shoulder.
