"Eh? Fafa? Why are you still here?"
As soon as he entered the alley and before he got home, he was stopped by his eldest sister.
"I, something happened on the way, I missed the train..."
"What? Didn't catch the train?"
His eldest sister became anxious and her voice rose an octave: "Xu Wenfa! Did you do it on purpose? You didn't want to go, so that's why you didn't catch the train, right?"
"No, no, I didn't..."
His eldest sister thought he did it on purpose and cursed her all the way back home.
After arriving home, he was bombarded by other brothers and sisters in turn, thinking that he was ignorant and would not consider the family. The eldest brother finished beating the second sister, and the second sister finished beating the fourth sister... Until noon, a middle-aged man who looked like a cadre came to the door with a briefcase under his arm: "Is this Comrade Xu Wenfa's house?"
Xu Wenfa's heart skipped a beat: Are you criticizing him so soon?
He stepped forward bravely: "I, I am Xu Wenfa, but I didn't mean it, it was because..."
"Haha! Comrade Xiao Xu is so funny! Thank you so much this morning! My father said that if it weren't for your help, not only would he not be able to push the millet home, but he might also be crushed by the cart. He specifically told me to come. Thank you!"
"..." It turns out that I'm here to thank you, not to criticize.
Xu Wenfa breathed a deep sigh of relief.
The middle-aged man learned that he had gone out early in the morning to sign up for the National Reclamation Team, but because he helped his father push the cart, he missed the departing train. He pondered for a moment and said, "It's because we have caused trouble for you. In this way, our company is looking for a warehouse keeper who is down-to-earth and hard-working. I recommend you to go for it, but this job requires bookkeeping and requires a junior high school diploma..."
"He has a junior high school diploma." Xu Wenfa's brothers and sisters rushed to help him fight for this unexpected opportunity.
In this way, he accidentally entered the steel factory that everyone yearned for and became a glorious official worker in the steel factory.
In the dead of night, he put his hands behind his head and couldn't help but think: Could it be that good people are rewarded?
Similarly, Xu Yin was also glad that the comrade named "Xu Wenfa" did not come, saving her the embarrassment of racking her brains to make excuses.
In the mid-1950s, things like this happened by chance.
When contact is difficult, the grassroots will not use precious national resources such as telephones and telegrams to find out why an ordinary person did not come.
Secondly, the rosters and forms are all hand-copied. It is normal to make mistakes. For example, parents registering their children and leaving their own names when registering has not happened before. It just needs to be corrected.
Therefore, no one doubted her all the way.
Three days later, the steam train with a speed of no more than 30 kilometers per hour finally arrived at Fulong County on the northern border, but this was not the real destination yet. The reclamation point they were going to was still one or two hundred kilometers away from the county seat.
Everyone got out of the car with their luggage and belongings. They had time to move around, and then got on the large open-top truck that came to pick them up.
It's March in spring, and it turns from warm to cold, especially in Beiguan. On the rusty second-hand Jiefang brand tent truck, my face turned purple from the cold.
After finally reaching Beilong Township, where the reclamation point is located, we had to change to an ox cart.
Not to mention lesbians, many gay men couldn't help crying: "We haven't arrived yet? How far is it?"
"Hurry, hurry!"
The leader comforted them.
The oxcart continued to clatter on the land where the ice had not completely melted.
After walking slowly for a long time, we finally heard the man driving the bus say "We're here" in dialect. Everyone was so excited that tears filled their eyes: We're finally here!
It felt like my legs and feet were no longer my own—they were numb from the cold and numb.
Xiao Jing, a tall young woman sitting next to Xu Yin on the train, was so cold that her teeth chattered. She asked her tremblingly, "Xu Yin, aren't you cold? Your face is still white and tender."
Of course Xu Yin is not cold, she has an automatic thermostat.
When I got off the train, I thought about putting the thermostat away to avoid exposing any flaws.
But the weather in the north is so cold that I worry about getting sick from the cold.
She joined the reclamation team in order to avoid the plot and avoid the fate of cannon fodder.
She can farm, but she can't do it if she gets sick. Good health is an important factor in surviving! So I didn't take off the thermostat.
At this moment, she touched her cold, fair face and said, "It's cold, maybe it's because of my skin. You can't tell. If you don't believe me, just touch my face."
Xiao Jing didn't really reach out to touch Xu Yin's face. Her fingers were numb from the cold. She rubbed her hands and breathed in the heat and said with envy: "It's great! My face turns red when I freeze."
Huang Xiaohong, who was in the same oxcart with them, said: "I don't even need to look at my face, just look at my hands. They are all purple from the cold. Woohoo...it's too cold..."
Although the male compatriots were not like the female comrades who were stomping their feet in the cold, they were all rubbing their hands to breathe and asked the leader: "Captain, when will you arrive where we live?"
Captain Fu glanced at them hesitantly, and then said after a while: "I only found out on the truck that we need to build our own place to live. For the time being, we can only rent it to a local fellow's house. But..."
The captain's changing tone made everyone feel worried.
"Captain, are you trying to say that you can't find anyone to stay with?"
"No way? We have come all the way here, and they don't even provide us with a place to live?"
"This is too tragic!"
"That's not true." Captain Fu quickly reassured everyone, "The locals are very enthusiastic, not to mention that we responded to the country's call and came here to reclaim wasteland, so they are willing to let us live. It's just that the conditions in the villages close to the reclamation point are relatively poor. , everyone needs to overcome it. In short, be mentally prepared. When you arrive at the end of the field, don’t make a fuss or make a fuss, leaving a bad impression on the fellow villagers. Let’s work here for three years without saying anything, and keep our spirits up. , show invincible courage!"
"..."
This statement made everyone even more unsure.
On the way to the accommodation village - "Hewozitun", we whispered to each other:
"It's already the end of March, and it's still freezing and snowy here. In such a short time, I feel like my hands are going to get frostbite. Thinking about what we are about to face, what should we do!"
"I was prepared to endure hardship, but this hardship... hiss, it was a bit too much to bear when I first came here."
"That is to say, where did we come from? Why don't we even have a place to stay..."
Xiao Jing said to Xu Yin: "There are so many of us. If we stay at a villager's house, we must be separated. If we can choose later, can we live together?"
"I'm with you too." Huang Xiaohong followed closely.
Xu Yin: "..."
If she had to choose, she would prefer a private room.
It doesn't matter if the conditions are not so good, the main thing is to live alone, and occasionally I can open a small stove for myself and supplement my nutrition.
