Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2845 Agreement

"Let's not talk about this anymore." Seeing Yang Zhaodi's expression become gloomy, Tan Shuangxi quickly turned his head to the side, pretending to look at the calm river surface, calmed himself down, and drove the image of Yang Zhaodi out of his mind. If he looked at her a few more times, maybe he would change his decision.

"When the North is liberated, or when I am no longer needed to go to the battlefield, I will go home to find a date and live a peaceful life. But I don't know what else I can do. Maybe no one will want me to make salt if I go back." Tan Shuangxi said, and suddenly laughed, but still did not turn back.

The two of them stared at the calm river outside the window in silence. Dusk had begun to fall, and the Wenlan River was shimmering with golden light. I don't know who laughed first, and then the two of them smiled at each other tacitly. Today's blind date was undoubtedly a failure, but this feeling was the best they had ever experienced.

After leaving the teahouse, although the blind date was over,

"Brother Shuangxi," Yang Zhaodi broke the silence as they walked down the river bank and could see the Dongmen City Public Horse Carriage Station in the distance. "Since you don't want to get married and I don't want to get married either, if we go home like this, we will definitely be arranged to go on blind dates with other people. Why don't we both tell our families that the two of us are..." Yang Zhaodi couldn't say the last few words, her voice was as small as a mosquito.

This meaning couldn't be simpler. Tan Shuangxi understood it instantly, but he couldn't find a word to describe it. What should he say? Lovers, they are in love... In his limited family education, he heard only the orders of his parents and the words of the matchmaker. Although the education of the Fu Bo Army also included social reform content such as freedom of marriage, these lessons sounded like chanting scriptures to them, and they didn't feel anything.

"Dating?...Okay." Tan Shuangxi finally found a new word in his mind. His intuition told him that this word represents the feelings between two people, a description that goes beyond the level of just living together.

"That's what you mean, this way my mother won't force me." Yang Zhaodi lowered her head and nodded in agreement, fiddling with her lapels with her hands. When she heard Tan Shuangxi's affirmative answer, she raised her head and smiled happily. A small dimple appeared on her face facing Tan Shuangxi.

"Zhao Di... Yang Zhao Di..." A woman in a plaid jacket across the street waved at the two of them.

"Sister Mei..." Yang Zhaodi also waved excitedly, and then explained to Tan Shuangxi, "This is Sister Mei from the Finance and Taxation Class. She is the most beautiful girl in the class." She winked at Tan Shuangxi meaningfully. Yang Zhaodi obviously wanted to walk with Sister Mei, but Tan Shuangxi was not interested in getting to know Sister Mei, so they said goodbye. After saying goodbye politely, Yang Zhaodi still hesitated and added, "Come to the farm to find me when you are free. I will take you to see the farm's experimental fields. I guarantee you have never seen them before." After that, she ran across the road with a smile, and warmly linked arms with Sister Mei, and walked towards the direction of Dongmen City.

The setting sun was falling into the distant skyline, and the Wenlan River was like a golden ribbon, lingering over this fertile land. The sunset penetrated the leaves and shone on Tan Shuangxi's face, making him feel warm and calm. The world had never been so beautiful, and fate had never been so unpredictable. In the new world created by the Senate, Tan Shuangxi and Yang Zhaodi no longer followed the trajectory of life, old age, sickness and death that they could see at a glance. They imagined the vast world and infinite opportunities, and fate finally smiled at them.

Tan Shuangxi returned home and had a good sleep. He had been running around these days. Lingao itself was not big, but he had run all over it. Now he urgently needed to have a good rest and relax.

When he woke up, it was already noon. Seeing the sunlight shining on the snow-white lime wall, he was suddenly panicked: It's so late!

His years of military career had made him develop the habit of getting up early. Even though he was on leave at home, he still felt guilty about sleeping in the daytime.

He got up and put on his clothes. Under the bed, his mother had prepared a pair of rattan sandals with cork soles for him. These were new things in recent years, but they were rarely worn by farmers. After all, the cork soles were not resistant to wear and tear and would be worn out after a day of farm work.

It seemed that his family treated him as a guest. Tan Shuangxi shook his head and walked to the main room. On the table was a bamboo basket with breakfast, a bowl of dry rice noodles and a cooked sauce for mixing with the rice noodles.

Tan Shuangxi smiled, and he was indeed treated as a guest. He took a mouthwash cup and a towel, walked to the yard, scooped water from the water tank, and washed himself. Although brushing teeth is an important part of the Senate's "New Life Movement", there are still not many people in rural areas who have this habit, and toothbrushes and toothpaste are also an expense. Therefore, the people affected are mainly soldiers, workers, and relatively wealthy families with children in school.

After washing up, Tan Shuangxi held the big bowl and stirred the rice noodles with chopsticks to mix the sauce. Although it was a sunny day, the sun was shining, but there was a cool breeze in the yard, which was very comfortable.

He placed his bowls and chopsticks on the table in the yard, picked out a juicy cucumber from the big wooden basin, shook it dry, and ate it with a mouthful of cucumber and a mouthful of rice noodles. The pumpkin flowers on the fence were in full bloom, and white cabbage butterflies were flying up and down. The road outside the fence was quiet, everyone went to work. Only he was so leisurely and lazy. He hadn't been like this for a long time.

His house was rebuilt not long ago, and the design drawings used were the model houses in the "New Rural Planning". It is roughly designed with three main rooms, left and right wing rooms, and courtyards in the front and back. It is convenient for living and conducive to courtyard economy.

My parents obviously didn't spend much time on the garden. Apart from planting a few rows of vegetables for their own consumption and raising a few pigs in the backyard, there was no other "project". My parents and my brothers were busy looking after more than 100 acres of land.

His home was not far from Maniao. According to the administrative division of the Senate, it belonged to "Maniao Town", but it was not a "stove household" and had no "dangtian" or salt troughs. Fortunately, his family still had a few acres of land. Every autumn, when the salt field was in the peak season, he would do odd jobs and go home to take care of the fields before the rainy season came. Except for the few years when the wealthy Gou family tried to seize the salt field, life was just barely manageable.

After the Australians came, they cleared the land tax. Although the annual tax of the Tan family was not reduced, the miscellaneous "fees" were swept away, and the burden was much lighter. After Tan Shuangxi joined the army, he enjoyed a lot of preferential treatment. His father and brothers reorganized the family business in an orderly manner and no longer went to the salt field to work odd jobs. This kind of hard work is now done by new immigrants from the mainland.

His family did not contract the land to the Tiandihui, but gradually bought some land from other families in the village - all thanks to the military pay and wartime allowances sent back by Tan Shuangxi. His parents collected the remittances bit by bit and waited for an opportunity to buy other people's land.

No matter in which time and space, rural people lack cash the most. When selling land, they often cannot get a high price. The two elders of the Tan family relied on the money sent back by Tan Shuangxi, so they had plenty of money. In addition, in recent years, as more and more people went to the city to "work", many people sold their land at a low price and moved into the town. The Tan family accumulated more than 100 acres of land.

The old couple of the Tan family had just turned fifty, still in their prime and able to work. Tan Shuangxi's brother Tan Shuangqing was also a young man of seventeen or eighteen. In order to farm, he took out a loan and bought two Simmental cows. According to rural standards, the family was considered "prosperous". The newly built house and the stored wood all indicated that the family was planning to hold a wedding. Naturally, the protagonist of this wedding was him.

It is nonsense to say that Tan Shuangxi does not want to marry. Tan Shuangxi is a normal man, a strong man in his twenties, and he is in an army full of men. How can he not want a woman? As the saying goes, after three years of military service, even old sows have double eyelids. Tan Shuangxi has been a soldier for more than three years.

The "yellow ticket" can certainly provide a temporary release, but as he gets older, he always feels that something is missing. In the army, life is intense and orderly, and this sense of emptiness is easily filled. In the past few days since he came back, when he wakes up in the middle of the night, the loneliness and emptiness are like a pair of powerful hands, constantly kneading his heart.

"Maybe it's time to start a family."

Tan Shuangxi was caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, he didn't want to have to worry about his wife when he was on the battlefield, nor did he want to burden the good woman if he died or got injured. But on the other hand, he had a caring woman by his side, and someone would be waiting for him when he went home on leave...

  Thinking of this, Yang Zhaodi's smiles and frowns seemed to float in front of him again. He suddenly realized what his careless promise yesterday meant, and he secretly regretted it. This little girl is so cunning!

Although he knew clearly that this agreement would not benefit him at all, he could not feel disgusted by Yang Zhaodi's beautiful smile.

Forget it, it's too late to regret it. Tan Shuangxi put down his bowl and chopsticks and swallowed the last bite of cucumber. He thought about doing something for the family.

The yard was swept clean, the vegetable patch was watered. Even the clothes and quilts he brought back were washed and hung out to dry by his mother. The pigs and chickens in the backyard were also fed. Tan Shuangxi walked around and found nothing to do.

Tan Shuangxi has seen his parents' diligence since he was a child, but this diligence did not bring much benefit to the family in the past, and it was just barely enough to maintain the family's livelihood. Compared with now, it is really "a new world has been created".

Since there is nothing to do at home, why not go to the village to see if the old people are still there and what happened to my childhood friends?