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Chapter 109 Let’s Say Goodbye Properly (5K)

Seeing that Xie Hushan flatly refused her and asked her to go to other carriages, the middle-aged woman did not say much, but just pulled the child and bowed to him again.

Then she took out three yuan and returned it to Xie Hushan, indicating that Xie Hushan should return the basket to her. The woman even gave Xie Hushan an extra twenty cents, apparently compensating him for the sugar that Xie Hushan had given to her children.

This made Xie Hushan feel a little embarrassed, but after several attempts to refuse, the other party insisted on giving him the money, and then took the child away, leaving Xie Hushan staring at the two cents in a daze.

It's not that he doesn't want to listen to the other party talk about his difficulties, but he really can't help the other party. He already has a wife, and even if this aunt really gives him a wife, he won't be able to get a marriage certificate with her when he goes back. After all, Taozi has become a familiar face in Zhongping Brigade.

Not to mention that he didn't want to, even if he wanted to get married with another woman, Han Laogou would never give him a certificate of marriage registration without Taozi and Grandma's knowledge.

As soon as the other party asked him if he wanted a wife, Xie Hushan guessed that the other party was trying to find a way for his daughter to survive.

He had actually heard people mention this as a joke during training, that there was a militiaman who escorted a vehicle south to deliver livestock, and when he came back he not only earned a subsidy, but also brought back a wife.

Generally, they are girls from areas where the train passes and where there has been a chronic crop failure.

The locals know that the escorts are subsidized, and those who are selected are all militiamen with good family backgrounds and high awareness. When the car stops, the parents who cannot afford to support their daughters will pretend to be locals and chat with the militiamen, quietly finding out which militiaman is single and how the harvest is in their home area. The process is generally very quick.

If the man really does not have a wife and is attracted to the woman, he will leave thirty or fifty yuan as a betrothal gift to the woman's family. The girl will then take the letter of introduction for marriage, which has already been prepared and only needs to include other names, and will directly add the man's name on it.

Then she took the letter of introduction and got into the man's car and went to register for marriage. From then on, she was completely separated from her parents.

But this kind of thing has never happened to the militia in Bingyang County. The people who trained them said that the girl’s parents also looked down on the escort militia in Bingyang County or Luzhou Province and Yuzhou Province.

The male militia comrades from the Northeast are the most sought-after, or to be more specific, the militiamen escorting south from Songjiang Province are the most sought-after.

That place is known as the eldest son of the Republic, which was liberated the earliest in the country. It has a large land area and a small population, with more land per capita. It is also vigorously developing agricultural mechanization and producing a lot of grain. Although farm work is hard, every family can have enough food to eat.

Moreover, everyone can understand this kind of arranged matchmaking. Generally, dispatchers will not make things difficult if they find an extra woman in the carriage. As long as the woman has a letter of introduction for marriage, they will choose to turn a blind eye.

After all, if a family can afford a full meal, it is impossible for them to be so cruel as to send their raised daughter into a car to go to an unknown place with a man they have only known for four hours at most.

Thinking that the other party had left, Xie Hushan continued to read the novel as if nothing had happened. Unexpectedly, about half an hour later, the woman came back with the child and the basket, and continued to stand at the door of his carriage, silently pushing the basket back:
"Young man, after looking around and asking around, I still think you are the only one with a good heart."

"It's useless to be kind-hearted, Auntie, I really have a wife." Xie Hushan smiled at the other party and said:

"Besides, the grain yield in my area is not very high. Why don't you wait for the next train and find someone from Songjiang Province to match you up with and find a place for your daughter to marry where she can have enough food to eat."

When the middle-aged woman heard that Xie Hushan was also trying to arrange a marriage, she quickly explained to Xie Hushan:
"Young man, I'm not really looking for a husband for my daughter... nor is it fake... If you don't have a partner and are willing, then this can be real. If you have a partner, then this is fake. I want my daughter to go there under the pretext of marrying you and find a way to go to Hong Kong Island."

"Then I don't understand even more. You are lying. What if a young man really agrees to marry you, thinking he has found a wife, but she runs away as soon as he arrives?" Xie Hushan was a little puzzled after hearing what the middle-aged woman said.

But how could this be told in advance? Even if you are lying to someone, you should keep it a secret from the person you are lying to.

The woman patted her child and said, "Go, call your sisters over."

The child turned around and ran away. Xie Hushan quickly called out to him:
"No, don't shout, don't shout, please listen to me! I'll give you candy! I was wrong, I understand!"

Wow, a sister like you. Xie Hushan immediately understood what the woman meant. She wanted to keep one for him as a wife as a reward, and let him send the other one away?

The child, who looked like a mud monkey, looked back at him, hesitated a little, but finally resisted the temptation of the candy and ran away.

After a while, the child came running over with two girls. They were twins, about seventeen or eighteen years old. There was still a lot of grass debris on their bodies. It was obvious that they had been waiting somewhere for their mother to help them find a partner.

At this time, two girls were standing outside the car door. One of them looked at her mother with gentle eyes and full of worry, while the other one looked at Xie Hushan with a vigilant look like a beast.

"These are our two girls. The eldest's nickname is Ying'er, and the younger one's is Yan'er. To be honest, I'm not looking for in-laws for them. I'm..." The woman rubbed her hands in embarrassment. She probably felt that what she wanted to say was difficult to say.

The girl who was staring at Xie Hushan had a stern face and said to Xie Hushan clearly:
"We don't want your money. If you can let me take the marriage introduction letter in my sister's name and go with you to the border of Hong Kong Island, and leave me there, and come to my house on the way back, then I can take my sister away to be your wife. When I have money in Hong Kong Island, I will definitely take my sister and you away as well."

The middle-aged woman next to him nodded repeatedly, looked at Xie Hushan, and said awkwardly: "Yan'er said... that's... that's what she meant."

"How old is this girl? She speaks in a rather strange way, just like my sister." Xie Hushan was amused by the younger sister of the twins:
"Go home. You won't go back even if you reach the border. Listen to me, auntie. Take your children home. Do you think going to Hong Kong Island is just like visiting the neighbors next door?"

"My last name is Sun Ailian, and my husband's last name is Zhu. I live in Sunjiazhuang, seven miles away. Everyone in the neighborhood knows me. They either jokingly call me Sun Erniang or Zhu Dasaozi. When they mention Lao Haozi's wife, they all know me." The middle-aged woman said to Xie Hushan:
"I don't want the child to run away for no reason, nor do I want to find a husband for her because she can't afford to eat..."

Sunjiazhuang, her surname is Sun, and her husband's surname is Zhu. Xie Hushan guessed another possibility:
"The husband is not from this place, he came to join the queue, and he ran away, leaving the child to look for his father?"

"My father didn't run away. He was sick and needed money to save his life." The younger sister was a little dissatisfied with Xie Hushan's speculation that her father had run away, and she explained.

"My family has relatives in Hong Kong Island. The child's father is sick and short of money. The team also knows about this, but even with the letters of introduction from the team and the commune, I cannot go..." The middle-aged woman named Sun Erniang took out a cloth bag from her clothes, opened it and handed it to Xie Hushan.

Xie Hushan did not touch it, so the woman could only shake it open and show it to Xie Hushan. Inside was a pen, three blank letters of introduction with the seal of the commune and the brigade on the lower right corner and the interline stamp. Apart from the specific format of the printed letter of introduction, the name, business and other information that needed to be handwritten were still blank.

At the very bottom, there is a black-and-white photo of a woman in her forties in front of a western-style house. It is indeed the style of the houses in Hong Kong Island. Xie Hushan can also recognize that the maid standing with her hands hanging down is a spinster. Maids with this kind of clothing style should not be found in the north.

However, this photo is at least several decades old, and the woman in the photo is still wearing clothes in the style of the Republic of China.

"The commune knows that my family has relatives there, but they don't know what to write to allow us to go to Hong Kong Island. They don't need a letter of introduction. Besides, if we don't have any other suitable reasons, we will be stopped halfway even if we get a letter of introduction." Sun Erniang explained to Xie Hushan seriously:

"The commune saw that my family has always been active, my husband has always been praised, and has a good relationship with the commune leaders. That's why they gave me three blank letters of introduction and asked me to fill them in. If there is nothing wrong with what I fill in, the commune can acknowledge it on our behalf when they call the commune to check. If there is something wrong with what is written, the commune will not acknowledge it. Not only will they detain the people holding the letters of introduction, but the commune will also have to pretend they didn't know and deal with us when we return."

To be able to get the commune to issue a blank letter of introduction with an official seal, the person must be someone whom he knows well and whom he can trust.

At the very least, his master Zhang Chengxin has to trust him and not believe from the bottom of his heart that Xie Hushan will cause him trouble.

Xie Hushan gave his own advice: "It would be easier to just ask your relatives in Hong Kong Island to write to you."

Sun Erniang sighed, "I can't get in touch with her. We haven't been in touch for many years. This photo is older than my husband. It was taken in 1937. I only know my husband's grandmother's name and that she lived in a place called Gofu Mountain. My husband has never seen his grandmother. He only knows that she lives near this mountain."

"You want your daughter to go to Hong Kong Island to visit relatives, but you don't know where to go and what to do in the letter of introduction. That's why you want to fill in the most convenient reason of getting married to visit relatives. When I am questioned, as long as I admit that I fell in love at first sight on the way to deliver cattle and picked up a wife, and that the wife has a letter of introduction, she must be planning to take her back to get a marriage certificate. Plus, I have a more formal letter of introduction used by the bailiff, and this kind of thing has happened before, so no one will make things difficult for her. Besides, I'm on the way and can take her to the vicinity of Hong Kong Island." Xie Hushan told Sun Erniang's overall plan.

Sun Erniang nodded repeatedly: "Yes...that's what I think." Xie Hushan secretly praised in his heart. This old woman named Sun Erniang was quite smart. Without considering the actual operation, just from the perspective of thinking, she had thought about this matter very clearly, and no one could find any fault with it even if they checked.

"It doesn't matter if you have a wife, young man. Just let my daughter Yan pretend to be your girlfriend for a few days on the road. She will definitely not bother you when we get there. My family is really helpless. My husband is in the hospital and we owe the team and individuals more than 600 yuan in total. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come up with this idea. The commune also knows the difficulties of my family, so they are helping me. Besides, who would be willing... willing to let their daughter walk such a long way." Sun Erniang's voice was choked with sobs as she pleaded with Xie Hushan.

Hearing that the other party owed so much money, Xie Hushan suddenly felt that he was helpless to help.

He could still generously help out if it was a few dozen yuan, but he didn't have that much money, more than 600 yuan. Although the eight members of the commune gave him more than 500 yuan during the Spring Festival to ask him to help bring back some foreign goods, he left it to Taozi and asked Taozi to keep it for emergency use when he was not at home. At this time, he still had more than 300 yuan in subsidies.

He thought for a moment and said to Sun Erniang, "Aunt, if you can trust me, leave me your address. I'll have someone in Hong Kong send you some money, or help you find your relatives. It's not worth it to put your daughter at risk. This is not a trip."

"Don't take risks. Have you forgotten that I sent chickens there? When you get there, there is a guesthouse. If you stay in the guesthouse, someone nearby will come to you secretly and say that they can secretly help bring the chickens over." Sun Erniang looked around to see that there was no one around. She lowered her voice and said to Xie Hushan mysteriously:
"Just give him some money to show you the way. I encountered this before, but I didn't go."

Xie Hushan was left speechless by the other party's mysterious tone. Did he really think that someone would be so kind as to take him to Hong Kong Island?
How could it be that good? You wouldn't know at a glance that there was a profession called snake catcher at the border of Hong Kong Island. If you were unlucky and fell into their hands, the outcome would be even worse than being deported.

"Do you also want to go to Hong Kong Island?" The girl named Yan'er noticed the meaning of Xie Hushan's words and asked.

"I don't need to run. I have a legal reason. After all, my leader asked me to go to the Hong Kong Island Bookstore to buy books." Xie Hushan glanced at the other party and said.

Sun Erniang groaned and knelt down in front of Xie Hushan outside the car door:

"Young man, when you fed Sanqueer, I knew you were a good person. I didn't want the child to run so far, and I'm not a bad person. Look..."

As she spoke, she took a small bundle from her eldest daughter and opened it. Inside was a pile of award certificates. She held them high and handed them to Xie Hushan, saying:

"Life at home was pretty good, except that the child's father got sick..."

Xie Hushan looked through the dozens of award certificates, all of which were won by this woman named Sun Erlian. She was awarded as a female model soldier and outstanding female militiaman when she was young, and gradually became an outstanding female director, an outstanding female group leader, and an outstanding female team leader.

It is indeed unlikely that this person is like his previous self, who always wanted to run away on his own initiative.

"Auntie, please listen to my advice. This is not like visiting relatives in the next village. It's not easy to travel so far to visit relatives without any relatives..."

The award certificates were arranged according to year. Xie Hushan flipped through them while persuading the other party to change his mind.

When I turned to the last one, I was suddenly stunned. It was the last certificate Sun Erniang received. It was a certificate issued to Sun Erniang by the Women's Federation of Yuzhou Province.

Due to her outstanding performance in receiving and treating the victims of the Yaoshan earthquake in Yuzhou Province and in providing condolences to them, she boarded the special train for receiving the victims many times and provided rescue and condolences to 417 earthquake victims. Comrade Sun Ailian was specially awarded the honorable title of Yuzhou Province March 8 Red Flag Bearer.

"Have you ever saved people during an earthquake?" When Xie Hushan saw the certificate, he immediately jumped out of the car and lifted Sun Erniang up from the ground with both hands.

Sun Erniang felt the strength of Xie Hushan's arms as he sincerely lifted her up. Although she didn't understand why the other party asked this, she still explained:

"I didn't know how to save people, but I had strength. At that time, we transported more than 2,000 wounded soldiers. I was the team leader of the women's team. I followed them on the train to wipe the wounded's bodies, give them water, and send them to the hospital. I worked for a while. Here is a medal. It was awarded at that time."

Sun Erniang rummaged through her bag and found a small commemorative brooch. It had a simple shape and only four words printed on it: Man can conquer nature.

"If you have really made up your mind, I promise to help you." After reading it, Xie Hushan carefully handed the brooch and certificate back to Sun Erniang with both hands and spoke.

When Sun Erniang was chatting with him before, she only knew that this guy was from Bingyang County, Zhili Province. How could she know where Bingyang County was? Seeing Xie Hushan's reaction, she asked tentatively:

"Your county town is in Yaoshan?"

"I still say the same thing. If you trust me, it would be best if I run errands for you to avoid your daughter being separated from you. If you don't trust me, I will try my best to send the person to you." Xie Hushan did not answer. He took out a cigarette, took a puff, and said to Sun Erniang.

He still wanted to persuade the other party not to let his daughter go there. In that kind of capitalist society, people from the mainland would rush there without knowing where to go. If they couldn't find any relatives, they would be left with only two choices of life.

Men sell their lives, women sell their bodies.

The girl named Yan'er didn't wait for her mother to speak, and said, "I'll go by myself."

Sun Erniang bowed to Xie Hushan repeatedly:
"Young man, let her go with you. She can find the place by herself when the time comes. Don't let this matter delay your mission. If you can take her there, I will be very grateful. I thank you on behalf of my whole family."

She was about to kneel down and kowtow to Xie Hushan, but Xie Hushan stopped her and said, "Give me the letter of introduction, and I'll add it for you."

Sun Erniang handed the pen and the blank letter of introduction to Xie Hushan. Xie Hushan picked up the pen, turned around and leaned over the carriage, and wrote neatly on the blank letter of introduction: "I am traveling with Comrade Xie Hushan because of the reason of marrying him. Please contact me and I hope to arrange the arrangement for you."

Finally, he stopped writing at the name and looked at Sun Erniang:

"What is your name?"

"I wish you a happy marriage." Sun Erniang said.

Xie Hushan asked: "Whose name?"

"My sister's!" Yan'er said beside her, "Mom, he has a wife, so he can't write my sister's name. That's going to screw my sister!"

"Write it for you. What's your name? I know I have a wife. Just pretend that you are on the road for a few days. It will be useless when you arrive in Hong Kong Island." Xie Hushan looked at the other party and asked.

Yan'er said: "My name is Zhu Youjun."

The little boy next to him heard that both sisters had signed up and thought it was fun, so he said:
"My name is Zhu Sanyuan."

"Auntie, your daughter and son have good names. The people who named them are very cultured." Xie Hushan smiled at the little boy, took out a chocolate candy from his pocket, handed it to him, and praised with a smile.

"The child's father named her. You said it's a son? Sanque'er? She is also a girl, otherwise how could she be called Sanyuan? We have been waiting for three times, but still no son." Sun Erniang explained when she saw that Xie Hushan treated her dirty monkey-like daughter as a boy.

Xie Hushan had already filled out the letter of introduction and handed it to Sun Erniang:
"Tell your daughter to keep the letter of introduction. Before the train leaves, go to a distant place and say goodbye to your daughter. We will be separated from each other in the future, and I don't know when we will meet again."

(End of this chapter)