Chapter 10: New Friends

Yesterday afternoon, when Lin Wei went to the market, she had heard Zong Shao talk about the layout of the family area.

The family area is overall fan-shaped, and their home is located at the tip of the fan, with a small hill behind them and a cliff beyond that. The road they came on lies along one side of the fan’s spread; if you walk along that road for about ten minutes, you’ll come to an old fork in the road. If you head toward the sea, you’ll reach the military port, and if you head inward, you’ll find the military camp.

On the other side of the fan’s spread, there’s another road where the military family resettlement office is located. Other places like the market, the supply and marketing cooperative, and the seafood supply station are also in this area. However, the military family resettlement office is within the family area, while the other units are on the outer ring, and beyond that is the military district elementary school.

Though it’s called the military district elementary school, the students aren’t just military children; kids from nearby villages can attend as well, so the school is quite large, with five or six brick buildings.

If you continue forward from the military district elementary school, you’ll come to an intersection. Heading toward the sea, you’ll find a fishing team, and the seafood sold at the seafood supply station mostly comes from this team. Going inward takes you back to the military camp. In other words, the family area and military camp are roughly diagonally across from each other. You can also go straight to the camp, but it’s a small path that turns muddy when it rains.

If you continue forward from the intersection, it takes about twenty minutes by bike to reach the county town of Cliff County. However, walking is slower—Lin Wei estimates it would take her about forty to fifty minutes on foot, and if she’s with the two children, it would likely take longer.

But the facilities around the family area are mostly sufficient for daily life, so she doesn’t need to go to the county town often.

Leaving her own yard, she walked along the road at the back with her two children.

Behind her home is the Zhou family. The man’s name is Zhou Jianhai, and he’s a platoon leader in Zong Shao’s neighboring unit. It seems they have a good relationship, as the seasoning used for stir-frying last night was borrowed from the Zhou family. The woman’s name is Deng Xiangyun, and she is a beautiful woman who speaks gently and has a calm temperament.

However, today when Lin Wei passed by the Zhou family, she didn’t see her. Instead, she saw their son, Xiao Shitou, squatting by the wall, observing something. When Mingming saw him, he walked over and asked, “What are you looking at?”

Xiao Shitou looked up at the sound, and seeing the mother and children stop for a moment, he slowly said, “I’m watching ants.”

His voice was so soft that Mingming didn’t hear clearly. As he asked, “What did you say? I didn’t hear you,” he ran into the yard and squatted down next to Xiao Shitou. When he saw the ants crawling on the ground, he looked up happily and said, “Rui Rui, he’s watching ants too!”

Although the three kids had greeted each other when passing by the Zhou family yesterday, it was clear that Rui Rui and Xiao Shitou weren’t particularly outgoing.

Rui Rui just nodded and didn’t seem to intend to go inside.

Xiao Shitou shifted slightly to the side, seeming a bit shy, but soon moved closer to Mingming. He still wanted to play with kids his own age.

Mingming didn’t notice Xiao Shitou’s shyness. Looking at the ants crawling on the ground, he said, “There are ants in front of my house too, and the ants there are bigger than the ones in front of your house.”

“Really?” Xiao Shitou asked.

“Of course, my ants are definitely bigger, like my mom and dad!” Mingming was eager to find family for the ants. After saying this, he remembered his mother’s words and spoke more confidently, “Yes, my house is right next to yours, so the ants can crawl over here without needing a train.”

Xiao Shitou asked again, “What’s a train?”

Mingming’s eyes widened: “You’ve never been on a train? Have you been on a ship? Or a big bus, have you been on one of those?”

Xiao Shitou felt a bit embarrassed and stammered, “N-no, I’ve never been on one.”

“How is that possible?” Mingming was puzzled. “Didn’t you take a ship when you came here from home?”

“I’ve always been here.” Xiao Shitou said, not really understanding Mingming’s question.

Mingming opened his eyes wide, turned to Lin Wei, and said, “Mom, he’s always lived here! He didn’t come from an old home!” It was as if he had just discovered a huge secret.

Lin Wei replied, “Xiao Shitou was probably born on the island.”

The military rules state that only the family members of officers of deputy battalion level or higher can be transferred with the military. Zhou Jianhai is a full battalion leader, so his family might have been with him for many years. It wasn’t surprising that Xiao Shitou was born on the island.

Mingming turned to Xiao Shitou and said, “You’re amazing! I only came here yesterday.”

Xiao Shitou didn’t really understand what he meant by “amazing,” so he scratched his head and said, “You’re amazing too! I’ve never been on a train.”

Listening to the two kids praising each other, Lin Wei couldn’t help but laugh. Noticing that it was getting late, she reminded them, “Mingming, we should head out. How about we play with Xiao Shitou when we get back?”

Mingming suddenly remembered they still needed to buy things. Reluctantly, he stood up and said, “Okay, will you be home this afternoon?” The second half of the sentence was directed at Xiao Shitou.

After their conversation, Xiao Shitou had already started to like Mingming, this new friend. Just as he was about to nod, he saw his mom coming out of the house and wasn’t quite so sure anymore. He changed his question and asked, “Mom, are we staying home this afternoon?”

Deng Xiangyun, who had just come out, overheard Mingming’s words and smiled as she said, “We’ll be home. Mingming, will Rui Rui come over this afternoon to play?”

Mingming turned to Lin Wei and asked, “Can I?” His eyes were full of anticipation.

Lin Wei nodded, “Sure.”

Mingming happily said, “Then it’s a deal!” and reached out to Xiao Shitou, wanting to make a pinky promise.

Deng Xiangyun smiled and asked Lin Wei, “Are you heading out?”

Lin Wei nodded and said, “Yes, we’re out of vegetables at home, so I’m planning to go to the market and seafood supply station to take a look, and also visit the military family resettlement office to ask about the household registration. I want to see how long it’ll take to get it done.”

“The household registration process, if it’s fast, could be completed in one or two days; if it’s slow, it should take about a week,” Deng Xiangyun, who was also a military wife, was somewhat familiar with the procedure.

A week to get it done was acceptable, Lin Wei thought, and she thanked Deng Xiangyun.

“No need to be polite,” Deng Xiangyun smiled and shook her head. Then she seemed to remember something, saying, “Wait for me a moment,” before turning and heading upstairs.

However, Lin Wei didn’t have to wait long, maybe just three or four minutes. Deng Xiangyun came back downstairs, walked over to her, and handed her a few tickets, saying, “I thought your household registration isn’t done yet, and you might not have many tickets on hand, so I went back to my room and grabbed a few for you.”

Lin Wei didn’t expect her to go upstairs to get tickets and quickly declined, saying, “Zong Shao said he’s going to take care of the food supply transfer today. We can use his supplies before our registration is processed.”

Military officers with family members who are stationed together are allowed to go home when not on duty or out at sea, and they can have dinner at home. However, the supply comes with the food registration; if the food registration is still at the unit, they can only eat in the unit’s cafeteria unless the registration is transferred out or partially transferred out.

A partial transfer means converting some of the supplies into tickets for individuals to use. These tickets can be exchanged for rice at the grain shop, vegetables at the market, or even meals at state-run restaurants, offering more flexibility.

In comparison, transferring food registration is easier to handle than the household registration. Zong Shao went today, and he would bring the tickets home by dinner.

In other words, their family would be able to have meat tomorrow!

Lin Wei wasn’t refusing the tickets because of the meat but because they had just met and hadn’t exchanged many words, so it felt inappropriate to take something from her.

Deng Xiangyun noticed Lin Wei’s hesitation, took back the meat and egg tickets, and then handed her the remaining tickets, saying, “When Deputy Battalion Commander Zong returns, the seafood supply station will be closed, so take these two tickets for now. If you want to buy anything while taking the kids out, you can use them. Don’t worry, these tickets aren’t a free gift. You’ll need to return them once your supplies come through. Anyway, our houses are next to each other, so I’m not worried about finding you when I need the tickets back.”

At this point, Lin Wei felt it wouldn’t be appropriate to decline any further. After all, it was a kind gesture, so she accepted the tickets, saying, “Alright, I’ll return them once my supplies come through.” Then she asked, “Have you already bought your vegetables? Would you like to go to the market together?”

Deng Xiangyun hadn’t gone to buy vegetables yet, but after a moment of hesitation, she said, “There’s still something I need to take care of at home.”

Lin Wei thought that she also needed to go to the military family settlement office, so she didn’t say much else and smiled, saying, “Then we’ll be on our way. Mingming, Rui Rui, say goodbye to Auntie and Xiao Shitou.”

The three children, who had been crouching on the ground, looked up when they heard, and then Mingming and Rui Rui stood up and said, “Goodbye, Auntie. Goodbye, Xiao Shitou.”

Then Mingming made sure to say to Xiao Shitou, “I’ll come find you to play this afternoon.”

Xiao Shitou’s voice was clear as he replied, “I’ll wait for you.”

Lin Wei waved goodbye to Deng Xiangyun and her children, then took the boys’ hands and left.

After leaving the Zhou family’s house, Mingming and Rui Rui continued talking about the ants they had just seen. While chatting, Mingming suddenly remembered something and asked, “Mom, you still haven’t told me, why are the ants in our new house so much bigger than the ones in the old house?”

Rui Rui asked in surprise, “The ants in the new house are much bigger than the ones in the old house?”

“Didn’t you see? The ants in the new house are this big! The ones in the old house were only this big!” Mingming made two gestures to show the size difference, though it wasn’t very clear.

Rui Rui thought for a moment and said, “But I’ve seen ants that big in the old house too.”

“Really?” Mingming didn’t believe him.

But Rui Rui was sure: “Yes, very big, very black ants.”

Mingming was confused: “Then why did I only see small ants?”

Lin Wei interjected, “I’ve seen big ants in the old house too. Mingming, you probably just didn’t happen to see them.”

With both his mom and brother so sure of it, Mingming had no choice but to say, “Alright then.”

Since there were big ants in the old house as well, Mingming no longer considered his question an issue. He stopped asking and started chatting with Rui Rui about other things.

Lin Wei walked along with the boys, chatting as they went. After about seven or eight minutes, a two-story red brick house appeared in front of them—it was the military family settlement office.