Bai Fumei in the ’70s Chapter 24
Translated by Serena Love
Thank you to Soupysuspicions for proofreading this chapter.
After a while, the nurse returned, having retrieved a bunch of letters from the duty room. There were a total of eight letters.
The envelope was white, and the handwriting was soft and delicate. The letter clearly seemed to have been written by a woman. The nurse didn't even have time to read it before it was taken away by the chief.
Jiang Jianjun opened them one by one, and the sweet and lovely atmosphere belonging to his girl overflowed from the letter. He carefully read it line by line, staring at it for a long time.
Jiang Jianjun glanced at the calendar again, and his heroic eyebrows were completely darkened. This day... just happened to be the start of the preparation period for the military exercise in the G Military Region.
Three months, Lanxiang.
...
Zhao Lanxiang returned to the He family's house with a ten yuans note and some sugar tickets in her hands, and she was filled with satisfaction.
When she passed the county town, she went to find Liang Tiezhu and ordered ten pounds of flour, ten pounds of glutinous rice, and a bag of mountain goods.
Tiezhu quickly quoted the price, "Four yuans and eight cents."
Zhao Lanxiang gave him six yuan.
She said, "I want to buy food from you in the future, so I would be embarrassed to let you work for so cheap, I don't need the change."
How could Liang Tiezhu dare to take her money, he said, "If Brother knew, he would beat me in the future."
Zhao Lanxiang asked suspiciously, "How does this have anything to do with your brother?"
Liang Tiezhu looked at her straightforwardly, with unabashed teasing in his eyes.
Zhao Lanxiang turned her head away. She hadn't expected this kid's eyes to be so sharp. Even when He Songbai was still so dense, he saw through her completely.
She suddenly coughed, "Keep it a low profile and don't reveal it to anyone, or your brother Bai will be angry."
Liang Tiezhu nodded to show his loyalty.
Zhao Lanxiang returned to the village with peace of mind after placing her order. Although she had been working all day, she still came back early. In the afternoon, Zhao Lanxiang took a nap before going to work on time.
She pushed the small cart loaded with debris, but unexpectedly a young man was working for Zhou Jiazhen.
She walked over, and the young man immediately blushed and whispered, "I... I happened to pass by and saw that you didn't come to work today, so I came to help."
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Zhao Lanxiang glanced at the piles of rubble that had almost been shoveled clean and quickly glanced at Zhou Jiazhen.
Zhou Jiazhen said to him, "Thank you, comrade. You can go back and finish your own work!"
Zhao Lanxiang said, "I come to work but all the work is already done. This is really cool."
Zhou Jiazhen hummed and said, "Didn't the He family's second son come to work for you every day?
How is he doing now, is the injury better?"
She was a bit worried, "Oh! I'm so used to him helping, my bones have become lazy. Today you were not here, and my waist was almost bent out of shape."
Zhao Lanxiang said with a smile, "Then today is really thanks to Comrade Wu. Otherwise, you would be really tired. Looking back, we must thank him for his warm kindness."
She touched her face and felt a bit bad.
Zhou Jiazhen awkwardly pushed the cart to pick stones. After she filled the cart, she ran across the field. Her face blushing red and she twisted Zhao Lanxiang angrily.
"I haven't thanked He's second child yet. Thank him for his strength for me!"
Zhou Jiazhen finished ranting before she explained in a small voice, "Wasn't I reading "How Steel is Made" some time ago? He saw it and was very happy to share his experience with me, since he also read it. We talked a bit."
Zhao Lanxiang said decently, "That is a good book. You need to communicate more and discuss it with each other to benefit from it."
Zhou Jiazhen said, "Then I will communicate with you."
Zhao Lanxiang quickly waved her hand, "I haven't finished reading it. Trying to communicate with people who haven't finished reading is like trying to play the piano with cattle. Only people like Comrade Wu who have read extensively can keep up with your thoughts."
Zhou Jiazhen fiercely pinched Zhao Lanxiang again and puffed away angrily pushing the cart filled with stones.
After finishing her work, Zhao Lanxiang didn't make dinner that night. Even though little He Sanya was aggrieved, elder sister He smiled. She ate the sweet potato rice in a mouthful, as if her bowl contained the treasures from the mountain and the sea. Zhao Lanxiang also ate a scrumptious meal of sweet potato brown rice. Although there was no oil nor sauce, her stomach that had been eating a lot of oil recently, received it gratefully. After all, the brown grains were full of fiber and good for digestion.
...
In the middle of the night, Zhao Lanxiang was suddenly awakened by a bleak cry. She was agitated and crawled up from her bed.
Holding a kerosene lamp, she followed the voice and walked to Grandma's room.
A slim ray of light leaked into the black room, and the old woman wailed and wailed on the bed. The sunken eyes were covered with gloomy fog, and under the dim light, it appeared unbearably miserable.
The grandma lifted her hazy tear-filled eyes and screamed, "Get out!"
Zhao Lanxiang quickly retreated but left the lamp on the table.
She asked from outside the door, "Grandma, what's wrong?"
Grandma ignored her.
Zhao Lanxiang had only exchanged a few words with this grandmother after she began living in the He family's house. The old woman didn't want to care about this stranger. For the first time, holding onto the idea of meeting the grandmother whom she had never met in the past, she took the bowl of rice to her room but Sister He had quickly stopped her.
Occasionally, she saw the old woman when the brother and sisters of the He family pushed her outside to bask in the sun. When Grandma looked at Zhao Lanxiang, this stranger, her eyes were indifferent.
Sister He was quickly awakened by Zhao Lanxiang. She went to her grandmother's room, hugged her grandmother, and caressed her rickety back. In the dark night, her gestures couldn't be seen. The old woman cried sadly, clutching her granddaughter's hand, "Is your brother gone?"
Sister He took the lamp and tried to gesture to her grandmother, "No."
"Don't worry, he is fine."
"Is he gone?" The old woman wiped her tears sadly.
Zhao Lanxiang looked at the old woman and couldn't bear it. She went to wake He Songbai up.
He had been sleeping for several days since he was injured.
He Songbai woke up to see a woman sitting by his bed in the middle of the night and his heart was beating violently. When finally sobered up, he realized that it was Zhao Lanxiang shaking him.
He ran his fingers through his hair. His voice is low and inaudible, with a hint of desperation.
He said almost silently, "What's wrong with you?"
Zhao Lanxiang said, "Grandma cried and was terribly distressed. We couldn't calm her down. Go and see her. She hasn't seen you for three days and thought you were gone."
Once He Songbai heard this he immediately sat up and started to remove the boards attached to his limbs.
Zhao Lanxiang stopped him, "Don't be so naive, looking at you limping towards her, wouldn't she see your injuries?"
He Songbai heard this and choked. He stood up and limped to his grandmother's room.
Grandma saw her grandson with his hands and feet fixed in wooden boards. She touched his hand, touched his foot, and touched his head before she began bawling sadly, "My poor Bai..."
He Songbai hugged his grandmother and comforted her in silence.
After a while, he found that she was still crying, and said helplessly, "My hands and feet won't break. I'll be fine in a few days."
Grandma's tears slowly stopped. She cried for a while but fell asleep quickly. Even in her sleep, she grumbled pitifully from time to time.
He Songbai said, "I told you a long time ago that we can't hide it from her, you still didn't believe it."
Sister He glared at her brother and gestured fiercely, "Sleep."
He Songbai shrugged helplessly and returned to his room.
He found that Zhao Lanxiang was still sitting in his room, he knocked on the door, "Go back to sleep."
Zhao Lanxiang suddenly mentioned what happened during the day and asked, "Picking up peach blossom for wine... What a strange password?"
He Songbai said lightly, "What's strange, did you meet someone today?"
Zhao Lanxiang said, "He didn't say anything, and directly led me inside."
Zhao Lanxiang muttered, "Picking peach blossoms for wine, picking peach blossoms for wine, hmm?"
She pondered it and said, "The world laughs at me because I'm too mad, and I laugh at others. I don't see the tomb of the Wuling Hero, and there are no flowers and no wine to plow the fields. Ckckck..."
Zhao Lanxiang said thoughtfully, "These sour poems, did your grandma teach them to you?"
"Your grandmother is very educated and taught you how to write. I watched her be so kind to you, but why won't she show any kindness to me?"
This last sentence was what Zhao Lanxiang had wanted to ask for a while.
He Songbai's lips twitched, and the tone was casual, "You are not my wife yet, but you started to care about my grandma's attitude?"
Zhao Lanxiang pinched him angrily.
He Songbai thought for a while and said, "She is kind, but her life was very bitter, and she still has some resentment in her heart. If you really care about it, don't blame her. In fact, she distrusts everyone except us."
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Seeing the woman's eyes full of curiosity, He Songbai saw her posture of wanting to gossip late at night. He Songbai's brain hurts.
He pulled the woman up and rushed her to the door. "Go back to your room and sleep!"
---
Author's note: The full poem is like this.
Peach Blossom Temple in Peach Blossom Dock, and Peach Blossom Fairy in Peach Blossom Temple.
The peach blossom fairy planted peach trees and picked peach blossoms for wine.
Wake up to sit in front of the flowers, and come to sleep after drunk.
Half awake, half drunk, day after day. Flowers bloom, year after year.
I hope old people die in the flower wine room, unwilling to bow in front of the horse cart.
Horse cart and chariots are interesting for the rich, and those with wine are destined to be poor.
If the noble and the rich are better than the poor, one is on the ground and the other is on the sky.
If the poor and the humble are compared wealth to chariots, my wealth has drive me free.
The world laughed at me because I was too mad, and I laughed at others for not seeing the world.
There is no tomb of the Wuling heroes, no flowers and no wine to plow the field.
---
[T/N: "Peach Blossom Temple" is an ancient poem created by Tang Yin, a painter, writer, and poet in the Ming Dynasty.
Don't ask me what it means. I'm already vomiting blood trying to translate it to English. (╥﹏╥)]
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