Character 17

It was evening when Li Yannian woke up. The house was quiet and no one was around. When he left the yard, he saw his mother standing at the gate of the next yard, chatting with Grandma Yang.

Li Yannian greeted Grandma Yang before asking Zhang Xiumei, “Mother, where are Ah Ci and Xiao Shu?”

“Aci went to the educated youth site, and Xiaoshu was taken out to play by Xiaoer.” After saying this, Zhang Xiumei started chatting with Grandma Yang again.

Li Yannian nodded and prepared to visit the old men’s homes. He had only taken two steps when he heard his mother say, “Oh, you don’t know how loose the second son’s wife is. Not only did his father and I each get a whole set of clothes, but we also got canned food and malted milk. What do we country folk do with that stuff?”

“The children are filial and they haven’t been back for several years. It’s what they deserve.” Grandma Yang said happily.

“They are truly filial. I originally thought that since Ah Ci had joined the army and life at home seemed okay, I would not let the second son send money back. But they agreed verbally, but still sent money back every month and refused to listen no matter what I said.” Zhang Xiumei nodded.

Li Yannian didn’t stop. He went back to the house, picked up some snacks and took a few packs of cigarettes, then went to his great-grandfather’s house first.

Before reaching his great-grandfather’s house, he saw Li Qingfeng sitting under the big poplar tree at the mouth of the bay, chatting with some old men. He hurried over, gave each of them a cigarette, and then turned around to go to his great-grandfather’s house.

Unlike his mother, his father was talking about him, saying that the Erguotou he brought back was stronger than the local liquor. He saved a person and the person insisted on giving him that bottle of Erguotou.

He couldn’t bear to drink it himself, so he thought of bringing it back to his father this time. His father loved wine, but because of the heavy burden of having many children at home, he quit drinking. Life has been better in recent years, so he occasionally goes to buy some liquor to drink. In their area, a lot of the liquor is diluted with water, so naturally it is not as strong as the liquor sold outside. As Li Yannian was thinking about it, he arrived at his great-grandfather’s house.

Li Yannian’s great-grandfather was Li Hongjun, an old Red Army soldier and his grandfather’s cousin. Li Yannian joined the army because of his grandfather’s influence.

When he arrived, he found the old man sitting at the root of a tree, lost in thought. He hadn’t noticed anyone approaching him. He had first taken the snacks back inside, as the adults had gone to work. There was no one else in the house except a child doing homework, so he quickly left.

“Grandpa.” Li Yannian said loudly after sitting down. The old man was very old and he couldn’t hear him unless he spoke loudly.

Li Hongjun slowly turned around, squinting his eyes and looking at him for a long time, but he still couldn’t recognize him. He had no choice but to ask him, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Yannian.” Li Yannian moved closer and said.

“It’s Yannian, you’re not in the army, why are you back?”

“I took annual leave to come back and take a look. I just got back this morning.”

“I heard from the second brother that you are now the company commander. You must work hard and try to defeat more Japanese devils.”

“Oh, I know.”

…

As they were talking, everyone who had gone to work came back.

Li Hongjun’s eldest son, Li Dayou, was very happy to see Li Yannian coming. He handed the hoe on his shoulder to his eldest son and walked over to him and said, “Yannian is here to see your great grandfather.”

Li Yannian responded and greeted everyone before taking out a pack of cigarettes and handing it to Li Dayou, “Uncle, you two are going to weed.”

“Honghe, these cigarettes are not cheap. Yannian, you’ve really made it.” Li Dayou happily took it. His eldest nephew always brought him a pack of cigarettes every time he came back. He was a kind person.

Li Yannian said with a smile, “I haven’t been back for a few years. When I come back, I must buy you some good cigarettes.”

“That’s because you are filial. Not to mention my nephew, even your elder brother Xueming has never bought me a few packs of cigarettes.” Li Dayou looked at Li Yannian hesitantly after saying this.

When Li Yannian saw him, he asked, “Uncle Dayou, what difficulties have you encountered?”

“Alas, children are all debts. Xuejie is dating a girl from the city, and she insists on having a bicycle. She won’t marry without one. Money is easy to deal with, and relatives can borrow some money from her. The key is that there are no tickets. I thought I’d ask you, can you get a bicycle ticket? If not, forget it.” Li Dayou said with a bitter face.

Li Yannian thought for a moment before saying, “Uncle Dayou, I don’t have a bicycle ticket. But I can ask for it for you. I can’t guarantee whether I can get it or not.”

“Okay, okay, if you have any conditions, just come to me directly. I won’t make things difficult for you. If you don’t have any, forget it. If it weren’t for your aunt sighing at home every day, I wouldn’t care whether that brat gets married or not.”

“I know.” After saying this, Li Yannian spoke a few more words to Li Hongjun. Seeing that it was getting dark, he walked home.

Li Dayou pulled him to eat at home, but he refused.

When he got home, Song Ci was already cooking. Xiaoshu and Jialin were rolling hoops in the yard. When they saw him, they called out and then started playing again, laughing and joking.

“I heard from my mother that you went to the educated youth camp?” Li Yannian said after he sat down in front of the stove. Song Ci didn’t have a good relationship with the people at the educated youth camp, and he stopped associating with them after getting married.

“They heard that I was admitted to university and asked me to explain the questions to them.” Song Ci nodded.

“You go when someone calls you?”

“They are just minor conflicts. Besides, what happened in the past is in the past. It’s not easy for them either.”

“That’s not what you said before.”

“I was young and arrogant back then. To be honest, some of them did help me. By the way, where are you going when you wake up?”

“I went to my great-grandfather’s house. Dayoubo asked me to get him a bicycle ticket. I thought I would go to Gu Yiran to ask him tomorrow.”

“Don’t ask him, I have it.”

“How come I don’t know?”

“Besides training every day, what else do you know?”

After taking the college entrance exam, Song Ci sent a letter home, asking if her mother could help take care of Xiaoshu. Zhou Meiqin immediately replied, agreeing and sending 300 yuan and a bunch of banknotes, explaining that they hadn’t given anything for her wedding, and this was compensation. Besides the bicycle ticket, there were also tickets for a watch, a radio, and a sewing machine—three turns and one ring—everything. As for why the original owner hadn’t contacted her family, it was related to her being sent to the countryside.

Her eldest sister had a partner, and they had agreed to get married after high school graduation. However, the partner fell in love with someone else, and to get rid of her, she lied to her, saying she was going to the countryside. Unbeknownst to her, the eldest sister secretly signed up without telling her family. But when it was time to go, she discovered her partner didn’t need to go, and to make matters worse, she was pregnant. By then, their family was already being targeted, and even if they secretly aborted the child, it wouldn’t have been possible for her to go immediately, which led to the original owner’s decision to go to the countryside.

The original owner initially thought she was saving her eldest sister, so she agreed immediately. It wasn’t until she arrived in the countryside that she realized what it meant. Furthermore, her eldest sister ended up marrying her boyfriend. Upon hearing this, the original owner was furious and wrote home, arguing bitterly. Not long after that, her parents were also sent down to the countryside, and they stopped writing to her, leading to a loss of contact. It wasn’t until late last year, when her parents left the farm, that they reconnected.

Li Yannian saw that she looked unhappy and asked carefully, “So you’re not going to buy a bicycle?”

“I’m going to school soon, why would I spend that money?”

“I’ll give the ticket to Uncle Dayou. Is that okay with you?”

“Then tell me why you are so nice to Dayou uncle?”

“When I was a kid, I got lost in the mountains because I was playing around. It was my great-grandfather who found me. Back then, there were really wolves in the mountains, unlike now. People didn’t dare go deep into the mountains.”

“So you’re pretty lucky. Fine, take it. But don’t say you have it at home. Just say you traded it for someone else.”

“I know.”