A month later, 500 kilometers away in Shihezi, Zeng Xiangyang returned home from school as usual.

"Brother has a letter!" Zeng Xianghong told his younger brother.

Zeng Xiangyang found his mother, who was reading the letter from her eldest son in the bedroom, she had already read it, and when she saw her younger son coming in, she hugged Zeng Jing, handed him the letter, and came to the living room together.

In the living room, Zeng Zhiwen and Zeng Xianghong were talking, and when they saw the two of them coming out, they stopped talking and looked at the letter in Zeng Xiangyang's hand.

Zeng Xiangyang shook the letter in his hand and said, "This is the letter that the eldest brother just sent, I'll read it to you!"

He cleared his throat and read, "Dear parents, how are you?" I returned to the army, I was very happy to see my comrades-in-arms, my comrades-in-arms liked the apples and raisins prepared by my mother, and they were reluctant to eat, for the 10 poplar saplings, we planted them that night, in order to keep the trunk warm, the comrades-in-arms contributed their autumn clothes and pants and socks, tied to the trunk to keep warm, in order to make the saplings take better root, we went to the river 10 kilometers away to dig up the black soil, in order to water, many comrades-in-arms brushed their teeth without toothpaste, washed their faces and hands without soap, and watered the saplings with the saved water. "

Reading this, Zeng Xiangyang choked up a little, paused, and continued: "My comrades-in-arms call these poplar trees mother trees, and seeing them every day is like seeing a mother. The environment here at the outpost is too bad, the wind and snow are heavy, and the temperature is low, so there is no grass on the mountain, all stones, and after less than a week, the saplings have died one after another, and there is only one left, and yesterday my comrades-in-arms and I built a windbreak wall for it with large stones and cement, and it is now our hope. Sincerely, Regards! Son: Zeng Xiangjun, December 19, 1975. "

After reading this letter, everyone couldn't calm down for a long time, a small aspen touched everyone's hearts, there were still snowflakes floating outside the window, I don't know if the outpost far away from the dry is also snowing, whether the little aspen can survive!

Zhang Yulan prayed silently in her heart, hoping that the little poplar could survive and accompany her eldest son to grow up together in a difficult environment!

At this moment, thousands of miles away, at the Tasti outpost at the foot of Baruch Mountain, Zeng Xiangjun was under a kerosene lamp, carefully reading the "Communist Party Constitution", which was lent to him by platoon political commissar Zhu Zhi, Zeng Xiangjun was preparing to join the party, and political commissar Zhu asked him to study the "Communist Party Constitution" first, write a study experience for him, and accept the party organization's inspection of him. Zeng Xiangjun suddenly sneezed, and his comrade-in-arms Wang Guoqing, who was sleeping next to him, happened to get up to go to the toilet, heard him sneeze, and said jokingly: "Xiao Zeng, someone misses you!"

Zeng Xiangjun slowly stood up, put on a military coat, put on a cotton hat, and also came to the outside of the house, the snow outside the house was falling, and it was snowing again, Zeng Xiangjun tightened his coat and came to the only sapling, the windbreak wall more than one person high blocked the cold wind in front of him, and the little aspen stood in the heavy snow, holding his head high, as if he was an unyielding warrior, standing on the battlefield.

"Mom, are you okay?" Zeng Xiangjun muttered to himself, a tear flowed out of his eyes, dripped on the ground, and instantly formed crystal ice!