Siheyuan: Grassroots Counterattack

The captain led Xiaoxue to the kitchen and uncovered a torn straw mat. There was a wooden board underneath. When the captain lifted the board, Xiaoxue saw a dark hole in front of her.

"This is a cellar, storing some winter vegetables or grains."

Xiaoxue nodded, indicating that she understood. "As for water, there is a well in this yard. The old hunter hired someone to dig it. It's over here."

Then he led Xiaoxue to a stone and said, "Originally there was no stone here, but we were afraid that the children in the village would get into the well, so we asked the villagers to move a big stone to cover the well mouth."

Xiaoxue looked around and felt that this place was not bad, so she said to the captain: "Captain, I want to rent this place. How much is the annual rent?"

The team leader said without hesitation: "The team has already set the rent. Villagers pay 5 yuan a year, and people from other villages pay 8 yuan a year. Comrade Wang and Comrade Li have always taken care of our village, so I will settle for 5 yuan a year."

"Okay, thank you, Captain. Can we write an agreement or something so I can give you the money? I want to rent it for three years, but you have to find someone to clean up the yard and the house for me. I don't know how to do this."

"Okay, then Comrade Wang, please come with me to the brigade headquarters. I will ask someone to find the accountant to write the agreement." The brigade leader said happily.

Xiaoxue didn't move, but took out two packs of cigarettes from her pocket, "Captain, you and the accountant can take them and smoke them. No one in our family smokes, so they're just there for the sake of being there."

The captain actually didn't want to accept it, but looking at the two boxes of good cigarettes, he finally gritted his teeth and took it, "Comrade Wang, don't worry, I will keep an eye on this place and won't let the little bastards in the village be lazy."

"Okay, thank you, captain. This is 10 yuan, just the wages for the villagers. If there is anything missing in the yard, please help buy it."

The captain took the money and felt so comfortable. Seeing Xiaoxue trusting him so much, he felt very happy.

When they arrived at the brigade headquarters, the captain asked Xiaoxue to sit for a while while he went to find the accountant. Soon the two walked into the room. The captain introduced the people around him to Xiaoxue, and Xiaoxue quickly stood up to greet them.

The man was also very enthusiastic. It was obvious that the cigarette had worked. After the accountant entered the room, he began to write the agreement. After he finished writing, he showed it to Xiaoxue. Xiaoxue saw that there was no problem, so she signed and took the money. She counted the money and nodded to the team leader. The team leader took the agreement and stamped it with the team's seal.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Xiaoxue stood up and said goodbye. The team leader and the accountant sent Xiaoxue out of the team headquarters. The team leader and Xiaoxue promised that the yard would be repaired in the next two days. Xiaoxue thanked them again and said that people would arrive in the next few days, and she would lead them over when they arrived.

After leaving the Qianjin Brigade, Xiaoxue quickened her pace to go home. Things went smoothly this afternoon, and the only thing she was worried about now was her child.

After returning to the family area, Xiaoxue went to the neighbor's house first. At this time, Doudou was playing with the neighbor's children, so Xiaoxue felt relieved.

I said goodbye to my neighbors and took Doudou home to rest.

The next morning, Xiaoxue took Doudou to the post office again and dialed the phone. It was Li Tianyi who answered the phone. The two talked about what happened yesterday. Li Tianyi told Xiaoxue the arrival time of the train, and Xiaoxue also said that she had already arranged the house.

Two days later, Mr. Shen and his aunt set out from Sijiu City to the Northeast. However, they bought hard seats, and they suffered a lot during those four days. While waiting for the train, they had dark circles under their eyes and staggered. Fortunately, the train was delayed for three hours, as it was already dawn.

It had been agreed before that if Xiaoxue came to pick them up at dawn, they would find a guesthouse to stay in first. Now they had saved the money for staying in a guesthouse.

After they got out of the train station, they didn't go anywhere but just sat on the side of the road waiting. About an hour later, Xiaoxue came over with the child. My aunt saw Xiaoxue from a distance and waved to her. Xiaoxue also saw them and ran over holding the child.

"Grandpa, aunt, you must be tired. Let's go eat something first, and then take the logistics vehicle back to the army."

My grandfather and aunt did not refuse. They were indeed in poor health and old, and it was good enough that nothing happened after sitting on the train for such a long time.

At the state-owned restaurant, Xiaoxue ordered buns and porridge for the two of them. Doudou wanted to eat some when he saw them, so Xiaoxue bought another bun, let Doudou eat half, and she ate the remaining half.

After the meal, the three of them brought Doudou to the meeting place to wait for the bus. None of them mentioned Uncle Shen's matter. After all, there were so many people around and it would not be good if others heard it.

The people who came with Xiaoxue to the family compound saw two unfamiliar people and asked Xiaoxue about them. Xiaoxue introduced them to everyone and said that they were her grandfather and aunt. Because her brothers and sisters were not working in the north, there were only two elderly people at home, so she took them in to take care of them.

No one doubted what they heard, after all, every family has relatives.

Soon the logistics vehicle arrived, everyone got on, and the car drove towards the military area.

When they arrived at the military area, Xiaoxue led her grandpa and aunt to the family quarters. After entering the house, Xiaoxue let Doudou play by himself while she went to boil water so that her grandpa and aunt could wash up first and then rest.

After everything was packed up and her grandfather and aunt were settled, Xiaoxue finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But she was not idle either. She took out a set of bedding from home, then found an old quilt cover and started to patch it. This was prepared for Uncle Shen. Her aunt and others also brought Uncle Shen's clothes, so Xiaoxue only needed to prepare the bedding.

In this way, Mr. Shen rested for a whole day and came out of the house at almost evening. At this time, his aunt was already helping Xiaoxue take care of the children, while Xiaoxue was cooking dinner.

When grandpa saw Doudou, he wanted to hug him, but the little guy hadn’t seen Mr. Shen for a year and had kind of forgotten about him. When he saw Mr. Shen was about to hug him, Doudou quickly hid behind his aunt.

Mr. Shen smiled, pointed at Doudou and said, "You little brat."

During the meal, Mr. Shen told Xiaoxue about the situation of the Li family and Li Tianyi in Sijiu City to reassure Xiaoxue. Xiaoxue also told him about renting a house and the fact that the house was close to the cowshed.

Mr. Shen and his aunt were obviously relieved. Mr. Shen decided to let his aunt stay at home to look after the children tomorrow while he and Xiaoxue went for a walk around the village.

The other two had no objection and decided to go to the village to see if the house had been renovated. Then Mr. Shen and his aunt could move in.

The next morning, Xiaoxue led Mr. Shen to the Qianjin Brigade. This time they did not go to the captain's house, but went directly to the foot of the mountain.

When passing by the farmland, Xiaoxue saw the team leader and quickly called him over. She introduced him to Mr. Shen, a retired veteran who now lives in this village.

Captain Su expressed his welcome, then introduced the renovation situation, and then took out two dollars to return to Xiaoxue. Xiaoxue refused to take it, saying that it was a reward for the captain, after all, the captain had worked hard to help with the renovation over the past two days.

The captain refused to accept it at first, but he couldn't argue with Xiaoxue, a female comrade, so he had to put the money in his pocket.