Five years of marriage, always separated [1970s]

The next morning, the air was fresh. The gravel road in front of Ye Fan's house was washed especially clean by the heavy rain, and the roses beside the fence were also beaten to pieces by the wind and rain.

Ye Fan sent Dabao and Erbao to school, and when he got home, he took a shovel, scissors, and hemp rope to clean up the fence. The fence was made of bamboo and wood, and was built by the officers who guarded the island eight years ago. Ye Fan removed the rotten bamboo pieces, scraped off the rotten wood, tied the roses to the intact bamboo pieces, and cut off the branches that were too long. He didn't throw away the cut branches, but dug a hole on the opposite side of the road and buried the branches.

There didn't seem to be many branches, and after Ye Fan planted them he discovered that the two ends were facing the alleys on both sides.

Liu Guihua came out of the alley with her sewing basket, planning to go to Liao's house to work with Zhuang Qiuyue. Seeing the shovel in Ye Fan's hand, she asked curiously, "Accountant Ye, why are you planting flowers here?" Pointing to the roadside.

"There's no space in the yard. If we plant fences on both sides, you'll easily run into them when you go through the alley carrying water." Ye Fan shook his head, "It's too much of a hindrance."

Liu Guihua: "But once they bloom, the naughty boys will pick them for you. And Miaomiao and my girl, they use the petals to paint their nails when they have nothing to do."

Ye Fan smiled and said, "It's not like we're uprooting them."

Liu Guihua didn't understand: "Why did you plant it when you knew it?"

Ye Fan didn't know how to explain: "When my relatives from my mother's side heard that we were on the island, they thought it was a deserted island with few people. There aren't many people. The family quarters are also very desolate. But the island is dead and the people are alive. With a little effort, we can make the front and back of the house become lively. When the weather is hot in the dog days of summer, I can smell the fragrance of flowers and my mood will improve. Besides, Miaomiao and your girl don't have time to pick flowers every day. They will always leave some for me."

Liu Guihua still couldn't understand: "You are also free."

Ye Fan smiled and asked, "Are you busy?"

Liu Guihua wanted to say that she was busy, but when she looked at her sewing box, she saw that she had been sewing a pair of shoe soles for half a month. She was not busy at all and was just chatting with people.

Ye Fan picked up the bamboo pieces and sticks on the ground and threw them into the yard to keep for firewood: "You will know when the flowers on both sides of the road in front of my house bloom. I will go to the Shanxi Brigade to see if there are any bamboo pieces and replace the ones that have been removed."

Liu Guihua waited for her to leave and then went to the Liao family next door.

Zhuang Qiuyue was wiping the table and sweeping the floor in the room. She couldn't hear what the two were saying, so she asked Liu Guihua what she was talking about with Ye Fan.

Liu Guihua smacked her lips and said, "The eldest lady is just different from us."

Zhuang Qiuyue stopped and said, "How did Accountant Ye offend you? You are slandering him so early in the morning."

Liu Guihua shook her head: "No, it's not insulting. Tian Xiaofeng said that their products are fakes or something, but even if she changed her surname to Chen, the things she learned and gained in the Ye family over the years are still hers."

Zhuang Qiuyue was puzzled. Didn’t she like Ye Fan very much?
"What do you want to say?" Zhuang Qiuyue couldn't help but ask.

Liu Guihua doesn’t know many words, so she doesn’t know how to describe it: “When Captain Geng is not at home, she has to do what we do, such as washing pots and dishes and cooking, right? She still has to go to work. And yet she still has the mood to plant flowers.” After a pause, “How should I put it? That feeling is just different from ours.”

Zhuang Qiuyue: "That? If you ask me, she is not busy. Those roses can't be eaten or drunk, and they need to be watered if it doesn't rain for half a month. If I wasn't afraid that she would think too much, I would have pulled out the flowers that were planted outside the wall. She also planted a bunch of chrysanthemums and roses a few days ago. Aren't roses different from roses? I think it's the difference between white chrysanthemums and yellow chrysanthemums, and she said I didn't understand."

Liu Guihua: "She didn't say I don't understand, but her tone sounded like that. But then again, I really don't understand either, so the eldest lady is different from me. Think about those young ladies in the past, they just read books and played chess. I heard that the ancestors of the Ye family were all scholars, so it's normal for scholars to love flowers."

Zhuang Qiuyue couldn't help but say, "I went to school, too."

Liu Guihua was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing, "No, no, you went to the village school for two years and you call it going to school? Sister Wan went to the girls' school for several years and she was embarrassed to say that she had been to school."

"How do you know that I went to village school for two years?" Zhuang Qiuyue asked hurriedly.

Liu Guihua felt guilty, but then she thought about what she felt guilty about: "Don't you know that there are a few women here who don't do their job every day. They either stare at you or Accountant Ye? Sister Wan doesn't like to come out because she doesn't want to see them. If Accountant Ye buys a large yellow croaker, they can chat for three days, saying that she is worthy of being a lady. She doesn't even want to eat hairtail and sea bass. If Accountant Ye buys crabs, they will say that she is a fake. She has never even eaten crabs, but she buys so many to eat as a meal."

Zhuang Qiuyue frowned: "Is he saying this in front of you?" Do you have any brains?

Speaking of this, Liu Guihua was also surprised: "They didn't try to avoid me. Did they tell them when I didn't know that no matter what they said, I would not tell you and Accountant Ye?"

Zhuang Qiuyue shook her head: "I don't need to ask you if I want to know what they think."

Liu Guihua: "So we are not Accountant Ye, so it's normal not to know what Accountant Ye thinks. It won't be a problem if we plant it on the roadside anyway." She didn't mention that Accountant Ye asked her to wait for the flowers to bloom quickly, as she felt it was unnecessary.

With the arrival of hot summer, the roses planted by Ye Fan began to bloom. Every time Liu Guihua went to Ye's house to pump water, she could smell the faint fragrance of the flowers. When the wind blew towards her, the fragrance was strong but not pungent. Liu Guihua subconsciously sniffed it and vaguely understood why Ye Fan said to wait for the flowers to bloom.

Liu Guihua was born in the countryside. Both of her parents were poor farmers. They had suffered for half their lives. Food was the most precious thing to her. She still thought that growing flowers was not as good as growing vegetables, but she was not as disgusted as Zhuang Qiuyue.

Wan Siqin, who also came to Ye Fan's house to fetch water, was very envious when she saw the blooming flowers, and thought that other people really knew how to live.

Ye Fan was picking cucumbers and tomatoes in the yard when he saw Wan Siqin staring outside: "Sister-in-law, what are you looking at?"

Wan Siqin put away her envy and complimented with a smile: "Look at the flowers you planted. They are all alive and blooming well. That's great!"

Ye Fan: "This thing is easy to grow. Sister-in-law, do you want it? I heard that some varieties can be planted in autumn. When the flowers fall, I'll cut a few branches for you to try. If it doesn't work, you can plant it in the spring next year."

Liao Miaomiao came in carrying a bucket: "Aunt Wan, do you want to plant flowers too? Come to me, I have all kinds of flowers. Aunt Wan, aren't the flowers on the roadside beautiful?"

Wan Siqin nodded.

Ye Fan thought of the food factory: "Miao Miao, if you have too many chrysanthemums next year, don't throw them away. Keep them for me."

While pressing the water, Liao Miaomiao asked, "Is it planted in your yard?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "I have to grow vegetables in the yard. Vegetables are important, flowers are second. I planted them in front of the food factory. I always felt that the food factory was missing something. When you said that just now, I realized that there are several empty rooms behind the door. If I didn't see the sign, I wouldn't know that it was an office."

Liao Miaomiao picked up a half-bucket of water and said, "I'm fine. But I'm not at home most of the time, so you have to watch my mom and make sure she doesn't pull it out for me."

Ye Fan nodded and asked Wan Siqin if she wanted it.

Wan Siqin was afraid of being squeezed out, so she planted flowers when she didn't have enough vegetables to eat. But Ye Fan's words just now made her know how to deal with it. When she got home and told the chief of staff about the flowers in front of Ye Fan's courtyard, the chief of staff said, it would be great to plant vegetables.

Wan Siqin said that Accountant Ye knew the importance of vegetables, and there was not a single flower in the yard. She then said that Ye Fan's family had more vegetables than they could eat, and they had never thought of pulling them out and planting flowers in the yard.

The chief of staff wanted to tell him not to learn from Accountant Ye, because she had never experienced hard times before she had the heart to grow flowers. The words "can't finish eating" choked the chief of staff and he was speechless.

Wan Siqin didn't talk nonsense.

Several members of the Shanxi Brigade often sent Ye Fan small seafood. Ye Fan refused at first, but they said that there were more seafood during high tide. Ye Fan calculated the lunar calendar and it was indeed a day of high tide, so he stopped refusing.

After dinner, Ye Fan asked Dabao and Erbao to play at home while she went to the food factory to take a look. At the door, she met a member of the Shanxi Brigade who was coming back from fishing. Ye Fan asked him to go into the yard first and wait for her to go to the kitchen to get a basin to pour the seafood.

The members had no suspicion.

Ye Fan handed a basket of tomatoes, cucumbers and amaranth to the other party.

The members dodged and said that Accountant Ye should stay to eat.

Dabao was playing sandbags with his sister under the eaves of the corridor. He stopped when he heard this and said, "There are so many at my house."

Ye Fan nodded: "Maybe there has never been anything planted in the yard before, so there are so many fruits." He gestured to him to look at the cucumber field, "It will have grown up by tomorrow morning."

The member walked over and looked again and again. Many tomatoes were turning red and cucumbers grew big overnight. He no longer refused.

A member of the cooperative came out of Ye Fan's house with a small seafood in one hand and a basket in the other, and happened to meet the chief of staff going to the army. The chief of staff looked at Ye Fan's yard, and saw the lush fruits and vegetables, which looked very pleasing. He thought that Accountant Ye knew how to live. No wonder Captain Geng would never stay in the army for a moment after returning.

When the member got home, he couldn't help but praise Accountant Ye to his wife. He usually worked and took care of the children, so there were too many vegetables to eat, and the flowers outside the door were blooming. His wife saw that the tomatoes, cucumbers and amaranth were enough for the whole family to eat for lunch and dinner. Naturally, she was grateful. She said, "A capable person is capable of anything." She poured the tomatoes, cucumbers and amaranth down and sent the basket to Ye Fan.

When the wife of the member arrived outside her house, she remembered that the neighbor's little daughter loved to play with flowers and plants. She looked next door and saw small orchids, jasmine, cockscombs, and a few other plants she couldn't name under the wall.

The wife of the member remembered that the neighbor complained that the small plot of land in the yard was not enough to grow vegetables, so he planted flowers, and then pulled out all the flowers while his daughter was herding sheep for the production team. The neighbor's little daughter came back crying, and in the neighbor's own words, it was as if her parents had died.

The member's wife wanted to beat him up to stop him from crying. But now she didn't think so. The reason why there were not enough vegetables in the yard was because the neighbor didn't know how to grow them. Accountant Ye's yard was not much bigger than theirs, so he couldn't eat all the vegetables he grew.

The member's wife went to the neighbor's door and saw that the neighbors were both at home - at this time of year, every household was not busy, and the neighbor saw her and asked her to come in to talk. The member's wife said that she had to bring a bamboo basket for washing vegetables to Accountant Ye. The neighbor asked why Accountant Ye's basket was at her house. The member's wife said that her husband had caught a lot of small seafood today, so he gave Accountant Ye two or three pounds. Accountant Ye was polite and gave her six or seven pounds of vegetables.

The neighbor rarely went to the family quarters, so when he heard this, he came to the door and asked, "Accountant Ye also knows how to grow vegetables?"

The member’s wife said: “Accountant Ye knows everything. He grows good vegetables and flowers.” Then she pointed at the flowers at the foot of the wall and said, “Leave me some seeds and I’ll give them to Accountant Ye later.”

The neighbor couple didn't dare to say that Ye Fan had nothing better to do, nor could they ask why he didn't grow vegetables, so they just said that Accountant Ye had some free time.

The member's wife nodded without objection. When she arrived at Ye Fan's house, she saw that there were not only vegetables in the yard, but also onions, ginger, garlic and peppers. She didn't have to buy vegetables until October of the Gregorian calendar. She felt that Ye Fan was amazing. He could take care of the yard so well while working and taking care of the children.

In fact, Tao Chunlan and Yu Wentao took care of most of the vegetable fields in the yard. Ye Fan also brought a lot of rapeseed from home. Tao Chunlan was afraid that she would forget because she was busy, so she wrote the planting date on each package of rapeseed. When Geng Zhiye was at home, he took care of the vegetable fields and watered the vegetables. Ye Fan didn't have much to do.

Dabao and his sister were tired from playing, so they sat under the eaves drinking water from teacups. When they saw a stranger coming, they asked her who she was looking for.

The member's wife handed over the bamboo basket and asked, "Where's your mother?"

Dabao put the cup on the ground, stood up and took the bamboo basket: "Mom went to the food factory. You and that uncle's family? What are you looking at? Do you want to eat melon?"

The member’s wife shook her head: “No, no, I don’t want to eat it.”

Dabao still remembered what his mother said, that the members of the Shanxi Brigade had no salary, and they didn't want to be poor. Dabao thought to himself that my family was richer than mine, and they didn't want my things, so they were good people. Dabao put the bamboo basket on the ground and said, "Wait for me." He ran to the fence, pulled apart the messy melon vines, and held a yellow long-shaped patterned melon and a golden big round melon: "Here you go!"

When the member's wife saw him trying to pass it to her, she subconsciously reached out to take it: "No, I have some at home."

Dabao shook his head: "I have a lot at home." He pointed to the three fences and said, "There are these two melons on the east side, the white one on the west side, and the watermelon on the south side. You can eat them."

The wife of the member couldn't help but smile bitterly. What kind of thing was this? Giving gifts to people and taking two melons from them: "I'll wash and cut them, you two can eat them?"

Erbao shouted, "We've had enough!"

Dabao hurried over to cover her mouth, what nonsense is she talking about. Dabao hurriedly explained: "Aunt, my sister is not sensible, you don't listen to her."

The wife of the member had seen the landlord dump the fruits and vegetables that they could not finish into the manure pit and not give them to the poor. Even if what Erbao said was true - that he would give them the fruits and vegetables that he could not finish, the wife of the member was very happy: "I know, thank you -"

"My name is Geng Dabao, and this is my sister, the ignorant Geng Erbao." Dabao lowered his head and glared at his sister, telling her not to speak.

Erbao pried his hands apart and slapped his brother: "I can't breathe, I'm going to die!"

Dabao: "You asked for it. You are ignorant!" The wife of the member hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "I want it. You two should stop arguing."

Dabao shook his head: "My sister and I don't quarrel."

The member's wife wanted to ask if they should just fight, but she was afraid that if she said too much, the two kids would really fight, so she thanked them and left.

When Dabao and the others walked away, he glared at his sister and said, "Don't say that again. If you say you can't finish it!"

The elder brother was too serious, Erbao was afraid of being beaten, but a wise man would not suffer a loss in front of him: "I know. You are more fierce than mom!"

Dabao: "Mom won't be mean to you, she will just beat you up. Do you want me to tell mom?"

Erbao was so scared that he shook his head and changed the subject: "Brother, when are we going back to grandma's house?"

Dabao shook his head: "Let's go to the food factory to find mom."

Erbao: “No!”

Dabao looked at the sun and didn't want to go to the food factory under the scorching sun: "Then let's go back to the house and wait for mom."

Ye Fan was afraid of getting heatstroke, and thought that no one would come to sell seafood when the weather got hot, so he locked the door and went home at around ten o'clock.

She went to the food factory again at around four o'clock in the afternoon. The staff at the vegetable market told her that no one was looking for her, so Ye Fan waited until half past five and then went home.

The days are long and the nights are short. There are still two hours before dark. It is too early to cook now, so Ye Fan picked a handful of green onions and fried two eggs for the two children.

Ye Fan didn't start cooking dinner until around seven o'clock.

Geng Zhiye was not at home, so there was no need to cook much. Ye Fan cooked noodles with small seafood and put a handful of green amaranth before serving.

Just as the noodles were served and ready to be eaten, Liao Miaomiao came in. Ye Fan saw that she looked very anxious: "Did your mother beat you?"

Liao Miaomiao shook her head: "My mom wants to save face, so she always beats me when it's dark and the door is locked, so I can't run away."

Ye Fanxin said, is this something I can listen to?

"Eat something?"

Liao Miaomiao: "My house is almost done. Doesn't Aunt Ye want flowers? My friend's parents don't let her plant them. When they see her flowers, they scold her, saying that she doesn't know how to live, and other things. Anyway, it's very unpleasant. If you want them, I'll dig up the soil and bring them back tomorrow morning."

Ye Fan: "Tomorrow afternoon. If we plant them in the morning, they will die when the sun comes out at noon."

"Sure. I'll meet you at the food factory. What time?"

Ye Fan: "Six o'clock, maybe. Your Uncle Geng should be back tomorrow."

Although Ye Fan did not have a duty roster, she could figure out that Geng Zhiye, the political commissar and the chief of staff took turns on duty, either for five days or a week each.

As expected, Geng Zhiye arrived home at 6pm the next day. Dabao and Erbao were hungry, so Geng Zhiye asked them to wait while he went to cook. Dabao said that his mother had fried eggs for him and his sister yesterday.

At this point, Captain Geng had to fry eggs for the two children.

Geng Zhiye cleaned up the dishes they had used, but Ye Fan hadn't come back yet: "What is your mom busy with? Didn't she say that she won't ship goods in July? She's stockpiling more while the weather is hot and will deliver them before the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Dabao: "Mom has recently become obsessed with growing flowers. Dad, when are we going back to the capital?"

Geng Zhiye: "In mid-August, I'll be back in ten days. Dad can't be away for too long."

I didn’t go back last year. Dabao was worried: “Will you change your mind suddenly?”

Geng Zhiye subconsciously said, "There have been a lot of changes in the capital over the past six months. I have to go over to take a look, otherwise I will be worried." He realized that Dabao might not understand, "Your grandmother recently asked your aunt to get engaged, but your aunt didn't want to, and the two quarreled every day. I went over to persuade them."

Dabao shook his head: "Dad, you can't. Grandma is not afraid of you. Grandma is afraid of Mom."

Geng Zhiye smiled: "I'm afraid of my mother. I'll go see if your mother has finished her work. You two can go out and play, but stay outside the door."

If Dabao doesn't want to go out, he tells his dad to go quickly and stop nagging.

Geng Zhiye slapped him on the forehead before going to the food factory.

Ye Fan was busy planting flowers, and the market workers helped her water them.

Geng Zhiye walked over and asked, "Will it be a problem when shipping?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "It's still one meter away from the road. Even a hand tractor can't touch it when turning around. It looks much better if it's a little green, right?"

Geng Zhiye looked at the various flowers on both sides of the road and said, "It's really not that desolate."

The comrades at the vegetable market helped on the surface, but they were secretly complaining that Accountant Ye would cause trouble. When the word "desolate" reached their ears, they suddenly remembered that every time they came to the city, they were treated as savages by the people in the city as soon as they said they were from Hengshan Island. Several times they even asked if there were any apes on the island and if they had ever seen electric lights. What the hell was going on? If you didn't know, you would think they were living in the Qing Dynasty.

The market manager, who had already finished get off work, was watching the excitement at the entrance of the food factory and also heard the words "desolate". "I wouldn't have noticed it if Captain Geng hadn't told me. Both sides of the road are bare. No wonder I feel hot when I get here and cool when I get home. I thought the tires would melt if I left my car outside for half a day, but I never thought of planting some trees."

Geng Zhiye: "Let's plant them next spring. Trees don't survive easily. Fanfan, are you ready?"

Ye Fan nodded, thanked everyone and went to lock the door.

Geng Zhiye took her bag and held her hand out of habit: "You didn't like growing flowers before."

Ye Fan: "I have to grow vegetables in the yard. There are blue brick roads at the entrance. How can I grow flowers? But I don't really like flowers."

Geng Zhiye stopped and said, "Don't like it?"

Ye Fan pulled him to continue walking: "If I ask everyone to plant flowers with me, they will definitely think I am mentally ill. Half of the members on the island are hungry and can't even get enough vegetables. But this island really has no special features. The only place worth stopping is the martyrs' cemetery.
"As for seafood, the public transportation outside the island is convenient, so no one goes to the island to buy seafood. As for scenery and historical sites, it can't compare to the island opposite, which has the Guanyin Temple and so on. If people from the garment factory come to the island to collect duck and goose feathers, there are flowers everywhere. If they go out and tell others about it, young people with some spare money will definitely think of this place when they go out for a walk on the weekend. If more people come, are we afraid that no one will buy the dried seafood and lotus seeds in the market?"

Geng Zhiye: "Can't you just say it clearly?"

Ye Fan shook his head: "It will take at least three years for flowers to grow and become famous. The members don't go out often, so their experience is limited, so they can't wait that long."

Geng Zhiye probably understood, "Use your identity as an accountant to influence the people around you, and then spread the word from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred?"

Ye Fan: "A single spark can start a prairie fire. I believe my little spark can also do the same."

Geng Zhiye couldn't help but hold her hand tightly, and once again felt fortunate that he didn't turn away from her because of his childhood friend's nonsense.

"I always thought you were too lazy to care about these things." Ye Fan was usually so lazy at home that Geng Zhiye really thought she liked flowers.

Ye Fan: "It's just a small favor. Besides, I feel comfortable looking at the colorful flowers and green willows on my way to work every day. Just think of it as the fragrance lingering on my hands when I give flowers to others."

Geng Zhiye smiled and shook his head: "Compared to you, I'm just a mallet. I move when you push me."

Ye Fan: "Use the terrain or limited resources to build a training ground. Isn't there a military competition? If there is no competition this year, it doesn't mean there will be no competition next year."

Geng Zhiye agreed with this: "I will ask a few battalion commanders, the chief of staff, and Commander Niu to go up the mountain with me someday. Many things should be eliminated. It's a pity to pile them up in the warehouse. We can help the villagers get rid of the wild animals that harm the farmland."

Ye Fan: "If there are a lot of things, blast a few more carts of rocks to widen the road. The main road on the island is still a bit narrow. If two wooden carts meet head-on, they have to give way."

Geng Zhiye nodded: "A little at a time. This is only the third year, so it's not that easy to be transferred. By the way, tell Su Yuanhang some other day that we will go back to the capital in the middle of next month and come back before Dabao and Erbao start school."

Ye Fan calculated the date and it was very close.

At the end of July, Su Yuanhang went to Ye Fan's house and asked her how much goods she had received recently. Ye Fan: "I told them that we would not ship during the entire dog days, and they said they would sell them in August."

Su Yuanhang was surprised: "Aren't you afraid that we will have collected enough and no longer want it?"

Ye Fan: "Everyone knows that if we can't sell it this time, we can sell it by the end of the year." Then she told him that she would return to the capital on August 16th of the Gregorian calendar and take a look at the market there.

After Su Yuanhang left, Dabao asked Erbao to pack his luggage.

Ye Fan was speechless: "There are still more than ten days."

Dabao didn't care about anything and just cleaned up first.

As for Su Yuanhang, when he saw the flowers on both sides of the road at the food factory, he wondered who had eaten too much. He asked the comrades at the vegetable market and found out that Accountant Ye had planted them. Su Yuanhang wondered when Accountant Ye had so much leisure time.

Perhaps his expression was too obvious, for the employees at the vegetable market said with a wry smile that Accountant Ye thought our island was desolate.

Su Yuanhang went out to take a look. The Shanxi Brigade's farmland was not here, nor were there any mountains or forests. This used to be a market place, and usually no one lived here, and no one grew vegetables or fruit trees, so there was nothing here except houses.

Su Yuanhang returned to the market and said, "It's desolate. I remember someone said that even crows don't poop here."

The comrade at the vegetable market was unhappy: "Who is so good at farting?"

Su Yuanhang: "It's a rough statement, but it makes sense. I'll ask who has some left and plant some more."

Comrade at the vegetable market: "Can we plant in such a hot day?"

Su Yuanhang: "It's okay even if we dig the mud out."

Ye Fan didn't expect that her little spark would ignite the people around her so quickly.

When she came back from the capital, she was surprised to see that both sides of the road five meters east and west of the vegetable market entrance were planted with orchids, roses, and some unknown flowers. When she got home, she told Geng Zhiye that the revolution was just around the corner.

Geng Zhiye didn't want to pour cold water on her: "Ye Fanfan, do you remember what I promised you before I came here?"

(End of this chapter)