I had to go to the room of the geological exploration team and chat with the left-behind cadre. He asked endless questions, and I answered absentmindedly. When the acquaintances in the village heard that Mr. Zou's boyfriend was coming, they all came to visit, and I entertained everyone with the candy I brought. A warm-hearted sister-in-law (some people call her crazy, in fact, not crazy at all), led me to Zou Admission's room, which was black and empty, and the sister-in-law lit a candle to see everything in the room, sat for a while, and when it was time for dinner, this sister-in-law brought me a big jar of food, and I thanked her again and again. The meal was very simple, only cabbage and fried onions, I ate a few bites indiscriminately, and then went to the river to wash my face. Lai Shengcai, the secretary of the village branch, came to see me, stood and talked for a long time, and he briefed me on the rapid development of the rural economy and the continuous improvement of the villagers' lives.

Zou lives in a dilapidated hall, and the whole house is no longer occupied. Behind the hall is her "boudoir", which has no windows, and it is dark during the day, and it is only a little light when candles are lit. A large bed with straw was covered with an old blanket, a thin quilt, and at the head of the bed was an old table with textbooks, workbooks, washing utensils, a large blue jar, and a small spoon. The walls are peeling with mud, the rafters are black, and spiders are web-open. The small aisle is where the cattle are kept, and the smell of cow dung comes to my nose, and the musty smell in the house makes me nauseous. Poor Xiao Zou, a female teacher lives in such a place, and its hardships can be imagined. I was homeless and had to stay here for the night.

At night, there were flashes of lightning, heavy rain, and foul air, and I couldn't sleep. The rats scurried around the house as if they were in a market, knocking the uneaten jar with a bang. The rain became heavier and heavier, and the rain poured into the room, and the leather shoes floated up, and there was no electric light, so I had to sit on the quilt with candles. This night was like listening to a musical evening in the cowshed, and I didn't sleep all night, looking forward to the dawn. Hey, maybe it's a lot of good things, maybe she doesn't care about me. Where have the people gone? I'm so annoyed!

Early in the morning, when the rain stopped, I went to the river to wash up, and the "crazy woman" sister-in-law asked me to go to her house for breakfast, and I reluctantly went. In a hall, there are several tables of eight immortals, and on one table is basically a family, with only a large bowl of green vegetables on the table, a bowl of dried radish and fried bacon, and the rice is only to eat. My sister-in-law pulled me to sit with her husband, her family of six people, happy, the family was very enthusiastic, everyone was eating, chatting, and kept asking me to introduce the customs of Nanzhao, they were full of longing for the outside world.

The sister-in-law said: "Now it's a collective, life is very good, we don't need money to eat here, even if you eat." As he spoke, he grabbed a large piece of meat into my bowl, "Eat, eat, Comrade Zhang......." ”

I couldn't wait for Xiao Zou, so at noon, I paid for the meal and rice tickets according to the rules of the army, bid farewell to Lai Zhishu and the warm-hearted sister-in-law, and returned to my father-in-law's house unhappy.

Seeing that I came back alone in frustration, the second elder asked puzzledly, "What about the recruiter?" I replied truthfully. The father-in-law scolded angrily: "Enrollment soul! The mother-in-law muttered and complained about the admissions.

After a while, the recruit came back, and I finally saw the person I missed, and they shot each other's eyes together, and the "strangers" who had been separated for more than 20 years shortened the distance at once, and she said shyly: "You are here...... I played a ball game and went to ....... I had a big smile on my face. My mother was busy cooking, so she asked the recruit boy to pour me tea, and accompanied me to eat refreshments and talk. The air in the room immediately warmed up.

I gave the old man the tuo tea brought by Nanzhao Province and made a bowl of tea for my father-in-law, and he said with a smile: "Well, good tea tastes different from the tea we have here."

My mother-in-law sat down and said to me and the admissions: "The day after tomorrow is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, which is an auspicious day, so you should hurry up and go to the township to get a marriage certificate, and take advantage of the New Year to get married." The admissions took one look at me, nodded to my mother-in-law, and said gratefully, "I'm sorry that my parents are not here, and it's all up to my parents-in-law." ”

I stood up and bowed deeply to the second elder. The father-in-law said: "Our Zou family and the Zhang family are world friends, living in the same county for more than 50 years, since I grew up, I know that you have a future, and now that you are back, we are also relieved to entrust our daughter to you, you have to love her for a lifetime!" I said excitedly, "Please rest assured, you are my parents, and I will treat her like my own sister." ”

……

My mother-in-law was busy organizing the wedding for us. We prepared some sweets and brought them to the township clerks. The staff member looked at all our documents, asked a few questions, and quickly got two marriage certificates, and we gave them candy to express our gratitude.

"There is a fate to meet thousands of miles away, but there is no chance to meet on the other side." I can be described as a "thousand-mile marriage" with admissions! Now the old saying has been fulfilled. We finally got married for a hundred years and got married in a hurry. It was February 1959 (the fifth day of the first lunar month), and we completed a major event in our lives.

The next day, we went to Li Tung, bid farewell to the villagers, and invited the village party secretary and the villagers to the primary school classroom to talk together, and we entertained everyone with sweets and pastries. The villagers praised the admissions: "Good people, considerate students, hard-working, and ...... to help people do housework when they are free." "I really worked hard to teach, and I also organized students to collect firewood for money to buy homework books......."

A lonely old mother said: "Teacher Zou is a good girl, she often helps me with things, laundry, water, sweeping, cooking...... Now that she's gone, I'm really reluctant to ....... Tears flowed as he spoke. The "bumpy" sister-in-law took over the conversation: "You mother-in-law really can't wow (talk), people are good things today, and it's unlucky to cry." Everyone laughed.

Lai Zhishu told me: "Teacher Xiao Zou is the third teacher in Li Dong, the longest time, the best work performance, very considerate to the students, and organized students to collect firewood for tuition and miscellaneous fees, and sent boiling water to the iron-making site at night, among the three teachers, she performed the best." I said, "This is the result of everyone's care and help for her, and I sincerely thank the villagers." "Everyone was surprised when they heard that Xiao Zou was going to marry me to Nanzhao Province, and they were really reluctant to let Xiao Zou go.

Near noon, the villagers and a group of students reluctantly sent us to the big camphor tree at the entrance of the village before stopping, and shouted: "Walk, walk, have time to come to Li Dong to play." In this situation, the admissions boy cried sadly. Far away from the village, her eyes were still red and swollen, and I said with appreciation: "You are not easy here, you are very popular with the villagers." ”

"If I hadn't followed you, I wouldn't have been willing to leave?" She said with a strange sneer. Yes, after graduating from junior high school, she was hired by the examination in September 1956 to work at the Wenshan County Cultural Center, and later transferred to Wenshui Primary School, Huitian Primary School, Chengjiang Primary School, and Lidong Primary School in Wenshan County to teach. If it weren't for love, who would want to go away!

I carried her simple luggage on one end and a large basket of eggs from the villagers on the other, and walked slowly while talking, and returned to her parents' house.