"What?"
Not only were the men in the room startled, but even the usually zen Han-dasao was shocked. Han-ersao even jumped off the kang barefoot. "Third brother, what happened? Why is there no allowance?"
Didn't they say military officers earned more and more? This whole large family was counting on him for money!
Han-dage: Could it be that third brother made a mistake and was kicked out by the army?
Han-laotaitai's hair stood on end, and even the mosquitoes buzzing around her fell silent. "Laosan, what's going on? Explain clearly!!!"
Han Qingsong: "My old injuries have relapsed, and I can no longer fulfill the army's missions. According to regulations, I need to transfer to civilian work."
"Transfer to civilian work?" Han-laotaitai sprang up from the kang, almost tumbling headfirst onto the floor. Fortunately, Han Qingsong was quick and caught her.
Han-laotaitai gripped his arm tightly. "What can you do if you transfer? Have they arranged a position for you? Will you get a salary in the future, or what?"
Everyone spoke at once, and the room became noisy, drowning out Han-dage's question about how his third brother's old injuries were.
Han Qingsong shook his head. "I don't know yet, I have to wait for the army's arrangement."
Han-laotaitai opened her mouth, suddenly not knowing what to say or what she should say.
This was even more terrifying than Lin Lan withdrawing the 260 yuan.
This meant that countless 260 yuan in the future had flown away.
No, absolutely not!
"Laosan, is the army forcing you to transfer, or do you truly want to transfer yourself?" If Han-laotaitai didn't figure this out, she wouldn't be able to sleep for the rest of her life.
Han Qingsong, however, didn't want to say more. After all, it was currently the internal revolution phase, and the environment in the army was extremely complex. It wasn't something he could see clearly or control, and speaking about it would bring no benefit.
He looked at them. "Die, niang, it's getting late. How about we talk about it tomorrow."
If they kept talking like this, answering one question would definitely lead to another, and they wouldn't finish even if they talked all night.
He greeted his dage and erge, telling everyone to go back to their rooms to rest and talk tomorrow.
After he left, Han-erge was still complaining to the old lady.
Han-ersao said in a huff, "If we split the family, we should at least have a room to live in. The third branch's man isn't home, yet she occupies the east wing all by herself."
Their second branch and the first branch had nowhere to live and could only squeeze into the west room, sleeping separately on the north and south kangs.
How uncomfortable it was!
Logically, she should be the one living in the east wing, and the third branch's wife and the first branch should live in the west room.
The old lady was furious and scolded, "Roll, roll, roll, all of you! If you want to split the family, roll out together tomorrow. Anyway, when your die and I die, no one will care."
Knowing she was speaking out of anger, everyone scattered.
The old lady leaned on the kang, groaning, "Old man, my head is throbbing like a frozen winter melon, I'm probably going to have a stroke from anger. Quick, cut a piece of plaster and stick it on for me."
In her mind, her son being a company commander meant he was a cadre!
Although during the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation, the Eighth Route Army and the People's Liberation Army were also stationed locally, and she had seen many platoon and company commanders, she felt they didn't have much prestige.
Although many youths enlisted in the 50s and 60s, and several company and battalion commanders even returned from the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, she didn't see everyone making a big deal out of it.
But now it was different!
Back then, because of the war, people died, so many didn't want to become soldiers, and girls weren't willing to marry soldiers.
Now, being a soldier was highly sought after!
Being a soldier, like being a worker or working in a government office, was an iron rice bowl!
Her youngest son even said that if he couldn't get assigned a good job after graduating from high school, he would go to the army to find his third brother.
If laosan transferred to civilian work, what else could he do?
The old lady also knew that many soldiers in nearby villages had demobilized and returned home. For conscripts, demobilizing after three years was mandatory, there was nothing to discuss.
Upon demobilization, they were given some money and had to find jobs themselves when they returned. It was nothing more than the brigade or commune taking care of them, letting them become militiamen or village security directors.
Even for minor cadres transferring to civilian work, there were platoon commanders who, at most, became company commanders in the local militia, or went to the commune public security bureau, the defense department, or the militia company. The old lady had inquired about all these, and they truly had no future.
Although the local commune members felt these were face-saving and lucrative jobs, who was Han-laotaitai? She was, after all, the old mother of a proper army company commander.
She only felt waves of dizziness. Originally, she wanted Han Qingsong to explain clearly, but he ran off, leaving her breathless and almost suffocating herself.
Not wanting to suffocate, she pulled Old Man Han to nag.
Old Man Han was so sleepy he couldn't even open his eyes. At first, he grunted a few times, but later he just snored loudly amidst his laopozi's nagging.
In his view, in the past, they could survive even working as hired hands for landlords. Now, with the Party's leadership and the red sun, what was there to worry about?
Han-ersao, on the other hand, pulled dasao back to the south kang in the west room to mutter.
Han-dage was too sleepy to bear it and had to go to the north kang to sleep with Han-erge.
Han Qingsong returned to his room. The lamp had long been extinguished, and the rhythmic breathing of the children came from the kang.
By the faint light from outside, he looked and saw Lin Lan sleeping at the head of the kang holding Xiaowang, then Maisui, and then Erwang.
His bedding was placed at the foot of the kang.
According to the custom of most families in their village, the head of the kang was the best position, so it belonged to the male head of the household, then the woman, and then the children.
It seemed he was being excluded.
He stood in front of the kang, while Lin Lan on the kang was sweating profusely from nervousness.
It was already hot in summer, and the east wing was especially hot. To ventilate while sleeping, they opened the doors and windows, but with the torn straw curtain hanging, mosquitoes still bit people from time to time. It was simply not a life for humans.
She couldn't sleep at all!
As a result, Han Qingsong was still standing by her head, waves of heat washing over her face. She wondered, he clearly wasn't a teenager or young man with overly exuberant hormones anymore, why was his body heat still so intense?
Just as she was about to break and open her mouth to explain, Han Qingsong had already stepped over and gotten onto the kang.
Lin Lan breathed a sigh of relief and went to sleep peacefully.
The next day, the rooster crowed.
Lin Lan quickly got up and found that Han Qingsong was no longer on the kang. She didn't rush to wake the children either; they were growing, so she let them sleep a bit longer.
There were many mosquitoes in farmhouses. Overnight, she had two bites on her face and neck, which were very itchy. She scratched them randomly, went down to take off the torn straw curtain to let the light in, and found that Xiaowang had been bitten the worst.
She had to ask around to see whose family had aloe vera or mint, get a plant to keep, and rub it on mosquito bites to relieve the itch.
Fortunately, thanks to the medicinal wine Han Qingsong brought back, after a night's sleep, her arms and shoulders didn't hurt as much. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been able to lift them today due to swelling.
She moved her arm and felt it was fine, but she really wanted to use arm pain as an excuse to ask for leave and not go to work.
Lin Lan felt she was truly delicate and really couldn't do manual labor.
Take going to work a few days ago, for instance. At first, she went to the cotton fields to catch insects, and it almost disgusted her to death.
Those wriggling insects of various colors made her whole body numb and tremble.
Later, she switched to hoeing the fields. Using a large hoe to dig the earth and weed stroke by stroke, it wasn't long before her back and waist ached. That large pickaxe felt heavier than a thousand catties! Furthermore, in summer, after nine o'clock, the sun was scorching, making her feel like she was going to be roasted dry.
So, either she could find an iron rice bowl job with a salary, or Han Qingsong could continuously provide her with living expenses.
However, in this day and age, rural cadres were not exempt from production. Even the old party secretary in the village went to the fields to work. So no matter what tricks she had, they were useless in the face of absolute policies.
Then there was only Han Qingsong's path.
Or could she persuade him not to transfer to civilian work?
After all, according to the original plot in the book, the reason Han Qingsong transferred was because the original owner made too much of a fuss, leaving him disheartened. Coupled with the complex environment and fierce factional struggles in the army at present, he lost interest in his career and decided to transfer home.
Han-laotaitai was afraid that if her erxifu accompanied the army, she would spend money and they wouldn't be able to send the salary and allowance home. The original owner was afraid that if he had a bright future, he would divorce her and climb a higher branch, so she would rather not accompany the army and just force her man to come back.
But she was different! She wouldn't make a fuss and would unconditionally support Han Qingsong's work.
She had to find a chance to chat.
Lin Lan went to the courtyard and was surprised to find that Han-laotaitai hadn't gotten up. Usually, she would be banging her stick early, calling the whole family to get up and go to the fields.
Coming out of the outhouse, she found everyone sporting two large dark circles under their eyes, as if they had been tortured without sleep for ten days or half a month. Tsk tsk, truly pitiful.
Han-ersao only had a small cut on her head, which had already been bandaged and was fine. But she stubbornly wrapped a large towel around it like a mummy, not afraid of the heat, and groaned there, "Aiya, it hurts to death, I can't go to work."
"Niang, why did you come out?" Erwang had gotten up at some unknown time and ran out to support Lin Lan. "Niang, you can't move your arm, just rest well and don't go to work. My die is back!"
His die hadn't listened to his mama and divorced his niang, which made Erwang very proud. He seized every opportunity to show off that his die was back.
Those who laughed that his die was going to divorce his niang and abandon them, humph, take a good look!
Han-ersao curled her lip and went back to her room to lie down in anger.
Han-dasao prepared to cook and called the children to cut grass to earn work points.
Children the age of Erwang, Maisui, and Sanwang all had to go cut grass to earn work points.
Maisui was delicate and didn't want to go, hoping Lin Lan would speak up for her, but Lin Lan pretended not to notice.
Cutting grass was considered light work.
Maisui had no choice but to follow her sisters.
At this time, Han Qingsong returned from fetching water. Seeing Lin Lan sitting on a rock staring blankly at the broken earthen basin, he poured the water into the vat, came out, and said to Lin Lan, "There are two empty thatched houses at the threshing floor. Go take a look today. If you don't mind..."
Lin Lan immediately said, "I don't mind!"
What a joke, even the most dilapidated house was better than living here.
Han Qingsong hadn't expected her to agree so readily without even looking or being picky. He had originally thought he would have to spend some breath persuading her.
Seeing her agree, he nodded and handed the glasses back to Lin Lan.
"The frame was just flattened, it's fine once it's rounded out, it's not broken."
After fetching the water, he went out again.
Seeing this, Han-dasao sighed and said to Lin Lan in an envious tone she didn't even realize, "Dawang's niang, don't always be angry. Actually, look, third brother is quite caring. He found a house, even asked for your opinion, and he fixed those glasses too."
Knowing she wasn't happy living there, he took the initiative to suggest splitting the family and finding a house.
With other men, whatever they decided, they decided themselves, rarely informing or discussing it with their women.
Even a large portion of men, apart from discussing work and saying a few words, wouldn't even talk to their women when making babies at night.
In their view, not chatting with their own women was what made them manly!
Lin Lan smiled and didn't say anything.
After washing her face, she returned to the room, woke Xiaowang up, and put his glasses on him.
"Wow, my glasses!" Xiaowang was very happy.
Lin Lan wiped Xiaowang's face with a towel. "Your die fixed them, remember to thank him."
Xiaowang pouted and didn't agree.
Lin Lan didn't force him and whispered, "Your die found a house, we can move out. Let's go take a look."
She tucked the two pieces of candy into Xiaowang's pocket and took him to see the house.
Although Xiaowang still didn't like Han Qingsong, he was very excited to hear they could move.
Those two rooms used to belong to the brigade. Later, when the brigade headquarters expanded and got a new large courtyard, these two rooms were used to store miscellaneous items.
Although somewhat dilapidated, the walls and roof beams were still good. They just needed to relay the straw on the roof and pack it with yellow mud.
Other than that, the doors and windows needed to be replaced or patched where necessary, and a kang needed to be built.
Han Qingsong was busy with several people. Not only was Erwang helping, but Dawang and Sanwang were actually there too, along with a few boys from the extended family.
Naturally, there were also onlookers secretly pointing and gossiping.
"Look, Han laosan just came back and they're splitting the family. What kind of play is this?"
"Was he manipulated by the shrew threatening suicide?"
"Why don't you say they were driven out by the old lady?"
When ordinary families split, they basically built another room on the original homestead. Those who couldn't afford it would build a shed, or even borrow a place from neighbors or extended family. Rarely did anyone move this far away.
The old party secretary, Han Yongfang, heard this and scolded, "What nonsense are you spouting, are your tongues too long? A family with four sons, and only three main rooms and a small east wing. The eldest and second branches share a room, and the youngest also has to get married. If they don't split out, where will they live?"
Han Yongfang's words instantly shut many people's mouths, especially those in similar situations.
However, some were also jealous that Han Qingsong had the face to actually get the old party secretary to let him live in those two empty rooms.
Several families in the village had asked to borrow those two rooms, but the old party secretary said there were so many people, who should he give them to?
The result was that no one got them.
Now, he generously gave them to Han Qingsong to live in.
"Could it be he gave gifts?"
"Who knows, they're all officials, naturally they favor each other."
"Didn't they say Han laosan came back to divorce and didn't want that shrew anymore? Why are they splitting the family to live on their own? What exactly is going on with their family?"
"How would I know what's going on, I'm not the old lady of their family."
"Hey, speaking of the old lady, why haven't we seen her?"
"To be honest, Han Qingsong is truly a good youth. Sigh, if it weren't for that back then, Chunxiang should have married him."
"Get lost, what nonsense are you talking about."
...
Han Qingsong worked very fast. In half a day, he prepared the materials for the two rooms and even borrowed ready-made adobe bricks from the brigade to build the kang.
Fortunately, the brigade had stored adobe bricks, which he directly borrowed to build the kang.
For the two rooms, he left half a room as the main room, and the other one and a half rooms as the bedroom. He built a long kang, with a rectangular box-like kang hole in the middle to store sweet potatoes, and people sleeping on both sides, separating males and females to avoid inconvenience when the children grew older.
Nowadays, many people didn't separate males and females on the kang. A whole family slept on one kang, and even when the children grew up, they still squeezed together.
Not to mention some who were married and still squeezed into one room.
So, Han Qingsong's design was enough to make the commune members envious.
Lin Lan watched for a while, went back to eat a few bites of breakfast, and then went to work. Because her arm hurt, she didn't take a large hoe and was assigned to the cotton fields to prune branches and catch insects.
There were also people spraying pesticide over there. The smell of 1605 drifted for ten li downwind, making Lin Lan's heart skip a beat just smelling it. She finally endured until noon, feeling dizzy and faint, and quickly fled the insect nest.
When she returned, she first went to the brigade's place to take a look and saw Han Qingsong squatting on the roof slapping yellow mud.
He was wearing a tank top, revealing his sturdy and robust arms. His sweat glistened in the sunlight as if he were oiled.
He caught a glimpse of Lin Lan, pushed off the roof with his hands, slid down, and then nimbly leaped to the ground.
Lin Lan was so startled her heart leaped to her throat. You jumping up and down like this, does it look like your old injuries have relapsed?
Han Qingsong reached her in two or three steps. "Bring some food over at noon, I won't go back to eat."
Lin Lan figured that if he went back, the old lady would pester him with endless questions, delaying the work. It wouldn't be too late to go back after everything was tidied up.
"Alright."
Han Qingsong glanced at her. "Is your arm better?"
Lin Lan rubbed it. "It still hurts."
"If it hurts, why didn't you ask for leave?" Han Qingsong had thought that according to her habits, she would definitely ask for leave and not go to work if she was injured. He hadn't expected her not to ask, which was why he asked.
Lin Lan: "If I don't go to work, what will we eat? I have to earn work points."
"You won't need to earn work points in the future." Han Qingsong said as he went back to work.
Is he caring about me?
Lin Lan pondered these words. Does that mean I won't have to do manual labor in the future?
It seemed Han Qingsong's true nature hadn't changed; he was still as described in the book, a responsible and accountable person. Since he decided to come back, he would shoulder the responsibilities of a zhangfu and a father.
It was just that he was too blind before. Not being at home, he didn't know the conflicts in the family and actually let his old mother and laopo fight to that extent.
It seemed he had low emotional intelligence.
Lin Lan first checked on the children. They had returned from cutting grass and were all helping here. Xiaowang followed Maisui, wearing a wicker hat, holding a few willow leaves, and puffing his little cheeks trying to blow a whistle out of them.
Maisui said to Lin Lan, "Niang, since Xiaowang got his glasses, he runs as fast as Sanwang, disappearing in a flash."
"What is he running off to do by himself?"
"Who knows, just wandering around. If we don't let him go near the water, he goes into the grass. Today he even lay by a rabbit hole on a slope trying to crawl in, insisting there was movement inside."
"Then there definitely was movement," Lin Lan said.
Maisui: ... Mothers are all biased toward their youngest sons, it's true!
Lin Lan then told her and Erwang to go back and bring the food so they could eat here with their die.
At noon, Han-laotaitai still hadn't gotten off the kang, just groaning on the kang in the east room. "He's waiting for me to die without even coming to take a look."
She was certain her third son was filial. As long as she lay here, he would definitely come quickly to apologize and admit his mistake, and be obedient in the future.
It had always been like this in the past!
Everyone in the family moved lightly and kept quiet out of fear.
Han-dasao gave Lin Lan a meaningful look, and Lin Lan nodded.
She took a flatbread, scooped a bowl of vegetables, picked up a chopstick of pickled vegetables, and wanted to hide in her room to eat.
Just as she was about to leave, Han-laotaitai shouted from the room, "Third branch's wife, third branch's wife—"
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