Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1055: People from afar (First update, two in one)

"... Accompanied by His Excellency, King Faisal II and his entourage visited the Taiping United Petrochemical Company. After the visit, the King of Iraq signed an oil exploration contract with Nanyang Petroleum Company. According to the contract..."

Inside the flight officer's cabin of the aircraft carrier, news from the radio echoed. Although this place was far away from the mainland, thanks to the signals relayed by artificial communication satellites, broadcasts from Southeast Asia could still be heard.

However, for soldiers on the battlefield, they don’t care about things like the king’s visit. Compared to the news, they prefer to listen to domestic pop music or write letters to their lovers while listening to music.

However, Gao Binghan, who was writing a letter to his lover, only wrote a few dozen words before stopping.

"Did mother receive the letter?"

Once again, Gao Binghan was muttering to himself that it had been two months since he had sent the letter in November.

"It's been so long, mother should have received the letter!"

Just as Gao Binghan was muttering anxiously about whether his mother had received the letter, a comrade-in-arms came over and asked.

"Gao Binghan, do you want to go out for a walk together?"

"No, I have something else to do here?"

"Anything else?"

The comrade looked at him and said.

"The fleet is about to return. If we don't go shopping and buy some souvenirs, we may not have another chance!"

Gao Binghan was startled by his comrade's words, and he said in a lost voice:

"What? We're returning?"

Gao Binghan's expression suddenly changed. He hadn't received a reply yet, so why did the fleet return?
Seeing this, the comrade said.

"Haven't you heard the news? The Minister of Foreign Affairs and his entourage have already left for Geneva to attend the peace conference. We have also ceased fire with the Egyptians. It is only a matter of time before we sign a peace treaty. Can the fleet still be stationed in Suez forever?"

Listening to his comrades' speculation, Gao Binghan's expression changed, and for a moment, he felt empty in his heart.

Is it true that I won’t receive a reply from my mother?

Just as Gao Binghan was thinking this, a sailor knocked on the door and reported.

"Lieutenant, there's a letter for you."

letter?
It should be said that it was Jieying's letter. Just when Gao Binghan thought the letter was from his girlfriend, although he was overseas, the military mail was still smooth. The navy would transport mail by plane every few days.

But just as he was about to take the letter, the sailor laughed.

"A local came from the shore...a letter from Tangshan."

A letter from Tangshan... For a moment, Gao Binghan felt his heart beating faster and faster. He didn't even know what to say. After taking the letter, looking at the beautiful small characters written in pen on the kraft paper, he suddenly burst into tears.

"This is my mother's handwriting. This is my mother's handwriting. I recognize my mother's handwriting..."

As he said this, he held the letter tightly in his hand, put it in front of his heart, and then burst into tears with excitement.

This is my mother’s word, this is my mother’s word!

When the others saw this, their eyes all became red. How could they not be excited to receive a letter from home sent from Tangshan here?

"Gao Binghan, come on, check what your mother wrote."

The comrades who were originally going to go ashore were also full of anticipation, with no regard for other people's privacy. In fact, most of them were envious, as not everyone has such an opportunity.

"Uh-huh……"

Gao Binghan nodded repeatedly and tore open the letter carefully, as if he was afraid that he would damage the letter if he moved too violently.

The thick letter of more than ten pages was unfolded. As soon as it was unfolded, Gao Binghan saw his mother's handwriting and a photo.

"This is my mother, mother..."

In an instant, Gao Binghan could no longer control himself, and the tears that had stopped flowed again. While crying, he held the photo and put his mother's photo in his heart.

After a while, Gao Binghan picked up the letter again, and then looked at the words on the letter, his heart was filled with burning passion.

"Spring gave birth to my son..."

……

On November 11, 21, at eight o'clock in the morning, in the Jinan Post Office in Shandong Province, sorter Li Meiying sat down at her desk accurately. Her job was simple, which was to sort the large pile of letters one by one according to the districts and counties to which they were sent.

Among the pile of letters, there was a letter from a foreign country. Not only was it sent in an airmail envelope, but it also came with a parcel. The recipient and address were written in Chinese characters:
Gaozhuangjiao is located in the Luzhong Administrative Region of Shandong Province, 35 miles northwest of Heze City: Song Shuyu, Gao Bingtao and Gao Bingqing received the letter.

What is different from ordinary envelopes is that in addition to the recipient's address, name and sender's name, there is also a small vertical text on the envelope. Upon closer inspection, it is a message to the postal staff:

Dear gentlemen of the post office: The above address is still the old address from 1949. Now that New Tangshan is developing day by day, the address is bound to change. I wonder if there is any change, and whether the recipient has moved? I heard that the New Tangshan Post Office is doing very well, and the address has been delivered for many years. I would like to ask the gentlemen of the post office to pay special attention and deliver the mail. If it cannot be delivered, please return the original letter, thank you.

"Oh, it's actually a letter from overseas."

Li Meiying looked at the postmark again in confusion and asked.

"Chief, is there a letter here from abroad? It's sent to Heze."

"Heze? Where did it come from?"

"The address on the letter is Egypt, Suez. Isn't this the country we just supported that is being invaded by imperialist powers?"

"From Egypt..."

When the section chief heard this, he took the letter and looked at the small words on it and said.

"It's being invaded by foreign invaders right now. It's not easy to send this letter. Send it over quickly. This is a letter from a friend overseas."

Aren’t these our overseas friends – things like New Tangshan and improving day by day? If they weren’t our overseas friends, how could they write such words?

A week later, after several twists and turns, the letter finally arrived at the Heze Post Office. At that time, it was not common for ordinary residents to communicate with overseas countries. As a postman, Wang Hu was deeply impressed by the letter from Egypt and read the envelope several times.

After hanging the mailbag full of letters on the bicycle, I put the letters in the mailbag and started a day's delivery work.

That afternoon, after arriving in the town, although Wang Hu had just started working, he did not go directly to the three recipients to deliver the letter. Instead, he went to the local township government and explained the letter.

"Is it a letter from the Gao family in Gaozhuang?"

When the other party heard this, he quickly spoke.

"This family is incredible. Not only is their eldest sister a graduate of Tsinghua University, she is also an old revolutionary who went to Baota to join the revolution during the Anti-Japanese War. You must deliver this letter to them carefully."

"What about these overseas connections?"

"What overseas relations? They are old revolutionaries. Egypt was invaded by imperialist powers. They may be old comrades!"

Upon hearing that the other party had such an identity, Wang Hu dared not neglect him and immediately rode his bicycle to Gaozhuang.

That afternoon, Wang Hu arrived at Gaozhuang. Just by asking at the entrance of the village, he found out the address of the Gao family. However, after further questioning, he learned that the three people mentioned in the letter had not lived there for a long time. It was said that they had all gone to Changchun with their eldest daughter.

Is it possible that no one in their family is in Heze anymore?

Wang Hu asked around the neighbors and learned that Gao's relative worked at the village school. So he sent the letter to the school instead. When the man heard that it was from Song Shuyu and saw that the sender was "Gao Binghan" on the letter, he immediately said excitedly.

"Let me know. I'll take it. His family is in the capital now. I'll forward it to him."

However, when sending the letter, the person deliberately put it in a new envelope and wrote down the address.

……

Changchun in December was already covered with ice and snow, but Song Shuyu was still in the yard, basking in the sun while sewing shoe soles. Six years ago, she and her son were invited by her eldest daughter to reunite in Changchun and live here. This day, as usual, while sewing shoe soles, she always thought of her eldest son who left his hometown and fled overseas, and didn't know where he was. Thinking about it, she went back to the house and picked up the pillow, which contained her son's small cotton-padded jacket.

"Chunsheng, Chunsheng..."

Since her son left home, she has been thinking about him every day, and from time to time she would go to the homes of her son's classmates who went south with him to inquire about his news. In May of the year he left home, her son's classmate Guo Dehe came home with his mother and took back this small cotton-padded jacket. This was when her son had a fever, and in order to keep him warm, she shared his large cotton-padded jacket with him.

When she saw her son's cotton-padded jacket, her tears immediately flowed out, and she put the jacket in her arms and cried. Later, Song Shuyu wrapped the jacket in a pillow skin and never left it behind from Heze to Changchun.

Just as she was hugging the pillow as if she was hugging her son, she suddenly heard her eldest daughter's voice.

"Mom, my oldest cousin from my hometown sent me a letter and a package. Maybe it's a local specialty. Mom, can you please take a look and see what it is?"

Song Shuyu said, putting down the small pillow in his hand.

"Here he comes. This kid is really something. He sends things from such a long distance..."

Song Shuyu wiped her tears as she walked out of the house. How could a daughter not understand her mother? Seeing this, she said:

"Mom, are you thinking about Chunsheng again?"

Song Shuyu nodded without saying anything and took the letter and package from her daughter.

When he tore open the letter and took it out, Song Shuyu was stunned for a moment, even though there was another letter in the envelope.

Although the handwriting on the envelope was slightly different from before, she still recognized it - it was her son's handwriting!
Her son was still alive, but she did not speak. She pressed the letter to her bosom, tears streaming down her cheeks, and she murmured to herself:

"Chunsheng is still alive, Chunsheng is still alive..."

Muttering his son's nickname, Song Shuyu, who had not heard from his son for ten years, spoke to his eldest daughter with some excitement.

"Chunsheng is still alive, your brother is still alive..."

"what?"

"Your brother is still alive."

Song Shuyu excitedly tore open the letter, and then the words from afar jumped into his eyes.

"Dear Mother:
I picked up the pen, but I really didn’t know where to start. My tears blocked my sight and I couldn’t write for a long time… First of all, please accept my greetings from afar, mother, grandmother and grandma, and wish the three elders, my second sister Bingqing and my second brother Bingtao peace and health. It has been more than eight years since my son and mother said goodbye in tears on August 6, 1948…”

The eldest sister also sat next to her mother, reading the letter and wiping her tears. She even thought that her younger brother was dead all these years.

"Chunsheng is still alive, still alive. Look, he has grown up..."

Looking at her son's photo, Song Shuyu, who had missed her son day and night for so many years, spoke with tears in her eyes.

At this moment, all the longing and pain disappeared. She just hugged her son's photo tightly and talked to herself.

"Chunsheng, my Chunsheng..."

However, when the eldest sister looked at the address written in English on the letter, her brows furrowed.

When my brother and his classmates went south, I heard that they boarded a ship to the South China Sea in Lianyungang, but how did they end up in Egypt? Did they end up in Suez?"

Looking at the name and address on the letter, her heart sank and she had a bad feeling.

Just at this moment, she heard her mother say.

"Look, Chunsheng has grown up and has a girlfriend. That's great. How did you say he ended up in Egypt? Isn't that Africa? The newspapers have mentioned that place every day these days, saying that it is being invaded by imperialist powers. How did Chunsheng go there?"

Song Shuyu, who had attended a girls' school, naturally knew about Egypt. Listening to her mother's words, the eldest sister said.

"Mom, you must not tell anyone about this. I think Chunsheng might have joined the army, and Nanyang was involved in the invasion of Egypt. Ahem, ahem... Such overseas relations are not a good thing right now!"

Perhaps because she was a little excited, she, who suffered from tuberculosis, coughed several times.

Song Shuyu looked at her daughter and said:

"That's your brother!"

"I know, mother, you must not tell anyone about this. Let me think about it first, think about it first..."

……

There's a letter from mom!

Gao Binghan spent the whole day there looking at his mother's letter, stroking the words on the letter with his fingers again and again. After eight years, he finally got news from his mother and his family. He knew that his eldest sister worked in the Ministry of Railways, and that his third sister and youngest brother were all alive and well. More importantly, he finally received his mother's letter, which contained not only a letter but also photos.

Looking at the photos of his mother and family, Gao Binghan burst into tears again. He read the letter over and over again, even talking to himself.

"Mom wants to see Jieying's photo. I should have sent it to her, but I think I should have asked for her consent first."

But thinking that he and Jieying were already married, he thought about it and made a decision in his heart. After writing another letter to his mother, he put his girlfriend's photo in the envelope.

"Mom, I miss you..."

Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he sat up abruptly and said.

"Tuberculosis, my elder sister has tuberculosis... What should we do? What should we do?" Although he was not a doctor, Gao Binghan knew that tuberculosis was an incurable disease and immediately became worried about his elder sister whom he had never met.

Soon, Gao Binghan came to the infirmary and asked the military doctor directly how to treat tuberculosis. When the military doctor heard it, he said.

"Tuberculosis? It's easy to treat. Jianmin Pharmaceutical's streptomycin is specifically designed to treat this disease..."

Hearing this, Gao Binghan was surprised.

"You mean, we have medicine to treat this disease?"

The military doctor asked, looking at the pilot in front of him.

"Why do you ask? Do you know anyone who has tuberculosis?"

As a military medical officer, he has helped these soldiers a lot in the past two months. Inevitably, they met some local women in Suez, and some of them were inevitably sick. In Suez, where there is a shortage of medicine and backward medical conditions, military doctors became their targets for help. The military's medical conditions are much better than theirs.

"However, if you have a friend who is infected with this disease, it is best to contact a hospital on land. Outsiders are not allowed on the aircraft carrier. There is a military hospital at the airport, and your friend can get treatment there."

"No, not the friends here,"

Gao Binghan quickly explained.

"Yes, they are my relatives in my hometown! I want to send this medicine to them."

"You mean, you want to send the medicine to Tangshan!"

The military doctor was stunned and said.

"you sure?"

"That's my elder sister. I have to help her. Since we have the medicine here, I would feel bad if I don't send it to my elder sister. Doctor Liang, can you help me?"

Then Gao Binghan explained further.

"Doctor Liang, it's only here that I can send the medicine back. If we withdraw our troops, then... I'm afraid I won't even have the chance to send the medicine back."

Looking at Gao Binghan who was full of worry, Doctor Liang thought for a moment and said.

"Okay, but you must remind her to use it according to the instructions. This medicine is somewhat toxic."

Soon, Doctor Liang gave the medicine and instructions to Gao Binghan. When Gao Binghan bowed and thanked him repeatedly, he waved his hand and said.

"Okay, let's hurry to the post office on shore to mail the stuff back. The withdrawal may happen in the next few days."

(End of this chapter)